Duties of the second Table His performances were so eminent in all relations that the mention of them is needless Tell me all ye that would detract from his honour was he not an Incomparable Subject Husband Father Friend Citizen Commander I shall only speak a word in reference to the first Table His Religion did not indeed consist in talking canting boasting of priviledges or atteinments censuring or disobedience But it was solid real and substantial And it had these marks Through all the Varieties of his life he adhered constantly to the true reformed Protestant Profession and was a Lover of the Doctrine Discipline and Government of the Church of England He was a great detester of Sacriledge he hath often told me with Ioy and Resolution that he never had or would have in the Compass of his Estate any part that had ever been devoted to pious Uses He was constant in attendance on Religious Duties Prayers Sermons c. and would not depart hence without the Viaticum Christianorum the Communion of the Body and Blood of his Redeemer which he received with all the Testimonies of Penitence Devotion and Comfort He discovered alwaies an awful reverence towards the Majesty of God and an abhorrence towards the Profanation of his Name As for the truth of the Graces of a Christian Spirit the surest time to judge of them is the time of trial the time of the greatest trial is the time of Sickness and the approaches of death And in reference to these I am perswaded that If self-denial and resignation to the Will of God If patience and meekness and a deep humiliation under the mighty hand of God If a promptness to die and a desire to be dissolved If a Conscience satisfied and rejoycing in the discharge of duty towards God and Man If Faith in Christ and a comfortable hope of Salvation If freedom from terrors and scruples to which even good men are liable If all these sealed with a clear and perfect understanding to the last moment and with a gentle placid and decorous Exit are any grounds whereby to judge of a Christians estate in reference to the World to come then the World hath reason to be perswaded of the happy Condition of this Great person As he was not an ordinary person So his trial was not the ordinary trial of men it was not in outward matters but in his body his plague was the plague of the heart without a metaphor I saw his heart opened and upon sight of what was there it was generally concluded that there was the Seat of the Distemper whereof he died His visitation was tedious and long in 12 months space he very seldom slept or took any rest within his bed but suffered all that while an internal painful strangulation He bore all this with an Heroic patience and meekness without murmuring or complaining As a lamb that is dumb so opened he not his mouth He would not indeed hasten his release but he rejoyced when he saw it coming about three days before his death he foretold the time of it plain enough with joy and Satisfaction Two daies before it he told me That no man in England that was his word was more willing or more desirous to die then himself That he had discharged his Conscience to God His King His Country That he hoped he had left his Son setled in a good Condition and that God had a blessing for him And he hoped that he himself had made his Salvation sure The evening before his Death he said several times that that day had been better than any of his former and that the next day he should be better then he had been in all his Life From whence we all concluded that the next day would be the day of his departure which happened accordingly for about nine of the Clock in the next morning soon after he had been recommended to God in the Prayers and Offices of the Church he fell into a short agony of the duration of about two or three minutes he gave one inward Groan and a little subsiding in his Chair he gently and placidly yielded up the Ghost This was the Exit of this Illustrious person when his heart and strength failed God was the strength of this heart and we have reason to hope and to believe that he is his portion for ever That his eminent contempt of death so remarkable to all the world was drawn from the Christian Principles So that he Sang within himself St. Paul's Epinikion O Death Wherefore I conclude with St. Paul's Inference Let us give thanks to God who giveth us the Victory Let us give thanks to God who hath given us the great Example of this day Let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking up to Jesus the author and finisher of our Faith Let us be stedfast unmoveable alwaies abounding in the Work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our Labour is not in vain in the Lord. FINIS Joh. 3. 16. Rom. 5. 12. Ibid. Rom. 3.20 Gal. 4.4,5 a I Cor. 5. 2 b Rev. 6. 14. c Rom. 6.14 d Col. 2.14 e Phil. 2.8 f Pet. 2.24 g Ephes. 2.15.16 h Col. 2.14 i Heb. 2.14 k Col. 2.15 1Thes 4 Act. 24 â— Joh. 5. 2â— â—pâ—c 20.14 â—â— 5. 29. 〈…〉 .10 Apâ—c 10 Apoc. 1.7 Mat. 24 Ibid. 31 Mat. 25. 3. Ibid. 32 â—poc 20.12 Cor. 4. 5. â—â—m 2.9 â—Cor 11 〈…〉 .11.21
