proceed no farther but quietly lay thy hand on thy mouth and with the brethren in the Text 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rest satissied and give his Will no farther interruption or disturbance which brings my discourse and awakens your attention to the second considerable in the matter of my Text which comes now to hand 2. The Factum or what these 2. The second Branch the Factum brethren did in pursuance of what they said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we ceased The word in the Original is of a great latitude Ordinarily it is used to express a quiet silent calm and peaceable deportment without the least commotion in ones self or disturbance of others When Wars and Tumults are ended in a Nation that no person contrives or attempts new broils they are by the Greek Historians generally said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in this notion it may well sute here Whiles man desires one thing and God designs another there is as it were a war at least contest betwixt God and him whose will shall prevail but when we resign our wills and entirely rest in his then we do yield him the Victory and are at Peace with him But there is more in it than so For a conquered Nation may be at peace and free from creating any more broils not from any satisfaction in their condition but from-conviction of the bootlessness of stirring any more to alter it And therefore the Etymologists find something also in this word that imports an inward complacency and pleasedness of spirit in that condition wherein a man is thus quiet and peaceable For they tell us it comes from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that signifies inward 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 satisfaction delight and pleasure so that the Lesson which it learns us in this latitude is That he that duly submits to Gods 2. Observation will doth with unspeakable calmness tranquility and satisfaction of mind acquiesce therein A truly noble and Christianly It s Explication and Evidence Heroical frame of spirit this Doctrine expresseth which according to the former explication of the word includes two things to be endeavoured and laboured after by all Christians 1. An inward serenity and clearness of mind that like a calm after a storm doth motos compònere fluct us lay all the waves that rumpled Virg. and ruffled a mans soul whether from dissatisfaction of judgment or disorder of affections So that instead of tumultuating thoughts and tempestuous passions there is in the Soul of man so quieted what the Evangelist tells us Christs increpation reduced the winds and sea unto Mat. 8. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great calm And this to make it the more plain to you I shall shew in parts 1. A mans Judgment is reconciled to think well of the doings of God which before possibly he proudly and peremptorily censured and condemned and he is satisfied in them as most just and good whence the man is highly pleased in what God hath done as concluding that had it been left to himself to order he knew not how to have mended it in the least circumstance Thus did Hezekiah 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good faith he is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken and 't is remarkable that this word which he owns as so good was a severe threatning of the Prophet Isaiah from God that was to befall his Kingdom and posterity and yet he is reconciled to it in his Judgment And he repeats it again with the reason of his acquiescence in it with so high a satisfaction For he said moreover there shall be peace and truth in my daies Is 38. 8. or as it is rendred in the parallel place 2 Kin. 20. 19. Is it not good if peace and truth be in my daies q. d. However the Judgments threatned be severe to my posterity in whom I am deeply concerned yet there is more mercy in it than I could have expected seeing God hath lengthened out the tranquility of his Church and people during my time I am holy Prophet conscious of an offence brought home to me by thy ministry which deserved a worse Judgment and therefore I am highly pleased that God hath so mitigated his severity I could not with reason have wished a more moderate correction Thus did David 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when he cries out it is good for me that I have been afflicted q. d. I would not for all the world have been otherwise dealt with than God hath dealt with me in these my sad and doleful afflictions and persecutions from Saul and he gives a reason of it too because it learned him Gods statutes Ps 119. 71. and again he speaks his high approbation of Gods severities v. 75. I know O Lord that thy Judgments are right and that in much faithfulness thou hast afflicted mee thou hast discharged the part of a trusty faithful friend in all that thou hast inflicted upon me I know I had been worse if I had fared better Had God gratified my humour he had falsified his Trust his Covenant wherein he stands engaged to me to give grace and glory and detain no good thing from me Ps 84. 14. 34. 10. Will you see yet an higher approbation given to God in his severest Providences Look on Job then who when God had made him poor to a Proverb and that by several gradations and successive advances of afflicting providences and those arriving at his knowledge by several frighted Messengers one after another which is among men accounted the greatest addition of torture that can be to destroy a man gradually that he may sentire se mori be sensible of every approach of death distinctly yet he falls on his face and worships the Lord and saies The Lord hath given the Lord hath taken he acknowledgeth the justice of his proceedings he had done him no wrong to call for his own back again and he proceeds I must have left them shortly for I must have returned naked to the Earth my Mother whence I was taken and God hath but taken them from me a little sooner Blessed be the name of the Lord. This last now is an high word to bless God for such losses shews the judgment to be satisfied in the inflicting of them as in the greatest of Mercies Methinks I hear him descanting upon this plain-song thus Blessed be God that hath taken so effectual a course to wean me from the world and to bring me to an entire acquiescence in himself for my only portion as this the leaving me nothing else to rival him in my affections Blessed be that sharp affliction which instead of letting out my heart blood hath only lanced an Imposthume Blessed be the name of the Lord that hath taken from me the rack and strappado of my anxious thoughts the fewel of my lusts the snares of my heart the canker of my graces the matter of my temptations the clogg of
