hath injoyn'd us all to cry to God for mercy for the breach of and for grace to incline our hearts to keep the fourth Commandment as well as any of the other nine and 't is not hard to observe that the streams of Religion are deep or shallow according as these Banks are kept up or neglected She was a very devout Communicant seldom omitting to prepare her Soul with solemn fasting to renew her covenant with God And in the act of receiving I cannot think of her without reflecting on S. Stephen when he saw the Heavens opened and Jesus standing at God's right hand and his face was as the face of an Angel And to encourage others to such serious preparation to that Sacred Ordinance as she us'd before it I shall shew what sweet advantages she reaped in it and by it And this I shall do by transcribing word for word out of her Diary what I find written with her own hand concerning one of the last Sacrament Days she ever enjoyed For the Sacrament which was appointed to have been administred in her Ladyships Chappel upon Easter-day was put off by reason of her falling ill in Passion week November 25. Sacrament Day AS soon as I awaked I blessed God When I had read in the Word the Chapters of the Sufferings of my Blessed Saviour I spent much time in meditating of his dying love By which thoughts I found my heart much drawn out to love him and melted by his love then with great and awful apprehensions of God upon my heart I went to pray In which duty my heart was lifted up in the high praises of God for both spiritual and temporal mercies and my affections were much drawn out in the duty in which my heart did follow exceeding hard after God for a nearer communion with him in the Sacrament than ever yet I had I then renewed my covenant with God and made promises that by his Grace enabling me I would walk more closely with him for the time to come That which in especial manner I begged of God at this Sacrament was more love to him more holiness more contempt of the world and the Glories of it that I might be more useful to the Souls and Bodies of my Fellow Christians than formerly I had been Those mercies which in especial manner I was grateful for were the Creation and Redemption of the World and for the Gospel and the Covenant of Grace and for converting Grace and for Justification and for some measure of Sanctification and for so much Patience exercised toward me before my conversion and in order to it imbittering Creature-comforts that I might seek for comforts above and for a sanctified affliction and for some degree of patience to bear it and for supports under it by the warm and lively comforts of the Holy Ghost and for returns of prayer and for so many opportunities to seek unto God and for the sweet reviving hours I had enjoyed with God in solitude by Heavenly Meditations and for the Word and Sacraments and the sanctifying motions of Gods Spirit I was in a more than usual manner melted in the duty and shed a very great plenty of tears in it which when I came from I found a longing desire to partake of the Lord's Supper and a great joy that I was going to partake of it Then I went to hear the Text was I am the way the truth and the life no man cometh to the Father but by me I was attentive at that good Sermon And by what I heard of the excellency of Christ had my heart much warmed with love to him Afterwards at the confession before the Sacrament I found my heart in a more than usual manner broken for my sins which I bewailed with great plenty of tears and from my heart judged and loathed my self for them After I had received I found my heart in an extraordinary manner warmed with love to God And my Soul did follow very hard after him to be made more holy and for Grace to serve him better than ever yet I had done I had very lively affections in the duty in which I received much joy and had sweet communion with God in it After I had at the Table of the Lord given to the Poor I came from the Sacrament with my heart in a sweet grateful and Heavenly Frame and then in private blessed God for that blessed Feast and begged strength to keep my promises I had made to God of new obedience In the Afternoon I heard again the same person upon the same Text I was in an attentive serious frame at that good Sermon The Subject of which was to shew that Christ was the only way for poor penitent sinners to come unto the Father I meditated upon the Sermons and prayed them over And had also meditations of the Joys of Heaven with the thoughts of being for ever freed from sin and of being ever with the Lord where I should enjoy him in his fullest love I found my heart much revived and my Soul did then make strong Sallies and Egresses after that blessed Rest After Family Duties were over at which I prayed with fervency I did before going to Bed commit my self to God O Lord I do from my Soul bless thee for this sweet day in which thou wert pleased to vouchsafe unto me thy most unworthy Servant more Soul-joy than thou didst give me for a long time before She was a very ferious and artentive hearer of the Word and constantly after Sermon recollected what she heard sometimes by writing always by thinking and calling it to mind that she might make it her own and turn it into practice not content to be a forgetful fruitless hearer only but a doer that she might be blessed in her deed And such she was for the external performances of Religion And though this was beautiful and lovely yet her chief glory was within in the hidden man of the heart in that which is not corruptible in that dress of Graces which adorned her Soul this string was all of Orient Pearls and evenly matched not one ill watered or of unequal size There was not one dryed or withered Limb one member wanting or defective in the new creature she was complete in Christ all of a piece The Head of her Knowledge was comprehensive and clear The Eye of her Faith was piercing and steddy The Ear of her obedience was open and light of hearing and boared at the door posts of wisdoms house Her Palate was savory and relishing to which God's Law was sweeter than the honey and the honey-comb and more esteemed than her necessary food The Cheeks of her Modesty were fair and ruddy The Arms of her desires were stretched out after God and flexible to embrace him The Hands of her Justice and Charity were strong and open The Breasts of her Bounty were well-fashioned and full of milk and the Bowels of her compassion were tender and fruitful Her hunger and
