any new sting to wound either mee or mine Thus death it selfe is dead and the dead live againe death is swallowed up and the dead are rendered up this is the hope of humaneflesh but he must be more then flesh whosoever attaineth to the end of this hope for flesh and bloud shall never inherit the kingdome of heaven As there is a flesh which shall see the salvation of God so there is a flesh which is as grasse Grasse which groweth to day and tomorow perhaps is to be cast into the fornace there to be tormented in aeterno Dei because it sinned in aeterno suo During the eternall pleasure of God because of its owne eternall pleasure it tooke in displeasing of God As there are some qui rapientur in occursum so there are some qui convertentur retrorsum Those which have turned their backes unto me and not their face those shall be turned backward They shall rise againe but it shall be for their greater depression Their bodies shall be delivered from the first death but it shall be to be delivered up unto the second death their soules and bodies shall be united but both devided from God in such manner that they shall wish the bodie had beene rather extinguished then thus united Sed ad augmentum tormenti ut hic de corpore nolens educitur itidem et illic in corpore tenetur in vitus To aggravate the vengeance as here the soule parted out of the bodie against its will so there it s held in the body against its will Marveile not at it though 〈◊〉 be de suo optomus yet he is de nostro Iustus As he is gracious by the propriety of his nature so he is iust for the necessity of the cause And it is equall and iust that if we taste of the sweetnesse of sinne against the will of God we shall taste of the bitternesse of punishment against our owne will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is equall if we be here subiected unto that evill one that we should hereafter be possessed of him saith that excellent Homilist Macarius If we make our bodies Prostibula and not Templa rather Temples of Chemosh and Ashtaroth then Domus patris mei they will become rather blockes of hell-fire then Pillars in the Temple and the Courtes of the house of our God Let us therefore spare our Bodies my beloved and not use them as if they were borrowed garments we must give accompts of things done in them And as the scarrs of wounds so the scarrs of sins will appeare therin after death which will be Characters of evidence plaine enough to testifie their unâ—â—â—blenesse of Glorie let us therefore here seeke to take them away by taking the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by being washed by being sanctified here Would we so rise from death that we may not sinke into the second death let us remember that Corpora nostra huic Resurrectioni per Regenerationem Spiritus inaugurantur Our bodies must be here intituled unto the Resurrection of glory by the Resurrection of Grace Nature exposeth us all dead dead in the uncircumcision of the flesh dead in the dead workes of the flesh Man who had not knowne sinne should have felt no power of death in his Bodie by sinne contracted a death even of his soule for as the soule is the life of the bodie so is grace the life of the Soule As then when the soule departeth the bodie dies so Grace having abandoned the soule the spirit it selfe is dead And how many doe we discerne everie where in whom the tokens of this death are sensibly apparent men dead in themselves onely Satan moveth in them Satan walketh in them so that they move but like prodigies like the bodies of those which Satan is said to make use of for the atcheiving of his wicked illusions St. Aug observes three sorts of dead persons whom Christ raised up unto life representing three distinct sorts of his spirituall death first the daughter of the Ruler of the Synagogue which was dead in the house resembling those that are dead-hearted senselesse of the impressions of life grace such as sit as dead in these Assemblies as if we were preaching at their funeralls Secondly The young man which was caryed out of the Gates of Natin resembling those whose hearts and hands are engaged in the outward practise of the dead workes of the flesh Thirdly Lazarus that had layen long putryfying in the grave representing those that have layen from the very wombe overwhelmed with the body of death and over-set with a cloud of ignorance insensiblenes so many dead in all these conditions and degrees do we observe every where that we have reason to wish as Ieremie did oh that our eyes were as Rivers of water that we might weepe for the dead for the slaine of our people now then oh wretched men that we are who shall deliver us from the body of this death If we be raised we must be raised by the voice and vertue of the same Christ which raised up these he that in the Gospel bad the yong man arise must by his Gospel bid the new man arise in us As we are suÌ„moned unto the second Resurrection by the voice of an Archangel so are we here unto this by the voice of the Angel of the covenant in the mouths of the angels of the churches the ministers here both that voice which sounded from mount Sinai and that which sounded from mount Sion have their part in the action The law startleth the Gospell awaketh quickneth us Christ sent the law by his servant as Elisha sent his staffe by which yet the dead child was not raised up till Elisha himselfe came in persoÌ„ The terrors of the law quicken in us so much sence as may make us sigh for our restoration the refreshings of the gospel quickeÌ„ in us so much light life as to make us se and run into the arms of our