could not allow her self to say ill of any nor could lend a Word or spare as I said so much as a Smile in approbation when others did and therefore whensoever the Faults and Blemishes of Persons was the Topick of Discourse it was little she had to speak But tho' her Discourse was the less upon that account yet I am sure the Example is good and it was the more innocent and profitable which makes an abundant amends for it In a word She was a truly excellent and amiable Person plentifully indow'd with those Qualities that may gain Love and with those Virtues which deserve Imitation And she had this Testimony of her Worth which shews not only the reality but the greatness of it she was not as too many others are liked best at first but still grew higher in esteem as she was longer and better known For she had such a Stock of true and solid Goodness as could not be discovered especially thro' the Vail her Modesty cast before it till Time drew it out and still administred matter to those that beheld her for a new and growing Affection She envied no Persons Condition but was hugely pleas'd and contented in her own She was a sincere Christian an Ornament to her Husband by whom she was dearly Beloved and in her Memory highly Honour'd as she most justly deserv'd it and an extraordinary Blessing to this Family who do resignedly submit to it as to what God has order'd but think the Loss of such a Treasure so great that in this World they dare not hope to meet with any thing that can repair it And what is still the Crown and Glory of all these Perfections amidst all this she was as I hinted so free from Ostentation and so opposite to any thing that looked like seeking Praise as nothing in this World ordinarily can be more She was a Person as of a very great so what makes it greater still of a very conceal'd Goodness She used Arts to hide her Virtues and would hardly be brought to acknowledge any thing to her just Praise and did as truly take pains to avoid the Opinion of being Exeellent in any Endowments as others do to obtain it So that she was like the Sun wrapt up in a Cloud her Rays were cast all inward and so far as she could order it shone only to herself and to Almighty God She would it seems as far as she was able be good altogether for his Sake and seek no worldly Advantage by it But at the same time she aspried to be great in Goodness she shunn'd the Reputation of being thought so Such were the Virtues and so considerable were the Attainments of this Pious Soul in Righteousness And being so well stored in Goodness it may well be expected she should have her share in Comforts and as the Text says have Hope in her Death And so indeed it was Her Death was very sudden suspected by none nor in all appearance by her self till she awaked in the Jaws of it and said she was a Dying This was very short warning But tho' it may be sudden it is never too soon to a Good Christian. A well-spent Life is such a Preparation that altho' it comes the most unexpected it can never take them unprovided but they may meet it upon any intimation But this suddenness tho' it could not indanger the safety yet was it a mighty Tryal of the clear Conscience and firm Hopes of this excellent Person If any thing had stuck upon her or she had been conscious of any thing to affright her then no doubt had been the Time to fear when the Judge had sent the Summons and call'd her in to come before him But whether from the Applause of a clear Conscience which having been hitherto a Faithful Guide proved now a Comfort to her or whether from the intimation of some good Angel that was come to carry off his Charge if Angels do then begin a Correspondence and give kind intimations when a Soul is just leaving the Body and going to Converse and be Fellow-Citizen with themselves From which soever of these Causes I say it hapned thus it was this Happy Soul in that Suprize had a clear chearful Confidence and a foretaste of that Joy and Peace God was preparing for her Tho' she knew she was going in haste she could take time and spend some of those few minutes she had still remaining to declare her mind in some Things which she would have ordered And observing her Nurse that was attending her to fall a weeping with an even and undisturb'd Mind she rebuked her and bid her not to weep for her for she was going to be Happy and to be an Angel in Heaven And thus I have endeavour'd to give some Account of this Excellent Person and to lay out some of those Virtues in her which may bring Honour to God and the greatest Benefit to our selves by our Godly Imitation of them This tho' to some who knew her not or who looked not near or long enough upon her to discover a Goodness so silent and secret it may seem an ample yet to those who knew her best perhaps will appear an imperfect Draught But I pretend not to give a perfect Description of her She was of such a modest Goodness and her Virtues so industriously conceal'd that I believe a just account of them is only known to God and must then only be laid out at large to all the World when he comes to reward openly what was done in secret I have only design'd to draw this Fair Saint in such Virtues