Doubling over his Orisons and no whit further he was at the yeares end then at the beginning but labour to goe forward in the wayes of obedience If here you faint your losse will prove great for you loose no lesse then a crown Which is not a voluptuous crown of Roses as wisdome speakes nor a crowne of pride to which a woe belongeth as Esay 28. Nor such a crowne which is set upon the heads of Dragons and beasts in the Revelation and so Corona vitiosa ruinosa as one speaks nor yet as the Poets crownes of Lawrell and Ivy litle better then weeds which wrapt about Ionah's head trash of no valew And as our Saviour said that his kingdom was not of this world so these crownes are none of his crowns but a crowne where death hath no claime a crowne where danger is not incident a crowne not encompassed with crosses but a crowne enriched with everlasting comforts O labour then to fight valiantly for it be not faint-hearted In Gideons army all faint-hearted souldiers were commanded to stay at home No cowards shall ever obtaine this crowne It is a strange thing to consider how inconstant christians are in seeking this crowne of righteousnesse some are of many minds many moods now forward then backward full of motions and commotions ebbing and flowing like Euripus seaven times a day Some are neither forward nor backward neither ebbe nor flow like Mare mortuum but are betwixt the religious and irreligious just standing water But these like cowards goe back fall off in the day of battaile I meane at the day of death when Satan doth double his forces As the king of Assyria charged his captaines to fight neither with small nor great save only with the King of Israel 1. Kings 22. So the Prince of darknesse commands the leader of his troupes and those that stand at the head of his company his master-temptations not so fight against any vertue small or great but continuance in goodnesse quam solùm novit coronari Vpon whose head he knowes the crowne must fall Then hee bestirres himselfe not only because he knowes his owne time is but short but because he perceives ours to bee so Therefore he doubles his forcss as if he still meanes to make the last conflict the sorest resolving to set all at the stake and either now to winne or sit downe with losse and despaire Oh how should we now labour then to procure a true faith and having got it to keep it that so our common enemy may not beat off our constancy in fighting under his colours who in the end will surely crowne us We know eternall life is not given to all for then we would all presume nor to none for then wee would despaire But vincenti dabitur to him that overcometh he that fighteth the good fight of faith as S. Paul did in the text and as our gracious sister this renowned Gentlewoman hath done whom you now see to have finished her course and whom as hereafter I shall declare hath kept the faith Let this then teach thee to be valiant unto the last minute The eye of the captaine the Lord Iesus is upon thee if thou faint to cheare thee if thou fight to second thee if thou conquer to crowne the as he did S. Paul in the text who being confident of the same did thus conclude with himselfe I haue fought c. And so I am come from the text to the occasion The death of man in generall is able to make our sorrowes runne what pitty is it that hee that even now was Monarch of the ayre to breath where he listed should suddenly have his lungs stopt with dust and bee lockt up well-nigh for ever in the breathlesse earth That he that kept the best coÌ„pany with men should forthwith have no better companions then wormes Certainly if wee could blow up this powder into our heads it might awake our souls from sleeping in security especially if we take up this consideration withall that the same death that slew our worthy sister here may next tread upon our own heeles But above all things me thinks this should prevayle most with us the death of the faithfull Saints of God Which as it is precious in Gods eyes so the more pittyfull for us to behold WheÌ„ an ordinary persoÌ„ breakes ranck and dyes there falls a vapour but when a godly person dyes there falls a stare When the Israelites shook of Aegypt and departed they rob'd the Aegyptians and when a good person shakes of the world she robbes the world Such was the death of this thrice worthy and ever renowned gentlewoman whom death too soone for us though too late for her selfe hath with an Habeas corpus removed into another world I know it is an usuall custome upon such solemne occafions as this to receive the worth of such persons as wee know both in life and death to bee truly commendable And to warrant our actions wee have Gods word to second us who as he would have the name of the wicked to rot so he would have that the memoriall of the righteous should remaine for ever On which ground I am the more bold to blaze her worth the commemoration whereof as it is profitable to posterity so is it likewise acceptable and pleasing to God who in the fame of his Saints is chiefly honoured as the sole Author of every good and perfect guift Iâ—m 1.17 Their lives are as lines by which we may leade our owne Polyb. hist lib. 1. And as Polybius wisely observeth there is not a more expedite way to instruct us and to