that profess the Religion of the Crucify'd Jesus I have heard her say That human Learning was worth nothing unless as a Handmaid it lead to the knowledge of Christ revealed in the Gospel as our only Jesus our Lord and Saviour And would Discourse very finely after this manner What availeth Solomons Skill in all the works of Nature if by them we be not brought to see the God of Nature What is it saith she to be so Skilful in Astronomy as that by the Motions of the Heavens we can foretel things here below if we never study by our Holy Practices to come thither What is it to be so Skilful in Arithmetick as that we can divide and sub divide to the smallest Fractions if as God hath revealed unto us in his Holy Word We do not so learn to number our days Psal 90.12 that we may apply our hearts unto Wisdom What is it says she for a Physician to be skilful in foreseeing and preventing the Diseases of the Body if as God hath revealed unto him he knoweth not where to find that Balm of Gilead Jerem. 46.11 the Wine and Oyl of that Samaritan the Lord Jesus to pour into the fester'd Wounds of his own Soul and Conscience Such as this was her frequent Discourse and will well enough lead me to the second Grace that did shine in her most brightly and that was her Piety And that as it branches it self out into these two known Duties Publick and Private As for the Publick she was a constant frequenter of the Word and Sacrament and the Prayers of the Church which call for our daily attendance She never miss'd unless hinder'd by some bodily Infirmity to which of late she had been too subject Her Private Piety and Devotion was no less by which she dieted her Soul and in her Chamber with holy David she communed with her own heart Psal 4.4 privately examining the State and Condition of her own Soul that she might stand in awe and not sin She greedily catch'd at all opportunities of Retirement that she might have the better entercourse with Heaven as knowing the surest way of overcoming the World and living above it was to sequester her self from in and the best Preparatory for Death was dying daily in holy Solitude and Privacy By which she had so dispos'd her Mind for the time of her Dissolution that it pleased God to give her some distant presages of it For it is two years since her Meditations leading her in her solitary Walks into this Church-yard and resting her self here in the Porch and no doubt ruminating on her Mortality which the place suggested to her a sudden Thought a strong Impulse broke in upon her Mind that in a short time she should die and be buried in this very Church-yard which was so far from casting any Horror or Melancholy upon her Spirits that on the contrary it made her in love with the place and did ever after desire to retire hither and did accordingly choose it for her Burial-place The third thing that I mention'd was her Charity which perhaps you will think under her Circumstances could not be very extraordinary as to the Sums yet was it so as to the Chearfulness and Constancy of her giving for what ever her Allowance was she duly laid aside a certain portion of it to charitable and pious uses Neither did her Charity rest here but raised it self to a higher degree of Spirituality and beyond the scene of this World She had a great love for the Souls of Men was heartily afflicted with the Errors Follies and Vices of this present Age to see that those who called themselves Christians should by bad Principles and worse Practice dishonour their Profession and not only hazard their own Salvation but that of their weak Brother too for whom Christ dy'd And this temper of mind made her not only importunate in her Intercessions for the good of the World but gave her Courage and Discretion above her Years or Sex to benefit the Souls of those she conversed with by friendly Reproof good Counsel or some learned or pious Discourse In the exercise of this Christian Love she liv'd in this she died and here that I may not be thought to flourish only in this matter be pleased to understand that she desir'd me on her Death-bed that I would exhort all young people to the study of Wisdom and Knowledge as the means to improve their Vertues and bring them to the truest Happiness And this I think I cannot do better than in the words which were taken from her own Mouth just upon her departure when her Soul was hovering upon her Lips ready to take the wing for that other World Her words were these which were faithfully Pen'd down and deliver'd into my hands I desire says she that all young People may be exhorted to the Practice of Vertue and to encrease their Knowledge by the study of Philosophy and mote especially to read the great Book of Nature wherein they may see the Wisdom and Power of