Application.

1. First then let the Cedar have his height, let Superiority be ac­knowledged. Oh that many men would crop the top of the Cedar, and make the pesant equal to the Peere. A ge­neration of men there are in the world, which would have all wear home-spun, and dig with the spade; they were [Page 6]born to no patrimonies, and so would have other men share inheritances with them; they came out of a drudges womb themselves, and so are professed enemies to all noble bloud: why should any Nobleman enjoy ten thousand, twenty thou­sand pounds by the year, when this estate divided would serve many a good Christian? a good Christian! a ravening Christian; for what Title hast thou to another mans Birth­right? did the noble Theophilus, Sergius Paulus, Onesiphorus, Gaius, Saint Johns elect Lady, give over the right of their estates, or suffer others to come to share portions with them when they embraced Christ? Is this to be a Christian? No, it is to be a Nicolaitan. The Levellers golden age is to turn the whole wealth of a Kingdome into a Dividend. He seems to be but a Lapwing, to make a great noise where he doth fly, but if he were let alone, ye should find him a Griffin or a Vulture.

But these Malecontents must hold them to their tatters, till Scripture, Nature, and Nations will provide them a bet­ter Wardrobe. I believe that these men doe labour but lit­tle with their hands, and so they hope to raise a fortune with the sweat of their tongues; but it is hard getting estates by Paradoxes. Noblemen will not readily be decoyed out of what their Ancestors left them by such cut-purse Professors. Dare they compare their Crab-stock to the noble Cedar? No, if they doe believe Scripture, (for all their inspirings, and aspirings) they shall find it to be a sin for Children to pre­sume against the ancient, [...]. Splendor gene­ris. Arist. de. nat. an. c. 1. Nobilitas est e­minentia. Gers. de nob. Gentiles homi­nes. Dubdus de div. rep. c. 11. or the vile against the honourable, Isa. 3.5. Let Noblemen then maintain their Crests, their rights; they are the better born, the men to be reverenced, the Worthy, and persons set apart, or severed from others to be ennobled: there is in them a splendour of birth. Nobility is Eminency, they are the Gen­tile men to be preferred before others. Let Noblemen take their Peerage, they are persons of honour, for they are Cedars.

2. Secondly, this should teach Noblemen to be gratefull men, even Mirrours of thankfulnesse; for are ye Cedars? the highest to heaven in greatnesse, and the lowest to heaven in the sense of Gods mercies? Know ye not that it is the hand of heaven which hath planted you, and the dew of heaven which hath watered you? then how justly might God blast [Page 7]your branches, and make you wither at the root? It was ill in Pharaohs Butler to forget Joseph; then what is it in you to forget your great God? Memory is the best keeper of benefits, Memoria est Custos benesici­orum. Chris. and what have ye good Estates, and bad Memories? no, keep not your Court-rolls more strictly then a Memoriall of Gods bounty. It was good Counsell of St. Augustine, Know that thou hast much, and that thou hast nothing of thy self. Cognosce te ha­bere, & non ex te habere. Aug. Are thy deserts answerable to thy abundance? no, thou may­est say with Jacob, I am lesse then the least of thy mercies; yea, thou mayest in a time of astonishment cry out with David, and say, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my Fathers house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? 2 Sam. 7.18. The best Noble family at first had but a poor Foundation-stone, as the best Cedar at first had but a poor root. Art thou a Ce­dar? God might have made thee a shrub, and thy first Pro­genitor had no loftier top; the times are well mended with thee, there is a large dowry come to thee for the needy por­tion that thy first Predecessor was born to. Canst look backward? canst see the rock out of which thou wert hew­en? hath God out of a Chaos created such greatnesse? hath mercy by miracle made the cloud, which was no bigger then a mans hand, to over-spread the whole Heavens? O Spring-tide of favour! O extasie of Divine Providence! and what hast lost thy eyes, or lost thy tongue? alas poor blind and mute creature! hath fulnesse stifled thee? or a sur­fet of blessings choked thee? art become short-winded? canst not breath through multiplicity of incomes and ho­nours? hath so much brightnesse quite dazled thee? hath this rank blood begot a fever? must God bring a dark sky before thou wilt recover thy sight? must he open a vein be­fore thou wilt be perfectly cured? must he recover his wooll and his flax before thou wilt consider what store God hath sent in to thee? O unthankful creatures to such a bountiful God! O that ever God should pamper thee thus to forget thy Feeder! O unkind creature, that thou shouldst force God to be severe to thee, because thou wilt not know favour; or constrain him to punish thee, because thou wilt not feel his embraces! Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish [Page 8]people? is this the wages that thou repayest to God for his carefull and watchfull feeding thee? a goodly price that he is valued at by thee; a Potter might have had as good a re­compence from thee for a few drinking vessels, or gallipots, or basons, or pure Chinah-stuffe, as God hath for a whole vintage of blessings. Is this the Peace-offering, the Sacrifice of praise, which thou dost offer for magnifying mercies, for bands of love, for the goodwill of him that dwels in the bush, for the candle of the Lord shining upon thy head, for silver wings, & feathers of gold, for a lot fallen unto thee in a good place, for waters of a full cup, for washing thy steps in but­ter, for prosperity that hath risen as the flood, for riding upon the high places of the earth, for excellency that mounts up to the Heavens, for an horn exalted like the horn of an Uni­corn, for making thy nest as the Eagle, for living as in Eden the garden of God, where every precious stone hath been thy covering, for being satisfied with favour, and being full of the blessing of God, for a hill of blessings, for showers of blessings, for blessings poured out of the windowes of heaven in such an abundance that there is scarce room to receive them? will not all these spokesmen cry­ing in thy ears make thee know thy God? will not the beams of such a radiant favour make thee to see thy God? doth God heap benefits upon thee, & canst not discern a hand of boun­ty? are there so many blessings singing in thy eares, and yet canst not hear the sounding of his bowels? when shall God speak to thy heart? when shall he send tokens enough unto thee to make thee acknowledge him Friend? he hath made thee great, but when wilt thou ascribe greatnesse to him? thou hast had the fruit of his mercies, when shall he have the fruit of thy lips? wilt never make him Prince? nor exhibit to him his true glory who hath set thee amongst Princes, and made thee inherit the throne of glory? hast been brought up thus long in the schoole of bounty, and canst not learn the lesson of thankfulness? hath God blown up such a bright flame of prosperity for thee, and will not a sparke of grati­tude fly from thee? read over all thy patents, free deeds, lea­ses, Courtrolls, Commissions, look upon thy porches, fanes, [Page 9]halles, dining-chambers, galleries, Banqueting-houses, parkes, fish-ponds, gardens, orchards, and see if a dumb man ought to possesse all these; thou art so great, that thou art not able to manage all thy estate thy self, but thou art en­forced to have thy Steward, Sollicitour, Bayliffe, Auditor, Gardener, Park-keeper, Wood-man, and whom not? and is there not one amongst all these which can tell thee what a bountifull God thou dost live by? nor canst not be thy own Remembrancer? If thou canst not find God in thy large possessions abroad, nor in thy vast roomes at home, yet me­think thou shouldst find him in thy Chappell; Oh that same little Chappel (methink) should shew thee the face of thy great God: oh when thou art bending thy knees to God, and lifting up thy eyes to God, and stretching out thy hands to God, and opening thy lips to God, and offering thy heart to God, methinks thou shouldst have a clear and a dear, an actual and an effectual apprehension of thy God, thy preci­ous and promoting God. Will not thy Chaplain pray or preach home this God unto thee? then thou shouldest be Priest to thy self: Hath God given thee an honourable Fa­mily, and a noble fortune, onely to stretch out thy neck, or to be a man of appetite, or to enlarge thy border, that thou mightst dwell alone upon the earth? then how art thou a Nobleman? no, thou art rather a proud, sensual, covetous man than a Nobleman; a true Nobleman doth disdain thus to live, to the disparagement of his Family, to the di­shonour of his God. Who calls thee Nobleman? Hinds and Pesants, and menial servants, and Yeomen, and Trades­men, and Gentlemen, and Citizens, and Courtiers may give thee that name; but God, his Angels, his Saints,Nihil constat esse bonum nisi quod ab ipso dignoscitur esse collatum. Cas­siod. thine own Conscience do not so style thee: For how canst thou esteem thy self a Nobleman, unless thou beest a thankful man? thy true greatness is in gratitude; else, how canst thou call any thing about thee comfortable? no,Cum bona vena­rint benedicito Deo, sic perse­verabunt bona & presp [...]ra. Chrysost. Nothing is good but that a which is acknowledged to come from God; else, how canst thou resolve that any thing will be permanent? no, When blessings come, extoll God, and so thy good and prosperous things shall have n establisshment. Thy present use then, and the future per­petuity [Page 10]of all that thou dost possess, is both legitimated and ratified by thankfulness: what then, thou hast lands in ma­ny Countries, and amongst all these canst not find out the grand Landlord? thou art a Lord, but there is a Lord para­mount over thee: thou art a man of honour, and thou hast an house of honour, and wherefore, but to honour thy true Be­nefactor? yes, thou oughtest to magnifie him, and deifie him.Grati as agere Deo possumus, referre non pos­sumus. Cassiod. in Ps. 47. God hath given thee all for a breast and a tongue, if thou wilt not praise God thou wilt not requite him: the act of commemoration had need to be thine, for the act of re­compensation is beyond thy power: O then that thou wilt not pay thy quit-rent, thy pepper-corn! yes, do it, or else thou art blind in whatsoever thou dost possess: For why hath God made thee a Nobleman? bring an argument, if thou canst, but out of the Topicks of feee favour; he that made thee a Nobleman might have made thee a Drudgeman, he that made thee a Cedar might have made thee one of the under-trees which grow about thee: why dost thou flourish in thy palace, when others have not a cot­tage to hide their heads in: why doth thy Rent-taille come to many thousands by the year, when many have not mony enough to pay their house-rent? O! God might have made those strong shoulders of thine to have born burthens, and those lusty arms of thine to have wrought for thy living, yea and with that diligence and strictness, that If those hands of thine out of idleness had kept one day an Holy-day, the next day might have been a Fasting-day. Si manus c [...]ssa­ret, panis desi­ceret. Cassiod. There are a company of Egenoes in the land, an host of needy people which wander up and down the Nation to beg necessary sustenance; God might have listed thee into this tattered Regiment, and made thee to have crouched for a piece of silver, and to have sought thy bread out of desolate places; but God hath so well provided for thee, that thy Table is continually spread, thy Coffers filled, and thy Wardrobe furnished: whatsoever the wants of others are for meat, money, rayment, thou canst eat dainties according to thy appetite, take out gold and sil­ver by the handful, put on changeable suits of apparel accor­ding to thy delight: others cannot sleep enough in the night-time, [Page 11]nor keep their houses in the day time, nor chuse their work, but do any thing whereby they may get a livelyhood; but thou canst lie in bed as long as thou listest, and rise when thou pleasest; thou canst either sit at home at ease, or ride abroad at pleasure, and thou canst chuse thy work, even chuse whether thou wilt work at all; for what is thy labour? to wash thy hands rather than to work with thy hands, to stretch thy self in idleness rather than to stretch thy joynts in industry; to sprinkle thy head with perfuming powders, rather than to oyle thine hair with thine own sweat: alas, when others are enforced to look to herds and flocks, tilling, seeding, reaping, &c. thou lookst onely to thy cuts and curles, thy knots and fancies, thy half-arms and half-wastes, thy chapfallen boots and neckerchief knees: O then, hath God freed thee from the aking limbs, the warded hands and surbaten feet of other men, and hast not leisure enough to magnifie thy God? yes, God hath given thee all this liber­ty, opulency and affluency, meerly that thou mightst praise the name of him that hath done wonderously for thee. If three should not be an oblation kindled in private cottages, yet the Altar should flame with sacrifices in Noblemens families: God hath pricked out such a song for thee, that it might be called the Noblemans Magnificat; yea, every member about thee might be a Querister to sing in consort, Glory be to God. God hath separated that house of thine from all other imployment meerly to make it a chantry to him­self, what then wilt thou not yet say, Awake Lute and Harp, I my self will awake right early? wilt thou not cause thy glory to awaken? praise God with the best member thou hast? praise him in the highest that he hath given thee cedar-height? yes, blazon Gods Coat of mercies better than thy progenitors Arms, and sing in a louder tone for Gods rich blessings, than thou wouldst if a triumphant chariot were prepared for thee; such mercies deserve a song of degrees, yea, the song might be appointed to the chief singer on Neginothai, or to him that excelled upon Hajjaleth Halshahar; no ordinary In­strument is fit for this ditty, but even that which David cal­leth the Hind of the morning. If a poor man ought to praise [Page 12]God for a being, how much more the Nobleman for a well-being? if a poor man ought to praise God uppon a wel-tuned Cymbal, the Nobleman ought to praise him upon a loud-sounding Cymbal; if a poor man ought to bring a Turtle Dove and two young Pigeons, a Nobleman ought to bring a whole burnt Offering, an Hecatombe; if the height of a Noblemans praises ought to be according to the height of his greatness, then let him consider that God hath given him Cedar-height. The Cedar.

