A Funeral Sermon Preached on the Decease of GRACE. Lady GETHIN, WIFE of Sir RICHARD GETHIN, Bar onet, On the 28 day of March, 1700. at Westminster-Abby: And for perpetuating Her Memory a Sermon is to be Preached in Westminster-Abby, yearly, on Ash-Wednesday for Ever.  
By Dr. Birch, Prebend of Westminster.  
LONDON: Printed by D. Edward's in Nevils-Ally in Fetter-Lane. 1700.   

To the Honoured the Lady Norton.  
THis Sermon lately recommended to Your Ladyship's Ear from the Pulpit, is now presented to Your Eye from the Press; and it comes to Your Hand as now it should do, dressed up, like Second Mourning, in Black and White. 'Tis hoped that this Discourse, being now not transient, but fixed; if often read and duly weighed, will by degrees, if not quite remove, yet at least, much abate the Excess of Sorrow, which the subject of it hath occasioned.  
'Tis true you have lost a Child; and for such losses Nature requires and Grace allows some Tears, but Reason and Religion too, forbidden too many. In this Case our Eye should be like an Alembick; which softly distils some gentle Drops; but not like an open Flood▪ gate, which pours out a Deluge. A perfect Indolence and Insensibility for the Death of our near Relations, would argue us to be no better than sottish Stoics; but an Excessive Sorrow would be an evidence that we are not such Christians as indeed we must be. For, to Mourn without Measure, is no less than to show ourselves dissatisfied with the Providences of God to which a meek submission is due, because they are always most Wise, Just, and Holy.  
'Tis granted, that You have lost such a Daughter as was more Ingenious than the most of Women, and more Religious than the most of Ladies; One that helped to Support the World by Her Prayers, and Reform it by Her Example; but what then? Methinks Your Reflections upon Her Eminent Virtues, and the Glorious Consequences of them, should rather Sweeten than Embitter Your Thoughts of Her Mortality.  
And will Your Ladyship Reply to all this, that the Circumstance of Time doth add such an aggravation to Your loss, that You know not how to bear it? Indeed Your Excellent Daughter, like an Early Rose, was cropped, tho' not in Her First Bud, yet in the Prime Flower of Her Age; but did you love her, and yet think that she could be happy too soon? Her Passage through this World to a Better being very Safe, can you grieve that it proved so quick? Is it Your trouble that a Child of Yours should become a Glorious Saint too Early? Will you still take on and Mourn, because Your young Daughter hath got the start, outrun her Mother, and hath first arrived at Heaven?  
But perhaps your sharpest sting which Wounds you deepest, doth yet stick behind; I mean, that this young Lady, whom you have lost or rather parted with for a little while; was Your only Daughter, nay, Your only Child, the Centre of Your Love, the very Quintessence of Your Delight and Pleasure; and if so, how can you bear her departure from you?  
Pray tell me, how patiently did Job bear the death of all his Children at once, who did not die according to the course of Nature, as your Daughter did, but on a sudden, without any warning of it, without any actual Preparation for it? With what Alacrity of Mind did Abraham stretch forth his Hand to cut the Throat of his only Son, when God required his Blood for a Sacrifice? Nay, did not even God Himself for Your sake freely give his only Son, and will not you Resign up to him Your only Daughter; and the rather, because he called for her to her great Advantage?  
For the Text, Chosen to be the Subject of this Discourse, doth plainly tell you, Blessed are the dead, that die in the Lord. But who are they? Certainly they who live in the Lord, i. e. by the Power of his Grace, according to those Rules, which he hath given us, and that Example, which he hath left us; and was not Your Daughter one of that Blessed Number? Are you not convinced that she was free from Vice, and full of Virtue, Pious towards her God, just towards all Mankind, and as to the Poor, Charitable, I had almost said, even to a Fault; now, since She thus lived in the Lord, She must needs die in the Lord too; and consequently you may pronounce Her Blessed.  