pleased to bestow upon him great Endowments Many and great Deliverances Great and Glorious successes Notwithstanding the undervalue of some who think themselves the Wits Non est magnus cui non Fuit ille magnus God had bestowed upon him A large understanding A deep judgment A capacious and a Retentive memory An admirable faculty of dispatch of business A strong compacted Body A solid mind not apt to be elevated or depressed An invincible Courage A sedate and uniform contempt of Death Each of these hard to be equalled all together never to be exceeded To reserve him for honourable and great performances he bestowed upon him a thousand eminent and great deliverances I believe there is hardly any man living who had been more often or more dangerously ingaged yet I have often heard him say that he was never considerably hurt or wounded God covered his head in the day of Battel and in time of danger he whelmed him under the hollow of his hand St. Paul gives the Corinthians a Catalogue of the Perils from which God had delivered him He fil'd up and vastly exceeded the Catalogue of St. Paul From perils of Robbers from perils from his own Country-men from perils among Strangers from perils in the City from perils in the Field from perils in the Sea from perils among false Brethren from perils by the plague from perils by war from perils of Assassination from perils innumerable the Lord delivered him To set upon him his own stamp and signature of Honour God blessed his Counsels and gave a wonderful success to his endeavours No age can equal that success of the Restauration He never felt into any Great Disaster in his profession which is the common fate of great Commanders And even where the issue of the whole matter hath not been very prosperous God hath ordered his part so that he hath come off with immortal Honour and Reputation Such was his personal felicity Moreover God blessed him in his oeconomical Relations He was certainly the best Husband in the world and he received the requital of faithfulness and love they twain were loving in their Lives and in their Deaths they were not divided He was the best Father in the world and God was pleased to bless him with a Son of eminent abilities of body and mind fitted for the support of his Honour and the continuance of his Name and Family He lived to see him entred into the service of his Country as Hanno entred Hannibal against the Romans so he entred him in the Loyal Antifanatical House of Commons He lived to see him disposed of in a very Honourable marriage seasoned by himself in the principles of Vertue and Religion Honour and deep Loyalty Disposed to follow him in the ways of Honour which himself had traced and in Gods due time to become a support and ornament of his Country Lastly God blessed his endeavours with honour and acceptance of men of all that are good and honest in the Land from the King that fitteth upon the Throne to the meanest Beggar in the street The Souldiers looked upon him as their Father and were ready and ambitious to live and die with him The body of the people loved and honoured him nay God forgive them they believ'd and trusted in him They thought he could do all things as Martha said unto Christ Lord if thou-hadst been here our Brother Lazarus had not dyed how oft hath it been said by common people If the General had been here the City had not been burned He was the Favorite of the Parliament the Dearling of both Houses they confided in him they loved and revered him And his Love was Reciprocal His Heart was upon them for their Religion and Loyalty he mourned for their divisions exceedingly laboured the uniting of both Houses and the Continuance of this Parliament But incomparably beyond all his other worldly felicities was the constant uninterrupted Ardent Affection of His Soveraign Lord and Master He conferred upon him Riches and Honours He Cherished him in His Royal Bosome He pursu'd him with perpetual Ardors without Intermission or abatement No shadow of Suspicion no Cloud of Iealousie no Qualm of Satiety arose from the first Moment of his Services to the last moment of his Life Nay his Love to him is stronger then Death His Affection follows him after death in a paternal tenderness towards his Son In the glorious Parentation of this Day What can a pious Prince do more then to deliver his remains to be deposited in the Sepulture of the Kings of England and his Renown to be preserved in the memorials of all Posterity These are some few Instances of the favour God shewed to this Great Person in this World It is true that all worldly felicities in this life are not to be valued without the hopes of his felicity in Heaven I shall speak therefore one word of that and so Conclude 2. Here indeed we are in loco lubrico concerned to be reserved and Wary What shall we say or what shall we not say We know the hard Censures of Fanatical factious disappointed envious persons But I know likewise that we have not so learned Christ. In all that I