that which is Something upon that which is All upon that which is Lasting upon that which is Everlasting upon that which is Truth it self and will not nay cannot deceive us upon that which will be more in Fruition then ever it was in Expectation Oh! let us not trust in lying vanities but in the Ever-living and Never-failing God Man will be trusting in some-what and he is so forward to trust in vanity which indeed is nothing that it is the hardest thing in the World to take him off We cannot press our selves or others too much to trust in God and we cannot Repress them enough from trusting vanity We say Such a man has deceived me once but he shall not deceive me a second time Why should we be so willing to be deceived a Thousand times with vanities God never deceived or failed any man that ever trusted in him Psal ix 10. Oh! therefore let this perswade our Hearts to trust in God we cannot trust him too much or the Creature too little If we make the Creature our Staff it will be our Scourge if we lean upon it as our Rock it will run into our Hands as a broken Reed The best way to keep up our Comforts in the Creature is to keep our Distance from the Creature and let me tell you this That they shall always finde most Comfort from the World who live furthest off it and expect least from it God is good and the more we trust in him the better he will be to us nay he will not be good to us at all unless we trust him Trust not therefore in man that is inconstant changeable mortal vain Rely not on him he 's a broken Reed but trust in God for he is the help of our Countenance and our God It is better to trust in the Lord then to put any Confidence in man Yea 't is better to trust in the Lord then to put any Confidence in Princes Psal cxviii 8 9. But blessed is the man that makes the Lord his Trust and they that know thy Name will put their Trust in thee for thou Lord never failest them that seek thee That 's the first Use Trust not in man which is but vanity Again Secondly Since Every man at his best Estate is c. Then this may check our Pride and pull down our proud Spirits what worth or Excellency is in any man to cause him to be blown up as a Bladder why is Earth and Ashes proud Seeing that when a man dyes he 's but Heir of Worms a Companion of crawling Worms The Unicorn may boast of his Horn which medicineth the poysoned Streams the Bezoar of his pretious Stone the Bever of his Skin the Panther of his Colours the Pink of its Sweetness the Tulip of its Beauty and many other Creatures of some singular Excellency but man vain man mushroom man has nothing of his own to animate Pride but rather should be exceedingly humbled for his manifold Wants and exceeding Vanities If a Beggar may be proud of his Rags or a Lazar of his Soars then have we cause to be proud not else That 's a Second Thirdly Seeing Man at his best Estate c why then this convinces and sharply reproves the Folly and madness of Worldlings who trifle away their pretious time in loathsome Vanities like Swine that root up Beds of Flowers and sweet Roses but wallow in the Mire Oh! ye Sons of Men how long will ye love Vanity Psal iv 2. Why walk ye after vanity and draw Iniquity with Cords of vanity Isa v. 18. Why do ye take pleasure in the vanity of Wickedness thinking it vain not to be vain in your Conversations Oh! how sweet soever it seems to you for the present I must tell you 't will prove very distructful in the End Oh! drink no longer of the pleasant Rivers of Damascus but on the wholsom streams of Jordan Do not affect vain Company or vain and Idle persons who have not the fear of God before their Eys who flatter with their lips and do speak with a double Heart Psal xii 2. Whose mouth speaketh Vanity and their Right-hand is a Right-hand of falshood Psal cxliv. 8. Oh! do not squander away your pretious hours in Vanities but know that whosoever travels with Vanity shall bring forth iniquitie which late Repentance must either drown or damnation Nurse And lastly seeing that every man c. Why then learn from hence to condemn thy vain life with all its Vanities and to seek for a new and better life where vanity is not admitted Oh! let us thirst after Heaven after Christ let our life be hid with Christ in God that so when Christ shall appear we may also c. Whilst we live let 's live by the Faith of the Son of God that so when we dy we may dy in the Faith and favour of Christ let our Conversation be in Heaven whilst we are here upon Earth let 's Meditate continually on Christ and his Merits our Redemption and the Glorious inheritance he has Purchased for us and let us say Thou O Lord Jesus art our Hope and our Stay seeing thou hast given us the World which we Contemn give us thy self whom our Souls desire let others strive for Temporal Kingdoms but let us strive for Eternal let others heap up Riches but let our hearts Hunger and Thirst after Righteousness let others Gape after the vanities of this World but let us pant and breath and gape