a better Book of the Vertues of Womankind from her alone and have out-done all his other Book of Lives I cannot but apply that Character and Commendation to Her which Heraclitus the Philosopher gave to his Daughter Athenaea when for that reason he Disinherited her and gave her little or no Portion Sufficient Chronicon Pascale Olymph 300. Socrat. Histor Eccles l. 7. c. 21. Evag. l. 1. c. 20. Nicephor l. 15. c. 23. said he to her are her Beauty Learning and Vertue in which she excells all her Sex Though this afterwards brought her to be an Empress and which was more a Christian by a Publick Controversie brought before the Judges concerning her Fathers Will whereby she became known to the Emperour Theodosius the Younger who thereupon Marryed her Our Queen had Personal Excellencies enough without her Crown and without all that Rich and High Estate and Worldly Greatness wherewith God had besides Endowed her to Entitle her every way to the Character of the Finest and Bravest Woman in the World the very Phaenix of her Sex nay even to that higher Title in my Text of God and Angel above most other Princes To give her Character in little She was certainly one of the best Women the best Wives the best Princesses and the best Christians that ever lived the Ornament and Glory of her Sex the Ornament of the Court of our Church of the Nation and of the Age. I am loth to leave this Glorious View of Her But I must come to the Dark and Melancholly Scene and draw the Cloud that has covered this our Sun at Noon-day that has Quenched and Eclipsed this Light of our Israel and Darkned all our Joy and Glory with Gloominess and Mourning Though she was a sort of Earthly God upon a better Account and more peculiar Reasons than most other Princes and had the most Divine and Angelick Properties yet alass to our grief she had not that of Immortality I have said ye are Gods but ye shall dye like men Neither the greatest Dignity or greatest Quality of Birth and Fortune no nor the greatest Personal Excellencies and Vertues can protect from Death and the Grave nor Exempt any one from the Common Fate of Mortality to which all the Sons and Daughters of Adam are subject by the Decree of Heaven by the Constitution and Frame of their Nature and by the Punishment of their Sins God and Nature have appointed a certain Period to Humane Life such general Bounds as it cannot pass so that the days of Men are determined the number of his months are with God Job 14.5 And we all carry the Seeds and Principles of our own Mortality within our selves We are of the Earth Earthy and our Earthly Tabernacles however we prop them up awhile will at last sink and decay fall and crumble into Dust so that we must all go down to the Grave the place of Darkness and Forgetfulness where we have seen our Fore-Fathers laid before us and no Man can be so Foolish or so Sceptical as to doubt any more whither he shall once dye then whither he was once born Though every one puts the Thoughts of Death far from him and thinks it is alwayes a great way off of him and though he come never so near it himself by Age yet he fancies 't is still like a Shadow flying as far from him and that at Forty or Fifty he has still a good Life to live and at Sixty or Seventy there are still Older Men than he and those who have lived much longer yet alass this is but a weak however comfortable Delusion Death will quickly meet us somewhere or other and come up to us and strike the Fatal Stroke very probably before we are aware of it It dogs and follows every one of us and may be much nearer us than we are aware and by silent and undiscerned Steps it is every day nearer approaching and making up more closely to us Mankind we see are every day burying of one another We stand wondering to see such and such drop by us and to hear of the unexpected Death as we call it of such of our Friends and Acquaintance who were as like to live as our selves till it comes to be our own turn at last and we drop likewise and are generally as much surprized with our own Death as we were at theirs We are Busie and Thoughtful about a great many Projects and Contrivances which are to take Effect perhaps many of them several Years hence but before half of those Years are gone our whole Life is and the Mighty Babel we were building to our selves of Worldly Happyness and Mighty Designs here is struck down with our Life and in that day all our thoughts perish We whose Blood is now warm our nerves strong and our Pulse beating the Nimble Stroke of Life we alass must have all these lively Motions stopt the whole Clock-work spoilt and we must quickly become only stiff and clammy cold numbed and senseless Carkasses lay'd out at first upon our once warm Beds lockt up in our Coffins put in our Graves lay'd in a Hole turned into heaps of Stench Rottenness and Putrifaction quickly mouldring into the common Dust of the Earth and as quite forgotten in a little while as if we had never been Lord How much is there in this