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
we might these Wonders see Princely Grandeur crown'd with Humility Beauty with Learning Wealth with wisdom shin'd And piety so kept Court within her Mind That if for lost Religion we should look In her Life we might Read the Holy Book And if for banish'd Modesty wee 'd seek We might behold it blushing in her Cheek Her Temp'rance too was much her Charity more 'T was Meat and Drink to Her to feed the Poor And with her Alms such Counsel she would give As might at once make Soul and Body live Publick and Private she ne're drew in Air But what went out in holy Word or Prayer With this she Honor'd all her Honors and Enrich'd your Family more than all your Land Others are Glorious from their Ancestrie But she Ennobled Her Nobilitie That Wife which Famous Overburie writ With Height of Judgment Eloquence and wit Was but a Type of her who can alone Be Peer'd with the Elect Lady of St. John Whose praise is better Preach'd than Poem'd forth No Verse but what 's a Text can reach her Worth Our Meeters added to this Sermon sound Like Sternhold's Rhimes with th' Holy Bible bound I 'l borrow then Words from the Preaching King And with His Hallow'd Truth Her Glory sing Many a Daughter hath done vertuously Prov. 31. 29 But she excell'd them all I might apply Much of that Chapter to Her as a Wife Who acted what is writ there to the Life R West D. D. On the death of the truly Noble and Vertuous LADY ELISABETH Wife to Sir JAMES LANGHAM Knight Who dyed great with Child Could Beauty Wealth Wit Learning Grace or Birth Free any one from death thy life would have Been lasting as thy Fame nor had the Earth And Heav'n call'd back the Jewel that they gave But ah alas such noble Souls as thine Dwell in as crazy cottages as ours Yea being fram'd of mold more pure and fine They are less able to brook storms and showrs Hence Thou art gone betimes and we remain A while behind here to condole our loss To celebrate thy memory and complain That want of such as Thee 's our greatest cross But Thou sweet Infant losest nought at all But gainest by thy Mothers early death Her womb 's thy tomb thou hast a funeral Before a birth and dy'st ere thou draw'st breath Thus without knowledge of this gloomy shade Wherein we sadly wander up and down Thou a quick passage unto Heav'n hast made And without sweat or toil hast got the Crown Let not surviving Friends then take 't amiss Because they saw thee not to ripeness grown For thou art ripe before them and in bliss Longing to see them also wear the Crown Anthony Scattergood D. D. STemmata imaginibus titulis distincta Coronis Inclyta quam decorant Ornant quam propria virtus Quam pietas quam Relligio mens para fidesque Conjuge quae fulget cui par vix contigit ulli Conjuge qui gaudet cui par vix contigit ulli Quam cito quam subito nobis erepra parenti Eximiae chara Eximio perchara marito Ereptam eheu lugemus lugemus ademptam Terris aethereas sedes gaudemus adeptam Comprime nunc lachrymas ergo moestissime conjux Comprime nunc lachrymas ergo maestissima mater Terreno sponso Terrena matre relictis Coelesti sponso Coelesti patre potita Coelieolas inter sedet aeternumque sedebit Pauculis hisce versibus lectissimae Illustrissimae Nobilissimae Heroinae ELISABETHAE HASTINGIAE Celsissimi comitis Huntingdoniae Filiae Illustriss ac Nobiliss Viri Jacobi Langbamii equitis Aurati conjugi Londini parentabat Ludovicus Heraldus Ecclesiae Londino-Gallicae Ecclesiastes In Obitum ILLUSTRISSIMAe Heromae Dominae ELISABETAE HASTINGIAE Honoratissimi Comitis HUNTINGDONIAE Filiae Ad Illustrem ipsius Conjugem Dominum JACOBVM LANGHAM Equitem Auratum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LAnghamiae docus ornamentum gloria gentis O infignis Eques quo non infignior alter Magne opibus major virtutibus atque loquela Melliflua tibi quam donavit suada Latina Miraris moestus cur intra quatuor annos Vxores tibi fata duas in flebile mortis Imperium rapuere stupenti mente revolvis Tecum cur intra lustrum thalamus tuus orbus Bis sit qua caasa cogaris vivere solus Nil tamen est cur attonito Clarissime Langham Expendas animo fati decreta Deique Consilium sapiens quod sacra agitare marita Te prohibet nimium mirere Hymeneia festa Transivere cito paucisque potitus es annis Queis tibi subsidium Numen donarit amatae Vxoris quia nimirum meliore potiri Vita digna erat uxorum utraque Poma videre est Decidere arboribus cum sunt matura quid ergo Miri est si uxores ambas discedere mundo Videris aeternae matura erat utraque vitae Praeterea quae sunt in terris summa necesse est In pejus ruere ac retro sublapsa reserri Pancratica si quis fruitur valetudine parte Ex omni incolumis