'Tis observable that the Text doth not say, They that die in the Lord, shall be blessed hereafter. But they are blessed actually, and at present Real Saints yet alive, have a Title to Eternal Glory only in Reversion, but departed Saints have it in Possession; and since that is Your Daughter's Case, shed no more Tears, unless they be Tears of Joy, Superlative Joy indeed, that you have a Child, who is now more happy in Abraham's Bosom, than She ever was, or ever could have been in Your own; a Child, who now dwells with God, and Converses with those Glorious Angels, who are the Peers of God's Kingdom, and the Nobles of the Court of Heaven; a Child Enrolled in the List of Glorified Saints, and is become one of that Celestial Choir, who Sing Hallelujah to Him, that Sits upon the Throne, and to the Lamb for Ever.  
In short, the Text saith of all departed Saints, they rest from their Labours; from all the painful Services, Toils, Drudgeries, and Troubles of this miserable World; and if so, methinks the Meditation of Your Daughters Eternal Rest, should not Interrupt, but rather Sublimate and Advance Your own, even till that Blessed day shall come, wherein you and your Daughter, and all Righteous Souls shall meet again in that Place of Bliss, and part no more for ever.  
And as the present Enjoyment of her Happiness, so the very manner of her first Entrance into it, should be a great Satisfaction to you, Her Life being so Divine, Her latter End was not only Safe, not only Comfortable, but Illustrious; She did not pass like common Mortals through the Shadow, but through the Sunshine of Death. For, during Her Sickness, especially upon Her Devout Reception of the Holy Sacrament, She was so Transported with Joy, so Ravished with the foretaste of Heaven, and the near Prospect of Her then approaching Glory; as if with Good old Simeon She had already embraced Her dear Saviour in Her Bosom; as if with St. Paul She had been rapt up into Paradise; as if with St. Stephen She had seen Heaven opened, and the Son of Man standing ready to entertain Her.  
Thus She lived and thus She died without the least reluctancy; Her Lamp expired without a Blast, Her Glass most freely run out without a Shake; to Her, under such blessed Circumstances, to die was nothing else but to lie down in Her Bed and fall fast a Sleep.  
Now since Your dear Daughter hath so happily Closed Her own Eyes, be pleased Good Madam, as to Tears, to Shut up Yours; be pleased to bespeak Yourself and all Your Mourners, as a Spartan Lady once did in the same Case. Flete alios, etc. Go Weep for others, My Daughter doth need no Tears. So Prays at the Throne of Grace, for Your Ladyship's Health and Happiness, both in this World and the next,  
Honoured Madam Your Ladyship's most Humble Servant, F. G.   

INSCRIPTION on the Lady Gethins Monument; On the Southside of Westminster-Abby.  
TO the Pious Memory of Dame Grace Gethin, Wife of Sir Richard Gethin, of Gethin-Grott in Ireland, Bar nt Daughter of Sir George Norton, Knight and Bar nt and Granddaughter of Sir George Norton, Knight, and Great Granddaughter of Sir William Owen of Salop, Sir Thomas Freak of Dorset, and Sir Thomas Culpeper of Kent, Knights. Who being Adorned with all Graces and Perfections of Mind and Body, Crowned them all with Exemplary Patience and Humility; and having the day before her Death most devoutly received the Holy Communion, which she said, she would not have omitted for ten thousand Worlds; she plainly evidenced Her sure and certain hope of future Bliss; And thus continuing sensible to the last. She resigned her Pious Soul to God in fervent Transports of Spiritual Joy and Comfort, for her near Approach to the Heavenly Glory.  
Obiit October the 11th in the Year of her Age 21 of our Lord, 1697.  
Her Disconsolate and Afflicted Parents, for a lasting Memorial of this Her Godly and Blessed End, Erected this Monument; She being the last of their Issue.   
REV. 14. 13. And I heard a voice from Heaven, saying unto me, Writ, Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth; Yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their Labours, and their Works do follow them. 
THIS is a Triumphant Hymn over Death, the King of Terrors, and the last Enemy of our Nature; and so have all regular Churches understood it; for they have long used it in their public Offices, as an expression of the firmness of their Faith, and the Alacrity of their Hope; that this Mortal should put on Immortality, and that which is now sown in Corruption shall be raised up in Glory. And of this we are assured by St. John, beyond the possibility of mistake; I, says he, heard a Voice from Heaven, saying unto me, Blessed are the dead: And this wonderful Sentences which only Heaven could Reveal, was immediately ratified, yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their Labours.  