Divine To run all Graces o're in short transact Were but t'epitomize her fuller act To speak them one by one were but in vain The project of whose soul 's the Counterpain She was the Cittadel and center'd all That we can either Good or Gracious call Nature Art Grace contesting gently striv'd Which of them had her more embelished At length admiring all they cease the strift For her in whom all had their equal thrift This threefold Fabrick so compos'd in one Man could not judge which had Dominion The last was that indeed which seem'd to sway And Crown her morals to her dying day Clotilda's dead and so 's Eudoxia Mariamne likewise and Pulcheria Choice Ladies in their daies without offence And fawning laid aside here lies the sence And meaning of them all In finer mint By how much more there 's truth of Vertue in 't Mirrour of Ladies Virgin Wife and Child For ev'ry stage so congruously compil'd 'T was hard to tell which was her nobler part She acted all with such prudential Art Flattery she hated as that base result Of worthlesse spirits truth was her grand consult If Priest and People do not flatter some First falls a frown then next their day of doom What some the Crest she counted Pest of honour They must speak truth that any thing spake on her Her beauty was her own Nor needed more Her amorous dressings were for inward store She left the gaudy Plumes and Paints for those Decoy's that have no other worth than clothes And face like Pageants to be seen and shown With those oft borrowed trappings not their own Let others trim their out-sides she made sure To polish that which Heav'n was toimmure As she thus liv'd so thus she left her breath Making her dying life her living death Tabellae Catastrophe sive Corollarium Elegiacum Ask ye why so small Grace i' th' world is found 'T is because so much Grace is here intomb'd Surely she scarce had Peer nor scarce will have But those who went before her to the Grave 'T was she made up the sacred number seven All Saints on earth together now Saints in Heav'n What more contributes Glory upon earth Than t' nurse a Constellation every birth And what more calms the spirit when passions high Than signals which make good this Charity Wrong not my Faith their honour'd Lord though dead Lives t' wear this seven-star'd Coronet on his head Well since to Heav'n they all have made such hast Let the rest longer stay but go at last Where Hierarchies will welcome them with more Joy than with grief we can their losse deplore Epitaphium succincte digestum Tears are the common pledge then to this fall Bring tears of mirrhe and balm or none at all Acquit the debt we cannot for here lies That which we lost but what we cannot prize Disburse what store we can the more we may And pay that o're again we paid to day Deposite to the utmost drop yet still There 's more behind for what 's invalu'ble A richer Piece on earth could we not find Were it the pensil could pourtray the mind But since with that our eies can't here be blest We 'l draw the curtain leave her to her rest Sic ex animo defleuit Jo. Rosse TO THE SACRED And Spotless MEMORY OF THAT RIGHT HONOURABLE LADY THE LADY ELISABETH LANGHAM DECEASED POets and Priests were anciently ally'd So neere in blood that one same name did hide Or rather signifie both Functions and They still like brethren solemn mourners stand Here at this Noble Herse th' imbalming's sweeter That 's made of Preachers Prose and Poets Meeter Not for to add but onely to proclame The Odor of her Vertues and her Name Which now her earthen Case or Box is broken Like the Nard Pistick in the Gospell spoken Fills not some private Room with fragrant smell But sweetens and delighteth all that dwell Within the Circuit of those neighb'ring places That blest were with the perfume of her Graces Who was as Good as Great as Chast as Wise Borne this debauched age for to chastise By her example to teach Wives t' amend And know their Husbands only for their friend She bad our wanton Madams all avant With Paint and Patches and their high Ga-lant Bad them for shame of Womanhood forbear Thus to outface chaste Vertue and take care They shame not both the Pulpit and the Stage To touch upon the ryots of this Age Acting such horrid crimes even at high noon As none dare touch with Tongs but foul Lampoon But when she saw these sulph'rous flames encrease In spight of Med'cins neither quench nor cease Loathing this black * Stye of lust Seraglio up she high's Into the Snowy * Sanctuary of vertue Nunn'ry of the Sky's Carry'd in fiery Char'ot fitt's her mind 'T is but her Mantle we have left behind Where the great King of Vertues doth her grace And thus bespeaks her in that blessed place In Cassiopeia's Chaire come sit thee down Rest And on thy head weare Ariadnes Crowne Glory There with sweet peace and joys Coelestiall Feast blessed Soul the Guerdon due to all Pure Hearts that scorned to obey the sense Like Vassalls to that Beast Concupiscence For they whose Spirits here did not incline To serve the Flesh like Bruits are now Divine S. Bold Upon the Death of the RIGHT HONOURABLE The LADY ELISABETH LANGHAM THe joy of Angels whom the World beheld Like to a blazeing Pattern that exceld In shineing Vertues and in Graces pure Adorn'd with Modesty that would endure The touchstone and the test of heavenly fire So dear that Saints did her sweet soul admire Even she whose amiable Sanctity And chastest Amiableness did vie And far out-vie the vertuous Presidents Of ancient and of modern Matrons Lent A lustre of most glorious Piety With faith and patience joyn'd in amity Even she whose life a perfect coppy wrote Of Righteousness cloath'd with an holy coate Whose stedfast faith and patience did conspire By wisdome holy zeal to set on fire Who never thought her time was better spent Then in his service who her life had lent Even she whose lovely Glances did enthrall Her Dcarest's phancy and engaged all Her to admire and bless his happy Fate Within whose armes such peereless beauties sate She lov'd her God in him her Husband she Lov'd with a pure and holy chastitie Even she who while below did live above Is gone to dwell with Christ the God of Love Her earthly Husband she hath left below Her Husband-Maker now doth her bestow The world hath lost a Coppy he a Wife Whose vertues cloath'd his Love with heavenly life Sure happy she Then let true love aspire To bear that loss that perfects her desire 'T was here to serve her God in holy Love In Glory then to reign with him above Long was she pressing now the Marke hath hit Press to the same You may enjoy her yet If not after a carnal manner yet With holy habits you your self may fit In time with her in heavenly place to fit Have care no discontent your entrance let Though loosers as we pray yet say we must Thy Will be done though our Joy lies in dust This Lady and her high borne thoughts are flow'n Unto her heavenly kindred doth them owne Whose teeming womb shew'd she was loth to mount To her great God upon a singl account Her noble birth you counted honour here Out of Your bed two soules are honour'd there Your loss t is by her gaines quite weighed down You want her presence she hath gain'd a Crown A Crown of endless Glory Let