Thought this one Thought the serious thinking of our own Mortality How would the wise and frequent thinking of this one thing if we did it with due and full Consideration and Application of Mind How would this Considering our latter End make us Wise and Religious How would this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this Meditation of Death teach us the truest Wisdom and best Philosophy make us Wise in undervaluing this Life and all the Little and Vain and Momentany things that belong to it Wise in preferring the Great and Lasting and Eternal Things of another World Infinitely before it Wise not to be so much concerned for these sorry Bodies of ours and not make it so much our business to Cater and Provide for them which must quickly dye and perish but rather to take care of our Souls those more Precious Parts of us that make us truely Men and not to neglect those which are Immortal and will live for ever This was the Wisdom of our Excellent Queen Though she was encompassed with the highest Glories of this World and had all the Enjoyments of it set before her and the glitterings of an Earthly Crown to dazle her Eyes yet she looked beyond them all and fixt her Thoughts and desires upon that Heavenly Crown which She has now obtained and which she sought and desired and strove to gain a Thousand times more than she did that other Though she had the Noblest and the Finest Body built with all the Strength and Beauty and Elegance of Ornament as a Fit Temple for her more Noble and Divine Soul so that an Anthropomorphite would by that have took her for
a God yet she took much more care to Improve the one by Wisdom and Religion then to Adorn the other by Dress or Clothes and spent almost as many Hours about the former as Minutes about the latter for I have often heard that she was remarkably quick at Dressing This Noble and Beautiful Body of hers which carried all the visible Marks and Indications of a Sweet Beautiful Noble Great and Majestick Mind This alass now like a Glorious Temple fired from Heaven and burnt down to Ashes like the purest Chrystal broke to pieces like a Star faln has all its Beautiful and Shining Greatness spoilt and destroyed The Sun is gone down and Darkness and Horrour succeeds Light And though all Regard and Honour is due to her Mortal remains and they ought like Sacred Reliques to be treated with Respect and Reverence yet alass the most Pompous Funeral is but a poor Reprize against Death and a very mortifying odd Triumph where the seeming Conqueror is the true Captive fast bound in Chains of Death and goes only more solemnly to Deaths Mighty Prison and shows his greater Victory But her Pious Vertuous Heavenly Soul is more than Conquerour gone up in Triumph to those Regions above where is no Death or Corruption welcomed and winged up by Angels to those Mansions above where she shall be ever with God and with those Angels whom she was so like upon Earth where she shall be made more partaker of the Divine Nature and beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord shall be changed to the same Image even from glory to glory I shall observe but one Remarkable thing in her Death which confirms all I have said of her and that was her Courage Evenness and Unconcernedness proceeding from the Goodness of her Life and consequently her full Preparation for Death when she heard the fatal Opinion of her Physicians that she must dye she received it as Martyrs used to do their Sentence without any Fear or Dread upon her but in these or like words She thanked God She was provided She never trusted She said to a Death-Bed Repentance She hoped She did not flatter Her self and She thanked God She was not afraid to dye Oh Blessed and comfortable words coming not from a conceited Enthusiast or False and Mistaken Opinions of Religion but from one of Her Understanding judging of her self by right Principles and speaking the Sincerity and Comfort of her own Heart What Wise and Good Christian can have more Hopes more Assurance in his Death What Power what Comfort is there in Religion and a Good Life and Conscience to make even Death it self the greatest of Natural Evils no way Frightful or Terrible to us How do they even then Strengthen and Support us and Infuse Sweetness and Cordial into that otherwise bitter Cup How do they take out the sting of Death and disarm even that King of Terrours of all the Horrour and Amazing Dread in which he appears to Dying Sinners How do they make a Good Christian such as our Queen was more than Conqueror in that last Combat Let the Atheists and all other Enemies to Her and to Religion come hither and be Converted by Her Death and by Her Life I shall Conclude with the Wish and Prayer of an Excellent Person Attending Her at that time May I and may all of us when God shall think fit to call us be as well provided as She was And may we be then as Happy as She now is Which God of his Infinite Mercy grant through Jesus Christ our Mediator and Redeemer FINIS
