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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
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<PB REF="1">
<P>A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF THE Lady Lumley, AT <HI>Great Bardfield</HI> in <HI>E&s;&s;ex,</HI> September 20. 1692.</P>
<P>By THOMAS PRITCHARD, M. A. and late Rector of <HI>We&s;t-Tilbury</HI> in <HI>E&s;&s;ex.</HI></P>
<P>Imprimatur. <HI>C. Al&s;ton.</HI> Nov. 16. 1692.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>Walter Kettilby,</HI> at the <HI>Bi&s;hops-Head</HI> in St. <HI>Paul</HI>'s Church-Yard. 1693.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2" MS="y">
<HEAD>Sir <HI>MARTIN L&V;MLEY,</HI> Bar^t.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>THO I am very well &s;atisfied that the Author of this Di&s;cour&s;e never de&s;ign'd it for the Pre&s;s, yet his giving it to Mr. <HI>Lumley</HI> a little before his Death, in my pre&s;ence, to be di&s;pos'd of at his Plea&s;ure, imply'd a tacite Con&s;ent at lea&s;t to the Publication of it. There are indeed, in my Opinion, Two Rea&s;ons why this Di&s;cour&s;e might not have been Publi&s;h'd, one is becau&s;e it doth not an&s;wer the Character of the Author, the other is becau&s;e it does not fully come up to the Character of the excellent Lady <HI>Lumley;</HI> but the Suddenne&s;s of its Compo&s;ure, and the great Indi&s;po&s;ition of the Author, at that time, may be a &s;ufficient An&s;wer to both the&s;e Rea&s;ons.</P>
<P>It is not altogether unknown, to you Sir, how intimate an Acquaintance, and how dear a Friend of mine Mr. <HI>Pritchard</HI> was, nor am I ignorant of tho&s;e extraordinary Civilities you was plea&s;ed to &s;how him whil&s;t he lived in your Family; I think my&s;elf therefore obliged, both in Ju&s;tice to my Friend, and in Gratitude to you, to take this Opportunity of making a publick Acknowledgment of your great Kindne&s;s to him, which he him&s;elf, (if plea&s;e God he had lived,) would have done in a much better manner.</P>
<P>And now, Sir, I am &s;peaking of his Obligations to your Fa|mily, I &s;hould be in the highe&s;t Degree ungrateful, did I not mo&s;t thankfully acknowledg the particular and unu&s;ual Re&s;pect and Kindne&s;s, which that obliging Gentleman Mr. <HI>Lumley</HI> [your Son] expre&s;t to him upon all occa&s;ions: I have often
<PB REF="3">heard him &s;peak of it with great Plea&s;ure, and ble&s;s God for it; and I am per&s;waded, he e&s;teemed his Conver&s;ation and Friend&s;hip as the greate&s;t Happine&s;s of his Life.</P>
<P>I &s;hall not here pretend to give the Character of my Friend to you, Sir, who knew him &s;o well, and valued him &s;o much; your E&s;teem of him, and great Re&s;pect to him, is a &s;ufficient Recommendation of him to the World.</P>
<P>I &s;hall only therefore ask leave to acquaint you, that I have often heard him, with great Concern, lament the Lo&s;s of your excellent Lady, who was a Per&s;on of that exemplary Piety, &s;trict Vertue, and undoubted Charity; &s;he was &s;o di&s;ceret and ingenious, &s;o affable and courteous, &s;o free from Pride, [a Vice which renders Greatne&s;s contemptible], &s;o kind and u&s;e|ful, even to the meane&s;t Per&s;ons; in &s;hort, &s;he was &s;o uni|ver&s;ally qualified, both as a Chri&s;tian, and as a Per&s;on of Quality, that &s;he exceeded most, and was equalled but by few of her Sex.</P>
<P>But I beg your Pardon, Sir, for pre&s;uming thus to Cha|racterize your Lady, for I have done it &s;o faintly and imper|fectly, that what the Queen of <HI>Sheba</HI> &s;aid of <HI>Solomon</HI>'s Wi&s;|dom, may be &s;aid here al&s;o; <HI>The report is true, but the half of it hath not been told us.</HI></P>
<P>That God Almighty would &s;anctifie this great Lo&s;s to you and your Family, and Ble&s;s both you and them with Health and Happine&s;s here, and eternal Bli&s;s and Glory hereafter, is the Prayer of,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE> <SIGNED>Your mo&s;t Obliged Humble Servant, <HI>T. P.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="3" MS="y">
<HEAD>A <HI>Funeral Sermon.</HI></HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Heb. ix. 27.</HI></BIBL>
<P>&mdash;But after this the Judgment.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>THE Minds of men are then generally mo&s;t &s;erious and compo&s;ed, when they have be|fore them a fre&s;h in&s;tance of mortality: a Di&s;cour&s;e therefore of a Subject in which all men are &s;o nearly concerned, as that of a Future Judgment which is to follow after Death, cannot be improper or un&s;ea&s;onable at &s;uch a Solemnity as this; 'tis this which maketh Death &s;o terrible, and <HI>that the King of terrors,</HI> &s;o truly applicable to it; Death indeed tho there were nothing after it was to be dreaded upon the account of tho&s;e Pains and Agonies that attend it, which que&s;tionle&s;s are very grievous to be undergone, which we cannot but &s;hrink and tremble at the