3. Thirdly, a Nobleman is from hence exhorted to be the bet­ter man, for as the Cedar is the excellent tree in the forrest, so a Nobleman should be the excellent Professor in the Church. The Star of the great Magnitude should yield the brighter light, the better plant should bring forth the swee­ter fruit. God doth expect great duty from men of great dignity, and high service from them upon whom he hath bestowed high honour. Optimates optimi, mens graces and places should carry a correspondency; for these have a price in their hands, and they are called fools to their faces if their hearts be not answerable to their abilities; it is a sin against Gods favours if these should be the inferiour Saints, howso­ever if they should be the worst of sinners. A great man to be a great Libertine, or great Oppressor, is no more honour then to be a great Swine, or a great Tiger. The fall of that house (saith our Saviour) is great, so the fall of that noble person is great; then Jeconiah is but Coniah, and no more in effect but a broken Idol. Who honour Nimrod the great hun­ter, or Haman the great persecutor, or Achitophel the great traytor? [...] Men [...]n. Nobile ma­lum. Sen. G [...]nus d [...]ici­tur. Arist. 2. Rher. [...] Menaud. one Abraham which was the Father of the faith­full, one Job which was so righteous that there was not the like unto him upon earth, one Obadiah which feared the Lord greatly, is to be preferred before a thousand of these Monsters and Miscreants. Noblemen if they be wicked are but the greater Stains, for there is no Nobility in impiety, there is nothing noble there but a noble villany. The stock is there decayed, such an one hath lost his Arms, though he were born of a better Father then ever was Jupiter, saith Menander. It was an heavy thing when Ieremy went unto the great men, thinking [Page 13]that they had known the way of the Lord, and the judgements of their God; but these altogether had broken the yoke, and burst the bonds in sunder, Jer. 5.5. How is God offended when he had planted a noble Vine, and it turned into a degenerate plant? As God is served in Heaven by the best Spirits, so he would be served upon Earth by the best men. Bring unto the Lord O ye Sons of the Mighty; whosoever do hold back, do ye bring; these, to be good precedents to others, should have sanctity seen in every thing that belongs to them, they should have written upon their very horse-bridles, Holinesse to the Lord, Zack. 14.20. Why should they promote Gods honour most? yes, he hath promoted them to the highest pitch of worldly greatness, for earthly privileges they are his grand Favo­rites, he hath created them Cedars. But how shall noble­men be true Cedars?

1. First, if they be smooth, that is, courteous. Nobility is highly adorned with affability. Socrates said that harsh man­ners were no more fit for conversation then harsh wine is for taste. Better it is to be of an humble mind with the lowly, then to di­vide spoiles with the proud, Pro. 16.19. Proud men are the defi­ance of the earth. There is that speaketh words like the prick­ings of a sword; now who will come near these sharp-edged dagger-pointed lips? O it is a shame for great men to make humour their praise, or passion their dialect, as if they were never high enough except they expressed themselves in high language, nor dashing enough except they storm in mens fa­ces with tempests. But is the Euroclidon any pleasing wind? is the Raver the acceptable Noblemen? no, he is the Darling of the Age which doth treat the world gently, like great Mo­ses, who was the meekest man upon earth, and great Mordecai, who spake peace to all his seed; these are the men which with Orpheus can tame Lions and Tigers, and with Amphion can move the hardest rocks. Is it seemly for great men to frame sowre faces to themselves (like Caligula) in a glass, that when they go abroad they might look the more formidably upon them whom they do not affect?Sueton. or to give no answer to Suitors till they have crouched down to their very toes, as if their eares lay in their feet, as Aristippus said of Dionysius? Diod. Si [...]u [...]. [Page 14]no, men of high descent and quality should be most benign and placid in their expressions, as the Cedar, though it be high, yet it is not rough and knotty, but smooth.

2. Secondly, if they be usefull; for as the Cedar is very good for building of houses, so should these Cedars be for building of the Common-wealth: the famous Nobleman is the famous Patriot, for if a mans Countrey be like another God,T [...]nquam alter D [...]us. as Hierocles said, then a man should ever be sacrificing to this Numen; it is not enough for men of high degree to live competently and commendably upon their own means, (for every Snail and Dormouse can live upon his own juice) but he must live splendidly and magnificently, in benefiting and bettering the state of his native soil,I [...]veni late [...]i [...]i­am, reliqui marmoream. that if he find it of Brick he should leave it of Marble, as it is said of Augu­stus. It is not honorable for a Nobleman to take the fat of the Land, and to pay no Rent for his birth and beeding, his rich possessions and large promotions; no, he should give larges­ses living, or Legacies dying, or else his Children might be shut within their own walls, never to have liberty to trace that Countrey to which the Father was so unkind or unthankfull; it is basenesse and not noblenesse to hoard up all to posterity, and to do no memorable thing to the pub­lick; they scarce deserve a Tomb-stone, much lesse an Epi­taph. A Barbarian might as well dwell in such a Country as a Native; Thistles do thus grow in a Land, and Vermine do thus creep up and down the Nation. Non nobis nati, we are not born for our selves onely, was the old saying; and is it so old, that it is like the Inscriptions of an old decayed Monument, that few men can now read it? Well, they are the best Antiquaries that can tell the meaning, and fulfil the meaning of this National Adage. For are the mighty of the Land onely to shew their might and riches in preserving what is left them, or in purchasing in new Lordships and Royalties? no, this is self-thrifty noblenesse; and I could name a great number of these Horse-leeches in the Nation, of the greatest rank and degree, which worship no other Deities but their Houshold-Gods, which keep their hands within their bosoms, and have conjured their Estates within [Page 15]a circle, which know no Countrey but their coffers, nor no Common-wealth but their private wealth; which are poli­tick, and yet not political; of the Nation, and yet not Na­tionall; great Pole-cats, high-flown Kites, honourable Li­zards, noble Niggards; as gripple, and inhospital, and in­national as ever was Laban, Nabal, Timon, Telemachus, Za­rus, Calenus, Patroclus, Fabullus, Labullus, or any other which have been noted of sordid and tenacious spirits. Now are these Cedars? are they useful for the general good? the general! no, ye are too general for them, they know no­thing but their particular pouch; if they build, they build onely like Ravens, a nest for their own lumps, and black­birds, a goodly Mansion for Father-flint and his progeny; but not a Dormant, Pillar, Joyce, Stud or Tenon will these spare for the publick; therefore had as good a Bramble grow in the Forrest as such Cedars. But ought true Common­wealths-men to keep all their Timber within their own bark? no, they should serve to repair the breaches of the Land, and to build up the old waste places, Moses, Nehe­miah, Zorobabel, the Ruler in the Gospel, Alcibiades, Aristi­des, Pericles, Porsena, Probus, Telegoras, Pompey the Great, Time­leon, Horatius Cocles, Valerius Publicola, all which have been renowned for famous Patriots, have done thus. All worthy men are beneficial to the Countrey where they have their be­ing, for this is to be a true Cedar, to have pieces quartered out of them, to rear up structures of honour to the Kingdom; then are they properly usefull.

3. Thirdly, if they be fragrant; for as a Cedar doth give a sweet sent, so a kind of fragrancy should come from a true Nobleman, his smell should be like the smell of Lebanon, Hos. 14.7. But how should this fragrancy be expressed? To God, the King, the People.

