sweet and comfortable death so on the contrary it is very rare and seldome that a wicked life makes a good and happy end And therefore Tully an heathen Oratour could call this the highest pitch and emprovement of the best wisdome To do those things living which we would desire to have done when we are to die holy Bernard seconds it with advice much to the same purpose In every action and enterprise of thy life sayes he be still saying over to thy self Si modo moriturus esses istud faceres if thou wert to die out of hand wouldst thou doe so and so And who of us all can tell that he is not modo moriturus to die soon for life we know is uncertain and death very ordinarily comes suddenly upon people and not alwayes in the preface and solemnity either af a lingring Consumption or a swelling Dropsie or a tedious Ague or a growing Fever or the like but many times in the sudden surprisalls of some secret and unexpected accident which we could not possibly foresee untill it came to light fatally and mortally upon us And does it not concern us then to be continually numbring our dayes and putting our selves in as great a readinesse and preparednesse for death as may be that so we may rather our selves be said to meet it then That to come suddenly and unexpectedly upon us And to this purpose was this Psalm here penned which contains in it if you mark it well a relation and narrative both of the necessity of our mortality and also the brevity and uncertainty of our lives To the end that having these things alwayes in our thoughts before our eyes both the necessity of our mortality that it is necessary for us at some time to die and also the brevity and uncertainty of our lives that it is possible for us to die every hour we might the sooner be awakened out of our present course of sin and incogitancy into studious endeavours and practises of piety and devotion of abstinence and mortification of heavenly mindednesse and spirituall affections in a word of a wise and timely provision of such gracious habits and dispositions which may in some good measure dresse our souls for a fit salute and entertainment of death These words which I have now read unto you do contain in them the form and substance of a devout and pious prayer and whether David was the Authour of it or Moses that should not need to trouble us for to be sure the prayer it self is most Divine and heavenly and the very piety of the prayer does sufficiently declare the Authour whoever he was to be highly pious and religious In it we have particularly considerable these four things First Quis petit who it is that prayes or the party praying and that indeed is not expressed in terms but conceived by some to be holy David whose are most of the other Psalms but presumed by others to be Moses grounding their opinion and that not without good cause upon the Title and Inscription of the Psalm Psalmus Moses viri Dei a Psalm of Moses the man of God Secondly Proquibus petit who they are whom he prayes for not if you mark it for himself alone but for others as well or for himself conjunctly and together with others Doce nos Teach us Thirdly Quid petit what it is which he prayes for and that is negatively no worldly advantage at all no temporal concerment but positively to be taught and instructed in the mysterious art of spiritual Arirhmetick to be put into a right way and method of numbring and counting up our dayes Doce nos numerare dies nostros Teach us to number our dayes Fourthly Propter quid petit the design and end of his prayer or the particular reason principally moving him to make this request and that is adductio cordis ad sapientiam the application of our hearts unto wisdome or our spiritual instruction and edification Sic doce ut adducamus So teach us that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome I shall begin with the first of these The party making the request and he as is generally concluded was holy Moses A man of God So the inscription of the Psalm styles him One that was faithful in all his house so the Authour to the Hebrews reports him chap. 3. 5. See what what an high character what a large commendation here is some are faithfull in this or that in one or two particular instances of piety Thus one man is very temperate another very humble another very patient another very mortified another very charitable but Moses you see he was a through proficient an universal Saint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faithfull in all Whence be pleased to take away with you this observation that the best and most excellent Saints of all have great need and reason to pray to be better taught and instructed in duty And why in many things we do all fall short and offend the brightest Moon hath its spots the richest wine hath its lees and there are dreggs and much corrupt matter lodging in the best and most improved Saint of us all Well but mark what it is which Moses here prayes for onely to be taught to number his dayes But did he not do this already was it not his dayly work this his constant and continual employment Yes doubtlesse it was yea and he did it carefully and conscientiously too But yet he thought he did it not well enough and therefore prayes here in the Text to be taught to do better See a good man how little he pleaseth himself in any action of his life in any performance of duty that he does He can never think that he does well enough whatever he does but still desires to do otherwise and would fain do better There is an affection of modesty and humility which still accompanies real piety and every pious man is an humble modest man never reckons himself a perfect proficient or to be advanced above a teaching but is content and covetous to be a continual learner to know more then he knows and to do better then he does yea and thinks it no disparagement to his graces at all to take advice and to seek instruction where it is to be had A proud man is evermore high lofty in his own conceit and none is so wise as he none fit and worthy enough to teach him What doest thou teach us said the Pharisees you know to the blind man in the Gospel Iohn 9. 