A SERMON preached in St. Martins Church in the Suburbs of Canterbury, Sept. 14. 1669. At the FUNERAL OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE MABELLA Lady FORDWITCH.  
The Relict of Sir JOHN FINCH, Kt. Baron of Fordwitch, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of ENGLAND.  
Peter Du Moulin, D. D. Canon of Christs-Church Canterbury, One of his Majesties Chaplains.  
LONDON, Printed for J. Morgan in Well-Yard, near St. Bartholomews-Hospital, 1669.   

Imprimatur.  
Rob. Grove. R. P. D. Episc. 
 land. a Sac. Dom. Sept. 30. 1669.   

FOR THE FUNERAL OF THE RIGHT honourable MABELLA Lady FORDWITCH.  
THe right use of Funeral Sermons being to make Christians to think of their end, and the Glory or misery that followeth; yet it is less minded, and less looked for than the praise of the deceased. And the lives of most persons being fitter to be forgotten than ●ommended, a thankless choice is put upon the gravity and sincerity of the ministry, either to discontent the ●… rinds of the Dead by our silence of their deserts, or to disparaged our Calling, and wrong our integrity by speaking untrue praises in the Chair of Truth. It is a wise caution 
Qualem commends etiam atque etiam aspice, ne morIncutiant  
Incutiant aliena tibi peccata pudorem.  Look again and again, whom thou takest in hand commend, least thou get a discommendation by commending that which is to be condemned.  
But though the deceased be praise-worthy, we must ever remember that the Chair of Truth was set up for the praise of God, not men; and we never ought to give any praise to men out of this place, but when it tends directly to the glory of God.  
Wherefore in the present occasion I have great reason to bless God, and thank the Noble persons that have put this Office upon me, that they bring a Subject to my hands which being generally known and admired, as owner of a most rare virtue, will secure the praiser from the fear of any imputation of flattery. A person whom I ought to praise for the praise of God; and whose excellent graces and real goodness, if I set out before Christians, I shall do the right work of an Evangelist. For what is our calling, but to fra●… the church to holiness to present her as a chast Virgin unto Christ. And what certainer way for that than to set before Christians such an accomplished pattern of wisdom and piety? And then tell them, Be you followers of this pious Lady, as she also was of Christ.  
I know that precepts are Obligatory, not Examples. But I know also that Examples are more persuasory than precepts. ancient Examples of the great Lights of the Church are recommended to us By St. James, 5.10. Take my Brethren, the Prophets, who have spoken in the Name of the Lord, for an Example of suffering affliction and patience. You have heard of the patience of Job. Yea, but the new Examples are more effectual. Why? the people is more persuaded by what they see, than by that they hear; and less by that which was many Ages before them, than by that which is present, at hand, and at the next door.  
Yet see how fantastical the World is, while such rare Examples are among us, we neither observe nor esteem them as we ought. When God hath taken them away, and we find them missing, then we exalt them, and look after those fine Lights when they are hidden. And truly, as in the Evening of a fair day, the Sun after his setting shows more beauties, and more glories in the bright and various colours of the Sky, than when he stood above our Horizon: So these good Lights when they are newly hidden, cast a more amiable and glorious reflection of their virtue, and draw more eyes upon their beams when they are parting, then when they shone in the World with their full light.  
I see with what veneration and love this Noble assistance fix their eyes upon this Hearse of their honourable friend. What sad parting looks they cast upon the late Lodging of her gracious and virtuous Soul, now an Angel in Heaven; a Soul of such a well balanced temper of Nature and Grace, Piety and Prudence, Humility and Honour, Meekness and Generosity, as can hardly be parallelled in our Age.  
It is known how virtuously she lived with her Noble Lord, Sir John Finch, Baron of Fordwitch, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England. A Nobleman eminent for his rare parts, and no less for his signal Loyalty and long-suffering for his great Master. How concurrent was she with him in his fidelity! What a cheerful partner of his Crosses in her sovereigns cause! How helpful was she to him in his adversities, sometimes the companion of his Exile abroad, sometimes the wise and successful solicitor of his businesses in England, in the reign of the rebellion. How tender was her care of him, how unwearied her patience, in his long and many sicknesses, which had made him sore and hard to please! How honourably did she inter him! What a sumptuous Monument did she bestow upon him in this Church!  
