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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A91806	A sermon preached at the funeral of the Right Honorable Anne, Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery who died March 22, 1675/6, and was interred April the 14th following at Appleby in Westmorland : with some remarks on the life of that eminent lady / by the Right Reverend Father in God, Edward, Lord Bishop of Carlile.	Rainbowe, Edward, 1608-1684.	1677 (1677)	Wing R142; ESTC R11144	35,773	69

some holy Ejaculations The Psalms for the day of the Moneth were never omitted to be read by her self or when under some indisposition read to her by her Attendants She much delighted in that holy Book it was her Companion and when persons or their affections cannot so well be known by themselves they may be guessed at by their Companions No greater Testimony of a Soul having her Conversation in Heaven then by being conversant in that Heavenly Book which as holy Athanasius hath well demonstrated is fitted for all persons suited for all occasions To receive comfort express sorrow to cast down or lift up the Soul with joy to praise God to expostulate with him to strengthen Faith to nourish Hope to stir up Holy affection to allay Passion to teach Patience to await Gods leisure So that indeed we may apply to this one parcel of Scripture what St. Paul makes the scope of the inspired Books that it is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the man of God and not only so but that every Godly man or woman may be perfect throughly furnished to every good work It is scarce possible for any to be bad that frequently reads and meditates on this Book with desire to be good He that reads and digests shall be transformed into the image of it be acted by the spirit which breaths in it No doubt the Compilers of our Liturgy had all this in their eye when they made the reading a part of the Psalms of David so great a portion of the Morning and Evening Service Besides this which she did commonly read her self she usually heard a large portion of Scripture read every day as much as one of the Gospels read every week So that let her Body be fed never so sparingly her Soul was nourished with sound words the words of Faith which must needs give her a growth in Grace and make a sincere heart She took a particular delight in one Chapter which she used to repeat every Lord's day in the year and never failed to do it it was the eighth of the Romans which she had by heart in the best sense had laid it up in her heart and truly she could hardly find a better Cordial in any one Chapter in all the Holy Scriptures Which how comfortable how pertinent how useful it may be to any Christian in any Condition who desires with Meditation and Reflection to peruse it it may be sufficient to refer them to the serious reading of it and I doubt not but they will approve this Ladie 's Wisdom and Piety in her choice and frequent application of it to her self and she did so when Death look'd her in the face repeating it the first day when her Sickness which proved mortal seized on her As this might excite many Graces Faith Hope so especially what is the proper effect of those while we are on earth Patience and on Earth only these three Plants grow Faith Hope Patience though they send their fruit to Heaven yet their Root is only on Earth Faith is perfected by Vision Hope consummated by Fruition and at Heaven's gates the Patience of the Saints leaves them no more sufferings pain or grief all tears are wiped from their eyes at the first glimpse of the Beatifical Vision But I say in that selected Chapter Rom 8. the greatest Emphasis in it is to teach Patience either in inward afflictions of the Soul or outward pressures on the Body securing the Soul against the fear of damnation though under sinful infirmities and susteining the Body and outward man though under the Cross and greatest afflictions assuring that where Patience hath endured to the utmost when Patience shall have perfected its work it shall have its reward a Crown at the last I might inlarge by particular instances of her Patience in bearing and even Taking up submissively the Crosses which she met withall as it cannot be imagined but one who lived so long in a perverse and crooked generation must meet with many crosses in several kinds both in regard of Publick revolutions and Private cross-accidents Indeed she saw and felt great varieties and mixture of better and worse in both She spun out almost the measure of one whole Age and the Age wherein she lived might give her experience of the greatest misery and also felicity in the late revolutions in these three Nations that any one Age had ever seen Wherein the greatest Students and Searchers into the Methods of Providence could never extricate or clear the doubts which first arose from seeing these Nations from the top of earthly and heavenly blessings thrown into the abyss of misery and hellish slavery and then again by a powerful but gentle hand of Providence restored and raised up to its former prosperity and glory Herein this Lady as many less aged