35. oh but an humble man is ever meek and lowly in his own eyes and takes it well yea and is glad and desirous to be taught Accordingly O teach me sayes holy David to do the thing that pleaseth thee Psal 143. 10 and here in the Text So teach us to number our dayes S. Paul 2 Tim. 4. 3. reports it of some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who will not endure sound doctrine But such
A SERMON PREACHED At the Funerall of the Right Honourable and most Excellent Lady THE LADY ELIZABETH CAPELL DOWAGER TOGETHER With some brief Memorialls of her most holy Life and Death By EDM. BARKER late Chaplain to her Honour and now Rector of Buriton in Hampshire Prov. 31. 29. Many Daughters have done virtuously but thou excellest them all Non moeremus quòd talem amisimus sed gratias agimus quòd habuimus imò habemus quidquid enim revertitur ad dominum in familiae numero computatur Hieron Epitaph Paulae LONDON Printed by I. R. for Iohn Williams at the Crown in St. Paul's Church-yard 1661. To the Right Honourable and truly Noble ARTHUR LORD CAPELL Baron of Hadham My Lord THis short discourse being at first conceived and formed by your L ps special command and afterwards enlivened and quickened by your noble and gracious acceptance is since grown bold to beg a further Boon of your Honour which is that under the Sanctuary of your Name and Patronage it may walk a little abroad and visit the Neighbour-hood Indeed I can discover nothing in it which I can warrantably and with confidence conceive worthy your Noble eyes save onely the necessary justice and gratitude of my design therein viz. to pay all dutifull respects and Honours to the precious Memory of the Best of Ladies to burn a little Incense before her Shrine And though I am very sensible what great difficulties I am to encounter with for the fame of her great worth has long since spread it self far near and the world does every where ring of her piety and her example is solemnly propounded and quoted by those who are desirous of the Best things and would fain improve into Excellent and peoples expectations do begin to swell and grow big hereupon and will not easily be put off with a sparing and slender report where so much in truth may and in justice ought to be spoken Yet am I notwithstanding no whit discouraged at all this but am resolved to go on howsoever to make up such an Offering as I am able my two small mites and a little Goats hair having an Heart large and willing enough to offer with the freest had I but wherewithall And besides I must not deny it that I my self also am a man subject to like incidencies of grief and sorrow of passion and sadness in common with other people neither indeed as yet have I throughly recovered the free command and use of my Parts nor perfectly wrought my spirit out of those huge discomposures and indispositions which the apprehension and remembrance of so signal a loss did at first cause in me yea and to this very day the wound continues bleeding a fresh upon every uncovering of it so that if either my expressions be disturbed or language indigested or stile not so even methodical as is fit it should rather move resentments of Pitie and Pardon in the Reader then expressions of Censure and Anger and especially there where the mind which should prevent and rectifie all these transgressions is it self so much out of Order Howbeit my Lord if you shall but please to smile Graciously upon this poor and little Oblation which I here humbly cast at your Lordship's feet I shall the less value the report and censure of the World as having in some measure fulfilled and observed your Lp' s commands which were to preach a Sermon and that you know is confined to Minutes and Houre-glasses and not to write a full and complete history of all the virtuous Acts and Merits of this most excellent Lady And yet neither have I been wholly wanting in this latter for though I have not indeed spoken of Her what either in justice I ought or of my own knowledge and Observation I might in Truth have said yet have I said so much as will I fear me put the greatest part of the World to the blush and I hope too provoke an holy Zeal and Emulation in all And now my Lord give me leave to beseech you to reflect a little upon the great advantages of your Relation You are Heir to a Blessed Martyr and the Eldest Son of a most Excellent Mother so that Honour and Nobility and Worth and Piety are in a manner intailed upon you and you do derive them and claim them as it were by inheritance and this must needs doubtless provoke very great Emulations and continue most earnest desires and