A SERMON PREACHED At the FUNERAL of the Right Honble the Lady Frances Paget, The religious Consort of the right Honble William Lord PAGET, ( Daughter to the Right Honourable Henry Earl of Holland, who was beheaded for his Loyalty to his King) In the Parish-Church of West-Drayton in the County of Middlesex, on the 12th of November, 1672.  
By JEHU JENNY, M. A. and Vicar of Harmondsworth.  
LONDON, Printed by J. D. for Nevil Simmons at the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1673.   

TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE William Lord PAGET, Baron of Brandesert, Knight of the Honourable Order of the Bath, etc.  
My Lord,  
NOthing but your Lordship's Commands could have forced into the Light this Discourse of so hasty conception, and they give some countenance to the confidence of this Dedication, otherwise I am too conscious that nothing of mine can deserve the Patronage of so great a Name or Title; nor do I hope for Acceptance of this Service, further than it is a Testimony of my Obedience, and bears some (though faint) Characters of your late dear Consort. That the Piety and Virtue of that excellent Lady may still live in your Noble Family (of which there are visible hopes largely promising) and consequently the Blessing of it on your Posterity reach the utmost extent of the Promise to such Obedience, shall be a considerable part of the constant Devotions of,  
My Lord, Your Lordship's most Obsequious Chaplain, Jehu Jenny.   
MATTH. 24.46. 
Blessed is that Servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing.  
FOR Man to know God and himself, is the Comprehension of his whole Duty. The Poet could tell us of the latter, that it is that Wisdom which is from above, from Heaven heavenly; that which will trans-element us, have that happy influence to sublimate us into that which is celestial, make us partakers or the Divine Nature, and at length when we shall be ripened and sufficiently refined, translate us to the enjoyments of that Kingdom. Thus for Man to understand himself, to know what he is, will make him new create him what he is not, and render him happy in that degree to which without this knowledge he could never attain. And upon this notice, this discovery, who thirsts not after so much Goodness, followed with so great Reward? who is not impatiently eager on the study of this Philosopher's Stone? who will not judge it thrifty prodigality to lay out all to purchase this Pearl of so great price? to any considerate man this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must needs be matter of his highest satisfaction, this acquirement is a recompense infinitely beyond all his labour and severity: in the search after which there is no befooling darkness, no discouraging difficulty, no climbing the Clouds, or crossing the Sea for it, but this word of Wisdom is nigh thee, Deut. 30.12, 13, 14. 'tis plain and easy, that which God hath sent down to us; nay, which the Son of God, when for us men and for our Salvation he came down from Heaven, himself hath delivered to us, that which in the Text he preached to his Disciples, and in them to us all, in which he hath satisfied the Psalmist's question, What is man? what is man, but a Servant to the great Lord? and in this given a further resolve to the inquiry of those Publicans and Soldiers, Luke 3. and who else shall come with the like case, Master, what must we do? if Servants, what's our work, our employment? He informs them, to be deligent in their Office; and to whet them to this, he lets them know, that he himself will have an eye over them, and take an account of them, and to encourage them to all this, that as he finds them to be faithful, so shall they be looked by him, enjoy his favour, the fullest blessedness; Blessed, etc.  
And in this short account of the words, I have given you the Parts of my Text, which are these.  
I. In what capacity man stands here, he is a Servant, That Servant.  
II. As such, what is his employment, expressed in these words, so doing.  
III. The account will be taken of him, the Lord of the family will come to take it himself, though it be intimated, that the time when he will come is very uncertain.  
iv The reward of that Servant, that shall be found faithful and deligent; Blessed is that Servant.  
Of each of these with as much brevity as the Subject will allow.  