that cheare Your drooping spirits Seek to meet her there Let her advancement be to you a pawne That in her happiness your hopes do dawn Let Patience have her perfect work so we Entire and perfect lacking nought shall be Impatience may provoke it cannot gaine Grief-healing Med'cines but increaseth pain Increase in love to God who doth assure That all shall work for good that work endure These Meditations and the like I here Do to your soul commend with filial fear Least you should him provoke whose Goodness lent The light of her most holy President To guide your steps into the pathes of bliss March in those pathes of joyes You cannot miss S. Newton Upon the much Lamented DEATH of the RIGHT HONOURABLE The LADY ELISABETH LANGHAM Lately Deceased FArewell Conglobate Vertue You are gone To be some Glorious Constellation One Star is but a taper to your light A Glowe-worm when your Virtues come in sight Had Plato seen you ripe his wish had grown And virtue visible he might have shown Your Souls symmetry had old Poets known Th' had chang'd their trine of Graces into one Now Archimedes spheare shall useless grow Your acts the heavenly motions better show What Honour all men give to vertues shrine To best examples we will give to thine Since you are Virtues standard we will be Procrustes like without his tyranny By yours like to his bed we measure shall Our Actions er'e we them do virtue call Alex. Jones In Obitum Nobilissimae Dominae Dominae ELISABETHAE LANGHAM AVdiat Vtopiae rudis incola cujus ad aures Nondum pervenit nobilis historia Tam celebris Dominae reputetur anonymus iste Qui tantum nomen nesciat aut taceat Conarer frustrà meritas tibi dicere laudes Maxima quum nequeunt id satis ingenia Defunctae tenuis calamus ne detrahat ejus Vita nil potuit pulchrius exprimere Caelebs dum mansit cunctis virtute praeivit Vxorem nullam novimus esse parem In terris coelo charissima vixit inter Aethereos proceres jam tenet aureolam Annos excessit pietas tamen altius urgens In coelis tandem purior emiâ—uit Quare ue doleat conjux bane esse beatam Sed quod nulla sibi quae foret aequa manet John Davis FINIS
nearest of Relation to insinuate the most ardent and affectionate desires of Imitation as those which through proximity of bloud have the assistance of something of natural to endear them to the Affections the help of frequent and familiar converse to imprint them in the memory and lastly the Evidence gathered from constant observation to justifie to the Judgment the reality of that Beauty which appears in them in all Dresses against the suspicions of Auxiliary tinctures wherewith our uncharitableness usually burdens the most resplendent vertues of those that are meer Strangers to us And for a close may the God of all Grace so bless them with an increase of all gracious qualities that they may all rise up into the like reputation of singulat Instances and Examples of Christian Perfection with Her that is gone before them and yet manage their growth so thriftily for us that by a precocious maturity they may not precipitate their removal from us that this profligate Age may be the longer blessed with such living Convictions and Reproofs of its desperate viciousness and themselves enjoy the more ample opportunity of advancing the Comfort of their Friends and their own Reward These Requests as there is none who prefers them on your hehalf with more zealous affection so I dare confidently affirm there is none that shall find himself more obliged to be thankful for the Answer of them than Right Honourable Your most humble servant in the work of the Lord Jesus Simon Ford. Northampton Oct. 20. 1664. ΗΣΥΧΙΑ ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑÎΟΥ OR A CHRISTIAN'S ACQUIESCENCE In all the Products of DIVINE PROVIDENCE c. Acts 21. 14. And when he would not be perswaded we ceased saying The will of the Lord be done THis Text as it relates to The Coherence of the Text. the History whereof it is parcel contains the reception given by the Christians at Caesarea to that peremptory denial which they received from St. Paul to their importunate disswasion of him from going to Jerusalem where one Agabus a Prophet the same in likelihood whose true Prediction of a Famine in the daies of Claudius Caesar is mentioned Acts 11. 28. had foretold that he should run an hazard of his Liberty at least if not of his Life also consequently seeing so eminent a Propagator and Propugner of Christianity as he being once in his Enemies hands could not probably expect less from them than utmost extremities This denial you have recorded v. 13. He answered what mean ye to weep and break my heart for I am ready not only to be bound but to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus His Answer speaks him Man and Christian As a Man he shews himself moved with their Affections but as a Christian he declares himself not to be removed from his Resolutions He hath an heart so much flesh as to be affected tenderly with their kindness but so much flint or steel rather as to receive no impression from their Counsel For the first words of my Text tell you that he would not be perswaded And herefore seeing he would not the Brethren as passionate as they were in their importunities had grace enough to conquer nature and perswade themselves to cease their suit as apprehending an intimation of Gods will to the contrary of what they so earnestly desired from the impregnableness of that heart which they saw held out with so noble a resolution against the batteries of so many united prayers and tears They are loath to contest any farther where they see God and Grace of a Party against them and therefore they raise the siege cease their sollicitations and unanimously say The will of the Lord be done A short Text beloved but that A brief Descant on the Text. which contains a long Lesson to be studied and practised the longest day of your lives an easie Text but comprehending an hard Task one of the hardest in all the compass of Christianity viz. the most high and heroical duty of a full absolute and perpetual resignation of our selves and all our concernments to the soveraign pleasure of Almighty God Indeed every word in the Text iscite habere n corde quod nis homo habet in linâ— Quod vult us hoc agat Ipsa lingua popularis est leâ—umque sed doctrina salutatis In Ps 32. is practically hard but one and that is saying which is so easie that St. Austin told his people long since that these Forms The Will of the Lord be done and let the Lord do his pleasure c. are lingua popularis common discourse wherefore he adviseth them to learn to get this lesson by heart which every one was able to say by rote and then they should find Doctrina salutaris an wholsom and saving Doctrine contained in it 1. And first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is an hard word to be cordially pronounced by sinful flesh and blood Man in his lapsed estate is loath to own any Lord over him Psal 12. 