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A00510 A sermon preached at Ashby De-la-zouch in the countie of Leicester at the funerall of the truely noble and vertuous lady Elizabeth Stanley one of the daughters and coheires of the Right Honourable Ferdinand late Earle of Derby, and late wife to Henrie Earle of Huntingdon the fifth earle of that familie. The 9. of February. Anno Dom. 1633. By I.F. I. F., fl. 1633.; Fletcher, Joseph, 1577?-1637, attributed name. 1635 (1635) STC 10644; ESTC S116875 15,055 48

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that the Iudge of all the world should not do righteously And unto this well-grounded assent succeedes our firme adhaerence unto the covenants of promise by which we cleave unto and close with our Redeemer in this manner The proposition of the promise is furnished by the Gospell The Redeemer died for those that are dead unto sin rose againe for the justification of them which are planted into the similitude of his resurrection Now an assumption must be fitted unto the proposition by that assent which our understandings give unto the truth and that adherence which our wills fasten upon the goodnesse of these exceeding rich and precious promises If we be able thus to limit the generall proposition I am dead unto the world by the Crosse of Christ or I was dead but now I am alive in Iesus Christ the conclusion will follow inevitably I doe not alwayes expect in such a limitation certitudinem Evidentiae where I finde but certitudinem adhaerentiae such a one as sometime feeles some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some declinations and abatements of its firmenesse and fervor Even that faith howsoever it seeme to come no neerer unto Christ then the very hemme of his garment yet is able to derive vertue from him Thus have I in a verie narrow modell represented unto you the whole figure of that grace which gives us Title unto this promise Give me then leave to question you as the Apostle did Agrippa Beleevest thou the prophets Beleeve you in the Lord Iesus I would I could answer for all as he did for Agrippa I know that you beleeve But this I know Many will make a boast of faith saith Salomon but where shall we finde a faithfull man If you beleeve indeed your faith will give evidence of it selfe by the exercise of an adhering and an apprehending vertue By the first we are inserted into him by the second we derive a quickening influence from him Doest thou then beleeve in the Lord Iesus shew mee then the power of the Lord Iesus The Angell gave a reason of his name He shall be called Iesus saith he for he shall save his people from their sinnes But art thou yet in thy sinnes I cannot then beleeve that thou beleevest No! It is fitter for thee according to that elegant observation of St. Bernard to feare the name of Christ then to be confident upon the name of Iesus It is fitter for thee in such a case to dread him as he is Christ a King a Iudge then to presume upon him as he is Iesus a Saviour a Redeemer Doest thou beleeve in the death of Iesus Christ shew me then the power of his death whether it worke in thee mightilie as it did in the Apostle to the subduing of every corrupt affection Doest thou beleeve in his Resurrection shew me then the power of his resurrection Resurrectio Christi habet virtutem in se sed operationem in nobis shew me then what new effect it hath wrought what new life it hath quickened in thee No man came unto Christ that went away in the same estate that he came in Some came lame and paralytike and went backe restored to the integritie of their limmes and strength some came leprous and were dismissed cleane some came blinde and deafe and went went away restored to the integritie of their sences None were dismissed in the same estate wherein they came And hast thou beene so neere unto Christ as to say I am in him and of him and yet art neither cleansed nor enlightened nor healed who can beleeve it Whatsoever thou boastest of beleeving I cannot beleeve that thou beleevest at all no certainely thou never wert so neere him as the very skirts of his clothing thou never camest so neere as the very smell of the oyntments of this our Aaron If thou hadst certainely that name which is as an oyntment powred forth that name wherein thou pretendest to beleeve would powerfully have healed all these wounds and sores and swellings But doest thou indeed beleeve and art able to give evidence thereof by such comfortable Testimonies as are here implied Then doubt not of the promise as Christ said unto Martha Beleevest thou this why then he that beleeveth in me though he were dead yet shall he live and so I passe from the condition to the consideration of the promise suspended upon the condition Though he were dead yet shall he live The labour of man in this life is to turne up the face of the Earth in the sweate of his owne face seeking for foode and fewell in her bowells and in the closing up of the weary day of his Travell the earth receiveth man himselfe for a recompence into her bosome to fill up those wounds and rents But the earth receaveth back no more then it lent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Naz The spirit breathed from above returneth