Restorer The law seemes to remove the stone from the mouth of our hearts as it was removed from the mouth of Lazarus Sepulchre but the voice of Christ in the Gospel sumoneth us to awake arise that he may give us light wherin we may be enabled to know follow him that hath visited us done so great things for us now I would that we had made such an advantage of our Attention to that powerfull voice that I might have occasiont 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after a visible evident Resurrection to loose you as Lazarus was from the bondes of the Grave or to say with the father of the prodigall loe these my sonnes were dead but now they live we were dead saith the Apostle but now we are alive in Iesus Christ now we feele the pulse of spirituall life beate in the Arteries of our faith which assureth us that our life is prepared for us of our hope which
that the Iudge of all the world should not do righteously And unto this well-grounded assent succeedes our firme adhaerence unto the covenants of promise by which we cleave unto and close with our Redeemer in this manner The proposition of the promise is furnished by the Gospell The Redeemer died for those that are dead unto sin rose againe for the justification of them which are planted into the similitude of his resurrection Now an assumption must be fitted unto the proposition by that assent which our understandings give unto the truth and that adherence which our wills fasten upon the goodnesse of these exceeding rich and precious promises If we be able thus to limit the generall proposition I am dead unto the world by the Crosse of Christ or I was dead but now I am alive in Iesus Christ the conclusion will follow inevitably I doe not alwayes expect in such a limitation certitudinem Evidentiae where I finde but certitudinem adhaerentiae such a one as sometime feeles some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some declinations and abatements of its firmenesse and fervor Even that faith howsoever it seeme to come no neerer unto Christ then the very hemme of his garment yet is able to derive vertue from him Thus have I in a verie narrow modell represented unto you the whole figure of that grace which gives us Title unto this promise Give me then leave to question you as the Apostle did Agrippa Beleevest thou the prophets Beleeve you in the Lord Iesus I would I could answer for all as he did for Agrippa I know that you beleeve But this I know Many will make a boast of faith saith Salomon but where shall we finde a faithfull man If you beleeve indeed your faith will give evidence of it selfe by the exercise of an adhering and an apprehending vertue By the first we are inserted into him by the second we derive a quickening influence from him Doest thou then beleeve in the Lord Iesus shew mee then the power of the Lord Iesus The Angell gave a reason of his name He shall be called Iesus saith he for he shall save his people from their sinnes But art thou yet in thy sinnes I cannot then beleeve that thou beleevest No! It is fitter for thee according to that elegant observation of St. Bernard to feare the name of Christ then to be confident upon the name of Iesus It is fitter for thee in such a case to dread him as he is Christ a King a Iudge then to presume upon him as he is Iesus a Saviour a Redeemer Doest thou beleeve in the death of Iesus Christ shew me then the power of his death whether it worke in thee mightilie as it did in the Apostle to the subduing of every corrupt affection Doest thou beleeve in his Resurrection shew me then the power of his resurrection Resurrectio Christi habet virtutem in se sed operationem in nobis shew me then what new effect it hath wrought what new life it hath quickened in thee No man came unto Christ that went away in the same estate that he came in Some came lame and paralytike and went backe restored to the integritie of their limmes and strength some came leprous and were dismissed cleane some came blinde and deafe and went went away restored to the integritie of their sences None were dismissed in the same estate wherein they came And hast thou beene so neere unto Christ as to say I am in him and of him and yet art neither cleansed nor enlightened nor healed who can beleeve it Whatsoever thou boastest of beleeving I cannot beleeve that thou beleevest at all no certainely thou never wert so neere him as the very skirts of his clothing thou never camest so neere as the very smell of the oyntments of this our Aaron If thou hadst certainely that name which is as an oyntment powred forth that name wherein thou pretendest to beleeve would powerfully have healed all these wounds and sores and swellings But doest thou indeed beleeve and art able to give evidence thereof by such comfortable Testimonies as are here implied Then doubt not of the promise as Christ said unto Martha Beleevest thou this why then he that beleeveth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and so I passe from the condition to the consideration of the promise suspended upon the condition Though he were dead yet shall he live The labour of man in this life is to turne up the face of the Earth in the sweate of his owne face seeking for foode and fewell in her bowells and in the closing up of the weary day of his Travell the earth receiveth man himselfe for a recompence into her bosome to fill up those wounds and rents But the earth receaveth back no more then it lent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz The spirit breathed from above returneth to God that gave it Dissolutio corporis est Absolutio animae