may be said to liue The life of mā is but a spā long nay lesse it is but instans tēporis a moment Number weigh the time past it is spent it weighs nothing Number and weigh the time to come it is vncertaine we cannot weigh it Number weigh the time present is is not a dram a graine a mite it is but a moment Eudaeus Villalpanda nor all the measurists haue waight or measure to expresse such a fragment a moment being not so much in proportion to eternity as the least moat in the aire to the body of the whole earth Wherefore if God even beyond the course of the natural compasse of life do vouchsafe those whō he hath chosen from the world called out of the world to endow them with the life of grace to the end they may seeke his glory and even in the frailtie of life to afford many so blessed gratious opportunities to seek him let vs gird vp our loines and seeing the day starre hath shined in our hearts and the day sprang from on high hath visited vs let vs runne with patience vnto the race that is set before vs Heb. 12.1 looking seeking striving earnestly endeavouring and pressing hard to the marke vnto Iesus the author and finisher of our faith whom if we seeke we shall finde and with him all things necessary for vs. To which glorious acquisition as this blessed Prince was faithfully addicted so now is he of it in soule fully possessed 7 Whose noble thoughts aymed at more then either his Royall birth could designe him or Regal succession assure him desiring to improue his Patrimonie * Regna extera Regna extera that is coelica Regna or * Pithagorei vocant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ex adverso sitā Terram Clem. Alex. Strom. lib. 5. cap. vlt. Regna extera quaerere that is Regna ex terra or extra terram celestial kingdomes were his aime hope a kingdome that hath no end for termination no confines for limitation farre aboue principalities and powers wherein no man can resolue whether his sanctified ambitiō were more high or more happy For had his desires level'd at the regaining of a neighbour kingdome which either by match hath beene conioyned or by prowesse hath beene conquered the example had not wāted followers nor the enterprise honours Our Chronicles haue bequeathed a testimony vnto al posterity in this kinde of a * renowmed Prince of Wales whose honour shall not lie in the dust * The victorious Blacke Prince while the life and light of books shall remaine whose much honoured example no doubt did much adde valour to Great HENRIES disposition of warlike honor in the atchieving of some Princely adventure and giving life to that honourable though now lamentable estate of English Martialists Whose valiant service against Popish and Turkish enemies hath beene sealed with their blood and they had in high esteeme among al the military men in the world whose renowne had enioyed a resurrection had this Loadstarre of honour appeared longer But his designes being directed to a more spirituall marke heaven was his hope beginning his voiage to glory in the way of grace through which kingdome of grace he passed not as an alien or traveiler but as an inheritour not as a servant but as a Prince ly sonne an heire a coheire acquainted in his passage with the word and accompanied with the Angels of God Seeing al worldly things beneath him he esteemed them as sublunary neither altogither worthy of contempt nor any way as able to afford content to his spirit which like an Eagle fled vp into the spheare of divine contemplation and so farre was he aboue his nature by grace as hee was by Royall birth in nature aboue other men A kingdome he might haue affected for worldly honours sanctified may be sought by those whom God hath therevnto appointed Gen. 49.1 Iacob besides his legacie of spirituall blessing left temporall legacies to his sonnes the blessing of the Sea to Zabulon blessing of fruits of the land to Issachar Iudgement to Dan victory to Gad staffe of bread to Asher Eloquence to Nepthali fruitfulnesse to Ioseph the scepter to Iudah so of the rest And it was Davids acknowledgement The king shall reioice in thy strength O Lord exceeding glad shall he bee of thy salvation Thou hast given him his hearts desire hast not denyed him the request of his lips Psal 21.3 Thou hast prevented him with the blessings of goodnesse thou hast set a crowne of pure gold vpon his head Psal 21.3 When the kingly Prophet confesseth with much ioy the blessings he had received from the Lord generally here as in other places particularly hee nameth these blessings of good things how he was chosen before his brethrē wiser then his teachers worthyer then the ancients stronger then his enemies and not only expresseth God to be the author of his Royall power but also of his Martiall prowesse Blessed be the Lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight my goodnes my fortresse my tower my deliverer my shield Psal 140.1 Psal 140.1 Yea and the preservations of