I. In what capacity man stands here, he is a Servant, That Servant. God made man, but made him not for nought; but to the excellency of his endowments in the design of Heaven was proportioned an employment for him. The Schools maintained this Axiom, Quicquid agit, agit propter finem, that whatsoever moves in the nature of an Agent, designs something as the end of its acting. And certainly this perfection must be eminently in the Author of Nature, and no end can we define worthy his proposal, but his own Glory in the manifestations of his Power, Wisdom, and Goodness; the most learned Philosopher and the greatest Divine that ever was in the World, affirms this of the great work of Creation, Pro. 16.4. The Lord hath made all things for himself: yea even the Wicked for the day of evil. That disorderly improfitable part of the Creation Telluris inutile pondus, as the Poet speaks, the wicked (though God made them not so, he made man upright, and left him in the hands of his own counsel, as the Son of Sirach, Ecclus. 15.14. yet) his overruling Wisdom makes them serve the designs of his inflexible Justice, because they will not pay that homage they own to their Maker, but refuse to be happy, and so defeat the purposes of enthroning his Mercy, therefore he obliges them to wait on the triumphs of his Vengeance as the just demerit of their obstinacy and rebellion. In the 1st of Genesis last verse, when the Ahnighty surveys the workmanship of his fix day's creation, he gives his approbation: God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good. Good in this respect among others, in regard of that the God of order had placed in this large family of the Creation, allotting each part its station, and assigning them operations according to what powers and faculties he had implanted in them, so that from the Seraphim to the Pismire there is no creature but what in a larger or less capacity is a Servant of its Creator. The Philosopher could say that all things do serve in his notion the first Being and Cause of all things; which is one of the meditations of the Royal Psalmist, which he hath left us, Psal. 119.89, 90, 91. where he enumerates particulars: For ever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in Heaven. Thy Faithfulness is unto all Generations: thou hast established the Earth, and it abideth. They continue this day according to thine Ordinances. And then he concludes, For all are thy Servants. And upon enquiry we shall find his assertion true. Do but lift up your eyes to the Heavens, and as the Prince of the Philosophers affirms them to be in perpetual motion; so he that was a Prince as well as a Philosopher, observes that they move in that Sphere which their alwise Framer fixed them in. Psal. 19.1. The Heavens declare the Glory of God. And if we behold the Sun, it confutes Copernicus, Rejoiceth as a strong man to run his race, v. 5. Should I take you up into the third Heaven, the Heaven of Heavens, the Angels there are ministering Spirits, Heh. 1. ult. Angels and Arch-Angels, and all the company of Heaven, all the Orders of that Celestial Hierarchy, they do God's Commandments, and execute his pleasure, Psal. 103.20, 21. If we look upon the creatures here below, they bear a part in this service, the Sea hath the boundary of God's decree for its ebbing and flowing; hitherto shalt thou extend thy proud waves and no further: the most inconsiderable inferior particles of the universe, the Snow, and Vapour, and Stormy-Wind are said to fulfil his Word, Psal. 148.8. So that this relation of Servants the Angels those heavenly Courtiers disdain not, and the lower parts of the World are not too mean for an Interest in; then certainly Man the Lord of this sublimary World can upon no account plead exemption, he is a servant. But as the Apostle uses the comparison touching the Resurrection, 1 Cor. 15.42. One Star differeth from another Star in glory. or as the same Apostle expresses it, In a great house thee are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and earth. 2. Tim. 2.20. so 'tis here in the large  of the supernal and lower world, each servant hath his province & employment set him suitable to those capacities, by which he is enabled to make a discharge of his duty, which what Man's is, is a seasonable enquiry; and,  
II. The second part of the text. As a Servant what is man's employment expressed in these words, so doing. Man hath a work to do, but what it is you cannot imagine in that little scantling of time allotted for this exercise I should fully discourse to you, the doing the particulars of which will take up our whole lives, did they never so far exceed David's sum of them. It is to do the work which God hath set us and sent us into the world to do, briefly 'tis doing the works of our general and particular calling.  
