A Pattern for All, Title page – Dedication
A PATTERNE for all, eſpecially for Noble and Honourable Perſons, To teach them how to die Nobly and Honourably. Delivered in a SERMON Preached at the ſolemne interment of the corps OF THE Right Honourable ROBERT EARLE of Warwick. Who aged 70 died April 19. And was Honorably buried, May 1. 1658. At Felſted in Eſſex.
By Edmund Calamy B. D. and Paſtor of the Church at Aldermanbury.
Pſal. 82. 6, 7.
I ſaid, Ye are Gods, and all of you are children of the moſt High, but you ſhall dye like men, and fall like one of the Princes.
Rev. 14. 13.
I heard a voice from heaven, ſaying unto me, write, Bleſſed are the dead which die in the Lord, &c.
Illius eſt nolle mori, qui nolit ire ad Chriſtum. Aug.
Nobilitas ſola eſt atque unica virtus.
De imperatore Theodoſio fertur magis ſe gaudere quod membrum Eccleſia Dei eſſet, quam caput imperii. Aug.
Ultima verba morientis Grynnaei.
Ut nunc triſte mori eſt, ſic dulce reſurgere: quondam
Chriſtus ut in vitâ, ſic quoque morte lucrum.
In terris labor eſt, requies ſed ſuavis in urnâ,
In ſummo venient gaudia ſumma Die.
LONDON, Printed for Edward Brewſter, at the Crane in Pauls Church-yard. 1658.
TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE ROBERT EARLE of WARWICK, Baron of Leeze.
Right Honourable,
THe noble favours which I received from your deceaſed father, are ſo many, that I can never ſufficiently expreſſe them, and (I hope) ſhall never be ſo ungrateful as to forget them. The chiefeſt requital I can now make for them, is to pray for your Lordſhip, That as you are his heire, and inherit his eſtate, ſo you may alſo inherit his virtues; And that whatſoever was good in him, may live in you.
For as it is a happineſſe, when a ſonne is deſcended from religious Anceſtors (he being hereby made partaker of their good counſels, prayers, and pious examples) ſo alſo it is an invaluable bleſſing, when a father hath religious and virtuous Utin…m caelebs vixiſſem, aut orbus periiſſ…m. Prorſus faelicem ſuturum fuiſſe (inquit Auſonius) ſi hunc filium n…n generaſſ…t.children. It was a ſad complaint of Auguſtus, O that I had lived a Bachelor, or dyed childleſſe! And concerning Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, that he had been perfectly happy, had he not begotten ſuch a wicked ſonne as Commodus was. And that he did injure his country in nothing, but in being the father of ſuch an ungodly child,
Hoc ſolo patriae, quod genuit, nocuit.
Some children are blots and blemiſhes to their Parents, as Manaſſeh was to Hezekiah. My prayer for your Lordſhip is, that you may be an honour, glory, and crown of rejoycing to your Family, and by your godly and virtuous life make your Father (though dead) to enjoy a kind of happineſs upon earth while you live. And that you may embalme his memory to poſterity by the ſpices, and ſweet odours of your godly life, and converſation.
It ought not to be forgotten, but for ever to be remembred, That your Lordſhip may not unfitly be called the Lords Paſſeover. For when he took away by death your only ſonne and heire, he paſſed over you, and inſtead of the Father took to himſelfe the Grand-father. This remarkable Providence is alone ſufficient to teach you to paſs the time of your ſojourning here in 1 Pet. 1. 17.feare; and to purge out the old leaven of ſinne and iniquitie, that you may be a new lump of ſincerity and truth; and thereby have an undoubted intereſt 1 Cor. 5. 7, 8.in Chriſt your Paſseover, who was ſacrificed for you.
This enſuing Sermon was preached at your Fathers funeral, and it is now dedicated to your Lordſhip as yours by birth-right, and by many other obligations. It will much conduce (if put in practice) for the encouraging of you in wayes of holineſs, and righteouſneſs. For it teacheth wherein true Nobility doth conſiſt, and that nothing makes a man truely noble, but pietie, and godlineſſe. Sinne defiles a perſon and makes him vile and loathſome, though otherwiſe never ſo honourable. David calls a ſinner a Pſalm 15. 4.vile perſon, and his ſonne Solomon calls him a loathſome perſon. Antiochus the great becauſe Prov▪ 13. 5.of his wickedneſſe, is ſtiled by Daniel a vile perſon. Sinne makes us not only like unto dogs, Dan. 11, 21.vipers, and ſwine, but unto devils: Nay, Sin makes us devils. Chriſt himſelfe calls Judas a devil: and ſaith, Revelations …. 10. The devil John 6. 70.ſhall caſt ſome of you into priſon, &c. meaning thereby wicked and deviliſh men. He that is a ſlave to his lusts is baſe, and ignoble though a King or Emperour. Nobilitie without virtue is but as a ſcarlet roabe upon a leaprous body. A true Chriſtian is of a noble extraction. He is the adopted Sonne of God, brother to Jeſus Chriſt, heire of God, and co-heire with Chriſt. He is partaker of the divine nature, and without all controverſie the Nobleſt man in the world. The Lord give you grace to believe this, that as you are nobly borne in reference to your earthly extraction, ſo you may be borne from above, and borne of God in reference to your heavenly original.
This Sermon will likewiſe inſtruct your Lordſhip how to dye nobly and honourably. And that is, to dye in the faith. He that dyes in his ſinnes, muſt of neceſſity be condemned for his ſinnes: but he that dyes with a true faith in Jeſus Chriſt, ſhall certainly live for ever in heaven with Chriſt. It will teach you to build your Sepulchre in your earthly Paradiſes, and in the midſt of your pleaſures to remember your latter end. This will be a golden bridle to keep you from unlawful, and to moderate the uſe of lawful pleaſures. It ſets before you a double patterne for your imitation. The lives of the ancient and religious Patriarcks, and many commendable, and praiſe-worthy things in your Fathers life. And if your Lordſhip will endeavour to write after theſe excellent copies and live as they lived, you will be happy both in life and death, which that you may be, is, and ſhall be the prayer of
My Lord, Your humble ſervant in Chriſt Jeſus. EDMUND CALAMY.