1. First, to God; in purity of faith; for errour in judge­men is a bone out of joynt, a glaucome in the eye, an impost­hume or calenture in the brain; all Religion without an uncorrupt faith is a blazing Comet; such a man is subverted, Tit. 3.10. He hath in him the mystery of iniquity, 2 Thes. 2.7. The root of bitternesse, 12 Heb. 15. The Doctrine of Devils, [Page 16]1 Tim. 4.1. he hath (as Jeremias saith) broken in pieces Gods image, and set up a Foxes in stead of it. How necessary is it then that mens minds should not be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus, 2. Cor. 11.3. But hold fast he faithfull word according to Doctrine? 1 Tit. 9. Away with all Hetero­clites in Religion, and Hermaphrodites in the Church. Er­rour gives an ill sent afar off, it is truth onely like the Ce­dar which doth yield the fragrant savour.

2. Secondly, to a King in Loyalty, Loyalty I say, and not contumacy. What is left to the best of the people but sub­jection? Submit your selves to every Ordinance of man, whether to the King as supreme. Be subject to principalities and powers. Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. Fear God and ho­nour the King. The Fathers children must bow down before him that holdeth the scepter. Where then is there the least ground for opposing Princes? they which say they are the Kings best subjects, must not onely help him into the Throne, but they must not disturb him in his Throne; if they draw not a sword till Scripture give them authority, I never look to see a pitch'd field fought against a Prince; for the Word of God will not suffer a sword to be unsheathed against a lawful Sovereign. Dost thou abhor Idols, and yet commit sacrilege? so, dost thou defie Popery, and yet take the Jesuits Priming-powder? I like never an Article nor Particle of that Religi­on, and blush to think, that they which seem to be as great enemies to it as my self, yet have fought battle after battle against their gracious King, as fast as any Romish Catho­lique could: O, rebellion, I doubt, is worse Popery than scrupled Ceremonies: I tremble at it the more because I find Solomon threatning sudden destruction against it, and St. Paul damnation. If it were but a matter of gallantry it were ano­ther thing, yet Joab's an Abner's Men playing this game was but mad sport, there was bitterness in the later end; but when it comes to the loss of a soul, and ends in damnation, this is horrour: let all them which are true Protestants beware of this lusty, bloudy, damning Popery. But what need I trouble my self about this needless fear? though this were once an unhappy errour, yet it shall never be renewed: the [Page 17]Times are pacified, mens judgments more enlightned, their actions reformed, and their hearts setled in firm Loyalty; nothing but the peace of the Kingdom shall be studied, and subjection to supreme Authority practised, no King shall e­ver suffer a broken nights rest by a Protestant; a Protestant will take an Oath of abjuration against rebellion, as well as against the other erroneous opinions of Popery; whatsoever turbulencies, commotions and treasons may be in other Re­ligions, yet amongst us there shall be seen nothing but the peaceable, obedient, and King-preserving Protestant: Pro­testant, do it, for it is for the honour of thy profession, thy conformity to Gods Laws, the inviolableness of thy Oath, the welfare of the Nation, and the bliss of thy soul. If we be subjects, what can be more eminent in us than duty and submission? no, Obedience doth carry the palme. Sola obedientia palmam gerit. Aug. Subditis obse­quij gloria re­licta est. Tacit. Generale pa­ctum est huma­nae societatis obtemperare re­gibus. Aug. 2 Confess. The glory of Obedience is left to subjects. It is a general covenant of humane society to obey Kings. How is a King supreme if other men may measure heads with him? how do men take heed to his commandment if they give laws to him? how are they his Liege-men if they be League-men against him? how is that Oath which they take to him truly the Oath of God, Eccles. 8.2. if it may be sworn down and sworn against? let any man reconcile these contradictions. But we have no need of a Doctor of the chair to compose differences, or ex­pound difficulties; for the whole Nation now doth speak nothing but humble subjection, and so let it ever do; for Sedition hath an ill sent, it is Loyalty that hath the true savour.

3. Thirdly, to the people in Patience, Justice and Cha­rity.

1. First, in Patience: It is the honour of a man to pass by an offence, it is but the humour of a man to be revenged on an offence: The wisdom which doth descend from above is gentle, peaceable, and easie to be intreated; but the wisdom which doth descend from beneath is furious, spightful, and never to be intreated; and an implacable man is the incendiary of the Countrey, and the fiend of the Age. Is this to imitate Da­vid, who patiently endured Shimei's reproches? or Joseph, [Page 18]who forgave his malicious brethren? or Christ, who pende­bat & petebat, hung upon the Cross, and yet prayed for his enemies?Aug. no, it is to imitate Cain, Esau, Saul, Haman, and the Devil himself, who is the envious. Should we then for every distaste require an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth? no, we that owe ten thousand talents, had not need pluck our brethren by the throat for a few pence: Forgive thine e­nemy, and thou hast given him a deadly wound. Funestam ini­mico dedisti plagam. Chrys. in 5 Mat. Posse & nolle nobile. Is it honourable to work our teeme upon injuries? no, to be able to do a shrewd turn to an adversary, and not to do it, this is noble. Revenge hath an ill sent, patience is that which doth give the sweet savour.

2. Secondly, in Justice: Let beasts live by prey, but a true noble heart doth scorn to live by spoils; he hath no­thing that he doth possess just, unless it hath been weighed out unto him by the standard. He is ready to say with that noble Judge, Nolo denarium malè intrantem, I will not have a penny come over my threshold the wrong way: the sighs of his neighbours, the grones of his tenants, and the cryes of the poor are as terrible unto him as thunder; therefore he doth measure out all his actions by equity. Violence hath a bad sent, but Justice is a very sweet savour.

3. Thirdly, in Charity: Where God hath not spared bounty, it is ill for that man to spare more than is fit. A true Nobleman is the Almoner of his Countrey, he doth ac­count hospitality his honour; he doth think that his whole estate is but a Lease of Gods free favour, and therefore he doth pay his rent strictly; he doth suppose that he is not a Nobleman, unless he be a charitable man. If the clouds be full they will pour out rain: He dare not hide his eyes from his own flesh, the poor is brought up with him as with his fa­ther: He doth think he can never say his prayers well, un­less he doth listen to the cries of the poor; for he that stoppeth his ears against the cryes of the poor, shall cry himself and not be heard. He doth think that he cannot justly beg his dayly bread, D [...] paululum ut recipias cen­tuplum. Aug. if he doth not break bread to the hungry: He know­eth that there is no more thriving merchandise than alms-deeds, Forgive a little, and receive an hundred-fold. He doth [Page 19]remember, that the hand of the poor is Christs treasury; Manus pauperis est gazophylaci­um Christ. Rab. Maurus. there­fore he will not look God in the face till he hath sent him a present by the hand of the poor. O! this is the man which doth smell sweetly upon earth, which doth walk the streets with a fragrancy, which hath the Cedar-sent. Thus have I done with the Scutcheon in the person of honour, the Cedar.

PART II.

now let us come to the Herse, the dead corps under it, in the word fallen, the Cedar is fallen.

From hence observe, that Natures greatest glory is subject to the stroke of death, the Cedar is fallen. The magnificence of this world is but an apparition, the sweetest Musick but a semibrief: Are not my dayes few? what should we talk of the pomp and Minstrilsy which the flesh doth afford? for thy pomp shall be brought down to the grave, and the noyse of thy Viols. Death will strip us out of our pompous robes, and case up our Viols: though thy windows be close shut, and thou hast mured up thy self in hewen stone, yet Death will come up into the windows, and enter into the palaces, Jer. 9.21. Let thy veins, eyes and heart-strings be never so quick and lively, yet thy eyes will be turned into thy head, thy veins will be broken, and thy heart rent asunder with sorrow. Oculi vertentur in capite, venae rumpentur, & cor scindetur dolore. Bern. Sit volu [...]t [...]ri­um quod est ne­cessarium. Chys. Prima quae vi­tam dedit hora, carpsit. Seneca Thou hadst as good yield up thy self cheerfully to death, for, maugre all thy resistance death will force thee into her back-room, her blind room, dark room, rotten room, carcase-hole; therefore let that be voluntary which is necessary. Thou tookest thy poyson in the womb, and it will never leave working till it hath brought thee to the grave: the first hour which gave that life took it a­way, for if thou beest in thy young age thou art beginning to dye, if thou art in thy middle age thou art half dead, if thou beest in thy old age thou art at the point of death, and wilt ere long be quite dead: These Chimes will soon leave going, this Lottery will be soon drawn forth, this Comedy will soon be acted out to the last Scene; sleep will enter in­to our eyes, the Voyder will be brought upon the table, these shop-doors will be shut, these buzzing flies will betake [Page 20]themselves to their Winter-rooms, these swelling torrents will be dryed up, the fair fruit will drop, the loftiest Cedar will fall. The Cedar is fallen.

Application.