as I desire from her Copy to make live things and to translate into others Practice For nothing is more instructing to the World and more like to bring Virtue into Practise than to draw it out in the Lives and Acts of Pious Persons This shews men what they are to do in Religion and withal that it is a feasible thing and therein both directs and excites to Imitation I am sure there is much to be learn'd in such a Pattern as this is and as the World has great need so I hope it will reap some Profit by such Examples What further now remains for us but to preserve the Memory of her Great Virtues always fresh in our Minds and express the Copy of them in our Practice For this is the best way of remembring the Dead which brings in most Advantage to our selves and most Honour to them to imitate what was good in them when the Piety and Humility and Justice and Charity and other Virtues of the Dead are kept alive and shewn in the Conversation of the living It is only these Virtues which carried those who are gone and which can carry us too in the end to a joyful Resurrection Whereto in thy due Time do thou O! Blessed God in thine abundant Goodness bring us all for Christ his sake Amen FINIS * See Mr. Smiths learned discourse of a legal Righteousness among his Sel. Discours c. 3. p. 290. c. * 2 Tim. 1 10. * 1 Cor. 15. 55. * 1 Pet 3. 34.
without this the Hopes in Death which the Text mentions will avail nothing For many men are full of Hope who have no just Cause for it and on the contrary others are afraid to Dye who may justly meet Death with comfort The melancholly of some and the Sanguine Complexion of others fill them with hopes and fears which are not owing to the Reason of things but only to their natural Tempers So that to shew any man a dying Saint that has Cause to rejoice in Death it is not enough that he have Peace of mind but also that he have just ground for it too And thus having shewn who this righteous man is to whom this Priviledge belongs I proceed now 2. To shew what are his Hopes that make Death a desirable thing to him which to others is the King of Terrors Now this Hope is of the favour and friendship of Almighty God and of all those Blessings which may be expected from it What those Blessings are was not so well known in old times when God led men on by more dark and indefinite expectations of the Future Happiness But when Christ came he brought Life and immortality to Light and has told us plainly that at their Deaths all Righteous men shall be translated to the unspeakable and eternal Joys of Heaven And these are so great that no heart can wish for more For the blessings of that Place are so large as to fill all our Capacities so pure as not to have the least mixture of Sorrows so constant as to admit of no abatements or intermissions We shall always desire and always be satisfied and when we have injoy'd the most we shall never be cloy'd nor wearied with it We shall live in Gods Presence and share in his Likeness and shine in his Glory and have Fellowship with the Saviour of the World and all the spotless Angels and all the Glorified Saints and Godlike Persons whose Society alone is enough to turn any Place into a Paradise And all these we shall enjoy without all fear of Misfortune either theirs or our own without all danger of displeasing them or fear of losing them without seeing any thing either to pity or blame in them or any damps of Friendship and intermission of Affection In sum we shall never see any ill nor suffer it nor ever want any good thing or when we have it fear to be deprived of it But we shall be infinitely happy and ever think our selves so and continue in that State for evermore This is that Eternal Life which God promises and whereto Death now conveys all Righteous Persons And since it is the way to our injoyment of all this Bliss it is no longer a Spoyler of our Joys but a Step to them and a thing to be desired by all Godly Souls It is indeed like churlish Physick very ungrateful in it self tho' it may be most desireable in the effect It brings a Dissolution of Nature which strikes Horror and that into the best men who would desire not to Dye if they could come at the happiness of the other Life without dying And this St. Paul testifies of himself confessing that as for the way of receiving the Heavenly house i. e. the glorified Body he had rather be found alive and have it superinduced by a translation than be stripp'd of this Body first by Death and afterwards be cloath'd again My wish says he is not to be uncloath'd i. e. to put off this Body first but to be cloathed upon by having the other superinduced that mortality may not so truly be put off as swallowed up of Life 2 Cor. 5. 1. 4. But it is most incomparably advantageous in the Event Tho' the way be hard and rugged yet 't is short and the Prize at the end is wonderfully Rich and Pleasant So that every considerate man who looks beyond Death hath the greatest Reason to desire it To them as St. Paul says it has quite lost its Sting and is become the truest Gain Phil. 1. 21. All sense of what it takes away is drown'd in the boundless apprehension of what it gives and Death is swallowed up in victory 1 Cor. 15. 