The time of her Widowhood to her death, about nine years, in which she had the rule of her self and her estate, gave her opportunity to show her virtue most eminent. Piety had the chief rule in her heart, and in her house, which by her careful serving of God, she made a Church, as did the Noble friend of St. Paul, Holy Philemon, whose bountiful house-keeping, and refreshing the bowels of the Saints, she did also imitate.  
Ever since the Martyrdom of Holy and glorious King Charles the first, which was on a Tuesday, she made that day, every week, her fasting day; and kept it with great Devotion and mortification: labouring for her part to avert by her humiliation, the terrible judgments of God hanging over the Land for that prodigious crime. And very wisely was a Tuesday chosen for this last duty to her, that her day of Devotion might be that of ours, to learn godliness by her Example.  
The monthly communion in our Cathedral she never mist; but when duty called upon her to receive in her own Church, this Church. All our holidays and Lent Sermons she graced with her presence, as if she would have made amends for the paucity of the Assistants, and the absence of many, who cry out for want of Sermons, and will not come to those which with a free will, and beyond our Statutes, are bestowed upon them. None more attentive then she in those Holy Exercises. How she profited at them, she expressed in her whole conversation. And God by blessing her for it, made good his gracious Sentence, Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.  
To the public Holy Service she bore a singular respect and affection, and might say with David, Ps. 26. Lord I have loved the habitation of thy House, and the place where thine honour dwelleth: For which she had the same disposition as David in that Psalm, I will wash my hands in Innocency, so will I compass thine Altar, O Lord. For that Conscience which watcheth carefully over her own ways, to walk before God unto all pleasing, gets thereby a great confidence though not in her virtue, yet in Gods bounty, to draw near him and compass his Altar.  
For the innocency of her Life, it were little to say, Whom hath she wronged? Whom hath she wilfully offended either in word or dead? Whom hath she provoked with her bitterness? Whom, though never so mean, hath she diseontented with her pride? We will say rather, To whom did she not do good that required it at her hands? To whose need was her bounty shut up? Did she not seek and create occasions to do good? Did she not water the dry grounds far and near with the streams of her liberality? Did not her House, her Table, her Attendance, the managing of her Estate, make intelligent beholders to doubt whether her wisdom or her goodness was more eminent? The more eminent, because they were carefully covered with the veil of Humility and singular modesty. For that veil is a resplendent Ornament; that Ornament of a meek, and quiet Spirit, which before God is of great price, shineth very bright before men.  
That was the Jewel indeed, which beautified all her conversation; That meekness, that moderation known to all men; that evenness of Spirit, in adversity and prosperity, with Friends and Enemies, complying with all things but 'vice, descending to the condition of her inferiors, winning persons of all humours and degrees, with a dexterity without guile, and an affability without dissimulation,  
Such a religious and virtuous Life could not but have a religious and blessed end. Non potest, male mori qui been vixit. And such an end she had. Then did Gods grace in her redouble the humility of her Repentance, the strength of her faith, the heat of her love, and the joys of her hope. God in his mercy giving her good intervals between apoplectical fits, to let her awakened Soul to see the Heaven opened, and her faithful Saviour making good to her his promise to all Believers, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am you may be also, Job. 14.3.  
Being a person of few words, which she placed well, she husbanded those intervals to express her disposition to Heaven, her longing for God, her desire to depart and to be with Christ. For as for the disposing of her Estate, when I exhorted her to it, she said that work was ready done; showing that though her mortal sickness came suddenly, it came not unexpectedly, and that she had done with the World before the World had done with her. I cannot without joy and comfort remember her joy and comfort expressed with eyes and arms lift up to Heaven, her heart going along with this rapture of Saint Paul, while I speak it; I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the Flesh, I live by the Faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me, Gal. 2.20.  
How sincerely, how evidently, in words and gestures, did she express that she was full of the Life and peace of God? Which though it pass all understanding, yet held up her understanding tq Heaven; and to the very last kept her heart and mind in the knowledge and love of God, through Jesus Christ.  