4. what they conceit they are Jer. 2. 31. every one would fain be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Lord to himself independent even upon God himself so as to need to come no more at him as there the Phrase is And that this Lesson is of no mean difficulty appears in that God near eighty times in the Scripture tells men he will be at extraordinary pains to learn it them sometimes by mercies and otherwhiles by Judgments in this common Phrase Yee shall know that I am the Lord. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Will of this Lord is yet an harder word to be practically conned Generally men are enemies to Arbitrary Power and Government by will even in God himself Let him rule by known Laws and Presidents only provided that withal he be responsible to the High Court of humane Reason for what he doth and admit every mans particular Reason to be of the Quorum and sit as Judge in the Court upon these conditions it may be he may be received as a Titular Lord among the Sons of Men. But so to own him as a Lord as to leave him free to do what he pleaseth in Heaven and Earth and in all deep places even in Hell it self Psal 135. 6. to have all the world at his sole beck without suffering any one to reply against him Rom. 9. 20. to have as absolute an unaccountable power over all things as the Potter hath over the clay v. 21. this is an had saying as they say in another case John 6. 60. and who can endure to hear it 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let this absolute will be done is not one jot easier for mans heart to utter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may possibly go down with us Gods will when it is done and no man can help it necessity will enfore men to swallow after a Fashion because it is in vain to attempt to re-call yesterday to render factum infectum what is done not to have been done But Friends
this will not serve there is more in this word than so This 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports our free and voluntary Vote both of consent when it is to be done and of approbation and applause when it is done Now surely this is hard To give God our Fiat before-hand to the doing of that will of his which it may be tends to the undoing of our selves and to subscribe to it when done as done to our mindes yea so done as it could not be better done and this not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of constraint but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 willingly not as a man bestowes his Goods upon the Waves in a Storm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with an unwilling will but as a man parts with his money for a good purchase to acquiesce as satisfied in it not with a canina patientia as Tertullian and Bernard call it a Doggs patience a patience perforce but with a patientia Christiana a true Christian patience grounded upon choice in this sence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though Englished is Greek still to most men and non potest legi an hard chapter and few can read it 4. Lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We ceased comes behind none of the rest for difficulty To calme all our passions and the expressions of them in whatever kind and be still as God bids the tumultuous World Ps 46. 10. and Christ the tempestuous Sea Mark 4. 39 to take up our Cross cheerfully and make no words of it how un-easie soever it sit not to deprecate the least circumstance of that Providence which grates most close upon our dearest Interests and Concernments and in Thought Speech and Behaviour to shew that our spirits enjoy a perfect calme not so much as the least wrinkle of a wave remaining upon them where is the man that will be perswaded that this Yoke is easie and this Burthen light Mat. 11. 30. And yet as hard a Lesson as this is the Disciples in the Text had learned it and I hope ere these Sands be spent so will You too at least as to your judgments and Consciences for God alone can disciple Passions so that you shall be convinced that these Brethren said well and did better and therein confess that you are bound to say and do so too ecchoing from your hearts and lives to every providence of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Will of the Lord be done The words offer themselves to The Parts of the Text. be handled in a double capacity 1. In the Matter 2. In the Form of them First The Matter of them is the carriage of these Christians of Caesaria upon the occasion before-mentioned which farther may be sub-divided into I. Dictum what they said to wit The will of the Lord be done II. Factum What they did in conformity to this saying they Ceased that is fotbore to sollicit their sute any further Secondly the Form of them and that consists in the Historical Relation of both by the appointment of Gods Spirit from the Pen of St. Luke who himself as appears by the Relation it self running in the Plural We ceased was pars magna had a great share in all the passages of this part of St. Pauls Story These two parts we will handle The first Part handled I. The Matter of the Text. 1. Its first Branch the Dictum distinctly beginning with I. The Matter or substance of the Text wherein first comes to hand 1. The Dictum What these Brethren said Fiat voluntas Domini The Will of the Lord be done And this learns us this Observation That When Gods revealed will and ours so clash and enterfere 1. Observation that both of them cannot be done it is a necessary piece of Christian duty for us to vayle our wills to Gods Say not this is false Logick to infer a general Rule from a particular Example For that is not a particular example which though particular persons only be concerned in yet bears a conformity with a Principle universally owned by Christians and recorded as congruous to that Principle by the appointment of the Holy Ghost for the imitation of others These Brethrens practise was produced by this Principle and therefore warrantably may this Principle be concluded from their practise To the more clear handling of Explained this Point it will be needful according to the intimation given you therein to distinguish of the will of God under the different considerations of secret and revealed The secret will of God is a Rule by which he alone acts the revealed will of God is that that we are to manage our selves by Secret things belong only to God but those things that are revealed belong to us and to our children Deut. 29. 