have spoken or shall speak concerning him I would not be understood to pretend that he was exempt from humane failings and Infirmities Quisque suos patimur manes But his vertues were great and eminent his merits known to all the world Surely he had no failings comparable to the envy and ingratitude of his detractors Moreover we have a gratious God a merciful Redeemer an High Priest sensible of our Infirmities And we have reason to believe that his Infirmities were washed away by the blood of Iesus What we have seen and heard we may be admitted to speak and I have had the honour to be in some measure a Witness of his Conversation For the last 7 years at least of his Life I had the honour and happiness of a free Conversation with him Towards his latter daies especially since his bodily Infirmity began to prevail upon him My addresses were more frequent then before When I had opportunity I waited on him in the Country When I perceived the approaches of Death I attended him carefully and often I was with him in his Agonies I assisted in his last Christian Offices I heard his last words and his dying Groan Utì Imperatorem decuit I saw him dye erect in his Chair And lastly I had the honour to close his Eyes This I speak not to boast of the particular honour which he was pleased to do me his Conversation was universally such towards all mankind humble easie and familiar I am perswaded that hardly any did ever exceed him in this part of the greatness of his mind he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the self same person in every position never depressed never elated by his fortune but I mention these particulars only ad faciendam fidem In reference to the
The Christians Uictory over Death A SERMON AT THE Funeral of the Most Honourable GEORGE Duke of ALBEMARLE c. In the Collegiate Church of S. Peter WESTMINSTER On the XXX th of April M.DC.LXX BY SETH Lord Bishop of SARUM Preached and Published by his Majesties special Command LONDON Printed for Iames Collinsat the Kings-headin Westminster-hall M.DC.LXX The Christians Uictory over Death I. COR.XV.57 But thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. WHosoever he was who first said of Wisdom or Philosophy that it is Contemplatio Mortis hath recommended a considerable document to the World Not that the continual Poring and meditating upon Death precisely and nakedly considered is a matter so much becoming a Philosopher But because the true Theory of the consequents of Death is not only the most excellent but also the most concerning part of humane Knowledge It is that Theory which influences the Actions of all living men which steers their courses and gives rules and measures to them in all their concernments As for instance The true determination of the Question betwixt the Christian Theory and others especially that of Epicurus concerning the state after Death the Mortality or Immortality of the Soul the Account and Iudgment after Death the Resurrection of the Body and the Rewards of Eternity will decide the Questions of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good or Evil Prudent or Imprudent Brave or Contemptible in the Lives or Actions of Men. If Death have Dominion over the Whole man and if it be an Extinction of the Soul as well as a Corruption and Dissolution of the Body If there be no Rewards or Punishments to follow and could we be sure of all this Then to deny our present Affections and appetites or to put our selves upon hazardous and difficult designs upon the Contemplation of something to betide us after death is very Imprudent Foolish and Ignoble If on the other side the end of this mortal life be the beginning of another state a state of happiness or misery to be dispensed according to the Christian Theory Then to prefer things light and Temporal before those which are weighty and eternal is Beastly sottish and Contemptible It is the business of our most Learned Apostle here in this Chapter under the Comprehensive Title of the Question concerning the Resurrection to compare and to examine the Christian and Epicurean Theories in reference to the State of the vitâ functi The Corinthian Epicurean Philosophy had begun like a Cancer to eat out the Doctrine of the Resurrection and here he labours earnestly to retrive it He proves the truth of the Christian Doctrine and because veritas est una in so doing he shews the falshood of the Epicurean Hypothesis From the Resurrection of Christ he infers the truth of the General Doctrine of the Resurrection and for the truth of Christs Resurrection he appeals to more than 500 Witnesses He shews the many Absurdities of Epicurizing under a Profession of Christianity and answers that fond Objection about the manner of the Resurrection and the body that shall arise He weighs the Physical and Theorical opinions and the practical Corollaries of them The Natural Philosophy of one Opinion is That We shall die to morrow toti moriemur Of the other That we must all live for ever Of these Opinions One tends to corrupt