In that blessed disposition departed the Mother of her Kindred, the Nurse of the poor, the rare example of piety, wisdom, and nobleness, and the honour of our Cathedral. For she was Daughter to the Reverend Dean of Canterbury, Charles fotherbie; niece to the Right Reverend L. Bishop of Salisbury, Martin fotherbie, sometimes Canon of the same Church; two Brethren of eminent worth, descended of an ancient family of Knights, Fotherby's of fotherbie, in the County of Lincoln. But her high extraction consisted in being the Daughter of our Father which is in Heaven, and her high match in being the Spouse of Christ, in whose arms she is now resting, full of peace and glory.  
That we may once enter into that rest, among those that are singled by Gods great mercy from the universal condemnation of impenitent sinners, let us meditate upon this Text.   
Daniel XII. II, III. 
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shane and everlasting contempt.  
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament, and they that turn many to Righteousness, as the Stars, for ever and ever.  
THe Prophet Daniel, who in our Text foretelleth the resurrection, and that which follows upon it, in the verse before speaks of a preceding time of trouble, such as never was since there was a Nation. That time being the worst, must be the last time, for in fundo non tantum minimum said et pessimum remanet. In the bottom lie the dregs; and these last times of the World are like the lean and the lame of the Flock that are lagging behind and halting after the rest. Truly our times being the worst of all for sin, may soon by Gods just Judgement prove the worst of all for trouble. But that time of trouble must be welcome to Gods Children, since it is the fore-runner of the final long desired deliverance from the bondage of sin, vanity, and misery. For so we red in the first verse, At that time Michael the great Prince shall stand for the children of Gods people, And at that time they shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the Book.  
That great Prince, Michael, whose name signifies, Who is like the Lord, we take to be the Lord Jesus Christ, most like God his Father, and one God with him and the Holy-Ghost. Through him come all Gods deliverances and gifts to his pepple; that last especially, their final resurrection, by the virtue of his resurrection, and their glory in conformity to his glory.  
That deliverance and glory is the principal end of the Text, though there be in it both Mercy and Judgement. For there are two parts in the Text; The first of the sleeping of human bodies in the dust. The second of their awaking in the general resurrection; and that two ways, Some to everlasting glorious to life, to shine as the Firmament and the Stars, for ever and ever; some to shane and everlasting contempt.  
There is a little rub in the entry, which must be rubed out; Many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall awake, Many, why not all? since we learn of our Saviour, Joh. 5. That all that are in the Graves shall hear his voice and come forth. The plain answer is, that in our Text, as in some others, many is taken, for all, as sometimes all is taken for many. St. Austin brings this instance for it, Gen. 17. God said to Abraham, A Father of many Nations have I made thee. And yet he saith to Jacob, Gen. 28. In thy seed shall all the Families of the Earth be blessed: There all is taken for many, But Rom. 5.19. By one mans disobedience many were made sinners. There many is taken for all; For by Adam's sin all men were made sinners. So there is no difficulty in this, when one knows the style of Scripture, Those many that sleep in the dust of the Earth shall all awake.  
We shall all awake, but we must all go to bed first, Omnes una manet nox, Death is called by Job, 39. The place appointed for all living, There is nothing more known, and yet nothing less headed. And although Nature teach us that it is appointed unto men once to die, and Scripture teach us besides, that after Death comes the Judgement; yet loose, livers fool away the thought of Death, as if this were their Philosophy, that they need not think of Death because it comes without thinking. Yea, but if Death come to them without thinking, they must go to judgement without preparation, and be judged without delay: Wherefore we were best, all of us, to think of Death betimes, and have God and our end always before our eyes, living as we shall wish to have lived when we die; for die we must, and judged we must be: Whatsoever thou takest in hand remember the end and thou shalt never do amiss, saith the wise Son of sirach, Ecclu. 7.36.  
To make the thought of our Death familiar unto us, the terms of our Text are of great strength; Death is called here a sleep, and the bed assigned for that sleep is the dust of the Earth; The Holy Ghost seems to use these terms, that our sleep may put us in mind of our Death, and our beds of our Graves; and that we may so acquaint ourselves with God and our last hour, by a Holy life, while our day lasteth, that when it come to its evening, we make no more ado, to lie down to die, then to lie down to sleep.  
