invented to deceive the Grief and the kind Desires of Men to restore Friends and Heroes to us after Death that they who excelled in Virtue and reigned in the Affections of Mankind by a delightful Mistake may seem to be alive and we to behold them She who is so much in our Thoughts and so much deserves to be in one of the best places there appeared whether she would or no highly Good in her Life but still more did she appear so at her Death in her Papers left behind her as the Riches of some wealthy Men are discovered when they dye to be so much greater than we did imagine But alas how dear bought was this our Knowledge We could have been contented to have known no more of her Piety than what we saw in her Life when that Piety was so great and that Life so valuable Was there need of her Death like that of a Martyr for the propagating of Religion as once the Blood of the best Christians was the seed of the Church Was she to bequeath her Piety to others in Writing and as it were by Will These Papers like those of a late Noble Lady and directed as a Letter from the other World to her Lord were far more valuable than such as are often left by the Learned to amuse the World afterwards with Posthâ—mous Books The reading of the Psalms and other parts of Scripture which was the daily Exercise of Primitive Saints was to her a daily Duty and the performing of this Duty was the last composed Action of her Life as Religion was the first thing and the last in her Thoughts And so she went forth from her Closet as a Great General goes out from his Tent to Fight she went forth to begin her encounter with Death when she first had taken not only St. Paul's Shield of Faith and Helmet of Salvation but his Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God How suitable were the Psalms for this Day for this her Great Day of Tryal As at the time of the Death of King Charles the First the Second Lesson for the Morning Service was an History of the Crucifying of Christ and read before the King he ask'd the Bishop who attended him in his last Hours whether he had chosen that too suitable Lesson for that too sad occasion the Bishop answered It was no choice but the Day of the Moneth and the Order of the Liturgy had presented it Another Excellent Person and not less so for being nearly related to that good Prince whose Piety was as great as his Misfortunes heard the last Sermon upon that Text Heb. 12.1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed abâ—ut with so great a Cloud of Witnesses c. That is of such whom as in the Chapter before The world was not worthy of and who all died in Faith and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the Earth The First Psalm of the other fatal Day we speak of the 139th begins with a lively Acknowledgment of that which Governed her that which she seemed to think of always in her Actions God's Presence in every place and His Knowledge of every thing O Lo d thou hast searched me and known me Thou knowest my down-sitting thâ—u understandest my Thoughts afar off Thou compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways In the same Psalm there is afterwards a praising of God for our Birth as every one besides her self had cause to praise God for hers I will praise thee for I am feaâ—fully and wonderfully made My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth And then alas her Substance thus curiously formed was soon to be dissolved In the next Psalm the 140th she read these words and her condition made them her own O God the Lord the strength of my Salvation thou hast cov red my head in the day of Battle That was indeed to her the Day of Battle And Surely the riâ—hteoâ—s shall give thanks to thy Nâ—me and the up ight shall dwell in thy presence Then was she ready to go into and dwell in the Presence of God and to have that new occasion of giving Thanks unto his Name In the other Psalm the 141st she found something very grateful because very agreeable to her own eager Devotion Lâ—rd I cry unto thâ—e make haste unâ—o me then would there be need for her crying and for God's making haste to her Give ear unto my voice whâ—n I cry unâ—o thee let my prayer be sâ—t forth befâ—re thee as Incense and the lifting up of my Hands as the Evening Sacrifice She never failed to offer that Incense and that Sacrifice too not only the Evening but the Morning one Had she indeed offered so much that she at last had nothing left to offer but her self and so she became her self a Sacrifice An Evening Sacrifice for then was the Night coming upon her in which no man can work Her Prayer was truly Incense for never was any thing more sweet it was made up of the Breathings of her Soul never had any thing a more Sovereign and Refreshing Smell Warm it was like that burning at the Altars and as Incense it was diffusive and spread all around her in the Virtue of it this as the other things she did was an odour of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God Phil. 4.18 In the same Psalm says David afterwards Our bones lye scattered at the Graves mouth but mine eyes are unto thee O God the Lord in thee is my trust leave not my Soul destitute She was concerned for her Soul her Body which every one else thought worthy of Care had little from her and when it was at the Graves Mouth she would scarce have open'd her own for its deliverance if she were to have considered as she seldom did her self alone The Lesson she read was 1 Thess 4. which thus begins Furthermore then we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God so you would abound more and more v. 1. She had walked and had pleased God and she had abounded more and more but she was not to do so any longer here she was to make her advances in higher Degrees and with more ease and security in the state of abundance and infinite Perfection The latter part of the Chapter speaks of Death and of Sorrow for it And was she to depart in peace upon the reading of that Word as Simeon did upon the fulfilling of another The Heathen coveted Death when he had read Plato's Book of the Immortality of the Soul and so did the suffering Christians the Noble Army of Martyrs when they had heard God speaking to them from the Scriptures as in ancient History the Soldiers are said to do upon the encouraging Orations of their Leaders