endeavours in you to resemble and be as like these two Excellent Parents of yours as may be And blessed be GOD for it you have in great measure attained to their perfections already and those people who knowing you do not take notice of your singular Temperance and Sobriety your rare Humility and Condescention your exceeding Courtesie and Affability are either wilfully blind or worse And though I know your great Modestie doth not love to be told of your Virtues but had rather do things Noble and Excellent then hear talk of them Yet herein do I humbly beg your pardon if I tell the World of one it was so eminent and remarkable in you and gave such perfect content and satisfaction to your dear Mother and That was your signal dutifulness and complyance with every request and command of Hers in the time of Her sickness and since that too your most exact and punctual observation of Her last Will and Testament hitherto even to the smallest tittles and minutes And doubtless you have taken the right course to secure a blessing to your self and family for GOD Almighty who is so particularly mindfull of our lesser Charities and payes us still present money for every cup of cold water given in his name will not questionless be forgetfull of such signal returns demonstrations of filial Duty and Obedience but will in his time and manner abundantly reward them and recompence them And besides you have the first Commandement with promise as the Apostle calls it for your security and you may confidently build upon it and conclude and argue from it And therefore my Lord go on still in these pious and noble resolutions and recover every day more and more of the likeness and resemblance of your Parents and May the Blessings of Heaven continually descend on you and attend you both in your Person Relations and May there never want one of your Name and if it be the will of GOD out of your own Loins too to keep up perpetuate to the World's end The Renowned Memory of your famous Progenitours which is and shall alwayes be the prayer of My Lord Your Honour 's most humble and devoted Servant BARKER Psalm 90. vers 12. So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdome EVery Christian hath two great works to doe in the world to live well and to die well yea to live well to the end he may be sure to die well for as a holy life has evermore a
That man cannot be a right good Christian who grutches and envies another for sharing equally in the same happinesse with himself In the Firmament there is a multitude of Stars and every Star is full of light and never a Star hath ever a whit lesse light for the brightnesse and shining of its fellow accordingly if you mark it the Appostle's exhortation 1 Tim. 2. 1. Is that prayers and supplications and intercessions and giving of thanks be made but for whom for our selves altogether or for some few onely nay but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all men A good man ne're thinks heaven the worse place for having much company in it accordingly all his care and endevour his strife and contention his prayers and desires are as to fit himself thereunto so also to bring as many thither as may be he loves not to make a Monopoly of the Kingdome of heaven To be the onely bright Star there Heark what the Apostle sayes in his own own behalf Rom. 10. 1. Brethren my hearts desire and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved See the extent the universality of his Charity not for this or that particular Israelite but for all Israell for Israell indefinitely for Israell universally Well but Israell take it in the largest extent you can is but a collective word and can comprehend no more then either those of the seed or at most those of the faith of Abraham here the Apostle thought he had not room enough for his charity his great zeal could not be couped up within such a strait and narrow compasse nay but it must reach and seek out further accordingly mark his profession elsewhere 1 Cor. 9. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have made my self servant unto all not to all Israelites onely but unto all men No man comes amisse to a Christians charity if there be not actuall desert and merit in the person yet there is hope in the possibility of his salvation and every good Christian will be sure to love such a one and to pray for him and to wish him well to doe him all the friendly offices services he can though it be but for very hopes sake But I shall not detein you any longer upon this digression which was occasioned onely from a reflection upon the Parties for whom and in whose behalf Moses here prayes not for himself alone but for others also or for himself in conjunction and together with others Proceed we now to the third thing considerable in the Text Quid petit what it is which he prayes for negatively not any worldly advantage not any temporall concernment at all not to be great or rich or eminent in the world but onely to be taught and learnt the mysterious art of spirituall Arithmetick to be put into a right way and method of computing and numbering our days Doce nos ut numeremus dies nostros teach us to number our dayes Onely if you mark it here is a special restriction and qualification which passes along with the act for it is not barely numerare to number but sic numerare so to number so seriously so attentively so