that he that sows sparingly shall reap sparingly And let me not only now and then drop a little for charity but make me one of those persons mentioned in thy word who being liberal devise liberal things and by so doing be established Oh make me as it were an open Flood-gate to water my Neighbours Necessities that so I may as much as in me lies be an Imitater of thy Divine Bounty who dost good to all Oh make me to do so as far as I am able but especially make me remember the hooshold of faith that so I may shew my love to him that begetteth by loving him that is begotten And seeing my goodness extendeth not to thee let it do so to thine Make me to feed hungry mouths and cloath naked Backs that at the last day I may be amongst those to whom thou wilt say Come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was hungry c. MEDITAT II. Vpon the Consideration of the different manner of the working of a Bee and a Spider WHile I am minding this despicable Spider which for all its being so hath some of its kind that have the honour to inhabit the Courts of the most glorious Potentates for the inspired Volumes tell us they are in Kings Palaces It makes me consider that the work they are so busily employed in while they spin their Webs which is all spun out of their own Bowels without having any help from any thing without them is when it is finished good for nothing but is soon brush'd down and flung away Whilst the industrious Bees that are busily employed in making of their useful Combs do daily fly abroad to enable themselves to do so And flying from one Flower to another gather from every of them that which both renews their own strength and yields others sweetness By the Spiders work I am minded of a Formalist or proud Professor who works all from himself and his own strength and never goes out of himself to a Promise to get strength for his performances or to work by And therefore his thin-spun Righteousness is good for nothing and will be flung away The Bees going out minds me of the Real Christian who is renewed in the Spirit of his mind and that he may be enabled to work the great work he he came into the World for he goes out to an Ordinance and to Christ in a promise for strength to work by and by them obtains it and this makes his work give hony and become good for something O Lord I do most humbly beseech thee let me not dare to work from my self but to go out daily to thee for ability to work my great and indispensable work with That I may deny my own Righteousness and make mention of thine only And may thereby find such sweetness from every Ordinance and Promise that my Soul may be like a Garden which the Lord hath blessed and may prosper and thrive exceedingly MEDITAT III. Vpon feeding the Poor at the Gate with some broken meat left at a Feast HOw thankful are these poor necessitous persons for the fragments of that Feast which was so plentiful to those who sate within at the Table Improve this O my Soul by considering the different Estate of the Church Triumphant and that which is yet Militant That is in possession of eternal bliss happy in the fruition of God and enjoys him in his fullest love and is every day feasted with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb when This being present in the body and absent from the Lord as yet without the door of Heaven is glad of some tasts of those Elixirs of pleasures which are earnests of the purchased possession and previous gusts of it and as it were some crumbs and parings of Glory some of the broken meat of those blessed Inhabitants of the new Jerusalem's full and delicious every days feasts O Lord I most humbly beseech thee entertain me sometimes with some tasts of those joys which those partake of who are present with thy self Let me see thee through the Lattice till I can see thee as the pure in heart shall see thee in another world That so I may long to be dissolved and to be with Christ and believing in thee let me even here rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory Which may make me thankful to thee for what I here enjoy of thee Knowing that Christ possessed by Faith is young Heaven Glory in the bud and thereby do thou raise my desires to go to those celestial mansions where Glory is full blown and where I shall be entertained with Rivers of pleasures at thy Right Hand for evermore MEDITAT II. Of my Gardeners chusing fine young thriving Stocks to graft on and rejecting old and withered ones MY Gardiners care now he is grafting in chusing young and flourishing Stocks and passing by those which are old or withered minds me of Gods dealings with his Creatures in grafting his Grace upon their hearts He seldom doing it upon old decrepid withered sinners those old Stocks being oft neglected by him because they willingly forgat their Creator in the days of their youth when they had an inspired Precept to remember him and would go on in ways of sin and live so wholly without God in the world