THIS may be thought a very improper Text for the Feast of our Savi­our's Birth, when our Mouths ought to be fil­led with the Praises of God, and sing with the whole Quire of Angels, Glory be to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will towards men. This indeed is that Peace, which the World cannot give, and which the World cannot take away; whatever the External Appearances of Providence are, [Page 2] here we find a safe retreat, and a never­failing Spring of Joy: For he that spa­red not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who then Shall jeparate us from the love of Christ? Shall Tribulation, or Distress, or Perse­cution, or Famine, or Nakedness, or Pe­ril, or Sword?—Nay, in all these we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us. For I am perswaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall he able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, 8. Rom. 32, 35, 37, &c. While our minds are warmed with such thoughts as these, we shall be able to bear up under the greatest Trials, if not with Chearfulness, yet at least with Pati­ence [Page 3] and a quiet Submission to the Will of God. And if ever there were occasion for such Comfortable and Supporting Thoughts, the Divine Providence has made it too necessary at this time, to bear the Loss of an Incomparable Lady, our most Gracious Queen; whose Death all good Subjects must Lament, and I pray God forgive those that do not. Such se­vere Providences as these, will teach the greatest and most unbroken Minds, to serve the Lord with fear, and to rejoice with trembling. But how severe soever Provi­dence is in some particular instances, the sense of the Divine Goodness in the Re­demption of Mankind by the Incarnation and Death of his own Son; should teach us to be dumb, and not open our mouths, be­cause it is his doings.

In speaking to which words, I shall Inquire, What may be called the [Page 4] doings of the Lord? 2. What it is to be dumb, and not to open our Mouths? 3. The force of this Argument to ob­lige us to a quiet and patient Submission under the greatest sufferings, That it is God's doing.

1. What may be called the doing of the Lord? This may be thought a very needless question; for are there any Events, Good or Evil, which are not God [...]s doing? If we believe a particular Providence, we must answer, No; and yet some things are more peculiarly God's doings, than others are, with respect to this present Argument, as God's doing it, is a reason for a quiet and patient Submission to the Divine Will.

In many cases men bring Ruine and Misery upon themselves by their own sin and folly, and then they may thank themselves for it; but have no reason [Page 5] to complain of Providence; and when they cannot charge Providence with their misfortunes, patience it self is not pro­perly a Submission to God; because their sufferings are no more God [...]s will, than their sin and folly is.

If men destroy their Estates by pro­fuseness and prodigality, and their Bo­dies by intemperance and lust; if ill-con­tracted Friendships, indiscreet Bargains, or an ungovernable Tongue, perplex their Affairs, and prove very troublesome or dangerous, all this is owing not merely to Providence, but to themselves; and they must be contented to reap the fruit of their own doings, and to implore the Di­vine Goodness and Providence to de­liver them from the evil consequences of their own sin and folly.

Whatever evils we suffer, which are not the natural or moral effects of our own sin or folly, they are properly God's do­ings, [Page 6] as inflicted by God, either for the punishment of our sins, or for the trial and exercise of our virtues, or to serve the wise ends of his Providence in the world.

Those Evils which we do not imme­diately bring upon our selves, God in­flicts on us, either by the ministry of wicked and injurious men, or by the disorders of Natural Causes, or by some seeming casual and fortuitous Events; for the Actions of Men, the Powers of Na­ture, and what we call Chance and Fortune, are all in the hands of God, and therefore are more or less his do­ings.

But if we may say, that some things are more peculiarly the care of Provi­dence, than others, Life and Death are certainly so; no man can be Born or Die, without the particular Order and Appointment of God: Our Saviour [Page 7] tells us, not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father, much less men; and assures his Disciples, that all the hairs of their head are numbred; and their Lives are more sacred than their Hairs. Some men are of opinion, That God has ab­solutely Decreed the certain term and pe­riod of every man's life; But I know no foundation for this, neither in Scripture nor Reason; nor does any man believe it, but those who subject all Mankind, and all the Things of this world, to irre­versible Necessity and Fate, which is the strength of the Atheistick Hypothesis; though incautiously espoused by some men, who are so far from being Atheists, that I hope they are very good Christians. And therefore, I suppose, these Christian Fatalists, if I may so call them, mean no more than what we all own, That no Sparrow, much less a Man, falls to the ground without our Father; that God [Page 8] not only foreknows the period of eve­ry man's Life, and by what means he shall Die, but with infinite Wisdom and Justice, Orders and Appoints it; not by an absolute and unconditional Decree, but as the Wise Determi­nation of a Free and Just Provi­dence.