29. The secret will of God therefore as and whiles it continues locked up in the Cabinet of his own breast to which he alone keeps the Key upon that very account because we neither do nor can know it obligeth not us farther than as it stands in a capacity to be revealed and in this capacity it requires from us a general implicite hypothetical and dispositive submission onely i. e. an holy disposition inclination and purpose of heart to submit to it whenever it shall come to be signified and revealed But the will of God once actually revealed requires a particular express actual and positive submission of us The secret will of God whiles such may be lawfully prayed against and acted against otherwise all Prayers must be sinful which God thinks not fit to grant and all courses of humane providence unlawful which prove unsuccessful an assertion so absurd that no sober Christian will own it Yea more the will of God even when expressed and signified to us that I mean which concerns the inflicting any evil upon us or ours if it be expressed only conditionally or though it may be delivered in absolute terms yet may according to the Tenor of the Scripture be warrantably supposed to imply a Condition we may both pray against and by all other pious and prudent courses 2 Sam. 12. 22. Jon. 3. 8 9. Is 38. 1 2. labour to prevent Of which we have at least three known Instances in the Scripture in the several Cases of David Hezekiah and the King of Nineveh And the reason hereof is because in such Cases the will of God revealed being not peremptory and absolute is fulfilled on the one hand even by its frustration upon the performance of the Conditions upon which it was suspended as it would on the other by taking place according to the commination in case the Conditions supposed be not performed So David and the King of Nineveh both argue For who can tell whether God will be merciful c. And in this manner it is probable the Brethren in the Text understood the Prophecy of Agabus labouring to prevent it whiles they saw no cause to conclude it absolute and irrevocable and till they perceived by the
these instances it is evident that to advance our wills into competition with Gods not entirely to conform them to his destroys the whole frame of our salvation wrought by Christ so that it must be as inconsistent a thing to hope to be saved by Christ and yet to design the reservation of our own wills to ourselves as to expect the House stand firm when we dig up the foundation that bears the whole building And now let me ask thee thou peevish passionate self-willed Creature what canst thou so much as pretend to free thee from the shame of so many absurd self-condemning inconsistencies and contradictory absurdities Object Object Wilt thou say thou art willing to submit thy will to Gods so far as thou canst in reason be satified concerning it But whiles thy Reason dissents thy will that is managed according to that which Reason dictates cannot consent Such and such particulars in the government of the world and the managery of thine own private concerns thou canst not but think might have been ordered better otherwise thou hopest God will not be angry with thee if thou reason the case with him as Jeremy did chap. 12. 1. in order to thine own satisfaction Generously said and much like a Answ Man but I must tell thee too little savouring of a Christian Thou wouldest have God satisfie thy Reason what Reason dost thou mean thy carnal Reason That must not be satisfied but subdued and every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sublime notions and acute argumentations of it must be reduced into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10. 5. meanest thou thy renewed sanctified Reason The very genuine property thereof is to be satisfied in every thing God doth eo nomine upon no other ground but this that he did it Ps 30. 9. The notions that it hath of Gods wisdom goodness justice soveraignty c. before Sit pro omnibus rationibus actor Deus Salv. de Gub. Dei L. 3. mentioned are to it instead of all Reasons to sway it into an humble subjection yea prostration to his will and pleasure Again Thou wilt have thy Reason satisfied But when will that be That Reason which Gods pleasure will not satisfie nothing else will satisfie for besides the pride which naturally men take in censuring especially their betters which alone would produce innumerable cavils so that the great Creator of the world as Tertullian saies to Marcian would be able to do nothing that would not yield matter of censure to these Quid faceret Creator ne a Marcionitis reprehenderetur Tert. Adv. Marc. L. 2. censores divinitatis but upon every turn they would presume to tell him sic non debnit Deus sic magis debuit so he should not have done and so he might have done better I say besides the pride that humane Reason would take in cavilling the self-love also that is naturally in every man would after God had offered the utmost satisfaction prompt him to hold the conclusion pertinaciously when beaten by the strongest conviction out of both the premises applauding his own sophistry above Divine demonstration Lastly Thou wouldest bedealt with as a man and have thy Reason satisfied And shall God have done when he hath satisfied thee will he not find all the world alike desirous of satisfaction with thee And is there not as much reason for every one to desire it as for any one For what can be urged why thou shouldest obtain it which may not as well be pleaded for all the men in the world If then the Creator of the world shall be obliged to satisfie all mankind in all that he doth what an impossible task would this prove Do not mens Judgments differ as much as their Faces and will not that that will satisfie one upon that account dis-satisfie thousands So that still thou art absurd in thy Demands and instead of being answered by Reason deservest as Job did when he was much in thy strain to be answered out of a whirlwind Job 38. 1. But thou wilt say it may be it Object is but a small thing that I desire to be gratified in I am contented to leave the main government of the world to God and not only so but my own particular concerns as to the substance and all that I would have submitted to my will amounts to no more than the alteration of a few circumstances Losses I could submit to but this pincheth me that they befall me in such an enjoyment which I could worst spare in such a manner such a measure such a time by such instruments And would it not be a small matter for God to gratifie me in these petty things Mistake not thy self friend in Answ calling this a small matter No Magnapetis Phaethon proud Creature these are great things far greater than thou apprehendest 'T was a great offer that Herod made the Daughter of his Minion Herodias when he bad Mar. 6. 