the Great Creator in the Order of the Universe and in the Production and Preservation of things For Quaelibet herba Deum This was a Language which was very familiar to her and if you would know the English of it she would have you to understand thus much by it that the least Spire of Grass as well as the Lillies of the Field do demonstrate the Being of a God She proceeds It will fix in their Minds a Love to so much Perfection frame a Divine Idea and an awful regard of God which will highten Devotion and lower the Spirit of Pride and give a Habit and Disposition to his Service it will make us tremble at Folly and Profaneness and command Reverence and Prostration to his Great and Holy Name That Women says she are capable of such Improvements which will better their Judgments and Vnderstandings is past all doubt would they but set to 't in earnest and spend but half of that time in study and thinking which they do in Visits Vanity and Toys 'T would introduce a composure of Mind and lay a sound Basis and Ground-work for Wisdom and Knowledge by which they would be the better enabled to serve God and help their Neighbours Thus far this rare Young Woman And after such Rhetorical Lines as these such powerful Exhortations what can I add what can I subjoin but what will fall short very short of what this young Disciple has laid before you She joyns with Moses and the Prophets in what they have declar'd unto you and if you would have a Preacher from the dead why may not a dying Preacher prove as effectual especially to those of her own Sex to whom she does most passionately apply her self Let her words be as powerful upon you as if she did actually rise from the dead to your Conviction for otherwise since she has given you this Admonition she may one day rise up in judgement against you And here I could weep heartily if it were not to shew the Weakness of my Nature but I will lament the loss of so excellent a Creature so rare a Pattern of so much Vertue so much Goodness so much Piety And what shall I more say for the time would fail me to tell of her Meekness and Patience Temperance and Chastity Modesty and Humility these are moral Vertues and in the Practice of which she was very exact and this brings into my Mind what I heard from her when we were Discoursing of moral Vertues some few weeks before her Departure Morality says she is the Life of Religion but our moral Actions unless influenc'd by our Religion are of no use as judging no doubt according to the Opinion of St. Austin that our best Actions without Faith in Christ were but splendida peccata like the Apples of Sodom of more shew than Value Much more I might repeat to you to this Purpose excellent Sayings that proceeded out of her Mouth and worthy to be recorded from Generation to Generation The nearer she drew to her End she manifested to all that came to see her the great Contentment that she had in her approaching Death declaring that to her it did appear no other than the putting off her Clothes a Disrobing that this Mortal part might put on Immortality By all which it does appear that she has set before you a most excellent Example and that in an Age expos'd to the greatest Temptations And therefore we may well turn the words of the Text into a Lamentation and say Alas That there should be no more remembrance of t he Wise than of the Fool for ever That what now is in the days to come should be forgotten And that the wise Man and the wise Woman too should die even as the Fool. I conclude in the words of the same Author Prov. 31.29 Many Daughters have done vertuously but thou excellest them all God Almighty give us Grace to labour that we may excel in Wisdom and Vertue and true Piety and then however our Name or our Remembrance be lost here on Earth yet we shall have a Name written in Heaven for better than that of Sons and of Daughters which God of his infinite Mercy grant Amen FINIS
A SERMON AT THE FUNERAL Of the Learned and Ingenious Mrs. Ann Baynard Daughter and only Child of Dr. Edward Baynard Fellow of the Colledge of Physicians London Together with some Remarkable Passages in her Life Preached at the Parish-Church of Barnes in the County of Surry June the 16th 1697. By John Prude A. M. Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Norfolk and Curate of St. Clements Danes in the County of Middlesex Published at the desire of her Friends Immodicis brevis est aetas rara senectus Mar. lib. 6. LONDON Printed for Daniel Brown at the Black Swan and Bible without Temple-Bar MDCXCVII TO THE Most Pious and Vertuous Lady The Honourable Lady MARY FANE Eldest Daughter to the Right Honourable VEER Late Earl of WESTMORLAND To the Vertuous and Pious Ladies The Lady CATHERINE LONGUEVIL The Lady RACHEL DELVES of Dodington in Cheshire Madam Mary Bampfield of Poultimore in Devon Madam Diana Montague of Leckham in Wilts Madam Mary Ewer of Richmond in Surry Madam Catharine Broncker of Stoke in Wilts Being all Admirers of the Deceased and equally Admir'd by her THIS FUNERAL DISCOURSE Is with all Submission Dedicated By Your Ladyships most Obedient Servant JOHN PRUDE TO THE READER THE honest Attempt of preserving the Memory of that most Pious and Learned young Gentlewoman Mrs. Ann Baynard has occasion'd the hasty Publication of this Discourse She was perhaps one of the greatest Women that any Age has produc'd both for Parts and their Improvement as her great Skill in the Languages and all manner of Learning and Philosophy has sufficiently made appear but that which is most rare was her great Modesty under which so much knowledge was vail'd without the least Tincture of Vanity or Ostentation For her Words were very few and her Countenance always compos'd so that Taciturnity Wisdom and Discretion were Rival Vertues to her other Accomplishments The good that such a Woman might have done by her Example is unspeakable and her Loss irreparable for she was known too late and lost too early She-was a true and constant Church Woman a great Asserter and Defender both of the Order and Oeconemy of the Church of England and pitied the Breaches and Schisms which Dissention had made in the pure and spotless Religion of the most Holy Jesus She would often say that Pride and Self-conceit were the two main Pillars on which that Fabrick of Dissention stood and therefore Wise and considerate Persons would easily conclude it to be built upon a weak and sandy Foundation She mightily pitied the unthinking part of Mamkind particularly those of her own Sex That were any ways mis-lead into wrong Opinions And as to Heresie so also she was a profess'd Enemy to Atheism and Prophaneness and held the Sacred Name of God in such a Reverence and Admiration that she always either bow'd or stood up when any occasional Discourse offer'd it self that way She was a great Admirer of all good and vertuous Persons in General particularly the Ladies to whom this Discourse is dedicated whom she never named but with a Respect proportionable to that Value and Esteem which they justly deserv'd and which she thought their due The Lady Mary Fane accompany'd with her Mother and the best of Mothers the most Pious and most Vertuous Countess of Westmorland it would seem a Digression if I should speak all that I know to this Purpose often did her the Favour of their Visits in her Sickness The good Lady Languevil her next Neighbour did not only do the Office of a Friend but even out-did the kindnesses of a most near Relation in the Favours she shew'd her in her languishing and weak condition The Lady Delves annually honour'd her Birth-day for many years together with a noble Present And the Character she had of the Vertue and Goodness of that excellent Woman the Lady Bampfield Mother to Sir Coplestone Warwick made her in love with her very Name Madam Montague Madam Ewer and Madam Broncker were all related to her Ladies of the strictest Vertue and Piety for whom she had a great Respect and Kindness As to her Birth and Family it is so well known that I need say no more of it than that she was descended from Ralph Baynard Baron of Dunmow in Essex who left his Son the Lord Jeffery Baynard in the quiet Possession of Eighty five fair Lordships as cited by Mr. Dugdale in his Baronage of England Some Books Printed for and Sold by D. Brown at the Black Swan and Bible without Temple Barr. SIX Sermons Preached on several Occasions by Dr. Haschard Dean of Windsor Eight Sermons Preached on several Occasions by Dr. Mannigham Mr. Ellesby's Funeral Sermon of the Danger of a Death-bed Repentance Dr. Jacomb's Sermom at the Funeral of Mr. Martyn Mr. Bynn's Sermon before the House of Commons Jan. 30. Four Sermons Preached on several Occasions by Dr. Felling Mr. Leighton's House Sermon of the Duty and benefit of Frequent Communion His Sermon at Lincoln Assizes Mr. Maundrell's Sermon before the Turky Company Dr. Horneck's Four Treatises published since his Death Dr. Pelling on the Sacrament 2 Vol. On Charity On Humility On God's Love to Mankind On Prayer Ecclesiastes II. 16. For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever seeing that which now is in the days to come shall be forgotten and how dieth the wise man As the fool THE sad occasion of this day confirms the Position of the Preacher and gives us an ample prospect of the vantiy of the best of Mortals For we see that the most profound Sagacity the most refined Vertues and exalted Graces that humane Nature is capable of cannot secure the Body from the Grave nor the Worms from their Prey seeing the