And if God have any more con­cernment for Nations and Common­wealths, than he has for particular men (as we, who can attend but a few things at once, and therefore make the matters of greatest importance our more particular care, are apt to conceive) then the Lives and Deaths of Prin­ces must be more particularly Ordered and Determined by God; because Na­tions, it may be many Nations and Countries, more than their own, are concerned in the consequence of it; and of the more universal concernment [Page 9] any thing is, the more we are apt to think it belongs to the Care of God.

For this reason some Philosophers have confined the Providence of God to the Heavens, and Heavenly Bodies, which have such a universal influence on things below; or to Nations and Publick Socie­ties, and to the several kinds and species of Beings, not to particular Men or Creatures.

And so far they were in the right, that if the Divine Providence could not equally take care of the whole World, and of every particular Creature in it; it would certainly in the first place take care of the great Springs of moti­on. But though this be no reason for God's peculiar care of one thing more than another, because his All-seeing Eye, and Almighty Arm, can equally take care of all; yet our Saviour has [Page 10] taught us from the worth and value of things, that God will certainly take the more care of them, and in case of any Competition give the preference to things of the greatest moment. Be­hold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feedeth them; are ye not much better than they? And if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 6. Matth. 26, 30. Where from God's care of mean Infe­rior Creatures, the Fowls of the Air, and the Grass of the Field, he more strongly concludes his care of Men; and by the same reason from his care of par­ticular men, we may more strongly con­clude his care of Kingdoms and Nati­ons, and therefore of the Lives of Prin­ces, who are the great Ministers of his [Page 11] Government and Providence, and whose Lives or Deaths make such a mighty Change in the Affairs of the world. So that when, or by what means soe­ver Princes dye, this is God's doings; and how severe soever we may feel it, We must be dumb, and not open our mouths, because he has done it; which is the

2. Thing to be explained, What is meant by being dumb, and not opening our mouths. For this seems a very hard say­ing in the strict literal sense, that we must not complain of our Sufferings, when we feel 'em smart: Humane Nature can't bear this, we must feel our Suffer­ings, and when we feel them, we must complain: To have no sense of what we suffer, is Stupidity, not Submission; it is irreverence for the Judgments of God, and in some cases the most un­pardonable [Page 12] baseness and ingratitude to Men. To be unconcerned for the Death of our dearest Friends, or greatest Pa­trons and Benefactors, not to pay Na­tures Tribute to their Memories in a Sigh and a Tear; not to long after them, and send some vain Wishes to call them back; not to preserve their Idea fresh in our minds, and to think with some uneasiness of those happy hours which their Conversation sweetned; to part with our Friends, as if we suffer­ed nothing by their loss, and were as well without them, is so far from be­ing a Virtue, that such a man is unca­pable of ever being a Friend, and ne­ver deserves to have any; much more then, when we lose a Publick Friend and Benefactor, the greatest of Friends and Benefactors, which is a good Prince.

[Page 13] Let us briefly consider, what we have lost in the loss of our Gracious Queen, and try if we can bear the thoughts of it with­out complaining. She was the Glory of her Sex, and an Ornament to the Crown she wore; made truly Great by Nature, Birth, and Education. She had a large and capacious Mind, a quick and lively Apprehension, and a piercing and solid Judgment: She had a strength and firm­ness of Mind beyond her Sex, and such a dexterity in managing the greatest Affairs, as would have become the greatest and most experienced Ministers. Never was there greater skill in Government with less fond­ness for it, which she could take up and lay down, with the same equality and indif­ferency of Mind: Though, I doubt, I must unsay that; for she was always grieved at the occasion of taking the Government, and as glad to resign it.

[Page 14] Never was Majesty better tempered with easiness and sweetness. She knew how to be familiar, without making her self cheap, and to condescend without meanness She had all the Greatness of Majesty, with all the Vertues of Conver­sation; and knew very well, what became her Table, and what became the Council-Board.

She understood her Religion, and lo­ved it, and practised it; and was the greatest Example of the Age, of a con­stant, regular, unaffected Devotion, and of all the eminent Vertues of a Christian Life. In the midst of all the great Affairs of State, she would rather spare time from her sleep, than from her Prayers, where she al­ways appeared with that great composure and seriousness of Mind, as if her Court had been a Nunnery, and she had had no­thing else to do in the World.

[Page 15] In all the Ease and Prosperity of For­tune she had that tenderness and compas­sion for those, who suffered, which suffer­ings themselves cannot teach meaner Per­sons. She was Charitable to the utmost of her Power, amidst all the Expences of War and Government, and when a pro­per Object was presented to her, was al­ways pleased, when she could grant their requests, and very uneasie to deny.