<PB N="2" REF="4">thoughts of; but that which maketh it much more to be dreaded, is econ&s;ideration of that &s;trict and im|partial Judgment which we are ju&s;t then going to make, then mu&s;t we immediately appear before Chri&s;t's Tribunal; what can more &s;tartle, amaze, or affright us than this? Nece&s;&s;ary it is that we &s;hould be reminded of that which is the mo&s;t &s;erious and weighty matter and of greate&s;t concernment to us, and which, if &s;o thought on as it ought, may curb and re&s;train us from Sin and excite us to the &s;tricte&s;t Holi|ne&s;s of life; there cannot &s;ure be a more effectual or prevailing Motive to a holy life, than a frequent and &s;erious con&s;ideration of a Judgment to come; who would venture to commit any unlawful or &s;inful action, tho in the mo&s;t &s;ecret Rece&s;&s;es or private Re|tirements, if he remembers that no Locks or Bolts are able to &s;helter him from the all-&s;eeing eye of Heaven, who beholds us as plainly through the narrowe&s;t chinks as upon the hou&s;e top? For unto him all things are naked and open, and what he ob&s;erveth us now to do with &s;o much &s;ecrecy, he will a&s;&s;uredly bring us into Judgment for: what a reverential awe and dread would &s;uch Meditations as the&s;e beget in us? how would they check our mo&s;t vicious Incli|nations, and enable us to with&s;tand and re&s;i&s;t all the Temptations and Allurements, which our mo&s;t &s;pite|full Adver&s;aries could invent to intice and draw us to Sin? That which made the Primitive Chri&s;tians
<PB N="3" REF="4">lead &s;uch holy, &s;trict, and pure Lives, for which they are worthily renowned to this day, was a general and &s;trong Opinion they held that the day of Judgment was nigh at hand; and with this caution and re&s;traint it is that <HI>Solomon</HI> gave &s;uch a large Grant, which he thought was &s;ufficient to keep men within due bounds of Mderation, <HI>Eccle&s;.</HI> 11.9. <HI>rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart chear thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and the &s;ight of thine eyes; but know thou that for all the&s;e things God will bring thee into Jdgment;</HI> As if he had &s;aid, be &s;ure thou always keep the Fear of God in thine heart, and re|member his everla&s;ting Judgment, not to indulge thy&s;elf in evil, or to u&s;e any exce&s;s in that which is of it &s;elf good and lawful; for God will bring every work into Judgment with every &s;ecret thing, whether it be good or bad. Since then the beleif of an After-Reckoning is &s;o powerful a Per&s;wa&s;ive to a holy life, we may ju&s;tly wonder, that men who profe&s;s to be|lieve it &s;hould live &s;o wickedly as generally they do, and take &s;o little care for that account which they cer|tainly mu&s;t, and we know not how &s;oon may, make, <HI>For 'tis appointed,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>This is the irrevi&s;ible and unalterable Decree of Heaven, that all men &s;ooner or later &s;hall dye; tho &s;ome may live long, yet they mu&s;t &s;ee the Grave, they mu&s;t go down to the Chambers of Death, the place appointed for all living. We need not a Monitor as Hi&s;torians tell us the <HI>Macedonian</HI> Monarch had,
<PB N="4" REF="5">to remind us of our Mortality; the Death of our Friends and Relations &s;ufficiently informs us, who are of the &s;ame make with them, how frail and un|certain our own Condition is; but if this were all, if we were only to die; were our Bodies to lie rotting in our Graves for ever, and our Souls to va|ni&s;h into the &s;oft Air; were the&s;e two never to be united together again, then &s;urely the Thoughts of Death would not be &s;o dreadful and a&s;toni&s;hing as they are. To him indeed that liveth at re&s;t in his Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions, unto the Man that hath nothing to vex or trouble him, who enjoys the World at will, and hath all things that his heart can either wi&s;h or de&s;ire, the remembrance of Death may be bitter to him, becau&s;e it depriveth him of all tho&s;e Enjoy|ments which he has here po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of; but to him that is poor and in want, to him that is in mi&s;ery and di&s;tre&s;s, to him that is perplexed with &s;ore and bit|ter pains, or tormented with lingring di&s;ea&s;es, what could be more acceptable than Death? What more grateful to a weary Traveller, than Re&s;t? What would one weary of this life, becau&s;e of the pains and aches he endureth in it, more earne&s;tly wi&s;h for, or greedily long after, than to find the Grave, where he might repo&s;e him&s;elf, and be free from tho&s;e Calamities and Afflictions which he &s;uffered in this Life. But, alas, this is not all, Death is but a pa&s;&s;age into another Life; that divorce and &s;e|paration