Of the figurate expressions of Death this is the most frequent in Scripture: David slept with his Fathers, so, Solomon, so Abijam, so Asa, and St. Stephen, in his Martyrdom, having made an end of his prayers fell asleep; although he had a hard bed and hard blankets, a heap of stones under and over him.  
And truly Death is well called {αβγδ}, the Brother of Death. As sleep, so death, closeth our eyes, and our ears and benumbeth our senses. He that is asleep is out of the World for that time, both sleepers and dead men have no part in the things that are done under the Sun. But dead men are more soundly asleep, the clamour of War, and the roaring of Canons do not wake their bodies, and much less disturb the rest of their Souls; and though Earth-quakes shake their bed they awake not, the glorified Souls stand safe about the place where Winds and Storms are formed, and their bodies lie safe under the places beaten with those Storms. Wherefore when God will afflict a State, he takes away the prime good Souls out of the Storm by Death, like a kind Mother that would lay her dear child asleep in a Room out of the noise and out of harms way, when there is some hurry or riot in the House. Thus Isa. 57.1. Merciful men are taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.  
As we put off our clothes when we go to bed, so we do when we die, Death strips us quiter naked. Naked I came into the World, and naked I must go out of it, said Job, 1.21. And yet Death makes us more naked than sleep doth, we will have a pair of sheets in our bed; one will serve in our Graves. That's all we shall carry along with us of all our Estate, and not onely death strips us of our Estates, but of our bodies, wherefore so dy St. Paul calls it {αβγδ} to be unclothed. 1 Cor. 5.4. So for a godly man to put off his body by Death, is laying his clothes by, that he may the better take his rest with God.  
For that sleep of Death God hath provided a bed, called in this Text, the dust of the Earth. It is a Natural bed, for dust thou art and into dust shalt thou return, Gen. 3.19. It is the doom of all flesh, it is a common bed, for the small and the great lie there, and the Servant[ there] is free from his Master, Job 3.19. It is a safe bed, for there one is out of the reach of blows. Many a man hath been stabbed or robbed in his Bed; but one in his Grave is past all dangers. Non habet unde cadat, If you burn his bones, as the Papists did those of John Wickliff, it is but dust to dust as before, and God keeps our dust in the Coffers of his providence, do men what they will with it. It is a quiet bed, where one is not amnoyed with dreams, or disturbed with cares. They rest in their beds, as I alleged out of Isaiah. And finally it is a low bed, which calls upon us for lowliness, and will make the proudest humble, whether they will or no. O the dust of the Earth! Did we remember that it must be our bed after our Death, that dust is our Element in this life, and that dust will to dust, it would wean our hearts from pride and love of the World.  
Look before you; Here is the result of human Nobility, A Lady of Noble extraction, matched with a Peer of the Realm: One who by her wisdom, her place, and her means, hath lived in much honour: Now that honour ends in the dust, as blaze of brush wood,. soon out, leaving a few ashes behind, and the end of this ceremony will be to lay-her honour in the dust. Since it is so then that Death divests us of all that is about us, and puts off our clothes to lay us in our Beds of dust; let us not load ourselves with more clothes than we need; Let us not clog ourselves with superfluities, which we must put off when we go to Bed. Rather because we must be shortly divested of all, let us begin that work of our own accord, and undress ourselves before hand, putting off the love of the World and the affections of our flesh; that when the day comes that we must cast all away, it be no news to us, being undressed already; and having untied all the strings that tied our hearts to the World. It is for Children to cry when they must go to bed, sure we show ourselves very childish, and very ignorant of the sweetness of that rest, which God hath in store for his Children, if we repined when he comes to take us away from the evil, and bring us into his resting place.  
O, it is a sweet word, when God saith unto one of his beloved, as to Daniel, in the last verse of this Book, and so I trust that God said to this honourable and religious person, Go thou thy way till the end, for thou shalt rest; that is, Go and rest in Gods peace to the end of the World. But the end of the World is not the end of the rest of Gods beloved, but the beginning of a better and everlasting rest. For thus saith God again to Daniel, Thou shalt stand in the lot, at the end of the dayes, That is, Thou shalt have thy share in the lot of the Righteous in the end of Time, when the stream of Time shall fall and loose itself in the Ocean of Eternity; when everlasting rewards on the one hand, and everlasting punishments on the other, shall be allotted by the great Judge to all men, then summoned out of their beds to make their appearance before him.  