1. First, this doth shew that Nature hath her casualty.

Non est, crede mihi, sapientis dicere, vivam. It is not (be­lieve me) the part of a wise man to say I will live. Fools may thus chatter, but wise men will use no such Solecisms: yet how many of these Lunaticks have we that talk of no­thing but of long life? let things happen here tanquam in choro, as it were in a fit of Musick, yet they think the tune will never alter, nor the dance be done.Naz. We have many a Deaths-head worn upon our fingers, but when shall we find this Deaths-head in our ears, eyes, tongues or hearts? We see many a dead corps, but we do not think that this flesh of ours shall ever be carcase-strong: we behold many a Grave-spade, yet we are confident that it will be a long time ere that shall dig for us. But, O be not Fanaticks, beware of illusions;Moriendo obli­viscatur sui qui vivens ob­litus est Dei. Caesarius ad­monit. 6. Quid perdidit homo, quid in­venit. Ansel [...]r. in med. thou which wilt not mind death, perhaps at last shalt not mind thy soul. If thou must part with life, it were good beforehand to think of the separation, lest thou dost meet with a general damage and a general curse together: such a careless wretch doth know to purpose, both what he hath lost and what he hath found. Simple men, ye that can­not hide your selves from death, why do ye not endeavour to kill death by many a dying thought before it doth come to kill you? O that this whole Congregation should not be full of dying men! O that this whole Congregation hath scarce three dying men in it! How many of you do that now living that ye would do at last dying? how many of you do kill those corruptions now, which being here unmor­tified will kill you in another world? what can ye feel no­thing till the Pursivant hath arrested you? what do ye put off all your souls work to a deaths pillow? it is to be thought so? for weak men have not misery enough about them to apprehend this, learned men have not wit enough to apply [Page 21]this: what is the reason? can any of you escape death? have any of you a writ of privilege to be freed from death? no, death hath you in her black roll, and every one of you shall be called forth in order: O therefore have an expecta­tion of death, and a preparation for death, or else I shall say that there is a great deal of Knowledge, but little Vertue; a great deal of Profession, but little Conscience. Tell not me of your skill in the Metaphysicks, get skill in the Phy­sicks, this same state of Nature; be well versed in generation and corruption: I shall conclude that ye are some Conju­rers, and addicted to familiar Spirits, and much given to Necromancy, if your knowledge of death do not teach you to dye, but onely to tell tales or death, and to prophesie of accidents in this world; they that study the Black Art do thus, and I doubt ye do little better. Would to God I could draw you, with the Magicians, to burn your books of curious Arts, and to turn this book of the Expiring art, the large Treatise of Corruption; as small a book as ye do ac­count it, I tell you it is more voluminous than the Pandects, or than all the Codes. To study this book well it will exer­cise the best wit to the height; ye will find more Aenigma's and Postula's in it, than in the Mathematicks; yea, more difficulties in it than in learning all the Eastern Languages: A crafty politician, for all his Mercurial brain, will be Lard put to it to unfold this State-riddle; a Doctor of the chair may be posed in this intricate book. I tell you it hath so many branches in it, and is so copious in Canons and Axi­oms, and Aphorisms, that it may be called the book in Fo­lio, or the Library of the world, or a general History, An­nal, Ephemerides: It doth discourse of all things from the Artique to the Antartique Pole, from the Creation to the later day of Judgment, it doth contain the state of all Man­kind. Ye must not go to any Stationer for it, for it is sold onely in Tomb-street at the sign of the Deaths-head; and thou canst not buy it for any money, but onely laying down a mortified heart for it: Amongst all thy pamphlets, or most classical Authors, it were good for thee to get this book, and to peruse it seriously, and to begin to be skilled in it betimes; [Page 22]for I tell thee it is a necessary book, an hard book, and a large book; thou canst not read it over in an hour, in a year; no, the Saints are learning it from the first hour of their con­version to the last gasp: If thou wilt not get this book of thy self, Death at last will thrust it into thy hand, it will force thee to read it: If thou wilt not have it in thy Closet, it will be laid open before thee upon thy death-bed; and wilt thou neglect the getting of it, or the getting exact in­sight into it till it shall be presented to thee at that last hour, when thou shalt have a dark eye, and a blind heart? canst thou with a dead hove upon thine eye-lids be a quick read­er? O there are many sentences at such a time will trouble thee, especially these; O Lord, I have waited for thy salvation. All the dayes of mine appointed time will I wait till my change come. Teach us, O Lord, to number our dayes, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome, By our rejoycing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord I dye dayly. Let your loyns be girt up, and your lamps burning, and be ye like men that wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks ye may open to him immediately. Walk whilst ye have light, for the night cometh when no man can walk. Afterwards came the other Virgins also saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us: but he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor hour when the Son of man will come. After­wards he would have inherited the blessing, but he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought the blessing with teares. These and a thousand other heart-breaking sayings thou wilt meet with at that time, which will be as ill as Hi­eroglyphicks to thee to understand; if thou hast but read a word or two of them in thy life-time, it will be confound­ing to thee to read a whole book of such a perplexing chara­cter, and such enigmatical precepts at the hour of death. O if all families would buy this book, and set Conscience to mark the Contents of it, what a reformation should we in­stantly see amongst Lords and Ladies, Puffes and Browers, giddy heads and crafty souls, sherking Merchants, and gri­ping Officers, young Damne-me blades and old Usurers, corrupt Judges and temporizing Clergymen, black Liber­tines [Page 23]and white Hypocrites? for ought not all to learn the art of dying? yes, it had need be their art, for it will be their fate; whosoever doth stand he must fall. The Cedar is fallen.

2. Secondly, this should serve to take men off from their high dependence, that because they are Cedars therefore they shall not fall: O how many, because they dwell in houses of Ivory, cannot find the way to the house of c [...]y! they have so many locks against theeves, tha [...] they think death cannot get an entrance to them; they have frighted so many inferiours, that they think to daunt the King of ter­rours: They full little think that a coffin at last must be their bed-chamber, and worms their chamberlains; that they shall be so eaten up, that no fragments shall be left of them but bones and skulls: shew them the dunghill, they think that they shall never be swept out to remain in the heap.; shew them the Sapypot, they think they shall never be dissolved into meer gelly; hold this glass of mortality to their faces, they are confident that this shall never be their grisly com­plexion: they have enjoyed so much liberty, that they have no bands in death; they have so many conveyances lying by them, that they think they have gotten a covenant with death, and that they are at an agreement with hell: they take, make, much pleasure in their flatterers, and do infinitely depend upon their physicians. But, O let them put off their false specta­cles, and stop their ears against Siren-songs, and think that Patents and Patrimonies, Chimney-pieces and Head-pieces, Shields and Spears cannot defend them against the Pursivant of the grave. Thunderbolts strike upon the highest mountains. There is no difference in death between the bodyes of the rich and the poor. God will take away the honourable and the counsellors, Feriuat (que), sum­m [...]s fulm [...]na montes. Horat. Nulla d [...]ser [...]tio inter cadav ra d [...]vitum & pauperum. Amb. in hex­am. 3 Es. 3. The Nobles of Judah are slain, Job 39.6. The pillars of strength sall to the ground, Eze. 36.17. They of high stature shall be cut off, Es. 10.33. He slew the wealthiest of them, Psal. 78.31. He will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them with judgment, Eze. 34 16. The Nobles shall be called to the Kingdom, and there shall be none, Es. 34.12. Here is a leaf-fall or Nobles, or a Charnel-house for Peers: noble bloud will congeal in the [Page 24]veins, honourable breasts are but the fairer mark for deaths fatal dart. God for his own use will beat the sweetest spi­ces in his Mortar, put the best herbs into his streyner, feed his guests in the dark Ordinary with noble flesh, have an handful of noble dust, to shew that he is Lord of the Creati­on. What tree shall stand when his axe is lift up? no, He will consume the glory of the forrest, Es. 10.18. The Cedars shall fall. The Cedar is fallen.