In short, her greatest and most implaca­ble Enemies, (for Vertue it self will meet with Enemies in this World) had no o­ther Fault to charge her with, but her Throne; which is the only thing, for which most other Princes are valuable. She as­cended the Throne indeed before she de­sired it, but was thrust into it, not by an hasty Ambition, but to save a sinking Church and Kingdom: And I hope En­gland will always have reason to say, That [Page 16] an empty Throne could never have been filled with a nobler Pair.

But though the necessary absence of the King, to give check to the Progress of a powerful and insulting Monarch, engaged her more than she desired in State Affairs, yet the promoting of true Religion, and the service of the Church of England, [the greatest and best Nursery of it, since the Apostolick Age,] was her constant and na­tural Care. This her Thoughts were full of, and she had formed great and noble Designs, had she out-lived the Difficul­ties and Expences of War; and been at leisure to attend the peaceful Arts of Government.

I have reason to say this, from those frequent Intimations I have had from our late admirable Primate, who had great designs Himself to serve the Christian Religion, and the Church of England, in its truest Interests; and [Page 17] had inspired Their Majesties; and par­ticularly the Queen, who had more lei­sure for such Thoughts, with the same great and pious Designs: It may be no Church-man ever had, I am sure not more deservedly, a greater Interest in his Prin­ce's Favour; and the great Use he made of it, was to do publick service to Reli­ligion; and, whatever some Men might suspect, to the Church of England, though it may be not perfectly in their Way: And the greatest Fault I know he had, was, That some envious and ambitious Men could not bear his Greatness, which he himself never courted, nay, which he industri­ously avoided.

Before this, all England knew and owned his Worth; and had it been put to the Poll, there had been vast Odds on his side, that he would have been vo­ted into the See of Canterbury; for no Man had ever a clearer and brighter Rea­son, [Page 18] a truer Judgment, a more easie and happy Expression, nor a more inflexible, fearless Honesty: He was a true and hearty Friend, and was a true Friend where-ever he professed to be so: Though he had many Enemies at last, he took care to make none. He was obliging to all Men; and though he could not easily part with a Friend, he could easily for­give an Enemy, as that Bundel of Libels witnesses, which was found among his other Papers, with this Inscription: These are Libels; I pray God forgive them;w I do.

But I cannot give you the just Character of this Great Man now; what I have al­ready said, I confess, is an Excursion, which I hope you will pardon to the Passion of an old Friend; and learn from Two great Examples, that neither the greatest Innocence, Vertue, or Merit, can defend, either Crowned or Mitred [Page 19] Heads, from the lash of spiteful and enve­nomed Tongues. But what a Loss has Religion and Church of England, in such a critical Time, in the Death of such a Queen, and such a Prelate! I pray God make up this Loss.

In a word, That great Passion which afflicts and oppresses our good King, gives an unexceptionable Testimony to the in­comparable Worth of our deceased Queen: The too severe and visible Effects of it, shew, that it is not an ordinary, nor a dissembled Passion: Nor is it an or­dinary thing, for a Prince of so great a Mind, who can look the most formidable Dangers, and Death it self, in the face, without fear; whom all the Powers of France cannot make look pale or tremble, to sink and faint, and to feel all the Ago­nies of Death in the dying Looks of a Be­loved Consort. All Story cannot furnish us with many Examples of such soft and [Page 20] tender Passions, in such a warlike and fearless Mind; and what but a mighty Vertue could so charm a Prince, as to forget his natural Constancy and Resolu­tion? I'm sure, though we pay very dear for the Experiment in the loss of an ex­cellent Queen, we have so much the more reason to think our selves happy in a King; for a due mixture and tempera­ment of such fearless Courage and Bra­very, and such tender Passions, is the most perfect Composition of an excellent Prince.

And now it may be, you will tell me, that I have taken great Pains to conhute my Text, and that I have done it effectu­ally; for we ought not to be dumb, but may very justly complain of such a loss as this.

This I readily grant, That we may com­plain of such a loss; but this is no confu­tation of my Text. We may complain, [Page 21] and give Ease and Vent to our Sorrows by such Complaints, while we do not complain against God, and accuse him fool­ishly. To submit to the Will of God, which is here exprest by being Dumb, and not opening our Mouths, does not signifie, not to feel our losses and Sufferings, or not to complain of them; but not to reproach the divine Providence, nor to cast off our hope and Trust in God. Job felt his Sufferings, and complained of them in as moving and tragical Expressions, as any other Man could, and yet is propo­sed to us, as an Example, of admira­ble Patience, because he did not charge God folishly, nor cast off his Hope in him.