Had something like the fate of Noah saw the times before the Flood which Sin brought down weather'd out with Patience the time under the Floods of War and Misery Faith and Providence building her an Ark she lived to see the deluge of Blood and War dried up God in his never to be forgotten Mercy clearing the Skies and making the Sun and Starrs shine upon us again Those were times to exercise her Patience in a joynt-stock with others under publick Sufferings But she had and it may be seen that she well remembred then many private trials of her Patience not only those which in Common Providence happen to all mankind especially to the long lived who must needs see the Funerals of Parents and hear of the Deaths Misfortunes or Miscarriages of Husbands Children and Friends in all these there might be work for Patience although I acknowledg that true Christian-Patience looks upon such as Corrections and Chastisements and that they are more often the Indulgences of a Father then the severity of a Judge Corrections not Judgments And it is one of the safest ways for any to assure himself that he is the Child of God when he can willingly submit to his stroak as to the Correction of a Father Amongst the tryals of this kind I was able to observe one great work of Patience wrought out by this pious Lady When the astonishing news was brought her about three years since from the Isle of Garnsey of the strange and disasterous death of one of her dear Grand-Children with a Lady of great Piety and Honour and divers others by a terrible blast by Gunpowder the relation of which amazed the Court and all that heard of it although she first received the news with a sorrow supprest by a silence and wonder yet after when she heard that the Noble Lord her Grand-son who had also Lord Hatton been blown up out of his Chamber and by a wonderful Providence being thrown upon an high Wall that he and two of her Grand-children escaped without any harm she discovered a patient Submission to the Will of God in many

A SERMON PREACHED At the Funeral of the Right Honorable ANNE Countess of Pembroke Dorset and Montgomery Who died March 22. 1675 6. and was Interred April the 14th following at Appleby in Westmorland With some REMARKS On the LIFE of that Eminent LADY By the Right Reverend Father in God EDWARD Lord Bishop of Carlile LONDON Printed for R. Royston Bookseller to his most Excellent-Majesty and H. Broom at the Gun at the West-end of St. Paul's 1677. A SERMON Preached At the Interrment of the Right Honourable Anne Countess of Pembroke Dorset and Montgomery who died at her Castle of Brougham March 22th 1675 6 and was buried at Appleby April 14th following THe occasion of our present meeting being to pay our duty to the Memory of the Great and Good Anne Countess of Pembroke Dorset and Montgomery whose earthly Reliques now lie before us I sought after a Text which might give me scope pertinently to speak and recount such things of this their noble Lady a great Pattern of Vertue and an eminent Benefactor to her Generation as that thereby God may be glorified in his Saint and such Honour given to her Memory for all that was praise-worthy of her that others may be inflamed with the Love of all those Vertues which gain'd Love and Esteem to her in her life and shall make precious her Memory after her Death Let me therefore desire that your Attentions may accompany my Meditations while I treat on that short but comprehensive portion of Scripture which is contain'd in part of the first verse of the 14th Chapter of the Proverbs of the Wise King Solomon Prov. 14. 1. Every wise Woman buildeth her House THese Words are a full Proposition a clear Assertion and although there lies under the terms some figurative meaning as in all Proverbial or Parabolical Sentences there commonly doth even throughout this Book called the Proverbs or Parables of Solomon yet these words in the Text come in the plainest kind of Assertion the most regular form of a Proposition Categorical and simple open and Affirmative and with the most universal note of Comprehension So that if there be any difficulty by reason of the figurative sense it may be cleared by the full scope of the Text and the business of it dispatched by answering two short questions Who and What 1. Who it is of whom the Assertion in the Text is verified And 2. What is the full scope of the Assertion Who is the Subject in the Proposition The wise Woman And What it is that is asserted What To build her House These being answered Then the Copula the Connexion of the parts the truth of the Proposition in the literal sense and also in the Figure will be manifest and made easy to our Application and suitable to the occasion of our present meeting And so also the truth of the Proposition will be amplified by one great instance an evident Example here before us that both the Subject of my Meditations and of your Contemplations what we hear and see may also be the Subject of what we read the Proposition in the Text a Woman adorn'd with the Adjunct Wise a wise Woman presented to your Memory And being such the Assertion that she built her House in the Letter