A Consolation so strong amongst those who first received it, that of old they seemed Ambitious of a preference in Death, and so to rejoice in the Tribulation as to tempt their Fate, and run too fast to the Crown. They knew not the modern Arts to cover Infidelity, or thought it became them to dissemble in the presence of their greatest Foes, but gave up their lives unto Death, and rejoiced they were counted worthy to lose them. Hence came those Holy Customs of attending the Dead with Thanksgiveings, of yearly Celebrating the remembrance of Martyr's Agonies, of burying the remains of their Bodies under their Altars, of making the days of their Death Festivals, and the places of their Burial Churches.  
This was the Practice of an undefiled Christianity, and it often awakened the observation of unbelievers to inquire into the reasons, why the faithful esteemed them Blessed whose end seemed to be without Honour; nay, we often read that this lead them on to Conviction, and so the Blood of Martyrs became the Seed of the Church. As for those who wish these Honours had not been paid to the Saints departed, and who refuse to continue them, they do alone by consequence, as wish their Religion had not prevailed; and as for those dumb Funerals they would introduce in their stead, these express neither Faith nor Hope; nor is it imaginable what such a stupid Custom can express, but only the Pleasure of Contradiction at parting.  
As to the Sense and Connexion of the Words, they are part of a Prophecy, so hard to be understood, that it may well excuse all pretence to a strict Interpretation. But in general they seem intended for a present Comfort to the Christians of that early Age, who were appointed to bear the weight of the succeeding Persecutions, and had need of all the Faith and Patience of Saints to support them. The Title at least (c. 1.) only speaks of things that must shortly come to pass, and so the most ancient Writers that best knew the Language of the times, Interpret it. In their Sense the fall of Babylon was that of Heathen Rome, with the Idolatry it supported, and the Planting of the Faith of Christ in its place, was making all things New; and this is a Sense which it is possible to understand still; but to kill the Witnesses of the Church Universal in the corner of an Island, or to make Scotland or Genva sit Scenes for all the mighty and surprising Events that are here recorded, this is a Modern and still undigested thought; one that seems intended to make Court to Friends, but hath certainly made sport for Enemies.  
Whatever is the Design, we are sure of the Event, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord and not in their Sins; and in that Latitude it is a noble Testimony to the certainty of our future Reward. For;  
1. The distinction is here made that will divide all Mankind for Ever; none are pronounced Blessed except those who die in the Lord, and are Members of his Body; which is exclusive of all others whatsoever. It is not a promiscuous blessing that shall fall indifferently upon the Good and the Bad, like that of the Sun or the Rain; but the Foundation of God standeth sure, he knoweth who are his, and 'tis happy for us he does so, because by this the Righteous are assured that they shall not always be vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked.  
2. The Sentence is again ratified by the same Divine Authority, and that solemn Repetition is not in vain, for it is the true and proper Foundation of Faith. The Voice commands St. John to Write tha strange Proposition, Blessed are the dead for a lasting Memorial, and the Answer of the Spirit confirms it, as a Matter so important, that it could not be too often inculcated. And,  
3. The substance of this Answer, namely, our resting from Labour, and having our Works to follow us, suggests the best Method of conceiving what the happiness of another World is; for so far as our short Conception reaches, a Man can Enjoy no more even in desire, than to rest from the Evil that attends our imperfect State, and to have all his Good to follow him. And,  
1. We are never to forget unto whom alone the Blessing is confined; for it is at the Peril of our Souls, and of all the dreadful Consequences which attend the loss of them, that we remember the distinction. The Caution perhaps may not seem pertinent to him that considers only how plain it is in Speculation, but there is a continual use of it when reduced unto Practice, or the uses of Life. There every Profession of Religion agrees in flattering themselves; they Magnify their Privileges to the prejudice of their Duty, and generally are much fonder of being thought in the right way than of walking in it; hence we find so severe Guards planted against Heresy, by those who never regard the worst of all, for doubtless no Heresy is so dangerous as to hate to be reform; and hence so many are fond of all Remedies, but that alone which can do them good.  