stir us up unto a good life then by observing the sincere piety of faithfull persons whom the Almighty hath been pleased to gather to himselfe Vt qui praeceptis non accendimur saltem exemplis incitemur Greg Mor. l. 9. cap. 3. We are not easily moved by precepts examples are more prevalent practise having proved that facile in performance which to our sluggish dispositions by precept only seemed very difficult therefore That God may have praise and we reap the profit of an excellent patterne I shall adventure as well as I can to shew forth Her honour whom I know to be every way truly honourable But before I make my words good let your beliefe goe along with me to remove all prejudiciall conceits For I doe sincerely confesse I shall not out of privat affection prejudice the truth For though Her memory be deare to me as the reliques of our loving friend are wont to be yet truth must still be dearer 1. Cor. 13.6 and love it selfe rejoyceth in the truth Let others if they please imitate bad lawyers who for their fees will plead and commend any cause For my owne part my conscience is not of so large a size neither will I extend it further then her worth and goodnesse shall bind me We will beginne therefore in the first place from whence she took
her beginning at her birth and pedigree She was cut out of no meane quarry It was a custome amongst the Indians sayes Phylostratus after the death of any worthy person to inscribe his acts upon the dores of his house for the ennobling of his issue So it was ever esteemd no meane blessing to be well descended And surely if I should take upon me here the part of an Herald in imitation of them write upon the doors of her house her descent both by father and mother I could easily derive her as you know better then my felfe descending from Honourable Right Honourable and truly noble blood But what is greatnesse without grace or honour without goodnesse but as the Cabanet which wants the Iewell or the Casket that is empty of gold It is the greatest infamy to bee like unto hills the higher the barrener when wee should be as Diamonds the bigger the better But such was not this vertuous gentlewoman I may say of her truly in the words of the Apostle she was fruitfull in good works These shined in her devout soule like heaps of Diamonds in rings of gold being the Characters of true nobility did declare to the world her descent from the royallest blood the great King of heaven It is Godlines that makes us truly great and though wee bee never so much honoured amongst men on earth yet if we be not Gods favourites we dye in infamy and our very names shall rot But enough of her birth which wee all know was honourable Let us come in the next place to her life shee had as we all now have A course to finish but this is her happinesse her journey is at an end our misery we are still a travailing towards it Shee hath that in fruition which we only yet hope for even this crown of righteousnesse in the text Now if the world enquire how she hath got it or the way she took to obtaine it I answer in the words of S. Paul by fighting a good fight and keeping the faith She was a right constant heavenly warriour that at the conclusion of her dayes not three houres before that last one of her death I found her to have her weapons in readinesse Knowledge Courage Love and Power First Knowledge which by continuall practise from dayly reading of the word she had procured Shee did not like Martha encomber her selfe with wordly businesse but with Mary did chuse the better part And this did her dayly practise declare whose constant course was foure times in the day to set her selfe a part for the service of her God So that I may say of her as it is spoken of devout S. Hierome she lived every day as her last day And thus labouring to encrease in knowledge she did attain to no small measure of it for a litle before her death when I began to tell her of Satans wiles to beat us off from being confident of Gods favour when wee were in the weakest state to resist him with much confidence she returnes me answer in that comfortable expression of S. Pauls Rom. 8. I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angells Rom. 8.38.39 nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall bee able to separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thus word for word as strong as she was able a litle before her dissolution exprest her selfe Neither was this perswasion grounded on a generall knowledge which is a common guift but on a practicall experimentall and saving knowledge which none are enricht with but such for whom God hath layed up a crown of righteousnesse There are indeed a generation of men and women that pretend much knowledge but in her it was reall not in pretence Shee was none of those talking Ladies whose Religion appeares onely in the tongue But shee was more for good works then words Much like unto that worthy woman the mother of S. Greg Nazianzen of whom it is said that had shee an Ocean of wealth shee would have emptyed it all into the bellies of the poore So I may say of this vertuous Gētlewomā there was an Ocean of pitty enclosed within the compasse of her heart and when any poore neighbour stood in need of her bounty she gave most liberally