that he was but seldom in their thoughts they resolving to indulge themselves in all forbidden pleasures thinking that at last a death bed Repentance and crying of God mercy and saying Lord Lord would be enough to fit them for those eternal mansions whereinto no unholy thing shall enter And so boldly go on to add sin to sin upon presumption of mercy while death is ready to close their eyes not considering that there is not in the God-breathed Oracles one example that I remember of sick-bed saving Repentance And though there is one of the Thief upon the Cross kept upon record to keep real penitents from despairing of mercy at the close of their days yet there is but one to prevent bold impenitent sinners from presuming of mercy And though the mercy of God ought not to be confined to any Age yet we may observe he doth not frequently work saving Grace in old and withering Creatures but chuses young Disciples and loves and delights to graft his Grace on such that they may go on to bring forth more fruit in their Age having given God the Spring and May of their lives by a solemn Act of an early self-dedication to him and chusing to walk in all his ways And who by setting forth betimes in their journey to Heaven have a long time to glorifie God in and to be examples and encouragers to others to come in to serve God by assuring them that all his ways are pleasantness and his paths peace And that his yoak is easie to those who take it on them though it may gall their Necks that struggle at it and are unwilling
wanton lascivious despisers of others wasters of their time Idolizers of their own reflections in a Glass and careless or afraid to behold the image of their impurer Souls in the Crystal of God's Law and more afraid of being sick or dying than of a thousand Sins or Hells Secondly deceiving and destroying silly Men through whose Livers * Prov. 7.23 the seats of Lust those mortal Darts do strike which an invisible Bow shoots from their wanton Glances and bewitching Smiles and Arts. And by parity of reason the like may be said of all the other perishing empty lying vanities honours riches strength the wisdom of the flesh and learning meerly humane which are but adventitious Goods at best and seldom make Men better often worse What shall I say shall I praise you for these I praise you not nor will God ever praise you or reward you for them Nay I must rather drive such false Hucsters for true praise out of the Temple of lasting Honour with such a Scourge as the Prophet Jeremiah long since prepared for that purpose Let not the wise man glory in wisdom Jer. 9.23 nor the witty woman in her wit Let not the strong man glory in his strength nor the fair woman glory in her Beauty Let not the rich man glory in his riches nor the fine woman glory in her dress Let not the honourable Man glory in his Honour nor the courted Mistress glory in her Favour Let not the learned Man glory in his being Natures Secretary nor the wanton woman in being skilled in the depths of Satan But let him and her that would glory and not be ashamed or glory in their shame glory in this that they know the Lord and love and fear him in sincerity and truth Which brings me to the positive part and is the foundation which Solomon lays whereon to build a Pyramid of lasting Fame Not the graceful Pulchritudinem existima animi ornatum non in corporis forma sed in moribus pulchritudo sita est Corn. a Lapide ex Chrys but the gracious woman not she who glories in her face but she who like the King's Daughter is all glorious within even the woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised In which positive part we have the good Womans Character and Crown 1. Her Character which hath two parts for the new creature also consists of Soul and Body an inside and an outside 1. She fears the Lord there 's the Soul of her Virtue the root of the matter within ground Grace in the Heart 2. She hath fruitful hands there 's the Body of her Virtue the good Tree above ground works in her life 2. Her Crown Praise and Renown Which is 1. Promised to her She shall be praised 2. Commanded for her Give her of the fruit of her hands let her own works praise her in the gates 3. Performed concerning her Thou excellest them all As briefly as may be concerning these Particulars and first let us view both Pages on which her Character is written 1. A woman that feareth the Lord that is who is sincerely religious good in good earnest Nothing is more frequent or obvious in Scripture than such Synechdoches as put one eminent Grace for all the Chain of Graces So sometimes the Love of God sometimes Trust in God and most commonly the Fear of God is put for being truly religious or is made the Periphrasis of a godly Man As in that signal promise of the New Covenant Jer. 32.38 39 40. They shall be my people and I will be their God and I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever for the good of them and their Children after them And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good and I will put my fear in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Job 1.1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job and that man was perfect and upright one that feared God and eschewed evil so vers 8. Hast thou considered my servant Job that there is none like him in the earth a perfect and an upright man one that feareth God and escheweth evil vers 9. Doth Job fear God for nought Eccl. 12.13 Fear God and keep his Commandments that is the whole of Man Psal 15.4 He honoureth them that fear the Lord where the godly Man is under this Denomination of one that feareth the Lord opposed to the wicked called there a vile person 'T is also an infallible sign of the presence of