good manners the other to rectifie and ennoble them One inclines and leads men to the Work of the Beast in Man the other to the Work of the Lord. The Logick of One is this Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die The Inference of the other is this Let us be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our Labour is not in vain in the Lord. The Epicurean Imposture by the assistance of a violent Lust an ungovernable rage Actuated and Heightned by provocation or inflamed by the spirit of Wine may furnish out a Hector to a Duel and prompt him on to die as a fool dieth But the foundation of Great and Heroical Performances the just and rational the Considerate and Sedate the constant perpetual and uniform contempt of Death in all the shapes thereof is only derived from the Christian Principle This inspires passive valour into the hearts of men and furnishes invincible Martyrs for the Stake This excites Active Courage and Equippes and furnishes Heroical Souldiers and Generals for the Field To this the World is indebted for the Glorious Example of this day and to this we are indebted for this Triumphal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Text O Death Where is thy sting O Grave Where is thy Victory The sting of Death is sin the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God that giveth us the Victory through Iesus Christ our Lord. The words of my Text resolve into two General parts 1. A Proposition or Christian Principle God through Christ giveth us the victory over death 2. An inference to Christian practice 1. In reference to God Thanks be to God 2. In reference to our selves Let us be stedfast unmoveable As for the Inference I shall only be permitted to Conclude with it and am forced to be very contracted in my Observations The Proposition may be considered two ways 1. Objectivè and in Thesi and so it lays down the general Case of Believers as it stands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the truth of nature and so it gives us this universal Theorem or Observation viz. Every true Christian is through our Lord Christ victorious over Death Or God through Christ gives to every Christian the victory over Death 2. Subjectivè and in Hypothesi as it bears a part in St. Pauls Triumphant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then it affords us this more restrained and particular Observation viz. Through Christ it is given to some Believers even here in this Life to attain to a setled contempt of Death enabling them to triumph over it Of these two Observations very briefly I. Christ has procured to every true Christian or Believer the Victory over Death Now the Assertion of the truth of this Proposition the Explication and particular tractation of the Causes and the Deduction and enforcement of the Consequences of it in reference to God and Man is so Apparently the entire Argument of the Gospel that it is needless among Christians to insist on the proof of the Observation Briefly the Gospel hath delivered to us both the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it First For the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If either according to the Doctrine of Epicurus we suppose Death to dissolve the Soul as well as to corrupt the Body of a man Or if the Soul of a man shall survive and Death shall immediately enter it into a state of infelicity to be filled up and eternized by a miserable Resurrection under the
the Sâ—ul may be Concluded in Consequence whereof both before and during the tâ—me of Christ All the Sects of the Iews except the Sadduces And I think All the Philosophers except Epicurus did declare for the Doctrine of an Immortality Yet it is truly said of Christ that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he cleared or brought to light the Doctrine of Immortality The Opinions which ruled the World before him both of the Philosophers and of the Rabbins were not only false but pernicious They still made Death the King of Terrors and were so far from Establishingâ— that they overthrew the Capacity of Personal Rewards and Punishments after Death These are the Consequences of all those Hypotheses which either destroy the substance of the Soul with Epicurus Or the individual permanency of the Soul with the Platonists the Peripateticks and the Stoicks Or which assert the Metempsychosis of Souls passing from Men to Beasts or Men with the Pythagoreans and many of the Iews And these were the Imaginations which had possessed the World before the Ministry of Christ. If the Soul were a Crasis or Harmony a Modus or Motion of the Body it would then be dissolved in Death it would cease to be or sleep in the lifeless Atoms whereof the Body was composed But He hath taught us that men may Kill the Body and not be able to hurt the Soul from whence it follows that the Soul is a distinct and permanent subsistence If the Immortal part in man were a Delibation of the God-head or Intellectus agens or the Soul of the World and upon Death were back again refunded