THIS whole Chapter is as a gol­den Kalendar, a sacred Roll, containing the Lives of the ancient and holy Patriarchs, and the famous acts of those Hero's which were the Wor­thies, not of David, but of Heaven; the men of Renown which were before the times of Christ. And particularly this verse presents us with an excellent Panegyrick of the renowned Patriarch Enoch, the seventh from Adam, the great Prophet of the First world, whose Prophetical eye was so illuminated, that it could reach from one end of the world to the other; and living so near to [Page 2] the beginning of the World, foretold the disso­lution and consummation of it. In this Text we have the Panegyrick of this noble Patriarch: it consists of many clauses; but if we marshal them into a Logical method, we may reduce them to these three heads :

His Conversation in the world, that is exprest in the first and last words of the Text, He walk­ed by Faith, and He pleased God.

His Removal out of the world, that is exprest in the middle clauses, He was translated, that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had translated him.

The mutual Correspondence of these two, that lies in the Dependance and Connexion of the words. By Faith he was translated, in the begin­ning of the verse. Piety is a comfortable prepara­tive to a happy translation. And in the latter end of the verse, God translated him, for he pleased God. A blessed translation is an infallible consequent of a holy and heavenly life. These are the seve­ral parts of the Text, of which I intend to speak.

I begin with the First, The holy Conversation 1 of the Patriarch Enoch whilst he was in the [Page 3] world, described both by the Principle of a holy life, that is Faith, By faith Enoch, in the begin­ning of the verse; and by the Consequence or Result of it, in the latter end of the verse, He pleased God.

The first part of this Elogium is drawn from the Principle or foundation of a godly life, that is Faith. It is the motto which S. Paul sets in the front of all that was praise-worthy in the Saints, as the top of their commendation: By faith Abel did thus and thus, By faith Abraham, By faith Moses, and By faith Enoch. This is as the Title-page to all of them. Even the Saints be­fore Christ had the grace of Faith for their lamp, as well as those that followed after; and by that Faith they lived and walked in their several sta­tions: and it was a Faith not different from ours in Kind; their Faith and ours were the same in substance, and were both fixed upon the same Object: the difference was onely Gradual and cir­cumstantial; they believed in that which was to be accomplished, and we in that which is already accomplished. Their Faith look'd for­ward, and their voice was that of the Psalmist, Ps. 116. 10. Credidi, propter quod loquar, I believed, therefore will I speak: Our Faith looks backward to Christ already exhibited, and our voice is that [Page 4] of S. Paul, 2 Cor. 4. 13. I believed, therefore have I spoken. So in the substance of Salvation they shared with us, and we with them: they Be­lievers as well as we, they Christians as well as we; Christiani ante Christum, as Tertullian speaks, Christians even before Christ was come into the world: and as we believing receive Redemption by the Bloud of Christ actually shed; so they al­so believing received Redemption by the same Bloud of Christ which was virtually shed even from the beginning of the world. So they and we make up one Church, one Spiritual Build­ing, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Pro­phets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone, Eph. 2. 20.

Again, it is farther observable, that of all the Excellencies for which the Saints are extolled in Scripture, above all they are magnified for their Faith. In every of these examples that are men­tioned in this Chapter, Faith as it is the first, so it is the principal part of their commendation. There were other Eminencies which were re­markable in them, Abel's Innocency, Abraham's Obedience, Moses's Zeal, Noah's Righteousness, Enoch's Devotion: but the high approbation which the Spirit of God gives them is for their Faith, as the first and leading Grace, as the prin­cipal [Page 5] and fundamental Grace, which is the root and spring of all the rest; as that Grace which made them live Religiously here, By faith Enoch pleased God; and as that Grace which carried them to Heaven afterwards, By faith Enoch was tran­slated. This order of Salvation God hath set; No coming to Heaven but by Christ, no com­ing to Christ but by Faith: So No Faith no Christ, and no Christ no Salvation. Whereas some have vainly thought to make Saints of the old Philosophers, as if by the right use of Rea­son, or by the improvement of their natural En­dowments they could attain Salvation: this fond charity of theirs is much like that legendary de­votion of Pope Gregory, who is said by his prayers to have fetch'd the Soul of the Emperour Trajan out of Hell, being moved with compassi­on for the justice which he had once done to a poor widow. But the story tells us that by reve­lation he received this answer, That however he was heard in that Petition, yet Caveret in poste­rum, he should beware hereafter that he did not presume to pray for any that was dead unbap­tized. It is an equal presumption in these men to think by their opinion to redeem from Hell the Souls of those Heathens who lived and died without Faith, without Christ, and without [Page 6] God in the world. An opinion not unlike to that of the Turks in their Alcoran, That every man shall be saved in his own Religion, be it what it will, if he be but devout in it. Briefly, it is an opinion which overturns the whole frame of revealed Truth, that any man can be saved without Christ, or have any interest in Christ without Faith. This is the reason why the Apostle in this Chapter makes such frequent mention of Faith in the behalf of all the Saints, as the Grace which carried them to Heaven, as the Grace which God esteems and approves above all, as the radi­cal and fundamental Grace which is the Root and Principle of a vertuous and holy life. By faith Enoch; that's the first Elogium, in the begin­ning of the verse.