all other Graces in the exercise of which true Godliness consists for as the Law is copulative so are the Graces by which we obey it and as where the Soul is discovering it self by one vital act all its faculties and powers are so where the Spirit of God is working one Grace in truth the Spirit of all Grace is for the Spirit can no more be without its Graces than the Soul without its Faculties yea the fear of God contains all Graces in it therefore when Abraham offered up his Son Isaac which was a mighty act of Faith and Love God saith Now I know thou fearest me Gen. 22.12 And as 't is so frequent it would be endless to cite all so 't is so obvious 't is needless to cite more 2. The other Page hath this Inscription Fruitful hands the good Woman is like Dorcas full of good works 1. Hands two Hands to hold the two Tables of the Law Deut. 9.15 as Moses came down from the Mount with the two Tables in his two hands in each hand one neither empty nor idle The first in the Right Hand there 's Religion towards God The second Table in the Left Hand there 's Righteousness and Charity towards Men. 2. These Hands bear Fruit good works spring and grow naturally freely seasonably easily maturely as fruits from a prolifique Tree planted in a good soil and by the Waters side as the godly Man is described in the first Psalm called Fruits of Righteousness Fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5. where S. Paul hath a signal Antithesis betwixt Graces and Vices calling the first Fruits the other Works the Works of the Flesh vers 19. There 's servile drudgery in them Fruits of the Spirit vers 22. There 's a spiritual easiness in the production of them by the new Nature 3. They are Fruits in the plural for variety of kinds for number in every kind First various acts of Devotion Prayers Prayses Reading Hearing Meditation Conference Preparing Communicating and all these reiterated the Morning and the Evening Sacrifice the weekly Sabbaths solemn Fasts and Festivals secret private publick Devotions Morning Evening and at Noon day Psal 119. yea at Midnight seven times a day yea in a sober sense all the day long nay all day and all night too as it is testified of Anna Luk. 2.37 That she departed not from the
thirst after righteousness was even greedy and insatiable The heart of her sincerity was sound and lively and the pulse of her conscience smooth and equal The feet of her affections were swifter than the Roes on the mountains of Bether more truly winged than the Poets feign their Mercuries The natural heat of her Zeal more fervent than the coals of Juniper and the radical moisture of her repentance more fluid than the springs of Pisgah Being seen with dry eyes under tear-moving circumstances which very nearly concern'd her self and being asked how she could refrain She replyed I desire to weep for nothing but my sins Her name was as ointment poured forth which made her the delight and admiration of all good men and women yea you may call her a She Jedidiah a Female Lemuel the Lord's delights she with whom God was Now the Soul of this excellent Body which animated all its goodly parts within was the love of God and the gorgeous Robe which cloathed it without was her deep humility These were the Sun and Moon in this great Firmament all whose Stars were of the first magnitude and the least of which would have made the great Luminary in another Orb. Such was this beauteous Spouse of Christ so like her Heavenly Bridegroom that for that resemblance sake we may say of her she was exceeding lovely Nor was she less solicitous to make others good than to be so her self She well remembred our Savious charge to S. Peter When thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren She set her heart to build God's spiritual Temple and therefore she applyed her self to it with all her might She had holy Transports for the Glory of God and she was a great Lover of Souls and those two engaged her to promote Religion with utmost industry and zeal which that she might accomplish more advantageously 1. She avowedly designed to represent Religion as amiable and taking and free from vulgar prejudice as possibly she might not so as might affright and scare men from it but that it might allure them and insinuate it's self into their love and liking to this end she was affable familiar pleasant of a free and agreeable conversation unaffected not sour reserved morose sad dejected melancholy which presents Religion most disadvantageously She was naturally of the sweetest temper in the world and Grace inoculated into such a stock thrives even luxuriantly Whereas some crabbed peevish sullen natures starve the best Cien they are grafted with As I remember one of whom 't was usually said he had Grace enough for seven other men yet scarce enough for himself And she made grace and nature both subservient to the good of others As we say of some neat well fashion'd persons what ere they wear becomes them and sits well I must do her this right to testifie I never saw Religion become any person better And 't was hard not to approve and love a dress so decent and adorning 2. She kept her self free and disinteressed from all Parties and Factions that none might suspect a design of making Proselytes to any but to God She was neither of Paul nor Apollos nor Cephas but only Christ Her name was Christian and her Sirname Catholick she had a large and unconfined Soul not hemm'd in or pounded up within the Circle of any man's name or drawing a Latitudinarian in the true commendable sense and whoever feared God and wrought righteousness was accepted of her She very inoffensively regularly devoutly observed all the orders of the Church of England in its Liturgy and publick