he has been the same from many Ages and will be so to many more and there shall be no other Change upon him than such as follows that of the Moon in the Full Moon they say he appears an Old Man in the New again a Young one in the Publick Temple and in the view of all his People As there was little Time allowed to her Life so you may think there was too little to her Death But then her Death which may seem surprizing was no more an Evil than that Change shall be the sudden Change of those who shall be living upon Earth when Christ comes to Judgment and who shall be changed in a moment in thâ— twinklâ—ng of an â—ye 1 Cor. 15.51 52. at the last Trumpâ—t And as in that very Chapter which was the last read by her who had read so many They who are alive and remain shall be caught up in the Clouds to meâ—t the Lord in the air 1 Thess 4 17. and so shall they ever be with tin Lord. Nor is there any Evil supposed in being caught up thus and snatched away for St. Paul presently says v. 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words and he is willing himself to be of the same number and in the same condition he speaks twice as of himself Then we as if he were to be included We who are alive c. There is not Anger or Punishment v. 15 17. but Favour and Blessing in the Death of the Righteous which has not long Solemnity and so much Ceremony as Princes often come to tire Houses of Favourites in a private manner without Pomp and Train So Wisdom 4.14 Enoch's Soul pleased the Lord therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked Love is eager as well as Wrath and there is a Kindness as well as a Fury which hastens and which does the thing without Delays and Forms The Righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart the merciful men are taken away Isa 57. â— none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come From the snares of Life from the calamities and from the sins of the World He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds And can we enter into peace too soon Does any one think it a misfortune that when he is weary he should hasten to his Bed The Prophet calls our Graves by a Name so very soft as that of Beds And yet our Notion of them is to out-do that Name they are yet more soft than these for a Bed may have Feaverish Nights and raging Pains broken Sleeps and unpleasant Dreams but there will be case in the Grave there will be nothing to disturb it Indeed I never read the Funeral Service with more passionate resentments than over the Tomb and the Remains of this wonderful Lady with what Regret did we all leave them behind us seeing every thing besides had left us and there was nothing of her upon Earth but these as the Mantle fell from Elijah when he went up to Heaven by the hasty conveyance of a whirlwind and in the glaring pomp of a flaming Chariot And yet in the same Service and at the same time we gave God hearty Thanks because it had pleased Him to deliver this our Sister out of the miseries of this sinful World the sinfulness of it was to her the greatest of its miseries that seemed to her a Disease but it was not a contagious one she was not infected with the Evil though she was discomposed upon the view Our complaining is to be less that she who was always Honoured and is now desired by all should dye so very soon then our Rejoycing that once she lived as when a new Star is seen and then seen no more the Philosopher does not repine that it is no longer visible but with all the nicest pleasure he enquires into the Light and Influence and Motion and all the Properries of it which could be observed while it it did appear I want no Warrant from any one for the giving all this Praise I should have wanted Pardon from my self if I had not given it and the only evil I know is this that there should be now occasion as there was always reason Prov. 31.30 for it Could I have need of a Warrant Solomon himself has one ready for me The woman that feareth the Lord shall he praised And the wise Son of Syrach has another when he seems to summon all those who have any worth of their own or who love it and have had any advantage by it in others to a Consort of Praise Let us now praise Famous Men Ecclus 44 12. 34.7 8.15 The Lord hath wrought great glory by them through his great power from the beginning Such as gave counsel by their understanding Were leaders of the people by their Counsels wise and eloquent in their instructions All these were honoured in their Genâ—rations and were the Glory of their Times They have left a Name behind them that their praises might be reported The people will tell of their wisdom and the Congregation will shew forth their praisâ— Indeed we are safe in the praises we give and others in those they hear without danger of imposing on them in the believing and on our selves in the Action when we do not as the antient Panegyrists teach the Persons praised what they should be but others what they are and what they themselves ought to be The defects of him who performs forms the Office and in his manner of performing it suppose not any defect in nor bring any disadvantage upon the Person for whom it is performed because we are to imagine a greater and more commanding Worth where the Dignity of the Matter does raise the lowest Genius to the unequal attempt and where to give just Praise to another a Man will generously forfeit his own as to pay a great Debt to another we sometimes leave nothing to our selves Thus died as you have heard the Devout and the Good the Worthy and the Honourable after a Life full of Merit though not of Years a Life which deserves far greater things then you yet have heard And how could we so much as say she is Dead much less bear the painful Reflection upon her being so if there were not an allay to the thought of the Evil from this manner of it Did I call it an Evil If Death be any may we suppose it to be that so much less since she pass'd through the Iron Gates and all the gloomy Solemnities of it as where-ever she came she used to leave something of advantage to those who should come after her and every thing was always the better for her To die standing was the great Roman's desire It Would have been hers to have died rather Kneeling not only in her preferring the last of her many Prayers on Earth to her God Acts 7.59 60. as St. Stephen
