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
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
beholds them is Vera major Imago far biggar and more dismal than that which properly belongs to them But here is the misery we by our phantasies dress the evils we have to do with like whiflers in the most terrible visors that may be and then forgetting that they are the creatures of our own imagination we suffer our selves to be affrighted with them Yea commonly we commit a grosser absurdity than this is whiles we suffer our selves to be abused into sad disorders and distempers of spirit by the meer opinions of others How easie a thing it is to Nemo aliorum sensu miser est sed suo Salv. de G. D. 1. make a melancholly man sick indeed by confidently perswading him that he is so experience hath evidenced in divers instances And the like fallacy is ordinarily put upon us by the vulgar opinion of those things which befal us which makes us think worse of what we undergo than our own reason yea or sense otherwise would pronounce Now in all such cases we must strip all those affrighting evils which so disturb us of whatever opinion our own or others hath cloathed them withall and after so doing judge of them by the dictates of sound Reason informed from the Scripture And then that providence of God towards us which in a disguise looked like a Devil when stripped of it will appear a good Angel and instead of running from its gripes we shall run into its embraces 7. Mind your work that God hath laid out for you to do seriously and industriously For what one saies of Love is true of discontent and dissatisfaction in Gods procecedings it is otiosorum negotium the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Diog. apud Laert. L. 6. business of unbusied souls who have the more leasure to mind their wants and losses because they make holy-day from their work Whereas he that minds his great business of Eternity seriously will rub through with mean accommodations here and be so sollicitous to prevent the loss of his own Soul that no other loss will much affect him 8. Hold the scales even in these 4 Comparisons 1. Betwixt God and your selves I mean not only in his infinite wisdom laid against your folly his infinite justice against your fond and unjust partiality his infinite goodness against your badness his infinite greatness against your meanness but also in the collation of his dealings with your own deservings A judgment duly poised will alwaies find sin outweigh suffering and instead of upbraiding God with its merits find cause in abundance to deprecate its demerits He that imputes sin to himself will not dare whatever he suffer to impute the least hard or Patienter obimus quod nobis impatamus De Pat. injurious dealing to God but will patiently bear what he can find none so justly to blame for as himself as saies Tertullian Considering that whatever a sinner suffers that Facile est qutcquid in praesenti saeculo neccat issud grave quod in aternitate jugulabit L. 2. Salvad Ecl. La. is less than Hell is so much less than he deserves so easie a burthen is that which hurts us only in this world in comparison with that which will damn us to Eternity that is suffering than sin There is not a more quieting consideration in the world than this duly applyed that as one well saies whatever Nontam miseri quam mali G. D. L 1. and how great soever our miseries are our sins are greater 2. Betwixt your selves and others whether compared as men or as Christians He that compares himself as a man with other men will find this allay to his sufferings that he suffered nothing but in company nothing but what is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ferre quam sortem patiuntur omnes Nemo recusat Sen. in Troad Queri quod spargaris in publico ridiculum Sen. Ep. 107. common to humanity 10. 13. And an Heathen will tell him then that no mans shoulders are too good to be laid under a common burthen And another will acquaint him that it is ridiculous for any one to complain that he is dashed with dirt in a publick Road where all Travellers must look to fare alike But if we compare our selves with others as Christians except pride and self-conceitedness do miserably delude us it will be a great abatement to our vexation that we shall find abundance of better men than our selves faring worse and the greatest Saints oftentimes the greatest sufferers 3. Betwixt the happiness which you enjoy in God and that which in other things you are either denyed or deprived of When Hannah complains to Elkanah her Husband of her barrenness he thinks it a sufficient consideration to qualify her discontent that she enjoyed in him a mercy better than ten sons 1 Sam. 1. 8. And may not thy God with much more reason stop thy quarrelling mouth when thou complainest of thy losses in Creature-comforts with a question of a like nature Am not I better to thee than ten yea than ten thousand such children Wives Friends Estates He that notwithstanding all his losses hath a God still may assure himself that to allude to the Poets consolation of his cheated Nec tam tenuis census tibi contigat ut mediocris Jactur ae te mergat onus Juv. sat 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 friend he is too rich to be undone though the whole Creation fail him at once He that can say with David thou art my portion O Lord Ps 119. 57. will have cause to say with Jacob too I have enough yea I have all Gen. 33. 11. and by consequence will not think it reasonable to be over-troubled at what his God takes from him be it what it will whiles Non est ablatus qui dedit quamuis ablatum faerit quod dedit In Ps 32. though as Saint Austin saith he hath taken away his gifts he hath not taken away the Giver Upon which consideration the Psalmist plucks up his spirits and recovers himself out of a deep and dangerous discontent Ps 73. 25. c. and comforted himself in a woful extremity 1. Sam. 30. 6. In a word the least advantage that can be made of this meditation cannot be less than the suppressing unruly passion for a while upon this consideration that to give it the bridle upon any other loss is the ready way to endanger the loss of him as to the sense of his favour who is infinitely better than all things else 4. And lastly betwixt that which you hope to enjoy hereafter and the utwost of what you can endure here And in this comparison the Apostle holding the balance of the Sanctuary hath alteady turned the scale to your hands in that notable Text Rom. 8. 18. I reckon saith he that the sufferings of this life indefinitely are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed And again 2 Cor. 4. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our light affliction