after Christ desire to be desolved that we may be ever with the Lord whilst we live here one Earth let us Pray also that the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our Mortal Flesh and then come Lord Jesus come quickly Though our lives here be but as a span-long and attended with as many Miseries as there be Stars in the firmament and vanities as sand by the Sea-shore Yet after this life is ended we shall have a building not made with hands but Eternal in the Heavens though we now for a time hang up our Harpes by the Rivers of Babylon and weep for the Floods of vanity that are ready to over-whelm us in our Captivity Yet after a while we shall be brought home with Triumph unto a Land Flowing with Milk and Honey to life without Death to Days without end to such Mufick as we never heard before by a Quite of Angels to a World without Vanity to a Condition without alteration and to Eternal Glory which Ey ha's not seen nor Ear heard c. Which he will give us that has purcha'st for us by his own most pretious Blood to whom with the Father c. So much for the Text I come now to the Occasion Sory I am to be an Actour in this mornfull Scene For truly here I can scarce speak for grief or give you a Funeral Eulogy of this Deceased Lady whose liveless Dust lies here before us unless instead of strewing of Flowers I bedew her Hearse
BREVITY and VANITY OF Man's Life DISCOVERED IN A SERMON PREACHED At the FUNERALS of Mrs. ELLEN HARTCOVRT Youngest Daughter to the Virtuous and Excellent Lady CONY of Stoke in Lincolnshire Who was interr'd in Saint Andrews-Holborn-Church March 23. 1661. being married that Day five Weeks before By RICHARD HENCHMAN Man being in honour abides not Pallida mors aquo pulsat pede Pauperum Tabernas Regúmque Turres Hor. Od. 4. Hb. 1. Bulla Palustris Homo ventus stos pulveris umbra Incipit cessat nascuur moritur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by Tho. Royerost for William Grantham at the Black Bear near the little North-door in St. Paul's Church-yard MDCLXI To the Virtuous and my Ever-Honoured Lady the Lady SARAH Wife of Sir SUTTON CONY of STOKE in Lincolnshire the Sorrowful Mother of this Deceased Lady MADAM IT was not my intention when I Preached this Ensuing Sermon that it should spread further then the Pulpit I thought indeed being Your grief hindered You from the hearing of it You might perchance request a Copy of it for Your Closet but never dreamed You would have been so Importunate with me for the Press But if it may be any Allay of Your Sorrow for Your great Loss or of any use to the Publick I shall not Repent of gratifying your desires though of it self the expressions being so home-span and the Notions so common I cannot 〈…〉 thy to come forth 〈…〉 when I seriously considered my many 〈…〉 to 〈…〉 lf and Family and the Comforts 〈◊〉 I have 〈…〉 from You since I first knew you and Lived amongst you I thought I was bound to Exhibit a Testimonial of that Service and Respect which I dived unto You and therefore had rather Hazard my own Reputation if I may Advance the Edification of others and adventure once more the Censures of the world rather then have my own heart Censure me for Unthankfulness I do therefore most humbly offer it into Your Ladyship's Hands and if You think it Unworthy of that Honour cast it at Your Feet only let me Entreat You for Her sake who was the Occasion of it to cast a favourable Ey upon it now and then and Graciously receive it into Your Presence and it will Reckon it self highly graced and Dignifyed and not Ambitiously desire any other Patronage MADAM I know you are Sensible enough of the Afflictions of Your Family more Paticularly of this great Loss You have lately sustained the God of Patience and Consolation grant You to Study a quiet Submission unâ—… and an Holy Improvement of this his Afflicting hand If You do but Commune seriously with Your own Heart You will see Cause enough for this Holy silence and submission How pretious so ever this Jewel was in Your Ey and indeed she was very Pretious yet you see it 〈◊〉 of a Brittle Nature All the Sons and Daughters of Adam are Mortal Creatures and why should You be troubled to see a Mortal Creature Dy. To make complaint that our Relations are dead is to complain That they were Mortal good MADAM I beseech You look upon the hand of God that hath done what is done and this if any thing will quiet your Spirit because the stroke was given by God him self Remember that a Dear Childe is far better in the bosom of Christ then in the Bosom of the greatest Earthly Monarch Though You want her company yet she wants not yours you shall go to her if you dy as she did but she can never come back to you Though she was an Obedient Childe to you and did Honour her Parents whilst she lived yet God did not break his Promise with her because he did not grant her a long life here as long as he translated her to life Eternal therefore I would have you Sensible as you are indeed of God's Afflicting