1. The works of our general calling as Christians. And here the Christian is obliged to the observance of that divine precept. Rom. 13.7. To render to all their deuce. And the duties of our general calling are reducible to these three heads, which the Apostle gives us in charge, Tit. 2.12. To live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world.  
1. To begin with our duty to him, who is the beginning of all things, and Lord of the family. And this we are early called upon by the wiseman to make a discharge of. Eccles. 12.1. Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth. He that gave us our being, provides for our well-being, and hath contrived our being happy, (unless we ourselves frustrate the design) may upon all accounts challenge a grateful service and homage, there being nothing in the world more rational than Religion and the Worship of a Deity. And here the Christian hath a large task of duty, the performance of all internal and external acts of Piety and Devotion, the maintaining always a reverential dread and fear of the Divine Majesty, to adore that incomprehensible Being, to demean ourselves so towards God, as may best comport with those Divine attributes of his purity and power, wisdom and goodness, sincerely and conscientiously to perform all external acts of Religion, all duties of divine worship and service, to hear and pray, meditate and receive, and what else in the whole duty of man God requires of us, as his immediate worship. This is to live godly.  
2. Righteously, towards our fellow-Servants. To love my Neighbour as myself, to observe that golden rule, so much admired by the Heathen, so little practised by the Christian, so fully taught in the old and new Testament, so frequently pressed by Prophets and Apostles, and inculcated by our Blessed Lord, Whatsoever we would that men should do unto us, we should do the same to them. To do justice and to love mercy, to make ourselves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness, to distribute to the necessities of the poor, to do good to all men, by good counsel and a suitable conversation to persuade as many as we can to be holy and religious and to save their souls, to reprove our offending Brother, to bear with the infirmities of those that are weak, to comfort those that mourn, to exhort one another to day, while it is called to day, to do as our Blessed Lord did, when he was upon the earth, whose business it was to go about, and seek all opportunities of doing good, Acts. 10.38.  
3. Soberly. To have so much regard to ourselves as to do nothing unworthy of that place in God's family he hath set us in. To observe all rules and precepts of sobriety, temperance and chastity. Some of the heathen Philosophers have dissuaded from some debaucheries, as indecencies & affronts offered to humane Nature, but the Christian hath higher motives for all sobriety of conversation; to reverence our humane nature as united to the Divine in the person of Christ, and so to preserve it from all spot and defilement, as he did when he was vested with our flesh here below; to look upon our bodies as Temples of the Holy Ghost, and so not to allow them to be sinks of sin and nests of all uncleanness: and lastly, to think what they shall be in their glorified estate after the resurrection, that so when Christ shall come to work that mighty change upon them, he may not find them in the worst sense vile, that is, sinful bodies. To do all this, and so to do it, as to be saluted with an Euge for our well-doing, may well be thought no easy task, but that which will require all Christian diligence and circumspection, so to redeem the time, as to fill up every part of it with the proper duties of it, and yet after all this one thing is still wanting which is,—  
2. To be diligent in our particular Callings, that state and condition of life to which God hath called each of us, as some to be Magistrates, some Ministers, some Merchants, some Artificers, etc. The Command of God to earn our bread in the sweat of our brows, the prevention of idleness, the obligation of providing for our families, God's distribution of several gifts, the benefit of humane society and the Weal-public, bespeak the necessity of some Calling or other for every man to employ and busy himself in. Here perhaps there may be some will censure my discourse to be ungentile, and that I maintain a paradox to affirm, as I do, that every man must labour in some calling or other; if you bring up this levelling humour, where's the Gentleman? was not he born like that Leviathan Job speaks of, only to take his pastime in the World? But a Reverend and modest 
† The Author of the whole Duty of Man.  Author hath made it out to be no Soloecism to assert a Gentleman to have a Calling, the orderly disposal of his Family, the preserving what in him lies peace among his Neighbours, the influencing all he converses with by a good example will not suffer him to be an exception to this general rule, that every man in the world hath a Calling, and to be diligent in it is every man's duty, and that which is highly justifiable: for the husbandman to be at his plough the tradesman in his shop, the scholar at his book, is to be so doing. But here we must observe a double caution.  
