of the Description as she went beyond it in the other Parts that her Children had risen up and as every one besides always did had callâ—d her blessed Her praying had an influence of Piety on those who knew it and another of advantage on those who knew it not that is all Mankind she prayed for all they felt the Virtue as we often do from good Angels without being instructed from whence it came And thus as in other respects she loved to surprise the World to do good without being named or declared to do it We may still hope for continued and new advantages from her former Devotions from those on Earth though we expect not any known and particular and express Benefit from those in Heaven as many hundred years after the Death of Abraham Isaac and Jacob and of David God for their sakes was kind to Israel He loved and He forgave When she was not seen by others she was useful to them in her Prayers when they saw her she was so in her actions for would not others chuse to put on the Garb which they saw she wore and which appeared so graceful upon her and so she would turn the Virtue into a Fashion They had often met with Temptations to Evil and too often gone along with them when they met them But now the allurement and the inviting part is placed on the better side because they had this new Argument for their being good that till they were so they were not fitted for her Company which was as well a Delight as an Honour to those she gave it to and was as much their Interest to covet as it would be their Pleasure to enjoy Every thing but Vice had the best treatment from her and Vice had the best which Virtue could allow it which her Zeal for Reformation could give it and which her Prudence could think necessary for her to pay and for that to receive It was always a Force upon her not to appear obliging It was another to be so to any thing which was not Innocent and like her self unless when she had that delight which was to her a great one the Opportunity and the Hope of making it what it was not and then this latter Force was less then the other because here the Good was greater then the Evil the Delight she was caressed with then the Violence which she suffered All her Merit as described before and all her Conduct in her Family and every where could be unknown to few but were more within the Knowledge of and had a just Value from the Master of that Family as the Heavenly Bodies have an influence upon those on Earth at the greatest Distance but only they who live nearer to the Heat have the more peculiar effects in Fruits and Jewels and all the Glories of Wealth and Pleasure Her Lord was ready to resign to her the Government of the House not only as the Assyrian King did that of his People to his Queen for three days but for ever the Length of the Government would have enlarged his satisfaction in resigning it if it could have been as long as it would have been Wise and Good He saw with Pleasure the several Wheels of his Affairs going round in their true and calm and regular Motion and with so much more pleasure because he saw the goodly Hand which touched those Wheels and moved them The Heart of her Husband says Solomon Prov. 31.11 does safely trust in her His Heart not only had a Reliance placed upon her prudent Faithfulness but its passions of the better sort upon all her Perfections These were by him daily seen and not made cheap upon their being so nor contemn'd because familiar indeed the value for them could not be the less when new treasures daily were discovered But I must not pretend to draw all those kinder motions of Soul and all the softer Inclinations of two united Minds if they may be called two in the Conjugal State thrice happy they who have them few so happy as to be capable of representing them They want Language themselves for those Passions however their own and the repining Lovers complain of the Narrowness of Expression and they have only this Relief that their Thoughts are almost understood by one another and Words are supplied by Thoughts Others then may well be contented to want Expression and to be silent to have the Pleasure of beholding what they have not the Faculty of describing A King of Judah was to set his house in order but then he had sickness and he had a Prophet to give him warning Thus saith the Lord thou shalt die and not live Isa 38.1 Without any warning but what she had always in her Mind she had set her house in order all things to that time were adjusted and sorry we are the Parallel between this King and her cannot be advanced so far that years should be added to her Life as there were to his and there would have been the Prayers and Tears of others for the Enlargement of her time as there were his for the Renewing of his own I have now done the thing which she did her self much better who had the best way of doing every thing I have given her of the Fruit of her hands Prov. 31.31 though her own works praised her in the gates not only in those of her own House but in the Gates of the Court and of the City I would not consider Beauty to do so might seem a Distrust as if I had not enough to fill up the Character without it where it is considered it scarce fills up there it may be thrown in and yet make no addition Beauty in one Sex like Wealth in the other may be a Convenience but is no Perfection it is far from being that Perfection which my Text proposes to us I would not here name it otherwise then as it shewed us what there was within or as that seemed to be a graceful Curtain drawn before it Thus was the King's Daughter all glorious within Ps 45.13 and her clothing too her outside was of wrought gold So much the less would I speak of Beauty because it gives us too moving a Remembrance of her Body and the Frailty of it we would forget her Frailty and remember only our own I have all this time represented her Mind alone and the Describing of that entertains us with a chearful Scene for that is an immortal Part and now it lives more then ever The Picture is languid and pale the Strokes are Weak and the Colours faint this Likeness of her Soul too much resembles the present Condition of her Body Or rather it is not so much like her as something like a Picture of her and we may have Comfort if not Pleasure when we cast our Eye upon it as some who have been curious to trace up things to their first beginnings and original Reasons affirm that Painting was
