She was yet almost a Child That Prince at that time in the hottest part of his Youth had acquir'd in the School of Affliction all the Ripeness and Solidity of the Wisest Old Age. He found in the Princess a Soul tender and capable of every good Impression And it may be said that the Prince never gave a more illustrious Proof of his great Ability than in the manner by which He stamp'd His own Image on Her soft Mind He was Her Husband Her Father and Her Guide and in a little time render'd Her one of the best Accomplish'd Persons in the World This was His Master-piece He taught Her to Reign long before She was a Queen He inspired Her with that Wisdom that Silence that Reservedness and that Moderation which is hereditary to the Family of WILLIAM of Nassau Prince of ORANGE who was Sirnam'd the Silent or the Reserv'd The Court of this Young Princess was diametrically opposite to all the other Courts of Europe No gawdy Pleasures no Conversations of Vain Wits no scandalous Divertisements no Intriegues of Gallantry were to be found there She never would endure any Persons to be ill spoken of in her Presence not even the Enemies of the Prince Her Husband For though She detested the Crime yet She would not suffer the Faults of Mankind to be made the matter of common Talk And as soon as any Persons opened their Mouths on such a design She never fail'd to impose Silence at least by a certain coldness and an Air which chill'd the most fiery Tongues Nor did she take pleasure in the Relations of publick News and the Reflections that are usually made upon them because she had learned never to discover her Sentiments on such Subjects And therefore those who made Court to Her never enter'd upon these Matters or at least did not insist upon them For Courtiers study the Inclinations of the Prince to follow them So that 't was no wonder that the general Conversation before the Princess did often seem dry For take away Back-biting and Publick News from ordinary Discourse and there will be very little left But to make amends Her Confidents who had the honour to see Her in private found in Her an admirable Openness of Mind and a Solidity of Judgment altogether beyond Her Sex Yet She was still reserv'd to those whom prudence forbid Her to confide in These Perfections were accompani'd with a brisk and pleasant Wit and Humor which might have seem'd inconsistent with so clear a Judgment for the pleasant Humor of Ladies proceeds usually from the Heat of their Imagination which gets the better of their Judgment But Her Airiness never carry'd Her to the least Indecency I believe there is not one Man or Woman in the World that will dare to affirm that they ever heard Her speak a Word that ought not to have been spoken or saw Her do an Action that ought not to have been done This is indeed a high Commendation but 't is literally true and without the least Exaggeration Her great Soul was never put to a harder Trial than on the occasion of the Revolution in England and Her Wisdom never appear'd with greater lustre Never was there a nicer Juncture for a truly Christian Soul for a Wife that was still a Lover and a Daughter deeply sensible of Her Duty I know some persons to whom She then did the honour to discover the bottom of Her Soul which was agitated by so many troublesome different and even contrary Motions where the Husband and the father were contending together in that tender Heart which became the Field of all their Battels But it may be truly said that She disengaged Her self out of all these perplexing Circumstances in an admirable manner And that She Sacrificed Her Love Her Quiet and Her Tenderness to Her Zeal to Her God to the Publick and to Her Religion Such is the Character of our QUEEN for the truth of which and that I have not flatter'd Her in the Picture that I have made of Her I may appeal to the King Her Husband and to the Publick that ador'd Her 'T is well known that Conjugal Love is rare and usually very cold among the Great the Delights of a Court enervate the Soul and Criminal Passions destroy Lawful ones as the flame of Powder and Salt-Peter extinguishes the brightest Torches But our pure and chast Princes did not dissipate their Hearts and Affections on Foreign Objects The Court of England was become a Holy Court Concubines Amours Mistresses Intrigues and Jealousies were not heard of there All the Royal Houses by the Piety of these Great Sovereigns were happily chang'd into Temples and Oratories where God was serv'd sincerely and purely where the Divine Service was no longer made a Ceremonial Part of the Royal Grandeur The Queen had her Hours of Devotion exactly regulated In the Morning before She went to Her Chappel She enter'd into Her Closet where She