3. Thirdly, this doth shew, that the greatest are but tem­porary possessors of what they do enjoy, for death is an absolute fall: the Cedar doth not bow or bend, shake or totter one­ly, but the Cedar is fallen; and when the Cedar is fallen what doth remain of it but a dead trunk? thou enjoyest much whilst thou art living, but when thou art in thy grave what of thy revenue doth remain unto thee? no, thou art fallen, and all thy greatness fallen with thee. Where are they which were ambitious of the chariot of Authority? a Ubi sant q [...]i mb ebant cur­rum potestatis? ubi vestes & oraamenta per­egrina? ubi turba servo­rum? Aug. de mt. & grat Verae devitiae sunt quas por­rat conscientia. Chrys. Where are their gorge­ous vestures and outlandish dresses? where are their troops of ser­vants? is there any thing left to themselves but dust and ashes? Where then is the perpetuity of wealth or welfare? no, a man may say, that those are onely a mans true riches which a good conscience do carry away. As for these worldly riches, we know the date of their continuance, all must at last leave their free Deeds behind them, give up their Keyes, seal away their E­states to new heirs. What pleasure hath a man in his house when the number of his moneths are cut off? Job 21.21. When his goods are increased he shall take nothing away with him, neither shall his pomp descend after him, Psal. 49.16, 17. His substance shall not continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof up­on earth, Job 15.29. They have slept their sleep, and all the men of might have found nothing, Psal. 76.5. If this night thy sont should be taken from thee, whose shall those things be? whose? name the man, thou canst not name thy self; no, whosoever shall be left rich, if thou hast not a secret stock thou shalt dye a very beggar: Ye talk much of your riches and your vast means, but so soon as ye have lost your breath ye have lost your right to them,Si vestrae sint, ollite vob [...]s­cum. Bern. for if they be yours then take them away with you. But was there ever heard of a proprietary in the [Page 25]grave? or of a great Land-holder in the land of forgetful­ness? that a Coffin should be a counting-house, or a dead car­case a free-holder? no, I will not give thee one years purchase for all thy grave-stock. If thou hast no other livelyhood, there is not the poorest day-labourer which is worth but the clothes upon his back, which would change Estates with thee: what then? thou art yet perhaps a mighty Owner, and thou hast liberty and ability to do eminent things; con­sider, hast nothing to do for the Church? God calls upon thee for this duty, Honour the Lord with thy substance: Hast lived thus long under the Gospel, and neither living nor dy­ing wilt thou do nothing for the Gospel? shall the Church­man be none of thy Legatee? wilt onely pay thy Tithes, and hast never a free-will Offering? what, worse than any Jew? wilt thou slip out of the world and leave no Offering to the Pulpit? would any Papist thus take his leave of his Masse­priest? But if thou wilt thus die, farewel needy Gospeller, we are well rid of such a parcimonious professor. But fur­ther, hast nothing to do for thy fame? Seek those things which are of good report; a good name is better than a precious oyntment. Hoc naturae thesauris repo­nimus quod fa­mae commodis applicamus. Cassiod. l. 8. [...]p. 23. Nature hath no greater treasure than the golden wedge of Fame: I do not say, that there is a more imprudent, but that there is not a more impudent man, than he which doth contemn his own fame: Next to thy soul it is fame that doth carry the immortality. What therefore, dost desire never to be spoken of when thou hast left speech?Contemptio boni nominis est vi­tium cum im­pudentiâ. Plut. in Alcib. then pity it is that ever thou hadst a name: let the Bearers carry thy sappy body and thy carcase-memory together, and let them be buried together in one grave like entrails, and stench in one dunghill. What therefore wilt thou do nothing to eternize thine own fame? hast means enough, but no mind to get a new life when thou art dead in the lips of the people? have ambitious men been desirous of this, and shall not men of vertuous and generous resolutions aspire after this? what then, had Absalon his pillar, and hast thou no monument? then farewel fame-killer. Yet further, hast nothing to do for thy soul? Make ye friends of this Mammon of unrighteousnesse, that when ye shall fail them they may receive you into the everlasting [Page 26]habitations. Charge them to be rich in good works, ready to distri­bute and communicate, laying up a good foundation against the time to come. He hath dispersed abroad and given to the poor, his righte­ousnesse remaineth for ever. God is not unjust, to forget your work and labour of love. Hath God then blessed you with liberal means and large possessions? how will ye dispose of these at last? will ye look into heaven before ye seal away your e­states? will ye cast an eye upon your souls before ye make your Wills? Remember that ye are to leave all; to whom shall it be left? whatsoever ye give to posterity, it may be scattered abroad within a few years; but whatsoever ye give to heaven, that will be kept sure: whatsoever ye be­stow upon your acquaintance, they will thank you for it but for a year; but whatsoever ye shall bestow upon your souls, these will thank you for it for ever. Love all then, be kind to Nature, let not Wives and Children, Kindred and Friends say, that ye were strait-handed to them; they are your relations, and shew ye your dying respects to them; but let it never be said, that when ye parted with all ye had no affection to heaven, no hearts towards your souls. A­mongst all that ye bequeath away shall there not be an Hea­vens-portion, a souls-legacy? I lament such an Owner, yea I defie such a Testator. Let him and his Will go together, let him have that heaven and souls-bliss that his own seal hath assured to him. Can ye consider this without fear? can ye think on it without horrour? O then, shall I not perswade you to lay aside a good benevolence for heaven, and to spare a large bag for your souls? yes, ye that have but a small charge of children, give a quarter of your estates to heaven; ye that have no children, give half of your estates to your souls. This is the Doctrine which I do preach to mine own people, and I would send it abroad as a general cry to the whole Nation; that as I would here raise up an Almes-house, so if it were possible I would fill the whole Kingdom full of Almes-houses. The first founders of our Protestant Church were magnificent in these works, and why are we fallen from their first love? O it grieves me to think how Princes and Priests, Noblemen and Gentlemen, Judges, Merchants, [Page 27]Physicians, rich Officers, in these later times have declined from their Forefathers noble examples. What are pious works become the windfalls of Religion, or the superfluous branches of the fruitfull tree? the last sentence will not ad­judge them to be so; for, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I, was a stranger and ye lodged me, I was naked and ye clo­thed me, &c. Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of these little ones, ye have done it unto me. Is this the last sentence? and is it the Kingdom-tenure? and shall we think to be blessed of the Father without this motive of benediction? no, let us trust the Judge, and prepare the right fruit for the sentence: Whosoever then possesse some of your means, let heaven have a part; whosoever inherits a moity of your estates, be sure that ye make your souls co-heirs: what will ye dye in­debted to your souls, or leave year souls without a compe­tent allowance to travel into another world? he is an unkind and an unnatural man that doth not love his wife and chil­dren; but he is a witless and a mad man, that doth love any better than his soul. It was a passionate saying of St. Am­brose, He that placeth his treasures onely upon earth, Qui collocat thesauros in terrâ, non ha­bet quid speret in coelo. Ut quid respiciat in coelum, ubi nihil habet re­positum? quic­quid pro anima seceris hoc tuum est. Amb. in Mat. 6. hath nothing that he can hope for in heaven: why should that man look up to heaven, who hath nothing there laid is? whatsoever then thou dost for thy soul, that is onely thine own Let none then be dearer unto you than your souls. Though ye cause others to abound, yet let not your souls want: your devout Forefathers did thus, and be ye their religious charitable children: yea, I beseech you by your progenitors eleemosynary Wills, and by their soft bowels, by their gracious hearts & precious dust, by their generous spirits & illustrious names, by their glorious remains, their honoured memories, their bright crowns, and their ravished souls, that ye would prove your selves to be right-born, uphold the ho­nour of their families, exemplifie the copies which they have set you to write, grave your selves to be their true progeny in letters of gold, stay behind them to shine in their beams, to cast a smell abroad with their odours, to shew their cha­ritable hearts stirring quick in your bosoms, to follow after [Page 28]them with a cluster of their fruits, to carry in your hands a transcript of their compassionate works, to settle their good foundations in another world; yea, to be attended upon with such a glorious train of alms-deeds, as ye find waited upon them in bright liveries when they entred into heaven. If your old Protestant Ancestors, or their old Protestant Faith; their glorified souls, or your souls, which may be glorified by their fruits, can stir your heart-strings, enlarge your bowels, infuse the like communicating, sympathizing spirit into you: O give their rich portions, feed the world with their bread, sacrifice their Offering of a fair eye, stretch out their distributing hand, preserve their records, write out your selves worthy by their inscriptions, leave behind you their monuments, enter heaven by their golden key, purchase a crown at their rate: If by all this you do find your selves prompted to the work, apprehend your opportunity, make use of your minutes, hear now the clock doth strike, see how the glass doth run, behold how the shadows go off from the dial; consider the naked skin and bare hand which ere long ye will have, look into deaths Inventory, remember that at last ye will be left nothing worth but coffin-reliques, worms-leavings, stench, gelly, sappyness; for when we are dead all power and purpose, sufficiency and efficiency, means and mind, fruit and freedom, enjoyment and enterprise, possession and possibility, asfluency and ability will be taken away from you. O! death is the old rifler, the grave the grand plunderer: what shall then be the end of you, O ye Cedars? where shall your tops then be? ye shall be hewen down, or blown down to purpose, not worth stock or branch, root or rind, pith or leaf; the tree is then at the mer­cy of the axe, a pitiful Cedar when a fallen Cedar; all the glory is thrown down to the earth, every one then will make spoil of it, it is subject to a general waste, for the Ce­dar is fallen. Thus much of the Herse, the dead corps under it in this word fallen.

PART III.

Now let us come to the Mourner, the Firre-tree. Why is the Firre-tree called upon to consider the fall of the Cedar? to shew that Inferiours ought to bemoan the fall of their Su­perious. From hence observe then, that the death of eminent men is to be lamented; Shall such be carried out of the world without solemnity? no, the Mourners ought to go about in the streets, Eccles. 12.5. The bearers do but carry them out upon their shoulders, but these carry them out in their breasts, their sad hearts bear the weight of their Coffin. Others may make it a vulgar day, but these make it a a bitter day, Amos 8.10. others may not alter a posture, bur these bow down hea­vily, Psal. 35.14. others may remain dumb, but these cry Alas, Alas, Amos 5.16. others may have their delicious fare, but these have a diet by themselves; they eat the bread of Mourners, Hos. 9.4. yea, eat ashes like bread, Psal. 102.9. others may spruse up themselves in rayment, but these have a dresse by themselves; they will not so much as put on orna­ments, Exod. 33.4. nor bind a tire upon their heads, or put on shooes, Ezech. 24.17. but they sprinkle dust upon their heads, Job 2.12. rend their clothes, Esther 4.1. yea expresly, wear mourning apparell, 2 Sam. 14.2. others may have pleasant gradens, the frolicks of joyous times; but these have po­stures by themselves, they put their mouths in the dust, Lam. 3.29. they cover their lips, Mich. 3.7. they make their selves bald, Ezech. 27.31. they cut their beards, Es. 15.2. they taber upon their breasts, Nah. 2.7. they teach their daughters wailings, and every one her neighbour lamentation, Jer. 9.20. There is a time for all things; and as others have their time for law­full delights, as to plant and gather stones, and heale, and sew, and dance, and embrace, and speak out, and sing out; so these have their time according to sad accidents, to pluck up that which is planted, to cast away stones, to wound, to rend, to mourn, to be far from embracing, and to keep si­lence. O that there can be a bright corner within that Hemi­sphere where the Sun is in an Eclipse! that there can be a [Page 30]chearfull look to that place where an eminent man doth die: wringing hands, blubbered cheeks, and doleful out­cries, are as proper for the Funeral of a famous Patriot, as scornes, and taunts, and clapping of hands are for the herse of a tormenter of his Country; let the one be buried with the burial of an Asse, saying, Rot thou bruit beast: Let the other be buried with the burial of an Heroe, saying, O that such precious flesh should ever come to waste under-ground. The fall of a cedar should be the anguish of the firre-tree; living man look disconsolately, the mirrour of the age is depar­ted; firre-tree shake thy top to the ground-ward, the Cedar is fallen. Funeral mourning is a lamentable plaint for the decease of dead men worthy in esteem: Luctus est plan­ctus pro mortuis ad [...]matis Aq in Ps. 34. Luctus est ani­mi aegritudo ex acerbo conce [...]u interitus [...]jus qui nobis cha­rus fuit. Fran. pat. de reg. l. 5. c. 17. [...]. Eurip. yea, it is a fever upon the spirit, out of a sad apprehension for the death of him that was dear to us. They are men of no bowels which can part with deserving friends without teares and troubled bowels; for, as Quirinus said, when can any rather shew themselves to be true men then at such a time, and at such an accident? It is pity upon such an occasion (as Demonax said) that there should be three men found that had not water enough to sprinkle upon such a grave; they are fit their selves to be buried who stand not true Mourners at the burial of a Country-ornament; such a Firre-tree doth not deserve to have had such a Cedar grow by him. With how much sorrow and sadnesse were Jacob, Mo­ses, Samuel, Josiah, Christ, St. Stephen, Justin Martyr, Ignatius, Polycarp and Cyprian, Gregory Nazianzen, Constantine the Great, Justinian the Great, Theodosius the Great, Artemius, Procefius, Venanitus, Agathon, Mascalon, Ʋsthazarus, Pontia­nus, Hilarius, Florentius, Pregentinus, Laurentinus, Armoga­slus, Aithalus, Abdon, Sennas, Tiburtius, Agrippitus, and a thousand others which I could name unto you buried? O they were buried as if the Water-courses and the Cataracts of peoples heads had been set open and let loose; yea, as if they would have made their graves to swimme with tears. What then are the Naeniae and Epicedia, the sorrowfull Mournings at Funerals unlawful? no, they were wont to be called, Justa, true dead-rights: The harsh Musick at such meetings should be Lachrymae, nothing but Threnodies should [Page 31]then be heard; Nihi, nihi, plange, plange, as the old Hebrew ditty was. Wo and alas, ah my Brother! all my Sister! the strings of that instrument should be heart-strings, and the keys should be cries, and the quaverings should be quakings, and the soundings should be swounings; the Firre-tree must not suffer the Cedar to fall without the mone of the For­rest; no, Fitre-trees, dash your tops together, raise a La­mentation amongst your selves, know the pitiful, accident that is befallen: Firre-tree, the Cedar is fallen.

