WHEN one of the Fathers was to Preach upon a subject of Mortality, he read the text, shut the book, and spent the hour in groans and tears. This present Text of Providence, Our loss of so Honorable and Religious a Mother in Israel, might justifie the action, should we follow the example. But being assured that death it self, is but a passage to a better life, and the Grave but an entry to glory, therefore though our hearts are sad with sorrow for our loss, yet our Text revives us into comfort in her, and joy in our selves; minding us of our Conversation in Heaven, where while she is by Fruition, let us be also by Con­templation, remembring that Our Conversation &c.

The words read upon this solemn and very sad occasion offer more immediately these two Generals to our consideration

• [Page 2]1. Something to be known as Doctrinal.
• 2. Something to be done as Practical.

The things to be known are Three.

• 1. That there is a Change to pass upon all.
• 2. That this Change is for the better, to advance our earthly natures, even to the conformity with the glo­grious body of Jesus.
• 3. That the efficient Author of this Change is our Saviour Jesus Christ.

2. The things to be done by us in order to this Change are,

• 1. To have our Conversation in heaven.
• 2. To expect and wait for his comming.

The first is our duty, the Second, our constancy in it, for which our Saviour has recorded a blessing in the 24. of St. Matthews Gospel: Blessed is that ser­vant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so do­ing; Blessed indeed he is for he shall be rewarded with eternal glories.

And that we may be so too, let us consider the doctrinal part of my Text, thereby to inform and en­gage us to the Practical.

1. Then there is a change to pass on all. Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and this mortal must put on immortality before we can be ad­mitted into the heavenly mansions; and therefore doth the Apostle to encourage our hopes and excite our industry, speak out and tell us, That the Trumpet [Page 3] shall sound, and the dead be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. The dead shall start at the shrill voice of the Trumpet from their beds of dust, into the incorruptible conformity and likness of God.

They shall lay down their stench and corruption, frailties and decayes, the constant attendants of our mortal state, and be cloathed with incorruption, and a Robe of Glory: And they who then shall live, will not put off their bodies, but their mortality, and be made like unto Christ both in the truth and glory of his Resurrection: so great is our Change.

So great indeed, that all our imperfections will be done away: The Blind shall have his Sight repaired, to see and admire his glorious Redeemer.

We shall not only be restored to our bodies, but to our youth and vigor also. The walking staffe, and the hoary head shall no longer be the support & distinction of age; and those limbs which the unmer­ciful Saw divorced, or the fire consumed, shall be re­stored with as much Miracle as Flesh, and the Infant that left the world as soon as it saw the light, shall in a trice be as big as its Parent, and as glorious as its Redeemer.

And thus it is, that we shall bear the image of the Heavenly, as we have born that of the Earthly, (i.e.) As we have with our Protoplast Adam been mortal, sinful, corruptible; so shall we be like the second A­dam, pure, immortal, incorruptible.

But to know what this Change that is to pass upon us at the last, will be, we must discover what is meant in the Text by Our Saviours glorious body: which we are not to collect from the dreams of Enthusiasts, and the conceited raptures of some fanciful men, but from the spirit of truth, and those representations of his glory, which are attested by the Sacred Oracles.

If therefore we look into the 17. of St. Matthew, we shall find that one transient glimps of Christs glorious body in his Transfiguration upon the Mount, did so engross all the desires and ardencies of three very eminent Apostles, that they could not breath out any thing but Lord it is good for us to be here.

O happy place, here let us fix and rear Tabernacles, that we may joyfully continue in such a presence: Here, that we may have the influence of that face, which doth out-shine the sun, and the pleasure of that Raiment which is as white and comfortable as the light. So glorious it seems was the representation, that Moses thought God himself had buryed him, and given him such a reward as belonged to him that was faithful in all his House; yet will he for sometime quit his enjoyments to behold that glorious body, to the likness of which our Text warrants ours to be one day fashioned.

That glorious body, that transported its beholders, with such unusual splendours that a voice from heaven was forced to settle and direct them to the Object, [Page 5] by telling them, This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him.