54. It confers on them all their hearts can desire and therefore if they rightly consider it ought not to be a matter of their Fear It takes them from a Dunghill to a Throne and invests them in all the Glory and Riches of an everlasting Kingdom I come now 3. To apply this to allay our Grief and Sorrow on the Death of Friends I do not seek to suppress all Grief for a dying Friend for that is an impossible Task Friendship is a close thing and lies near to our Hearts so near indeed that a Friend is said and that very justly to be a Second self And therefore to be insensible when a dear Friend is torn from us is as impossible as to have no sense when a Finger is rent off from our Hand or our Heart is plucked out of our Bodies Some Course Nature will have in spite of all Arguments and no man can restrain it Yea and what is more it is not fit he should do it if he could For some sorrowful concern is necessary to shew we are sensible of our Loss and to evidence our Affection for the Person that is gone As the Jews when Jesus wept for Lazarus cryed out Behold how he loved him Jo. 11. 35. 36. The unconcernedness of the Living seems a reflection upon the Dead and argues they were not beloved while they lived but that the World was weary of their Company and even their pretended Friends very willing if not glad to be quit of them And therefore it is reckon'd as a Part of Gods Judgment upon the Jews that when they died there should be no wailing for them Ezek. 7. 11. But with this Grief for our own Loss in the departure of our Friends we must at the same time shew our selves sensible who it is that has taken them and that too for their own Gain and that he still continues to us a thousand Blessings when he only calls back one And therefore with Sorrow for them we must be sure to joyn Submission to God to resign up our Wills to his and be not only outwardly silent but inwardly renconciled to what he has done and to be heartiful thankful both for all the Kindnessess he shew'd our departed Friends and for that vast Number of others he still continues to our selves These things will not be perform'd as they ought when Grief grows strong Whilst it keeps within due bounds such as suit with the Apprehensions and Hope of Christians it is what Natural Affection will force from us and what Religion allows But when it becomes ungovernable and boisterous in Degrees or obstinate in Continuance it is in it self an ill thing an irresistible Temptation So that when we do grieve we must be careful to keep back from all excess and to do it with
yet sometimes it is not true that good men have Hope in their Death and ill men want it But tho' it be not always true in Point of Fact yet it always is in the Ground and Reason of it A wicked Liver has always Cause to be dismay'd tho' he will not believe it till he feels it And a Righteous man has always Cause of hope in Death if he has but the understanding to discern it And whether he see it or no he shall be sure to find the Benefit and be a Gainer by it And in this Sense the Words admit of no exception that when the Wicked wants the Righteous has hope in his Death i. e. he has most just Reason so to do In discoursing upon these Words I shall shew 1. Who the Righteous man is to whom this Priviledge belongs 2. What are his hopes that make Death a desirable thing to him which to others is the King of Terrors 3. Apply this to allay our Grief and Sorrow on the Death of Friends 1. I shall shew who the Righteous man is to whom this Priviledge belongs And that is every man who has lead a good Life and has not allow'd himself in any known Sins but had a regard to all Gods Commandments He is one that has led a Godly Life This is the true Test to descry who are Righteous which we are to judge of not from some Religious heats or transient Convictions or good wishes but from the Tenor of a Pious Practice He that doth good saith St. John is of God 3 Joh. 11. and again let no man deceive you in this Point for he that doth Righteousness is Righteous even as he is Righteous 1 Jo. 3. 7. And it is the only sure Ground of Hope for dying Persons He must have lived Holily who would dye happily for it is nothing else but an holy Life that can make happy That is the only sure Preparation for Death since it is the main thing to be inquired of after Death for then men shall all be judged according to their Works Rev. 20. 