Service which she failed not to attend twice a day with exemplary Reverence yet was she very far from placing Religion in Ritual Observances And I may not deny that she would sometimes warm her heart though never with strange fire at private Altars in her own Chamber or Closet 3. She would perfume the company with good discourse to prevent idle or worse communication not abruptly obraidingly or importunely which is very nauseous and fulsome and spoils a good game by bad playing But she was like a spiritual Stove you should feel the heat and not see the fire and find your self in other company amongst the same persons and rather wonder than perceive how you came there for she would drop a wise sentence or moral holy Apothegm with which she was admirably furnished of her own making or collection that suited with at least not far remote from what was talked of and commending or improving that she 'd wind about the whole discourse without offence yea with much pleasure She kept a Book of such wise pithy Sayings much valuing words which contain'd great use and worth in little compass I shall transcribe a few of many THe almost Christian is the unhappiest Man having Religion enough to make the world hate him and not enough to make God love him God's Servants should be as bold for him as the Devils are for him What will make thee happy at any time may make thee happy at all times O Lord what I give thee doth not please thee unless I give thee my self So what thou givest me shall not satisfie me unless thou give me thy self O Lord who givest Grace to the humble give me Grace to be humble He loves God too little who loves any thing with him which he loves not for him The true measure of loving God is to love him without measure So speak to God as though men heard thee so speak to men as knowing God hears thee Seneca said he was better born than to be a slave to his Body Luther said Christ's Cross is no Letter yet it taught him more than all the Alphabet We should meditate of Christ's Cross till we be fastened as close to him as he was to his Cross By how much the more Christ made himself vile for us by so much the more precious he should be to us We need every day blood for our hearts as water for our hands Through Christ's wounds we may see his Bowels He only can satisfie us who satisfied for us He that takes up Christ's Cross handsomely shall find it such a burden as Wings to a Bird or Sails to a Ship 'T is a great honour to be Almoner to the King of Heaven The Bowels of the poor are the best soyl which brings forth an hundred fold Who would not starve a Lust to feed a Saint To give is the greatest sensuality How indulgent then is God to annex future rewards to what is so much its own recompense To be libell'd for Christ is the best Panegyrick Where affliction is heavy sin is light God chastises whom he loves but he loves not to chastise Sin brought death into the world and nothing but death will carry sin out of the world If all mens troubles were brought into a common store every one would carry back what he brought rather than stand to a share of an equal division Though time be not lasting what depend on
for themselves and not be exposed to inconveniences by a sudden remove She was a most noble I may say indulgent Lanlady and would usually say of her Tenants Alas poor creatures they take a great deal of pains and I love to see them thrive and live comfortably and I cannot endure to see them brought into straits and therefore would without grudging or difficulty have all things made convenient for them and if they had sustained any considerable losses effectually consider it And for her Copy-hold Tenants would urge with warmth the timely finishing the Rolls of her Courts and delivery of their Copies professing she could not in conscience suffer it to be neglected because it was all they had to shew for their Estates a piece of eminent justice not more honourable than necessary in Lords of Mannors And lastly as a Neighbour she was so kind and courteous it advanced the Rent of adjacent Houses to be so near situated to her not only her House and Table but her Countenance and very heart were open to all persons of Quality in a considerable circuit and for the inferiour sort if they were sick or tempted or in any distress of Body or Mind whither should they go but to the good Countess whose Closet and Still-house was their Shop for Chirurgery and Physick and her self for she would visit the meanest of them personally and Ministers whom she would send to them their spiritual Physicians But as her love to God was the soul of her Religion so the exuberancy of her charity towards those who needed her abundant liberality was the conspicuous Crown which beautified all her sweetness and goodness towards Men for in this she was forward I bear her record to her power yea and beyond her power for she would even anticipate her Revenue and Incomes rather than want wherewith to be liberal S. Jerom placed in the highest rank of the praises of his admired Paula that she not only made her self poor to relieve but died in magno Aere alieno S. Hier. Epitaphium Paulae And I am sure it used to be said of our excellent Lady That was the Lady that would borrow money to give away She would not live poor in good works to dye rich yea though she had chosen Executors in whom her heart could trust as safely as ever her Husbands did in her yet she would make her own hands her Executors and they were very faithful to her inlarged heart But to be more particular when she had in her Lord and Husbands life time a separate maintenance or allowance settled by Marriage Articles she was pleased to ask me my opinion concerning the quota pars What proportion