sanusque incesset acerbus Morbus eum pinguesque cito populabitut artus Febris sic cum quis foelix est atque beatus In terris quantum sors fert mortalis iniquum Adversumque illi casum fortuna minatur Nil ergo mirum tibi contigit aura secunda Afflabat tibi te vultu spectare sereno Sors dignabatur planè tibi nulla negarat Illorum vitam quae possunt reddere amoenam Dives erat clarus doctrina mactus honore * Londinum vocatur Augusta ab Ammiano Marcellino Missus ab Augusta fueras civitate Britanni Quae caput est orbis qua vix ingentior ulla est In toto mundo-quo ipsius nomine posses Omnia magnanimo vovere beata Monarchae Sub cujus tremit imperiis laeta triumphat Anglia quando ovaas Belgarum solvit ab oris Vt posset natale solim liberare Tyrannis Sub quibus ingemutt saevos tolerando lahores Angligentsque suis dominari legibus aequis Gaudens inde novo cumulatus honore redisti Cuncta videbatur tibi tum promittere fansta Fatum sed subito letho tibi tollitur uxor Quae nunquam laudata satis quamquam monumentum Nobile fecit ei Reverendus Episcopus ille Nordovicum quem relligio doctrinaque summa Commendant qui sacrorum ex ordine Patrum Esse merabatur quos fulgens infula vestit Et quorum regitur prudenti Ecclesia cura Placata dein sorte fuit tibi reddita conjux Altera quae potuit desiderium omne prioris Ex animo delere tuo charaeque Mariae Te facere omnino immemorem nam gloria sexus Faeminei dici poterat perfecta sue quantum Vlla sit inter eas quae gaudent lumine sanè Elisabeta tua omnigeno splendore micabat Et quae faelices factunt collectatenebat Stemmate fulgebat quo vix illustrius ullum Nata erat antiquo magnatum sanguine vixit Nobilis ingenio meritis virtutibus atque Sincera pietate ut
the world a publick Testimony of the honour I owe to both the Families to which this Excellent Personage concerne in them stood Related both tha whence she was Descended an that whereinto she was by marriage Engraffed And being thus betwixt importunity and inclination prevailed withal to run this risqu◠I hope I have in the reasons 〈◊〉 both given a general account 〈◊〉 the fitness of my entituling you to the Patronage of them But withal Right Honourable there is something also of peculiar in the claim which on your Honours behalf may be made unto them For you Madam as you blessed the world with the Subject of the Narrative from your Womb so you furnished me also with the Argument of the Sermon from your mouth in a Text which among other expressions savouring of a well seasoned spirit dropped from your lips at the arrival of the sad tidings of your dear Daughters departure And I the rather chose to make it the Subject of my Discourse upon that sad Occasion because your noble Example in the often practise of the Lesson contained in it accommodated me with a notable Instance of its practicableness Q. sextius habet quod ostendat tibi beatae vitae magnitudinem desparationem ejus non faciet Ep. 64. it being a great advantage to the ingratiating of any Duty when we can by some great example deliver it as Seneca speaks in another case from the suspicion of being impossible I have formerly admired at the Temper of that noble and learned Roman Lady Cornelia Nunquam ' ego me felicem non dixerim quae Gracchos pepererim Cicero de Consol the Daughter of the great Scipio and Mother of the Gracchi of whom Tully reports that when she had lost her Son Caius a very hopeful Gentleman in his very prime and in him her twelfth Child she brake out into this gallant Expression that she would nevertheless alwaies esteem her self an happy woman in that she had had the honour to be the Mother of such Children But I have of late learned to lessen this wonder having seen her herein out-shined by one no less noble and learned than she and that is your self who in much a parallel case have demeaned your self with a far greater because a truly Christian Fortitude And indeed Madam if ever any Mother had reason to take Comfort from such a Consideration you have in that though you have survived divers of your Children yet have you withal had the happiness to see them all signally vertuous even beyond their years and consequently also the Argument of an ample Assurance of their eternal felicity in their early maturity and fitness for it In which respect how can it indeed be other than an infinite satisfaction to you that in sending so many Children to the place of happiness before you you are as it were glorified by piece meal and instead of planting Families from your bowels on earth have contributed towards the planting of Colonies in Heaven instead of recruiting the Forces of the Church Militant have furnished the Trophies of the Church Triumphant and