This falls to my second point, after sleep there must be a waking; and that of two sorts, either to everlasting life and glory, or to everlasting shane and contempt.  
That there must be a time of awaking, the very term of sleep implieth it. For you may observe that whereas Scripture speaks often of the Death of Beasts, of which the Ceremony of Sacrifices, gave much occasion to speak, yet you shall no where red that they fell asleep when they dyed: Why? their Death is not a sleep, for they never wake. Mos Christianus obtinuit ut mortui quia ressurecturi esse non dubitantur dormientes vocentur, saith Bede, among Christians dead men are said to be asleep, because of the certainty of their resurrection.  
Lazarus our friend sleepeth, saith Christ, but I go to awake him. Now the same voice that awaked Lazarus will awake us all, The hour is coming, in which all that are in the Graves shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and came forth, Joh. 5.28. like a company of Servants, rising out of their Beds in hast, when their Master calleth.  
At the time, as when we rise in the Morning we put on our clothes, our Souls shall put on their Garments of Flesh again. Wherefore 2 Cor. 5.4. to rise from the Death, St. Paul calls it {αβγδ} to be clothed upon. In that rising we shall not be troubled to look for our clothes; God will give every one his own, though the clothes were torn, scattered, and mislaid, they shall be found whole and together, be nothing shall be missing. And the wonder will be, that whereas in our Death we put off an old worn svit, we shall find it new in the resurrection. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it riseth in power. It is sown a natural Body, it is raised a spiritual Body, 1 Cor. 15.43. And again, v. 53. This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  
St. Paul speaks there of Gods Children onely, but Daniel speaks here of good and bad; some shall rise to everlasting life, some to shane and everlasting contempt. This confirmed by our Saviour, Joh. 5.29. They that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Here is on the one side life, everlasting life; on the other side shane, contempt, damnation, and that for ever.  
But since we are upon the Souls putting on of their clothes again, we must observe in these clothes a great difference: For it is certain that all shall put on the same bodies as they had before; but some with their clothes of Flesh shall put on glory, some shall put on shane and contempt: Which implieth that the Godly shall rise more handsome then they were before, and the Wicked more ugly. Certainly whereas the Apostle saith of the body of Gods Children, It is sown in dishonour, it is risen in glory, we may say of the body of the wicked, it is sown in dishonour, it riseth in greater dishonour. In this World, many times under a fair out-side and a comely countenance lieth a vicious Soul, and a cankered heart. But it shall not be so in the resurrection. shane and Contempt shall be on the faces of the wicked. Reprobate sinners shall appear as ugly as their Crimes; and a fair Harlot shall appear as deformed and odious unto the eyes of men and Angels, as her lewdness is hateful in the fight of God. But the Beauty of the Souls washed with Christ's Blood, and sanctified by his Spirit, will shine bright at the out-side, and make their bodies as gracious as their Souls. The King's Daughter, that is the Church, shall be full of glory both within and without.  
It is observable. that in the two Holy Languages, the Hebrew and the Greek, the same word signifieth handsome and good. In the Resurrection to Life everlasting, these two not only shall meet in one Subject, but good and handsome shall be all one: Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father, Matth. 13.43.  
This awaking to Resurrection of Life hath that likeness with the awaking of our Bodies in the Morning after a good sleep, that if there was any crudity and indigestion in our stomach over night, we find it dispersed in the Morning; so by the sleep of death our Youth is renewed, like the Eagles, and that inborn malignity that stuck to our Flesh, is consumed with our Flesh; that weight of sin that lay so heavy upon our stomacks over-night, by the sleep of Death shall be digested quiter away, and we shall rise new Creatures. That Body and Soul should thus meet again in the Resurrection, it is most convenient to Gods Justice, whether they rise to resurrection of life, or to resurrection of damnation. For as the godly have glorified God in Body and Soul, it is fit they should be glorified in Body and Soul. As the ungodly have dishonoured God in Body and Soul, it is fit that one time they be dishonoured in both.  