And in the 9, of the Acts, we find St. Paul in his journey to Damascus surpriz'd with an unusual glory, with an heavenly light and brightness, a brightness that surpassed that of the Sun, as St. Paul afterwards af­firms to King Agrippa, and a voice from above to attest that Jesus was not wrapt up in, but was that light and glory; some rayes of which were but dart­ed upon the Proto-martyr Stephen, and presently all those that sate in the Council looking stedfastly upon him, saw his face as if it had been the face of an An­gel.

God gave him a foretast and an earnest of his future happiness, to make him steddy and unshaken amidst all the assaults of his Persecutors, that he might slight and despise all the gayeties of this life, in comparison of that glory with which he should be hereafter en­circled; for he that is able to perform, hath promi­sed, That the Righteous shall appear as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father, which he has purchased for all those, who looking unto Jesus, shall endure the Cross and dispise the shame, and fight the good fight of Faith under the Lords Banner successfully.

2. And this leads us to to our Second thing Con­siderable, Namely, That this change will be for the better, of a vile to a glorious body, from su [...]h vile­ness as we cannot express, unto such glory as we can­not concei [...]e.

Having already, in some measure seen, what the glorified Saints shall be fashioned to, we need go no farther for the proof of the advantage of our Change, than to compare our present state with our future glorification.

And truly a man need not be very inquisitive to find out that this world is the place of sorrow and disappointments, of regret and dissatisfaction, of lust and wickedness. The whole world is full of snares and hazards, and we are no sooner drop'd into it, but we are encompassed with so many dangers, that we may well say, that we are gotten into the quarters of an enemy, and every where exposed to ruine. If we get into the shade and sollitude, there our passions distract and worrie us, and we cannot be alone since the Devil is a Legion: If in a Crowd and Company, we have vice and bad dispositions stampt with the in­sinuating characters of Good Nature and Civility imprinted upon us, and from such tis hard to think of a retreat. Indeed could we have a prospect of this miserable Theatre, we should quickly see enough to rebate our keenest affections, and to make us nauseate the most splendid scenes and representations that are acted in it.

The horrors of War, and Rivers discoloured with humane blood, would make us detest the ambition and avarice that shed it. The Cabinets of some great men full of lust and treachery, cruelty and oppressi­on, [Page 7] would stifle our envy, notwithstanding their Gold and Embroidery, their long Retinue and splen­did Equipage, and the other Lacquies of greatness.

Alas! tis but all an imaginary pomp, and a meer ostentation of Vanities. The spectacle vanishes whilst you look upon it, or death draws the Curtains, and shuffles us into the Regions of darkness.

We being all of us placed amidst such troops of malicious accidents, that it is a miracle parallel with our Creation that we stand one moment amongst them. so that our preservation also is the effect of an Almighty power.

Nay! Our Friends which ought to be the greatest comfort of our lives, are but sad uncertainties, like Amasa, or Julius Caesar; we often perish by the pretended kindness of our Brethren and adopted Sons; However every Bravo that dares but scorn his own Life, may be master of ours: And all the while our health, the only relish of living, is the Slave of every season, it is disordered by heat, and encreased by cold; it shrinks and trembles at a frost, looks pale and sickens at a Sun-beam; whilst the sons of Hypo­crates, mortal as our selves, offer at reasons to pro­tract our lives, and in the midst of their Projects, dye themselves to confute them.

Every man here is but too too truly a Benoni a son of Sorrow, for he that has the concurrence of the most advantageous circumstances, sadly finds that [Page 8] there is still something wanting to compleat his hap­piness, which puts him upon anxious solicitudes and tremblings, fears and restless importunities; so that he spends his days in following what will be always out of his reach, till old age and death kindly put an end to his desires and pursuits.

We are often sick of desire, and more diseased with enjoyment; our very pleasures cloy and nauseate, and after a short conversation, they discover the cheat, and shew their insufficiencies which bring, us upon the irksome gratings of a disappointment.

Our expectations are defeated, but our desires are restless and importunate, which fastens upon some new Object, which after a long courtship only repeats the cheat, and plunges us in a deeper dissatisfaction: still we are in misery, and still liable to greater: What­ever our condition is, it has some mixtures and alleys of misery; and when our delights flow in upon us, they do but bring us sad tidings that they must also have an ebb; and our highest gratifications offend us with the bitter remembrance, that they must also vanish and decay.

