Spittle-house Logick the Scripture doth tell us that there are abjects Ps 35.15 the lowest of the people 1 Kings 12.31 Children of base men viler then the earth Job 30.8 and that there are the mighty of the land 2 Kings 24.15 men of high degree 1. Chron. 17.13 the sheilds of the earth Ps 47.9 and the foundations of the earth Ps 82.5 some so great that they are called the mountaines of Israel Ezek. 36.1 and so high that their height is like the height of Cedars Amos 2.9 Shall the men of low rank then vie degrees with the Nobles of the land no the honourable man is the head Es 9.6 Plut. Have not all states had these Superiours and inferiours yes the Lacedaemonians had the common people and the chiefe Magistrates which were called Phylarchae Herodot the Egyptians had seven orders and the principal amongst them were the Celasyries and the Hermotybies Herodotus doth prove that there were the like amongst the Persians Indians Scythians Lydians c. Let us look upon Rome the famous State of the world Inquâ—lini cives Sigon de yuâ— Rom. I. 1. In the dayes of Romulus there were the baser sort of people and true Citizens and afterwards he setled them into Clients and Patrons and Patricicians In the days of Romulus there were but three Tribes but in the dayes of Servius there were four Tribes and afterwards they increased to 35 Tribes and every one of these Tribes had five divisions for several degrees and ten Courts where the Superiours executed justice upon the Inferiours as Merula Lazias Toxita Phileticus Rosine Lipsius and many others do report yea amongst all sorts of people there were strange distinctions as those authors do affirm by the want or enjoyment of outward privileges the slaves ware long hair and went either bare-headed or with a sordid covering but the freemen had their heads shaven Sagum paludamentum and the right of a cap allowed them the common souldiers might weare but a long cloak but the General might wear a rich robe of honour the ordinary Gentry had the right of the golden ring and the Shooe with the half Moon upon it but the high Nobility had the right of the Curule chair and of Images The Senators themselves had several sorts of Orders amongst them as the Consuls the Praetor the Dictatour the Decemviri Aediles Censors Questors c. So then seeing all Nations allowed of mean men and chief men should the earthen pitchers hold themselves to be made of as good materials as the best vessels of a Commonwealth no the Nobles are said to be comparable to fine gold Lam. 4.2 If there were not a distinguishing dignity to be ascribed to men of high place why is Joseph called the second man of the Kingdom Joseph of Arimathea styled an honourable Councellor Festus spoken to by the name of noble and Christ himself compared to a Nobleman So then the forrest of a Nation hath not all trees of the same growth no there is the low plant and the Cedar The Cedar 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 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 Birth-right 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 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
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 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 altis inclytum titulis genus Clara domus satis haec nobilitate tuâ est Sentea in Here. sur 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 qualifications Arist l. 2. â—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 â—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 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 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 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 mâ—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 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 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 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 FINIS
title of honour a Cedar A Cedar he was but did he grow upon an immortal root no Pulsa gemit crebris succumbens ictibus arbos Sil. Ital. the lofty tree is subject to the stroke of the axe the Cedar is fallen he is fallen and may not others be frighted yes the blow of the axe or the noise of the fall of the Cedar ought be heard with horrour through the whole forrest Virgil. tonat omne fragore the whole wood filled with a dreadful sound for if the Cedar be fallen how shall the firre-tree stand no the fall of the Cedar will be the destiny of the firre-tree Vnum et commune periclum Ovid. One common danger doth belong to both the Cedar being fallen all the firre-trees may shake at the top and quake at the bottome But shall the Cedar fall and shall there only be an appalling apprehension of the general casualty no there ought to be some honour done to the Cedar at his fall a doleful shriek should be heard through the whole wood every tree should have its dumb groan Ovid. Ter conata loqui ter fletibus ora rigavit Thrice it should desire to speak and at last speake rather with tears then words Outcries are the best language at the fall of a Cedar let there be sighs and sobs at such a mournfull accident that as the Cedar did grow to