Providences but I hope you will not Murmure under them for as one saies wel He that sees not God's hand in his severest Dispensations disowns his Sovereignty but he or she that Repines denies his Righteousness MADAM I beseech you Excuse my Boldness that I use this freedom with you give me leave in three words to Counsel you as well as Comfort you and I shall trouble you no further First I beg that you would Meditate much on your own End you have lived a great many Years already and 't is not Probable you can live so many more Certainly Death comes near the Mother when it lays hold upon the Childe when your Dear Daughter departed this Life She left you this Memento that you must shortly follow Secondly Confider how uncertain all wordly things are Children the best of worldly Comforts yet they are but dying Comforts the loss of worldy Contentments Me thinks should make us love the world the less God grant it may work this Effect in you Lastly Study more to make out Your Spititual Relation to Christ this Relation can never be Dissolved though your Children your Husband your Friends may be taken from you yet this Union this Relation cannot be Obliterated Now the good Lord of Heaven and Earth grant you an Assurance of this Relation before you go hence and be seen no more And thus dear MADAM begging your Pardon I commend your self and all your excellent Relations to the Protection and Blessing of Almighty God beseeching him it it be his blessed will for a Continuing of the Remaining Comforts to you here and a full Consummation of perfect joy and Happiness with themh ereafter Which shall be the constant Prayers of MADAM Your Ladyships most obliged and perfectly Devoted Servants RICHARD HENCHMAN May 3d. 1661. PSALME XXXIX 5. Behold thou hast made my Days as a band-breadth and mine Age is as nothing before thee verily every man at his best Estate is altogether Vanity THE Text you see is suitable to the Occasion It contains a sad Story of man's Frailty Mortality and Vanity A Meditation never untimely but most seasonable upon such occasions as these are The Text divides it into these two general Parts First The Brevity of man's Life in those words Behold thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth Secondly The Vanity of man's Life in the last words Verily every man at his best Estate is c In the First there are these two things considerable of us 1. An Excitation of Attention in that word Behold 2. An excellent Description of man's sudden Dissolution Thou hast made my days as an hand-breadth Again in the Description there are two things also more worthy of our Notice 1. Who it is that limits mans Life it is God Thou O lord hast made c. 2. The Line wherewith our Lives are measured and that also it two fold 1. By is self if we consider is in its own Frailty so the just Measure of our Lives 't is an hand-breadth 2. If we consider it by the Line of Eternity so it is found to be as just nothing Mine Again as nothing before thee
his Pilgrimage is exactly cast up it amounts but to threescore Years and ten and if by reason of Strength they be fourscore years yet is their Strength Labour and Sorrow for it is soon cut off and we flee away Psal xc 10. Again Job vii 6. Man's Life is assimilated to a Weaver's Shuttle My days are swifter then a Weaver's Shuttle The Septuagint renders it thus My days are nimbler then a Word or Speech now nothing moves faster or passes away more lightly then a Word a word is gone suddenly hence the Similitude is used Proverbially We spend our days as a Tale that is told Psal xc 9. Swifter then a Weaver Shuttle which is an instrument of a very sudden Motion which spends the Yarn with speed and what remains from the Web is cut off Again at the 7 vers Man's Life is resembled to the Wind that blusters for a day and at night passes away none knows whither the Life of man is like Wind in two things as 1. The Wind passes away speedily so does man's Life 2. The Wind when it is past returns no more as you cannot stop the Wind or change its Course so all the Powers in the World cannot recal a man's life when it is gone Psal lxxviii 39. He remembers that they were but flesh a Wind that passes away Again man's Life is resembled to a Bubble Hos x. 7. now a Bubble ye know rises and falls again in one and the slef-same Moment To a Vapour Jam. iv 14. which is disperst as soon as raised as soon as it appears it disappears 't is as one calls it a little Spot of time between two Eternities Saint Augustine doubts whether to call it a dying Life or a living Death Again the Brevity of man's Life is set forth in Scripture by the Flower of the Field Is xl 6 7. by the Grass by a Shadow by a Dream 't is compared to Pilgrims and Travellers who take up their Inn for a short Time not to abide there for ever Heb. xi 13. and Psal xxxix I am a Stranger and a Pilgrim sayes David as all my Fathers were We have no abiding City Job ix 25. My days are swifter then a Post whose pace is all upon the Speed