to them And all this did arise from her knowledge who knowing that the smallest releife given to the distressed members of Christ should not passe unrewarded at the last day 2ly As shee did abound in knowledge so with Courage for though death which to nature and sense is said to bee the most terrible of terribles yet the thought of it did not any way daunt her spirits She could with boldnesse looke death in the face which when she was put in mind of the approaching hour thus heavenly exprest her selfe that howsoever God was pleased to dispose of her whether for life or death like a couragious christian she concluded shee should bee the Lords Resolving like Iob to undergoe affliction patiently and with S. Paul to suffer death willingly if the Lord be so pleased or hath appointed it Now would you know the reason of this courage It was that holy practise of her life whereby continuall purging and embracing all gracious opportunities of hearing the word preached shee did so dayly renew her covenant with her God as that hereby the sting of death being taken away it could not any way affright her A rare patterne for the greatest Ladyes to follow whose life if they did but seriously consider would confine themselves more unto their closets to meditate on God and goodnesse then now they loose time in their chambers in contriving of fashions and following the vanities of this sinfull world Oh remember you great ones of the world that you are but dust and you know not how soone you may bee resolv'd to your first principle which is dust Now if in the midst of your worldly pomp and honour you should see death appeare unexpectedly as Belthazar's hand-writing did on the wall before you had made your peace with your God how would it make your joynts to tremble how would it fill you with horror and amazement especially to thinke that you have served no other God but your pleasures you never sought after that which would have made you truly honourable Surely if these serious thoughts could but possesse your soules with this vertuous Gentlewoman you would turn your times of playing into praying and by making the word of God your delight would endeavour with this now glorious Saint to procure the assurance which at the finishing of your course would make you more then Conquerors through the Lord Iesus Christ that loved us 3ly She was armed with Love in respect of which vertue I may say of her as Solomon speaks of the good woman Prov. 31.2 Many daughters have done vertuously but thou surpassest them all Her goodnesse
have such peace without contending such truce without opposing so quiet and calme a league without all manner of resistance Marvel not then ye monsters of sinne though sometimes ye see poore christians looke with a sad countenance or sorrowfull carriage It is not an easy task to give Satan the foyle his darts are fiery consumeing the spirits How is it possible on a sudden to make havocke of a mans naturall corruption or to destroy that life of sinne which for so long continuance hath had being in our soules Delude not then your selves any longer in crying peace for you see christians are fighters And they that will be warriers in Christs camp shall have dreadfull dreames fearefull visions troubles without terrors within and now and then the Arrowes of the Almighty to stick into and drink up their spirits Acquaint thy selfe with Iob demand of David what wounds they received in this warfare and what it is to be a faithfull souldier such can tell thee Yet if thou wouldst know by experience leave off thy wicked associates change the course of thy lewd life and fight the battailer of thy God and then thou shalt finde thy thoughts to bee many thy heart heavy thy griefe great and thy feare terrible Use 2. This may serve in the second place to comfort the godly who have bickerings with the flesh skirmishes with the world and alwayes warre with the devill yea the very bitternesse of assaults encountering with them let them not be daunted or dismay'd for this is no other thing then that which is incident unto the profession of those that fight under the colours of Christ Doth the flesh entice thee the world allure thee the devill tempt thee yea his instruments molest thee Let this then refresh thee that it is no other evill then which did befall the dearest of Gods children The case is common with them For when the strong man keeps the house all is at peace at home but goe about to dispossesse him then will hee rage and teare If Nehemiah begins to repayre the walls of Ierusalem Sanballet shall oppose him Paul to preach the Gospell his owne countrey-men will persecute him Satan when his kingdom shakes will rouze up himself arm all his Agents to act their parts least Babell be confounded and overturned Let not these things seem strange to thee for no combat no christian When the devill doth assault thee the body of corruption lyes heavy upon thee and death with his many Ghostly forms terrifies thee then conclude thou either art or shalt be a right resolute heavenly warriour For these are foes to all them that fight for the Lord or the land of life Use 3. Seeing that faithfull men are military men let us then in the last place labour to stand upon our guard like traine-souldiers