<PB N="5" REF="5">which it maketh between the Body and the Soul, mu&s;t not be for ever; our Souls are Im|mortal, and mu&s;t endure for ever, and our Bodies al&s;o; tho they be turned into Du&s;t, from whence they were at fir&s;t taken, yet &s;hall by the &s;ame Al|mighty Power, which at fir&s;t made them, be rai&s;ed and joined to the &s;ame Soul, and be made Partakers with it, according to our demeanour here, either of Bli&s;s or Mi&s;ery: And this is it which maketh the Thoughts of Death &s;o dreadful and amazing; this is it which maketh Men, tho weary of life, yet afraid to die, <HI>viz.</HI> an Apprehen&s;ion of a future Judgment: the Thoughts of that &s;trict Account which we mu&s;t then make, before a mo&s;t ju&s;t and upright Judge, maketh us like <HI>Felix,</HI> con&s;cious to our &s;elves how we have lived here, to quake and tremble; this &s;ure is enough to qua&s;h and damp the courage of the mo&s;t re&s;olute and undaunted Sinner, becau&s;e af|ter Death, they do not utterly cea&s;e to be; <HI>but af|ter this,</HI> that is, after the Di&s;&s;olution of our Bodies, follows Judgment, <HI>it being appointed for all men,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>In Treating of which Words, I &s;hall &s;peak to the&s;e following Particulars.</P>
<P N="1">I. The certainty of what is here a&s;&s;erted, a Fu|ture Judgment.</P>
<P N="2">II. The Per&s;ons who mu&s;t come to Judgment.</P>
<P N="3">III. The Practical Inferences deducible from hence.</P>
<PB N="6" REF="6">
<P> <HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> The certainty of what is a&s;&s;erted, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> which I &s;hall endeavour to evince from the&s;e Three Heads.</P>
<P N="1">1. From the univer&s;al Con&s;ent of all Mankind.</P>
<P N="2">2. From our own Con&s;ciences.</P>
<P N="3">3. From the Ju&s;tice of God.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> From the univer&s;al Con&s;ent of all Mankind.</P>
<P>The very Heathens them&s;elves, tho guided by no other than the ob&s;cure and glimering light of Na|ture, did own and profe&s;s this Truth, that there &s;hould be another Life after this; in which Men, according as they have demeaned them&s;elves here, &s;hould be rewarded or puni&s;hed. From this Belief aro&s;e tho&s;e Fictions of the <HI>Ely&s;ian</HI> Fields, where they &s;up|po&s;ed all good and virtuous Men to enjoy all man|ner of Happine&s;s; whereas wicked Men, they be|lieved, were thru&s;t into infernal Regions, into Pri&s;ons and dark Caverns, where they underwent Puni&s;hments an&s;werable to their Crimes, and while they continued in a &s;tedfa&s;t and firm Belief of a Future Judgment, they lived well and vertuou&s;ly; but when thro the Corruption of the times, this Truth began to be doubted of, then did all manner of Sin and Iniquity abound among&s;t them: &s;o powerful a Motive is the Belief of a Judgment to come, to re&s;train Men from Sin, and to engage them to Virtue and Ho|line&s;s; &s;o generally was this Opinion received in the World, that when S. <HI>Paul</HI> Preached of it at <HI>Athens,</HI> there were none that denied it. <HI>Acts</HI> 17.31. <HI>God hath
<PB N="7" REF="6">appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteou&s;ne&s;s, by that man whom he hath ordained; where|of he hath given a&s;&s;urance unto all men, in that he hath rai|&s;ed him from the dead.</HI> When he &s;pake of a Re&s;ur|rection, this was &s;uch a new and unheard of Doctrine, that &s;ome of them, the <HI>Epicureans</HI> e&s;pecially, who had addicted them&s;elves to &s;en&s;ual Delights and corpo|real Plea&s;ures, who&s;e Intere&s;t it was that there &s;hould be none, mock'd and derided him; but that of a Judgment to come, all readily owned and acknow|ledged. Thus have Men in all Ages, of all Sects, how different &s;oever their Opinions were in other matters, con&s;ented and agreed in this, tho what it was that did induce them to be &s;o unanimous in this particular, is not &s;o ea&s;ie to determine: there are Two Rea&s;ons commonly given of it, either &s;ome certain Principles of Rea&s;on, which are common to all Men, or el&s;e Divine Revelation; which &s;o|ever of the&s;e two it was is not material to our pre|&s;ent Purpo&s;e; for the Inference will be good, that Men mu&s;t be judged after Death, becau&s;e all Men do believe and expect it.</P>
<P N="2">2. From our own Con&s;ciences. If we will but de&s;cend into our &s;elves, and con&s;ider our own Frame and Con&s;titution, we cannot be ignorant hereof, our Con&s;ciences plainly bear witne&s;s hereto; while we continue in the Practice of things hone&s;t and comely, while we lead our lifes according to God's