As the snare being broken the Bird escapeth so the bodie being dissolved evadit intus inclusa Columba our soule is escaped as a Bird out of the snare of the fowler so that in our departure we suffer but aliquid mortis not a whole death Our life is not lost but hid The Serpent which hath the power of death can doe no more but manducare terram nostram licke our dust and indeed but licke it devoure it consume it annihilate it he cannot there must still be ex defectione refectio after a decay a reparation The Earth indeed receiveth the dust backe againe which it lent but yet it receiveth it not as payed but as lent it must be given up and returned backe againe It receiveth our bodies to make up those wounds and wants which partly our wants partly our wantonnesse have made in her face and wombe and it retaineth them for a recompense of her sufferings and losses till in the generall restoration it selfe be restored But then when it selfe is renewed when there is a new heaven and a new Earth what need hath the Earth to reteine our bodies any longer for satisfaction In that day Oh Earth Earth Earth thou shalt heare the voice of the Lord and render up thy dead and even the dead themselves shall heare the voyce of the son of God and they that heare it shall live This is the hope of Israell and indeed the hope of all the world after al those evills which presse and persecute man to the last earthly evill death there is yet this hope left in the botteme of the Grave as in the bottome of Pandora's Boxe But it is but hope not sight and therefore the doctrine which concerned this hope received such sleight intertainment for whereas the Apostle saith hope that is seene is not hope cleane contrary with him that lookes onely with the eye of nature hope that is not seene is no hope at all Hope that is not founded upon the Evidence of reason is
unto great depravations and exorbitancies so that we may say of her as Greg Naz said of his Sister Gorgonia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She made the fruite of her Bodie to become the fruite of the spirit And of the same goodnesse there was a proportionable diffusion amongst those that depended on her How many that lived neere her hath the Elixar of the same goodnesse rendered of the same qualitie and propertie her charitie and Courtesie was large and open unto all I name these as strictures of that fire of zeale which she had to goodnesse She was not like those which esteeme themselves onely members and others but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apostems congenite and connaturall partes with themselves her zeale was farre from being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bitter zeale such as we see in some like a salt-light which burnes indeed but spits withall while she had health she made advantage therof thus to demeane her selfe not deferring the taking up of good purposes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Greg Naz till the artlesse Physitian takes upon him to dispense what houres of life and continance he pleaseth unto us weighing us out either sicknesse or health with his severe-rod and commonly discoursing and concluding of the disease that brought death after death it selfe But the greatest part of her life was a Parasceue a preparation to her dissolution as if she had beene sensible that as Christ dyed upon the parasceue the day of preparation so none have any advantage by the death of Christ but those which premit such a preparation before their owne death and dissolution Is it not admirable that she who had runne through some hard lessons in the Schoole of affliction loved the rod so for the healing and sanctifying benefit which she found in it that it was her frequent prayer that God would be pleased when he called her hence he would be pleased to call her by a consumption rather then by any other way And accordingly it was so she conceived that many had been shaken with the whirlwinde of a convulsion and perhaps the Lord God was not in that winde many consumed with the fire of adustion and choller perhaps the Lord God was not in that fire but whereas many have beene summoned away by the still soft voice of consumption the Lord God is frequently in that voyce And certainly the Lord supported her the Lord perfected his strength in her weaknes for she susteined that afflictioÌ„ with such admirable moderation with such strength and vigour of spirit that if any man had entred her Chamber if he had not read the truth of her sufferings in the decayes and weaknesse of her person hee would have thought there had been none sicke there whatsoever she suffered there was nothing in her mouth but thanks to that gracious hand which lay so light vpon her and made her suffer no more As before so in her sicknesse especially it was her uncessant practise to commend her selfe continually unto God and that in the most conceived and feeling formes in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Words winged with affection and zeale not like those Estriches wings wherewith our sluggish devotions are usually fledged which as the estriches make a faire offer at flying toward heaven but are held down by the grossnes of their bodies so howsoever we seeme to soare yet are we restrained by our carnall heavinesse But her wordes were winged so as to carry her spirit there where her hope was farre above the reach of Satan though he be planted high too as high as a Prince of the aire So that no marvell if her spirit during her last affliction were in such a composed settlednesse it was out of the enemies reach She