according to the judgment of some Divines of Note supplied the vacant seats of so many of the Apostate Angels with Saints descendant from you The usual distasts taken at this kind of Providence whether from the uncomely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is thought to make in nature which seems according to the Proverb to design the wearing out of the eldest first or from the disappointment of the common expectation that our liberi shall be posteri our Children live to shut our eies and receive our last breath and dying commands and keep up our Names and inherit our Estates and Honours when we are gone a kind of supplemental and subsidiary immortality which propagation in all species of Creatures seems to aim at and in a sort promise as part of amends for the Death of Individuals and whatever it is of the like nature which heightens vulgar passions are all such low and pitiful excuses of impatience and implicite blasphemies against the great Soveraign of the World that I cannot suspect the Heroical generosity of your spirit needs the assistance of any Considerations which yet both Morality and Christianity afford in great plenty to be suggested by me for the removal of them For you have made it sufficiently evident to all that know you that you are a person who do as the Philosopher saith fortius amare love your dearest temporal comforts more valiantly than so as experimenting the sweet only and not the soft impressions of that most powerful Affection And therefore without enlarging this Epistle into another Lecture of Christian submission to and Acquiescence in Divine Providence I only tender that of the following Sermon to your hands not so much in the nature of a Perswasive to your Duty as the Product of your Example And you My Lord by the dear affection which you have born to all the surviving Branches of that Noble Family and to this excellent Lady in particular ever since the decease of your noble Brother and their Father the late Earl of Huntingdon have rendred your self so much more than an Uncle to them that I fear I had not done you right had I not given your Name the very place that the Natural Father's had he lived might have claimed in this Dedication And I am withal the more hardened to this adventure which otherwise the little acquaintance I have with your Lordship might render presumptuous by the remembrance that when your Lordship rendred your self the principal attendant of these sacred Reliques to their Dormitory though the great hast of your affairs then enforced you to call for the Sermon before the day appointed and necessitated the delivery of it with some disadvantage by the surprize yet your goodness was pleased to give an ample testimony of your acceptance of my endeavours therein as having not only in some proportion discharged my Duty to the Living but also done something of Justice to the Dead And therefore I hope that what was then honoured with your acceptance when in that discomposure it had no higher ambition than to obtain your pardon may now having gained by a review something of more orderly composure though it yet fall much beneath the excellency of the Subject aspire to your Patronage also To conclude I shall ease both your Honours of the trouble this tedious Epistle hath given you when I have offered up a short Prayer on the behalf of all the surviving Relations of this excellent Lady viz. That God will enable them by his Grace to improve this sad Providence to their utmost advantage which will be best done by copying out her Vertues in their own practise considering That Domestical examples of eminent Goodness as they reflect an honourable lustre upon the Families from which they are extracted Saints adding a greater glory to any Pedigree than Princes so ought they into them especially who are
for his good Rom. 8. 28. and to submit as she wholy did to his soveraign Lugeatur mortuus sed ille quem gehenna suscipit quem Tartarus devorat c. Hier. will telling him withall that he had no reason to give the reins to his sorrow if he saw her die with good evidences of her going to Heaven And to allay his passion in his greatest dreads of that separation which he so much deprecated We came not said she into the world together nor can we expect to go out of it together yet it is a great satisfaction to me that I am going thither whither you after a while shall follow me And somewhat inquisitive she was probably in order to the advancement of that satisfaction what degrees of Communion the Saints glorified have one with another and what measure of knowledge they have of each other A question which is often asked by gracious souls but in my judgment