religiously and conscientiously in a word so as sober Christians ought to number them Well but you will say what need Moses keep all this adoe and pray so earnestly to be taught a matter so light and easie so triviall and ordinary and why what Child what raw Arithmetician cannot even without a teacher number you to threescore years and ten or if need be to fourscore years Nay but stay awhile it is not so light easie so triviall ordinary a matter this as you make it I am sure not in Moses his sense It is true I grant in Arithmetical numerations we are many of us very expert and skilfull we can tell how many hours and minutes have run out since the Creation can reckon you up how many miles the world is in compasse can tell the height of the clouds the elevation of the pole the positions and distance of the Stars and a thousand such like curiosities Oh! but in the concernment of our selves the art and mystery of spiritual Arithmetick the number of our dayes the account and computation of our lives herein we are too many of us horribly stupid and ignorant And why it is a melancholy study this and we have no mind no fancy at all to it but would fain live for ever and do not love to hear of an end and number of our dayes Yea should Mathuselahs hundreds of years be afforded us yet would not they serve the turn all would not be enough to content and satisfie our craving desires and wishes of life but we would be as loth and unwilling to die after that as ever And commonly the longer we live in the world the more craving and covetous are we of life and none is so ancient and gray-headed among us as to reckon himself too old to live but yet thinks he may hold out a year longer and still we have our little excuses and pretences of necessary work and businesse to require our longer stay and continuance here either children to bring up or a daughter to marry or an estate to settle or a family to provide for and the like Not considering that God Almighty has long since pointed out our lives to a day and peremptorily in the decrees of his immutable purpose and pleasure numbred out our years to the utmost possible minute and there is no dispensation or reprieve to be purchased from the grave but that soon die we must and be forced to yield up our lease of life here and whether willing or not willing at leisure or not at leisure it is all one to death for when that once summons we must render when that calls all businesse must be laid aside and we must go and this when or how long hence or how soon possibly it may be we cannot tell God knows And does it not concern all of us then to be in at Moses his request here and to be often practising this art of spiritual Arithmetick and continually counting and numbring up our dayes that so considering how many of our dayes are already past and gone from us we may come the more clearly to perceive how few are yet left and remaining and that every day we are a drawing nearer to the full term of our lives And then see the advantages of such meditations they must needs make us more thoughtful of heaven more provident for eternity more indifferent in our hopes and desires of a long life here In a word more frugal of our time more wary of sin more quick at our work neither will we dare then as too many of us now do to put it off from time to time and cast it still upon the uncertainty of another day not knowing whether possibly that may be ours or no. And if it should be yet sufficit diei malitia
Instar nihili even as nothing just as a point to the circumference of the widest circle and not so much as the smallest drop to the main Ocean Holy Iobs resemblance of our lives to a flower Chap. 14. 2. is elegant and very expressive which in the morning is green and groweth up but in the evening is cut down dryed up and withered see betwixt green and withered flourishing and fading growing up and cut down what a small space and distance of time there is but the respite of a day at most the space of a few hours at longest just such is the brevity and fadingnesse of our lives here Our growing up in the morning of our childhood our flourishing in the high noon of our mans estate and then soon after it growes to be evening with us and we begin to fall into our declensions and first our senses begin to droop next our memories to fail next our strength to decay and grow weak after that our heat to retire inward and thus we continue dying by little and little untill at length death comes with his Sickle and cuts down the flower and we die for good and all Oh that men would think seriously on these things doubtlesse it must needs make them more frugall of their time and mightily work them off of the world and make them lesse delighted and enamoured with this present life and daily more longing and desirous and thirsting after heaven where they shall be sure to have a longer time of stay and continuance and shall ever be with the Lord and not be thus hastily hurried and posted away as here they are When holy David would fain have obteined favour and respite from God Almighty he useth this very argument to him Psal 89. 