matters of Argument which as I told you before she wanted not ability to manage not obstinately tenacious of her own opinion but obligingly compliant to the Judgment of others where the conscience of duty required not the contrary that thereby she might render her self offensive to none but as far as might be profitable to all A quality thus the more observable because not ordinary in others who being owners of great parts commonly affect a dictatorship in discourse So true is it that Qui volet Ingenio cedere rarus erit These qualities rendered her of an excellent composure for a friend And accordingly an excellent friend she was She did not as was before noted rashly admit any to the honour of her bosom acquaintance but when once she had lodged any persons there she was candidly free and open in communicating what her Judgment which was alwaies riper than her years suggested to be most for the advantage of their particular soul-concerns advice comfort or reproof For which last she alwaies reserved a liberty even towards her choicest and most intimate friends and most indeed towards them but managed it constantly with abundance of winning meekness and tenderness And so severely conscientious was she in the discharge of this friendly office for such indeed it is whatever men ordinarily think of it and the neglect of it where it needs an act of hatred Levit. 19. 17. that having frequent occasions to receive visits from and return them to persons of her acquaintance that made the reverend names of Jesus and Lord interjections in their ordinary discourse a thing which to me seems too near of kin to that taking the name of God in vain which the very letter of the third Commandment forbids that she made it a Case of Conscience whether she did not highly neglect her duty in not reproving them And that she might not appear more rigidly to others in this kind than she was to her self her own life was a comment upon the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eph. 5. 15. so exactly she walked that she took care to avoid not only what she condemned but what she did but suspect in others conversation Insomuch that her conscience would not permit her to pardon her self what her charity taught her to indulge in others And indeed she was alwaies of a very nice and delicate conscience sensible of the smallest and lightest sin or but probable appearance of it The skin of that Sybarite whom Seneca mentions De Ira lib. 2. who complained he was sorely hurt with lying upon doubled rose leaves was not more tender than her conscience was Of which though out of place take these two Instances of many that might be given that she was known once in her younger years to address her self to her Governess with tears intreating her pardon for that in her very child-hood she was conscious she had been defective in affection to her for she thought that then she did not love her A fault I doubt which others that are far more guilty of it are less troubled for Another time in her maturer Age when she had mildly enough threatned a child over whom she had some inspection committed to her that if she did not such a thing she would not love her she presently recalled that as an hard word saying Alas God deals not so with us notwithstanding our continual disobediences But to return whence we digressed to her character as an accomplished Friend One eminent property of true friendship was very conspicuous in her and the more considering what is commonly imputed to her Sex that she was most careful to lock up her friends secrets in her own breast and to conceal their insirmities Those whom upon a Christian account she made her friends she loved very affectionately or in the Apostles phrase rather with a pure heart and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the utmost stress of zealous fervency nor could she endure to be accounted tepid and indifferent in her love towards them And yet in all this ardency of true affection she still observed her constant wont of being sparing in verbal expressions of the esteem and value she had for her friends and that out of scruple lest she should incur the danger of flattering them or at least seeming to do so Yea she was wont sorely against her natural genius and disposition sometimes to curb and restrain the over-flowing kindness of her carriage and deportment out of a consciencious fear lest she should thereby gain the applause of others being more afraid to be too well spoken of than most persons are of deserving to hear ill As a friend she observed that exchange of kindness is the fewel that feeds the flame of mutual affection and keeps it from burning dimly or going out and therefore was a great nourisher of gratitude accounting it the greatest solcism in friendship to be suspicious in receiving or parsimonious in returning kindness And therefore what of this nature she received she would not though sometimes possibly there were probable ground so to do interpret amiss as professing she abhorred the suspicion of a design in kindness as the bane of gratitude And in her returns she was alwaies nobly obliging as studying rather to stand in her friends Books a Creditor than a Debtor I mentioned her Devotion before as an early blossom But I must tell you now that it had not the usual fate of such precocious blossoms to be blasted and drop off before it arrived at maturity For as she grew in years she grew also in acquaintance and communion with God and kept a constant correspondence and intelligence with the Court of Heaven Which Heavenly Trade she followed so close that her Lady-Mother whiles she was under her Government observing how she laboured at it more than her constitution of body would well bear and being afraid lest by overstraining the bow to reach the mark she aimed at she would endanger the breaking it once in a friendly manner told her that if she intended to hold on that course she was not fit to live in this world To which the humble Lady reflecting probably upon her self that Term of unfitness to live in another notion than it was meant answered with much meekness No indeed Madam I confess I am not After she was married she abated not of her Devotion and thereby rendred her self a singular instance of exception to the difference the Apostle puts between a Wife and a Virgin and which Romanists make so much use of to advance a vowed Virginity an invention of theirs above marriage an institution of God 1 Cor. 7. 34. you may the better judge of her Devotions by the proportion of time which she assigned them every day I am credibly informed that her constant retirements to that purpose were proportionably to Daniels thrice a day Dan. 6. 10. And since the decease of her precious Sister-in-Law whose Dr. Langham's Wife great worth deserves a far more