Dr. PAYNE's SERMON UPON THE QUEEN A SERMON UPON THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN Preached in the Parish-Church of St. MARY WHITE-CHAPPEL By WILLIAM PAYNE D. D. Rector of St. Mary White-Chappel And Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty LONDON Printed by J. R. for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons in Cornhil S. Smith and B. Walford at the Princes-Arms in St Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCV A SERMON Preached upon the DEATH OF THE QUEEN PSALM lxxxii 6 and part of the 7. ver I have said Ye are Gods and all of you are Children of the Most High but ye shall dye like Men. THIS Psalm was directed to the Princes Judges and Magistrates of Israel by Asaph the Author of it It is not my design or to my purpose to take any further notice of the Business or Occasion of it then as it gives Them the great Character in my Text calling Them by the Name of Gods and of Angels for that is meant by the Children of the Most High as it is expresly in the Chaldee Yet when it had put these High Titles and Honourable Names upon them and Raised them to a Degree and Quality almost above Mortals it thinks fit to remind them at the same time that they are still but Men Though of that High State and Dignity above others yet subject to the same Death and Mortality with their Poorer and Meaner Brethren Though in some Respects nearer Ally'd to Heaven and like Gods and Angels yet still Akin to Earth and who should dye like Men. I have said Ye are Gods c. The Loss of our Late Excellent Queen Suggests and Offers both parts of my Text to our Thoughts in the fullest manner I am apt to believe She had as much of God in her and as much of Angel as any Prince Judge or Magistrate that ever Sat upon a Throne or a Bench or that was any way Advanced above the rest of Mankind And yet to our great Grief we find She was subject to Death to a Sudden an Over-soon Death had not God thought otherwise as well as any of her Subjects Her God-like and Angelick Qualities which She had not only in common with other Princes but upon many Accounts far above them could not preserve Her from the Common Fate of Mortality of Dying like other Men and Women I shall first show upon what Accounts Princes and Magistrates are called Gods and are like Angels or Children of the Most High And how these Characters do in an especial manner belong to our Late Gracious Queen Secondly I shall consider Theirs and Her Death and what thoughts ought to be thereby suggested to us I. Upon what Accounts Princes and Magistrates are called Gods and are like Angels or Children of the Most High The Expression seems to refer to the Gentile Opinion of many Lesser Gods owing their Birth and Original to and being Children of the Supreme * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Appointed by him to be Rulers and Governours over particular Parts and Provinces of the World as their Jupiter Mars Hercules and others who were indeed only Kings and Rulers Generals and Great Men Deified and Worshipped after their Deaths which was I believe one of the Chief Rises of the Heathen Idolatry and Superstition though there are various Accounts of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and a very different History of their Religion Revelation and Christianity give Princes and Magistrates the Name and Title of Gods Elohim as is plain from this Psalm and others Psal 45. Psal 79. Exod. 7.1 1 Sam. 2.11 from other places in the Old Testament and from our Saviours Words in the New John 20.34 not as any Objects of Religious Worship but as partaking some Qualities and Perfections like to those of God and other Superiour Beings who are far above Ordinary Men and chiefly on these three Accounts 1. In Respect of Power 2. As Instruments of Greater Good to the World 3. As Objects of Higher Honour and Esteem 1. Princes are called Gods in respect of their Power and Authority as they are the Ministers of God Rom. 13.4 his Deputies and Vicegerents Appointed and Commissionated to Govern the Lower World under him And 't is usual we know to have Persons called by the Names of those they Represent All Civil Power and Government of whatever kind is from God the Powers that be are Ordain'd of God who is the Fountain of all Authority and Dominion by whom Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice Prov 8.15 The Particular Specification and Modifying of this Power both as to Persons and Things depends upon Humane Consent and Agreement and the Laws and Customs of Particular Countreys for God has not prescribed any Model of Civil Government nor Appointed either the Subject or the Limits of it but has left it to Humane Prudence and Contrivance and so 't is an Ordinance of Man as St. Peter calls it 1 Pet. 2.13 But Government and Governours are the Ordinance of God and Nature for the Peace Order and Good of the World and are in General of a Divine Original and Institution Princes therefore and Soveraigns