47. Oh remember how short my time is In like manner were I to perswade any man unto piety and devotion unto abstinence and mortification unto a contempt of the world and a love and desire of heaven I should repeat over the same words unto him Oh man remember how short thy time is how few dayes thou hast to live in the world how little time to lay in thy provision and to doe thy work and businesse of Eternity oh then sin away none idle away none and if it were possible loose none of this precious time thou seest it is but short at most but a little in all and thou canst full ill spare any of it for sin and vanity which when best emproved is but just enough if indeed enough for thy work Herodotus relates a story of one Mycerinus King of Egypt who being told by the Oracle that he should live but twelve years longer used this device with himself he sits up all night and spends that whole time in feasting and jollity and thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sayes the story turning as it were his nights into dayes thought by this means he had doubled the number of his years and so cheated the Oracle Now the device of this heathen King I shall not commend unto you at this time especially not in this way and manner of practice but yet why may we not by the way borrow a Iewell of this Egyptian and emprove his policy into an item of seasonable instruction and admonition And howbeit I cannot premptorily tell any of you as the Oracle did him that yet within twelve years and ye shall all die yet this I think I may say how soon God knows but not long hence we our selves by experience and the example of others may probably conclude and know that it will be necessary for us to die and give over living any longer Oh then let us up and to work let us lay out providently and bestir our selves as speedily as may be to double the number of our dayes even by turning our nights into dayes Not in the manner of that heathen King in practises of excesse and intemperance but in exercises altogether of piety and devotion turning our nights of vanity into dayes of sobriety our nights of intemperance into dayes of mortification our nights of slumber and idlenesse into dayes of vigilance and diligence take it in the Apostles words Rom. 13. 11. Knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep let us cast off the works of darknesse and let us put on the armour of light Let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkennesse not in chambering and wantonnesse not in strife and envying But putting on the Lord Iesus Christ putting on his justifying righteousnesse by application of faith and putting on his sanctifying righteousnesse by imitation of practise and so doing we shall make a long life of a short As holy Hierom reports of one Nebridius a young man ad Salvinam Epist 9. In brevi aetate tempora multa complevit He continued but a little while here but yet lived a long life meaning as I suppose that the pietie of his life did farre surpasse and exceed the paucitie and tendernesse of his years Let this also suffice for the second importance of this dutie of numbring our daies implying Meditationem brevitatis an often meditation of the shortnesse and brevity of our lives A second importance is recogitatio incertitudinis a frequent recogitation of the inconstancy and uncertainty of our beings here to day and gone to morrow and what a next hour may bring forth or do hang over our heads every moment we cannot tell God knows The utmost that any present comfort or enjoyment can afford us is onely a probability of hope for to be sure certainty it affords none and we see the fairest hopes do many times miscarry in their issues not unlike promising blossomes either the frost nips them or the wind blows them down ere they can come to ripen into fruit and maturity Speras pecuniam sayes holy Augustine Enar. in Psal 3. 8. incertum est an proveniat speras filios incertum est an nascantur nati sunt incertum est an vivant vivunt incertum est an proficiant quocunque te verteris incerta sunt omnia Doest thou hope to be rich it is uncertain whether thou shalt grow to be so doest thou expect children it is uncertain whether they will be born are they born it is uncertain whether they will live do they live it is uncertain whether they will prove dutifull and towardly whether soever thou turnest thy self all things are uncertain Holy David doubtlesse in the midst of his great honour and prosperity thought himself very secure and certain for so if you will believe him he tells us Psal 30. 6. I said in my prosperity I shall never be removed but yet you see at what uncertainties he then stood and how soon the scene was changed with him and presently a new face of things appeared upon the stage vers 7. thou didst hide thy face from me and I was troubled Oh! that this meditation were deeply engraven on all our hearts and