remain'd several hours In the Evening She observ'd the same Method after She came from thence How many Prayers did She put up how many Exercises of Devotion and Humiliation has She been seen to practice upon Extraordinary Occasions such as that of the Prince Her Husband's Expedition to England After She came to the Throne Her Advancement made no change in Her Manners in Her Sweetness and Mildness in Her Piety Modesty and Abstinence from all the Criminal Pleasures of Worldly Courts With Her chearful Temper she liv'd more contentedly among Her Women Her Work and Her Gardens than other Princesses do in the midst of all Their Studi'd Delights and Pompous Effeminacies The Court began to put on a very different Air from that which it had formerly Vice which reigns insolently every-where else began to hide its face there a happy presage that it would quickly disappear That Great King being deeply touch'd with all the Excellent Perfections of His Incomparable QUEEN after a Possession of Seventeen or Eighteen Years lov'd Her with more Ardour than others do at the birth and heighth of their Passion Besides a thousand Proofs that he hath given of His rare Tenderness the QUEEN's Death hath confirm'd it beyond exception He never stirr'd from Her Chamber during the whole course of Her Sickness He was often seen to burst forth into Tears and when She expir'd Death seem'd resolv'd to put an end to two Lives by one Blow For the Living KING had as many Signs of Death as the Dying QUEEN He who never fear'd any thing whom the greatest Dangers could never daunt had not Courage enough to bear so Cruel a Separation Those numberless Deaths which he had often look'd in the face were never able to shock his great Soul The QUEEN's Death alone found out his tender part and made him give ground That lively and unusual Grief in a Prince who is naturally of a dauntless and unconcern'd Temper and uncapable of being disturb'd by Passions is a certain sign that the Bonds which united these
Monsieur PETER JVRIEV's PASTORAL LETTER ON THE DEATH of the QUEEN A PASTORAL LETTER Written on the Occasion of the DEATH Of the Late Queen of England Of Blessed Memory WITH REFLECTIONS ON THE Greatness of that Loss to EUROPE By PETER JVRIEV Professor of Divinity and one of the Ministers of the French Church at Rotterdam LONDON Printed for Daniel Brown at the Bible without Temple-Bar And Richard Baldwin near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane MDCXCV A PASTORAL LETTER ON THE Death of the Queen Most Dear Brethren MY Thoughts are so fixt upon the sad Object of our Grief that 't is impossible for me to divert them from that to the Consideration of those Subjects with which I had design'd to entertain the Publick The Death of the QUEEN of ENGLAND whom God has lately taken away from us does too entirely possess every Mind that is touch'd with it to leave room for any other Reflexions Out of the abundance of the Heart the Mouth must speak Our Loss is too great and our Grief too strong to be supprest And to whom can I speak of that Loss more fitly than to you my Dear Brethren to whom that Great QVEEN was both a Mother and a Protectress But what shall I say to you on this Occasion Shall I attempt to write Her Funeral Oration That is a Design far above my strength to execute It may be said without flatâ—ering that Great Princess that Her high and extraordinary Merit had rais'd Her above all Praise At least 't is certain that he that would praise Her worthily must be Master of all that Elevation of Thought and Beauty of Expression which we admire in the best Orators But besides this is not in my Opinion the Task that is prescrib'd to us by our Duty and the Great Design which I have in my view to instruct and support you under your Temptations 'T is the mis-fortune of our Time or rather of all former Ages that 't is impossible by these Elogies 〈◊〉 to distinguish between Truth and Falshood or between real and counterfeit Merit by reason of the flattering Colours with which Vice is daub'd over There is indeed a certain kind of Shame that restrains men from running to an Excess in the praise of Living Persons whose Actions are for the most part daily Refutations of their Elogies But 't is look'd upon as a Duty and matter of Conscience to observe no measures with respect to the Dead The Heathens did not only Deify their Emperors for we are inform'd by the Learned that there were generally three Letters engrav'd on the Tombs of deceas'd Persons which signify Sacred to the Gods Manes When Death has drawn the Curtain 't is only the shining part of a Life that breaks through and all the shadows or rather dark parts of it remain hid Which is the Reason that Orators imagine that they are