impossible to be resolved from clear grounds of Scripture the Argument on both sides being alike probable And it need not create any trouble to us if it remain in the dark It is but a little while ere comfortable experience will decide the controversie to all that wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus beyond all our uncertain disputes She was very sollicitous during her whole sickness of her cariage and deportment under Gods afflicting hand and afraid lest the restlessnesses occasioned by her distemper might be the fruit of her impatience To which purpose she would oftentimes with an holy self-jealousie ask of those about her Whether she did not seem to them to be deficient in Patience and would seem to be troubled at the remembrance of the carriage of such and such Christian friends whom she had conversed with on their sick beds as conscious to her self how short she came of them Some Conflicts she had with Temptation if I may so call it and not rather the exceeding tenderness of her own Conscience apt to smite her as Davids did for cutting off but the skirt of Sauls Robe 1 Sam. 24. 5. for the smallest omissions of which yet those that knew the strictness of her walking with God thought she had little cause to complain And yet those very complaints in the nature of them argued a very great proficiency in holiness witness one amongst the rest especially viz. that she had not been so sensible as she ought to have been of the estate and condition of Gods Church a thing which surely most of us may more justly charge on our selves considering the Havock at this day made in it by the Eastern Wild-bore out of the Forrest and Ps 80. 13. Cant. 2. 15. the little Foxes out of their holes Romish Emissaries in several disguises spoiling its tender grapes but that we do not with her prefer Jerusalem above our chief Ps 137. 6. joy But these were but thin and light clouds quickly scattered the light of Gods countenance breaking through them and clearing up hers So that she told one of her visitants with a great deal of comfort that she thanked God that instead of a world full of troubles and miseries he had now given her the sight of a better Country And this prospect together with the clearing up of her Title to it a thing which in her health she expressed a great sollicitousness for insomuch that she hath been heard to say with some Emphasis of zealous earnestness Who being once assured of the pardon of sins would not be willing to die the next hour made her now she had attained it so willing to Luk. 23. 46. 2 Tim. 1. 13. 2 Cor. 5. 1. resign her soul into the hands of God as knowing whom she had trusted and lay down her earthly Tabernacle in exchange for that House made without hands eternal in the Heavens And thus fell what was mortal of this precious Saint to her own infinite gain but to the inexpressible loss of all her surviving friends and acquaintance but especially her dear Relations Who notwithstanding I hope will consider that seeing the WILL OF THE LORD IS DONE it becomes them to acquiesce in it It was as I am informed her counsel to her tenderly loving and affectionate Husband in her health to take heed of over-loving her bidding him beware of it as he desired not to be rid of of her for God would endure no Rival I hope though withal I confess it a difficult piece of self-denial not to over-love a Wife so over-deserving and so strong a temptation may very well excuse and lessen an offence of that nature that worthy person to whom that caution was given had alwaies so much of the Christian as might balance the Husband in him and preserve him from ever rivalling his Maker But however let me presume to remember De non nostro amissum dolemus Cum alie num amissum aegre sustinemus affines cupiditatis invenimur Tert. de Pat. him that this may be done ex post facto by over-grieving when God hath taken away such a comfort As no doubt Phaltiel was Davids Rival not only whiles he enjoyed his Wife Michal but also when she was sent for from him in that he accompanied her as far as he dared weeping 2 Sam. 3. 