The second is drawn from the Consequence or Result of it, in the close of the verse, He pleased God. This follows naturally upon the former, as the Effect upon the Cause. For as the Apostle has laid down the Maxim, in the next verse, Without Faith it is impossible to please God: so with Faith it is im­possible not to please him. Faith is the Grace that incorporates us into Christ: being incorporate into Christ we are made partakers of all his Me­rits; his Satisfaction becomes ours, his Obedience ours, his Righteousness ours: being thus cloth'd [Page 7] in the robe of his Righteousness put on by Faith, we become accepted of God, and God well pleas­ed with us. Again, Faith is the Root from whence infallibly springs the Fruit of a Holy and Godly life; and with such Fruit God is well pleased.

But the Apostle here sets it down with ad­vantage: It is not barely, He pleased God, but He had this testimony, that he pleased God. And from whom had he this testimony? even from God himself. We find it given unto him by the Spi­rit of God, Gen. 5. 24. there it is said, Enoch walk­ed with God, and here, Enoch pleased God. To walk with God and to please God are phrases equivalent. Can two walk together, saith the Prophet, unless they be agreed? that is, unless they be pleased; Amos 3. 3. Therefore the Apostle S. Paul joyns these two words together in 1 Thess. 4. 1. Ye have received of us how ye ought to walk, and to please God.

Would you then know what it is to please God? S. Augustine leads us to the beginning of this duty: Placere Deo incipit qui in se odit quod Deo displicet; Then we begin to please God, when we hate and abhor in our selves whatsoever is dis­pleasing unto him. S. Basil carries us further; [...] ▪ Then we please Bas. l. de Virgin. God, when by a holy and a vertuous life we en­deavour to make our selves like unto God. More [Page 8] particularly, To please God is, to love him, to fear him, to serve him, to praise him, to doe all those things which are pleasing and acceptable unto him.

The reason is, God is the onely infinite good, and cannot take pleasure in any thing but him­self, or something of himself. He is pleased with his Son, because he is Himself; he is pleased with Piety, because it is a beam of Himself wrought by his Spirit in the creature. So every action, the more it has of God, the more pleasing it is unto him; and the more it has of Christ, the more it has of God; and the more it has of Faith, the more it has of Christ; and of all other Graces Faith is most pleasing to him, because it holds most of Christ: the more of Christ, the more acceptation we find with God, because in him God is perfectly well pleased.

The summe is this, The pleasing of God must be both our Final cause, we must make it our End whilst we are in the world, to direct all our actions to the Glory of God, to doe that which may please him; and our For­mal cause, we must make it our Rule, it is the surest Rule we can walk by, to doe those things which are pleasing unto God.

Christ himself walked by this Rule, It is my [Page 9] meat and drink to doe my Father's will, Joh. 4. 34. David desired to walk by this Rule, Psal. 143. 10. O teach me to doe the thing that pleaseth thee. Enoch went by this Rule, he walked by Faith, and he pleased God. And this is the Rule which is set to every Christian, that Golden and unerring Rule, which can never deceive us, 1 Joh. 3. 22. to doe those things which are pleasing in his sight.

So it excludes three false Rules, by which most men are wont to be over-ruled in the managing of their conversation.

The first is [...], Self-pleasing; that's a false Rule: we must not be self-pleasers, Rom. 15. 1. not to lean to our own Understandings, not to be swaied by our own Wills, not to be ruled by our own unruly Affections. I came not, saith Christ, to doe my own will, but the will of him that sent me, Joh. 6. 38. That man is the best Servant of God who is least his own Master, who knows no other velle and nolle, but onely to doe the will and pleasure of God.