feel the benefit and receive the comfort of them And questionlesse that peremptory promise Ioh. 20. 23. Quorumcunque peccata remiseritis whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted doe signifie much more then the bare complement of an indifferent usage and Ceremony The same day she departed which was Ianuary 26. about three a clock in the afternoon she sent for me four severall times to go to prayers with her thrice in the morning and once in the afternoon at which last time all her children one onely excepted which was not in Town were present and joyned in prayers together with us Soon after that I was called to her again to perform my last Ministeriall Office the recommendation of her soul into the hands of Almighty God and then indeed and not before her senses began to fail her and within few minutes after in much peace and sweetnesse she concluded her last breath I doe here willingly passe over many other most remarkable carriages of hers during the time of her sickness as her most Christian Charity her constant Devotion her stupendious Silence Patience even to a miracle the amazement of beholders Her perfect Weanednesse from the world her continuall thoughts and discourses of the joyes and happinesse of heaven and indeed in this latter God Almighty was exceeding gracious to her for she would often wish that if it might stand with the good will and pleasure of God as he dealt with his servant Moses and gave him a little before his death a sight and view of the land of promise so he would also some time before her departure hence vouchsafe her some sensible tastes and feelings of the joyes and happinesse of heaven And truly in this she had her request granted and God was in most signal manner as good to her as her desires for her soul was full of the glory of God and of the joyes and happinesse of heaven and she was in a manner caught up into Paradise and saw in her spirit strange sights and heard words of joy and peace not to be uttered and did sensibly feel new comforts every day breaking in fresh and more upon her soul and lived to see all her former fears vanished and doubts satisfied and objections answered and scruples resolved and hopes evidenced and in a word her whole mind most sweetly composed and settled into a heavenly posture of pious confidence and assurance so that now she had nothing left to do but to resolve with holy David Psal 4. 8. To lay her down in peace for the Lord had graciously made her to dwell in safety Accordingly a few dayes before her death she was pleased to utter her self to me in these or I am sure such like words Oh Sir what a gracious God have I how rich in his mercees towards me how favourable in his corrections of me The thing which I so greatly feared a painfull torturing death he has turned into ease and comfort And my wordly cares and thoughtfulnesse for the provision of my children he has also in great measure taken off of my hand And now what doe I lingring and tarrying here any longer all my work is done and the world has no further need of me why may I not forthwith goe to my God Is it not much better for me to be dissolved and to be with Christ These and such like heavenly sayings were her frequent and usuall discourses with me so that it was an exceeding joy and comfort to me when at any time she did send for me neither doe I know that I ever went to her and did not learn somewhat remarkable from her And indeed every speech and posture of hers was a most fruitfull Sermon to all those who had the happiness to attend about her to minister unto her did either hear the one or observe the other the one a visible Sermon of patience the other an audible Sermon of devotion But I see I am now entred into a large Field and may say with Elihu in Iob chap. 32. 18. I am full of matter and the spirit within me constraineth me And indeed I can very hardly wind my self out but I must have regard to my promise of brevity Take all therefore which I shall adde further in these few words and believe it they are not the words of vanity or flattery but of truth and soberness uttered in the fear presence of God I have in my time been with severall dying persons have seen their piety observed their patience taken speciall notice of their whole carriage and behaviour yet never in all my life did I see such an uniform Samplar of piety nor a whiter Soul return to its maker One thing was very notable and I beseech God to make us truly thankfull to him for it as being a most signall instance and evidence of his goodnesse to her and which indeed considering the condition of her disease may justly deserve the name of a miraculous mercy It was this Though her sicknesse as I said before was very painfull and grievous yet it pleased God for some dayes before her death to deliver her from any sense of pain at all so that she had her thoughts very free and at liberty and made a most Christian use and advantage of that freedome Yea when we and her self too by reason of the little rest which she took greatly feared that her sicknesse might at last grow into some kind of distemper It pleased Almighty God to secure her from that also so that she enjoyed her understanding and memory and all her senses very quick and perfect to the last even so long as she had any occasion or need to make use of them And thus have I at length given you the whole world in a Map a brief account and history of the holy Life and Death of our most excellent Lady See for all the world as she lived so she died she lived in peace and she died in peace her whole life here was as a man would say one continued act of piety and good works and as for her death that in like manner was a conclusion of most heavenly sweetnesse and comfort The Lord in mercy give us grace who survive so to frame our lives according to the example of her piety that when it shall come to our turns to die we also may share in like feelings of comfort All the farther application which I shall now make hereof is to you that are here present and particularly to those who were her dearest relations Her right Noble and Honourable Children most earnestly beseeching them to consider and call often to mind these pious Parents of theirs to endeavour to tread in their steps and to follow the example of their piety and not give themselves the liberty of committing those sins which they were so carefull to prevent or lightly neglect any of those wholsome customes practises whither in their private Closets or Families which they made
