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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A56749 A sermon upon the death of the Queen, preached in the parish-church of St. Mary White-Chappel by William Payne ... Payne, William, 1650-1696. 1695 (1695) Wing P911; ESTC R22909 18,504 38

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and Influence when placed in so high an Orb above others in which they can easily turn all the Lesser Circles and Subordinate Spheres about with them but as their very Places and their Characters call for this whereby they Personate and Represent and are in the Place of God and therein do a great deal of good to the World and are Gods though not by Nature yet by Office so that to despise Dominion and speak evil of Dignities even the worst and bring a Railing Accusation against them Jude 8. though never so true is stigmatiz'd as a great fault by the Apostle And what Michael the Arch-Angel thought not fit against the Devil though contending with him but rather used that more Decent Language The Lord Rebuke thee Which some Christians would do well to Consider Thus I have briefly accounted for this Expression in my Text of calling Rulers and those none of the best by the Name of Gods and Angels and this by the Holy Ghost himself whom none can have the Blasphemous Impudence to charge with any Flattery in so doing I am now to Apply this Character upon more Particular and more Eminent Reasons to one of the best Princesses who ever sat upon a Throne I know not how to draw her Picture 't is so all over Beautious without any Foil any Shade any Blemish so Perfect in every Feature so Accomplish't in every Part so Adorn'd with every Perfection and every Grace having such an exact Symmetry and such Rich and Lively Colours of the most Beautiful Vertues Appearing in all her Actions and Shining through her whole Life that Her 's must be the very Picture of Vertue it self drawn to the Life not in the Dead and Cold Descriptions of it in the Books of Moralists or in the Lectures of Divines and Philosophers But in such a Living Pattern and Example of it as makes Vertue it self become Visible and Embodyed and Answers Tully's Wish and Justifyes his Saying That if it could thus be seen with Bodily Eyes it would Excite Admirable Love of it self in all that behold it 'T is a hard thing in Painting to draw a Perfect and Exact Circle it out-does that Art to draw Light or the Lustre of the Sun or with a Cold Pencil to describe Fire And it can no more equal the Natural Beauty of the Rose with its Faint Colours than the Fragrancy of it The Work and Difficulty is as great in our Present Case To Describe the Perfect Vertues of our Incomparable Queen No Art or Skill can come up to them much less Exceed them There is no room for Fancy and Imagination to add any thing Nature and Grace have out-done that and set before us such a Compleat Peice I had almost said such an Original of Humane Vertue and Perfection as the World has not had in many Ages We must draw Her as Apelles did Venus not by any Single though most Beautiful Pattern but by taking the several Excellencies and Perfections of all other Women and putting them together as God had done in Her We must Draw Her by no other we must Draw Her only by Her Self I mean by no other Humane likeness by none of the Imperfect Copies of Mortal Vertue She has left behind her No We must Draw Her truly by the likeness She had to God the Fountain and Original of all Excellencies and Perfections and by Her Similitude to the Angels those Holy and Heavenly Spirits the first Images of God and both Him and Them She Resembled as Highly as could well be done by mere Humane Vertue She was an Excellent Copy both of the Divine and Angelick Nature and Vertue as like God and as like the Blessed Spirits above those Children of the Most High as perhaps any Man or any Woman ever was within our Knowledge except Him that was a True God as well as a Man and Her that was the Mother of God I say not this to flatter Her She is above that She is got out of the reach either of Flatterers or Slanderers and She was above it here Her Vertue was alwayes too great to be flatter'd or to have more said of it than it deserv'd and it was so great likewise that neither Envy nor Malice durst ever slander it But I speak my Judgment and Opinion of Her out of Her hearing by which neither am I to get any thing nor She And I believe there are hardly any that knew Her will much differ from me or will think that too much can be said in Her Praise Her Name ought to live in the highest Monuments of Fame Adorn'd and Gilded with all the Glorious Ensigns that Art can put upon them We ought to build Her Tomb with the best Work and garnish it with the best Ornaments and hang it with the finest Garlands and strew all the Flowers upon it that the Withered and Decayed Poetry and Oratory of our Age can furnish We may do any thing we ought to do every thing but building an Altar and making an Office and saying Ave Maria to Her She was the Saint of our Church of our Age and Nation of whom we have reason to be Proud and make the Most seeing however they abounded in former Rubricks at least they are so very scarce now I am sure Her Memory ought to be very pretious to us all and Her Righteousness to be had in Everlasting Remembrance not only as a Due we ought to pay Her but as a Benefit we are still to receive from Her Her Excellent Example ought to live after her and do as much good as can be though nothing so much as She would have done had She lived and ought to be set before the World in the best Light and with the best Advantage to Teach the Present Age Piety and Religion and all manner of Vertue and be Transmitted down to Posterity with the greatest Honour Imaginable i. e. with the Greatest and Exactest Truth for it needs no more I am at present only to show how this Title and Character which is here in my Text given to Princes and Magistrates whereby they are called Gods And Angels or Children of the Most High does in a Peculiar and more Eminent manner belong to Her and that not only in respect of Her Office Her Power and Authority Her High State and Dignity whereby She was Advanced above other Mortals which was the Principal Reason why other Princes are called Gods and Children of the Most High But especially upon Account of Her Personal Qualities and Excellencies and particularly upon these Four which I shall single out of all her others for She had All wherein she was most remarkably like God and the Angels 1. The Goodness and Benignity of Her Nature 2. Her Charity and Inclination to do all good to others 3. Her Universal Vertue Innocence and Purity of Life 4. Her Extraordinary Piety and Devotion As to Her Soveraign Power and Office which Entitled her to this Character in my Text