priviledg'd to use all manner of liberty on these Occasions Every thing appears strain'd and exaggerated they tell us not only all the good Qualities that their Heroes and Heroins had but also all 's those that they wanted And even sometime they proceed to such a height of excess as to make Heroical Vertues of Actions and Sentiments that are real Crimes not only according to the Spirit of the Gospel but even according to the dictates of Human Morality 'T is plain that Panegyrists labour more for their own Glory than for that of their Heroes They would inspire us with Grief but the Pains which they take and the Art which they use to compass that design serve only to convince us that they neither believe nor are touch'd with what they say True sorrow is altogether inconsistent with so much Art so prevailing a Disorder doth almost deter grateful Minds from paying just Homage to true Worth For in few years say they it will not be known who is the Flatterer whether he that Writes the Elogy of a Vicious Person or he who Celebrates a Heroin But I leave this difficulty to be consider'd by those who shall be call'd to immortalize the Memory and Vertues of this Great QVEEN and they will easily surmount it For let the Age be as unjust Calumny as spiteful and Flattery as universal as 't is possible to conceive them to be the Brightness of that Princess's Life will still be sufficient to dissipate all the Clouds with which a Party that are Enemies to God would darken it It was the Custom to visit the Tombs of the Illustrious Deceas'd either to Weep over them or to cover them with Flowers But 't is not barely with such a design that we approach the Tomb of our Great Queen 'T is true we cannot behold this great Triumph of Death without feeling our Souls pierc'd with Grief and without watering our Bosoms with Tears But far from coming thither to Weep we rather come to dry our Tears and seek for Comfort neither do we bring Flowers but come to seek Fruit. For never did there happen a more instructive Accident or which could better teach us what we are what we ought to be and what we ought to think These are the Lessons that I intend to lay before you at present But these Instructions have so great a dependance upon the Worth and Excellency of the Princess whom we Mourn that I must say something of Her great Qualities of the Beauties of Her Body and Mind and of the Circumstances of Her Elevation and Fortune MARY Princess of England had certainly all that could render a Persons lovely either in respect to the Body or to the Mind The Spirit of Christianity which despises Flesh and Matter will not suffer me to insist upon those visible Beauties with which that Princess was Enrich'd I shall content my self with applying to her what was said of another Queen whose Memory is not yet lost that She was altogether Lovely and that it was impossible not to love her But She did not in the least resemble those Princesses who have all that is necessary to inspire Love but are destitute of that Vertue which is necessary to preserve them from Love 'T is well known that Beauty is one of the greatest Temptations to which a Woman is obnoxious For that is a Temptation which is ever present with Her even when She is farthest removed from Tempters Our QUEEN was from Her Birth of a Sweet and Mild Temper She was not capable of uttering a hard word but she was arm'd with so powerful and perfect a Modesty that never any guilty Thought durst arise in Her presence She was naturally Devout the bent of her Heart was toward God She was full of Compassion for the Miserable Humble without Meanness Great without Pride Easy of Access and Affable and none ever went from her Presence without being Charmed by Her With all these great Endowments which she ow'd to Her Blood and happy Constitution rather than to Her Education She fell into the Hands of WILLIAM HENRY Prince of ORANGE while
into such Complaints are these Ah! why are there not a Million of those base and guilty Wretches sacrific'd for the Preservation of One so dear and precious a Life Why do Persecuters and the Disturbers of the Publick Quiet prolong their days to be Scourges of Mankind whilst the Delights of the World fly away with the swiftness of a shadow which vanishes away and returns no more Let us learn O Christians to make a right use or rather to make no use at all of that Word which is so common amongst us It had been better otherwise To how many Persons do we apply this Word if such a Person dies immediately we cry It had been better otherwise Thou knowest O God and thou makest us know that this is a great Error Whatsoever thou dost is always best Thy Will is ever good and perfect Grant then that we may acquiesce in it Instruct us