Application.

This serves to reprove them who know not the want, nor feel not the loss of illustrious men. The cedar is fallen, but where is my firre-tree, which droops and bends, and is ready to bow down to the earth at the sense of such a fall? I read that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell, they stood still, 2 Sam. 2.23. and that when Elias was taken a­way, Elisha cried after him, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof, 2 Kings 2.12. and that Da­vid lift up his voice and wept beside the sepulchre of Abner, 2 Sam. 3.32. and gave him many an honourable testimony, as, Dy­ed Abner as a fool dyeth? Know ye not that a Prince and a great man is fallen in Israel? But I find no such consternation, com­memoration or lamentation for the death of many a worthy man amongst us: no, they let them fall like a scale from the back of a fish, like a stone out of a wall, like a tooth out of the jaw-bone, like an hair from the head, like things of no moment or price, and so let them go. Men are forgotten in the city where they have done good, Eccles. 8.10. Merciful men are taken away and no man understandeth it, Plind. 10. c. 43. Es. 57.1. I read that the people of Rome, for the death of a Crow that was wont to salute Tiberius, Germanicus and Drusus for Caesars, were so afflicted that they performed exequies for it: and that L. Crassus for a Lamprey dying,Marcob. l. 3. Saturn. c. 15. which he was wont to feed with his own hand, was so dejected, that he mourned for it in black, as if his dear daughter had been dead: and that Cypa­rissus vexed himself to death,Virg l. because a white Hart which he [Page 32]loved, died. But I find no such deep grief divers times from many men for the death of persons highly-meriting; they have no odours in their lips, nor no bassom in their eyes, to preserve these mens honours: they have scarce a wrinkled face, much less a wounded heart; yea, it were well, that instead of [...], a grievous bewayling at their departure, there were not [...], a malicious rejoycing at their departure: As the Athenians, so soon as they heard that Philip was dead,Plut in Demost. sacrificed to their gods, and gave a crown to Pausanias which murdered him:Eutrop l. 8. and Adrian, so soon as he heard that Trajan that famous Emperour was departed, he triumphed, reproched his vertues, and pulled down the bridge which he had built over the Danubius: and Lewis the Eleventh,Aemil l. 10. when tidings was brought him that Charles D. of Burgundy was slain at Nancey, he leaped for joy, and gave a liberal reward to the messenger which brought the news. Such maligners have we amongst us, who are infinitely com­forted when such glorious Lamps as did outshine them are extinguished, and when such lofty, Cedars as did over-top them are fallen. But is this thy neighbourhood, that thou which didst grow so nigh to observe the height of the Cedar, is this thy humanity that thou which hast known what fra­grancy the Cedar had, shouldst be pleased that the Cedar is fallen? no, rather perplexed; thy rind should change co­lour, and thy sap should run down to the root, thou shouldst be a Mourner, for this is the reason why the Firre-tree is spoken to, namely with anguish to consider what is happe­ned to the Cedar. Firre-tree the Cedar is fallen.

2. But secondly, the Firre-tree is to be a Mourner, because the state of the Firre-tree is as dangerous as that of the Ce­dar. The Cedar is fallen,Quis se excep­tum putet à conditione mo­riendi, qui non fuit exceptus à conditione nas­cendi? Ambros. Hâ lige intra­vimus ut exir [...] ­mus. Bern. a Firee-tree doth but grow upon a loose root, and hath but a time of standing. From hence observe, that death is a general lot; Cedars and Firre-trees must all down to the ground. Who should think himself excepted from the condition of dying, which was not excepted from the condition of being born? upon this Law we entred into the world that we should go out of it. This is the end of all men. I go the way of all the earth. We must [Page 33]all needs die. What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? Non miseretur inopiae, non re­veretur diviti­as. Bern. Vide quis sit­servus, quis sit dominus; dis­cerne si potes victum à rege, fortem à debili. Aug. The rich and the poor meet together. There Kings and Counsellors and the Prisoners rest together, and the servant which is free from his Master. Death doth not pity the poor, nor fear the rich. See who shall be the Servant, who shall be the Master; distinguish if thou canst between the Slave and the King: the Pigmee and the Giant, Robes and Raggs, Palaces and Cottages, Golden Chaines and Iron Chaines, Bevers and Bonnets, Bagges piled up, and the beggars pouch, are all one to death. The rich man is in deaths eye, and the poor man cannot hide him­self; no, death hath a nimble eye that doth pierce into all corners. Do not think that because thy stature is low, thou shalt be over-looked: No, thou which art poor dost make such a crying in the streets for supply of wants, that death cannot but hear thee; thou walkest abroad so naked of at­tendance and followers, that death can strike thee at ease; thy purse is so empty to procure Physicians to preserve life, that death can creep to thy heart without fearing or feeling an antidote. Death doth go a generall circuit; there is no such Epidemical disease as death, it doth level all to the ground; Cedars and Firre-trees must fall. Firre-tree, the Cedar is fallen.

Application.

This doth serve to fray all the wood. Ye thought here would have been onely a Cedar-Sermon, but I have Firre-tree-Doctrine also. I know it pleased you highly to hear the Grandees menaced throughly; but rejoyce not too much, for I have threats for the infimates also. Come on then, Mecha­nicks, Tradesmen; yea, the poorest Abjects here which are half-naked, and perhaps halfe-starved, look to your selves, I hold up deaths arrow, and shew you that it will strike in the breasts of you all; for ye in the galleries, and ye upon the pavements; ye that sit, and ye that stand; ye that have the vast Ware-houses, and ye that have scarce a shop or shud of your own, are all going into the strait passage, the narrow hole. Your lusty leggs will fail you, your quick breath will draw short in your lung-pipes, ye are all fainting and fail­ing, [Page 34]the Cedar is fallen, and the Firre-tree must fall. I see none but mortal faces amongst you, I behold none but dying men. Death doth sway an equal scepter to all mankind, impar­tial death doth spare no man. Communia toti genti sceptra te­nens. Maphre­us Vegius in append. Virg. Nullum saeva coput Proserpi­na sugit. Many of you have gotten a par­don for all your exorbitances, but death will seal no Act of Indemnity; ye have escaped the halter of many your fel­low-miscreants, but death hath set up her gibbet for you. Free your selves from this, and I will say that ye have more wit then the cunning Secretary, the crafty Judge, wily Gaol-keeper, and the politick Fanatick; but I see death ready to apprehend you, condemn you, and lead you forth to execution; what therefore have ye any wet eyes? ye will else ere long have dry eyes. Do ye bend your knees? if not, ye shall bend them lower; have ye held up your hands for mercy? if not, ye shall not have an hand to stir; have ye found the plague of your own hearts? if not, ye will die with the deadly marke upon you; have ye stilled the cries of the poor? have ye made satisfaction for your minglings, a­dulteratings, false-weights, slippery bargaines, usuries, perjuries, spoiles, spights? if not, they will meet you at Gods judgement-seat. Think not that ye, because ye can out-brave the pulpit, that there is nothing can tame you; yes, death is coming to right all the injuries that ye have done to the Ordinances. Who hath heard our voice? to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? no, the Prophet is (ye say) a fool, the spirituall man is mad: But behold ye de­spisers, and wonder. Ye shall answer for every Sermon which ye have disdained, defied, vilified, or neglected: He that hath dashed his foot against this stone shall be broken in pieces, it had been better for him that a mil-stone had been hung about his neck, and that he had been thrown into the midst of the Sea. We are Messengers, but death is the powerful Prea­cher; it is the Church-mans pleader, or, if ye will, Gods Herald at Armes; it will force you to make reparation for all your contempts, and revenge them with fury. Here is a thundering teacher indeed, it doth preach the Funerall Ser­mon of the whole world, the last Sermon that every man shall hear, or, if ye will, the Repetition-Sermon. Thou shalt [Page 35]have but one Lecture, and if thou beest not converted by that, it will send thee away to the deep pit, the scalding fur­nace, the worm that will never die, the utter darknesse, to la­ment thy hard-heartedness. O therefore search, for thou wilt be tried to the height; humble thy self, or else there will be no place found for repentance; cleanse, or else thou wilt remain spotted for ever; shine, for thou must be ex­tinguished; turn a living Saint, for thou wilt turn a dead corpse. The Cedar is fallen, and Firre-tree thou must fall. I know that ye of the Inferiour rank have Superiour spirits, but for all your roughness and perversenesse, your obstina­cy will not prevail against this prophet of the Sepulchre; Death is a sharp preacher indeed, for it doth preach with a dart in the lips; and this preacher you must hear, and this dart ye must feel. Quit your selves of your sins, for ye can­not quit your selves from the grave; leap out of hell, for ye cannot leap from death: Ye must all have grisly faces, fal­len chaps, bloodless cheeks, breathless lungs, staring eyes, and stark limbs; ye will be fit for nothing at last, but the land of darknesse and the pit of corruption. Potent and im­potent, noble and base, rich and poor, Cedars and Firre-trees, must all fall. Firre-tree the Cedar is fallen.

But why did the Prophet call upon the Firre-tree to consi­der the fall of the Cedar? could he not have called upon the shrubs, or myrtles, or thorn-trees, to lament the loss of a Cedar? no, these had ill sap in them, or a rough bark, and so fruitless and useless many of them, that they were fit for nothing but the fire; therefore he doth reject these, and apply himself to the firre-tree: For the firre-tree is a most beautiful tree, as Pliny saith, and purely white, and there­fore it is called by some Gallica; it is full of delightfull strakes within, and admirable for beams, and to bear the weight of buildings, and both the pars sapina & fusterna (as Authors call them) are of rare use for several employments: Cato would have his curious Presses made of them, and So­lomon, next to the Cedar, doth call to Hiram for the Firre-tree to build his Temple with, as ye may see in 1 Kings 5.8. & 10. Verses: a very singular tree it was, and though not [Page 36]so excellent as the Cedar, yet little inferiour to it. The Firre-tree then was the fittest judge of the worth of the Ce­dar, and well chosen out by the Prophet, as the most pro­per tree to lament the fall of the Cedar. Firre-tree, the Cedar is fallen. From hence then further observe, That they must be men of prime affections which must be selected to prise the perfections of others. Desert will want its honour if worthless men pass sentence upon it: what need have 1 of madmen? so what have we of low-gifted, or bad and base-minded men? Sus Miner­vam? shall the injudicious or profligate set out the fame of meriting men? no, what taste is there in the white of an eggs? the heart of the wicked is little worth. Vertue will never have due commendation from the contemptible. Wisdom is justi­fied of her children. Indignitas & laus non habent concordiam. Seneca. They which have no dignity in them­selves leave the most laudable things with an indignity: honey is not sweet to a distempered palate. Hercules shall be held but an half-man if Lycus give his opinion of him, who knew not how to handle either sword, bow or spear: Cicero shall be counted a man of no wit, if Cestius may pass sentence upon him: Varro shall have no other name but that of Swine out of the mouth of Palaemon. So that as the Hir­canians were wont to cast, their dead bodies to dogs to be de­voured, so we had as good have Mastiffs as men to be judges of worthy mens qualities, if they have no good qualificati­ons themselves, for they will but tear and worry. Well then, if ye would have noble-spirited men to have their just Funeral-right, let those which are praise-worthy themselves give it them; as the Prophet here, when he would have the Cedar to fall with honour, he doth call to the Firre-tree to discharge this duty. Firre-tree, the Cedar is fallen.