Give me leave then to bring to your remembrance what the nature of every Promise from God is. It is properly a Covenant, and supposes something due on the part of Man to Entitle us to it; it is ever made by way of Restipulation, to quicken and not to abate our Industry, and consequently there is no inconsistence between the Promise and the Condition.  
Of this there can be no possible doubt where the Condition is expressed, and to show it must constantly be understood where it is not, we have the Authority of all the Wise and Good who have gone before us; for they always understood them conditionally tho' never so absolutely spoken. Jacob for example, was promised directly 
Gen. 32.  enough to be made a great Nation of, and bid to return into his Country for that End, but this hindered not his appeasing the wrath of Esau with a chargeable Present: Joshua had his Enemies put into his hands, therefore, says his Story, he came upon them alone suddenly, and went up from Gilgal all Night, or marched to surprise them; David was Anointed King by Samuel, and was acknowledged Successor by Saul himself, and yet he made him Friends of the Elders of Israel, and raised an Army to defend his Person: And to heap up no more Instances, it was revealed to 
Act. 27.  St. Paul, that God had given him the Lives of all those that sailed in the Ship with him, but he yet took care to keep the Mariners Aboard, and truly affirms, except these abide in the Ship he cannot be saved. None of all these disinherited the Promise, but they rightly understood it, and he who does not understand it as they did, his Faith is Rashness, and his Trust is Folly; for he depends upon what was never promised him.  
The Case is too plain for any to doubt but the wilfully blind, and such as have a mind to deceive themselves; all others may see if they please, that there must ever be a reason for our hope, and that the Conditions must be first honestly performed before our claim to the Promise commences. But if this great Circumstance be once provided for, than our Faith soon overcomes the World, and all its difficulties; What if no operation in Nature be known to us able to produce such an effect as is a resurrection of dissipated parts? It is not therefore impossible, as Pliny for that reason concludes it, 
l. 2.  for we are to esteem things possible or impossible by the Power of God. What if a thoughtless, unprincipled Pretender to Philosophy says he cannot see the consequence in St. Paul's Argument, that as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall be made alive? Yet I hope wiser Men may, for all Men are virtually in their Representatives, and it is altogether as much an Equity to absolve when the price of our Redemption is paid, as to hold us in Bondage for want of it. The very discharge of our Surety demonstrates a full satisfaction to be made for the Sins of the World; for had he been holden of Death, like the rest of Men, we could never have been certain that the Sins for which he suffered were not his own.  
If then we are numbered with his Saints we need not suspect our reward; For  
2. A Voice from Heaven records the Sentence, and the Spirit immediately confirms it; Blessed are the Dead.  
And happy is it for us that this is the Voice of Heaven, and not the vain boast of one of the Sons of Earth. For us weak Men to call any Blessed, is but to declare our opinion that they are so; but with the Word of God is Power, with him it is the same thing to speak and to create. He that holds the Keys of Hell and of Death, can with the very same ease say to the Dead, be Blessed, and it shall be so, as he did in the Beginning, Let there be Light, and it was so.  
And therefore this alone is the true Foundation of a Christian's Faith. Till Life and Immortality were brought to light through the Gospel, Mankind saw nothing in the Grave but Corruption. Tertullian affirms of the Heathen World, that they denied the Restitution of the Flesh with a general Consent, and when St. Paul Preached Jesus and the Resurrection 
Act. 17.  at Athens itself, some mocked, and others took them for a couple of new Gods. And as for those wellmeaning triflers in Divinity among ourselves, who have the Will and determination of God to support their Faith, and yet will be foolishly hewing out to themselves Cisterns that will hold no Water, let us but consider to what all their other Arguments for a Resurrection do amount.  
The World, say they, subsists by a constant succession of Resurrections; day dies into night and rises again into morning, winter is a general Sepulchre, and the Spring opens the Grave to every Plant, the corruption of one Animal is the generation of another; and many ignobler Creatures, many of the Beasts of the Field, some of the Fowls of the Air, and divers plants of the Earth, outlive the Sons of Men. It is not therefore probable that this present life is proportionable to our Composition; for the Souls of Men are immortal, and being once Created, receive a subsistence for Eternity; and consequently since the Soul of Man is so soon forced from the Body, and cannot continue with it half the years that other Creatures live, the reason of it must be, because this is not the only Life belonging to us. But yet all this is no more than probable, and what is probable may still admit a doubt; it may perhaps entertain, but except we could bring more into the conclusion than was in the premises, it can never force Assent.  