live only to be warned and to take the warning to consider that we are determined to death by God's Decree and we should be fitted for it by our Holiness and so our Death like that of the Best may seem to be only a Debt of Nature the Payment whereof makes us Free and Easie and a sudden one which is to them a Favour may not be to us a Punishment I would not My Lord so much condole Your Calamity as congratulate Your Improvement of it I would not speak so much to Your Lordship upon the Loss because instead of Your being swallow'd up in St. Paul's Phrase with intemperate Grief I would have that swallow'd up the best way and sunk in the Advantage by the Blessing of him who said I will heal him I will lead him and will restore comforts to him and to his Mourners In the mean time I am to tell the World Your Loss which Your Lordship is too sensible of to want the being told of it Your self and my own Imperfections in the following Pages wherein the Excellent Lady has her self a Loss and as you were always Partners in the Goods and Evils of Life Your Lordship too suffers here not only by the Death but by the Description of it in this Vnworthy and Artless Discourse For all the Injuries whereof Pardon now it ask'd from Your Lordship and from that truly Pious Memory which now we Celebrate by My Lord Your Lordship 's Most Obedient and Most Humble Servant JOHN PROVOSTE A SERMON On the DEATH of the RIGHT HONOVRABLE ELIZABETH Lady CUTTS Psal 37.37 Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright for the end of that Man is Peace THis Psalm and the 73d speak more together in one continued Discourse than any other part of Scripture upon that great and lofty Subject The Justice of Providence in the Sufferings of the Righteous and the Goodness of it in the advantages of their better Condition which follows and Crowns their Sufferings The end is indeed a full satisfaction for all the hardships this a large reward to him who bears them this a decisive Answer to the Questions rising from them And so God's Providence will not suffer in our Thoughts when the Righteous do from his Hands the Goodness explains the Justice and the Event enlightens the Mystery that which is so bright spreads a Light over this which is so gloomy The Honourable the Pious and I had almost said the never too much lamented Person of whom every thing around us here does give us mournful notices for whom we now perform much more than a Ceremony of Mourning had Peace for her End and not a train of Sufferings to conduct her to it we alone now seem to suffer and more in the end of her Life than in the misfortunes of our own and O let all our Evils become the Sufferings of the Righteous when they are ours Indeed she was Righteous without them as if there had been no place for severer methods upon a Spirit so gentle in its Frame and so good in its Inclination and thus a Father does never use the Discipline of Force upon the ingenuous and willing Child where he cannot be too kind and where the kindness cannot be abused Give me leave to remember her who must not who cannot be forgotten and who is so much rather to be remembred now when we are performing that Worship to God which she made as much her pleasure as God made it her Duty And surely that always Devout and now Blessed Soul if I may so say would at this time hasten in all the swiftest Motions of a Spirit would come down presently to joyn in Worship with us were she not engaged already in another Communion with them who fall down before him that sits on the Throne and worship him who liveth for ever and ever Rev. 4.10.11 and cast their Crowns before the Throne saying Thou art worthy O Lord to receive Glory and Honour and Power I would set before you an Image of her or a part of that Image for it can only be a part at last where the Work is not skilful yet the Figure must be comely or it can have no relation to her and then it is such as should only please and charm not fright and disturb you So much I shall speak upon Conviction that whereas a Pagan might say he had built a Temple and offered a Sacrifice to Virtue a Christian may Declare that he thinks himself to erect a Statue or build a Monument to it if there were so far a Death of it among us as to want a Monument or if any thing I can do could deserve the being called its Statue The Integrity of the Speaker upon such occasions is asserted by the choice of the Subject where this surmounts the praise as high as it seems to be and still as it rises higher this appears much above it and again by the knowledge of those to whom we speak as you think it almost your misfortune that once you knew and perhaps too well and too much but not too long The Veracity is yet more secured by the knowledge of him that speaks as I had the honour to know from Childhood and now to have the large and delightful prospect before my Eyes of such a Glorious course of Goodness I could wish as much the recalling of her past Years as some do that of their own It has been always a part of my Caution to speak little seldom any thing of the Dead in Funeral Discourses and as they according to David Praise not the Lord so I have thought they were scarce to be praised themselves and we were rather to be silent upon those who as he at the same time says Go down into silence But still I distinguisht and it was always no less my Rule that Men eminent in Quality and more in good Actions were not to go out of the World without something like that splendor they appeared in there and that speaking then in Justice to them and for encouragement to others of the same exalted Rank and for Example to All was one part of the needful Decencies of their Funeral And this which was ever my Rule I think I have a Lawful and a great occasion for the Practice of I know the Disadvantages to which these Praises are liable in the present opinion of Mankind and therefore my first business shall be this to defend them whenever there is so much reason as I am sure now I have I shall consider these Three things in my Discourse 1. That we are to mark and behold the Perfect and Upright in this Sense when they die in the Lord we are to remember them in their Works which follow them 2. That we now have one Perfect and Upright to mark thus and to behold 3. That her End was Peace 1. That we are to Mark and Behold the Perfect and Upright in this Sense When they die we are to