him in vtero ex vtero ab vtero to bring him to that dignity by covering him in his mothers wombe Psal 139.13 by receiving him from the wombe Psal 22.10 yea by taking him out of the wombe Psal 71.6 All religious Princes will acknowledge Tuum est regnum Potentia gloria his was the Practique well as the Theorique he put kingdomes in the scales of iudgement to examine as wel the weight of their worth Gods blessing in so great gifts as the weight of their labyrinths of cares feares and Maeanders of troubles he found the honours to be transcendent that good kings were the Dearlings of God his deputies stars in his hands signets on his finger the great lights of his firmament those to whom he not onlie partaked his scepter his power his honour but even of his owne omnipotent Titles not only as the woman of Tekoa gaue the attribute to David 2. Sam. 14.17 My Lorde the king is wise as an Angell of God but God bestowing his owne name Dixi quod Dij estis I haue said yee are Gods Psal 82. and his sons name Nolite tangere Christos meos Touch not my Christs Psal 105. and not only the name but the power and speech of his spirit as in David Spiritus Domini loquutus est per me the spirit of the Lord hath spoken by me 2. Sam. 23.2 and that they haue ever beene esteemed the chiefest of the sonnes of men the chariots of Israel Oracles of wisdome Chāpions of valour Guardians of Iustice the Gemmes Diadems of governments beauty Yet in al this Soveraignty they are subiect to more violence of storme then their subiects they are no more free from emptinesse wearynesse thirst heate cold sweat labour They are like the heavenly bodies
acknowledgements of deliverance from the paw of the beare the Iaw of the Lion the Iauelin of Saul Goliahs speare Achitophels trappe Absolons treason Doegs slāder Shemei his curse from the mouth of the sword the murren of his people the horrours of his sinnes the rebellion of his owne sonnes S. Austin in his meditations on the Psalmes asketh the question vpon Davids speech Quaerite faciem eius semper Si semper quaeritur quando invenitur Aug. in Psalm inventus est tamen quaerendus est Seeke his face evermore why if he must bee sought evermore when shall he be found is he found and yet is he to be sought and answereth himselfe thus Deum invenit fides adhuc eum quaerit spes charit as autem invenit eum per fidem eum habere quaerit per spem faith hath found God and hope seeketh him but charitie both hath found him by faith and seeketh to haue him by hope According to the measure of which methode our now Immortall then mortall Prince did seeke the Lord being stedfast in faith ioyfull through hope rooted in charitie hee hath passed the waues of this troublesome world and is come to the Land of everlasting life and there hath found the Lord. 6 Learne hence then from the Cedar yee fir trees and shrubs of the forrest yee that ever lived vnder his shadow or now are in the sunshine and countenance of greatnesse learne to seeke the Lord this is the whole duty of man the summe of all Gods will revealed in his word Yee may see in the naturall agents whether they be to beare rule as the Sunne and Moone which are placed in the firmament or be ruled as the Elements and parts of this lower world they all worke as if they knewe what they wrought and in their severall courses seeke to performe his will as if they were acquainted with his wil. How much more doth it cōcerne men whom in a maner hee hath made partakers of the divine nature to seeke his glory seeing that by his glory they seeke their own good The Orbes Arches of heaven with their starres and planets and the whole fabricke of nature were ordained to finish their course by motions and operation and so man as hee was created to a more nay to the most happy and blessed ende should attaine therevnto not by sloath and idlenesse which as the worme in the guord be the devourers of goodnesse but by endeavour which is the spirit and by ambition the spurre should stirre on in the waies of grace being in the glorious liberties of the sonnes of God How commonly knowne be those notions that our life is but a iourney a race a votage a combat we are but travellers souldiers workemen in the vineyard c. All which are with many more notes of seeking and labouring which should edge a good minde to wish as Heathen Seneca did Seneca that hee might ever bee in action Malo enim saith he vt me fortuna in castris suis quà m in delitijs habeat hee had rather bee fortunes warriour then her wanton rather dwell in her Camp then in her Court Erasmus professeth that hee had no time to be sicke or opportunitie to take Physicke and the former Seneca that he had scarse leasure to sleepe Nullus mihi per otium dies exit partem noctium studijs vendico Sen. Ep. 8. non vaco somno c. neither day nor night eating or sleeping could withdrawe him from studies the devise of Aristotle who by letting a ball fall into a bason kept himselfe waking Which