in the Depths of thy Wisdom and make us sensible of the Justice of thy Actions that we may henceforth avoid such prophane Expressions In the last place we ought to admire with the Prophet the conduct of that God who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working His Providence doth often set in order second Causes for the production of Effects which his eternal Decrees will bring forth in their due time And this Order appears so natural to us that we cannot believe that he will change it for another But on a sudden we see this Order reverst and those Chains of second Causes broken to pieces VVe are in an Age of Iron and of Brass we live in the Dregs of Time a Time in which the World and the Church have need of great Agents and Examples for the Reformation both of Doctrine and Manners God seem'd to have united the two wisest most pious and most zealous Persons of our Age to accomplish his work and make a new Christian VVorld The Union of these two great Souls appear'd to us like the Conjunction of two great Stars which we expected should have shed their influences on both sides of the Seas by making Peace to spring out of the Earth and Righteousness to come down from Heaven And indeed these effects were already produc'd in a very sensible manner Already God had begun to fulfill our hopes and accomplish his own Designs VVhen lo by an unexpected stroke he had at last interrupted the Course of those Prosperities which that Union could not fail to produce By this Conduct God would teach us two things The First is our own Ignorance VVe believ'd that he would proceed in one Method and we see that he has taken another VVhich ought to make us acknowledge our ignorance of the Depths of his Providence The other thing that God would teach us is that we should alwayes live in an entire and even in some measure in an immediate dependance on his Will He would not have us to depend too much on humane means He would give us to understand that his Wisdom is infinite and that he has a thousand ways to arrive at the same end He deprives us of Persons that seem'd to be most necessary for the execution of his Designs and yet he would not have us doubt of the accomplishment of them Let us leave all to him for if he does not finish his VVork by this VVay he will certainly do it by another VVe thought that he would have perform'd that great VVork by two excellent Persons And he has now taught us that having begun it by Two illustrious Heads he will perfect it by One. Our Great Queen has been not a little useful to produce those great Events If she did not lead the Prince to the Throne she facilitated the ways to it which his own VVisdom and Courage had open'd She was the Bond of Union between the King and the Nation She has establish'd that Union during Six years She has in in her time rais'd our dead Hopes and reviv'd our dead Church God resolves to finish without Her that which he begun by Her And so long as God shall preserve to us Him who is the Breath of our Nostrils according to the Stile of the Prophet we will breath still we will hope and we will live I am not ignorant that the Enemies of the Peace of Europe will be ready to conceive great hopes from this mournful Accident But He that sits in the Heavens shall laugh at their devices He has already sufficiently explain'd his gracious intentions And so favourable a Providence appear'd evidently in this sad Juncture that we may plainly see that he that gave the blow has no mind to destroy us It was more natural that this Misfortune should have happen'd to us in the Heat of Summer which is the proper season for Malignant Diseases And then the King's absence might have put an opportunity into the hands of his Enemies to plot mischief at home This fatal Death might have also surpriz'd us when the Parliament was not assembl'd and by this means have given occasion to the vain hopes and perhaps also to the treasonable attempts of our Enemies But the Presence of the King the sitting of the Parliament and the intire Union that is between Him and them are sufficient to dispel all our Fears and give us a comfortable assurance of the future success of the just Cause God has indeed discharg'd the Torrents of his indignation against us but he has set bounds to them He has pour'd forth the Vial of his Fury upon us but he stopt it before it came to the bottom We ought every one of us to stand between the Dead and the Living that the Plague may be staid We ought to beseech God to inspite that Great King with wise Counsel that he may continue his assistance to those to whom his presence is so necessary and to enable him to fill up that great Breach which will be made by his absence and by the death of his other Self