<PB N="8" REF="7">Commands, they do not only approve, but al&s;o highly commend this, our good Conver&s;ation, and beget within us a complacency and delight, an inward joy and contentment of Mind; but when we do things contrary to God's Laws, when we commit any gro&s;s or foul Sin, does not only di&s;|low, but al&s;o accu&s;es and condemns us for them, troubleth and affrighteth us with thoughts of &s;ome Judgment which will fall upon us, if not in this, yet in another life. From whence el&s;e proceeds that ex|ultancy and chearfulne&s;s of Spirit, that inward com|placency of Mind, we find upon any good and ver|tuous Actions, which perhaps is not like to be known or believed in the World, and by which we can fore&s;ee no temporal Advantage, nay for which 'tis likely we may lo&s;e all things in this World, Friends, E&s;tate and Life it&s;elf? And whence, on the other &s;ide, &s;hould our Hearts &s;mite and accu&s;e us, con|demn and di&s;quiet us, upon any ba&s;e or vicious Action, tho contrived and executed with never &s;o much Darkne&s;s and Secrecy which none can betray, becau&s;e none know it but our &s;elves, or if they &s;hould, perhaps &s;uch are the circum&s;tances of our outward Condition, that we are out of the reach, or above the cognizance of Humane Laws, for which perhaps we may be a&s;&s;ured of applau&s;e and encou|ragement in the World? Now from whence could the&s;e things proceed, but from the hopes and fears
<PB N="9" REF="7">of the Rewards and Puni&s;hments of another Life, &s;o firmly rooted in our Natures, upon the Sen&s;e of our guilt or innocence, &s;o that as we would not lo&s;e the one, &s;o we cannot, by all our Art and Indu&s;try, by all our outward Gaiety and Jolity, prevent the other. Thus do our Con&s;ciences teach us, that after Death we mu&s;t be judged.</P>
<P N="3">3. From the Ju&s;tice of God. This is an At|tribute &s;o e&s;&s;ential to the Divinity, that we may as well deny him to be God, as to be Ju&s;t. Now this requireth, that every man &s;hould have accord|ing to his Works, that the godly &s;hould be Reward|ed, and the wicked Puni&s;hed; but here we &s;ee, it often cometh to pa&s;s, that the wor&s;t men are in the be&s;t Circum&s;tances and Conditions, they that do wickedly thrive and pro&s;per. Rewards and Puni&s;hments, are not exactly proportioned to Mens good and evil Actions in this life; <HI>but all things come alike to all, there is one event to the righteous and is the wicked, to the clean and the unclean, to him that &s;a|crificeth, and to him that &s;acrificeth not; as is the good, &s;o the &s;inner, and he that &s;weareth, as he that &s;weareth not.</HI> However things are carried now, the Judge of all the Earth will do right, he will reward the righ|teous, and puni&s;h the wicked; when we therefore &s;ee, that the di&s;tribution of humane Affairs in this life, hath very little appearance of that impartial Ju|&s;tice
<PB N="10" REF="8">which God will exerci&s;e towards the children of men, what can we conclude, but that he hath appointed another time and Place, wherein he will judge the World in Righteou&s;ne&s;s. 'Tis true indeed, God doth &s;ometimes inflict remarkable Judgments upon &s;ome notorious Offenders here in this life, &s;ometimes for their own amendment, that they may e&s;cape the wrath to come, &s;ometimes for examples to others, that they may &s;ee it and fear, and re|member that the Mo&s;t High ruleth among the chil|dren of men: but &s;till the full execution of his Ju&s;tice, is re&s;erved to another life; and there we mu&s;t expect he will bring every work into Judg|ment; the more unequally things are carried on in this World, the greater certainty there is of Judgment in another; for it cannot be, but that a ju&s;t God will reward Virtue, and puni&s;h Vice; which, becau&s;e he doth not always do here, he will mo&s;t certainly do hereafter. Thus, for the full and clear Manife&s;tation of God's Ju&s;tice, there mu&s;t ne|ce&s;&s;arily be another Judgment, that good Men may be rewarded, and wicked Men receive condign puni&s;hment; that they who have their good things in this life, may be tormented; and they who have received their evil things comforted, and be recom|pen&s;ed for all the evils they have &s;uffered in this life.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="11" REF="8"> II. The Per&s;ons that mu&s;t come to Judgment. And they are all Mankind; the Text tells us that all &s;hall die, and all &s;hall come to Judgment; for to tho&s;e to whom Death is appointed, Judgment is ap|pointed al&s;o, <HI>as it is appointed to all men,</HI> &amp;c. we e|very one of us, who are now alive, and mu&s;t ere long de&s;cend into our Graves; we the very &s;ame Per&s;ons, &s;hall be rai&s;ed again and brought to Judg|ment; the &s;ame Almighty Power that fir&s;t gave us a Being, when before we were not, is al&s;o able to rai&s;e us out of our Graves; we all every one of us, mu&s;t undergo this Judgment, none &s;hall be exempt|ed, no order or degree of Men excepted; high and low, rich and poor, noble and ignoble, Kings and Emperours, as well as Subjects, they who&s;e Great|ne&s;s exempts them from being liable to any humane Judicature, being God's Vicegerents here on Earth, mu&s;t yet render account of their Actions to him who is the great King of all the Earth, all of what degree or quality &s;oever, mu&s;t come to Judgment, as S. <HI>John</HI> fore&s;aw in a Night Vi&s;ion; <HI>I &s;aw the dead, &s;mall and great, &s;tand before God:</HI> no man's Honours, Riches, Greatne&s;s, or any thing el&s;e, can excu&s;e him; Scep|ters and Thrones cannot exempt Kings, nor Honours and Riches the noble and wealthy, nor Cunning and Strength the Politician and the Souldier, nor Wi&s;dom and Learning the wi&s;e and learned, nor Po|verty