In short, There is no circumstance nor period of our present state that doth not preach over Jobs Lesson to us, that our time is not only short but full of misery also; So full, that the Infant when it comes into the world, cannot speak, but it truly Prophecies, and foretells by its Crys, the follies of Childhood, and [Page 9] the cares of riper years, and the aches and Catarhs of the hoary head: So that Life and Misery are but too twins, and must live and dye together.

Our Childhood is consumed in toys and foolish va­nities, our Youth in lust and frivolous exercises, and our Manhood, which at best is but a painful careful­ness, in crimes of a deeper dye; and when we have put all together from our Cradle to our Gray-hairs, there is nothing that remains to us but anxiety of thought, and the sad fruit of our Iniquity, Repen­tance.

This is our present state, and every mans experi­ence attests it.

And now if we compare this state with that of our Glorification, we shall presently be convinc'd that our Change is advantageous: A Change wherein great­ness is added to glory, weight to greatness, and eter­nity to them all.

A Change wherein there shall be no fears to dis­quiet, no enemies to alarm, no dangers to subdue, no jealousies and cares to distract, no grief, nor dis­eases, nor any of the sad attendants of Death to annoy or molest us.

A Change wherewith we shall be advanc'd above the regions of disappointment and mutability, we shall have our habitations amongst the Stars, and shine with a more continued glory.

A Change that will quite take us off our carking [Page 10] sollicitudes for the future, for we are told that we shall become as the Angels of God, freed from all those necessities and conveniencies of support which we are constrained to, whilst here muffled up in matter.

A Change that will most compleatly and adequate­ly satisfie our most outstretched desires, so that we shall never be plunged into want, or any jealousies ever so to be.

A Change that will cloth us with Glory, and so we shall need no other apparel, with immortality, and so we shall never crave the supports and repara­tion of food, nor any drugs and antidotes, for we shall be above the power of an Elementary composi­tion, and the wounds of an Earthly constitution.

Diseases and Pains are but the Harbingers of death to usher in a final divorse of Soul and Body, but our Change will conquer death it self; so that there will be no farther use of his ghastly retinue.

We shall for ever bid adeiu to languishing pulses and broken sighs, and we shall never again be in old Barzillai's condition, who could neither tast nor hear, but had outliv'd his senses; for these shall be refined and sublimated beyond the power of Age and Decay.

We shall be admitted into the presence and enjoy­ment of an everlasting felicity, and when we are fa­shioned to his glorious body, shall be acknowledged [Page 11] Sons of the most highest; and sure this is a happy Change

3. Which 3ly. is wrought by our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Our Text tells us that he shall do it by that power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.

A Power to which nothing is impossible or diffi­cult, a power that can rally the separated parcells and ruines of our body to an union, as easily as at the first he spake them into being and activity, and as easily cloth the united flesh with glory and immorta­lity.

If he pleases he can dart such beams upon Man as he did upon Angels, and can change him into such a life and lustre, for he has all power given him both in Heaven and Earth, and there wants nothing but his inclination to do this for us, and that he will do it, he has engag'd his word to keep us from doubt or fainting; Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me; and he farther words himself thus, And the glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, (as it he had said) O Father it is my endeavour and desire that all those faithful servants which thou hast given me, may en­joy the full participation of my glory, and that for this end they may at last be received up into thy Heavenly kingdom, for the Glory which thou hast [Page 12] given me I have not received nor reserved for my self, but will communicate it to the members of my body, and will stamp them with the same glorious impression.

Thus did our faithful High Priest stoop to the in­firmities of our nature that he might exalt it, and in­state us in an Eternity of glory if we shall faithfully approve our selves to him here, by keeping Consci­ences void of offence towards God and towards man. Which more then hints to us to consider the Practi­cal part of our Text, namely what we are to do in or­der to this glorious Change. Which is

To have our Conversation in Heaven: By which is meant, our leading such an holy and godly life here, as our Religion bids us expect hereafter; or in the words of the Apostle, To be holy as he that hath called us is Holy: To be holy in all manner of Con­versation. And indeed till we are so, we should have no relish even of Heaven it self, Nay we should grope for Paradice in the midst of it.

What satisfaction can there be in that happiness to a man drowned in sensualities, which is the Object only of pure and refined Souls, so that the pure in heart must only see God.