And if God shall vouchsafe to grant these our Petitions we may still without vanity preserve our hopes Thus my Brethren in the midst of those Tears which ought never to be dried up since our Loss can never be repair'd let us trust in God and in the goodness of the King who is of himself full of compassion as you have found by frequent experience And henceforth we have reason to hope that he will unite in his own Heart all that Charity and Mercy which were formerly divided between Him and the Queen He that lov'd that amiable and pious Princess with so much ardour will certainly cherish Her memory and Her Works will be dear to Him And since Her Goodness and Beneficence to you was one of her most glorious Works we may be assur'd that our Great Prince will perfect it rather than over-turn it All that vast number of Altars and living Temples where that Great Queen offer'd up daily Sacrifices of Charity are so many glorious Monuments by
two Souls were unexpressibly strong And at the same time it is a clear Proof of the Heroical Vertue of both They lov'd each other almost to excess because they knew one another to be perfectly vertuous and worthy to be lov'd For the Love of God and of his Glory was the source of their Conjugal Love And upon this Occasion give me leave to represent to you the greatness of our Obligation to these two Illustrious Lovers They were link'd together by the closest Ties they were passionately enamour'd of each other and yet suffer'd themselves to be separated every Year by a voluntary Exile of Six Months The King sacrific'd His dearest Delights to the Publick Good and to the Glory of God And the Loving QUEEN during these tedious Campaigns sacrific'd that Dear Husband and expos'd Him to the Faithlesness of the Sea to that more terrible treachery of Men and to the Dangers of Battels in which His Courage engag'd Him every moment And all for the Publick Good for the Quiet of Europe and for the Glory of Her God Nor was the End of this Princess unsuitable to Her Beginning Young and Fair as She was a QUEEN and a Happy QUEEN ador'd by Her own Subjects and by Strangers She welcom'd Death like one that had reason to be weary of the World and as if the World had been weary of Her Being inform'd on the second day of Her Sickness that Her Disease was the Small Pox and of a very dangerous Kind because they did not come out She addrest Her self to God in a most devout Prayer and resign'd Her self to his Hands When She was advertis'd of the fatal Approaches of Death She receiv'd the news with a great deal of Firmness and without the least Disturbance She made Her Peace with God and receiv'd the stroke of Death bowing down Her Head and lifting up Her Soul towards Heaven like and Innocent Lamb or a pure Victim that offers up it self to its God in a voluntary Oblation Think what Advantages the World receiv'd and might have receiv'd from such a Queen And indeed it may be said that never any Person of her Sex that had a King and a Husband alive was so useful to Mankind Private Persons may speak of this from their own Experience What a vast multitude of Alms of Pious and Charitable Works are now with Her before God She was sensibly touch'd with the Affliction of the People of God She maintain'd every where a great Number of Women of Quality who had left their Estates and Country She contributed large Sums for the Entertainment of so many indigent Persons who being driven from their own Habitations had without Her assistance led a most wretched and languishing Life She had the Blessings of the Widow and the Orphan and Her only Grief was that She could not provide for all their Necessities These Advantages which we receiv'd were indeed very precious in the fight of God But there were others that shin'd brighter in the Eyes of Men. Who can enough admire her Wisdom Prudence and Courage in sharing the burthen of Government with Her Illustrious Husband By Her that Great King could be present in several Places at once By Her He extended his Empire beyond the Sea While He commanded Armies on our Frontiers and set bounds to that ambitious Grandeur that would have swallow'd up all the World The Queen supply'd his place on the Throne She assisted at Her Council four or five hours together answer'd all Proposals with an admirable Presence of Mind and with a piercing clearness of Judgment unfolded the most knotty difficulties And in what Time did She rule so successfully In the most difficult Times that England ever saw in the midst of a thousand Conspirators who cover'd their pernicious Designs with the specious pretext of a tender Conscience and Allegiance to their Sovereign The Enemies Fleet appear'd on the Coasts under the formidable Name of an injur'd