The second is [...], the pleasing of men; that is also a false Rule: the Apostle cries it down in Eph. 6. 6. Not as men-pleasers, but as the ser­vants of God. It is hard to be both a Servant of God and a Pleaser of men; therefore the Apo­stle puts them as contradistinct and inconsistent [Page 10] designes, and if we will cleave to the one, we must renounce the other; 1 Thess. 2. 4. So speak, so doe, not as pleasing men, but God. The tempo­rizing Hypocrite does all to be seen of men, so speaks as hunting after the Favour and Ap­plause and Approbation of men, with those sawning Prophets mentioned in Isa. 30. 10. which speak smooth things, and prophesie deceits. The Prophets prophesie falsly, and what's the reason? the people love to have it so, Jer. 5. 31. He that would approve himself a faithful Servant of God, must not look asquint upon the Applause of men. S. Paul concludes for himself, and it may be a Rule for us, Gal. 1. 10. If I should yet please men, I were not the servant of Christ.

The third is [...]. If we must not please our selves, if we must not please men, much less Satan, who is God's adversary. Whatsoever pleaseth him is displeasing to God. Then we please him, when we listen to his suggestions, when we commit sin, and delight to continue in it. As the good Angels rejoyce at our Con­version, so our Sin and Confusion is the pleasure and pastime of Satan. If we make it our End and our Rule (as we ought to doe) to please God, all these ways are to be abandoned.

Here then was the high commendation of [Page 11] Enoch's Piety, he so lived, and so behaved him­self in the time of his pilgrimage, that by the testimony of God himself, he pleased God. It was a high Character, especially from the mouth of God, and that recorded by the finger of the Spi­rit of God in the Book of God, in perpetuam rei memoriam. What an honour was it to Apelles to be enrolled among the Nobles of the New Te­stament, with this singular Elogium or Title of honour, Apelles approved in Christ? What an ho­nour to Moses in the Old Testament to be called Ro. 16. 10. the Servant of God? to Abraham, to be styled the Friend of God? to David, to be called A man after God's own heart? All these concur in this honou­rable Elogium given to the Patriarch Enoch in this Scripture, He had this testimony, that he pleased God. And thus much shall suffice for the first part of the Text, His pious Conversation whilst he was in the world.

Being such an one, it was not fit that he should make too long a stay in this world, which was not worthy of him. He was all this while a Candidate for Heaven, and having re­ceived God's approbation, thither God removes him: and by a special privilege he takes the De­gree of a glorified Saint, as it were per saltum, leaping over the threshold of Death.

This we have more particularly described un­to 2 us in the Second part of the Text, which tells us of his honourable Removal out of the world, in these words, He was translated, that he should not see death, and was not found, because God had tran­slated him.

Concerning this Translation of Enoch many Questions have been started, but by the help of this Scripture we may be able to resolve the most of them.

One is, Whether Enoch was so translated, that, as a person privileged from the law of Morta­lity, he died not. The Scruple is grounded up­on two several phrases which are used by Moses in the story of Enoch, Gen. 5. 24.

First, in that it is said God took him. Now this phrase of taking away is used in Scripture to set forth the blessed Departure of the Saints out of this world by the ordinary way of Dissolution. Thus, Isa. 57. 1. Merciful men are taken away, that is, they die; and Job 32. 22. my Maker would soon take me away, that is, he would take away my Life, he would kill me.

Again, it is said in the same Scripture, that Enoch was not: and this also is a phrase by which the Scripture sometimes points out the state of Death. So Gen. 42. 36. Joseph is not, and Simeon [Page 13] is not, that is, they are both dead; for so Jacob at that time supposed them to be.

But this Question is clearly resolved by S. Paul in this Scripture, where he tells us plainly, Enoch was translated, that he should not see death. That he should not see death, that is, that he should not die. It is like that other phrase, Luk. 9. 27. There be some here that shall not taste of death. To see death and to taste of death are phrases borrowed from two distinct Senses, but have both the same signification: that is, saith S. Augustin, Mor­tem non experietur, he shall have no experience of death. Enoch was so far exempted from the law of Death, that he did not so much as Taste it, nè primoribus quidem labiis; so far privileged, that he did not so much as See it, nè primoribus quidem oculis.