This we never can have any reason for; for whatever we suffer, it is a wise and merciful Providence which inflicts it: But yet Mankind are very apt, when they suffer hard things, either to deny a Pro­vidence, [Page 22] or which is more absurd, and un­reasonable, to reproach it; for if there be a God, he is Wise, and Good, and Mer­ciful, and Just, which is the Notion all Mankind have of God; and if this God governs the World, all Events are order­ed with Wisdom, Justice, and Goodness; and all thinking Men, in cool and sober Thoughts, will be ashamed to quarrel with such a Providence.

But yet we are very apt to ask Que­stions, which we cannot easily answer, and then to make our own Ignorance an Ob­jection against the Divine Providence.

As in the Case before us, the sudden and untimely Death of an excellent Prin­cess, who had Strength and Vigour of Age, which promised a much longer Life, and who would certainly have done great Good to the World, as long as she had lived; but is cut off in the Vigour and Strength of Age, and all her Thoughts, [Page 23] even all her great and excellent Designs of doing Good to the World, perish with her; while Tyrants and Oppressors live to be the Plagues and Scourges of Man­kind.

Now though we do not know the par­ticular Reasons of such Providences, yet it is easie to frame some general Answers, which may satisfie all the Friends of Pro­vidence.

If the Objection relates to our selves, who suffer by this loss, there is a very plain Answer to it, but a very terrible one; That God is Angry with us, and by the untimely Death of an excellent Princess, who made it her whole Study and De­sign to do us Good, threatens his Judg­ments against us, if we do not take Care to prevent them by a timely Repen­tance.

If the Objection relates only to the untimely Death of an excellent Princess, [Page 24] that the should so suddenly be snatched away from the Joys and Pleasures of a Throne; this is no Objection at all; at least not an Objection fit for Christians to make: For can we think, that the grea­test and most happy Monarch, loses any thing by the Exchange, if he be transla­ted from Earth to Heaven? That the Joys of Paradise are not greater than a Crown? Our good Queen did not think so, who knew what an Earthly Crown meant, but was willing to part with it for Heaven; who saw Death approach­ing without fear, and prepared to receive its Stroke with that calmness and sedate­ness of Mind, as nothing could give but an innocent Conscience, and much grea­ter Hopes

But as for our selves, though we must acknowledge that we have received a very great Loss, in the Death of an excellent Queen, yet we have no reason to quar­rel [Page 25] at Providence, while God preserves our King to go in and out before us. We had indeed perpetual Day; and no sooner was one Sun withdrawn, but another as­cended our Horizon, with equal Lustre and Brightness: This was a peculiar Happiness which we never had before, and which the Necessity of our Affairs required now; but though God has cut us short in this, we have a King still, the Terror of France, and the Protector of Europe; a King, whom Affection as well as Blood has Naturalized to us; who loves our Nation and our Church, which he has once delivered, and God grant he may live long to settle and pro­tect both. We have no reason to fear our Enemies, either at home or abroad, while a Prince is at the Helm, who wants neither Counsel nor Courage; especially if we follow that noble Example, which the Two Houses of Parliament have set [Page 26] us, to give him such fresh Assurances of our fidelity, as may strengthen his Hands against his and our Enemies Abroad, and make him easie and safe at Home.

To conclude, This is God's doing, and it becomes us to be dumb, and not to o­pen our Mouthes, because he has done it: He is the Sovereign and Unaccountable Lord of the World; who shall say unto him, What dost thou? Life and Death are in his Hands; the Fates of Princes and Kingdoms. That he has done it, should be a sufficient reason to us to sub­mit, because though he does things great and wonderful, and beyond our Under­standing, yet he never does any thing but what is wise and good: This I'm sure is the most effectual way to turn even the severest Judgments into Blessings, to re­erence God, and to humble our selves under his mighty Hand, and to implore [Page 27] his Mercy, to repair those Breaches he has made upon us. We must not complain of Providence; but we may make our Complaints to God, and be the more im­portunate in our Prayers for the Preserva­tion of our King. The Death of our excellent Queen both calls for, and will justifie and recommend such humble Im­portunities; and the Preservation of our King, will, in a great measure, make up this Loss to us; Which God of his infinite Mercy grant, through our Lord Jesus Christ; to whom with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be Honour, Glory, and Power, now and for ever, Amen.