the honour of the forrest so he might fall to the anguish of the forrest yea the lamentation should be no lesse then ejulation every family apart every firre-tree apart howling Howle firre-tree for the Cedar is fallen Firretrees I see enough here but are they not so taken with their own excellencies that they cannot acknowledge anothers perfections It is an hard thing to confesse commend praise and prize the deserts of our brethren Envy is a bad praeco an Encomiastick and self-love is almost as ill Omnes sibi melius esse velle quà m alteri Terent. And. the one hath a squint eye and the other hath a dumb tongue Every one had rather hear his own praises then anothers Their own birds are fairest there is no Hyacinth but that which doth grow in their own garden their own temples must onely be filled with Laurell Bavius and Mevius will detract what they can from Virgil's due praises There is an Emulation that is a generous and noble imitation of another mans vertues Aemulatio est dolor animi cum al us potitur câ re quam tu concupâ—veris Francis Patric and there is an emulation that is a base and passionate vexation against another mans just honour for his vertue Our friends envy is as dangerous as our enemies treachery as Cleobulus said Asinius Pollio will leap out of the room if he doth hear Sextilius commend Ciccro Simmias will not endure Pericles to be praised nor Alcmaeon Themistocles Caligula having a bald head himself cannot endure a comely bush of hair upon other mens heads for he sent the young men of Rome to the shaving Agathocles was so enraged to see Gelo have a stately sepulchre erected to his honor by the Syracusans that he depraved Geloe's vertues and rased his tomb For the work that is upright a man is envied of his very neighbour Eccles. 4.4 These are the dead flies which corrupt the sweet ointment none must wear a garland living nor have an honourable exequy dying but they How then shall I get my Commander of the tower of Lebanon interred what wayling shall I heare through the wood at his fall what are ye the only men of desert ye may be worthy praise-worthy I do not deny your qualifications ye are firre-trees but may there not be a tree in the forrest which may equal you exceed you yes I do present you with a Cedar a Cedar he was a Cedar he is not no he is fallen And what now that which dieth let it dye and that which falleth let it fall Doth it not grieve you to see such a goodly plant lye on the ground then let no man tender a firre-tree if the firre-tree do not value the Cedar fall thou with ignominy if thou dost suffer such an one to fall without due esteem Remember that he is fallen and that it is the last good office which thou canst do to him to lament his fall to say of him so long as he stood he stood with admiration and now he is fallen let him fall even to exanimation Every good man amici casum gemit doth lament the death of such a Country-Splendour the losse of such a valuable Cedar is even unvaluable wish that thou hadst his eminencies wish that thou hadst fallen in his stead many a firre-tree might be spared in respect of such a Cedar But seeing it pleased the Lord of the forrest that he should no longer grow look with a sad eye upon the breach the rent the torn flagge the deep hole he hath made at his fall Oh that so many trees about him should never enjoy his presence again that so many eyes which beheld this Cedar in his glory should never be so happy as to behold him in his height again but seeing there is no remedy but this Cedar must be taken away call him Cedar and bestow a volly of grones at his fall I do not wish thee to fall with him no long maist thou grow upon thy stock and stemm but if it be possible let thy top bow down thy bark cleave a little sap drop out of thy rind at his fall if any firre-trees have any sense in them let them loosen their pith at such an accident if they have any speech in them let them howl Howle firre-tree for the Cedar is fallen 1. We are this day at a great-mans Funerall and it is fit we should have a Scutcheon and here it is in the person of honour the Cedar 2. And that we should have an herse and here it is in the dead corps that the Cedar was fallen 3. And that we should have a Mourner and here he is in the firre-tree 4. And that we should have the right funerall cry and here it is in the Howling Howle firre-tree for the Cedar is fallen First for the Scutcheon in the person of honour the Cedar Are great men Cedars then from hence observe that Mankind hath heights in it that is One Superiour to another There are lower trees and taller trees Are all Apostles are all Cedars no The whole body is not one Member 1 Cor. 12.14 there are the nobler and ignobler parts All creatures have their distinctions beasts birds flowers plants and planets amongst men naturally there are distinctions are all of the same height strength beauty wit nay there are distinctions in mans faculties senses homogeneal and heterogeneal parts Why then should the states and conditions of men be brought down to a parity as if all men were alike and must be alike for power and possessions no this is but the Vagrants argument or