are a sort of Earthly Gods and have a Divine Authority committed to them by which they have a Power over Mens Lives which none but God can give them and they bear the Sword Rom. 13.4 Rom. 12.19 and are Revengers to Execute Wrath in the Name of him to whom Vengeance belongeth 2. They are called Gods as they are Instruments of Great Good to the World the Chief Instruments of Divine Providence to Preserve and Procure the Present Well-fare and Worldly Happyness of Mankind all those Benefits and Advantages we have above other Creatures by being in Society with one another The World would be a place of Confusion an Uncivilized and Uncultivated Desart and Mankind only greater Herds of Lyons and Tygers and Wild-Beasts without Government There would be no Peace or Quiet no Order or Civility no Living in the World with any Comfort without it and therefore the worst Government is a Thousand times better than mere Anarchy All Princes and Governours then though Bad are the Authours of a great deal of Good to the World and good Princes are the most Powerful Instruments of doing good next to God himself and are therefore calledby the Name of Benefactors as our Saviour observes and do above all Persons Luke 27.25 make good that saying of homo homini Deus and were thereupon antiently Deified and had Images and Altars Erected to them and now may each of them have that Complement of Tertullus made to them Seeing that by Thee we enjoy great Quietness and that very Worthy Deeds are done unto this Nation by thy Providence we Accept it alwayes and in all Places Most Noble Foelix with all Thankfulness Acts 24.2 3. 3. Upon both these Accounts they are Objects of Honour and Esteem not only upon the Score of their Personal Vertues which shine brighter and have more both of Lustre and Influence when
to Her Soveraign Power and Office which Entitled her to this Character in my Text in common with other Princes That though it Raised Her above the Common Pitch of Ordinary Vertue and Ennobled Her Mind with an higher Senfe of Honour Greatness and Generosity of Spirit and made her Vertues like Diamonds well Set the more Resplendent yet this was Owing to Her Birth and Fortune which She made not her Self And of those She might have said Vix ea nostra voco though to Improve all that Greatness and Worldly Prosperity to the Advantages of Vertue which are the Common and almost Unavoidable Temptations in others to a great many Vices is no small Commendation of Her Vertue She could make a Court that Corrupts so many others a School of Vertue and even a Religious House for Her House was alwayes a House of Religion a very Temple and like God's House a House of Prayer But Her Office and Sovereign Power is Charged upon Her as Her Fault And the only Thing in Her that needs an Apology with Her Greatest Enemies is this that She took her Fathers Crown To which I make this short Return Who should have took it else but She and Her Husband when her Father left it For otherwise he must have had it again upon his own Terms which would have been a great deal worse than the first Reasons of his not keeping it and no less in the Issue than the Kingdoms utter Ruine and Destruction I must therefore beg some Mens leave to Commend Her even for that which they count Her Great but Her Only Crime If it was so it has done us so much Good and preserved us from so much Evil which we all saw coming Inevitably upon us a few Years ago that we Protestants at least ought to forgive Her Would any such have had Her Left our Poor Church and Nation as a Prey to be swallowed up by Popish Councils and the most Mischievous Designs of its Enemies at that time Then She had been guilty of a great fault I doubt not both to her Countrey and Her Religion and Her Husband To all whom Her Obligations of Conscience were much stronger than to Her Father Her Natural Tenderness and Affections to him which She has shown I doubt not as many wayes as She could with Her Love to Her Religion and Her Countrey these might a while struggle with Her Reason but England and Europe have reason to be thankful they did not overcome it and though these made the thing a Difficulty and Her Crown more a Burden than ordinary yet She took it as all Princes ought to do more to Please and do good to others than to Her Self And as She had alwayes a satisfied Conscience in it both Living and Dying so She showed a true Judgment therein that could reach beyond one obvious thought which the weakness of a great many especially of Her own Sex cannot get over and that She had a much larger compass of Understanding to Determine and Settle Her Mind in a nice practical Case than is common to them That with Her Love to Her Countrey and Religion which are such Sacred Tyes and Obligations as supersede all other more private ones to any particular Person made Her our Queen sooner than She desired to be and it would be a strange and hard Case if Religion and every thing even the whole Legal Constitution in Church and