A Martyrs Spirit, that hath suffered much for the testimony of Christ, is joyfully received into the arms of Gods mercy, and his body in the mean while is eaten by Dogs or Ravens, or by Lice and Worms, which is as bad. Do●… not the poor body seem to cry to God from the Earth, Lord, I have been tortured for thy Names sake, I bear yet in my flesh the marks of the Lord Jesus. I have joined ●… y long-suffering with the constancy of my soul: Now thou hast glorified my soul, and dost thou neglect me? Mu●… my Spirit be crwoned with immortality, and I his partner be given over to corruption for ever? Sure that cannot be for ever. Since body and soul were partners in goodness, God will make them sharers in blessedness. Only because the mass of the flesh is infected with sin, the body must sleep it out in the dust: sin must moulder awa● with the flesh, and in Gods good time, body and soul sha●… meet again, to enter together into the joy of their Master.  
Likewise when a wicked man death, who hath abused hi● Members to intemperance, lust, and violence, and hi● Soul is tormented in Hell, while his Body lieth aslee● in the Grave, his Soul might exclaim against God justice and say, my body hath been a snare and a trap unto me, for seeking too much to please it, I was brought to this place of torment; and must I be punished while the body my seducer lieth quiet? O that I were sleeping in the dust with my flesh! I would be content to be without life so I were without sense. Sure the reprobate spirits cannot wish their bodies rejoined with them, to the redoubling of their torment. Yet it must be so. There must be a rejoyning of their bodies and souls, that these partners in sin may be partners in punishment.  
St. Paul saith, 1 Cor. 6.18. that he that commits fornication sinneth against his own body. He means not there the rotten sickness contracted by that sin. It was not then past from the Western World, to our World: He means the torment inflicted for it in Hell. How doth the lascivious person sin against his own body, if his body must onely rot in the Grave and be there in no worse condition then the bodies of the godly? Nay, he shall find that he hath sinned against his own body, when it shall rise to shane and everlasting contempt. For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, whether it be good or evil, 2. Cor. 5.10.  
The rabbis have a parable to this purpose, alluding to the first sin of man, The eating of the forbidden fruit. Then say, That two fellow Servants, the one blind, the other impotent of his legs, went about to rob a three of their Lords. The blind took the lame on his shoulders, The lame guided the blind to the three, and robbed the fruit. Their Lord saw them and examined the●… The Blind said for himself that he could not 〈◇〉 the fruit, the Lame that he could not reach it, But their Lord  told them, You have done the dead together, and shall be punished together; and he commanded them to be tied together, and beaten together. In the committing of sin the mind is the lame man, who is clear sighted enough to do evil; but he wants Limbs and strength for the Execution: The Body is the Blind, who hath Limbs and strength to do evil, but wants eyes, and is guided by the Mind to do it. It will not serve their turn, for the one to say to God I want eyes, and the other I want strength; The eyes of the one, and the strength of the other have joined in the sin, they shall be joined in the punishment. And this is done in the resurrection of Damnation; in which Body and Soul shall be tied together, and endure together that shane and contempt which they have drawn together upon themselves.  
That the reprobate Souls suffer alone for a time while the Body lieth asleep in the dust, their i● good reason for it; the Soul hath my times sinned without the Body. Likewise that the godly Soul is glorified before and without the Body, there is good reason; the Soul hath many times glorified God without the Body: The good Soul doth many good deeds, in which the body hath no part.  
Now that life which body and soul shall enjoy in their re-union being everlasting, and as great in height as in length, should seem to require also an everlasting discourse: But it is quiter otherwise; for being so high in dignity and blessedness, and so long in continuance it is past human discourse; And being above our apprehension it is more yet above our expression. Since the beginning of the World men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, nor hath the eye seen, O God, besides thee, what thou hast prepared for him that waiteth for thee, Isa. 64.4.  
And so the everlasting shane and contempt reserved for the ungodly in the resurrection of damnation cannot be expressed. For neither the rich Glutton, nor any other in Hell, could yet obtain to sand a messenger back into the World to give warning to their friends, or some information to the men of this World, how matters are carried there, and God grant we never go see it.  