into them the Individual nature would be destroyed But He hath taught us that this is still preserved that the Souls of Abraham Isaac and Iacob are distinctly preserved in the hand of God If Souls did transmigrate from men to beasts or from one man to another who could be rewarded Pythagoras or Euphorbus he hath instructed us that the Soul doth not shift and flit from one body into another but in their departure when they go hence they pass into Everlasting Habitations Lastly He hath informed the World that not only the souls of the Righteous but of the Wicked also are Immortal That as the soul of Lazarus so also the soul of Dives was permanent and existent after Death Thus Christ hath cleared the Doctrine of Immortality and in respect of the soul the capacity of personal Rewards 2. Moreover to fill up and câ—mpleat the capacity of the whole person and so render it intire He hath delivered to the World the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body namely that the time is coming when Death shall be finally swallowed up in Victory That He himself shall then descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch-Angel with the Trump of God and the Dead shall rise That the dead in Christ shall rise first That what is sown in Corruption shall be raised in Incorruption That all men shall rise with their own bodys both Just and Unjust that the hour is comingâ— that all that are in the Grave shall hear his voice and come forth That the Sea shall give up the Dead which are in it And Death and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall deliver up the dead which are in them That those that have done good shall go into the Resurrection of Life and those that have done evil shall go into the Resurrection of Condemnation Thus hath our Lord Christ cleared the Principle and foundation of a Generous Contempt of death by bringing to Light the Capacity of Personal Rewards in the World to come But 2. He hath clearly delivered the whole method and Administration of Rewards themselves Inchoate and particular in our decease 2. Vniversal Consummate in the great Day of Retribution at the time of the general Resurrection In the Gospel we are taught that immediately upon our Dissolution the Souls of the Righteous enter into a state of happiness and the souls of the wicked into a state of Infelicity For the former to be dissolved is to be with Christ for the latter to die is to become miserable Say to the Righteous it shall be well with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they die in the Lord they rest from their Labours their works follow them Say to the Wicked it shall be ill with him the Other is comforted but he shall be toâ—mented Lazarus died and immediately was carried by Angels into Abrahams Bosome The rich man died and was buried and presently we find him in Hell in Torments But the great and final distribution of Rewards the Circumstances and intire Oeconomy of the General Judgment as it is delivered only so it is delivered punctually and exactly in and by the Gospel This tells us That God hath appointed a Day wherein he will Judge the World That Christ is ordained of God to be Iudge both of Quick and Dead That he shall come in the Clouds and every Eye shall see him That the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven and they shall see him coming in the Clouds with power and great glory That he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together the Elect from the four Winds from one end of Heaven to the other That he shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory That all Nations shall be gathered before him We must all appear before his Judgment Seat to answer for the things done in the body whether they be good or evil That he shall separate the one from the other as the Shepherd divideth the Sheep from the Goat That the Books shall be opened and the dead shall be Judged out of those things which are written in the Books That every secret thing shall be brought to light the secret Counsels of the Heart the hidden Works of Darkness shall be revealed and he shall Render to every one according to his Deeds That this sentence shall be pronounced upon the blessed Come ye blessed of my Father c. And this upon the cursed Go ye cursed c. Finally that upon the sentence given the righteous shall enter into joy unspeakable and full of Glory And the Wicked shall pass into a state of everlasting torment where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth These are those Powers of the World to come whereof the Apostle speaks As there are movimenta mechanica mechanical powers whereby the motion of bodies is excited and regulated So Rewards and Punishments are movimenta spiritualia those spiritual powers which excite and regulate the motions of the Soul and that which gives to these their utmost force and moment is this Consideration That they are to be Eternal This Consideration is able effectually to affright men from base and ignoble Actions and to inspire them with noble