one is obliged to consecrate to God of our Estates and when I told her it was hard if not impossible to fix a Rule which might hold universally but the circumstances must be considered in which persons stood their Qualities their Incomes their Depenpendances necessary and emergent Occasions inevitably occurring But she persisting to urge a more particular answer as to her self what would be fit and becoming her to do I not being ignorant of her circumstances I must bear my own shame in acknowledging the straitness of my own heart told her I supposed a seventh part But before I could suggest the reasons she preventingly replied she would never give less than the third part and she kept her resolution to the full and with advantage laying aside constantly the third part for charitable uses and would sometimes borrow of that which remained to add to it but never defaulk from that to serve her own occasions though sometimes pressing enough When she came to the possession of so large an Estate as her Lord bequeathed her for her life she in good measure made it true what a great Person was reported to say that the Earl of Warwick had gave all his Estate to pious uses Meaning thereby that he had given it to this Noble Lady who would so convert it And 't is a great truth which I have had from her own mouth that all the satisfaction she took in it was the opportunity it afforded her of doing good And I have heard her earnestly averr that she would not accept of or be incumbred with the greatest Estate in England if it should be offered her clog'd with this condition not to do good to others with it But some may say were her Eyes as open as her Hands did she not scatter it as carelesly as profusely Nothing less her liberal Soul devised liberal things I will point at some few of many 1. There are some Objects of real Charity which are not so to vulgar Eyes or Purses on whom she would confer and whom she would surprise with noble and suitable assistances this struck deep drew an whole bag at once but made no noise Some scarcely known to any but my self and it may be had not been to me but to ask my judgment whether it might be reduced to the account of charity to give to such and such being in such circumstances For she was never less tender of their modesty than compassionate of their necessity and was more sollicitous for their pardon than their thanks for helping them 2. Foreiners who fled either to preserve their Religion or to embrace what they were convinced of to be the truth 3. A great many young Scholars of hopeful promising Parts whom she wholly or in good measure educated at the University allowing some thirty some twenty some ten some eight many five Pounds per Annum and some others who had more assistance less 4. Abundance of young Children which she put to School in the neighbouring Towns I cannot say how many but rather sans number all that were poor and willing to learn Nay that could be perswaded to it whose Schooling she did not only pay for but gave them both Books and often Clothing and not only near home but as far as Wales contributing nobly to that pious design of that good old man and indefatigable promoter of it Mr. Gouge so amply attested by a Cloud of Witnesses beyond exception to rescue Wales from its remaining ignorance and demi-Barbarism 5. Many Ministers of both denominations as well Conformists whose livings were so small as not to yield them a subsistance as those who had none at all 6. Many occasional Objects of Charity which you may surely conclude failed not to ply at those Stairs where 't was seldom low water And though she was sometimes imposed upon and deceived by those that neither needed nor deserved what she gave yet this did not discourage her from giving again For she said she had rather relieve ten that only appeared meet objects and were not than let one go unrelieved who was so indeed For though they deceived her in her giving God would not deceive her in accepting what was sincerely done for his Name sake 7. Lastly the Poor which she fed in great number not only with
fragments and broken meat but with liberal provision purposely made for them She was a great pitier yea a great lover of the poor and she built a convenient house on purpose for them at her London-Seat as they had one at Leez to shelter them from rain and heat while they received their dole and when she was at London with her Family had in her absence whilst no house was kept at Leez a kind of house kept for their sakes alone That is twice a week good Beef and Bread provided for the poor of four adjacent Parishes and hath taken order in her Will to have the same continued three months after her decease and by the same Will hath given an hundred pounds to be distributed to the Poor of Braintree Felsted Little-Leez and Much-Waltham at or shortly after her Funeral And though it cannot reasonably be expected from one who had no Lands of Inheritance to leave charitable foundations Yet I may without Hyperbole say that every year she lived after she came to be Mistress of the Estate she gave as much in charity as would have purchased Lands sufficient to have endowed an Alms-house or Free-school And that pious and liberal foundation of Rochford Alms-house which though founded legally by a Patent granted under the Broad Seal for its confirmation by the Ancestors of that Family of which she bore the Title was by the death of the Founder not endowed yet as all her predecessors had done She always paid the Alms-people their full designed Allowance and ordered by her last Will it should be so done for a year after her decease And I must here take leave to add to their great honour and the satisfaction of all that relate to that Family