to God that gave it Dissolutio corporis est Absolutio animae As the snare being broken the Bird escapeth so the bodie being dissolved evadit intus inclusa Columba our soule is escaped as a Bird out of the snare of the fowler so that in our departure we suffer but aliquid mortis not a whole death Our life is not lost but hid The Serpent which hath the power of death can doe no more but manducare terram nostram licke our dust and indeed but licke it devoure it consume it annihilate it he cannot there must still be ex defectione refectio after a decay a reparation The Earth indeed receiveth the dust backe againe which it lent but yet it receiveth it not as payed but as lent it must be given up and returned backe againe It receiveth our bodies to make up those wounds and wants which partly our wants partly our wantonnesse have made in her face and wombe and it retaineth them for a recompense of her sufferings and losses till in the generall restoration it selfe be restored But then when it selfe is renewed when there is a new heaven and a new Earth what need hath the Earth to reteine our bodies any longer for satisfaction In that day Oh Earth Earth Earth thou shalt heare the voice of the Lord and render up thy dead and even the dead themselves shall heare the voyce of the son of God and they that heare it shall live This is the hope of Israell and indeed the hope of all the world after al those evills which presse and persecute man to the last earthly evill death there is yet this hope left in the botteme of the Grave as in the bottome of Pandora's Boxe But it is but hope not sight and therefore the doctrine which concerned this hope received such sleight intertainment for whereas the Apostle saith hope that is seene is not hope cleane contrary with him that lookes onely with the eye of nature hope that is not seene is no hope at all Hope that is not founded upon the Evidence of reason is
A SERMON PREACHED AT ASHBY DE-LA-ZOVCH IN THE COVNTIE OF LEICESTER At the Funerall of the Truely Noble and Vertuous Lady ELIZABETH STANLEY one of the Daughters and Coheires of the Right Honourable FERDINAND late Earle of Derby and late Wife to HENRIE Earle of Huntingdon the Fifth Earle of that Familie The 9. of February Anno Dom. 1633. By I. F. LONDON Printed by William Iones dwelling in Red-crosse streete 1635. AN EPITAPH VPON THE EXCELLENT COVNTESSE OF HVNTJNGDON THE cheife perfections of both Sexes joyn'd With neithers vice nor vanity combin'd Of this our age the wonder loue and care The example of the following and dispaire Such beauty that from all hearts loue must flow Such maiesty that none durst tell her so A wisdome of so large and potent sway Romes Senare might haue wisht her Conclaue may Which did to earthly thoughts so seldome bow Aliue She scarce was lesse in heaven then now So voyd of the least pride to her alone These radiant excellencies seem'd vnknowne Such once there was but let thy greife appeare Reader there is not Huntingdon lies here By him who saies what he saw FALKLAND A FVNERALL SERMON Iohn XI XXV He that Beleiveth in mee though he were Dead yet shall he liue THE hopes of those which are strangers unto the Covenants of promise cannot fixe any setled ayme and expectancie beyond the short line of life when that is drawne out unto the utmost point Death at the best is apprehended by them but as it was by Adrian to be incerta Peregrinatio a Race of very doubtfull issue doubtfull whether in the end thereof the head shall be crowned or cut off so that of all men most miserable that they are their hope is onely in this life Tantisper sperant dum spirant But the hope of the children of the promise doth not vanish into emptines with their breath etiam dum expirant sperant Though there be no more breath in their mouthes and their nostrills yet their hope is layd vp in their bosome Iob 29. Though we die yet saith Job We know that our Redeemer liveth Though we be hid and closed vnder the ground like the seed in the garden bed yet he whom Mary saw like the Gardiner this Gardiner will looke that the seede shall have its spring againe He will saith the Prophet poure vpon vs a dew like the dew of bearbes and the earth shall yeeld forth her dead And of thus much doth he here ass●re the sister of Mary who was almost as deepely swallowed vp of griefe as her deceased brother Lazarus was of the Grave Comfort thy selfe Martha he shall rise againe and doubt not Martha I my selfe am the Resurrection and the life the issues of Death belong unto me The keyes of the Grave are at my Girdle and he that beleeveth in me Though he were dead yet shall he live The wordes are in summe a Stipulatio Conventionalis consisting of a 1. condition 2. promise 1. First the Condition thus insinuated He that beleeveth 2. the promise thus proposed and pronounced though he were dead yet shall he live First The Condition upon which the promise is suspended is faith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that fulnesse of our hopes that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that solace of our lives as Philo calleth it nay that our life it selfe or at least that upon which our life lies for by it the just shall live or by nothing He that beleeveth in me