What should the Luxurious man, who makes it the business and the design of his life to eat and pro­voke Hunger, what relish can he have of the place where they neither hunger nor thirst.

What should the man of Wantonness and Dalli­ances who will sacrifice his manhood and his reason to a bruitish sensuality? what should he do there where they neither marry nor are given in marriage.

What should the stormy revengeful man, who de­lights only in Blood and Slaughter? what should he do there where there is nought but concord and love, and where there are no flames but such as kindle Sera­phims.

Our senses cannot only not be admitted into Hea­ven, but if they were to be so, they could not enjoy it, whilst blurr'd and sullied with the black characters of an ill spent life.

If we could suppose a Vicious man should carry his evil inclinations of Pride and Envy, Malice and Revenge, Lust and Intemperance, to that glorious Kingdom with him; Heaven would be no Heaven to such a one, the Place would be odious, the Com­pany troublesome, the Imployment ungrateful, and the Eternity a burden intollerable, he would be un­easy to holy Souls and they to him.

So that Flesh and Blood not only must not, but cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, not till our souls are conform'd to such a rectitude as they stand dispo­sed in their respective offices, to perform their Makers will, are they fit to enjoy him?

So that our Conversation must be in Heaven whilst we are here in our earthly pilgrimage, if ever we intend [Page 14] to be glorified Citizens of the Jerusalem above, and we must endeavor to make good by our practise, what we every day pretend to desire of God by our Prayers, (namely) that his will may be done by us on earth with as much chearfulness and alacrity, as it is by his Angels his winged messengers, in Heaven.

2. To which we must add the second part of our Text, and that is, To look for and expect our Savi­ours coming, which implies Constancy and Persever­ance in our duties; to have our Account right sta­ted and ready cast up, because we know not how soon we shall be summoned to give an account of our stewardship. The Text indeed seems to mean the last coming of Christ to Judgment, but every mans particular doom to which the day of death consigns him, is approaching even at the doors.

The [...]efore it highly concerns us all to keep our faculties wakeful and vigilent, that we may not be surpriz'd by the day of darkness, that we may never go out of the world with the Fools Motto in our Mouths, with a non putabam, I did not think.

It concerns us whilst it is called to day, to improve every advantage and opportunity to our great and only interest, to settle our thoughts, desires, and affections, upon Heavenly matters; and by our pru­dence, to anticipate that farewel which we must give to all the enjoyments of this life, and to engage not only our desires, but our endeavors also after that [Page 15] prize which God the righteous Judge will give to all those who shall so expect his coming, as to pass the time of their sojourning here in fear.

To all those who shall so wait for the appearance of our Saviour as the Scripture in other places phrases it, as to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and live soberly righteously and godly in this present evil and wicked world.

I had proceeded to have inforc'd this great duty upon you by more Arguments, had not I been sen­sible that Examples speak louder and more forcible then Precepts, and insinuate themselves even into the heart and soul.

And here I most humbly desire this honourable Auditory to assist my Meditations, and enrich their own, by the great and holy Example of that honor­able Person whose Obsequies have this day called us together, of that person one of the greatest exam­ples of Faith and Godliness, Grace and Goodness, Piety and Purity, and all other great and illustrious Ornaments flowing from a holy and noble Spirit, as ever our Nation hath produced in this latter Age. Of that Person whose heavenly Conversation and Reli­gious Constancy, bespeak your Imitation as well as Praises, which she did not represent to us in faint Semblances and Speculation, but in a lively Opera­tion and Activity through all the course of a long and blessed age.

And now perhaps you expect her Character, but truly the Object is so Illustrious, that it dazels, but yet so Eminent and Copious, that it would make any man commence Oratour.

Be pleased then to look upon her in her first Rise, and you will find her the eldest Daughter of that Right Honorable Baptist Hicks Vicount Bampden, by Elizabeth May his Lady and religious Consort, Persons not to be named without Honor and Vene­ration, whose bounties in devoting to God and the Poor, each of them their 10000 for Pious and Cha­ritable uses, stand upon Record as Monuments of everlasting Praise.

Their Honors were not acquired by a slavish pro­stitution of Conscience and Honesty, but by Wis­dom and Vertue, Integrity and Prudence, the best foundation of a lasting Greatness. The very attri­butes of their Honor might be digested into an Al­phabet to register the Eternal Fame of this Ladies most worthy Progenitors.