So his Taking away was not a Taking away of Dissolution, which implies Mortality; but a Taking away of Translation, which prevents Death. Therefore we may observe, that in Gen. 5. where the Lives of the Patriarchs are record­ed, of all the rest who are mentioned both be­fore and after Enoch, it runs thus, Seth lived so many years, and he died; Methuselah so many years, and he died: but of Enoch otherwise, he lived so many years, and not said, He died; but, to shew [Page 14] that he was a privileged person, Moses gives him a singular and privilegiate expression, God took him.

Again, whereas it is there further express'd, He was not, if we take the phrase in its full ri­gour, it signifies an absolute Nullity, or Anni­hilation; but here it is so far from intending an Annihilation, that it does not betoken so much as an ordinary Extinction by Death. It is true, that as the Latines were wont to express Death by the word Fuit, so the Hebrews by a Non fuit; but in this place it does not signifie so much, Therefore S. Paul in this Text mollifies the phrase by a word of supply, Non fuit, He was not, that is, Non fuit inventus, He was not Found; He was not any more in a visible communion with men; He was secretly translated by God, as Moses secretly buried by God: It was not known what was become of him, till God re­vealed it. We see other men when they go out of the world: Even Elias himself was seen by Elisha when he ascended. But none of the Patri­archs saw Enoch go; and being gone, he was not to be found. The sons of the Prophets might search and seek for him, as they did for Elias, but not meet with him. Again, as it was a Secret, so a Total Translation, both in Soul and Body. [Page 15] Other Saints, though their Souls be carried up on the wings of Angels, as Lazarus was, yet their Bodies are to be found, they remain behind, and are laid asleep in their graves, as S. Peter speaks of the Patriarch David, Act. 2. 29. He is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Enoch was not to be found either way: in him there was no Separation of Soul and Body by death, but a total Translation of both.

That for the first Question.

Secondly, Some will grant that Enoch died not, he was not then Mortuus, but make a question whether he was not Aliquando moriturus, after­wards to die, namely towards the end of the World, having preached Repentance to the Gen­tiles; for so they reade that place in Ecclesiastic. 44. 16. Translatus est in paradisum, ut det gentibus poe­nitentiam: Our Translation better, He was tran­slated, being an example of repentance to all genera­tions. The more probable ground of this opinion is fetch'd from the common law of Mortality, by which it is appointed for all men once to die: Psal. 89. 48. What man is he that lives, and shall not see death? But the Apostle in this place resolves also this Question, that Enoch's privilege did not consist in a bare reprieve, or a deferring of Death till some further time; then it had been [Page 16] enough for the Apostle to have said, Et non vidit mortem, he did not see death: but it consisted in a final preservation and exemption from it; there­fore it is express'd more fully, he was translated, ut non videret mortem, that he should not, that is, that he should never see death.

And for that general law of Mortality, it is not a Rule so peremptory but that it admits of some exception. S. Paul tells us of those Saints who shall be found alive at Christ's coming to Judgment, 1 Cor. 15. 52. We shall not all sleep, that is, we shall not all die, but we shall be changed, in a moment, &c. That Change is not properly Death, but an equivalent or analogical Death. So Enoch here, though he might admit of some such momentany Death, in the change of a corru­ptible Body into an incorruptible, yet there was no Separation, and therefore, properly speaking, he was free from Death.

Thirdly, there's yet a further Question con­cerning the Place of Enoch's Translation, whither it was that God removed him. Some will have it to be into a Terrestrial Paradise, the very same out of which Adam was ejected, a place free from all those corporal molestations and inconve­niences which attend upon us in our earthly pilgrimage; but withall a place which does not [Page 17] afford the vision of God, or the happiness of a Comprehendour. This Opinion is grounded upon the fore-named place of the Son of Sirach, Ecclesiast. 44. 16. where Enoch is said to be tran­slated into Paradise. But this will appear to be a very weak and a sandy foundation: For besides that the Author is Apocryphal, the Text is fal­sified, the word Paradise being foisted into the vulgar Latin, which is not in the Greek; and a corrupt Gloss inferr'd upon it, Into Paradise, therefore into an Earthly Paradise.

But the Apostle in this Scripture resolves al­so this Question, where it is said that God tran­slated him; and recorded as a great privilege, Be­cause he pleased God, therefore God translated him. If onely into an Earthly Paradise to be there confined, it had not been a Gain, but a Loss; not a Prerogative, but a Prejudice; not a Privilege, but a Punishment: that whereas the Souls of the other Saints after the ending of a short Pilgrimage upon Earth are immediately carried up to those Celestial mansions, where they do enjoy the vision of God, the society of Saints and Angels, and are for ever blessed with the Lord; yet Enoch, an eminent Saint, who had this singular testimony from God's own mouth, that he pleased God, should be the onely person con­demn'd [Page 18] to an Earthly Paradise for ages and ge­nerations, and so long kept out of Heaven, even almost from the beginning to the end of the world.