fell asleep calling upon God but in the lowest Submission to the Stroke as her Saviour bowed his head and gave up the Ghost Joh. 19.30 She died if that be a Thing so pleasant as to be repeated and then her Soul went upwards and took its boundless slight not as that of the Emperor from the Funeral Pile on the Wings of an Eagle but on those of Angels And we may well imagine there was joy in Heaven when she came Luke 1.5 7. though like the ninety and nine just persons she had before less need of repentance May we not pass now from her who was never before an unpleasant Subject And yet why must she now begin to be so Why should the Subject when She is named be Unpleasant now seeing the Condition which she is enstalled in is Glorious for ever And then should we shed our tears over her and not over our selves alone who are not in the same blissful State which she in and yet envy it not to her who wishes it to us to all As our dying Lord declared to the relenting Sex Luke 23.28 Ye Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves He from whom the Dead have all their Bliss and from whom alone we are to expect it That we may be fitted and in a just Capacity for it We will pass from her to our selves 1. Seeing we are to Mark and Behold her as Perfect and Upright I would by the pleasing View of this Beautiful Pattern raise a Spirit of Piety in others who want it and raise it higher in those who have it And seeing Life in the Best is a thing so uncertain and so short I would have that glorious hope of moving those who are not good to consider with what hazard they are not and those who are to remember with what present advantage they are such in their having longer time for all the most enlarged improvements The Lamp which the Philosopher used in his Studies the effects whereof had been so great in his Writings was purchased after his Death at the highest price But now there is the same Light for others without Price and Expence to read and to walk by which this Holy Person used to read good Books by in her Closet and to direct all her motions in the World there is more Light then she had a new one for there is that of her Example and if they do not use it their guilt is greater it began to be so from the day that they had such an Example this I am unwilling to say for it is a much more pleasing Office not only to him to whom it is done but to him who does it to congratulate a Reformation than to reprove a Fault as it is more delightful to see the recovery from a danger than to give notice of it there is no such matter of Joy in representing the Fault greater by its aggravations as in the Sinner's making it less by his change When the Jewish Writer had bewailed the end of an unhappy and vitious Woman for such there were among the Jews he comes at last to this practical Conclusion and then directs it to all who survived her They who remain shall know that there is nothing better than the fear of the Lord Ecclus. 23 27. and that there is nothing sweeter than to take heed to the Commandment of the Lord. May not we make use of the same Conclusion and with the same Address but with greater satisfaction because upon the death of one who was the Reverse of that careless daughter of Zion who was severely and bravely good in the midst of all the disadvantages indeed of things which seldom have so ill a name as that and should never deserve it I mean Youth and Beauty Wit and Honour and that Enchanting Prospect of a very wealthy Fortune which being in our view does often so fill out Eye that we see nothing besides it 2. Seeing her End was Peace shall we then bewail it with that excess which is to be reserved for those alone whose End is not such When her Death was Peace Shall our Life be otherwise Her End was Peace and her Condition will be so for ever We have joyful Reasons in the midst of all this Grief for that assurance You have heard the last Chapter she read Sorry I am that I must call any thing she did the last and you know the instructions thereof But was she indeed to resign her unstained and lovely Soul that there might be a present want of this Relief to our own that we might thus not so much at her cost as ours begin the too early execution of the advice which that Chapter gives us 3. Let Peace not only be her End in possession but ours in Reversion Let our Life be perfect and upright that our going out of it may be joyful and assured and that in the mean time our Prayer may be so too And then we may pray as in the Funeral Office that we with all those who are departed in the true Faith of God's Holy Name may have our perfect consummation and bliss both in body and Soul in his everlasting Glory Let us all pray as the once living Saint always did most devoutly and as in the Prayer which now presently follows in the Service of the Church being reconciled at last to our Loss and bowing down to the black Decrees of Providence let us in a change of Language and of Passions Bless God's Holy Name for all his Servants departed this Life in his Faith and Fear beseeching Him to give us Grace so to follow their good Examples that with them we may be partakers of His Heavenly Kingdom Grant this O Father for Jesus Christ's sake our only Mediator and Advocate Now the God of Peace Heb. 13.20 21. who brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant make you perfect in every good Work to do His will working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom with thee O Father and thee O Holy Ghost be Glory for ever And ever Amen FINIS