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
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
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