as well as in the Figure built her House that is did all things necessary decent and convenient for the building of it brought the greatest blessings desirable to her House shall be manifested by many instances I must first remind you that the manner of expressing the great and important truths in this Text as in this Book of the Proverbs is for the most part Figurative Synecdochical Allegorical by Parables Proverbs and Similitudes Men of the greatest Wisdom and Spirit even those who spake by the Holy Spirit the Pen-men of the Holy Writ have thought it fit to cloath such Truths as of themselves are simple and naked with these kind of Rhetorical Ornaments to draw mens more considerate attentions and researches to fix the eyes of the mind more earnestly on them By these Goads and Nails as the Eccles 12. 11. wise Preacher tells us to rowse up dull Affections and to fasten the things in our mind least at any time we should let them slip Thus Holy Job and the Prophets thus Holy David as well as his wise Son King Solomon opened their Mouths in Parables nay a greater than Solomon here our Blessed Saviour did open to the people his Wisdom in Parables so frequently that St. Mat. 13. 34. we are told All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in Parables and without a Parable spake he not unto them This Text then short in Words but full in Sense hath no less than four Figurative expressions the Terms and the other which bear any Emphasis or matter to make up the Proposition have somthing of Scheme or Figure in them 1. The subject here to whom this excellent work in the Text is ascribed Woman we must allow to be so far figurative as to say no more by a Synecdoche under one to comprehend both Sexes or the species For no doubt but what is asserted here of the Woman her Act Vertue or Duty belongs even in the first place to the other Sex Man Building being more properly his the Manswork and it may be as truly said Every wise man buildeth his House The Note or Enquiries here then might be why here and in other places of the Holy Scripture in this Book of the Proverbs more especially so many great sayings and deeds are attributed to or have had their instances in Women in the Female whereas the same might be exemplified or said much more of men It were needless to speak much of this yet there might be some Reasons given and on this occasion I shall briefly touch upon a few Why great Actions and the procuring great blessings have had designedly their instances in that Sex and that the excellencies of Women have been so often and in all Ages recorded One Reason might have been to put an Honor on that weaker Sex lest the proud or more exalted nature of man should undervalue look down upon and despise that Sex as too much inferior to men For that in those things wherein mans greatest excellency consists the Soul and its Faculties we are told by Scripture-philosophy that all souls are equal made so by God all come out of the Hand of God with equal Faculties and when they return to God shall in their degrees be Crowned with equal Glory All souls are of the same Kind and Order Souls know no Sexes when seperate are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like to the Angels Marry not nor are given in Marriage In Christ Jesus neither Male nor Female all stand alike related to Christ as they who hear and obey his Word are his Mother and Brother and Sister stand in equality of Relation in identity of Sex Souls I say in Substance are alike perfect 't is accidental that other

things come Infancy Childhood Age Infirmities Souls know nor feel such things from their own pure principles these flow from Union with the Body the Crasis and Temperaments of the Elements otherwise I say souls would not Pati Senium souls of men and women are alike immortal 3. Women have been the Instruments to convey great blessings to their Generations nay by a woman was conveyed the Greatest Blessing to mankind our Blessed Saviour for whom all Generations Shall call her Blessed As God made the first Adam the Father of all mankind without the help of a woman and by taking woman out of mans flesh peopled the World so God took the second Adam out of woman without the help of a man from whence hath issued the Holy Seed which hath replenished the Church 4. Women have given as great examples of Vertue in every kind and in some kinds of Learning as men have done It were endless to instance or compare we find Women to have been adorned with as great Eulogies in Histories Sacred or Profane as men have been Hence we find them memorable in so many Addresses to them by Epistles and Panegyrics while they were living Celebrated by Elegies Funeral Orations and Epitaphs when they were dead Canonized placed in the highest degrees of happiness which Opinion Fame or Faith could give them after their death I need not bring to witness the most Learned of the Heathen Writers Tully Seneca Plutarch especially who has written a Book purposely of the Vertuous deeds of Women Greg. Nazianzen sets out the great praise of Gorgonia Basil of Matrina St. Ambrose of Marcellina St. Hierom of Eustochium