let our armour be alwayes in readines for the place wherein we are which is the Church is militant our calling Military not one minute can pleade a priviledge fom an encounter If the case were thus with our bodies that we were still in danger to be set upon by our enemy and knew not when he would fall upon us we would bee carefull to bee well provided Thus is it with our soules and therefore by how much the more excellent the one is then the other by how much the more puissant and powerfull the spirituall enemy is then the corporal by so much the higher it concerne us to stand upon our guard Now that wee may quit ourselves like heavenly warriours let us have these fowre weapons alwayes in readinesse First knowledge this is like unto Sampsons eyes who for the want of them could not find the pillars of the house no more can we the principles of faith unlesse knowledge guide us For without this wee le oft foyle our friends when wee should wound our foes and range beyond our rankes when we should keep within our files Thus it was with Paul before he did receive Christs presse-mony through ignorance he made havock of the Church of God and Peter on the same ground did promise what he was not able to performe Without knowledge the mind is not good and blind men are not fit to fight except under the Prince of darknesse and therefore we must labour in the first place to bee arm'd with knowledge 2ly Courage what heroicall spirit hath that man need to have who is to wrastle with principalities and powers with an heavy burden of sinne and strong body of corruption he had not need to be a puleing babe affrighted with the power of his adversaries But as litle David was not dismay'd either at the threats of his enemy that great Giant at Gath or the greatnesse of his lookes or the strength of his hands but did with the greatest valour overcome him so must we doe arme our selves against Satans forces not flying back when he seeks to assault us but meet him most stoutly opposing couragiously both his power and policy untill we have wonne the victory who otherwise would have prevayled had we not been armed with courage 3ly Love This weapon will stirre up our spirits and adde life unto all our actions when wee our selves grow feeble and weake the Apostle tells us it is of a lasting nature that when all other weapons fayle yet this will endure Let Satan be enraged never so much against us and raise up his instruments to molest and hurt us yet love will make us stand to our ground resist unto blood And though death it selfe supprise us as the strongest dart yet love to our captaine the Lord Iesus hath taken away her sting so that our enemies cannot mortally wound us they may only bruise us in the heele they shall never breake our heads nor give us a deadly stroke 4ly Power The Prophet David being an old souldier prayes for it Psalm 51.2 S. Paul a worthy warriour often commends it Eph. 6.10 A christian should bee like that Leviathan Iob speakes of Iob. 4â— his heart firme as stone his bones as brasse hee accounts Iron as straw and esteemeth steele as stubble no arrow can make him flee nor speare turne him from the battayle Want of power makes us a prey to our enemies and then wee are most in danger to loose the field when wee are not able to fight Let us be armed therefore with power Hee that hath knowledge without power is like a souldier that hath his eyes but wants his armes He that hath knowledge and power is like a souldier that hath his eyes and armes but without courage wants his heart He that hath knowledge power and courage is like a souldier that hath his eyes his armes his heart yet without love he lacks his lims For power can warre but without courage dares not power courage can and dare but without love will not power courage love can dare and will yet if knowledge direct not there will be no good event in the combat Wherefore get knowledge
to call us to a reckoning let us take heed of being found wrapt in a cloud of dark ignorance and blind security Wee must know that cloud will dissolve ours and lay us open with our sinnes to the view of men and Angells Let us be carefull to make all now even with God And as Alcibiades told Pericles when hee was troubled with studying how to give his accounts that if he would be ruled by him he should rather study how to give no account at all So say I let thy whole endeavour be now employed in advancing the honour of thy God that hereafter he cannot call thee to an account because here thou hast his acquaintance given thee which will fully satisfy his demands hereafter 2ly The hazzard and danger we are lyable unto in being unmindfull of death Which is no lesse then to be tumbled into eternity of torment A quolibet monento pendet aeternitas with devills and damned reprobates For upon every moment of time depends eternity either our everlasting woe or everlasting welfare and if wee should bee swept away before we thought on our ends what horrour and vengeance would supprize us Yea wee should then undergoe both the punishment of losse and sense and bee banished from the glorious presence of our gracious God and cast into unquenchable fire there to feele nothing but continuall cruelty exercised both against body and soule by malicious