That whil'st in Millain Ambrose tarried there The Fiend durst not so much as once appear His very Absence plainly did confess And publish to the world his guiltiness He was afraid of that good man and why Not for his pow'rs sake but his piety Thus these Infernal workers of the Night Shun a Saint's presence as do Owls the Light Mirrour of Christians In whom equally Both Grace and Nature joyned Heads whereby To make one piece most Rare and Eminent Which should surmount what e're was excellent And that was Thee Ev'ry Celestial Grace Cent'ring in Thee as in it's proper place So that who e're would fain come near the best Must strive to equal Thee and that done rest How did thy well digested Family Resemble to the Life th' Oeconomy Of those Celestial spirits so that here A man might see how Angels govern'd were Avant Propanness Lewdness stand aloof Such Vermine must not think under this Roof To find a nesting place here 's Sanctuary For none but Saints and Heavenly Company Her Mornings work was first her Soul to dress Then next her Body with such comeliness As best beseems a Saint no Painting here No Crisping-pins no Curling of the Hair But all that sober dressing which S. Paul Enjoyns his Matrons and commends to all Pictures do shadows need and art but nature Shines most resplendent in her proper feature Next to her Mornings work her Family Took up the following Time 'till by and by Hark the Clock strikes then to Pray'rs we go Business must yield to Duty 'T is not so In all great Families but her blest mind Could else no Joy no Satisfaction find Nor could she think there would a Blessing be Where God hath not his Times as well as we Religion which some make a sport and play And others worse a Preface to make way To base designs a Silken Mask to hide VVhat otherwise dares not the Light abide Was her Delight her Joy her Recreation Her work her business her negotiation An early Saint she was she did not stay Or put off Duty 'till another day But fell to work with th' first knowing how vain It is to wish what can't be lent again And who would spend one minute carelesly Did he but understand that possibly The next may not be his or seriously Think what on each depends Eternity Eternity which grows still as it spends Like th' oil i th' vessel has nor bounds nor ends Blest Soul Heroick Saint who hadst within Besides thy Sex nothing was Feminine Crosses were no new things with thee th' had been Thy constant Lot for years thou hadst doth seen And felt what 't is to suffer Suffer sore Such suff'rings as had scarce been heretofore Thy Dearest Lord untimely hurry'd hence Not for his Crimes but his Allegiance He was too good to live had rather dye Then act ought which look't like Disloyalty Rebellion Rampant could not terrifie His High-born Soul Alas what 's Victory The cause being bad but thriving Villany Base-Coward Souls who know not to rise high But by inglorious acts a Capell-spirit Will learn you better arts true fame to merit Heroick suff'rings will entail a Name 'T is not the Death but Cause which brings the shame Scaffolds are Theaters the cause being good 'T is no disgrace to wade to Heav'n in bloud He might for 's Death-bed chose a Bed of Down 'T would have been softer true but less renown Heav'n was his aim which rather then to miss He chose the Axe to hugge the Block to kiss His shortest cut to Heav'n as things now stood Lay strait along through th'red sea of his bloud See how his Family thrives upon 't how all Do court Relation to that Name which shall Survive in honour when others memory Shall rot i' th' grave of lasting Infamy Could Tears retrive his precious Life we wou'd Threaten another Deluge and weep bloud But they 'r not Tears will weep him out of 's Bliss Spare then your sighs He 's better as he is With Charles the great stout Strafford Canterbury Bold Lucas daring Montross Company Which would an Angel from his seat of Bliss Invite though but t' enjoy such Happiness Rest then Blest Soul be Happy still and still Go on t' enjoy of them and Heaven thy fill And since we can't with teares re-call thy Fate We 'l strive by Acts thy Life to imitate Our Almanacks rather then want a Tombe Shall tell it forth Great Capell 's Martyrdome And was not that a Loss without compare Which with one fatal stroke did such a pair Part from each other Yet hold not parted quite They 'r met togeth'r again Death to requite That spightfull loss dispatch't her to her Bliss And marry'd them both again in Happiness And now great GOD whose Ruling Providence Doth reach to hairs and all thing here dispense Whose are our lives in whose hand are our deaths Who lengthen'st out stop'st at will our breaths Make the great Samplar of her Virtuous Life Of all our cares and thoughts the onely strife Let 's not for she did not our selves content Barely in being good but Excellent That of her Life a pious Imitation May bring us also to her habitation And sharing with her in like Graces here We may with her shine in her Glories There FINIS