To that end it is good to keep ourselves in fear by remembering what names Scripture gives to that Hellish torment; A flamme, a gnawing Worm, a lake of fire and brimstone, wailing and gnashing of teeth, shane and contempt, and that everlasting; a Worm that dieth not, a fire that is not quenched. It is pitty that this is not believed: If it were men would take heed of those ways that bring body and soul to it. They would not make offending God a piece of Gallantry, nor Blasphemy the ornament of their speech, nor the contempt of his Word, the exercise of their jeering wit. They would 〈◇〉 turn themselves loose to all intemperance and uncleanness with greediness. They would not make so much hast to hook in an Estate by deceitful ways They would not put upon violence and oppression the face of the Law, and abstain from no injustice that may be defended by a seeming regal course. God give them grace when they are assaulted with such temptations, to set God before their eyes, the witness and the Judge of the sincerity or unsincerity of their Actions; and to be kept back, if not by the love and reverence of God, at least by the terror of the shane and everlasting contempt and torment kept for the wicked in Hell.  
But that which we have to do with now, is everlasting life; when they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the Stars, for ever and ever.  
Observe the virtuous persons, and their reward. The virtuous persons, They that be wise, they that turn many to Righteousness; Their reward, They shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament, and as the Stars for ever.  
Here I apprehended not a distinction between the wise, and they that turn many to Righteousness. N●… between shining as the brightness of the Firmamen● and shining as the Stars. Idem dicitur seque●… hemistichio quod dictum est priore, more Hebr●… In these two half Sentences we need not conceiv● 〈◇〉 increase from the least to the greater, as some will have it, but onely a repetition of the same thing in other words, for a greater confirmation, after the Hebrew style. For those which are styled wise by our version are Mashkilim in Hebrew, which signifieth both the Instructed, and they that Instruct, and such will turn many to Righteouss.  
And their shining as the brightness of the Firmament, and their shining as the Stars come all to one; for it is by the Stars that the Firmament shines bright, and not otherwise.  
It seems that our Saviour had regard to this Text, when he said, Matth. 5.19. that whosoever shall do and teach Gods Commandements, shall be great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Both these Texts regard those that are most proficient, and the prime leaders in the way of Godliness; who by their powerful Doctrine and Example promote the conversion of sinners. To such excellent persons a great and good reward is kept. And good reason that those wise who have been burning and shining Lights in the Church, be made bright and shining Stars in the highest Heaven.  
This term of wisdom comprehends all moral and religious virtues, an infinite Subject of meditation. But we will not give a larger extent to the wisdom here required then the Text doth. Here that especial wisdom is considered, which turneth many to Righteousness. It is a duty enjoined not to preachers onely, but to all Christians, Jam. 5.19. 〈◇〉 if any of you do err from the Truth, and one con●… ●i●, let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a Soul f●… Death, and shall hid a multitude of sins. He th●… winneth Souls is wise, Prov. 11.30. They that can, let them convince error by good Doctrine; They that cannot, let them convince vices by virtuous practise.  
Indeed we ought to turn ourselves first to righteousness, that we may turn others. But if we 〈◇〉 till we be thoroughly turned to righteousness, before we go about to turn others, I am afraid we shall never begin. Let us begin at home, and thus by labouring to turn others to righteousness by o●… good example we shall turn ourselves. Teaching is the surest way of learning.  