<PB N="12" REF="9">the meane&s;t and lowe&s;t, but all Orders of Men without any Privilege, any re&s;pect of Per&s;ons, all and every one mu&s;t be Judged; and accordingly as they have lived well or ill in this world, mu&s;t receive their la&s;t final Doom and Sentence, either to un&s;peak|able Bli&s;s, or Mi&s;ery.</P>
<P N="3">III. I come now to &s;hew the Practical Inferences deducible from hence. I &s;hall name but Two.</P>
<P><HI>Fir&s;t,</HI> The certainty of that Judgment, which is to follow after Death, &s;hould deter and affright us from Sin. We cannot but know if we per&s;i&s;t in our evil Cour&s;es, it will go very ill with us at the la&s;t Day, if we be notoriou&s;ly negligent of our Duty, and tran&s;gre&s;s the Laws of God, how can we think on this Judgment without being &s;eized with an hideous dread of coming to &s;o &s;trict a Tryal, of falling un|der &s;o heavy a Sentence? how &s;hould the thoughts of it frighten us from continuing any longer in our Di&s;obedience? Hard as Rocks &s;urely we mu&s;t be, if &s;uch thoughts do not pierce us, do not affect us. This con&s;ideration alone, that there is a day com|ing when the Wrath of God &s;hall be revealed from Heaven, again&s;t all ungodline&s;s and unrighteou&s;ne&s;s of Men, &s;hould methinks &s;trike &s;uch a dread and ho|rour into us, as to make us fear to go on in our wick|ed Cour&s;es: &s;urely his Heart mu&s;t be wonderfully hardened, who <HI>trea&s;ureth up unto him&s;elf wrath again&s;t
<PB N="13" REF="9">the day of wrath, and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.</HI> If indeed we regard only the pre&s;ent Plea&s;ure which &s;in promi&s;eth us, it may by its flattering Allurements entice us to the Commi&s;&s;ion of it; but when we look farther and remember, that we mu&s;t hereafter be accountable for all the Actions of our life, when we con&s;ider what will be the &s;ad Con&s;equences of it; that we mu&s;t for the &s;hort and momentary enjoyments of our &s;in|ful Plea&s;ures, for tho&s;e things which are now pa&s;|&s;ed away as a Shadow, and as a Po&s;t that ha&s;t|eth by, which yielded us in the Fruition of them far le&s;s &s;atisfaction than we expected; when we remember this, it will make us &s;light, and de&s;pi&s;e, and carefully avoid all &s;in, which we know in the end will infallibly lead us to eternal De&s;tru|ction: Whenever therefore we are tempted to any &s;in, let us meditate upon the la&s;t Judgment; let us con&s;ider how or what we &s;hall be able to an|&s;wer God, when he &s;hall judg us for them; what &s;hall we do when he ri&s;eth up, and when he vi|&s;iteth? what &s;hall we an&s;wer him, how &s;hall we then be &s;truck dumb and &s;peechle&s;s, having no|thing to plead in our own behalf? Let us not de|ceive or flatter our &s;elves, or fondly imagine, that if we be in a retired place, God cannot &s;ee our Actions; for tho it is po&s;&s;ible we may &s;o clo&s;ely
<PB N="14" REF="10">retire, as that no mortal Eye &s;hall &s;ee us, yet we can never e&s;cape the Eye of the immortal God, who filling all places with his Pre&s;ence, ob&s;er|veth what we are doing wherever we be. That God who will be our Judg is ever pre&s;ent with us, beholding us in our greate&s;t Secrecies; and therefore our mo&s;t &s;ecret &s;ins are as well known to him, as our publick ones; there is nothing now covered which &s;hall not then be revealed, neither hid that &s;hall not be known; whatever we have &s;poken or done in Darkne&s;s &s;hall be heard in the light, and that which we have &s;poken in the Ear in Clo&s;ets, &s;hall be proclaimed upon the Hou&s;e tops. Since then there is no place where we may &s;in &s;afely or &s;ecurely but God will &s;ee us, and bring us into Judgment for, how pow|erful &s;hould this be to curb and re&s;train us from &s;in.</P>
<P><HI>Secondly,</HI> Let the certainty of that Judgment which is to follow after Death prevail with us daily, to take care to make up our Accounts with God, not putting off from one day to another, lea&s;t that day of which we are altogether igno|rant overtake us before we be aware; and if we &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;ider the uncertainty of it, that will &s;ure|ly mo&s;t effectually move us to the greate&s;t Care and Vigilance imaginable: what more de&s;perate