13. In one Case 't is true good Purposes will make happy tho' a man has never practised them And that is in the Case of such dying Penitents as God sees have both Sincerity and Strength enough of Godly purpopose and by means thereof would certainly Practise well if they had but Time But as for these they are so very few that they seem not to be of any great account in the Description of the Righteous Conversion in the ordinary course goes on by steps Gods Grace is infused and our wicked Lusts are mortified by degrees and without an unwonted and extraordinary Grace which no man must expect and least of all they who have slighted all Gods Gracious offers to the very last it is not to be begun and finished in the last Moments The Righteous ordinarily are only such as have done Righteousness in their Lives and among all the numerous Attempters 't is hard to find those who can succeed and become Righteous by forming good Resolutions upon their Death-beds And as for those who do then become such it is more than they can know themselves For no man that is only beginning to resolve well can know the strength and efficacy of his own Resolutions till he comes to try and Practise them And till he knows that tho' he may have the Safety yet he can not have the Comfort and the hopes of a Righteous man Bare purposes rarely give Safety but never Comfort to a dying Person so that the Hopes of the Righteous must not rest on them alone but have something else viz. a well led Life to bottom on And this Life must have been uniform in all Duties when a man has not allow'd himself in any known Sins but has had a Regard to all Gods Commandments Some parcel out the Law of God and think to be Righteous for performing some particular things This some of the Jewish Doctors made very easie declaring that a man might be Righteous by observing any one Commandment which he pleased For these are some of their Rules Qui dat operam Praecepto liber est a Praecepto He that exercises himself in any one Precept for that time is freed from minding any other And again whosoever shall perform any one of the 613. Precepts of the Law for so many they are according to their reckoning without any worldly respect for Love of the Precept shall inherit thereby Everlasting Life But when they would be more secure and act more commendably they would not content themselves with any of the Precepts indifferently but make a choice according to the estimation which they thought God himself had of them For they fancied that he did not rate all his Laws equally but esteem'd some more than others As the Lawyer plainly shew'd when he desired to be satisfied which was the great Commandment of the Law Mat. 22. 36. and the young man when he ask'd what good thing he should do to have Eternal Life i. e. of all the good things whereto Life is promised whether was the Sabbath or Sacrifices or which other Precept best what was that good thing which would most secure it Mat. 19. 16. And fancying there were some such darling Precepts they thought he was most sure to be acceptably Righteous who had the good luck to hit upon that Command which God most accounted of And the like Opinions tho' God be thanked not authorized by the common sayings of our Doctors are most unhappily got into the Hopes and Practice of too many among our selves nay alas of the generality of Christians For they too often think to pass for Righteous men only on the score of some particular Observances as being constant in Prayers or Liberal in Alms or zealous in Gods Cause especially if that be in some notable instance and perform'd with great hazards without having an Eye all this while to their whole Duty and whilst at the same time they allow themselves in some known Sins But whilst after this rate they mangle the Law of God and parcel out their Duty their thoughts of Righteousness are but a Dream and all their hopes a vain Presumption No Duties will save us when they are singled out from the rest and stand alone but only when they are all in Conjunction St. Paul instances in two viz. Giving all he has to feed the Poor and giving his Body to be burnt in Martyrdom which will easily be allow'd to have preference before all others But yet says he if these go by themselves and have not Charity which as he describes it v. 4. 5. c. besides Alms contains in it many other instances it profits me nothing 1 Cor. 13. 3. The Righteous man then is one who has an eye to all Gods Laws and whensoever he transgresses any doth not allow himself in that breach but rises again by Repentance This is Righteousness in any Person And
moderation And to temper our Grief which needs a most watchful care to govern and allay it upon these occasions among those many things that might be suggested I shall only observe these two viz. That when our Friends are truly Religious 1. We have not the least pretence to be immoderate out of our Love to them because it is incomparably their Gain They are translated to a Place of Bliss where they are infinitely joyful in their own minds and from whence they would not be removed by any offers So that we have no colour of Reason to be sad but the highest Cause to congratulate upon their Accounts as the Primitive Christians of old and we still do for the Death of Saints and Martyrs the Memorials of whose Death we celebrate with Festivals as the Day of their Birth to an immortal Life If we have a true and wise Love for our Friends we shall not only be willing but glad above all that God should Love them too And then we must needs be thankful when he shews his Love and takes them to those Joys which are the end of all their Hope and beyond which they can never wish for any more 2. Nor have we any Reason to be immoderate in bemoaning our own Loss because we shall go to the same Place and meet again in time Our own Loss indeed is the only thing that can trouble us and when we do Grieve and Mourn it is only