wise Man dieth even as the Fool. The scope and drift of the Royal Preacher in this Book is to evince and illustrate this one great Truth viz. That the real Good and Happiness of Man is not to be found in this World and that whatsoever he sets his heart upon here is so far from yielding any solid Enjoyment or Satisfaction that it is the greatest Allay that can be to it that it raises his desires only to defeat them and invites him with pleasant and specious Expectations to send him away with the greater Vexation of Spirit And this Truth is here very clearly and pathetically laid open to us by a particular disquisition of the Pleasures Honors Riches and Wisdom too of this World which are so much the Idols of mens Wishes and Desires And indeed who was fitter for such a work than he not only upon the account of that depth and capacity he had above other Men but also from that dear bought experience which he had made of all these things God had endowed him not only with a vast Comprehensive Soul but put into his hands all that his heart could wish for so that the Conclusion which he draws from the whole matter is not the effect
Atheist and Epicure inferr from Solomons saying The wise Man dies as the Fool and both of them as the beast that there is no difference of them afterwards and that it will be to all alike hereafter as if they had never been for this is a most certain and evident Proof to the contrary the little Discrimination that is made here does sufficiently make out that there shall be a greater hereafter That the Soul of a Wise and Holy Man who undergoes the same Trouble and Fatality in this World that the Fool and the Sinner doth and sometimes greater is a convincing Argument drawn from the Justice of God that there is a future State wherein the grand difference of Mankind shall be settl'd and establish'd No! Tho' the one inherits the same Corruption with the other in the Grave yet shall he see a more blessed Incorruption tho' he sets in Dishonour yet shall he rise again in Glory And therefore our Royal Preacher in another place tells us Wisd 5.1 2 4 5. That the righteous Man who is truly the wise Man shall one day stand in great Boldness before the Face of such as have afflicted him and made no account of his Labours that when they see it they shall be amazed at the strangeness of his Salvation so far beyond all that they looked for And again we Fools accounted his Life madness and his end to be without Honour but how is he numbred among the Children of God and his Lot is among the Saints It is no difficult Matter I must confess to Persons who live wholly to the Body and do not aim at any useful end of Life to imagine that they are nothing but Flesh and Blood and that when they die their Soul shall dissolve and vanish into the soft Air But to think that those who have lived above the Body have govern'd themselves by the Dictates of the highest Prudence have benefited the World by their rare Endowments have been adorn'd with all Divine Graces and Vertues and have been the Glory of the Age they liv'd in such as this young Gentlewoman whose remains are now before us a Person endow'd with excellent Gifts and Graces to think I say that she together with those other Worthys departed this Life in the Faith and fear of God to think by their confessing the same common Dust in their Dissolution that they were actuated by no higher Pirnciple that there were no spiritual Inhabitants in those Houses of Clay which being of heavenly extract performed all those noble things and are now removed to their native Countrey to receive the reward of them is a thought which to any serious thinking Man must needs be as absurd as 't is uncomfortable Methinks it were to be wish'd that those which have been such Lights to the World besides their immortal State in the other World might likewise have an immortal Memory in this to justifie the Power of Wisdom and to excite our Emulation But it hath pleased Almighty Wisdom to ordain but one immortality that we might be more intent in the pursuit of it and not vainly expect or rest in any other And this brings me to the II. Vanity incident to Wisdom which is tho' the Memory of the wise be so desirable a thing to themselves and beneficial to Posterity Yet there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever seeing that which now is in the days to come shall be forgotten Certain it is that there is a hankering in the minds of all Men to perpetuate their Memories whether it arises from the natural Thirst of the Soul after immortality or from a Diffidence of a future State and consequently an endeavour to recover what we can from the spoils of Death And how industrious has the Wit of Man been to prevent this Some by costly Unctions