And how well and exactly she declared her self des­cended from such, by building upon that founda­tion, is so universally known, as need not be insisted upon.

She did not diminish, but add to the glory of her Progenitors; she did not live as a monument, to tell the world that They had been, but what They were.

And though they religiously devoted such vast summs to Pious and charitable designs, that they will always be recorded as lasting and perpetual monu­ments of their Praise (as before was mentioned;) yet did this Honorable Lady Blazon their piety with a more excellent Heraldry, whilst her graces and ver­tues which were so conspicuously Eminent, were built upon that excellent Education and Examples with which they had seasoned her tenderest age; which she did so constantly improve, that they shined more and more to a perfect glory.

Look upon her Personal Endowments, and you'll find a quick Apprehension, a sound Judgment, a so­lid Wisdom, and a sprightful undaunted Courage, lodged in a graceful Body, qualified with an excel­lent Mein and a winning Aspect, with a condescend­ing, courteous, affable, and truly Christian Deport­ment, which demonstrated that She valued her self not upon the Grandures and Titles that attend her Fortune, but that she had laid her Foundation lower, stronger, in making it more solid and lasting, by building upon Vertue and Piety.

She was indeed a Constellation of Eminencies, every one like a Star of the first Magnitude, shining gloriously in its single Lustre, and all in Combination like the Sun in its Zenith, enough to dazle the eyes of our inferiour Capacities, and forbid me to say any more, because I can never say enough.

Look upon her as a Wife, Mother, Widow, Neighbour, Subject, Christian, and you'll find her most Eminent in all capacities.

1. She was a most vertuous, loving, faithful and obliging Wife, though of a vast and noble fortune; which swells too many into Pride and Forgetfulness, and makes them rather Tyrannical than Endearing. But in this Lady nothing was wanting of Humility and Pleasantness, of Wisdom and Subjection, of Wealth and Beauty, of Chastity or Affection, to the making her a Principal and a Precedent to the best of wives in the world.

2. She was a most indulgent, tender, and careful Mother, which extended beyond the days of her Marriage even to her death, embracing all her Off­spring with the caresses of Nature and Religion; instructing and governing both Children and Grand-children in the fear of God, and loyalty to their Prince; with such Gravity and Authority, tempered with winning Meekness, and more then ordinary Pru­dence, as might reduce all Vicious Inclinations, and incourage every thing that is good: So considerately kind, as not to neglect the welfare of their Souls, in providing for their bodies, but principally taking care of that, as knowing that to live splendid in the world without living unto God, was to die whilst we live, and live and die miserably. The nume­rous and noble Stemns which sprung from this noble [Page 19] Line, being genuine Heirs of vertues and goodness, blest in descending from her Loyn, but more in as­cending to her Graces.

3. Consider her as a Neighbour, and you will find her Charitable, Courteous, Prudent, and Engageing.

Her Doors without any tall Porters, Her Tables richly spread twice a day; so furnisht, that they were to others what her Conscience was to her self, a Continual feast. Neighbours and Strangers might with greatest freedom, partake of her liberal Provi­sions, and find a Cheerful, as well as Plentiful recep­tion. These her entertainments were not Cleopa­tra's Revels, nor Sempronia's Luxury, whose feast­ings were always as great in Sin, as Abundance, and savoured more of Wickedness, then Pomp. But whilst others feast their equals, their peers; expect­ing returns and circular Retreatments, as if they did not make, but trade Banquets; She fed such Pen­sioners as brought with them their wants: God that provided her Plenty, provided her Guests, and what She gave to Hunger, She gave to Heaven.

Therefore if the Poor do not extol her, if they do not cry out, the Stones will; so do her works praise her in the Gates. Seldom indeed, if ever, did a wise, a large Heart, and a plentiful Fortune, so lo­vingly embrance and kiss each other.

If you'll take a view of Her in her Family, you cannot but say that She deserves Solomon's Character [Page 20] of a wise Woman, for she was one that look'd well to the ways of her own house: In the prudent mana­gery whereof she seem'd to covet all, in her liberal dole she seemed to desire nothing.

4. Look upon her as a Widow, out of this cloud also will a great light shine, to her eternal praise and honour.

The Fathers counted it no Paradox, to parallel the state of pious and religious Widowhood, with that of the most cloistered and sacred Virginity.