that those Right Honourable and worthy persons to whom the estate descends have agreed to continue the same plentiful allowance And if I were worthy to advise them I would earnestly perswade them to make Legal Settlement and endow it with Lands to the value of what they resolve to allow before they make the division of the Estate But methinks I hear it asked what had she no Spots no Scars no real nor imputed Blemishes how could she live in such an Age and not be corrupted or at least traduced neither scorched by the fire of infection nor blackned by the smoak of revengeful detraction for obraiding the guilty by her innocency This overdoing is undoing if you would make us believe she had no faults we shall sooner believe you have no truth And that all you have said hath more of Romance and what you fancy than Narrative of what she was or did I confess 't is next to a miracle to consider both how divine Grace enlarged her heart and established her goings and restrained the tongues of others from reproaching or shewing dislike of that in her for which they deride and hate not to say persecute others But I must implore that candour while I embalm her memory with the sweet Oyntment of her own good name you granted to her vertues which acquired it and made it so fragrant I therefore solemnly protest I have spoke the truth though the truth in love as I am allowed and requir'd Eph. 4.15 and have not knowingly disguised or falsified nor dipt my pen in flattering colours But since you are so inquisitive and seem to deny me the just and civil freedom to draw a veil of silence over her imperfections and your curiosity will be peeping under that sacred Pall which should secure and shroud the worst of men from being pryed into and the Vault and Grave that place of darkness and forgetfulness which should bury all defects and render them invisible must be ransack'd Draw back the Curtains let in the light survey its secretest recesses nor She nor I in her behalf fear the most piercing Eagle-eye or Scent Nor that I deny her to have been a Sinner while I adore that Grace that made her a Saint or that she was a Woman while I proclaim her a Terrestrial Angel But these three things I say and will adhere to First That she was not notoriously defective in any Grace or Vertue but as eminent in all as most have been for any single one She was not only aliquid in omnibus but omnis in singulis she did abound in every grace Which St. Gregory Naz. admires in Gorgonia and St. Jerom in Nepotian Ita in singulis virtutibus eminebat quasi caeteras non haberet Secondly She was never stained with any scandalous deformity another rare mercy For though she did humanum pati slip now and then or stumble if you will she fell not much less lay or wallowed to defile her Garments which I testifie not only from my own observation but her own Pen. After God had thus savingly I hope wrought upon me I went on constantly comfortably in my Christian course though I had many doubts and fears to contend with And did truly obey that Precept of working out my Salvation with fear and trembling yet God was pleased to carry me still onward And though I too often broke my good resolutions I never renounced them and though I too often tript in my Journey to Heaven yet I never forsook my purpose of going thither Thirdly Her very defects and failings were such as others might be proud of her Weeds would have been Flowers and her Thistles appeared Roses in another Garden For I never heard her blamed for more than two faults by the most curious observers and inspectors of her disposition or behaviour 1. Excess of Charity 2. Defect of Anger or what was reduceable to those two two goodly faults But even these admit Apology more easily than they need it 1. What was reputed the culpable excess of her Charity was her credulous easiness to believe most people good or at least better than they were I confess she did bend a little to this right hand error but if it were a bad effect it proceeded from a good cause For as 't is observed that as they who are conscious to themselves of some great evils scarce can esteem any less nocent than themselves so they that have clear and innocent hearts are ready to judge the like of others Charity thinketh no evil and she used this good opinion of others as an instrument to make them what she was so willing to signifie she thought them And though she would never despair of any man while she found them under the Awe of Gods Authority and Word for even those may receive some nourishment who eat against Stomach and the Seive under the Pump may be cleansed though it hold no water yet if she observed a person to scorn or deride the Scriptures despise Gods Ordinances and turn all that was sacred into ridicule She used as her Phrase was to set her mark upon that man And I must further add She was neither so often nor so much mistaken in her judgment of persons as some supposed she was