The truth is, this Opinion of Enoch's Transla­tion into an Earthly Paradise is a wild conceit, without either ground of Reason or authority of Scripture: and the ancient Fathers, speaking of Enoch and Elias, (whatsoever they say of the degrees of Glory) determine of both, that they were taken up into the place of Glory. He is there, saith Epiphanius, [...], in a body Epiph. haer. 64. spiritualized. He doth [...], so S. Basil Seleuc. converse with Angels. He was car­ried, Bas. Sel. Or. 11. Id. Orat. 40 saith the same Father, [...], above all the bounds of visible nature: whither can that be but into Heaven? Whence Isid. Pelus. Isid. Pelus. l. 2. ep. 37. calls Elias [...], coelipetam Eliam, one that reach'd Heaven corporally. The same may be said of Enoch. Of all the Saints these were the onely Royal pare who had the honour of this privilege. All the other Saints at the time of their dissolution are taken up in their Souls, their Bodies are not translated thither untill the gene­ral Resurrection. S. Paul and S. John were taken up in spirit, by vision or ex [...]sie; but Enoch in per­son. So it might have a two-fold reference.

1. It was a fore-runner of the Ascension of Christ. Christ had fore-runners of all the other passages of his Incarnation. The Baptist was a fore-runner of his Birth; John born of the barren womb, Christ of the Virgin: a fore-runner of his Death; Isaac, the onely son of his father, bound upon the Altar, as Christ nail'd upon the Cross: a fore-runner of his Resurrection; Jonas after three days brought forth out of the belly of the Whale, by the power of God, as Christ by his own power raised out of the bowels of the earth: and a fore-runner also of his Ascension; Enoch tran­slated into Heaven, as Christ himself was after­wards.

2 ^ly, It was a fore-runner of our rapture at the Last day; to assure us, that the weight of our Bo­dies shall be no impediment of our Assumption into Heaven: that as God gave us pledges of our Resurrection in both Testaments, in the Old, by such as were raised by the Prophets; in the New, by such as Christ himself raised; so he hath not left us without remarkable pledges of our Ascen­sion into Heaven. In every state of the world there was one that was taken up; Enoch before the Law, Elias under the Law, Christ after the Law: that in all Ages the Saints might have some pre­ambles of everlasting Life. For this reason Epipha­nius [Page 20] calls Enoch the First-begotten of the Resurrecti­on; and S. Gregory, Ascensionis praenuncium, the Fore-runner of our Ascension. What was wrought upon him in the first Age of the world, is daily wrought upon the Saints in all Ages of the world; in respect of their Souls, at the time of their departure they are translated and taken up into Heaven; and at the Last day it shall be wrought upon the Bodies of all the Saints, when they shall be caught up into the clouds, and meet the Lord in the air, and so shall ever be with the Lord. I have done with the Second Part of the Text, His honourable Removal out of the world.

The Third and last is, The mutual Correspon­dence between the two former Parts, his Conver­sation 3 and his Translation. His holy Conversa­tion that was a comfortable preparative of his happy Translation, By faith Enoch was translated, in the beginning of the verse : and his happy Translation that was a necessary consequent of his holy and pious Conversation, in the latter end of the verse, God translated him, because before his translation he pleased God.

From hence will arise these two Propositions, whereof the one will serve to guide and direct, the other to comfort and establish us in our way to Heaven.

The first is this, That a holy Conversation is a ne­cessary preparative to a happy Translation. There's no passing into that Temple of Honour, but by this of Vertue. We must enter through the Gates into the City, Rev. 22. 14. The City is Heaven, and Grace is the Gate that leads into it. You have it expounded in the former part of that verse, Blessed are they that doe his commandments, that they may have right to the Tree of life. Heaven is a holy place, no unclean thing shall enter there, nor whatsoever defileth, nor whatsoever worketh abomination: It is a Heavenly place, the earthly and covetous worldling shall not enter there. To such a man the door of Heaven is as the eye of a Needle, and such a man is to it as a Camel; if he would thred this Needle, he must take away this Bunch from off his back, cast away the love of worldly Riches. Heaven is the habitation of Righteousness, no unjust person shall enter there, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor extortioners, nor oppressors, nor grinders of the face of the poor. It is God's holy Hill, and David tells us by what steps we must ascend unto it, Psal. 15. and Psal. 24. by walking uprightly, and working righteousness, and speak­ing the truth, by cleanness of hands and purity of heart. Such an one shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his Salvation. In a word; would you hope for a comfortable translation at [Page 22] the hour of death? you must learn to live the life of Faith; By faith Enoch was translated: learn so to or­der your lives as may be well-pleasing and acce­ptable unto God; Enoch was translated, because he pleased God. That's the first Proposition, A holy Conversation is a necessary preparative of a happy Translation.