St. Ambrose speaks to this purpose, non minus est tentata conjugii recusare oblectamenta, quam nunquam tentare; It is no less victory to despise the pleasures which they have known, then never to have known the pleasures which they despise.

When the great Famine was at Samaria, in the days of Ahab, Almighty God did not send his Pro­phet to Queens, or Empresses, or any great Ladies; but unto a Widow of Sarepta, poor perhaps in state, but rich in faith, and as apt to increase in grace by the love of the Lord, as the meal in the barrel, or the oyl in the cruse, by the Miracle of the Lord.

The first woman that receiv'd Christ in the Tem­ple, was the Prophetess Anna, a Widow of Four­score and four years old, yet fuller of zeal then years; for she was fixt to the Temple as the Stars to their Orbs, and never forsook it night or day.

And this most Honourable Lady that we come now [Page 21] to Entomb (or rather to Enshrine) may well be lookt upon as her liveliest parallel, if not in the years, yet in the devotions of her Widowhood: For though she honoured and frequented the pub­lick house of God, with as publick and frequent zeal as any of the most Primitive and Apostolical Wi­dowhood; yet was she of such a Sanctuary conver­sation, as well without as within the sacred Cloisters, that she made all places holy ground wherever she came: Her Table was a Temple, her Chamber a Chappel.

A Lady of so great a fortune and such rare ac­complishments, could not (without question) in her first years of Widowhood, but meet with some so­licitations to change her condition: but she stood resolved against all Presumers: God might change her life, the whole world could not change her mind.

She might put off (in their season) her mourning weeds and forsake her first garments, but never her first Love.

The Apostle speaks of some he calls Widows in­deed [...]: Widows in the work and not only in the name of widowhood: Such an one he requires to be truly honored as she is really honourable, and sets down her description, 1 Tim. 5.10. If she have brought up children, if she have been hospitable, if she have washed the feet of the Saints, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed [Page 22] every good work: All these religious Characters were written in letters of Gold upon the Soul of our most noble and pious Lady now with the Lord.

She was eyes to the blind, and feat to the lame, a mother to the fatherless.

If any in the Neighbourhood were sick or sore, or languishing; she was a Healer as well as a Relie­ver: Rich in Physical, as well as Christian graces.

Her Closet was a Treasury of the choicest Receits, Cordials, Electuaries, which were always as free as they were excellent, deriving vertue and efficacy not only from their Ingredients, but also (and that more too) from their Donour.

5. She was a most obedient Daughter to her ten­der Mother the Church of England, and a Loyal Sub­ject to the Defendour of her Faith, and Father of her Country.

She maintained that faith which was once delivered to the Saints, and so did she constantly worship the God of her fathers.

So constantly, that no Mountebanks of the last age, could cheat her: none of those furious Trans­ports, and schismatical Innovations (though wrapt up in the specious gilt of a solemn Covenant) could abate her Zeal, or devide her Devotion; but still she professed, preserved, and practised her obedience to the true Church, and true Sovereign, constantly a­doring God in the one, and owning all due Loyalty [Page 23] to the other, worshipping her Maker publickly in most exact conformity to the Law; so as she both glorified Him the Lord of Heaven, and gave an emi­nent example of true Piety to all her neighbours.

6. Look upon her as a Christian, and you'l find her as much as possible avoiding the very shadows and ap­pearances of Evil; desiring to be found in holiness, as well as to abide in Christ; endeavouring to walk as he also walked, to transcribe his great and excellent copy in his faith and patience, in his meekness and humility, and in all the whole Constellation of graces.

In all her religion she kept the vertuous medium between Faction and Superstition, between the abo­minations of Amsterdam and those of Rome, look­ing upon a Conventicle and a Mass, as equally Apo­chryphal; and which is no small honour, still making the Law of the Church, and the Peace of Jerusalem, the touchstone of her obedience.

She stood unshaken in the midst of a Pr [...]fligate age, and was true to her Vertue and Heaven, even then when it 'twas both a reputed Crime and assured Danger so to do. And whilst others lived as if they had been sent into the world only to eat and drink and rise up to play; her great care and design was to pass through and behave her self amongst the contin­gencies of a fleeting world, that she might not miss the haven of an eternal rest.