State must be sacrificed and given up to its worst Enemies for the sake of an unhappy and misled Father who had ventured both his own Fathers Curse and his Grandfathers too to Embrace and Serve Popery Our Bigots I suppose forget that who tell us so often of the Fifth Commandment who are so zealous for that as to have no care of the First or Second if of any other and the most Conscientious of them I doubt not would not scruple to kill another in their own necessary Defence notwithstanding the Sixth but let plain Reason either Interpret or Dispense with a Divine Law in one Case and why not then in another And yet many of them who are for keeping none of the Commandments will talk here as confidently of Judgments as if they were the Counsellors and Secretaries of Heaven and had countersigned its Warrants and will judge others very rashly and unchristianly for hidden things when they judge not themselves for plain ones I will readily own the Queens Death to be a Judgment and that a very severe one as Heaven could well Inflict but not to Her Self but to us and the whole Nation to whom the Loss is inexpressible But She is a Gainer by it and is gone to that God and to those Angels above whom She was like here and so much Resembled upon Earth upon the Four accounts I named and now proceed to 1. The Goodness and Benignity of Her Nature This in Infinite Perfection is what makes God Neither Infinite Power nor Infinite Wisdom without this would Constitute such a Being as we mean by God but one quite different and contrary to him 't is the best Definition therefore of God which St. John gives 1 Epist 4.8 God is Love the most Benign most Gracious most Kind and Good Being which makes him the Object of our Love and Affection more than of our Fear and Dread and bends not only our Knees but our Hearts to him This Benignity and Goodness and Sweetness of Temper was most remarkably in our Gracious Queen She showed it in Her Looks where Majesty was alwayes tempered with Sweetness and Chearfulness in Her Carriage where was a Noble Greatness with a most Taking and Obliging Courteousness in her Conversation where Pleasantness and Good Humour were alwayes joyned with the strictest Decency and Wisdom All these Vertues met in her that do not alwayes go together in others Great Openness and appearing Freedom with great Caution and Wise Reservedness great Shrewdness and Sagacity with great Sincerity very good Understanding without any Guile and very good Nature without any Softness She was easie to Her Self and all about Her generally Merry alwayes Pleased Mirth like Oyl swam at the Top Prudence and Vertue were alwayes underneath She was very Serious and very Pleasant often Thoughtful never out of Humour obliging to all Unkind to none She had such a happy Constitution as made Her above any other Deliciae humani generis None ever went sorrowful from Her Presence and none could be so in it She filled every Place with such an Air of Livelyness and Cheerfulness that like the Spring or the Sun She gave Life to every thing below Her and spread Light and Vigour all around Her and now She is gone there is Darkness and Disconsolateness in those very Places She was the very Soul of the Court and one would think even of Her Royal Consort who was alwayes thought to have a very great Soul of his own till he lost her Death never disordered or affrighted much less overcame him before he
could look upon it without any Concern and brave and defye it however it appeared to him and face it very boldly at the Mouth of a Canon or point of a Sword now it has found out a way to be too hard for him and to Revenge it self too cruelly upon his Fearless and Undaunted Temper It has found out his Weakness and wounded him in his softest and tenderest part it has wounded him to the very heart He was invulnerable every where else but in his Queen and there his tenderness prevailed over his Courage and the Husband over the Soldier and he has thereby shown that he had a great deal of that Goodness and Benignity of Temper which was in her and that this is not a Womanish but a truely Masculine Vertue accompanied as it was in Her with the Noblest Courage and Bravery of Mind 2. The next Divine Vertue in our Excellent Queen was her Inclination to do good to all Persons and upon all Occasions to the utmost of her Power Which though a Branch or an Effect of the Benignity of her Nature that fruitful Soil or rather Root of a great many Christian Vertues yet is it so considerable in it self and was so remarkable in her that it ought to be distinctly taken notice of as it will be by the great Judge at the last day She fed a great many hungry and cloathed a great many naked both French and Irish who had fled for their Religion and could bring nothing over with them but a good Conscience She gave very largely and bountifully to their Necessities out of Her Privy Purse and her Royal Heart was larger and more open than her Purse could alwayes be The Poor Widows and