And the second is like unto it, That a happy Translation is an infallible consequent of a holy and godly Conversation. S. Augustine lays it down for an undeniable truth, Non potest malè mori qui be­ne vixerit, No man can die ill that lives well; be it a sudden, a violent, a painful, a bloudy death, yet he is happy in it, because He cannot die ill that lives well. Let us make sure of this viaticum, Faith working by Love, and all will be well. He that has often used to walk with God, as Enoch did, that has made it his care and conscience to please God, has this Praeludium of a happy Dissolution, he be­gins in Grace, and he must needs end in Glory.

In a word, Let us make this use of Enoch's Tran­slation, often to look up to that place whither he was taken. Had Earth been Enoch's home, had this World been his abiding City, God would never have taken him from hence: but being a pilgrim here, he takes him away. And however we have no hope of this privilege whilst we are in our mor­tal [Page 23] Pilgrimage, to be immediately taken up in the Body, as he was; yet we must aspire thither in our Affections and Desires. That is a thing we may reach unto, and Nature it self will help us with some directions to it, having given Man an erect Stature and a sublime Countenance, that he may behold his Heavenly Original, and often meditate on the place from whence he came, that is Hea­ven; that he may have a Heavenly Conversation, sutable to the place whither he is designed to go, that's Heaven. But the Scripture gives us better di­rections, to look up thither with the Eye of Faith; that will carry us further then the eye of the Body, not onely to the Starry Heaven, but to the Beatifi­cal, where our Hope is, where our Country is, where the Saints and Angels are, where Christ himself is. If there be any love of Christ, we will be often travelling thither, he is gone before; if any love of the Saints, they are gone before; if any love of Happiness, we cannot hope to find it here, it is in Heaven, or no where. Let us lift up our hearts thither, there let us fix our eyes, thither let us bend our course, and so order our Conversation in this world, that we may be fit for a better: that when the time of our Dissolution is come, we may hope for a blessed Translation, having walked by Faith, and laboured to please God, as Enoch did; By Faith Enoch, &c.

I Have done with the Text, a noble Precedent of Piety drawn from the first and Golden Age of the world. And now I perceive your attention re­vives, and your expectation begins to rouze up, to hear something of the present occasion by way of parallel. And I cannot blame you; such eminent Examples of Vertue and Piety, as this Honourable Person hath left behind him, are not the lot of every day, especially in this last and Iron Age of the world. I shall therefore endeavour in some measure to gratifie such a just and reasonable ex­pectation. And I shall doe it the more chearfully, because I find my self discharg'd of one main dis­couragement which usually attends upon these per­formances, the suspicion of Flattery, that Pander of Vain-glory, that stinking Flie which poisons the perfume of many a Funeral Commendation. Here is no fear of that, I am to speak of a Person so truly and highly Deserving, that my arrows will be sure rather to fall short then beyond the mark. Being secured of that, I shall set forward.

I will not take upon me to trace the Descent of of this Noble Person to its first rise, it were a work that would require the Antiquities of two King­doms. It may suffice, that it was both Ancient and Honourable; and let me adde, it was English too: and so I find it on the Monument of Edward Lord Bruce in the Chappel of the Rolls,

Scotus ut ortu, Anglis sic oriundus avis. Our neighbour-Nation had the honour to give that Family an hospitable entertainment for some hundreds of years; and they had the justice also, after many revolutions, to restore it at length with Honour and Splendour to its native and Original Soil.

His Ancestors, with their Name, came in with the Norman Conquerour, their Seat was Skelton in Yorkshire; and a Monument of theirs still remaining in Gisborough Abbey bears witness to great Anti­quity. Providence transplanted them into Scotland, where they prospered, and took root, and spread their branches into the Royal Family.