in love to our selves But this is no cause at all to be intemperate or obstinate in Grief for it will all be made up again if we will have a little Patience They are gone to that Place whither we all hope to come so that if we can stay a while we shall injoy our Friends again Their departure from the World is but like mens taking of a Journey not an utter Loss of Friends but only an absence from them for a small space And when once that is past the next meeting shall be in so great and lasting Joy as shall infinitely make amends for it For then our Friends shall be stript of all Humane Frailties and made absolute in all desirable Perfections which will make them more deserving of our Love and dearer to us and that Love shall never cause Grief and Torment as it doth now by a second absence As we shall be most happy in them so shall we ever be secure of them for then there will not be the least Fear because not the least danger or possibility of parting any more And thus I have done with the Explication of the Text and shewn both who the Righteous are and what great and comfortable things when Death comes they have to hope for But hitherto I have only laid down the Rule and I have still another Work to do which is to set it off yet further in a fair Pattern and Example of it I mean the Excellent Noble Person now Deceased the Character of whose Virtues will give Life to all that I have said and be the best and most useful thing in all my Sermon She was a great Instance of many Virtues nay of some which are almost lost in Practice which seem to reign scarce any were but upon mens Tongues as if they were impracticable Rules that were never intended to be follow'd and perform'd but only to be prais'd and talk'd of And I cannot do more right to those neglected Graces than to shew the remiss and slothful World they are more than Words and are real live things made visible to all in the excellency of her Practice God had endow'd her with an excellent Nature which prevented many of the great Self-denials in Religion and made it to her a tolerably easie thing This is an ivaluable Blessing God bestows on some special Favourites and it was eminent in her To be universally kind and pleasing was one of the most Natural things in her Complexion which made a Religion of Love be imbraced without opposition And together with this kindness of Nature he had bless'd her with much humbleness of Mind and with a just seriousness and composure of Spirit which made her apt for Devotion and wise Counsels and easie to receive and retain any good Impressions which should be stamped upon her Together with this Goodness of Nature as another Testimony of his singular Grace and Favour he had provided for her an excellently Virtuous Wise and careful Mother who begun early to cultivate this rich Soyl and plant the Seeds of Virtue in it e're the Vices of the World could make their Attempts upon her She taught her Goodness by plain Rules and shew'd it to the Life in an admirable and a brave Example And her Pattern this prepared Soul knew so well how to prize that she had chosen it for her own imitation resolving to govern her self by her Mothers Rules and to fix her eye upon her Noble Virtues and as near as she could to transcribe them in her own Practice And this shews a generous liking of Goodness and promises a great Progress in it when any Persons aim so far as they are able to equal the most accomplished Saints and to live up to the Rules of the best Examples And to compleat all when she was deprived of this Blessing his watchful Care provided a Husband for her who to the intimacy of his Relation to her as a Wife the top of worldly Friendships coveted to add a Nobler Friendship still that bottom'd upon likeness of Souls and virtuous Grounds and was design'd to serve the most excellent Purposes of Religion in making each other Better and Wiser which is the Perfection of the Wisest and most exalted Friendships betwixt the most endear'd Persons Thus liberally had God endow'd this select Soul with Inclinations to Virtue and Goodness and with Opportunities to ripen and improve them And had he spared her a longer Life wherein to imploy the Talents he had given we may justly expect the Increase would have been in a greater Measure and Proportion But tho her Race was quickly done for she dyed in the twenty third year of her Age yet she had run much in a little time in her green Years she had attain'd a Maturity in Goodness and was grown ripe in the true Ends and Art of Living and the effect of these Advantages was visible in an exemplary and truly Christian Conversation To recount all her Virtues is more than I can pretend to do they were known only to God who will reveal them at last to all the World but for the imitation of those she has left behind her I shall observe these following Her Piety was great towards Almighty God She knew what Honour and Homage we all owe to him and was careful to lay out her self upon it She would converse with him duly in her Closet-retirements and constantly make one to do him Service in the Publick Assemblies not allowing her self to neglect the Service of God for little Reasons and