was not in the aire lyable to be shaken with Tempests and windes but even in heaven it selfe which cannot be turmoyled with any such agitations She vsed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seale vp her bosome against temptation by continuall prayer so that Satan durst not attempt her seeing what impression seeing whose Image and superscription she bore Hence was that often comfortable profession how firme and stedfast she found her faith yet shee was iealous of her selfe because shee seemed to finde no greater measure of sorrow in her selfe when shee looked backe from her future to her former life Put she ever used to accuse her want of sorrow with such a measure of sorrow as well witnessed the truth thereof For this respect she did with exceeding diligence search and with great Iudgement choose whatsoever the Scripture could afford her for the establishing of her Spirit and the building up of her assurance in the Lord Iesus committing with her owne hand even in â—â—at weakenesâ—e to writing what she had observed and continâ—ing that prâ—ctise till within very few dayes before her death before which she became most peaceably setled and râ—solved that God according to that of Greg Naz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God desireth that our hearts should be pricked but not stabbed thorough And her faith being thus strengthened and established by continuall prayer and hearing and by frequent communicating that Sacrament which Ignatius calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she preserved it in such strength and vigor that the day of her dissolution I comming to her she professed that whatsoever her sufferings were yet she did nothing but claspe her selfe about her-sweet Saviour And againe the same day I see Satan hovering over me but though he be the Prince of the Ayre they are her owne words yet he doth but hover like a bird in the Ayre not being able to seize upon me I still feele the advantage And thus she passed as she was passing away in the same calme behaviour that she had ever shewed rendering her selfe into the Armes of her redeemer And she having lived thus and died thus now she is dead shall we thinke she doth not live No no! It is not impertinent what I have read in Spartian of Hadrian Signa mortis haec habuit Annulus sponte de digito delapsus est but the Ring of faith as Bernard calls it never slipped from her she tooke it with her to be maried for ever in it unto the Lambe who hath graven her in the palmes of his hands and hath set her as a Scale upon his Arme there to remaine for ever Vnto which honor the Lord with her bring us all that we may so live so die then so live for ever without dying any more Amen FINIS PErlegi hanc concionem funebrem in Cap. 11. St. Ioha 1. ver 25. in quâ nihil reperio bonis moribus aut sauae doctrinae contrarium quo minus cumutilitate publicâ imprimatur ita tamen ut si non intra tres menses proximè sequentes typis mandetur haec licentia sit omninò irrita Prid Calend. Iunii 1635 Guil Bray Iob. 29. 17. Iob. 20. 15. Es. 16. 19. Psal. 68. 20. Rom. 3. Ier. 20. Gen 17. Prov. 20. 6. Nazian Aug Col. 3. 1. Ioh. 5. 25. Act. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug. 2 Sam 12. 1 Cor. 15. Es. 52. Es. 4. 1 Thes. 4. 17 Ps. 9. 17. Grâ—g Tertull Hom Cyrill catech 18. Tertull Septuag Luke 16. Nazian Greg Naz Greg Naz Ignatius Epus de char chap 27.
with him but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a citie in the cloudes a Castle in the ayre hence was it that the doctrine of the Resurrection amongst the Epicureans Pithagoreans of Athens was receved but as a mater of mockery though the Iudgement seate were in the Arcopagus yet they sate downe in the seate of scorners not as Iudges of Paules Sermon But allowing that the Athenians had some reason to be ignorant as perhaps had they not so much reason they would not have had so litle faith It is not strange that in the first 300. years after Christ divers even in Christ should gainesay this hope of all the world being spoyled through the same vaine Philosophy Many of those ages having not seen any example of a Resurrection but only received it upon relation and reading began to scanne the possibility of such a restoration according to the principles of Nature reason It is well observed of Minutius non minoris est sceleris ignorare quamsaedere These men sinne as highly by denying Gods Power through their ignorance as if by their disobedience they had resisted it Malè Deum norunt qui illum putant non posse quod non putant I may pronounce them ignorant which conceive that God is able to do no more then they are able in reason to conceive But though they though all the world gainsay this hope of all the world yet this is the victory that overcometh all the world even our faith we will not draw all unto reason but leave something for faith Our contemplation of matters of this straine which are above the comprehension of reason and beyond the bounds of experience doth not arrive at knowledge but at wonder which is nothing els but Contemplation broken off or loosing it selfe It was aptly said by one of Platoes schoole the sense of man resembleth the Sunne which openeth and reveileth the Terrestiall Globe but obscureth and concealeth the Celestiall so doeth the sense discover naturall things but darken and shut up those which are beyond the verge of nature for all things proceeding in the Invention of knowledg is by similitude but those things are onely selfe like and have nothing in common with naturall things otherwise then in shadow and trope Give therefore unto