<PB N="15" REF="10">Madne&s;s or greater Folly can there be, than to neglect or omit a pre&s;ent Opportunity, when we know not whether we &s;hall ever enjoy another; delays are in all ca&s;es dangerous, but in none more than this, becau&s;e that which we hereby hazard is of far greater concern to us than any thing el&s;e be&s;ides can be; 'tis no le&s;s than our eternal Welfare which we by this means venture, that which above all things el&s;e we ought to regard and &s;ecure: Let us then in&s;tantly &s;et about this great and important Bu&s;ine&s;s; let us beforehand erect a Tribunal in our own Brea&s;ts; let us examine and try our &s;elves, take an impartial Survey of all our Actions; con&s;ider them with all tho&s;e aggravat|ing Circum&s;tances wherewith they were commit|ted; accu&s;e, arraign and condemn our &s;elves for them, and with a truly penitent Heart confe&s;s them to Almighty God; unfeignedly bewailing our Mi&s;|carriages, highly di&s;plea&s;ed with our &s;elves for having &s;o grievou&s;ly offended &s;o good and gra|cious a God, humbly imploring his Mercy, be|&s;eeching him not to lay the&s;e our &s;ins to our charge, not to enter at the la&s;t day into Judgment with us for them, but to put them upon the account of the Cro&s;s; to accept of that complete Satisfaction which our ble&s;&s;ed Redeemer made for the &s;ins of the World, &s;o that our &s;ins may not ri&s;e up a|gain&s;t
<PB N="16" REF="11">us, and condemn us at that day. And if we live thus in a con&s;tant preparation for Judgment we need not fear its &s;udden coming, but having our Accounts ready, we may joyfully expect the ble&s;&s;ed Hope and glorious Appearance of the great God, and our Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t, earne&s;tly wi&s;hing, and heartily praying for the coming of that Day, in &s;ome &s;uch earne&s;t and ardent Petition as that of S. <HI>John, Come Lord Je&s;us, come quickly.</HI></P>
<P>Tho I have done with the Text, yet I have another Work &s;till to do, which the time requi|reth me to do more briefly than otherwi&s;e I ought; the great Worth and Merit, the exemplary vir|tuous and pious Life of this mo&s;t worthy Lady, ju&s;tly challenge an honourable Mention. 'Tis not therefore to comply with cu&s;tom which hath made it almo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary on &s;uch occa&s;ions, as this, to &s;ay &s;omething of the Party Decea&s;ed, but to pay a ju&s;t and due debt to her Memory, to whom o|therwi&s;e I &s;hould be highly injurious. <HI>Solomon</HI> tells us, that <HI>the memory of the ju&s;t is ble&s;&s;ed;</HI> and <HI>David,</HI> that <HI>the righteous &s;hall be in everla&s;ting re|membrance;</HI> their worthy Actions &s;hall be cele|brated with never cea&s;ing Prai&s;es; their Names, after their departure out of this life, ought to be mentioned with due Re&s;pect and Honour, and
<PB N="17" REF="11">&s;o I doubt not will the Name of this good Lady be; her good Works, her u&s;eful and exemplary Life, will immortalize her Memory; none will grudge or &s;cruple to &s;peak well of her who &s;o ju&s;tly de&s;erved. Her courteous and mo&s;t obliging Behaviour to all, and Conde&s;cen&s;ion to the poor|e&s;t and meane&s;t, whom &s;he would not di&s;dain to &s;peak with, and afford them what Help and Relief &s;he could, when they came to her either for them&s;elves, or in the behalf of any &s;ick or in|digent Per&s;ons; the&s;e won her the Affections of all, made her highly e&s;teemed and re&s;pected, honoured and beloved by all while &s;he was living, and generally bewailed now dead who&s;e; Death is not only a great Lo&s;s to all her &s;urviving Re|lations, but to the whole Neighbourhood, e&s;pe|cially to the Poor,: But what is Lo&s;s to us, is Cain to her, having rea&s;on to hope, that now &s;he is ab&s;ent from the Body &s;he is pre&s;ent with the Lord; and being freed from the many Mi&s;eries and Trou|bles of this &s;hort frail Life, &s;he is inexpre&s;&s;ibly Ble&s;|&s;ed and Happy, for &s;o are all God's faithful Servants &s;aid to be; <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the dead which die in the Lord, even &s;o &s;aith the &s;pirit, for they re&s;t from their labours.</HI></P>
<P>I &s;hall not in&s;i&s;t upon her Birth and Parentage, which was from an antient and worthy Family;
<PB N="18" REF="12">nor need I &s;peak of her Education, all tho&s;e Ac|compli&s;hments which became her Sex and Quali|ty (which all I believe will acknowledg &s;he had in the greate&s;t Perfection) &s;hew how gentile that was, and what improvement &s;he made of it; none knew better, or more exactly performed, whatever belonged to the Mi&s;tre&s;s of a Family than &s;he; how neat and curious, and what a par|ticular knack &s;he had in the nobler Parts of Hou&s;e|wifry, I appeal to tho&s;e who are mo&s;t competent Judges of it: the endowments of her Mind were not mean and vulgar, but great and noble: &s;he applied her&s;elf much to Reading, which &s;he al|ways profe&s;&s;ed &s;he found great Plea&s;ure and Satis|faction, (it being mo&s;t &s;uitable to her ingenious Mind) for which &s;he was well qualified, being of a quick and ready Apprehen&s;ion and &s;olid Judgment; the ingenuity of her Mind di&s;covered it&s;elf in her Di&s;|cour&s;e, and al&s;o in her Writing, wherein &s;he did excel; very readily and freely upon all Occa&s;ions expre&s;&s;ing her&s;elf in a Style &s;mooth and elegant, and in very fit and proper Language: con&s;ider her in every relation in which &s;he &s;tood, and you &s;hall find her very faithfully and punctually, di&s;creetly and affectionately Di&s;charging her&s;elf in every re&s;pect; being a faithful and loyal Wife, a mo&s;t affectionate and indulgent Mother, a kind