It is also certain, that in this Life there is no just retribution either to the virtues or the vices of Men; the most Righteous are often full of troubles, and one Man sometimes commits such Sins as all the Punishments of this Life cannot equalise. Witness the Authors of Assassinations, and Tyrants that have destroyed whole Nations, and extirpated the Servants of God. If then they are not here recompensed as they deserve, it is probable they will be hereafter; and if these things were done in the Body, it is fit that be joined also in the Punishment. But all this ascends no higher than to a probability that a full Amends shall be made in another State; for it gives us no infallible assurance that it shall be so.  
Nay the very Power of God to raise the Dead only proves it possible, but not certain; from his Power alone we can only conclude that we may rise, but it is from his Will that we are sure to do so; and that intention is only delivered in his Word.  
It remains therefore that all the true ground of hope is, that so hath God appointed, and so declared in his Word, and hath given assurance of it unto all Men by raising up Jesus Christ. For no Argument is so convincing as a miracle in kind, to see a Man like ourselves rise again by a visible experiment; because that which hath been, may be again, and no objection is good against Experience.  
In so weighty a case then as this is, we ought not to build upon any Foundation that will not bear the Superstructure, upon thin airy Speculations which only please the weak, but never satisfy the wise; our wisdom is to pass on from likelihoods to full assurances, that we may dare to look Death in the Face, and be steadfast and unmovable when we do so.  
3. It remains in the last place that we also consider the words as they are a full and adequate description of our future happiness, or at least suggest to us the best method of conceiving it; for to rest from our Labours, and to have our works follow us, seems a division that exhausts the Subject, because, let a Man call what he will his good or his evil, he can wish no more than to enjoy the one, and get rid of the other.  
A rest indeed from Labour is seldom apprehended, except by those who have tasted a bitter Cup; and the possession of good with the security of Enjpyment, is but rarely thought of by them that want an Habit of taking care of themselves. We need not then to wonder if the fools of Fortune are not commonly wise towards God: but he that can either relish a deliverance or a Blessing, will not be troubled with a doubtful Choice, he will reach forth unto the things which are before, and forget the things that are behind.  
It is true, what those things are which are before, we cannot comprehend, and if we could they would not be so great. 'Tis in vain to attempt the describing of a Life that is hid, or that World of Spirits which is Invisible. All we Mortals know of the Regions above, and the Joys that are there, is, that they are not like our own; and he that pretends to more, must go thither and fetch down the knowledge.  
And yet that knowledge which is too wonderful for us, is no doubt familiar to that enlightened Soul which looks down and pities our blindness; I mean that Excellent Person who is gone before unto Glory, and hath left us wretched Mortals to do Honour to her Memory.  
Her Condition is now out of the reach of enquiry, above the Praises and much more above the Flatteries of Men. Such adulterate Arts are below the Dignity of the Subject, and the place we are in; may the Darkness cover them, and their sound be no more heard in any Congregation of the Saints. But I hope it will not fall under the Censure, barely to name what it would be on this occasion a Crime to Conceal.  
Give me leave then to Observe, that the Deceased hath a just Title to all that the Civilised part of the World requires, as due to Families of note and extraordinary Merit; being of a well known race, not only for its Wealth and Antiquity, but for its Loyalty too. If this honourable Character may still be allowed its barren Praise, inspite of that insolent Faction, who call it a juster thing to have judged their King, than preserved him.  
To which if we add the Piety of her immediate Parents, in forming her tender Years to Virtue, and generously providing to have the Memory of it Annually propagated; we need not scruple to call her Good and Pious by descent.  
But she had little need of turning the Achievements of Ancestors into a property: if a Stranger might be allowed to be particular in those Graces in which herself only had a Share. Let it suffice barely to name a natural probity of Temper, a Meek and Candid Behaviour, a remarkable Justice and Charity of Action, and above all a sober unaffected Piety; which are but a part of her happy Character, and might every one be enlarged opon from an undoubted Testimony, would it not perhaps appear a betraying of Truth into the hands of Flattery.  