23. her ask to the half of his Kingdom But thy demands herein to thy God are greater than his offer For thou askest not half only but the far better half of Gods Kingdom For although circumstances in a metaphysical consideration be but small things the meer garments or less it may be trimmings of an action yet in a moral consideration these garments are more worth than the body these trimmings than the stuff For the circumstances here make a thing what it is Such an action as God cloaths it with circumstances is just and good alter the circumstances thou alterest the nature of it as he circumstantiates it it is the Physick of thy Soul wisely compounded for thy cure let thy private will be but admitted to leave out or alter one scruple of the Ingredients and this Physick will become thy Poyson Besides be thy Demands as thou fanciest but small yet still they are demands and therefore in this respect great matters because upon the refusal of them thou resolvest it seems to hold out the Fort of thy Heart in Rebellion against thy Maker The smaller the Terms are in this case the greater thy disloyalty who upon such small terms suspendest yea denyest thy Allegiance to thy Lord and Soveraign Know therefore for a close of this point that thou art absurdly impertinent in all thy pretensions against the equity of this Duty the resignation of thy will universally to the will of God For herein Heathens themselves condemn thee thine own avowed principles of Christianity confute thee yea thy own Reasons and Arguments to the contrary militate against thee And therefore thou hast nothing more to do if thou wilt not do amiss but to lie down Jer. 3. 25. in thy shame and repent thee with holy Job after a like sawcy debate with his Maker in dust and Job 40. 4 5. 42. 3 6. ashes acknowledging that thou hast medled with what thou understoodest not and therefore wilt
Rivers to their Fountains which Heathen Antiquity alwaies honoured with a kind of Divinity for blessing the world with so plentiful and lasting a succession of beneficial streams The descent therefore of this precious Lady was from an eminently noble Family the House of Huntingdon the Earldom whereof hath continued so long in the name of HASTINGS that by meer Age it hath worn out most of those that preceded in the Catalogue of English Earls and now in the Person of her hopeful Brother sets its foot upon the seaventh Round from the very Top of that scale of Honour And yet this humble Lady whiles she lived made so little reckoning thereof that she was never known either in word or carriage to shew any elation of spirit upon that account which would have tempted many others to divers disdainful and insolent extravagancies Nor was she ever observed discontentedly to behold her self exceeded by the affected pomps of Equipage and Retinue of divers inferiour to her in Quality as desiring not to contend with any in so extravagant a vanity as that which besides its offensiveness to others would be needlesly burdensome to her Husband Yea when her Husband sometimes modestly excused the tenuity of the condition she had espoused by marrying where she found an Heir in being to a great part of the Estate in comparison of what she descended from she would interrupt that discourse with professing the high satisfaction she took to find her self in such a state of life wherein she had both liberty and assistance to all works of severe Piety and withall the addition of an honourable and comfortable worldly competency The consideration whereof hath prevailed with me to pass over this head with so slight a touch And yet I could not but touch it partly for the lasting honour of that noble Family to which it may be some accession to have yielded the world so eminent an example of all manner of vertue and partly that in so notable an Instance this dreggy age of ours base enough indeed of it self but withal too much sowred into a contempt of nobility by the scandalous debaucheries of too many nobilia portenta as Valerius Maximus calls the degenerous Issue of the famous old Romans whose noble extractions serve for nothing else but to make their vices more notable may be convinced that at least some noble ones are called 1 Cor. 1. 26. and that vertue and grace may be grafted on a stock of Honour the same person being as St. Austin said of Demetrias both nobilis genere Epist ad Prob. Julian and nobilior sanctitate ennobled by the first birth but more by the second having both that nobility that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that bloud in the veins which is extracted from many noble and Princely Families and that grace in the heart which is no less than semen Dei the seed of God received from the regeneration of the Holy Ghost Her Education under which I comprise the greatest part of her time for she was not much above a year a Wife was in a School or rather Academy of Learning and Nursery of Vertue I mean the constant inspection and converse of her watchful Mother the now Countess of Huntingdon from whose great Parts and Graces she received in her soul that vis plastica which formed her into so eminent a both Woman and Christian Under ber she enjoyed an education for the most part in a religious retiredness which she hath often blessed God for as that which not only secured her from the knowledge of any vice by domestical example no such Citius nos corrumpunt vitiorum exempla domesticae Juv. Sat. thing daring to shew it self under that noble Ladies Government but also removed her from the very news of what evils were acted abroad so that she had the happiness Neque Pelopidarum facta neque nomen audire to be ignorant of the viciousness of other great personages even by hearsay And as for those Principles that might qualify her for a vertuous life as she had the opportunity of learning them from the practises of those she conversed withall so also and chiefly thence from the grave instructions of her said Lady-Mother who that the whole compass of her duty might be the more firmly impressed into memory took the pains to digest all the parts of it into Verse whereby she both consecrated an excellent vein of Poetry of her own and in the most facile manner insinuated them into the hearts and heads of both her and her Lady-Sisters Whence it is the less to be wondred at that she found her comfort in all of them to grow with their years but especially in this Lady who had a Soul so pliable and ductile to receive the impressions of so excellent a stamp as appeared by the proportionable improvements which she attained in every stage of her Life as we come now to relate And first For her Child-hood though I know Tully is reported to have said that it is the most difficult Est res diffieilis laudare puerum c. In fragm undertaking in all Oratory to commend a child because the most that can be said in such a case is rather spes than res matter of future expectation than present existence yet I shall tell you those realities even of that tender Age as had something of rare excellency in them besides the presage of what they promised for the future It is noted as a rare thing in young Timothy by Saint Paul himself that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from a very suckling he had known the holy Scriptures 2 Tim. 3. 15. and from that precocious piety it is no wonder if we hear of certain 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prophetical predections that ushered him into the worlds observation as he grew up 1 Tim. 1. 18. ghesses it is likely what so pregnant a Child would grow to in time Nor was it less noted in this excellent Lady how early the seeds of true piety and devotion put forth not only into blade but blossom also and fruit insomuch that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too such impressions of the fear of God possessed her heart as made her a diligent performer of Religious Duties and a strict observer of the Lords Day to a degree of exactness beyond most persons and yet not beyond the Rule Is 58. 13. insomuch that she would neither discourse nor willingly hear others discoursing of any common or ordinary matters on that day And as she grew into more capacity so to this negative strictness she added a positive conformity to the rules of severest godliness in this particular not only hearing the word preached but digesting it by meditation and conference into her daily conversation being no less studious on that day especially to learn the mysteries of practical godliness than in those of the rest of the week to furnish her self with what other knowledge tended