theirs And for Italian shee could make as good an advantage of what Learning that Language affords And yet which in an accomplishment wherein she so much exceeded the rest of her Sex in so much the more remarkable was shee not hereby elevated That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or swelling conceitedness which the Apostle tells us too often fly-blows eminent Gifts 1 Cor. 8. 1. and is the very bane of these times shee was not tainted withal so that her Husband was perfectly unacquainted with all those inconveniences which some have fancied do necessarily accompany a learned Wife For to him even herein She alwaies would strike sail as to her Lord and Head making use of her own knowledge only to capacitate her to make the best improvement of his of whom She would as one that with her other learning had learned her Duty from the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 receive instruction in all submissive silence or quietness To her Lady-Mother She did not forget her Duty in the least no not when her married estate had manumitted her from her Government but allowing her still the next place in her affection and respects to her Husband so demeaned her self towards her that She esteemed her not only a very dutiful and deserving Daughter but as her own Phrase was an excellent Friend also To her Father-in-Law she payed the same Duty according to the particular directions which she received from her at her marriage which she performed to her Lady-Mother as considering that where the Ordinance of God makes two persons one flesh it makes a proportionable union to their respective natural Relations too they being but Reliquiae carnis nostrae the remainders of every one 's own flesh in other bodies as both Arias Montanus and our own Margin from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 him render those words by which nearness of kin is expressed Levit 18. 5. To the memory of her predecessor in that Relation she bore to Sir James Langham she testified contrary to what is usual in such cases a very signal respect enquiring with some earnestness after her special vertues which she designed for her own Imitation and giving the good she heard of her a just commendation To the children that Sir James had by that Lady providence denying him any by this evcept one in expectation to whom the death of the mother rendred the womb a grave she was in care and tenderness so much more than a Mother-in-Law that it was impossible for any but those that knew otherwise not to have mistaken her for their natural Parent and if with them she had had any of her own body I believe she could hardly have told how to have rendred her love to her natural issue in any considerable indication more Emphatical So sollicitously did She interest her self both in education of and provision for them and so concern her self in their behalf in all occasions of never so little bodily distemper that She deserved thereby to have rendred even Noverca a name of honour by being such a Mother-in-Law from whom even natural Mothers themselves might not disdain to receive a Law of kindness towards the children of their own bodies From her Daughter of about 11 years of Age She exacted constantly a repetition by heart of the Sermons she heard for which Task She had by her Instructions so logically methodized theme mory of that so young a child that She was able to Analize a discourse of 30 or 40 particular heads memoriter with the most remarkable enlargments upon them This care of her children She not only continued during her health but even in her sickness also She influenced that that others took of them so far as her weakness would permit And to to shew that She minded them as long as She minded any thing in this world even upon her dying bed She requested her Husband though he needed not any such spur to quicken him in his Duty to breed them up in the exercises of severe Godliness and to see them taught such Evidences of salvation as might be supports to them one day in their dying Agonies To her Servants She demeaned her self so mildly as I before told you as if they had not been so properly Servants as humiles amici in the Moralists phrase a sort of inferiour friends Which carriage won her from them a great deal of aw-ful Love and heart-service instead of eie-service the common vice of those in that Relation She took care even of the meanest of them not only for their bodies but their Souls also calling them that were more immediately under her inspection her Maidens to account in scriptis if they could write for the Sermons they heard and helping their deficiencies from her own exacter notes She would call upon them in the morning as her phrase was to go to God i. e. to wait upon him in their morning Devotions before they waited on her And if for She would examine them concerning it any one of them confessed or by silence bewrayed a neglect therein She would dismiss her immediately to that work from her present attendance not without some reprehension withall for giving her service the precedency of Gods And this care She took as She would frequently express her self to her Husband from a deep conviction of this truth that Governors of Families are accountable to God for the Soul of the meanest under their inspection A course which as far as She could bear it She continued even in her last sickness for when the importunities of her own bodily distempers kept any of them from Church to attend her necessities at home on Gods day She would tell them that nothing but an absolute necessity should have been reason sufficient for her detaining them about her But yet would She say your minds are at liberty let God have as much worship as you can give him lift up your hearts lift up your hearts and remember 't is the Sabbath An example this very fit to be followed by others of her Sex and Quality yea it were well if those that are much inferiour to her both in Birth and breeding would learn so much Religion from her as to consider that their Servants have Souls as well as themselves and Souls that require some time to trim and dress them as well as their Ladies and mistresses bodies And that those persons will surely give but a poor account one day of their Servants souls whose tedious dressings spend the greatest part of every day not excepting Gods Day it self and will not allow their Maidens a minutes privacy to lift up a short prayer in secret wherewith to sanctifie the employments of the day Nor did She extend this care towards her Servants only whiles they continued with her but enlarged it even to those that departed from her An Instance whereof may be That when a mean servant came to take leave of her She gave her together with some other expressions of her
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