devills without the smallest intermission or ease As therefore we tender the good of our soules so let the danger we are lyable to by being unmindfull of our mortality prevayle with us to prepare for our latter end 3ly The happines we shall enjoy in being mindfull of our mortality we shall hereby become to bee placed in the highest honour even to set with Kings and Princes to live in the largest kingdome even the kingdome of heaven to inherit the durablest riches where neither moth nor rust can corrupt nor theeves breake thorow nor steale when once wee arrive here wee shall hunger no more nor thirst no more neither griefe nor sorrow shall possesse our soules but all teares shall be wiped from our eyes all feares taken from our hearts and nothing but joy and peace but love and goodnesse shall encompasse us and that not for a day or an houre or an yeare but for eternity The sense of this happinesse shall never have an end But after that we have finished our course and kept the faith we shall be crowned with righteousnesse which is the ample reward of our holy endeavours And brings me now briefly to the last conclusion namely Doct. 3d. That if we sight couragiously our endeavours shall not be frustrated God will give vs a crowne of righteousnesse In the services of men it oft-times falls out that many for the good endeavours and carefull employments in their masters businesses are so farre from being rewarded according to their demerits as that they are not regarded by them They fish faire but in the end catch nothing worth acceptance they have their labour for their paines But it is not thus in the service of God he is so far from not regarding his servants as that he doth most liberally extend his hands of bounty towards them farre beyond shall I say their deserts I know they have none at all their well-doings extend not to him Psal 16. as David speakes doe what they can they are unprofitable servants but farre beyond their desires for such things which neither eye hath seen nor eare heard neither can it enter into mans heart to conceive what God hath prepared for them that feare him which point is both pregnantly and clearely proved in scripture The tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God is promised to Ephesus To eat the Mannah that is hid and a white stone and in that white stone a new name written in it which no man knoweth save him that receiveth it is promised to Pergamus Power over nations is promise dto Thyatira while Arras is promised to Sardis to be a pillar in the Temple of God is promised to Philadelphia if they remaine constant in their profession And if Smirna be faithfull unto death shee shall bee sure to have a crowne of life As Ioseph said of Pharoah's dreames both Pharoah's dreames are one So it may be said of these promises they are one pointing out unto us one and the same thing the ample and gracious goodnesse of God both in respecting and rewarding the painfull labours of his children A paralell hereof is that of Solomon Prov. 11.18 The wicked works a deceitfull work but to him that soweth righteousnesse shall be a sure reward Hence this came to bee a concluded point and out of question in S. Pauls divinity That when the sunne of his life was at the point of setting he doth upon consideration hereof comfort himselfe in this chapter yea when hee was ready to bee offered as he speaks and the time of his departing drew nigh at hand This was his Swan-like song I have fought a good fight I have finished my course c. Vse 1. This may serve in the first place to comfort the faithfull and courage them in all their proceedings who endeavour to feare the Lord in all sincerity and truth They may from hence collect unspeakeable comfort to themselves there is not one prayer they make not one chapter they read not one Sermon they heare but sets them forward for heaven and enlarges their future happinesse What should more comfort them then to enjoy a crowne to which they being as heires must needs transport their thoughts beyond all admiration It is reputed among men no small honour to be called to the royall race any way either by consanguinity or affinity Hence is that of David 1. Sam. 18.23 seemeth it to you a light thing to be a Kings sonne in law How much more then should it comfort the faithfull that they are of a kingly race and a royall kindred God himselfe who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords he is their father and they his sonnes and so are thereby become heires to this crown of righteousnesse which S. Paul here speaks of Comfort then your selves ye beloved of the Lord let nothing daunt or dismay you neither the forces of the world nor the frownes of the wicked the policy of the devill or the feare of death but know that if you sight valiantly and keep the faith there is comfort enough to recompence all your labours in this crowne of righteousnesse Vse 2d. Let this then exhort us not to be weary in well-doing but with that good woman of Canaan cry and continue in crying be stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord seeing your reward is so great if yee continue to the end Be not like him who in his devotions was wont to say the first day Gloria patri the second filio the third spiritui sancto