King and an incens'd Father within Cabals were form'd to introduce the Enemy The King was absent busy'd in defending the Frontiers of His Allies The Queen watches labours night and day takes Her measures prevents the Conspirators sees that Fleet disperst which came to put Her in Chains and like a Rock remains unmov'd in the midst of so furious a Tempest Every Campaign renew'd Her Labours and still She was attended with the same glorious success When the King return'd She return'd to Her Rest She retir'd peaceably to Her Works and Gardens as if She had been capable of nothing else Just like those Heroes of ancient Rome who left their Countrey Labours to command Armies and having routed the Enemies and secur'd the Commonwealth return'd again to their little Employments We have already seen what a Queen we have lost let us now hearken to the Instructions that are offer'd to us by the Illustrious Deceas'd In the first place She gives us a Lesson concerning the Vanity of the World which ought to have a great influence upon us 'T is true we see daily Examples of it but they are so many that they cannot make a lasting Impression upon us We are so accustom'd to them that we must have remarkable Examples set before us from time to time to rouse us out of that Stupidity in which we are buried The common People Citizens and Tradesmen perish before our eyes but these are unpriviledg'd Heads which fall in heaps and dye unregarded A thousand Funerals pass along our Streets and are no sooner past than forgotten They tell us of Princes and Kings that died some Ages ago which now are only so many vain Names in History The Preachers draw these Goblins out of their Sepulchres to affright us but they lose their labour Death seizes on as many Crown'd Heads in this as in any former Age for a Crown has no more power now to bestow Immortality upon him that wears it than it had a thousand years ago But we have always some pretext ready to excuse our want of attention and to elude the force of such Examples That Prince was old and 't was time for him to be going This Princess was tender and could not live long Another had done a great deal of mischief and 't was just that he should go to receive the Punishments that he deserv'd One was hated by his Subjects and therefore Death was a Blessing to him And another 't is true did little harm but less good and therefore the World was well rid of him Come my dear Brethren and Fellow Mourners come and see Behold an Instance that cuts off all such pretexts Behold a Young Person who had receiv'd from Nature all imaginable Favours see a Great Princess in the flower of her Age of a sound Constitution which promised a long Life behold a Charitable Soul an inexhausted Source of Good Works and the Delight of all the World Behold in this Instance the Vanity of the World unvail'd the meanness of the most shining Creatures the weakness
of Humane Confidence and the disappointment of all the Hopes of Man Learn to ralse your Minds to more solid Enjoyments which Death cannot rob you of And You who abuse your Beauty to serve your criminal Designs instead of making a right use of it as this Great Princess did of Hers come and see in this great Mirrour what e're long you shall likewise be Palaces Guards well man'd Walls Ornaments rich Furniture delicious Tables numerous Trains of Servants and the magnificent Pomp of your guilty Pleasures all these things shall not save you from the insults of Death For if those things be done in a green Tree what shall be done in the dry Weep saith that Great Princess weep for your selves and not for Me. Let us weep for our own Vanity For She is crown'd with Glory in the Heavens where She is now receiving the Recompence of Her Good Works But we are left in a World which rouls like a furious Torrent where Young and Old are carried headlong to the Abyss of Death You Great Persons who abuse your Power behold this Example and remember that you shall be quickly summon'd to receive the Sentence of Death from that Judge who has lately rewarded our Queen with a new and glorious Crown I proceed to a second Lesson which is no less important than the former The Queen's Death by discovering to us the Vanity of the World teaches us how to Live And the Piety and Resignation with which She receiv'd Her Death instructs us how to Dye After the second Day of Her Sickness they did not conceal from her the Nature of her Distemper and she receiv'd the News with an extraordinary strength of Mind and with a perfect Submission Yet there were still some hopes left till the sixth day of Her Disease But then the Combination of several deadly Symptoms the Small-pox the Measles Erisypelas Purple Fever oppression at Her Breast and loss of