and Spur so our days flee away as the swift Ships as the Eagle that hasts to the Prey Pliny mentions a certain Plant called Ephemeron a Plant of one day's duration such a Plant is man planted by the Rivers side to bring forth his fruit in the due season of that Day And he tells us also of a certain Worm about the River of Hispany in Pontus which lives but one day and is gone termed Hemerobion such a Worm is man A Worm and no man as David said Psal xxii 6 born in the Morning dead at Night alive and in perfect Health one Day and dead the next Now man is a Worm in a fivefold Respect 1. Look upon his Original and Constitution he is from the Earth as the Worm is 2. Look upon him in his Natural Estate and Condition he lives upon the Earth and earthly things as Worms do 3. He 's a Worm because continually subject to danger every Foot may crush him 4. He 's a Worm because as the Worm is subject to danger so likewise unable to resist or make Defence the Worm is a naked Creature and wears no Arms neither offensive nor defensive such an one is man unable to defend himself unless the Lord be a Shield and a Defence to him round about Lastly man is a Worm because he must shortly return to the Earth where the Worms are housed He is going to Worms as a Worm As the Lord said Dust thou art and to Dust thou shalt return so we may say A Worm thou art and to Worms thou shalt return Thus you see man is a very poor contemptible thing A Worm Why then should we envy any man What envy a Worm What if another have a little more Glory Riches Beauty Strength Power then thou hast what though he have a little more Knowledge and better gifted then other yet he is but a Worm still and why should a Worm envy a Worm what though some are Silk worms a little better furnished and richer then others in Mind and Body yet they are but Worms in Silk and many who appear so now a days are but Glow-worms which shine a little but have no Consistence Again Seeing we are but Worms let 's take heed of vexing one another why should Worms rise up against VVorms Why should VVorms destroy Worms cruelly and bloodily We are weak as Worms Let us therefore rather engage that little Strength we have for supporting not ruining one another But this you will say is a Digression To proceed therefore Man's Life is nothing else but a little warm Breath Tun'd in and out by the Nostrils a narrow passage and soon stope Methinks by all these Scripture Similitudes which I have cited we may be put in mind of our Frailty and they may serve to check those proud Desires which are in man of an Eternal abode and lasting Happiness of this Life You may see a Monument of man's Frailty set forth in all the Elements Go to the Land and there is a Post see Time 's there upon the Spur Go to the Sea and there is a swift Ship Go to the Air and Time 's upon the VVing in the swift flying Eagle Go to the VVater man's Life a Bubble a Vapour T were to trifle away precious time to shew Resemblances in other things I only produced these to shew you the swift passage of man's Life And therefore not to stay long upon that which moves so swiftly Give me but leave to shew you in what Respects Man's days are said to be so short as an hand-breadth which may serve as the Grounds and Reasons of the Point and so I 'le apply it that I may proceed to the next As 1. The Days of man are of short Continuance if we consider them in themselves That 's not long which is no longer then an hands-breath take it which way you will in the largest extent for a Span or the whole space between the top of the Thumb and the little Finger stretched out or in the lesser extent for the Breadth only of the four Fingers and indeed this is but a short space that 's the First 2. The Days of man are of short Continuance if we consider them Comparatively and that two ways 1. As man may be compared with man 2. As man is compared with God 1. We collect the fewness of man's days by comparing him with man under a twofold Consideration 1. Of what Number the Days of man once were 2. Of what Number the shall be 1. The Days of man are few compared with what his days were before the Flood then many men liv'd six seven eight nine hundred and some almost a thousand Years Now if any man attain fourscore or an hundred Years he is