and Embalmings some by lasting Tombs and Pyramids some have obtained to be Registred among the Stars and others to have the Months of the year to be called by their Names What Dangers have Men encountred to get an immortal-Fame to be incerted in the Annals of the world or to be celebrated in the strains of some ingenious Poet How fond are most Men of surviving in their Off-spring and what an Unhappiness is it look'd upon to have no issue to keep up our name Thus do poor Mortals hunt after shadows and very Spectrums Thus do they disquiet themselves in vain to purchase a little popular breath which when they are gone they shall be insensible of or at least unconcerned for and in which Falshood has often as great a share as Truth and Vice as Vertue For the World is not so curious to hand down what is excellent as what is surprising and extraordinary Thus he that set the Temple of Ephesus on fire is remembred whilst he that built it is almost forgotten and that was a hopeless as well as mean desire in Cardan tho' the greatest Philosopher and Physician of his time that the Ages to come might know there was such a Man not caring whether they knew any more of him But let a man's fame be raised from never so solid a merit and rivetted in Brass and Marble yet Monuments themselves have their destiny Time eats through the most lasting Substance and Oblivion blots out the fairest Characters We cannot hope to live so long in our names as some have done in their persons and those who have or shall have the happiest and longest Commemoration shall by the flux of time have it dwindle into a point and at last vanish into nothing It being in this respect the same with Time as it is with Place that the greatest distance gives the least appearance so vain a thing is a restless inquietude for the diuturnity of our Memories For who knows whether there are not more remarkable Persons forgotten than that stand remembred in the known account of time and the best of Men at last must be content to be as though they had never been as to this World and to be found in the Register of God not in the Record of Man Indeed to have the common voice of Men for the testimony of a worthy Carriage in the constant tenour of a Man's life and conversation is a desireable thing and of singular use while we live our Preacher assuring us that a good name is better than pretious ointment Prov. 22.1 both for the refreshing and cheering our selves and scattering a delicious fragrancy to others i.e. The Reflection upon good Actions is the feast of a good Conscience and the Esteem which our Vertue creates in the Minds of others excites their Imitation and brings back with it their Friendship and Assistance It comforts us in all the stages of our life and at the hour of our departure hence it stands by us allays the Terror of Death and tells our departing Souls that we shall die desir'd and that our Memories shall be preserved sweet by all
the best of Mortals is not long liv'd yet let us not put the Shrowd over them too soon before we have strew'd some few Flowers over their Graves tho' like them also their remembrance does soon perish and fade away For my own part as I profess my self no friend to Funeral-pomp and Panegyricks except something extraordinary does appear so I confess my own Inability for such an undertaking Yet it is not good manners to withhold Praises where they are due and tho' Favour be deceitful and Beauty be vain yet the Woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised says our Royal Preacher Prov. 31.30 But when this is done much Skill and Rhetorick is required least like some sorry Painter we mar that Face that we pretend to delineate But all that can be said for this rough Draught that you meet with here is only this that as the Learned and ingenious young Gentlewoman did never make a shew of any Fondness or Affectation in her outward Dress when living so a plain and ordinary one may the better be excus'd now she is dead No! She had business that lay upon her hands of another Nature she had many Books to read many Doubts and Difficulties to clear up to her understanding and much time to lay out in devout and serious Meditation And should I attempt to open the Treasury of her Virtues and acquaint you with the particulars the Task would be too tedious and some might hold it superfluous especially in this ill natur'd and censorious Age when we cannot endure to hear that ascribed to others which is wanting in our selves Yet for their sake who knew her not or not so well as my self tho' it was my great misfortune that I knew her so late for I should otherwise have learned much more from her I should as the wise Man speaks of Wisdom in general Prov. 5.1 I should have attended to her Wisdom