Application.

This doth serve to shew, that the ignoble do but eclipse the ho­nour of the conspicuous. These mens eyes are too dim to dis­cern the brightness of orient colours, these mens voices are too harsh to sing with melody this high-pricked song: they which are of sordid spirits themselves will never celebrate to [Page 37]the height the peerless parts of others: no, when this work is to be done, Come men and not dunghills, Adeste homines, non sterquili­nia. as Diogenes was wont to say. Homer brake that potters vessels which would be singing of his Verses. They which have not two good qualities will ever be detracting from them which abound in variety of rare perfections; as Hiero told Xenophanes, that he which could not maintain two servants well, was conti­nually disparaging Homer which daily fed above ten thou­sand. The stone of an eminent mans praise is too hard for him to break who hath not cad his teeth;Dentes non edi­dit. Adag. Nescit capitis & inguiuis d s­crimen. Juven. what hath he to limb out a rare Picture, which doth not know the difference between the head and groin? Away then with all the ab­jects and refuse of mankind (which have neither wit nor virtues in them) when the excellent come to be magnified; for the Prophet here doth not call to them which were the scorn and shame of the forrest to set out the praises of the Cedar at the fall, but the noble Firre-tree. Free-tree, the Ce­dar is fallen.

PART IV.

Now let us come to the right Funeral-cry in the word howling, Howle firre-tree. From hence observe, that the fall of a principal man should carry a deep sense with it. He which was admired greatly in his life-time should be deplored great­ly at his death; one tree should begin the cry,

the whole Wood should be filled with doleful sounds, yea, we should see a whole Congregation

rending as it were their breasts with passionate grones.Statius. It is not enough at such a time to step into the house of mourn­ing, or to accompany the dead corps, or to stand by and be­hold the solemnity at the grave, but we should be like those which — viscera vivis eripiunt, would even tear out their bowels alive: the hearts should ake,Virg. 12 Aeneid. and the tongues [Page 38]should howle, there should be a doleful lamentation, Mic. 2.4. People should cry bitterly, Eze. 27.30. They should weep with the weeping of Jazer Es. 48.30. There should be a mourning like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the field of Megiddo, Zach. 12.11. Men should weep till they have no more power to weep, 1 Sam. 30.4. Those things which formerly were occasions to us of pleasure, Quae mihi e­rant voluptati maximae, xunt recordatione doloris exaspe­rant. Amb de ob Satyri. Publico luctu tanquam paren­te orbati omnes essent. Plat. in Cleto. should now exasperate our grief at the remembrance of them. Titus that famous Emperour was brought to his grave with a gene ral mourning, as if people had been deprived of their common pa­ront. When Pertinax was dead, the people did so ingemi­nate their griefs and cries, that they even fainted, as Cuspini­an reporteth. When Valdemar the Danish King died, the men with beating their heads, the women with dishevelled hair, the husbandmen with filling the Woods with cries, and the Mariners with filling the sea-shores with yels, so la­mented his death,Saxo Grom. l. 15. as if the common funeral of the nation had been come upon them. Thorismund the renowned King of the Ostrogathes, was lamented forty years together, for do­ing those famous acts against the Gepides. Crantz. l. 2. Suec. c. 16. O then, men are not to be turned out of the world with ordinary grief, but passion; there should not onely be sobbing, but wayling; not mourning, but howling. Howle Firre-tree, the Cedar is fallen.

Application.

This serves to reprove them which are too soft-speeched at the fall of a Cedar; no great noyse heard through the wood, how­soever not shrieks, our Firretrees know not how to howle; no, the most deserving men for the most part are buried in too much obscurity, howsoever with too much silence; there is little dejection, or discruciation at the interment; an hired Mourner might do as much as they expresse; the greatest black is to be seen in the Herse-cloth, or the mourning ap­parel; no great heavinesse seen, little howling heard, a man would think they were a brambles, and that there was scarce a good firretree left in the wood;Tanquam ocu­los d [...]fossos. Basil. Monod. de Naz. they do not as S. Basil did at the death of Nazienzene, weep for their losse as if they were deprived of their eyes; or, with the people of Rome, at the [Page 39]death of Constantine the Great, shut up their bathes, forbid markets; some stand in the streets as if they were astonished,Sigon. l. 5. Imp. others ran up and down as if they had lost their senses, some lying upon the ground, and others knocking their heads against the wals, and a great company sobbing and roar­ing, as if in the death of him they were half dead. No, we can part with our dearest friends and the brightest splendours of a nation, without any great darkning in our selves: we may have a demure countenance, but no perplexed breasts, no driery tears, no bitter howling. O! how do I blush when I hear the Trojans crying out, Hectora flemus, We lament our valiant Hector? and when I read that Alexander, upon the death of his dear Hephestion, was so afflicted, that he not one­ly bestowed ten thousand talents upon his Funeral, and hung Glaucus his Physician, because he went to see a Play when he should have been attending upon his Patient; but he threw down the pinacles of cities, forbad all Instruments to play within his Ten [...]s, caused his mules and horses to be sha­ven, and sate like a most disconsolate creature in his Tent: and that we for our renowned Patriots have not the affections and afflictions, the griefs and grones, heavy hearts and dole­ful tones that the very Heathens had. We talk of Christian burial, but what Christian passages or passions are there? onely a Christian company, or Christian rites, but no Chri­stian commemoration of vertues, or Christian lamentation for the losse of one that countenanced Religion, defended the State, adorned his Countrey with Clemency, Justice and Hospitality: no, the Priest doth all, the people have no o­ther solemnity to afford but to yield their appearance. O firre-trees, is this your respect and reverence that ye owe to a cedar? shall he fall by you with so little sorrow or astonish­ment? no, ye should know what the losse of one sublime, beneficial man is: there should be nothing but shrill cries heard in that forrest where such a Cedar doth fall: not onely the Firre-tree should grieve, but it should howle. Howle firre-tree, the cedar is fallen.

Now let us consider a little what there hath hapned a­mongst us: hath there not been a fall? yes, and a very sad [Page 40]one, so sad, that it might make you drop and droop, sigh and sob, rend and roar: he that hath a breast, methink, should groan, and he that hath a tongue, methink, should howle. Here are many clad in black before you, and ye had need to be as black within as they are without: Never was there a greater occasion amongst you for a mournful meet­ing, a doleful congregation; the forrest it self may be affli­cted, and they without the forrest may lament. If ye should hold your peace the stones would speak; so if ye should be si­lent, the dumb would open their lips, even strangers and forreigners; as Germanicus at his death was lamented by the Barbarians; and Baldwin the Third was bewayled by Noradine, and the very Turks far and nigh. What Inhabi­tant will be so unworthy, or what neighbour so unkind, as not to bestow a few drops and mones at the fall of such an ornament of his Countrey, and (without offence I hope it may be spoken) a lustre to his Nation? Had he such fame by his life-time, and shall he have no honour at his death? yes, as Socrates said, Frankincense doth belong to the gods, and praise to men: Thus di is, laus hominibus debe­tur. Give unto God his true worship, and unto this worthy Peer his due praise. If the fruitlesse or saplesse, the inferiour and vulgar trees should not be sensible of the accident, yet let the nobler trees have an anxious apprehen­sion of such a fall; yea, let all the firre-trees howle; Howle firre-tree, for the Cedar is falle. And I say, the Cedar, for was he not a lofty tree in his time? yes, noble he was by birth,

Look upon his crest,Ovid op. 16. and there ye shall see the soaring Falcon, which brought as much Land to his Predecessors, as that could with her swift wings measure out with one flight; the story is known, and therefore I shall not need to beautifie it with language. But stemmata quid faciunt? had he had never a noble Ancestor, (as he had many, both by the Fathers and Mothers side) yet he was worthy to have been created a Noble for his noble heart and his honourable [Page 41]qualifications,Arist. l. 2. [...]her. Nobilitas est quaedam lous veniens de me­ritis parentum. Boer. l. 3. Pros. 6 de Colis. Phil. I sid. Pelus. l. 2. Ep. 126. which adorned him more then lineage and pe­digree: for though Nobility be Majorum claritas, the bright­nesse of anancient family, and it is a kind of praise, when a man can derive a stock from deserving parents, yet vera nobilitas à probis moribus nata est, as Isidor Pelusota saith, nobility of good dispositions, is better then nobility of a good descent; for what is the honour of blood to the honour of vertue? no, they which want the last, it may be said of them as it was of the two Gracchi, that whosoever could say that they were Great, yet no man could say that they were Good; but mine was not only the Great but the Good Nobleman; there was in him not onely [...] but [...] and [...]. To let pass then the Cedar for his height, and to come to his properties. Had he not in him every thing that is requisite for a Cedar? yes:

1. For first, was he not smooth? who can call him a knotty tree? no, Quo non alter amabilior, as it was said of Au­gustus, then whom there was none more friendly, I may say of him as Agistrata said of Agis, nimia tua bonitas, nimia mansuetudo, thy courtesie might seem too great, thy mildnesse too great, the very Idea of humanity and gemme of affability; it did appear to all.