16. And let all her other Relations consider that the more vertuous she was and the more any way qualified to be a comfort to them here the fitter was she to yield them the opportunity of offering the compleater sacrifice of self-denial and holy Resignation by giving her to God for whom nothing can be too good seeing we can have nothing so good as he deserves who is the Author of all good yea is himself all good and alsufficiently so to us Let them consider how ripe she was for Heaven and then they cannot but connclude it had been to her loss to have been longer detained from it as it is to the choicest fruit to hang on the Tree beyond due maturity And this very consideration if any of them were not sufficiently prepared for this loss before-hand ought to have had the force of a presage to fortifie them against this Event seeing it could not in reason be expected that a Life so thick packed and crowded with Vertue and Grace should be long her living so much in a little time by that common Rule celerius occidere festinatam maturitatem that over-hastened Quintil. Inst fruit is the first that falls was a kind of ominous intimation that she had not long to live and that riding such Post-hast towards Heaven she would not be long thence However now Gods will is done let our hearty assent thereunto shew us Christians our rejoicing in her happiness her friends and our imitation of her excellent perfections true honourers of her memory who is gone before us to that bliss to which I think we may all safely say the Lond in due time bring us all for Christs sake Amen A POSTSCRIPT SInce
Was woes me This blessed Lady Elizabeth was she Hasting to Heaven she touch't by the way At Crosby-House where we hop'd she would stay But fondly Of a suddain she took flight Heav'n ward and 's gone she 's quite gone out of sight Into the World she came it 's vanity She saw contemn'd and withdrew presently T. B. In Obitum Illustrissimae Heroinae Dominae ELIZABETHAE LANGHAM Epicedium ERgone foeminei laus victoriasexus Et desiderii meta suprema jacet Vna bonis animi generisque corporis aucta Quae data sunt aliis singula cuncta tulit Nobilis a proavis origine magna Parentum Nempe Hunting doniae splendida gemma domus Invidia haud pietas est hanc deflere Beatam Cui data coelesti est clara corona polo. Marmora mitte igitur celebrare aut carmine laudes Huic immortali quid moritura struis Namque loquendo satis dignè laudaverit unquam Nemo nisihic maerens qui stupet atque silet An Epitaph STay read her name lest thou pass traveller Hence irreligiously without a tear Say didst thou know her then thy loss resent If not at least thy ignorance lament Here lyes interred one by whose decease Heav'n hath one Saint the more and earth one less Where Grace and Nature truly did present A compleat draught of what was excellent In whom dwelt virtue with Nobility Great parts with yet greater Humility Her well replenisht mind did like a vein Of Earth a Rich and plenteous ore contain Strictness zeal mercy meekness patience Combin'd to take up here their residence Her out-side spoke it as if design'd to tell How pure and large a soul within did dwell How in her Face and carriage might You see Bright Honour shadowed with modesty Her Gravity with sweetnesse mixt did shew That distance was not her desire but due Too soon snatcht hence to prove that she was here Not an Inhabitant but Sojourner Sleep then in silence quietly her dust Till the Resurrection of the just When Body and Soul shall re-united be And each enjoy their Immortality I. S. To the RIGHT WORSHIPFUL And Worthy of Honour Sir JAMES LANGHAM A Memorial of His Most Dear and Excellent Wife THE RIGHT HONOURABLE The LADY ELIZABETH A great pattern of true Honour and Piety WHat Man can write that 's not Enthusiast I mean not what thou art but what thou wast Can Man breath living Words and realize Thy Worth and not be thought to Poetize But thy great Name and far greater Merit Will clear my Verse from a lying Spirit Similitudes from Sun Stars Meteors Dwelling in Clay are but low Metaphors All were Mine own and nothing like to Thine If I should speak of Thee less than Divine I have seen David's Harp but not his Heart On Buckrom dawb'd the Noble inward Part. Was too subtile to come to Painters view 'T is my hard task to shew a Saint to You. Once it was said the Gods came down like Men I miss a Godly one gone hence agen If here I rob'd a Tomb and there a Stone And shap'd her like to some Phantastick One And set up Her Pillar like goodly Saul Higher than those in Westminster and Paul Or for a louder strain ran to some Poet Her Reverend Ghost would chide me for it Out of the truly Noble Maunch she came The Badge of Honour that 's known by her Name From Kingly Lyons and the Flowers De Lice You may discern Her yet far higher rice Her Family thrice mix'd with Royal Blood She knew and yet as though not understood She spake not on 't as if she never knew The large and Noble Stem on which she grew Or yet as if that Elevating Blood Was like Rich Drops lost in a Richer Flood That precious Blood that Her did cleanse from sin The only Blood was that she glory'd in She did esteem the second Birth the better The first was High Below the other greater If we do higher look This high born Mind