Would you keep licentious sinners from sh●… and everlasting contempt? Sure you would be glad to do that work of mercy. It is indeed a wo●… for God, but you may have a great hand in 〈◇〉 You see that it is the great stream of sin that ma●… sinners to be without shane, for which everlasting shane and contempt shall be repaid to the● Then your course to mend that is, that you all join in Godliness, in sincerity, in sobriety, in Charity, that you make Righteousness run like a great stream, and turn the stream of sin with 〈◇〉 stronger. Knit such a good Conspiracy of Holiness 〈◇〉 w●… against 'vice, that Blasphemy, Atheism, and all the sins of the time become out of fashion, and be put out of countenance by the contrary general practise, and by an universal open contradiction. Spare not to make loose sinners ashamed; that will be their first step to Repentance and conversion. So shall ye, by making them ashamed of their sins by your holiness and good Counsel, keep the poor Souls from shane and everlasting contempt and torment in Hell. So shall you by turning many to Righteousness perfect your own turning, and get to yourselves that invaluable reward, to be bright Stars in Gods Heaven. Could many such as this Right Honourable, and Right Religious Lady, have met in such a Conspiracy against the shameless ungodliness of the times, sinners would have been ●… asht at the joined strength of so much virtue. But being not assisted, yet she did what was in her, both by good Counsel, and good Example. Her good counsel was not wanting upon occasion, for she had with the zeal of God a clear understanding, and a sound judgement in the things of God; and her memory was a rich treasury of Holy knowledge. But her good Example was a continual pregnant Sermon of Godliness, Charity, Humility, Wisdom, Honour, and all Christian and civil virtues. And they had hard hearts that would not be turned to Righteousness by her speaking and teaching practise.  
The reward assigned to such a virtue, is to shine as the brightness of the Firmament, and as the Stars, for ever and ever. The moral sense of Light in Scripture is Truth, Comfort, and Joy. David full of joy for great Victories and Prosperities, thus praiseth God for them, God is the Lord who hath shewed us Light, Psal. 118.27. The eternal blessedness of Gods Children is called the Inheritance of the Saints in the Light, Col. 1.12. God himself, our Sovereign good is the first. Light. The that look upon him are lightened, Psal. 34 5. That is, made good and happy by his Light, and by their near admittance to the light of his Countenance, they get that brightness of the Firmament, and shine in his presence like Stars for ever, with Holiness and Glory. Their Souls like so many crystal Globes in the Sun shine, being full all thorough, and resplendent with his perfecting and beautifying light. But what! that light is not for your eyes nor mine in this World. It is a matter above our apprehension. Let that ignorance breed in you the curiosity to go and see it yourselves. You have the way to it before you, the lessons of faith and obedience.  
Neither will I go about to describe how bright our Honourable and virtuous Friend shines now in the third Heaven. 'tis enough for us to show. that she hath trodden the right path to Glory. Let all judge whether she that was so virtuous on Earth, can be otherwise than glorious in Heaven. What surer way to go where Christ is, than to follow his steps? Was not her life a faithful imitation of our Saviour, who left us an Example that we should follow his steps? Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his Mouth, Who when he was reviled,, reviled not again, when he suffered he threatened not, but committed himself to him that Judgeth Righteously. Did she not take Christ's yoke upon her, and learn of him, that he is meek and humble of heart, whereby she found rest unto her soul? Did she not feed the hungry, cloath the naked, comfort the Widow, assist the Orphan, sand to visit the sick and the prisoner? Were not here good works real and free from Ostentation, her devotion to God fervent, her affection to his House Cordial, her regard of his Servants exemplary? So she was in her Health, so she was in her Sickness, so she was in the. approaches of Death. O how did her Humility, Faith and Love get strength by her weakness in that last Combat! How did she set the Lord before her! How fast did she lay hold on him! as saying with the Spouse, I have found him wh●… my Soul loved, I haved found him and will not let him go.  
Neither did her good Works die with her, Of which the Noble and Religious Executrices of her Will, will give a good evidence to the World. Thus in her Life, in her Death, and after her Death, she hath made her Light so to shine before men, that they seeing her good Works will glorify her Father which is in Heaven. Now who can make any doubt that a person that hath made her Light so to shine on Earth, must both in her Resurrection to Life Eternal, and in her present enjoyment of the end of her faith, shine in Heaven as the brightness of the Firmament, and as the Stars for ever and ever? What height of comfort doth she enjoy in the possession of him whom she hath so earnestly sought by her frequent prayers fasting, and exercises of mortification? How doth she relish how the Lord is gracious i● this call, Come thou Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for thee from t●… Foundation of the World. We leave thee Heaven, virtuous blessed Soul, in the Ar●… of him that hath loved thee, and wedded th●… to himself with eternal compassions. And we beseech thee, great and good God, who hast sanctified a●… so richly adorned thy Servant, to make the good savour of thy gifts in her effectual to the turning of many to Righteousness, to thy glory and their eternal salvation, Amen.  
FINIS.