and Good Noble and Humble met Learned and Modest Wit without Deceit That skil in Scriptures and in Tongues she got Made her a living Bible Polyglot These did not puff her up she did descend To the kind Offices of Wife and Friend Mother and Sister as if Ethicks were Not so much taught her as transcrib'd from her Oh what a glorious Creature and how rare A Saint 't would be that had what she could spare Where hath she left her Equals now in fame But in the Noble House from whence she came Too small alas where Vertues sacred Fire Retires in Embers Oh may 't ne're expire Dark Lanthorn of the most resplendent Light There is the Goshen all the rest is Night Alas our Pharos is blown out of late By which we did prosperously Navigate And trade both Indies for more precious wealth A nobler Traffique with Heav'n and her self But whilst we did expect so rich a Cargo Death on the sudden made this sad Imbargo We only expect a restitution there Where Saints shall be reveal'd th' Revelation clear William Langham An Elegy Upon the RIGHT HONOURABLE And MOST INCOMPARABLE LADY The Lady ELIZABETH LANGHAM Who departed this life March 28. 1664. COme sacred Muse assist my Quill With somewhat of your learned Skill Inspire my Fancy from on high Who to Parnassus ne'r came nigh Fear not the spleen of Criticks eie For Momus censure I defie Egg'd on with Duty Love and Zeal My unpractiz'd Muse I will reveal Look not for much from a small store She that gives all can give no more Proclaim I do our own sad Fate By what has faln out of late The Sun which makes a perfect Day Its influence took from her bright Ray Who while she here did make her stay Each minute had more worth than Day Belov'd admir'd ador'd by all No equal had since Adam's fall Descended of a Noble Line A Vertuosa most Divine The Royal blood ran in her veins And guiltless did admit no stains Her Fame was great and of Renown She to her Husband was a Crown No sand of time did e're slip by Without its action sweet as high Improving all the cost was spent On her Large souls ennoblement Of such a body as might vye With glorious ones in purity When she her eie-lids did display The Sun asham'd made hast away And we might see the Day-star rise Within the circuit of her eies Alone she stood in her bright sphear Not to be matched far or near All Beauties which might bless the sight Mixt with transparent Vertues light At once producing love and awe Her souls perfection had no flaw Discerning thoughts but a calm breast Most apt to pardon needing least Strict mild and humble great and good As all her Friends well understood Most pious in her life and death A Pattern to her latest breath Heav'n could not brook the earth should share A Pearl of such a Price so rare So good so wise so chast so blest Angels alone can speak the rest God took her hence betimes lest we Should fall to flat Idolatrie Anne Lumley Upon The much Lamented Death Of That most vertuous and Incomparable LADY ELIZABETH Daughter of the RIGHT HONOURABLE FERDINANDO Lord HASTINGS Earl of HUNTINGDON And Wife to the RIGHT WORSHIPFUL Sr. JAMES LANGHAM PAss not but wonder and amazed stand At this sad Tomb for here inclosed lie Such rare perfections that no tongue or hand Can speak them or pourtray them to the eie Such was her body such her soul divine Which hence ascended here hath left this shrine To tell her Princely birth and high descent And what by noble Huntingdon is meant Transcends the Heralds Art beyond the rules Of Ore or Argent Azure or of Gules To that Nobility her Birth had given A second added was deriv'd from Heaven Thence her habitual goodness solid worth Her piety her vertues blazon forth Her for a pattern unto after ages To be admir'd by all exprest by sages Who whilst they write of her will sadly sorrow That she did not survive to see their morrow So good in all Relations so sweet A Daughter such a loving Wife discreet A Mother though not hers not partial She lov'd as if they had been natural To the Earl and Ladies she a sister rare A Friend where she profest beyond compare Her hours were all precisely kept and spent In her devotions and her studies meant To share some for her languages which she In Latine French Italian happilie Advanced in with pleasure what do I Recount her parts her Memory speaks more Than what can be or hath bin said before It asks a Volume rather than a Verse Which is confined only to her Herse But now blest Soul She is arriv'd at Heaven Where with a Crown of life to her is given A new transcendent Name to th' world unknown Not writ in marble but the Saints white Stone Inthron'd above the stars with glory crown'd Enstal'd with bliss and Hallelujah's sound Bathshua Makin On the MEMORY Of the RIGHT HONOURABLE And VERTUOUS LADY The Lady ELIZABETH Late Wife to the worthy Sr. JAMES LANGHAM KNIGHT HIghly descended born of noblest bloud Yet one who Great was not more Great than good Skill'd in the Languages and in the Arts Acquired learning added to good parts Humble Grave modest and of temper sweet Wise to keep silence when as it was meet And knowing how as well to speak in season And then to guide her tongue with grace reason In place of a good Lady dead to come And so well to fill up the Vacuum By acting so the Wife and so the Mother One would have thought she had not bin another Acting both so as if the very same Mother and Wife deceas'd were come again So full of all the tend'rest love and care To two sweet Children which another bare To Husband so obsequious and so sweet In carriage that an help more meet He could not have And as to each Relation Wondrous obliging in her Conversation The meanest person That would not contemn That rashly would not any one condemn Who alwaies would interpret in best sense What others use to rack with violence Easie to pardon other's faults and yet Severe in those laws which t' her self she set One to the poor that did draw forth her soul So much their pinching wants she would condole What time some of her Rank do set a part To Cards and Plays who spent to search her heart To read and pray and to converse with God With whom she hop'd once for a blest abode The Sun did not more duly set and Rise Than she kept constant to this Exercise The Lords Day was her joy his word her meat Which she not only Read and Heard but Eat But where 's the Subject unto which this throng Of Epithets and Adjuncts doth belong Is she i' th' Land of Living Alas No She might have been seen here some months ago She was How sad a word 's this