beginning of the last winter about to leave her her last farewel she took was in these words Now I have done my drudgery meaning her business I will set to the renewing of my preparations for Eternity and she made it the repeated business of the last winter In the beginning of the last March she set to the making of her Will anew and signed and sealed it on the twelfth day of the same Month and on the Tuesday in Passion Week March 26. was taken with some indisposition loss of Appetite and aguish distemper and had four or five Fits which yet in that season were judged both by Physicians and her Friends more advantageous to her health than dangerous to her life And in this state she continued freed from her fits in her own apprehension and in our hopes till Friday the twelfth of April on which day she rose with good strength and after sitting up some time being laid upon her Bed discoursing cheerfully and piously one of the last sentences she spake was this turning back the Curtain with her hand Well Ladies if I were one hour in Heaven I would not be again with you as well as I love you Having then received a kind visit from a Neighbouring Lady at her departure she rose from her Bed to her Chair in which being set she said she would go into her Bed but first would desire one of the Ministers then in the house to go to prayer with her and asking the company which they would have presently resolv'd her self to have him who was going away because the other would stay and pray with her dayly and immediately he being called and come her Ladyship sitting in her Chair by reason of her weakness for otherwise she always kneeled holding an Orange in her hand to which she smelt almost in the beginning of the Prayer she was heard to fetch a sigh or groan which was esteemed devotional as she used to do at other times But a Lady looking up who kneeled by her saw her look pale and her hand hang down at which she started up affrighted and all applyed themselves to help and the most afflictively distressed of them all if I may so speak when all our sorrows were superlative catch'd her right hand which then had lost it's pulse and never recovered it again Thus lived thus died this Right Honourable Lady this Heroick Woman this Blessed Saint this incomparable pattern of flaming zeal for the glory of God and burning charity for the good of men in the actual exercise of prayer by which she so often anticipated Heaven by pregustation and which now wafted her longing soul into the Holy of Holies within the vail at the kiss of God's mouth as Moses did though not full of years yet full of mature fruits and Graces when all men judged her worthy of a longer but God the only unerring Judge found her full ripened for a better life And in a sweeter Euthanasia than Augustus could wish himself might claim a more triumphant Plaudite than he Yea might have sung her Nunc demittis with good old Simeon nay with the holy Apostle that joyful Epinichion I have fought a good Fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto them also that love his appearing You have heard though too too dryly how she serv'd and honoured God I should now shew to encourage you to do the like how he honoured her according to his word by Samuel Him that honours me I will honour And that of our Saviour He that serveth me him will my Father honour But I have much prevented my self by what is interwoven through all the preceding discourse The greatest honour God can put upon his creatures is to vouchsafe to use them and to make them Vessels of Honour fitted for their Master's service And this he conferred upon her in eminent and redoubled measures He imprinted on her the fairest impress of his most amiable Image and rendred her habile and ready to every good word and work He gave her riches and honour in abundance as is said of Jehosophat 2 Chron. 17.5 6. and yet her heart was not puffed up by them but lifted up under them in the ways of the Lord as it there follows He gave her the Heaven upon earth after some shivering scruples and trembling fears the blessed calm of a purified pacified serene and well-assured conscience He gave her the fragrant perfume of an odoriferous name and more than unspotted a bright and resplendent reputation He gave her many endeared Cordial Friends faithful to her as her own Soul to assist counsel comfort help her and carry her through her greatest difficulties and entangling affairs concerning one of whom she us'd often with much thankfulness to say He was a Friend of God Almighty's giving even beyond her own expectation He gave her many merciful deliverances one very like to that Gregory Nazianzen insists so largely on in his Funeral Oration for his Sister Gorgonia the Mules in whose Chariot running away not only bruised but brake her Bones and yet God miraculously restor'd her So when the Horses in our Lady's Coach excussed the Coach-man ran furiously away God almost miraculously hung the Coach against a Post in the way stopped their fury rescued her life from most eminent hazard and healed the bruises she received with safety This happened July 23. 1661. He gave her the affectionate esteem of all her Neighbours to such a degree that she was like Titus Deliciae humani generis the delight and darling of her Country and with so loving a willingness did they delight to serve her that you might see fifty fresh brave and gallant Teams day after day bringing in her provisions without other invitation than the bare knowledge of the time which themselves would enquire out and nothing would grieve them more than to be prevented in paying this Tribute of Honorary Respect He gave her such an esteem for her prudent integrity and discreet and impartial Righteousness that she began to be an employ and honour not usual to her Sex the Arbitress and Umpress of all the controversies amongst adjacent Neighbours many of which she reconciled happily and all which she decided wisely and justly He gave her the universal approbation love admiration of all that knew her that the Proverb was confuted which saith Who hath no Enemies hath no Friends For either she had none or her ways so pleased the Lord he made her Enemies to be at peace with her For honourable and mean rich and poor of all degrees and which is more of all perswasions paid her most kind respect honoured and lov'd her Finally he prevented her with the blessing of goodness and crown'd her with loving kindness and tender mercy He made her glad with the light of his countenance