And the same Providence, together with the auspicious Reign of K. James, brought them back into England. The L. Bruce of Kinlosse, Father to this Honourable Earl, did not onely attend upon his Majesty to this Crown, but was a happy instru­ment, as Ambassadour to Q. Elizabeth, (of whose favour he had a great share) for the transacting of that great Affair, in order to the Succession: and in the Succession, as an honour to his Justice and Integrity, as well as Wisedom and Prudence, was intrusted, both as Master of the Rolls in this, and Counsellor of both Kingdoms. Here his own Mo­desty (which in those days was accounted a Ver­tue) was the onely Moderator which set bounds [Page 26] to the Favour and Bounty of his Prince, in refu­sing those further offers that were made by K. James, and returning divers blanks that had been given unto him.

His Lordship now deceased had reason to ac­knowledge (as he did frequently and gratefully) how happy God had made him in all his Relati­ons. Happy in his Father, so renowned in his ge­neration. Happy in his Mother, whose Memory is still precious in the fragrancy of her Piety, Cha­rity and Hospitality. Happy in his First Wife, the Daughter of Sir Robert Chichester, and Heir by her Mother to the great and rich House of Harrington. By her he had his onely Child, the Earl now living. A Lady eminent in her time for singular Wit, Parts and Modesty. Happy in his Second, Diana, Countess of Oxford, one of the Co-heirs of William Earl of Excester; a Lady of matchless Vertue and Honour, to whose dear and pious Memory his Lordship erected this sumptuous Monument; having her self left behind her, as with his Lord­ship the memory of a most entire Conjugal Affe­ction, so with his Son the unparallel'd kindness of a Mother-in-law; first making him her Child, by a careful Education; and then her Heir, by a noble Endowment with her whole Estate of Inheritance. Happy in his onely incomparable Sister, Christian, Countess Dowager of Devonshire, now surviving. [Page 27] And happy in his onely Son, and Heir of his Vertues, Fortunes and Honours.

But I must not forget my self, neither should I have mentioned this Nobility of Extraction and Alliance, but that I find it attended with such a train of Vertues, of which Honour is but the sha­dow, and without which it is not so much as a shadow. Nobility without Vertue being as a gol­den Candlestick set upon a Table without Light, or as a Beacon upon an hill, having no Fire in it: Whereas Vertue accompanied with Honour is like a rich Diamond set in Gold, which makes it appear more orient and illustrious. It is a good saying of Gregory Nazianzen, True Nobility [...], it is to be measured, not by the Progeny, but by the Person. Therefore passing by his Original and Traduction, let us look upon him in his own pro­per and inherent Qualifications. And those we may refer to three heads, Political, Oeconomical, Personal.

For Politicals, he was a Person enrich'd with great Endowments and Abilities of Mind, much Prudence and Sagacity, as well as Integrity, a deep Judgment fit for the managery of the highest Af­fairs, had not the depressions and infirmities of a Consumptive Body indisposed him for the Pub­lick, especially in such Times of Broils and Confu­sion as were altogether unsutable to the Calmness [Page 28] and Peaceableness of his temper. Yet even then he bore his part, and whilst others were wallowing in bloud, he was wrestling in Prayer and melting in Tears, mourning for the Divisions of Reuben, and pray­ing for the peace of Jerusalem. And we must all con­fess that the Prayers of such Good men were ef­fectual to retrive those publick Blessings of Religi­on, Peace and Liberty, which the dint of the Sword could never doe. For his own Concernment, his greatest care was to preserve bonam Conscientiam in mala valetudine, a sound Soul in a crazie Body, and a good Conscience in bad Times. He would often comfort himself, and this comfort he carried with him to his grave, that He was free from the bloud of all men.

For his Oeconomicals, in the government of his Domestick affairs, his Family was, as the Psalmist describes Jerusalem, like a City compact together. In the midst of the distracted and confused Times, when the Coat of Christ was rent into so many pieces, so many men, almost so many several Re­ligions; in the midst of those Confusions, his Fa­mily was like a little Church; and though at that time very numerous, yet I could not observe that there were two amongst them all of a different Per­swasion, either in point of Religion or Loyalty. This I ascribe (next to the Blessing of God, who makes men to be of one mind in a house) to the Piety and [Page 29] Prudence of their Lord and Master, wisely consider­ing that he could never be ill served by those, who were both Religious Servants of God, and Faithful Subjects to their Sovereign. Within those Walls you should not hear any of those hellish Oaths, Blasphe­mies or Execrations, which in other places are wont to infect the air, and grate the ears, and wound the hearts of pious men. No Drunkenness or Debauche­ry to be found there. I observ'd it with comfort, and can speak it with confidence, that for five years time, in which I had the honour of a constant attendance in the service of that Noble Family, I was not once encountred with the deformed spectacle of a Drun­ken distemper; but on the contrary, such Order, Silence, Sobriety, Modesty and Civility, as if not onely the Eye, but the Soul of the Master had been in every corner of the house. Such a Master worthy of such a Family, who was truly Pater-familiâs, not so much the Lord, as Father of his Family; so tender of his Servants whilst living, and so careful of them when dying, as to leave to every of them a good blessing behind him.