Man is an Empty Man he has nothing in him but that which is good for nothing and therefore saith Saint James Chap ii 20. Wilt thou know Oh vain Man that Faith without works is Dead As if he had said thou Empty Man thou that hast but a Boast of Faith thou whose Faith is fill'd up onely with good Words not good Works Wilt thou know thou shalt whither thou wilt or no that thy Faith is Dead When Man fell from God the Devil emptyed him of that which he was full off the Image of God in Vprightness and fill'd him with that which was but Emptiness his own Image in Unrighteousness Naturally he 's a vain empty Man The Heart of man at the best of Nature is but like a Child's Pocket full of Stones and Trash and how empty is that Heart which is thus filld Vain Man is an Empty Man unless to be full of vain things which are worse then Emptyness may go for Fullness Again Secondly That is Vain which is Unprofitable and thus it is expounded Mal. iii. 14. Ye have said it is vain to serve God and what Profit is it that we keep his Ordinances And Eccles i. 3. having pronounced all things to be Vanity he subjoins What Profit has a man for all the Labour which he takes under the Sun So man is Vain in this Sence what greater Vanity then to let go the Substance for a Shadow Heaven for this World What will it profit a man to gain the world and to lose c. That 's a Second Notion Thirdly Vain man i. e. Deceitful man Homines falsitatis so Cajetane and Psal lxii 9. Surely men of low degree are Vanity and men of high degree are a Lye To be layd in the Balance they are altogether lighter then Vanity Virgil cals him Vanum mendacemque hominem vain and deceitful man and Psal iv 2. How long will ye love vanity and seek after leasing Vanity seeks after Vanity that 's a third Notion Fourthly and lastly Vain man i. e. Transitory man man is vanity because he is frail and transitory that is said to be vain which vanishes that man vanishes away see a plain place of Scripture Psal cxliiii 4. Man is like to Vanity his days are as a Shadow which passes away Here is Man's Picture drawn to the life like to Vanity a poor transitory thing here now and gon anon He is not only empty unprofitable and deceitful but very frail and transitory Well now as the Wiseman said Ecclesiast xi 8. Suppose you live many years to fourscore or an hundred which is very improbable 't is an hundred to one you do not Yet suppose it let me tell you that so many years are a shadow as a Tale that is told Verily every Man old and young rich and poor is a Vanity In the morning they are like Grass flourish a little making a little shew for a time but in the Evening they are Cut down and Withered away But yet further suppose a man live many daies to the Utmost Extent of Nature and rejoyce in all those his days which is in a manner impossible yet I say suppose it that his Head never ached all his Days He knew not what Sorrow or Sickness meant he has what his Heart can desire yet I must tell him that all is but Vanity when all is done What Profit has a Man of all his Labours which be takes under the Sun The total Sum amounts to this Man is at his best Estate altogether Vanity Now you must know that there is a threefold Vanity First Of Creation Secondly Of Transgression Thirdly Of Condition Man is Vanity in all these three Respects First In the Excellency of his Creation he seems not to be void of Vanity for as his Age is nothing before the Lord why so man himself in his Innocency compared with God his Creator is nothing but Vanity Job iv 18. Behold he put no Trust in his Servants and his Angels he charged with Folly And if Cherubins and Seraphins do cover their Faces as being imperfect and vain compared with him how much more may Vanity be attributed to us who dwell in Houses of Clay whose Foundation is in the Dust which are crushed before the Month Job iv 13. But then again Secondly If man be Vanity in his Creation compared with God then he has brought upon him a second and worse kind of vanity by his Fall A vanity of Transgression and Guilt by this Man who was Heir apparent of the World was exil'd Paradise his Glory becomes cloathed with Ignominie and Shame And this brings a third vanity after it a vanity of Condition from which none can be exempted every man living is vanity whether Sinner or Saint as long as he retains the Appellation of a man so long he is Inheritour of vanity whose frame is a brittle as Glass whose Name is a soon forgot as a Tale that is told Let the Heathen know says David Psa ix 20. that they are but men But Men Why is that so slight a matter what is Man Jeremiah tells us Ch. xxii 29. Earth Earth Earth Every man that lives upon the Earth is but a piece of that Earth on which he live Earth by Creation Earth by Conversation and Earth by Dissolution into Dust Man never continues in one Stay but vanishes as a Shadow Job xiv 2. In a word that so I may pass to a short Application As Holiness to the Lord was engraven upon Aaron's Breast-Plate Exod. xxviii 36. so upon every man's Forehead may be written this Motto Man at his best Estate is altogether vanity Give me leave to derive from this two Observations these few Practical Improvements and I have done And first Is it so that every man at his best c. Then this may instruct us not to trust in man Psal cxlvi 3 4. Put not your trust in Princes nor in the Son of man in whom there is no help his breath goes forth he returns to the Earth in that very day his thoughts perish Trust not therefore in the greatest man vanity will deceive you and every man is vanity Every man saies the Psalmist walks in a vain shew there is a shew of this and that and the other thing a promise of it but it is a vain Shew 't is but like a Pageant which feeds the Eye or delights the Pancy or pleases the Far but it passes away and leaves you as Empty as before Every man at his best Estate is altogether vanity not only in his Afflictions and in his Losses in his Troubles and in his Sorrows but take a man in the Height and Perfection and accomplishment of all Creature Comforts take the Creme the Pith the Marrow the Sweetness of all extract a Quintessence of all that can be had in the Creatures and all 's but vanity If therefore the Creature be so vain and the Dayes of man be Vanity Oh! let us set our Eys and Hearts upon