1. That our general and particular Calling do not justle out or enterfere upon the duties of each other. The wise Steward renders to each his portion in due season. It is a sin for me to be in the market or in a worse place, when I should be at the Church; and on the other hand, an indiscreet zeal must not make me neglect my Calling and to provide for my family; such a profession renders me worse than an infidel.  
2. We must be sure keep within the bounds of our particular Calling for which we have an express command. 1 Cor. 7.24. Let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God. He that holds the plough must not touch the Ark, the Apron and the Ephod, the Shop and the Pulpit are distinct, unless our Mechanic Preachers can confute St. Paul, who saith, that all are not Prophets, nor all Apostles, nor all Teachers. The motion of a Christian must not be eccentric, he must keep within bounds. No man can climb the Throne or the Pulpit without a warrant from God, lest it be said to him, as the Egyptian to Moses, Exod. 2.14. Who made thee a Prince, a Judge over us? who made thee a Preacher? for No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron, Heb. 5.4.  
Thus have I with all imaginable brevity gone through the several parts of man's duty, shown him what it is the Lord doth require of him, to do justly, to love mercy, to be sober and temperate, and walk humbly with his God. So that by way of Application you will easily infer with me.  
1. That 'tis not nihil agendo, doing nothing. Idleness is the Devil's anvil, on which he hammers us into any shape of vice or wickedness, 'tis a tempting of the Tempter, a giving him the opportunity of throwing a temptation in our way, and therefore it was St. Hieromes advice to be always busied, to prevent the Devils having this advantage over us. Semper boni aliquid operis facito, ut Diabolus te semper inveniat occupatum. Had David been in the Camp or at Council-table, when he walked on the battlements of his house, Bathsheba had washed herself without defiling uriahs bed. Man is of an active nature, if he be doing nothing, he will quickly be doing something he should not. Nor,  
2. Is it nil boni agendo, doing that which is as good as nothing. To spend a morning inter speculum et pectinem, our eyes would ache and our hands grow weary, should a Prayer-Book be our entertainment but a third part of that time the comb and the glass take us up. One meal consumes as much of our precious time as Luther spent of the whole day in prayer, which was three hours. Stratonitus said of the Rhoudians, that they built houses as if they were immortal, but feasted as if they were to live but a little while; we who dwell in houses of clay, feast as if we were immortal, no life beyond this, as if the indulging our sensual appetites were the highest satisfaction of our reasonable nature, and the hoc agere of a Christian. An empty visit, wherein our entertainment is an idle and uncharitable censure of the actions of others, and a debauched Theatre share the rest of the day. Than these the Emperors pricking of flies will be found a busy idleness more innocent. Nor,  
3. Is it male agendo, doing that which is worse than nothing, doing evil, committing sin. This is the Devil's work, and as he sets them to work, from him they must expect their wages, which what it is the Apostle lets them know beforehand. Rom. 6.23. The wages of sin is eternal death. This will not pass in the account, it will not be well our Lord should find us so doing if he doth, we shall have small thanks for our pains. Which minds me of the third general of the text.  