Blood took away all hope of Life My Lord Archbishop of Canterbury who never left Her deliver'd the dismal Message to Her 〈◊〉 the whole Court and City were in despair all Persons were cover'd with Tears there was nothing to be heard but Sighs and Groans the King lost all his Courage and both He and She were equally bewail'd The Queen alone receiv'd the fatal Tidings without trouble She answer'd that She was ready to render to God that Soul which She had receiv'd from him She address'd her self to him with a most ardent Devotion to obtain his Mercy She resign'd Her self to His Will She begg'd forgiveness in the Name and through the Blood of Her Saviour Jesus Christ and recommended to Him that which was dearest to Her in the World the King Her Husband The rest of Wednesday and Thursday even to Her Death She past in a perfect freedom of Mind and in the Transports and Raptures of a Soul that was wholly devoted to God She comforted Her Comforter and edifi'd all Her Assistants She receiv'd the Sacrament devoutly and at last yielded up Her Soul to God without suffering it to be forc'd from Her My Brethren the most wretched Creatures are not willing to die they have oftentimes no reason to desire to live yet they will not be perswaded to a religious Preparation for Death Let us hearken to this Example which sets before us a Queen Young Fair Happy Lov'd and Ador'd Ty'd to the World by the firmest Bonds yet all these Ties were broken by the hands of Her Piety as if they had been made of Chaff O Death said a certain Wise man how bitter is the remembrance of thee to one that lives peaceably in his own House but how much more bitter might it have been to Her who liv'd gloriously in a magnificent Palace Let us labour then my Brethren to cover our selves with a holy Confusion Let us learn to die in our Meanness in our Baseness in our Poverty in our Cottages as this Young Queen hath done in the midst of all Her Grandeur and of all Her Glory These are truly great Lessons but I have sound out others that are both higher and more Mysterious First I admire the depth of the Providence and Judgements of God Who knows whether we have not occasion'd the death of our dear Princess by our excessive Love of Her If you have studied the History of Providence you ought to have learn'd there that God takes pleasure to break our Idols Of these Idols some are vain such as were those of the Gentiles and these God breaks to pieces in his indignation and in the Fury of his Jealousie Others are good and worthy to be lov'd but they cause us to learn too much to the Creature which is alwayes displeasing to God and therefore he breaks these Idols in his Mercy and for our Salvation Sometimes he produces those Master-pieces of his Goodness he sets them before us and leaves them with us so long as 't is necessary to make us know them and love them and then he withdraws his Work and his Image from us and takes them to himself least we should run to an Excess by loving those Excellent Persons too much with respect to Themselves and too little with regard to Hâ—m who is Author of all their Grandeur and Perfections Secondly Here we may see the Condemnation of the rash and unwarrantable judgments of some who say that God in his Justice shortens the days of those who make a bad use of them If ever Person made a right use of her Time and of her Life it was certainly our Great and pious Queen But why then did not God prolong Her dayes These are the depths of God and the Abyss of his Wisdom into which we must not search No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them there is one event to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not There is a Just Man that perisheth in his Righteousness and there is a Wicked Man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness saith the Wise man The Wicked descends to the Grave with a hoary head and he whom God loveth is withdrawn from the Evil that is to come Nor have the Godly any Reason to complain of their Lot they shall receive Crowns in Heaven more valuable than those which they may have lost on Earth Indeed we who are left here are wont to complain but unjustly God takes from us Persons of whom the World was not worthy and why did not we render our selves worthy to enjoy them Thirdly Let us learn from hence silently to adore the unsearchable Judgments of God God leaves in the World an infinite number of Persons that are like Blemishes on a fair Face Clouds they are without Water carried about of Winds Raging Waves of the Sea foaming out their own shame Spots in our Feasts of Charity And without reckoning the Wicked how many useless Persons are there in the World If we consult our own false Wisdom we may perhaps break forth