Orphans of Seamen and Soldiers tasted very largely of her Bounty and had the best Provision made for them She was able and She was Contriving and Designing Hospitals and Places of Refreshment for their Relief and Comfort and for the better Reception of the Sick and Wounded who had ventured their Lives and lost their Limbs for their Countrey I have heard of very large Sums given by her and a great many were given very Secretly and can be called to no account but that of God who has Rewarded her for them Even some of her Enemies I believe when they hungred and thirsted had according to the Apostles Rule Bread and Drink given to them Rom. 12.20 even those very Mouths that were sometimes opened against her There were many hard Cases and Instances of Pitty occasioned by the Revolution and the War not only at home but out of Ireland and Scotland whom She tenderly considered and charitably Relieved as they were offered and represented to her Pity and Compassion is a most generous Vertue and a sign of a Noble Spirit and it was so much hers that as she never did a hard thing to any so she did many kind ones where she was blamed and was merciful in the Opinion of others even to a fault though she was alwayes willing to Err on the right side if on any and could hardly be brought to do her self Justice upon her Enemies till their folly and her absolute necessity compelled her to it even against her Will But besides her Charity and her Mercy she had a great many other wayes of doing good to others especially to all her Dependants and those about her but above all by taking great care to make them Vertuous and Religious which was a kindness exceeding all others It was her hearty Endeavour and she had a great Zeal to spread and propagate Religion and she did all she could to do it both by her Example and by her Encouragement She had no By-Ends no Mean and Low Designs to serve but only the ends of Goodness and the Glory of God these were her only Scope and Aim her chief Pleasure and Delight the very Bent and Tendency of her Mind the Inclination of her Will the Complexion of her Soul was to every thing that was good Whatever things were true whatever things were honest whatever things were just whatsoever things were pure whatsoever things were lovely whatsoever things were of good report if there was any Vertue if there was any Praise She thought on minded and loved and delighted and was pleased with all those things She was a Woman indeed after God's own Heart That Character I doubt not belonged as well if not much better to Her than to King David himself She had all his Goodness and Piety without any of his faults She had as much Love to Gods House and as good Designs for it as he He was not more pleased with his Contrivances about Building a Temple than she in hers about St. Pauls and in Building up and Repairing the whole Church of England and making it like Mount Sion the joy of the whole Earth improving its Worship ordering its Discipline amending its Defects in making up its Breaches and bringing all Sober Protestants to one Communion which would have been the greatest Blow to Popery and Service to Religion in general She had a great many such Excellent Designs for the good of Religion of the Church and Nation which her own Thoughts and our late Excellent Primate had suggested to her and had she out-lived the present Troublesome and Expensive War we should have seen a great many more Instances of her doing good in all kinds than we yet know or have heard of for what Mighty things would such an Active Mind such a Power joyned with such an Inclination to do good have produced had it been set free from all hindrances and encumbrances but God thought not us of this sinful Nation worthy of such a Blessing nor the World worthy of such a Woman but rather thought her worthy of a sooner Reward for the extraordinary good Deeds she had done already according to Plutarchs Remark upon Biton and Cleobis two Graecian Youths who for an extraordinary Act of Piety done by them for which their Mother prayed they might receive the best thing could be given to Mortals were that Night found dead in Juno's Temple whither they had drawn their Mothers Chariot the Goddess as he supposes rewarding their signal Piety and good Deed with a sudden Death Plut. Cousol ad Apollon 3. I come next to consider her Universal Vertue Innocence and Purity of Life in which she was so Angelical and so confirmed as no Devil ever dared to Tempt or which is more to Slander her Her whole Life was the Brightest the most Charming the most Lovely and Complete Example of all manner of Vertue through all the parts of it it broke forth very Early and appeared in the very Morning of her Age and gave very promising hopes of what she proved afterwards a most Excellent Princess it rose Higher and shone Brighter and Brighter even to a perfect Day and as all admired its Lustre so not a few felt its Influence it scattered and dispersed Vice where-ever it came as