and he onely that beleeveth he shall live And here seeing this Action is so properly specified by its object we may observe That the principall obiect of our faith is God considered in the unitie of his essence and a Trinity of persons and therefore in the Symboll of our beleife the Creede is there a particular Credo or at least the particle in premitted apart before every one of the three persons importing that upon them we fixe and build our first assent and assurance As for those other subordinate principles of our faith such as concerne the Catholique Church the Communion of Saints these being but Creatures are not assented unto for themselves but for God the uncreate and first truth and therefore have no such Credo nor particle set apart before them but onely prefixed before one of the three persons Now this obiect of our faith is considered diversly either as the Act of beliefe and assent hath respect unto the understanding and in that consideration the obiect of faith is twofold either formall in which respect the Act of Faith is credere Deo we beleeving God as the first truth and for him fixing a setled assent upon all second and subordinate truthes they be the maine Characters of divinity Power and wisdome imprinted on them apparently manifesting the hand the finger of the Lord to have written them Or else it is materiall and so the Act of faith is credere Deum we that beleeve beleeve that God is and that he is a rewarder of those that seeke him Or secondly the obiect of faith is considered as the Act of beleefe and assent hath respect unto the will moveing the understanding to render its assent and in this respect the Act of faith is Credere in Deum as it is here delivered for the will having pitched the end of all its hopes in the goodnesse of this exceeding rich and precious promise uncessantly plyeth the understanding to give its assent to the truth of that which so much imports and concernes its peace and satisfaction And these different considerations doe not importe any such various difference of the Acts of faith but rather signifie the divers respects of one and the same Act unto the obiect of faith The summe of all may be collected thus First we beleeve that God is and a rewarder of all those that seeke him 2. We beleeve his counsells and Covenants manifested and dispensed unto us 3. We beleeve in him adhaere unto him relie on him our Soule being with absolute Complacencie satisfied in him cryeth out Pars mea Dominus It is enough the Lord is my portion how then can I lacke any thing we give our assent unto his counsells and Covenants because we are assured that in what he delivereth or promiseth he is wise and cannot be deceived himselfe he is faithfull and will not deceive us Though we discerne a propension and flexiblenesse in our selves to waver with every contrarie Ayre yet let God be true though all men be lyars The Aegyptians as Aquinas notes adventured to make the promise alterable I know not what feates they had like unto those of their moderne counterfeits to play fast and loose with such a firme and sealed knot as this But whatsoever they we saith the Apostle beleeve what we know and we know whom we have beleeved and if we be deceived certainely as the Prophet saith Thou Lord hast deceived us But God for bid saith Abraham the father of all beleevers
unto great depravations and exorbitancies so that we may say of her as Greg Naz said of his Sister Gorgonia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 She made the fruite of her Bodie to become the fruite of the spirit And of the same goodnesse there was a proportionable diffusion amongst those that depended on her How many that lived neere her hath the Elixar of the same goodnesse rendered of the same qualitie and propertie her charitie and Courtesie was large and open unto all I name these as strictures of that fire of zeale which she had to goodnesse She was not like those which esteeme themselves onely members and others but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apostems congenite and connaturall partes with themselves her zeale was farre from being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a bitter zeale such as we see in some like a salt-light which burnes indeed but spits withall while she had health she made advantage therof thus to demeane her selfe not deferring the taking up of good purposes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Greg Naz till the artlesse Physitian takes upon him to dispense what houres of life and continance he pleaseth unto us weighing us out either sicknesse or health with his severe-rod and commonly discoursing and concluding of the disease that brought death after death it selfe But the greatest part of her life was a Parasceue a preparation to her dissolution as if she had beene sensible that as Christ dyed upon the parasceue the day of preparation so none have any advantage by the death of Christ but those which premit such a preparation before their owne death and dissolution Is it not admirable that she who had runne through some hard lessons in the Schoole of affliction loved the rod so for the healing and sanctifying benefit which she found in it that it was her frequent prayer