<PB N="19" REF="12">and gentle Mi&s;tre&s;s, and a &s;ure and tru&s;ty Friend. I can but barely Hint at the&s;e Things, and am forced to omit many others which might be men|tioned, there being Two Things e&s;pecially, which I mu&s;t not pa&s;s by, which &s;he was eminent for, and the&s;e are,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>Her Charity.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, <HI>Her exemplary and religious Conver&s;a|tion.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>Her Charity.</HI> She ever had a very tender and compa&s;&s;ionate Concern for all that were in any nece&s;&s;itous or di&s;tre&s;&s;ed Condition, not barely commi&s;erating their hard Fate, and tho&s;e Mi&s;eries and Straits which they &s;trugled with, but giving them &s;uch Relief and Succour as their Nece&s;&s;ities requi|red, which &s;he did in a very liberal and bountiful Manner, freely and chearfully, and &s;o in a man|ner mo&s;t acceptable to God, who is &s;aid to love a chearful giver. What S. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;aid of tho&s;e of <HI>Philippi</HI> and <HI>The&s;&s;alonica,</HI> I think may properly be applied to, and &s;aid of her, <HI>To her power I bare record;</HI> yea and beyond her power &s;he was wil|ling of her&s;elf. It was her con&s;tant Practi&s;e every year, to provide Medicines for the Sick and Poor; which, as occa&s;ion offered, &s;he gave to tho&s;e that
<PB N="20" REF="13">asked them of her, as not a few did. I have of|ten heard her &s;ay, how plea&s;ant a thing it was to do Good, and that &s;he &s;hould never de&s;ire a great E&s;tate but only to enable her to do more good in the World; &s;o very de&s;irous was &s;he to imitate our Saviour in this ble&s;&s;ed Work, who as we read of him, <HI>went about doing good, both to the &s;ouls and bodies of men.</HI> And how plea&s;ing &s;uch Works as the&s;e are to God. The Apo&s;tle teaches us, when exhorting hereto, he &s;aith, that <HI>with &s;uch &s;acrifi|ces God is well plea&s;ed:</HI> he tells us al&s;o, that <HI>our re|ward hereafter &s;hall be proportioned to our degrees of charity, he that &s;oweth &s;paringly &s;hall reap &s;paringly, but he that &s;oweth bountifully &s;hall reap bountifuily.</HI> Our Saviour tells us, that at the la&s;t Day it &s;hall be enquired what works of Charity and Mercy men have done, and an&s;werably thereunto &s;hall they hear one of tho&s;e Sentences pronounced to them, <HI>come ye ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> &amp;c. or <HI>go ye cur&s;ed,</HI> &amp;c. Since then Works of Charity are &s;o plea&s;ing to God, and &s;hall be &s;o richly Rewarded by him, what comfortable Hopes may we have of the happy State of this mo&s;t excellent Lady, who was always for|ward in Acts of this Nature, as many can Te&s;tifie, who have often and largely ta&s;ted of her Bounty and Liberality.</P>
<PB N="21" REF="13">
<P> Secondly, <HI>Her exemplary and religious Conver&s;a|tion.</HI> She was happily betimes acquainted with the knowledg of God and Religion, fully in&s;tructed in the Principles of the Chri&s;tian Faith, from a Child knowing the Scriptures, which are able to make us wi&s;e unto Salvation; and in the follow|ing part of her Life, by her con&s;tant u&s;e of the or|dinary Means, &s;he much improved this u&s;e|ful and beneficial Knowledg, being able judici|ou&s;ly to di&s;cour&s;e of mo&s;t Heads of Divinity, and Points of Faith; which by her frequent peru&s;al of &s;uch Books as learnedly and &s;olidly treat of them, &s;he became well acquainted with. <HI>Thus growing in grace, and in the knowledg of our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> being &s;ound in the Faith, and ready always to give an an&s;wer to every one that asked her a rea&s;on of the Hope that was in her with Meekne&s;s and Fear. And well knowing the ad|vantages of an early Piety, like a pious and mo&s;t af|fectionate Mother, &s;he took great care to have her Son in his younger Years in&s;tructed in Reli|gion, whom &s;he her&s;elf taught the mo&s;t nece&s;&s;a|ry and fundamental Points thereof; and the like Care and Pains &s;he did likewi&s;e take of her Grand|children, having in&s;tructed them al&s;o in the Mat|ters of Religion, as much as their tender Years