starre-light of good in them should stirre vs vp who are in the sun-shine of grace lead vs on to the search and discovery of Immortalitie These meditations should lead vs on further to the Queene of the South 1. King 10. seeking by a long iourny to come to heare Solomon shee and the Ninivits Gen. 2. and other Heathens may iustly arise in iudgement against this generation and condemne vs Christians For not to flatter our selues in a matter of so great importance wee cannot plead ignorance neither can we excuse negligence in the care of our searching and maner of our seeking The devouring sword terrible shot wounds outcries alarmes groanes of the dying danger of the surviving cannot keep the valiant war riour from seeking the lawrell of victories The vntamed Sea and tottering ship the stormes or calmes or rocks or sands or shipwracke of others cannot detain the Marriner from seeking for his hoped for commodities And yet the one in the height of his honour maketh his way through blood and the other as if borne vnder Aquarius wasts his life in the waters whereas many whose whole life never partakes of any painful interruption whose bellie God hath filled with treasure and satisfied with all maner of content haue not begunne to seeke nor cared to finde the God of their Fathers thinking it then time enough when the cloud of sicknesse portendeth the Tempest of death which like a dāpe puts out al the light of pleasure How deere therefore ought that counsell to bee Seeke the Lord while he may be found i to seeke him while we may seeke him for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Time is fixed on a wheele Athe. that incessantly whirleth and draweth with it vs all our actions And our lease of life is as the ancient Hebrewes haue by calculation of the yeares observed so short that if wee would with all our forces and studies endeavour to atchieue some matter of worth wee should bee in daunger of wanting day light For if the daies of our age be threescore yeares and ten or if men bee so strong that they come to fourescore which was the longest date of yeares that Moses afforded Psal 90.10 deduct first the time of eating and sleeping which is the greater moetie of mans life then deduct the daies of childhood which is an ignorant folly and innocent simplicitie then deduct the daies of youth which is no better then and indiscreet heat rash and heady and as Solomon calleth it an inconstant vanitie deduct yet the daies of age which is lifes wast and mans winter a hoare frost cold and vnhealthy and when wee thinke this Survey and substraction is ended and we haue seene all the travel that God hath giuen vnto the Sonnes of men to bee exercised therein yet deduct the daies of Sorrowe the souls feaver an eating viper a fainting miserie a little colde to pinch vs a little heat to parch vs the aking of a tooth or finger able to distract our studies or sports or labors in sicknesse weake in discontent withered and all these houres of childhood youth age sleepe sicknesse sorrowe substracted where is that life of man threescore yeares ten Which if it were ful it were but the number of the yeares of Babylòs captivity Nay where is the yeare the day the houre that man
testimonies that one of Cassiodore is enough Cass lib 5. Ep. Vltra omnes crudelitates est divitē velle fieri ex exiguitate mendici Amentur honesta lucra horreantur damnosa compendia Pudeat ab illus tollere quibus inhemur offerre It is cruelty in the abstract that anie man should grow rich by excorting from the poore honest gaine is lawfull damned rapine hatefull the extreame of shame is to take from them to whom wee are commanded to giue God heareth their cries remēbreth their sighes putteth vp their teares their complaints as darts pearce heaven The observation of S. Chrysostome is worthy that of all the blessings of our Sauiour in the Mount the blessing of inheritance is only given to the meeke Mat. 5.5 Blessed are the meek for they shall inherite the earth Which is mainely contrary to the course of the world for if meekenesse were the best fortresse for possessiō how so one would the snares and subtilties of Law-wresting vnderminers prevaile wherefore the violent Nebuchadnezars of the world by vsurpation rather then by possession retaine their seats may be said rather to inhabit then inherite the land But vnto the Godly saith God What man is he that feareth the Lorde him shall hee teach in the way that he shall choose his soule shall dwel at ease and his seed shal inherite the land Psal 24.12 Not only the meeke thēselues but their seed shal not only possesse but inherit not only the earth but the land of the living when as the vniust Intruders shall make but the spiders nest or build their houses as vpon the sands a winde will come to cast downe their Palaces to root them out of their possessions to rot their memoriall from of the earth When as they that by right righteous dealing haue