that God would be pleased when he called her hence he would be pleased to call her by a consumption rather then by any other way And accordingly it was so she conceived that many had been shaken with the whirlwinde of a convulsion and perhaps the Lord God was not in that winde many consumed with the fire of adustion and choller perhaps the Lord God was not in that fire but whereas many have beene summoned away by the still soft voice of consumption the Lord God is frequently in that voyce And certainly the Lord supported her the Lord perfected his strength in her weaknes for she susteined that afflictiō with such admirable moderation with such strength and vigour of spirit that if any man had entred her Chamber if he had not read the truth of her sufferings in the decayes and weaknesse of her person hee would have thought there had been none sicke there whatsoever she suffered there was nothing in her mouth but thanks to that gracious hand which lay so light vpon her and made her suffer no more As before so in her sicknesse especially it was her uncessant practise to commend her selfe continually unto God and that in the most conceived and feeling formes in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Words winged with affection and zeale not like those Estriches wings wherewith our sluggish devotions are usually fledged which as the estriches make a faire offer at flying toward heaven but are held down by the grossnes of their bodies so howsoever we seeme to soare yet are we restrained by our carnall heavinesse But her wordes were winged so as to carry her spirit there where her hope was farre above the reach of Satan though he be planted high too as high as a Prince of the aire So that no marvell if her spirit during her last affliction were in such a composed settlednesse it was out of the enemies reach She was not in the aire lyable to be shaken with Tempests and windes but even in heaven it selfe which cannot be turmoyled with any such agitations She vsed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seale vp her bosome against temptation by continuall prayer so that Satan durst not attempt her seeing what impression seeing whose Image and superscription she bore Hence was that often comfortable profession how firme and stedfast she found her faith yet shee was iealous of her selfe because shee seemed to finde no greater measure of sorrow in her selfe when shee looked backe from her future to her former life Put she ever used to accuse her want of sorrow with such a measure of sorrow as well witnessed the truth thereof For this respect she did with exceeding diligence search and with great Iudgement choose whatsoever the Scripture could afford her for the establishing of her Spirit and the building up of her assurance in the Lord Iesus committing with her owne hand even in ●●at weakenes●e to writing what she had observed and contin●ing that pr●ctise till within very few dayes before her death before which she became most peaceably setled and r●solved that God according to that of Greg Naz 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God desireth that our hearts should be pricked but not stabbed thorough And her faith being thus strengthened and established by continuall prayer and hearing and by frequent communicating that Sacrament which Ignatius calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she preserved it in such strength and vigor that the day of her dissolution I comming to her she professed that whatsoever her sufferings were yet she did nothing but claspe her selfe about her-sweet Saviour And againe the same day I see Satan hovering over me but though he be the Prince of the Ayre they are her owne words yet he doth but hover like a bird in the Ayre not being able to seize upon me I still feele the advantage And thus she passed as she was passing away in the same calme behaviour that she had ever shewed rendering her selfe into the Armes of her redeemer And she having lived thus and died thus now she is dead shall we thinke she doth not live No no! It is not impertinent what I have read in Spartian of Hadrian Signa mortis haec habuit Annulus sponte de digito delapsus est but the Ring of faith as Bernard calls it never slipped from her she tooke it with her to be maried for ever in it unto the Lambe who hath graven her in the palmes of his hands and hath set her as a Scale upon his Arme there to remaine for ever Vnto which honor the Lord with her bring us all that we may so live so die then so live for ever without dying any more Amen FINIS PErlegi hanc concionem funebrem in Cap. 11. St. Ioha 1. ver 25. in quâ nihil reperio bonis moribus aut sauae doctrinae contrarium quo minus cumutilitate publicâ imprimatur ita tamen ut si non intra tres menses proximè sequentes typis mandetur haec licentia sit omninò irrita Prid Calend. Iunii 1635 Guil Bray Iob. 29. 17. Iob. 20. 15. Es. 16. 19. Psal. 68. 20. Rom. 3. Ier. 20. Gen 17. Prov. 20. 6. Nazian Aug Col. 3. 1. Ioh. 5. 25. Act. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aug. 2 Sam 12. 1 Cor. 15. Es. 52. Es. 4. 1 Thes. 4. 17 Ps. 9. 17. Gr●g Tertull Hom Cyrill catech 18. Tertull Septuag Luke 16. Nazian Greg Naz Greg Naz Ignatius Epus de char chap 27.