Lastly, for his own Personal qualifications, he was most eminent and exemplary. I shall not instance in any Negative Vertues, that he was not obnoxious to any of those Vices which are incident to Greatness, not to Pride and haughtiness, not to Violence and oppression, not to Luxury and intemperance, not to [Page 30] Pleasure and wantonness: the black mouth of malice cannot charge him with any shadow of these Enor­mities. But I will not insist upon these. Privati & ple­beii hominis est, ut vitio careat, as Nazianzen speaks, It may be the commendation of a Plebeian, or Private man, to be free from Vice; but for Persons that overtop others in place and Dignity, it is a shameful and ignominious thing not to be as eminent above them in Vertue. And what Vertue can we name, in which he did not both transcend the most, and equalize the best?

Begin we with his Humility, for that's the best foun­dation in the structure of Piety. He that would build high, must lay his foundation low; and he that would build for Heaven, must lay his foundation in Humility.

So did he, great in the eyes of others, little onely in his own. And whereas Solomon tells us, Before ho­nour goes humility; here was Humility conspicuous in Pro. 15. 33 the midst of Honour, which made it appear much more honourable. Like Saul in the Old Testament, he was higher then the rest of the people by the head and shoulders; yet like Paul in the New Testament, in his own esteem less then the least. His grandeur discover'd it self rather by the virtue and influence in doing good, then by the pomp and splendour in seeming great.

Adde to his Humility his exceeding virginal Mode­sty, mix'd with such a sober and serious Gravity in his countenance and deportment, that his very Presence [Page 31] was sufficient to charm the extravagancie of wanton tongues, as wel as his Example. You should not hear at any time an unsavoury word fall from his mouth. He had such a perfect command of that little slippery member, that whereas others, to whom their own Ho­nour is tender as the apple of their eye, are yet unrea­sonably prodigal of other mens Reputations; he was so far from lacerating the fame of other men, that I could never observe him to speak ill of any man's person, though never so ill deserving.

His Temperance was rare and admirable: he look'd upon Excess as poison, not onely of the body, but of the better part, and such a bastard of Hospitality, as most commonly is the death of the mother.

His Justice exact, so far from doing wrong to others, that if the case were doubtful, he would commonly take the loss and disadvantage to himself.

But above all these, saith the Apostle, put on Charity. So did he: his Charity was great; both this and the other adjacent Parishes had a constant and a liberal portion of it. But besides the ordinary and obvious ways, he had the art to spie out the more choice and noble objects of Bounty, (of which the late unhappy Times afforded plenty) and there he sowed plenti­fully, by many hundreds in the year. And this he did in such a secret manner, that none could be witnesses but God himself, and those to whom he gave it for God's cause. And though he always gave it with his [Page 32] own hand, that he might be sure to give it into right hands; yet he was unwilling that his left hand should know what his right had done. And whereas Charity covers a multitude of sins, his Charity was so modest as to cover it self.

These were the Fruits of a constant course of Piety and Devotion, which he did most religiously ob­serve both in publick and private.

In the time of his Sickness, which was long, and accompanied often with sharp pains, he wanted not a large stock of Patience and Christian Fortitude, to comply with that gracious Providence which had put the Cup into his hand. But having a clear pro­spect of the race which was set before him, by daily Mor­tification, and Prayer, and other exercises of Piety, he carefully prepared for his last and great Change, which befell him in the great Climacterical year of his life, meekly resigning his Soul into the hands of his Gracious Redeemer.

It remains on our part, to commit his remaining Part, as a sacred Depositum, to that Dormitory which himself prepared, beseeching God to give us Grace to tread in the steps of such Pious Examples, that when our own Change shall come, our Souls may be received into the same blessed Mansions, and at the general Resurrection we together with them may have the same consummation of Bliss both in Soul and Body; through Jesus Christ our Lord.