All which therefore lessens the wonder that her end was Peace, and a Peace that so filled the Mind, as made the beholders judge it a fore-taste of her approaching Felicity. What those joys were, becomes not us to define, for secret things belong to God; but we are to lose no opportunity to think of the things which are commanded us with Reverence.  
Every solemnity of this kind allows us to see how frail and uncertain our own Condition is at another's Expense, and he that is Wise will ponder these things. The most think of another World under a general representment, and as of a thing wherein they have no personal Concern, but it is for want of numbering their days in this; would they wisely retire out of the noise and tumult of the World, to compute how short their days probably are, by how many unforeseen Accidents they may be still shorter, and that yet upon these uncertain moments of our probation Eternity depends, this would allow us to hope for the great end of the Precept, I mean the applying our Hearts unto Wisdom, to an early Provision for that unknown State, which will soon begin but never have an end. For all great considerations and important Resolutions require time to ripen them; a certain degree of retirement to fix the Heart and take Root in it, which our Saviour intends by entering into our Closets; and on the contrary, a sad experience will not let us be Ignorant, that what is lightly undertaken will be lightly pursued.  
In particular, we are to turn this bright Example into an Advantage to ourselves; for tho' the virtues it enforces are of the number of those which make least noise in the World, yet they are of most real use. Men indeed talk most loudly of their Conquerors, and Churches are ever most disturbed by the heads of Parties and the Authors of Heresies, but they get least by these glorious Troublers of the World's repose of all Mankind besides; the true supporters of Society, that make life a Blessing, are the humble and contented, who do their own business, and have a just sense of Humane Condition, being full of Mercy and good Fruits. If then the Fame of these more retired virtues is not so great, yet still it is better; for they leave no marks of their Oppression behind them, nor are they pursued to their Graves by the Tears, if not the Curses of the Miserable. A greater Fame is indeed scattered into more Mouths, but it is a Trumpet that calls together Enemies as well as Friends; a good one is more approved of God and accepted of Men; and it ought not to be forgot, tho' the Lesson be taught us by one of the lowest instances of God's Providence, that his Holy Law takes more care for Oxen that tread out the Corn in Peace, than for the Horse which tramples it down in War.  
To conclude, we are not to let all remarkable Events pass over our heads without Observation, but are to gain by experience, or else we make no use of our Reason. If then we think this our Interest, I hope that only fashionable Argument will make it appear our Duty too. Awake therefore, says St. Paul, thou that Sleepest, 
Eph. 5.  and arise from the Dead. Shake off thy Sloth, and behold the Crown which is reached out unto thee; do not abandon the care of thine own Preservation, and shut thine Eyes against the light. In vain dost thou continue among the Graves of Sin, and yet hope to find life among the dead; the works of Darkness will never lead thee to the Light inaccessible; but if thou sowest to the Flesh, thou shalt of the Flesh reap Corruption. Be wise therefore for thyself, O foolish dreamer, and make haste to the Prize; for all the treasures aabov lie open to the hearts that are there, thou hast but to desire and to enjoy, and shalt happily find that a Resurrection of the Soul will not fail to make a joyful one of the Body. And Blessed and Holy is he that hath his part in the first Resurrection, on such the second Death hath no Power, but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ.  
Now to God the Father, etc.   

INSCRIPTION on the Lady Gethins Monument.  
TO the Pious Memory of Dame Grace Gethin, Wife of Sir Richard Gethin, of Gethin-Grott in Ireland, Knight and Bar nt Daughter of Sir George Norton, and Granddaughter of Sir George Norton, Knights, and Great Granddaughter of Sir William Owen of Salop, Sir Thomas Freak of Dorset, and Sir Thomas Culpeper of Kent, Knights. Who being Adorned with all Graces and Perfections of Mind and Body, Crowned them all with Exemplary Patience and Humility; and having the day before her Death most devoutly received the Holy Communion, which she said, she would not have omitted for ten thousand Worlds; she plainly evidenced her sure and certain hope of future Bliss; And thus continuing sensible to the last. She resigned her Pious Soul to God in fervent Transports of Spiritual Joy and Comfort, for her near Approach to the Heavenly Glory.  
Obiit October, in the Year of her Age 21 of our Lord, 1697.