Marcella Asella c. He and St. Austin directs many Epistles and some of their Books or Treatises to Eustochium Paulina Proba and others women pious and exercised in the learning which the Holy Scripture teaches Nay the beloved Apostle Evangelist and Divine St. John directs his Epistle to a Lady either to a particular Eminent Woman as the most averr or if to the Church Catholick as some would conjecture yet under the Scheme of a Lady a Woman What Honourable and frequent mention do we find in the Old and New Testament of Women Eminent for Prudence Constancy Courage Piety and all Graces as if the Female Spirit had had the ascendant and had been productive of the highest and most memorable Atchievements and Effects Most Languages and those who have set out the greatest things have commonly shadowed and represented them under the Hieroglyphics Figure and Scheme of a Woman The Earth it self the four parts of it Great Monarchies and Commonwealths as a Great Queen or Lady So the Scriprure frequently speaks of great Cities Daughter of Babylon of Tyre Danghter of Hierusalem of Zion Nay further thus the Church the Synagogue and Jewish thus the Church of Christ is expressed and represented a Spotless Virgin the Spouse of Christ the King's Daughter The Woman Rev. 12. 1. The wonder in Heaven cloathed with the Sun the Moon under her Feet with a Crown of Stars on her Head this a representation of the Church Jewish by some Christian by others Lastly all the Virtues Intellectual Moral Prudence Justice Nay even the Theological Faith Hope and Charity in the import of their names the Properties and things ascribed to them are represented under the Schemes and Figures of Women Even this Wisdom it self is so set out through this whole Book of the Proverbs Wisdom calls she lifts up her voice invites by sweet yet Powerful Arguments the simple and those that lack Understanding to be her Proselytes Say unto Wisdom thou art my Sister and call Vnderstanding Prov. 7. 4. thy Kinswoman And therefore this great Action and Blessing in this Text figuratively express'd by building the House is fitly here attributed to a wise Woman as the same thing had been before Chap. 9. 1. of Wisdom it self under the Figure of some magnificent Queen or Lady erecting some stately Fabric Wisdom hath builded her House she hath hewen out her seven Pillars i. e. she hath built as all the wise do with Symetry with Strength Beauty and Order That shews her a wise builder And that is the Epithet or Adjunct to the VVoman building in the Text wise every wise Woman Wise The word rendred from the Original literally is the wise of Women and so as Grammarians note admits some Figure here but we need not recede from our own Translation Wise the Subject is so denominated from the Habit Wisdom which is demonstrated by Arts suitable to it and gives the Title of Wise But neither this nor the Habit of Wisdom is to be taken in so strict a sense as Philosophers commonly do making it only one of those which they call the Intellectual Habits and to be only Speculative and so define it by knowledge of all things Divine and Humane from whence those who studied and sought after such Knowledge or Wisdom gain'd the Title of Philosophers Lovers and Searchers after Wisdom To omit what others restrain it unto who define Wisdom to be the knowledge of the highest things and their Causes It may suffice in this place to take wisdom in that large sense which this wise Author of the Book of the Proverbs doth throughout this Book chiefly in the beginning of it where he discovers the Heavenly root of the knowledge from whence the true wisdom grows namely the fear of the Lord. And this imports a knowledge of God such as hath always a religious and awful fear of him joyned with it and an endeavour to know and practise all things which conduce to his Worship and Glory and to mans happiness Plainly it is to be wise to Salvation Therefore this wisdom cannot be a single nor only a speculative Habit nor destitute of any of the other Intellectual or Moral Habits but they all minister unto it as means to attain the highest end God and Happiness but in the first place it may intimate those habits which more immediately perfect the Vnderstanding Knowledge Prudence Discretion Sagacity Sound Judgment and good Vnderstanding These are Wisdom's Companions or rather Handmaids always attending upon her and after these all moral Virtues will vinculo sororio as they say willingly follow Whoso is wise will seek after all these all Vertue these constitute a wise Man or Woman This is the wise Woman in the Text. This may answer the first Question Who Both why a Woman is here the instance and who is this wise Woman The Subject in the Proposition on which is founded this Assertion in the Text. That she buildeth her House And that brings in the second Query What is meant by building her House The Design of King Solomon in this Text being to set out the praise of a wise Woman or rather of Wisdom under the Scheme and Figure of a Woman He instances in that part of Wisdom or of Philosophy which is esteemed by all Philosophers to be most proper to that Sex namely the