Enrich'd with Parts soar'd higher still to find That hidden Life secrets of Piety Pure Love unfeigned Faith true Charity Her Life and actions a good Comment was Upon Gods Law in which as in a Glass She dress'd Her inward and Her outward part Her humble Carriage spake an humble Heart She learn'd the Law both to observe and love it From None but me unto Thou shalt not covet She was o th' good Elizabethan Sect That blameless bear to all Gods laws respect But yet no Pharisaic Legalist Her Works were Fruits of living Faith in Christ She 'gan the day with God with him it ended 'Scapes mark'd to day were all to morrow mended From God in Closet Church warm and devout No waste-time pastimes ever turn'd her out Her Husband 's soul and Hers you 'd think were twin'd Rare Parts rare Hearts matched into a mind But Death consenting not to such rare Matches Away from him his right half soon dispatches Is there no way to break a Match and not Undo the suff'ring part to whose hard Lot Surviving fall's But this hath alwayes been Since Man and Wife op'ned the door to Sin His Children Hers became whose curious care Was to compleat and Saint that hopeful Pair Her Servants were the Flock she duely fed With Milk and the Portions of that Bread Which from Her Fathers house she carri'd home And did impart to all about her some In all Relations home and abroad She liv'd like such an one as would please God Her Face was Wisdom's Front and Her Demeanour Observ'd the Laws of Meekness and of Honour Her Speech her Looks her Person so array'd Spake that she look'd to God to Heav'n and pray'd Her senses Servants were Reason was Lord Fruitful she was in Deeds sparing in Word I cannot pass by what she ne're look'd o're Gods great Receivers miserable poor She felt their cold and wants as well as they She was the saddest when they went away She made them Rich they made her Spirit poor They spent her Alms she of their moans made store She was no Legend but a Scripture Saint Her piety no Hypocritick paint I will not speak what she was not for Nots Are in a Character but comely blots If she had lived in those darker Times When Legends went about with Monkish Rhimes She had at least been canoniz'd at Rome And hither crouding multitudes would come To see the Reliques which nor lead nor stones Could guard those Ashes and those Sacred Bones But in this brighter day she was a light Her Morn was Noon but ah her Noon prov'd night Night like that Cloud in which the Sun doth ride We have the Cloud she 's on the sunny side Her Life drop'd in the Flow'r Grace grew Mature Grace seldom dwelt with a better Nature O happy she would all of us were there And yet if so we wish why stay we here Earth was no bait Heav'n was so much prefer'd That first she dy'd before she was interr'd Coelestial mind she
Joy Joy that I 'm lodg'd in Christs bed Act Gratitude for thy enjoyment of me This and not murmur is expected of thee Bless God who bless'd thee with so meet a mate First serv'd thy hearts delight with this Rich Cate And last himself don't this content then hither Ascend my Dear and Joy we all together Where both shall God and God shall both enjoy And both each other where nought can annoy Or part our blest embraces pant fly mount Enter Heav'ns Pallace where we may recount Fresh Joys Sans measure where i th' bed of Honour We 'll sollaces exchange and praise the Donour Till then adieu my Dear Heav'ns Anthems hollow Which call me off mundane thoughts up swallow Blest is the Death that dyes into bless'd Life Where Christ and Saints grow one as Man Wife Vertue enobles Grace on high blood graft That Crowns with Glory makes a polish'd shaft Transcendent strains surmount my shallow reach To flourish I aspire not but to teach L. Goodrick To the PIOUS MEMORY Of the RIGHT HONOURABLE And no less Religious LADY The Lady ELLIZABETH Wife to Sir JAMES LANGHAM Who was marryed to that worthy person November 20. 1662. and dyed great with child March 28. 1664. FAith now or never help us See what storms We are surpriz'd with Thus Heav'n deals with Worms Mounts them on pinacles of bliss and thence Dashes them on the shelfs of Providence Peace fretful murmurs We should wrong the Saint Her self should we wrong Heav'n by our complaint For Heaven is just at least wee 'l Rest in this Our loss makes up her gain Our woes her bliss But it was no surpize Heaven had forbore Her presence long and Angels waited for Her flight While here she staid could not we see That purer sparkle of Divinity Her soul still towring upwards to the sphere Of blessedness whence we might justly fear Earth could not keep her long while here she shin'd Had we but mark't how her seraphick Mind Reach'd at