And whereas some we see sordidly besotted with [Page 24] vain pleasures, and their souls in a tame compassion for quietness sake, content to connive at folly; this Honourable Lady was so ambitious of the strictest commands of the most Holy God, that (as they say Heaven is anima visibilis, so) her whole body seem­ed to be converted into soul, all zeal and delight in his service: and so constantly conversing with God in his word, that as St. Hierom speaks of Paulina, ver­tus ferebat Bibliothecam Christi, she had transcribed the Bible in her heart.

Nor must I forget to tell you how duly the sacri­fice of Prayer and Praise was offered to God in her Family; every day three times in publick; twice in that excellent form of our Church; She constantly attending (when able) in her own person, and ex­pressing admirable and almost Seraphical devotion; endeavouring to manage her worship in such manner, as became God who received it, and her self who presented it. And a third time in a short form, at an early hour, proper for Servants before they go to any wordly business, or their daily work, that the first fruits of their time being offered to God, might Consecrate the rest of the day.

Besides her Publick, she was constantly in her Clo­set devotion, the way of the closest-communion with God, where Heaven it self came down to receive her pious Ejaculations and Prayers.

These are the things Right Honourable, that not [Page 25] only Men, but God applaudes; and those that in­tend to purchase Honour to themselves, as we are all ambitious, must tread the same path; and if we would be Happy as she is, and that's the desire of us all, we must be Holy as she was, and that's the duty of us all.

Indeed she was great and excellent, that is her Self, in every action, lived as God required of his people, did justly, loved mercy, and walk'd humbly with her God, so that graces and vertues seem to have been the very Elements of her Constitution.

And were he that said, vertue was only an empty name, now amongst the Living, he must have recanted his opinion, or betray'd his faculties; for it was in her embodied, and he might have converst with it in an humane shape; as if God had designed her to let us see how near to the divine Humane nature may ap­proach. So far was she from any indifferency in Re­ligion, that I dare challenge the most rigid Sectary, I mean the most censorius Person in the world, to pro­duce one single suspition of the least hypocrisy, for­mality, or lukewarmness in her Profession and De­votion.

No, the Religion of this excellent person was of another Constitution, it took root downward in Humility, and brought forth fruit upward in every thing that was praise-worthy.

If we know not what Vertue and Humanity are, what is comely & venerable, what is lovely and praise-worthy, [Page 26] what is fit and equal, what is true and just, we may learn by the words, and actions, and beha­viour of this Noble person, of a great and harmless Wit, of chearful Gravity, and obliging Behaviour.

She could be chearful without levity, speak mer­rily without uttering folly, adorn her self in rich ap­parel without pride and a phantastick dress.

She was constant to her promise, and candid to others failures, preferring fidelity before profit, and mercy before rigour; willing to reprove, yet loath to exasperate.

Such an exact texture of Graces and Vertues, that in her departure there is a universal Loss; to the good, because they'l want the vertuous example which they love; and to the bad, because they'l want the pious example which they need.

And for her several eminencies, I may take up the speech of St. Paul in his Catalogue of those eminent Saints, Heb. 11.32. and what shall I say more.

Thus lived this most Honourable Lady, and thus she taught us to live.

Being so eminently pious, we may well say with the true Emphasis, that she lived to a good old age, her years exceeding not only the lesser, but the larger account given by Moses of Mans life, 70 or 80 years being extended to 96, which we may look upon partly as a Guerdon of her pious Life, and partly as a pledge and consignment of Eternal life hereafter.

But it is appointed to all men once to die, and die she therefore must. This house which our souls now inhabit, is but earthly, and sin hath put it into dis­order, and hath brought a Consumption upon it, as well through God's anger, as its own distempers; and as it daily decays, so it will, so it must once dissolve and fall.

The pale messenger therefore comes to give her a summons to appear before her judge: Death with all his gastly troops of Stone, Spleen, Aches storm and dismantle her body: Est mihi crede virtuti etiam in lectulo locus, said Seneca to his dear Lucilius, Then are vertue and fortitude best displayed, when our strength lies bed-rid, and our diseases inwrap us in sheets of Torture.