1. First, where there was the nearest conjunction; I mean betwixt him and his honourable Lady: Were there ever Espousals with more inviolable affection? was the yoke of Wed-lock ever worn with more delight? was not he to her the covering of her eyes? Gen. 20.16, was not she to him the ve­ry desire of his eyes? Ezech. 24.16.Eadem erat illis mens & simil­limi affe [...]tus. Ludov. Vives de Christ. sem. l. 2. may I not say of them as Ludovicus saith of his Father and Mother, that there was ever between them the same mind and the same affections, as if they had been born under one Constellation, or had but one­ly two faces and one will? Match me such noble paires, which spent out so many years in dear and reciprocal affe­ction.

2. Secondly, for his servants; was there ever a great Lord that treated servants with more gentlenesse? no, they lived with him rather as with a Father then a Lord, or as with a Friend then a Master; under some others, servants might be called as they were in Lacedemonia, Helot, slaves, [Page 42]but under him they might be called as they were in Creet, Chrysonetae, the golden servants; he preferred many, loved all; now where was there more freedom and freeness?

3. Thirdly, for his neighbours, was he not most affa­ble? yes, another Adrian the great Emperour, who was as Dion saith, humilimorum amicus, a friend to the most humble; so was he a companion to the meanest, a Lord amongst Lords, but familiar amongst his neighbours; yea, he had rather lose his life than his humanity, as the same Adrian said, when her was taxed for using too much civility (as they thought) towards his Inferiours. I never remember any which knew better how to reserve state and preserve friendship, to be both a Lord and a neighbour together. His courtefie then is evident, a great heart that carried in it a most heroick spirit, and yet was the soft bosome of kind­nesse.

2. Was he not useful? yes, what did he study more than the good of the Common-wealth? one of a most publick spirit, he honoured his Countrey as his Mother, as Pytha­goras advised his scholars; and he was not onely born in a Famous Countrey, but he was dignus patriâ worthy of his Countrey, as Aristotle said of a friend: how many good of­fices and noble favours could I reckon up to confirme this?

3. Thirdly, was he not fragrant? yes,

1. First, for his faith: as he was well-gifted, so he was well-principled; he had a singular judgment and a sincere heart, apprehensive and steddy; that whereas some travel into far Countries to bring home an outlandish faith as well as outlandish manners, which think they are never witty enough till they be skilled in the Magick of Religion: he, though he had been amongst the Inchanters, yet would he learn none of their sorceries. Few Noblemen had been in more European Countries than he himself, and there where the Crafts-masters dwelt, yet none of these could corrupt him or seduce him, he returning home a true English Prote­stant: when his Mother-Church had given him his grounds, he hated that a Step-mother should be his new Mistriss: he [Page 43]ever hated errour and novelty, and was sound both in do­ctrine and discipline: It is true, the jewel was his own, yet he came often hither to have it filed; for as he stored the Church with the ablest men he could find, so he was a dili­gent frequenter of the Sanctuary, and a reverent hearer; and those which he found to be intelligent and invariable, he both countenanced and honoured them: that as it was said of Pertinax, that he was pater Senatus, & pater omnium bo­norum, The father of the Senate, and the father of all good men: so he was the Patrone of Orthodox Doctrine and Orthodox Teachers. And as he lived so he dyed; for a little before his departure he made a solemne profession of his faith, and then said that he died a profest adversary to all Romish doctrine, and a true Son of the Church of Eng­land according to the 39. Articles. And thus ye find him fragrant concerning his faith.

2. Secondly, was he not fragrant towards his King? yes, name me a more loyal Peer. He was lapis quadratus, a squared sone; neither Sequestrations, nor Imprisonments,Basil. Compo­sitions, Taxations or Decimations could make him fickle or false; he had rather have been sick of any disease, then have had the Leprosie of disloyalty to have appeared in his forehead. He was (as it were) one of the stedfast Angels which remained firm, when Lucifer and his train rebelled. His fidelity in this kind was so eminent, that it was Gods high mercy that it did not once cost him his life at home; and it drew him when he got free often to hazard his life abroad; and when he returned, how was his Estate drained, till it almost fell into an Epilepsie? So then for his Loyalty, he is come to his grave with this honour, that he lived and died an unblemished and an unstained Royalist, fragrant he was to his Prince.

3. Thirdly, was he not fragrant towards his neighbours? yes,

1. First, in patience; I hope there is not here or else­where, the most impatient or pacified man that can ac­cuse him to have been an irefull man. It is true, he had an high magnanimity of spirit to defend his just Rights and Royalties, but for common injuries he regarded them [Page 44]no more then Northern blasts;Suidat. he did not with the Athe­nians set up a spear to run that man to the heart which had injured him, or offered him an abuse. But when he was pro­voked divers times to compell satisfaction for high af­fronts and contempts, he thought it was beyond his Religion and his noblenesse to right himself for every trivial distast; no dart would stick in this water: Telum in aqua non remanet. Chrysost Non m [...]m ni me percussum. yea when he had been highly irritated, he was ready to say with the Philosopher, I do not remember that I was stricken. He had learned that of Solomon, say not I will do to him as he hath done to me, and that of St. Paul, why do ye not rather suffer wrong? who of his degree and qua­lity lived more peaceably amongst his neighbours? or had a more relenting heart? or troubled the Age lesse with vexa­tious suits?

2. Secondly, was he not fragrant in his Justice? yes, he might be set up for the Standard. The Lamb can as soon bite as he could gripe or oppresse; another Pericles, that never cau­sed any man to go in a sad garment for his rapines. He might have said with Samuel, whose oxe have I taken? whose asse have I taken? or to whom have I done any wrong? bring me that man that can say truly, that he hath a Tenement belonging to him that he hath gotten by the wrest; or one furrow of Land in his whole Estate which doth cry out against: him for injustice.

3. Thirdly, was he not fragrant in Charity? yes, Town and Country can testifie that odoriferous sent. His house was a kind of Hospital, a Store-house to haile and sick; his White Wood-stacks and his black pots can never be forgot­ten. Those which came, went not away empty; and those which did not come, he would seek them out and relieve them; his heart was the poores Guardian, and his hand was their Treasurer: He had troops of poor attended upon him, as it was said of Henry the third, a German Emperour; and wheresoever he met them, either in streets, high-waies, or fields, his sympathising spirit melted towards them, and his communicating hand dropped bounty to them; thus e­very way his fragrancy was felt. A right Cedar he was in all respects, and though he be fallen, yet as the forrest will [Page 45]want him, so it should not see him cast to the ground with­out an heart-stroke, a lip-roar, yea a passionate howling. Howl Firee-tree for the Cedar is fallen. But saith one, when you have magnified your Cedar to the height, I see a spot in him; dost thou? so did he in himself, and I hope that his re­pentance hath prevented thy censure, and his remorse thy ran­cor. To me, to others he often lamented his errours; and with fervent prayers and bitter tears begged pardon at the hands of God Almighty. And is God reconciled to him, and wilt thou be inexorable? But what was his spot? hast not thou the same? hast not thou more? hast not thou worse? He was no Persecutor, he was no Traitor, he was no Tem­porizer, he was no Hypocrite. There are many spots, and the Leper may be apt to cry out of anothers foul skin. It is good for every one to sttitch up his own rents, before he do complain of a seam-rent place in anothers garment, or to wash his own face clean before he do find fault with a spray in anothers checks. Who can say my heart is clean? I am clean from sin? in many things we offend all. If thou Lord shouldst be extreme to mark what is done amisse, who is able to stand? But let his spot be what it will, I trust he hath prayed it away, and we have prayed it away, that by the vertue of his tears and his friends tears (for God was reconciled to Jobs friends for his prayers and sacrifices) or howsoever by the infallibi­lity of Gods Covenant, and efficacy of Christs blood it is rinsed away. To give thee all the assurance that by the judgement of Charity is requisite, that be died a true Peni­tent: Consider what I am now to propound unto thee. A little before his departure like a man that had his deaths stroke in his bosom, and a yearning for divine favour in his conscience; he fought for nothing but mercy, and thirsted for nothing but reconciliation: he abounded in tears, was frequent in supplications, forced himself beyond his strength to the prayers of the family, had often the prayers of divers Church-men in his Chamber, and would lift up his hands devoutly at those things which moved him: he wanted no Counsel, and embraced Counsel, delighted to have the Bi­ble read to him, even eight Chapters at a time; he called [Page 46]for mercy whilst he had freedom of speech; and when for four dayes together he lay in a manner speechlesse, yet God gave him liberty to utter these words, Lord, Lord, have mer­cy, Lord, Lord, have mercy; and these were the onely words it that long space which came from him distinctly to the hour of his death; God taught him (I trust) the language with which he should breathe out his last gasp, or God him­self (which is very likely) spake for him. But if he had ne­ver shed tear, nor uttered prayer, the tears and prayer of his friends if there be any power in Christian intercession) I hope have beaten out a way to Heaven for him; for his friends were seldom without watery eyes, & we were seldom off from our knees; so that God I trust hath received our prayers, and received his soul; he went like Elias with a whirl-wind and a fiery Chariot into Heaven. Come on then ye Firre-trees, will ye suffer such a Cedar to be carried off from the ground without a forrest-clashing, and beating your tops one against another? no, let the wilding-tree, the aspe-tree, the sloe-tree the beech-tree and wicl — ree be si­lent if they will, but let all the Firre-trees joyn together in a generall mourning for when shall we see his equall? when shall we behold his Superiour? do ye bury him with thrilling spirits and torn hearts; make all the wood to ring, and rend, and roar at his fall; yea, do ye break out into an absolute howling. Howle Firre-tree, the Cedar is fal­len. Well, since he is fallen, let us leave him to the Lord Paramount of the Forrest, onely let his Memory be pre­cious, and his fragrancy sweet in our nostrills; let us for a farewell to him, call him the Mirrour of worth, and the Monument of honour: Let us hope that God hath but taken him away, because he hath use of some Cedar above for his own building; and that he that planted him hath disposed of him for the honour of his own Court; yea, that he sent special Messengers, even the blessed Angels, to carry him from hence upon their shoulders, and to lay him within the Court-gate, to be made a Pillar in the Tem­ple of God: There lie thou, thou noble Cedar, and re­main to thy everlasting honour and blisse. Onely he be­ing [Page 47]gone, God give us grace to think on our own fall, that we that howl for his fall, may not howl at or after our own fall, but fall with comfort, and be carried away at last to the building of God, an house not made with hands, but eternall in the Heavens.