perfectiou How she us'd to dress Her Soul with graces we might eas'ly guess It was a holy plot 'twixt Heaven and her To rob us of our joys Her Heav'nly Dear Wanting his Spouse loses her marriage tie That she might come and live with him on high 'T was unto him her Vows were given ere Her Nuptial contracts here confummate were And whilest that little time in happiest bands Of wedlock she remain'd yet her heart stands Fast to its former vows and still she longs With earnest throbbings and unwearied pangs Of Love to finish those endearments she Had here begun in an Eternity Of Blessedness Alas we thought when Heaven Had join'd this Noble pair and freely given Pledges of bliss to each unparel'd blisse Too great for my weak fancy to express When we consider'd that same Harmony Of Minds hearts that chim'd their joys whereby Two Heav'nly souls entwin'd in one great flame Of love how we could wish that we could frame A Tabernacle for them to inclose Their joices and keep them in a long repose But she that better knew the world than we And knew where lay their true felicity Seeing our Mistakes and fearing we should wrong God and our souls withdraws out of the throng Of friends and steals to Heaven puts out the blaze Of all our joies and leaves us in a Maze Could those indearments be so suddenly Cut of that linked hearts with such a tie Would not Heav'n pity those same groans tear That needs must follow such a loss Ah! here 's Great Love unseen Our losses are our gain Oft-times when our enjoyments prove our bane God can afford us comforts but lest we Should surfeit calls them back that he might be Our chief desire and aim this likewise knew That precious Saint who therefore hence withdrew Her self to Heaven least such satiety In time should draw them to Idolatry With what a servent holy jealousie Kept she her Vows to Christ fearing lest she Blessing her Nuptial state at any time With too much love should fail in loving him Thus ever tender of that Union That link't them both to God she strives to drown The current of their loves and joies together In Loves true Fountain Christ the fairest Lover Methinks I hear her chide the Ardencie Of his affection fearing lest that he Should wrong his God by too much loving her Sith Christ admits of no Competitor And lest he should alas how could he do But love her where so much love was due She leaves him flies to Heav'n then calls My Dear And bids him if he lov'd her seek her there Well She is gon But Markt we how she went Home to Her Joyes A Pursivant was sent That like Elijah in a Coach of Fire Mounted her Spirit to the Holy Quire Of Angels there she Rests Yet ere she went We might perceive her Face that Firmament Of Beauty spread with stars hiding its light Then we Began to bid our Joyes Good night We knew our Sun was set and left us here To shine more Brightly in a higher sphere With her refulgent Rays while this our Sun Glorify'd our inferiour Horizon Those her Magnetick Beams her Graces Drew The love of all unto her that but knew What Goodness meant Those Exhalations Whilst she was rising follow'd her but once Clouded and set dissolve again and Pow'r Themselves on Earth again in a Briny show'r But Loose we thus the Phoenix of our Age Without succession Had we not a Gage A Pledge from Heav'n of one that should survive And keep her precious memory alive Or was that Dust so sacred that the young Rather than take a Resurrection Should be content to Mingle't with its own Earth was not worthy Heav'n was Greedy to Possess so Rich a Purchase both must go To Glory Root Branch Whilst the glad Mother With One hand reaches at her Crown the other Presents her foetus with whose Innocence Unsullyed yet by Earth the Blessed Prince Of Purity delighted Crowns it with a Brighter Crown than others Thus the death Of Both gives them a glad deliverie From present and succeeding miserie Leaving behind her all those pangs and throws She should have felt to be supplyed by those That big with Love now suffer pangs of grief And sorrows for their sister daughter Wife And Friend Yet may her precious memory Produce some sweeter fruits than these to be Arguments of our Love May we so live As she So learn to grow in grace and thrive In goodness So t' improve our golden hours So to deny our selves and what is ours To win a Christ So to despise the Vain Honours and pleasures of the world to gain A Crown of Glory So to love as she First God and then our friends so charity In her kept to its rule to imitate Those lustres that proclaim'd her truly great Her Faith Devotion and Humility Her meekness sweetness pity charity And Love Thus to imbalm her memory Serv's better far than tears And thus to