And yet in the midst of all these pining agonies, and faint languishings, her patience stood unshaken and undisturbed, in the face of Death; And with that strength of faith and undaunted courage, kept close to her God, as if she would conquer Death be­fore it encountered her: still maintaining that firm trust in God through the merits of her Saviour, that mortalitas potius finita est quam vita, this frail body submitted to mortality and her heaven-born soul, when death had opened the door, breathed it self into the hand of her Redeemer, triumphantly singing her [...], Death has lost his sting, and I have got the victory.

Thus this Heavenly Lady bequeathed her sacred body to the Grave, in assured hopes of the Resurrection to Eternal life.

There shall these hallowed ashes be mummoyed up and preserved by the protection of Angels; and from thence shall every atome of her sacred dust be rallied, and recomposed into the glorious image of the Son of God.

Then shall this purified body (as it were) again woe its glorified soul, and Christ being the High Priest, Eternity the Ring, the new-Jerusalem the Church, Angels the Choyre, Peace of Conscience the Feast, Christs Righteousness the Wedding Gar­ment, Soul and Body shall be Eternally married together, and her Saviour and the whole Trinity shall approve and applaud the union, saying, Well done good and faithful servant, enter into thy Masters joy, joy unspeakable and full of glory.

And now I should here conclude, but seeing such a solemn appearance of such honourable Mourners be­fore mine eyes, I cannot but humbly crave leave to commend a word or two to their more personal Me­ditations; and the good Lord make them Operative and Impressive.

She was the Rock whence ye were most hewen, the Pit whence most of you were digged; O that her name might be Immortal in her Posterity; and her Posterity Immortal in her vertues.

I do not believe the transmigration of Souls, I only desire transmigration of Graces; that as ye are en­riched with her Possessions and Legacies, so ye may all be enobled with her Vertues and Excellencies.

Then shall her remembrance shine in her Relati­ons, and her Relations shine in her example. Patern out her Piety, her Charity; patern out her Zeal and Devotion; her Justice and Chastity her Courtesy, her Constancy; Constancy in all that was good, all that was praise-worthy; and yee shall become not on­ly her Posterity, but her Monument: A Monument of Gold, which if sin does not corrupt, time can ne­ver deface.

Now indeed her Silver Cord is loosed, and her Golden Bowle is broken; yet she is not dead but liv­eth; liveth in you as long as you live in piety; shine­eth in you as long as you shine in goodness: And be ye well assured, that those who live as Saints on earth shall undoubtedly shine as Stars in Heaven.

Avoid (as this good Lady did) all appearances of evil, and then at the day of the Great appearance, yee shall be as glorious among others, as yee are No­ble above others.

Blessed be God that you do not defile the dignity of your persons with the indignities of sin: This were to bring a Cloud upon the lustre of your line: for alass they are Apostates unto honor that are Apostates unto grace.

The times indeed in which you live, are as truly the worst as the last of days: Wickedness grown up to the excess of abominations, triumphing every where effraeni & effronti audaciâ, without the consci­ence of Shame or the controlings of Punishment.

So that except a man be an Abraham in Mesopota­mia, a Job in the Land of Ʋz, a Lot in Sodom, or a Joseph in Potaphars house, It is as hard to keep him­self from the Temptations of the times, as to re­form the times from their headlong Temptations. But it will be the honour of all your Honours, to look higher then the days in which you live.

You have great Examples in your own Family: Piety, Loyalty, Charity, Temperance, Continence, Religion, have for many years past found a Sanctuary there.

Remember then that to carry on these Christian excellencies, is to carry on the dignity of your An­cestors.

High Obligations lye upon you for Piety, not only from your God but from your bloud.

Look upon the Herse that stands before you, it speaks, though dead.

St. Timothy was sent back to consider the faith of his Mother, and the faith of his Grand-mother: You have here also in this deceased Lady, a Grand-mother Lois and a Mother Eunice: The unfeigned faith and unstained goodness that dwelt in her, must dwell in you likewise.

This will be your kindness to her and make her Name precious; this will be your kindness to your selves, and make your Souls precious.

Blessed is that Family where holyness is cultivated: as if it were quartered in their Escutchions as well as in their hearts: they shall inherit the blessing: For the Lord our God is a jealous God, visiting the iniqui­ty of the Fathers upon the Children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him, but shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love him and keep his Commandements.