with Tears and pour out my matter in a Sorowfull and Dolefull Complaint of our loss Curie leves loquun ur Ingentes Stupent I could willingly I confess now give scope to mine and your Passion that we might sit down a while in silence and onely by the Language of our Tears speak the sence of our Loss But then I conceive I should be Injurious to this Solemn and Sorrowfull Assembly to God's Honour our Friend's Memory and others Profit since by paying the Tribute of Praise to God's dear Servants we advance God's Glory and Perpetuate their Remembrance and add Spurs to the Pious endeavours of those who survive I could speak much having known her from a Childe to the Glory of God's Rich Grace in the Embalming her Name with a pretious Memory but I shall not need to Expatiate my self in her just and Due Character But some things that were very Remarkable in her towards her latter End I must not Omit Give me leave therefore for your Imitation to break this Alabaster box of pretious Oyntment and to pour it forth upon you that the Savour thereof may fill the whole house of God with a Sweet Perfume and that such an Example and Precedent of Piety may incite and Encourage you to remember your Creatour in the Daies of your youth before the Evil Day of your Death comes Indeed I know the Applause and Welcom that the Saints and Angels have given her in Heaven and the Blessed Euges that the Authour and Finisher of our Faith has now Recieved her into these These are the true and full Commendations that he Soul now rests in Onely this we must know that as the Death of this Illustrious and Vertuous Person is in God's Eyes so in ours also it ought to be Honourable and Pretious And because Saint Bernard's Speech is most true Pretiosa Mors Sanctorum quam commendat vita pretiosa A pious Life makes a pretious Death I might trace this young Lady through her whole Life and observe many remarkable Passages in it by which as by so many Steps and Paces she walked on daily to the Attainment of this right Christian and Comfortable Death First For her Birth and Parentage t was of good Note and Esteem being born at Stoke in Lincolnshire and descended from an Antient Family having Grave Ingenuous and Religious Parents Honourable Noble and Generous Persons to her Relutions and though I confess the Dignity of Birth if alone and unattended with moral Accomplishments be but a cold and slender Commendation Et genus proavos quae non fecimus ipsi Vix c. Yet this when it stands in Conjunction with Virtue it sets a Price and Lustre upon it 't is Splendor Virtutis it casts a Varnish upon Virtue it self and makes it more Conspicuous But Secondly If you surveigh Her in the Moral and Practick Part of Her Life you 'd finde many things in it very observable Take Her in Her familiar Conversation and so she was a Loving Faithfull and Constant Friend thankfull for any Kindness and studious to requite it She was wont to extenuate not to aggravate any Injury or Unkindness offered Her she would not Scintillam in Flammam nec festucam in Trabem enatare as Saint Augustine speaks of some Contentious Persons In a word in all her Deportment as ever I perceived she was Regular and Just Affable and Virtuous to all Thirdly Take Her as to Her Relations and so she was an obedient Childe to her Parents a loving Sister to her Brethren and an indulgent and kinde Wife to her Husband and though it pleased Almighty God to divorce them by Death almost as soon as they were married yet she shewed her Affection to the last for when I asked Her what she would leave her Husband as Memorial of her true Love amongst those small Legacies she had Power to dispose off she replyed She would leave him her Hearty Prayers that God would bless him and direct him in all his Ways And I hope he will live to reap the Benefit of her Prayers The best Legacy certainly that a good Wife can leave her Husband These I know you will all grant were lively Virtues in the Sphere of Morality but yet there were two Graces more remarkable in Her of an higher Pitch more Divine and Spiritual more immediate Fruits of her Christian Religion viz. her Charity and her Piety her Compassion to the Poor and her Devotion to her God First for her Charity to the Poor She was not only a Friend but a Mother Her Bowels of Compassion were enlarged toward them not onely in her Life but at her Death for to my