3. The account will be taken of him, the Lord of the family will come to take it himself, though it be intimated, that the time when he will come is very uncertain. Here we must know that there is a particular and a general coming of our Lord to Judgement. His particular coming to Judgement is on every one in particular at the hour of death, Eccl. 12.7. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. Where by the return of the soul to God, we must understand its giving up an account of all its actions done in the flesh, whether good or evil; as certainly as the Body at death returns to its earthly Mother to be dissolved, so assuredly the soul returns to its heavenly father to be judged. The general coming of Christ shall be at the last day, when the dead bodies shall arise out of their graves, and both soul and body receive the sentence of absolution or condemnation. John. 5.29. All that are in the graves shall come forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. This latter is a ratification and publication of the former, and a more full collation or infliction of reward or punishment. Each of those Advents of our Lord are certain, but the time of them very uncertain,  
1. His particular coming to Judgement is certain, which is at the hour of death. There is a Decree for this past and signed in Heaven. Heb. 9.27. It is appointed for all Men once to die. And you know what follows that, And this Decree is irreversible like the Laws of the Medes and Persians. Death's vast spoils and large triumphs sufficiently prove its universal Empire. 'Tis not to purpose to insist upon this, when there's scarce any man living will show himself so little a man, as to question whether he be mortal. The wise and the fool, the King and the Subject, the Pastor and his Flock, the Honourable and the vile Person, the Rich man and the Beggar, all mustly down in the dust, and make their bed, as Job speaks, in the darkness. But though there be an appointed time for this great and last change of man, yet when that time will come is very uncertain. Those infinite diseases and casualties to which the life of man is incident & so easily cut the thread of it, fully evince that there is nothing more certain than the uncertainty of the hour of death. One dies in his nonage, another in the strength and vigour of his years, and another in a full age: one in his bed, and another in the field. Hodie mihi, cras tibi. The Bell went for such a one last, but who shall go next God knows. To any of us that are here in health this hour, that for all we know before the next it may be said as St. Peter to Sapphira, Acts. 5. Behold the feet of them which brought this honourable Person to her grave, are ready to bear thee to the same place. And therefore 'tis a point of the greatest 〈◊〉 to consider our latter end and prepare for it, since its 〈◊〉 is so uncertain. And perhaps in this case, that advice of 〈◊〉 was not amiss, to him that desired to know when was the best time to repent and reform his life in, to whom he gave this answer, that it was safest to do that the day before he died, which was that present day for any thing he was assured of the contrary.  
2. As his particular coming at the hour of death is certain, so is his last coming at the end of the World. The son of man shall come in his glory, and all his holy Angels with him, and shall sit upon the Throne of his glory. Mat. 25.31. And then we must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his Body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad, 2 Cor. 5.10. And St. Peter hath described this day with its attendant circumstances. 2. Pet. 3.10. The day of the Lord will come, in the which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up. This is an Article of our faith, that Christ will come to judge the quick and the dead, and is a deduction in Divinity that the belief of a God and of his providence and government of the world doth necessarily infer. But of that day and hour, when this judgement shall pass on the whole world, knoweth not man. Our Lord hath told us, that this his coming will be as a thief in the night, to alarm us to stand upon our guard and watch, that we be not guilty of the improvidence, and so overtaken with the surprise of the foolish Virgins: We have the Doctrine of Christ's coming, and the use we should make of it both laid down by our Blessed Saviour in the 42. v. of this cb. Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come. And again vers. 44. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour you think not, the son of man cometh. There have indeed been some so bold as to adventure to define those times and seasons which the Father hath put in his own power, and to pretend to a discovery of the Arcana Imperil of Heaven, among the rest to determine when this day shall be; but in that time hath overcome and outworn several their computations, the presumption of their folly needs no other confutation.  
To press you to that which is the natural result of this Doctrine, diligence and faithfulness in doing your duty, I shall only urge you with a double consideration about this coming of our Lord.  
I. It will be a severe and strict account our Lord will take of us when he comes. He will bring every work into judgement with every secret thing, Eccles. 12.14. All our irreligion and profaneness, our injustice and oppression, our intemperance and uncleanness. There will be no imposing on him, no prevaricating with him, no palliating any fault, cloaking it from him, before whom all things are naked and open. Heb. 4.13. Indeed if we be found faithful, and that in the main we are not tardy, God will overlook (I do not say he sees not, but) he will pass by our failings and infirmities, our humane frailties. But there be two things, either of which if we be found guilty of, it will go hard with us instead of an euge we shall have an apage. Hypocrisy or Partiality.  