and bowed mine Ear unto her Understanding And therefore I say for their sake that knew her not I will single out some few of those many Virtues she was endowed with and present them to your Memory and Practice and by which I believe I shall not grieve or vex your Patience But that I may not seem tedious I will reduce them to these Three Her Learning her Piety and her Charity These are Cardinal Vertues on which all others hang and depend and I should be injurious to her Memory should I conceal her Excellency herein And First what I am to say as to her Learning perhaps may find but indifferent Entertainment in this Age when it is become a Fashion more than ever for young Women to spend the greatest Portion of their time in Ornamentals in preparing modish and accomplish'd Dresses for the Body whilst little or no time is laid aside to adorn the Soul with decent and useful knowledge But she had found out a better way to employ her time that according to the Psalmist she might become like the Kings Daughter all glorious within Psal 45.13 and whilst some others with Martha are cumber'd about many things she with Mary had chosen that better part Luk. 10.41 42. which shall not be taken away from her The Apostle St. Paul indeed acquaints us with certain Women in his time 2 Tim. 3.7 who were always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth But she was none of those Women but the rather might truly say with Holy David Psal 119 100. I have more understanding than my Teachers I understand more than the Antients The truth of which did most evidently appear to any one that had but the least Conversation with her For as for Learning whether it be to understand natural Causes and Events to know the Courses of the Sun Moon and Stars the qualities of Herbs and Plants to be acquainted with the demonstrable Verities of the Mathematicks the study of Philosophy the Writings of the Antients and that in their own proper Language without the help of an Interpreter These and the like are the most noble Accomplishments of a human Soul and accordingly do bring great delight and satisfaction along with them and these things she was not only conversant in but Mistress of and that to such a Degree that few very few of her Sex did ever arrive at She had from her Infancy been train'd up in the knowledge of these things and had made a great Progress therein and even in her green years at the Age of twenty three was arrived to the knowledge of a bearded Philosopher But that which is most our wonder is that one so young of an infirm Constitution and of the tenderest Sex not accustomed to the advantages of the Philosophick Schools should in the hard and knotty Arguments of Metaphysical Learning be a most nervous and subtle Disputant And therefore let none Despair or complain of the roughness of the Path or the acclivity of Vertues hill for she was a clear and lively instance that neither the Crabbedness of Languages nor the Abstruseness of Arts and Sciences can be too hard for Diligence and Application It is not long since that she took great Pains to perfect her knowledge in the Greek Tongue that she might with greater Pleasure read that elegant Father St. Chrysostome in his own pure and native Style Her being very well acquainted with the Greek Testament in which she was much converstant was a great help to improve her Skill in that Language She was not only satisfied with reading but having an Eye to that saying of the Great Poet Semper ego Auditor tantum she set her self to the Composing of many things in the Latine Tongue which were rare and useful in their kind and which I have seen with abundance of delight and satisfaction Wherein it does appear that she had a Beauty in her Style as well as in her Countenance and if they shall be made publick will be the Admiration as well as the Entertainment of the thinking pate of Mankind She had indeed a vast and comprehensive Knowledge a large and exalted Mind a strong and capacious Memory still coveting more and more Knowledge and in this Particular alone she would often say It was a sin to be contented with but a little But after all this with what profound Humility with what Prostration of Mind would she cry out with St. Paul Philip. 3.8 I count all these things but loss for Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. In which study she was no small Proficient and has often by her nervous Arguments and by the Grace of God which was in her put to silence some of those bold Men who have attempted even in these our days when the light of the Gospel is so clearly shining among us to revive that old and baffl'd Heresie of Socinus And she did much lament that such lewd Opinions should gain any Footing or the least Entertainment among those