Knowledge she has left to two Parishes in Lincolnshire five pounds a piece to be distributed to the Poor and five pounds to the Poor of this Parish wherein she is to be interred and to the Ministers in these three Places twenty Shillings a piece as a Token of her Affection for them The Age we live in though it has the Lamp of Profession yet God knows liâ—tle of this Oyl of Charity Many though they have floutrishing Estates yet they have withered Hands and cannot stretch them out to good Uses this Lady had but a small matter left in her Hands to dispose of and she left it freely to those that had most need She had indeed a free and noble Soul to all but most generous and bountiful to the Poor what should I say of Her She sowed plentifully and she has reaped plentifully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Basil speaks she was merciful and no Question but she has obtained Mercy Secondly for her Piety Though it was diffused in a constant Tenour through the whole Course of her Life yet it appear'd most glorious near her Death then she bitterly bewail'd the pretious time she had spent in worldly Vanities in unnecessary and complemental Visits and she said If God should lengthen out her Days the World should see such an Alteration and Change in her how she would endeavour to redeem that time she had so mispent by a double Diligence in the Practice of Holiness When I prest her to finish that great work of Repentance and Sorrow for Sin before she 〈…〉 Course â—… telling her that 't was Sin that made Death bitter and until that Sting be taken out by true Repentance and Faith in Christ's Merits we cannot finish 〈◊〉 Course with Joyâ—… Lord 't was admirable to me to see how low she sunk her Spirits humbling her Soul to the Dust by an hearty Confession loathing the went thoughts of her former Transgressions abhorring her self for all her Sins and saying with that blessed Martyr in the Point of Justification None but Christ none but Christ throwing her self into his Arms by a lively Faith acknowledging no Name under Heaven by which she expected Salvation but onely in and through Jesus Christ our Lord Sublimis Patria sed humilis via Heaven is high but the Passage to it is low we must stoop 〈…〉 our Death by an humble Confession of our own Vnmorthiness and the Worthiness of Christ or we shall never come thither Non aestimator meriti sed veniae largiâ—… when all is done will prove the best Divinity and must for dying Persons and I 'le assure you our deceased Sister had learn'd this Lesson very well for I never saw if I can rightly judge a Soul more truly penitent and â—…ble then hers was The time she lay upon her sick â—… was not very long but very sharp and as I am informed in the time of her Sickness so patient so contented so willing to be at God's Dispose either for Life or Death so full of sweat holy and heavenly Instructions Exhortations Counsels to her Relations Friends and Servants lifting up her Soul Night and Day in Prayers and devout Ejaculations for Mercy upon her own Soul and for all that were about her Not long before she dyed she sent for mer and after I had prayed by her she intreated me to administer the holy Sacrament to her which I could not deny and if you had seen but with what Devotion she hungâ—…d and thirsted after this her last Viaticum with what Fervency of Spirit she received it you would never forget her 't was the last Manna she fed upon on this side Jordan now she is in the Land of Promise 〈◊〉 cortice Sacramenti sed adipe frumenti saginaâ—… Now she is at the Well-Head and Fountain of all Joy and Bliss Thus she both liv'd and dyed like in Lamb liv'd meekly and dyed quietly 〈…〉 onate Husband or loving Allies 〈…〉 inordinately she dyed young indeed 〈…〉 her time her Days were but as an hand 〈…〉 cause not before she was ready for Death She was cut down by the sickle of Death I confess betimes in her best Estate I but yet she was not cut down before she was ripe for the Harvest Youth and flourishing Days you see cannot privilege any from the Grave the Beauty of Rachel will not keep her from the Dust neither is it Parentage or Wealth can put Death out of Commission Riches avail not in the day of Death no nor Holiness nor Piety can deliver any from the Grave It preserves indeed from eternal Death but not a Temporal We see this by dayly Experience I need not expatiate my self on this Theme Our dear Friend and Sister is now at Rest And in that blessed Rest we shall now leave her assuring our selves that she dyed in the Favour of God in the Faith of Christ in the Peace of a good Conscience Nothing now remains but that we render all humble thanks to Almighty God for this so blessed a Departure of his Faithful Servant Beseeching him to grant that when the Hour of our Visitation comes upon us we may be found of him with Peace appear before him with Comfort and may be received with Joy into those Heavenly Mansions which our Blessed Saviour has purchased for us AMEN So be it FINIS