's fled unto her Crown Here was not Earth enough to weigh her down But that there is none perfect here I know I should go nigh to say that she was so Sir shall I write or must I here forbear Least every line I write cost You a Tear I have of Her great Deeds collected some The Margent of whose Life would fill a Tome Edward Pierce AN ELEGY On that Right Honourable And Right Pious LADY The Let Herauldry display her Progeny Aggrandiz'd both with Age and Majesty Death Royal Lions conquers Lillies blasts Yonder 's that glorious Piety that last's Ev'n when time 's teeth shall have disgrac'd the world Laying all level and it self be hurl'd Into the gulf of vast Eternity She had a mind most humble yet as high A spiring Saint who Earth a foot-stool made But Prayer's mount the vantage ground whose aid Enabl'd her to step into the Throne That her ambition was and That alone How sparing of her words more of her time Leaving this matchless praise behind no Crime A blemish left on any word or deed No not for many years Such exact heed Govern'd both tongue and feet O glorious hight Her bended knees made her walk so upright As for her Honour 't was supported by Most orient vertues which her memory Now do embalm In sickness patience Obtain'd the garland with preeminence Whilst in that fornace try'd She Jesus spy'd Her Joy loosing the bonds which burnt she dy'd At our black midnight dawn'd her brightest day Presently wip't from her's all tears away Pouring them into our lamenting eies Ye clouds dissolve gush forth ye springs Arise But here that Painter's Rhetorick a Vail Signifies most when tears and pencils fail Silence grief's Oratour and wonder 's tongue Uttereth best those sighs and thoughts that throng Sticking astonish't within sorrw's womb God's word her worth our grief bid make us dumb To the RIGHT WORSHIPFUL Sir JAMES LANGHAM Upon the Exaltation of his second Lady c. Honoured Sir WHen first you encircl'd in your happy Arms That Center of perfections and charms My Muse rejoyc'd that though your * 10 Stars were born by his former Lady in her paternal Coat Stars were set Mufling you in a two years darkness yet A Sun was ris'n whose most illustrious raies Mingling with yours at once would shew praise Kind vertues Darlings and withal advance Joy the ascendant in your countenance As if that former splendent Piety Improv'd and gilded with Divinity Into your lap once more were stowred down From Heav'n whence marriages have birth crown But oh so dark it was when she went hence That groping we our faith and patience Could hardly find and stumbling at her Urn Had almost fall'n a murmuring to turn Loss into sin But Sir thus take the plot God join'd your hearts in that true Lovers knot That when his Angels that blest Soul away Should carry home to bliss you might obey The doubl'd force of this attractive cord Start up and say my Wives my God and Lord Stand above beckning on that heav'nly mount Whilst the slow minutes with my sighs I count I 'l speak no lowder least your griefs awake But wipe your eies look run and overtake And shine in triumphs having rais'd a name As great as hers who came pray'd overcame Sam May. In obitum Honoratissimae Dominae Dominae ELISABETHAE LANGHAM Illustrissimorum Ferdinandi Luciae Comitum Huntingdoniae Filiae natu maximae Et insignissimi viri Domini Jacobi Langham Equitis aurati Conjugis semper desideratissimae Heroniae incomparabilis immortalitate dignae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 defunciae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sive Epicedium SIste parum Lector monitum te convenit illis Ne fidens oculis decipiare tuis Quicquid enim cernis non est quod cernis illud Cernere quod poter as cernere posse negas Effusis nimium lachrymis vitiantur ocelli Intempestivis fletibus ora cadunt Expect as scio sat tumulum gelidumque Sepulchrum Ossa urnam cineres anticipare soles Sed minus attentè si quaeris talia cedo Non sunt haec isto conspicienda loco Quem spectas non est tumulus sed lectus urna Quam credis non est urna sed arca Dei Non pulvis sed pulvinar non ossa sed ata Scilicet è saxis concumulata sacris Equibus haec si fortè roges Virtutibus istis Praesto est hinc animum figere velle tuum Quae tantam Dominam solitae sunt cingere vivam Nec modo de functam deperiisse sinunt Quos ego si cuperem Lapides distinguere junctos Perque suas gemmas enumerare vices Ne possim cumulo vereor succumbere toto Ignarusque mali mole perinde premi Attamen experiar quid enim non audet amoris Impetus votis haud satianda sitis Quid negat officii ratio aut reverentia mentis Quae nescit stimulos dissimulare suos O Sanctam in Coelis Animam Coelestibus auctam Te quibus Auspiciis amplificare queam Nolo quidem stirpem tot Regum stemmate claram Ant Genus aut Proavos commemorare tuos Quanquam si vellem digito te pingere possem Summis Principibus Nobilitate parem Te Pietas te sancta Fides te propria Virtus Contemptus mundi ac Relligionis amor Tran smittent seclo nunquam moritura futuro Pignora aeterni Marmoris instar erunt Conjugis Affectus retinebat viscera Prolis Deliciae Matris Deliciaeque Viri Accedunt Fratris lachrymae gemitusque Sororum Affines sociae congemuere piae Rara animi Comitas blandique placentia vultus Sed majestatis non aliena modis Felici Ingenio juncta est Prudentia nexu Divitis ac animi Lingua diserta comes Anglica Romanam suscepit Gallica Graecam Nec minus Italicos est imitata sonos Sedula Divini praeibat lectio Verbi Audita est grata Concio sacra mora Mox pia Colloquiis cessit meditatio crebris Singula praemissa sanctificata prece Chara Homini dilecta Deo sed mortua mundo Perpetuas meriti tot Monumenta tui Tho. Horton S. T. D. To the Eminently Learned and Religious Sir JAMES LANGHAM Knight In pious memory of his Most Excellent CONSORT The Lady ELISABETH LANGHAM Daughter of the Right Honourable FERDINANDO Earl of HVNTINGDON Most honoured Sir PReaching hath spoil'd my Poetry and I Instead of writing Elegies Learn to die But if I should Ambitious be to use A Fairer Nobler and Diviner Muse Than all the Nine That Phoenix of high prize Could only from your Ladies Ashes rise Able with Life wit's Carcase to inspire And warm the coldest Brain with Heav'nly fire Yet then no sooner would that Flame appear But your sad Loss would quench it with a tear For never was all Good in One so met Like Diamonds and Pearls in pure Gold set Her High-born Bloud flow'd from the Royal spring To which great Birth Grace did a Greater bring So that in Her