Angels of God in Heaven where she is who have no Off-spring Mat. 22.30 and are Immortal in themselves without the help of Children to make them so The Writer of the Book of Wisdom speaks of a Woman Righteous and Childless Wis 3.13 14 15. She shall have fruit in the Visitation of Souls and of such a Man To him shall be given the special Gift of Faith and an Inheritance in the Temple of the Lord more acceptable to his Mind for glorious is the Fruit of good labours and the Root of Wisdom shall never fall away Better it is to have no Children and to have Virtue Wis 4.1 2. for the memorial thereof is immortal because it is known with God and with Men when it is present men take example from it and when it is gone they desire it it weareth a Crown and triumpheth for ever having gotten the victory striving for undefiled rewards The private Peace which was at all times within her Breast was lately so much more because there was a Publick one that she at her Death as the Angels at Christ's Birth she at her going up to Heaven as they at their coming down from thence might praise God and say Luke 2.13 14. Glory to God in the Highest and in Earth Peace Good will towards men But was she to be offered upon the return from War as the Daughter of Jephthah was Jud. 11.31.38.40 the mighty Man of valour who had declared Whatsoever cometh forth of the Doors of my house to meet me when I return in Peace from the Children of Ammon shall surely be the Lords She offered her self to God when Living must she when Dying be made an Offering too like the Lambs and Turtles under the Law The Daughter of Jephthah had two Months allowed her to bewail her fate upon the Mountains there were not two Days here The Daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the Daughters of Jephthah four days in a Year the Daughters and the Sons of Israel lament in the case before us and not four days only not in an Yearly but a Daily course of Mourning And now perhaps my Hearers will say With all those Perfections wherein you have pronounced her Perfect and Upright there was one thing too Imperfect that was her Life that too short Young she was and Young she died alas as Young as Good Eighteen Years and Eighteen Days How narrow a Space for something of so Great a Compass to be contracted bound up and restrained to This should be no more a grieveous thing then it is that any one should run a Race in a little time and win the Prize when the very running in less time does win it So run that you may obtain and then you may be concerned no farther not for your selves not for others She was the more a Wonder that she thus soon should become thus Excellent and such Excellence was a particular Mark of God's Favour as it was the peculiar Gift thereof She must receive it from Him alone when there was not the usual course of Time and long method of Discipline for the attainment of it as Miracles are not wrought by slow by natural and common ways Therefore you read v. 7. to 18. Wisdom 4 Though the righteous be prevented with Death yet shall he be in rest for Honourable Age is not that which standeth in length of Time nor that is measured by number of Years but Wisdom is the Gray Hair unto Men and unspotted Life is Old Age And then how Old was she of whose short Life we so much complain Yea speedily was Enoch taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding and deceâ—t beguile his Soul He being made perfect in a short timâ— fulfilled a long time This the people saw and under stood it not neither laid they up this in their Minds That God's Grace and Mercy is with His Saints and that he hath respect to His chosen Thus the righteous who is dead shall condemn the ungodly who are living and youth which is soon perfected the many years and old age of the unrighteous for they shall see the end of the wise and shall not understand what God in his Counsel hath decreed for him and to what end the Lord hath set him in safety And Ecclus. 41. Fear not the sentence of death Ecclus. 41 3 4. remember them who hâ—ve been before thee and who come after for this is the Sentence of the Lord over all flesh And why art thoâ— agaâ—nst the pleasure of the most High for there is no inquisition in the grave whether thou hast lived tâ—n or an hundred or a thousand years Indeed the hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of Righteousness v. 31. Prov. 16. But Righteousness at any time is a Crown of Glory it is to the head which is not hoary so much more to this when the Righteousness has not like that of Old Age the sins of Youth to deface it not the necessities of approaching Death to lessen it and has only the Graces and Charms of Virtue to recommend it not the Experiments and Evils of Vice to force it Here was a Bloom of Age but then here was a Ripeness of the two best Fruits which grew in the Garden of Eden and now in the Wilderness of the World Virtue and Wisdom as in some hotter Countries a Blossom is seen upon one part of the Tree and ripe Fruit upon the other And so in this Sence too Isaiah's Prophecy is fulfilled The Child shall dye an hundred years old Isa 65.20 and his Question is answered Who hath heard such a thing Who hath seen such things Isa 66.8 Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day or shall a Nation be born at once He who in few days made all the World might well in few years make her that which He would accept and He would love and here too as after the Creation He in a pleasing Review saw that which He hid wade Gen. 1.41 and behold it was very good Gen. 1.12 She had all the Grandeur and comely Gravity of the Roman Matrons when she had the Youth of their Daughters her Age we could much rather have desired to have been that of the Mothers How beautiful should we have thought Old Age in her if we could have seen it there How charming had wrinkles been in her Face and each deeper Line upon her Cheek had given us a fairer Prospect than the most fruitful Valleys We could indeed have wisht her Life and when once we had enter'd upon the wish we know not when and where we should have ceased nor how we could have disengaged our selves again from a Thought so entertaining As there is a Great Prince near the Empire of Moscovy for whom his Subjects have so high a Veneration that they are not willing to believe him Mortal but please themselves with an extravagant Notion that