faith that which unto faith belongeth for indeed it is more worthy to beleeve then to thinke or know considering that in knowledge the minde suffereth from the impression of inferior natures but in all beliefe the minde suffereth from a spirit which it holdeth superior more authorised thē it selfe Nolumus igitur intelligere ut credamus sed credereut inteligamus we wil not therfore seeke to under stand that we may beleeve but beleve that it may be given us to understand The mystery of the Resurrection was delivered not by Pihlosophers but by simple fishermen and here the most subtill of us must leave to be disputants and learne to be disciples And yet if any list to dispute let me aske as St. Paul did why should it seeme an impossible thing to raise up one that is dead It was well argued by the Iew Pesisa Si quod fuit est ergo quod fuit erit whether is it harder to restore a body mouldred into the dust from whence it was taken then to creat all things out of nothing Is it thought impossible in nature why nature her selfe is a mistrisse able enough to informe us of the contrarie Operibus Resurrectionem perscripsit antequam literis viribus praedicavit antequam vocibus se we not the vicissitudes of night and day the revolutions of winter and summer the riseing and setting of the Starres the wane and increases of the Moone the Quickening of the dead graine under the Clod to beare a lively resemblance of this Restoration The whole Creation which grones for the generall resurrection practiseth a yeerely a monthly yea a daily Resurrection in its severall parts And all this for Man And shall man onely not rise for whom all these things rise in their periods and seasons what should withhold him from being restored The powers of the grave are shaken and disabled Christ himselfe hath broken open the Gates thereof and loosed his Prisoners from the brinkes of the pit death it selfe hath by his last conflict received its deaths wound he had foiled it before by the ministry of his servants by Eliah recalling the Sarephtans son by Elisha recovering the Shunamits son So David foiled his enemies of Ammon by the valour of his servants Ioab and Abisha but himselfe was faine to appeare before Rabbah for the perfecting of the victory and conclusion of the warre so the Sonne of David appeared personally to give his Enemie the last stroke to swallow up death in an utter victory The victory is thus atcheived Death it selfe though he be the King of feare and have as many Provinces of his dominion as there be paines perills and snares of death yet hath no more dominion over us then what our sinne betrayeth us unto The arrowes of death are fledged with the feathers which grow upon our owne wings Now therefore if we conceive man to be without sinne death hath no more dominion over him Death then haveing seized upon our Saviour who was without staine or guilt it was found equall in the Iudgement of God that it should loose all power over us that were sinfull because it exercised a power which it had not over him that was innocent For in regard of the iniury offered unto him and patiently susteined by him God adjudged him all power over him that had the power of death giveing him liberty to restore unto liberty the Prisoners of the Grave And indeed he hath reason thus to restore them for according to that of Bernard Christus solus resurrexit sed non totus Christ alone is risen but all Christ is not risen till all that are of and in Christ be risen likewise Thus though other Graves be the houses of death this of Christ is unto us now the stone is removed from it the Gate of everlasting life Although death be the king of feare yet we see of his kingdome there is an end he raigned indeed under the law but now the Scepter of righteousnesse is transferred unto one of whose kingdome there is no end And observe the procession and Pompe of his Triumph over his vanquished foe Death saith the Prophet shall goe before his face pale and trembling as a Prisoner before his Triumphall chariot He saith no longer now as he did once O Death I will be thy Death It is not seasonable to threaten now death hath already felt his vanquishing armes he spareth not now therefore to reproch him with this glorious insultation O death where is thy Sting O grave where is thy victorie Since thou didst once loose thy sting upon mine innocency I have taken away the sinnes of the world so that now thou canst not fit thy selfe with
is resolute that it is preserved for us of our love which upon these well-grounded perswasions is continually running in a cheerefull prosecution and chase thereof My beloved though we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 earth to our father and dust to our Sire yet let us not have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dust-creeping soules surely our hope is higher then the dust let our conversation then be as high as our hope is Though we be made of the earth yet we are not made for the Earth We may observe that he that requires the erection of our affections doth with great iealousie withdraw from us all those ensnarements upon which they may fasten here below He is such a Bridegrome as will not that we preferre the king before himselfe this circle the world before the compasse of his Armes All these counterfeit delights which this empty dust is able to yeeld us they are as of purpose made either not to rellish at all with us by reason of their shortnesse and fleetingnesse or to distate us by the admixture of some calamitie and Bitternesse for if we will be children in understanding insteed of being children