<PB N="22" REF="14">would admit of; and an&s;werable to this, her know|ledg in Religion, was her Practi&s;e of Religious Du|ties; con&s;tant &s;he was in the mo&s;t nece&s;&s;ary Duty of Prayer, being &s;en&s;ible what need we have of the Divine A&s;&s;i&s;tance and Favour, which we cannot hope to have unle&s;s we frequently and fervently ask it of him: her Private Devotions in her Clo|&s;et, e&s;pecially Morning and Evening, &s;he very &s;eldom, I believe I might &s;ay never, omitted: con|ver&s;ant &s;he was in reading the Bible, that holy Book, from whence all &s;aving Knowledg is to be learnt: a great Reverence &s;he had for the holy Scriptures, believing them to be of Divine In&s;pi|ration, profitable for Doctrine, for Reproof, for Correction, for in&s;truction in Righteou&s;ne&s;s, which &s;he therefore read with Care and Diligence, with Heed and Attention; &s;he read &s;ome part of them every day, as al&s;o other good Books, of which &s;he had great choice, and u&s;ed much: be&s;ides the&s;e her Private Religious Exerci&s;es, &s;he did con|&s;tantly attend the Prayers of the Family, and did often call upon her Servants to do &s;o too, think|ing it not enough to be pre&s;ent her&s;elf, unle&s;s &s;he endeavoured at lea&s;t to have them there too, that &s;o not &s;he only but her Hou&s;e might &s;erve the Lord: and as &s;he was thus careful to &s;erve God at
<PB N="23" REF="14">home, &s;o was &s;he too in the publick Places of God's Wor&s;hip; &s;he &s;taid not from Church except Sick|ne&s;s or &s;ome unavoidable Accident prevented, whi|ther &s;he went not out of Cu&s;tom, but Sence of Duty, with a de&s;ire to be reminded, and &s;tirred up, and excited to the Practi&s;e of her Duty: &s;he did frequently partake of the Sacrament of Chri&s;ts Body and Blood, thinking &s;he could not too often comply with the la&s;t dying Command of our Lord, <HI>do this in remembrance of me:</HI> a great Care &s;he always had before her approaching to this Du|ty, to prepare her&s;elf for it, knowing the great Benefit of Receiving worthily, and the great Dan|ger of Receiving unworthily; &s;uch was her exem|plary and religious Conver&s;ation, &s;erving God even from her Youth in Sincerity and Truth, with a perfect Heart and willing Mind, always endea|vouring <HI>to keep a con&s;cience void of offence both to|wards God and Man,</HI> performing tho not an un&s;in|ning, yet a &s;incere Obedience; &s;uch God now requireth and will accept of. She did truly and &s;incerely fear God, and &s;uch an one <HI>Solomon</HI> tells us de&s;erveth to be prai&s;ed; <HI>A woman that feareth the Lord, &s;he &s;hall be prai&s;ed.</HI> She did often expre&s;s what a great Care and Concern &s;he had for the Salvation of her Soul, and what a mi&s;erable Wretch
<PB N="24" REF="15">&s;he &s;hould be if &s;he mi&s;&s;ed of Heaven, and would often &s;ay, that it was an hard thing to go to Hea|ven, <HI>that the gate is strait, and the way narrow that leadeth thither:</HI> &s;he thought &s;he could never do enough to &s;ecure her everla&s;ting Happine&s;s. This was it which &s;he was mo&s;t concerned for; her Thoughts and Care were chiefly for her eternal State; &s;he knew very well that &s;he was but a Stranger and Sojourner here, and that &s;he mu&s;t ere long leave this World and die: it was therefore the great Bu&s;ine&s;s of her Life to prepare for an happy Death, and &s;he took the be&s;t cour&s;e for it, for undoubtedly the be&s;t way to dye well is to live well, &s;he had a lingring Ilne&s;s for &s;ome time, which might, and I doubt not, did remind her of her approaching Di&s;&s;olution, and put her up|on a &s;erious Preparation for it, completing that that in her la&s;t Sickne&s;s which &s;he had begun in her Health: tho others were not, yet &s;he &s;eemed to be very apprehen&s;ive what near approaches &s;he was making to the Grave: when &s;he found her&s;elf at any time fainting, &s;he did with the greate&s;t fer|vency and earne&s;tne&s;s call upon God to help and relieve her, to be merciful to her and receive her Soul; &s;uch holy and pathetical Ejaculations &s;he u&s;ed as became a dying Per&s;on, in a mo&s;t &s;olemn
<PB N="25" REF="15">Manner recommending her Soul into the Hands of God, and begging of him to receive it; which Reque&s;t we have rea&s;on to hope was granted her, and that &s;he is now with God, in tho&s;e happy Regions above, where is Light, Joy and Peace; where is every thing that can be de&s;ired; where &s;he &s;hall feel no more Pain nor Sickne&s;s, nor be di&s;turbed in any kind, but enjoy an uninterrupted Re&s;t, and be un&s;peakably and everla&s;tingly Hap|py; this is our hope of her. Let us comfort one another herewith, and prepare to follow her.</P>
<P>For it is appointed for us all to dye, and to be judged; none of us can e&s;cape either Death or Judgment, both are certain and unavoidable; &s;trict and &s;evere will that Scrutiny be which God will then make; God will then bring to Light the hidden things of Darkne&s;s, and will make mani|fe&s;t the Coun&s;els of the Heart: How careful then ought we to be to provide for this dreadful Day which will come, and perhaps &s;ooner than we think for? 'Tis time for us to ca&s;t off our Drow&s;ine&s;s and Security, and to look for the coming of our Lord. He hath &s;uf|ficiently forewarned us that it &s;hall be &s;ud|den
<PB N="26" REF="16">and unexpected, &s;o that we &s;hall be inexcu&s;able if we watch not for it. I &s;hall conclude with the Advice of S. <HI>Matthew, Be ye al&s;o ready, for in &s;uch an hour as you think not, the Son of man cometh.</HI></P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="16">
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