enioyed the blessing of inheritance shall shine by their good works while they liue and by their good name whē they are dead as now this Gratious Glorious Triumphant Saint doth whose name shall bee had in everlasting remembrance It a in singulis virtutibus eminebat He was so eminent in every vertue to vse S. Hieroms words that with out much amplification the Apophthegmes of his own life will furnish a large discourse He was never beaten down with his owne passions but did conquer his own conquerours his anger served only to enflame his zeale height of spirit to despise the world Feare only to abstaine from sin ioy to praise God sadnesse to repent hatred to pursue vice loue to ensue vertue so his passions being subdued as Rebels were singular helps in the exercise of vertue And for himselfe and his worthy followers the words of Hierome of Nepotiā will fitly serue the close of this discourse Domus eius conversatio magistra erat publicae disciplinae Hier. his owne Princely conversation the course of his house was a mistresse or rather a mirrour of publike discipline the modell of a wel-managed state Mars Minerva dwelt in his Palace which in it selfe was a second Paradise Religiō was of his privy chamber and vertue a great officer in his house knowledge was a companion with him good inclinations had breeding here and good men preferment and his Countenāce did change the face of the times But as Cestius in Seneca spake of Altius Flavius Senec. Lib. 2. Cont. con 1. Tāmaturè magnum ingentum non esse vitabo it proved to bee a fatall Truth in him that so great a spirit so soone to appeare was a prodigious signe of the losse which ensued by the end of his life such an Epiphany was the speedy forerunner of his mortality No preuentiō could stay the wheele running at the Cesterne of his life his daies were numbred the stealing steps and insensible degrees of death did approach even like the sunne which maintaineth a very swift motion yet doth not the eie perceiue it to moue Death the Tyraunt exercised his rage with the greatest cruelty vpon this Princely subiect and suddenly cropt of this fairest of Natures flowers and overthrew him in the Principall strength and beauty of his age at which blow the world staggred being old and nought it feared the date of its owne dissolution All naturall things must encrease and decline the sunne shal end the course consume heaven shall be wrapped vp as a scrowle and the starres shall fall Psal Death doth restraine the spirit of Princes and is wonderfull among the sonnes of the earth It was the last lesson that ever this excellent Prince was publikely taught that though cōmon mē dare not be acquainted with kings yet death is more commonly boistrous and more violent with kings then other men Of all the kings of Iudah frō Rhehoboam downe to Zedekiah there were in number twenty and six of thē that is almost a third part slaine of the kings of Israel from Ieroboam to Oshea there were also in number twenty and ten of them a iust halfe slaine yea looke into our owne stories and our English Chronicles are all bloudy from the Conquest downward of three twenty deceased eight which is more then a third part slaine wherevpon the * M. Wilkinson who preached at S. Iames that day his Highnesse sickned Reverend Preacher cōcluded it were a most fearefull thing amongst the common sort of men if one in every three were subiect to such violent death But Death durst not come with such violence nor so rudely intrude into this Princely Sanctuary it came in by stealth yet being entred it severely did exact obedience it expugned all desences against it vndermining all Physicke was not content with bloud but cōmands life when Natures frame seemed firme and a countenance of cōtinuance appeared in this Divine Prince Death led him into the vnavoidable passage of the farthest fairest path of nature kept him 13. daies in this Labyrinth In which time dayly changing daily dying HE though entangled in the snares of disease yet avoided the snakes of distrust or distemper with a noble Courage like the sunne did shew greatest countenance in this lowest state and with a braue yet blessed behaviour in contempt of death gaue a grace to the greatest extremities the Tyraunt could devise for whē the Tragické Monster stopt his breath closed his eies drewe the curtaines the Princely soule tooke wing and with troupes of Angels fled to heaven It is not without warrant O Death that God disclaimeth any interest in thee thou Infernall yet Imperiall Commander he hath pronounced by the mouth of the wisemā that he never made thee but that thou hadst thine entry into the world by the very malice and subtiltie of the Divell Wisd 1.13.2.24 Hast thou hurried about the world and compassed the whole earth to and fro and hast thou considered Great Henry who was perfect and vpright one that feared God and eschewed evill and hast thou privily shot at him that was true of heart Cursed