in Innocency if we will still be sucking here we must be used as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 great babes we must have the breast be smeared and sowred to weane out childish longing from it But the withdrawing of any of these earthly things from us doth not so much withdraw us from the Earth as the calling away of those deare-ones in whose bloud or love we have any interest the wives of our youthes the children of our delight These are they with whom we reioyced and they being gone the remainder of our life seemes bitter unto us and we thinke with our selves what further use is there of us or what portion have we left upon the Earth we crie like children that have their delights and rattles taken from them And at last as when the nurse makes the child beleev she hath layed them in the Cradle to sleepe the childe cries to sleepe likewise that he may be neere them so we when our deare ones are layed downe and composed in their beds of dust we are weary of waking any longer our eyes grow as heavy as our hearts we see nothing to reioyce in or take comfort in we desire as Iacob to goe downe to the grave to our sonnes we desire to sleepe by the sides of our beloved ones that with them we may awake againe after the likenesse of him who layeth us and them unto our rest and shall raise us againe unto our refreshing Thus should ye Right Honorable looke after this renowned Ladie who is now composed unto her rest in the Bed of Earth suspiring and longing after the same refreshing the same hope that hope which is now no loÌ„ger hope with her but sight and sense possession it selfe But if you would have your soule find the same rest with hers let your soule seek it as she did If with her you would find the kingdome of God seek with her the Righteousnes therof Let us awhile looke into the Grave with which these deare ashes are entrusted for in that house 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Septuagint reades that of Eccles 13. Though the Grave be the house of death yet we shall derive from hence an example of a gracious life and of such a death as undoubtedly ushers in a glorious life Anciently there were great treasures hid in the Sepulchres of great ones if we looke into this we shall finde a treasure too a treasure of rich example to us all As she was derived of a very noble princely extraction so she ennobled her selfe much more by endevouring to assure her selfe of her regeneration and adoption than by her birth That was the honor by which she valued her selfe and indeede the true and genuine Honor of you all Right Honorable He that called Abraham father was everlastingly accursed because God was not his father It is a good observation of Philo upon that of Gen 6. These are the Generations of Noah Noah was a iust man and walked with God c. Moses saith he setting downe Noahs Genealogie insteed of recounting his Ancestors reckoneth his vertues It were easie for me to name many noble names like unto these to prove that nobility by which she esteemed her selfe principally honored She had a mind of a most excellent coÌ„posure of a noble generous height but attempered with an admirable sweetnesse and humility so that I may affirme that she made use of the greatnesse of her Spirit in nothing so much as either in the magnanimous contempt of unworthy iniuries for some such were aymed at her though none could fasten her vertue had so Oyled her name that no Inke would sticke upon it or else in the patient tollerating of worldly occurrences and afflictions and of them she made this happy advantage that as a thred besmeared with any filth must be drawne through some narrow hole for the cleering of it so the pressure of some afflictions seemed to cleere her from many corruptions through which nature custome and fashion and greatnesse do yet draw the lines of others lives Her understanding was of great perspicacity and as she fayled not to imploy the same for the comprehending of such occasions and affaires as might advantage susteine the estate of her house and procure and reinforce the content and comfort of her noble Lord So principally she directed the strength thereof for the enabling her selfe with the knowledg of the misteries of Redemption her delight was in the law of God she was an unwearied reader of the Oracles of Gods sacred word she that aimed at a living againe though she must die sought not the tree of the knowledge of good and evill which made us all obnoxious to die but the Tree of the knowledge of God which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Tree of life it selfe as Thalaâ—ius calls it in Biblioth Patrum And as she had the knowledge of truth to give light unto her Religion so she had the truth of Religion to give life unto her knowledge I make no doubt but the State thereof hath beene much advanced by her instruction and incouragement in this house which hath beene long honoured for honouring of God It hath pleased her Lord more then once to make profession not onely what refreshing her comforts what support her Counsells have brought him but now much he hath in the estate of the minde beene bettered by her I am perswaded they have beene 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yoke-fellowes in this worke I trust they shal be hereafter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow heires of one and the same Grace From him and her selfe she made a diffusion of her goodnesse to all hers educating them in such puritie and inocency as is admirable in those who I know not how are lyable to be betraved by their Birthes and fortunes