1. Hypocrisy and Insincerity in his Service, whatsoever we do, we must do it hearty, as to the Lord. The heart is the chief part of the Sacrifice, which if it be wanting, God loathes the Oblation, be it never so Costly. To love the Lord our God with all the Heart, with all the Soul, and with all the Mind, is the first and great Commandment of the Law, Mat. 22.37, 38. To bow and cringe in the Temple, as the Syrian in the house of Rimmon, and the heart to be at a distance, is a Service f●…r for such a blind Idol, than an allseeing, heart-searching God.  
2. Partiality, A most unhappy error men are willing to deceive themselves with, they think to do the will of God in a Figure will serve the turn, and so give him a part for the whole. If they are Zealous and forward in his Service and Worship, he will wink at their Injustice and Oppression, or if I am openhanded I may be wicked-hearted; an Alms shall dispense for my Uncleanness, my Loyalty atone for my Impiety and Debauchery; if I have heaped up an Estate by indirect means and unrighteous practices, to build a small Hospital, or bequeath a petty Legacy to the Poor will sanctify the whole lump of illgotten goods, and effect my pardon for all my wickedness. But God delivered to us the whole Decalogue, and for the whole he will account with us. I'm sure we shall never enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with a maimed obedience. If at the last day we shall plead any of this, the good deeds we have done, and think that they will expiate for whatsoever else we have omitted, Christ will reply to us as to the Pharisees; These aught ye to have done, and not have left the other undone. David's confidence was only in a Catholic Obedience, Psal. 119.6. Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy Commandments.  
2. The Sentence that will be then past is final and decisive beyond any appeal or rehearing. An error here is of most unhappy consequence, there is no place for a second. We shall then be adjudged either to an happy or a dismal Eternity, to everlasting life or endless punishment. Prayers and Tears, Repentance and promises of amendment, which if sincere, are in this life effectual for Mercy and Pardon, will then be unavailable: so that indeed we have the Sentence of Life and Death within ourselves, 'tis in our own choice whether we will be happy or miserable to all eternity. These two estates depend upon our acquitting ourselves here in our Master's service; if upon our Lord's seeming delay of his coming, we shall smite our fellow-servants, eat and drink with the drunken, be riotous and disorderly in the family, what can we expect but to have our portion assigned us with Hypocrites, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth? On the other hand, if we are emulous of happiness, and studious of our Lord's approbation, we must be faithful and diligent, work if we expect wages, abound in every good work of humility, sobriety and charity; for with him it shall far well, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing, he shall receive a blessing from the Lord. And this brings me to,  
4. The last part of the Text, the reward of that Servant that shall be found faithful and diligent; Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord shall find so doing. And here two things offer themselves to our consideration. 1. The constancy and perseverance of a Christian in well-doing; whom his Lord shall find so doing. 2. His crown of reward for so doing; Blessed is that servant. But a word of each of these, and I have done.  
I. The constancy and perseverance of a Christian in well-doing; Whom his Lord etc. 'Tis constancy crowns all our actions. He whose virtue like Ephraim's goodness, Hosea 13. evaporates and dwindles away, as the morning Cloud, and early dew, that will be baffled in his Christian Course by a thwarting temptation, and grows weary of well doing, puts an affront upon Religion, & is justly deprived the hopes of its reward. But he that amidst the foul shocks of Satan and an evil world, abides like a rock in the Sea, stands  as Mount Zion, he shall receive a Kingdom which cannot be moved. The devotion of a Christian like the vestal fire must burn continually, never go out, he must be like the Sun in the firmament fixed in his orb, and rejoice as a Giant to run his course, give shine in the world to the latest minute of his setting. The prize is at the end of a Christian's race. We read indeed, Mat. 20. of some that came late into the vineyard, but of none that received the penny but those that wrought in it till their Lord called them out. When St. Paul had finished his course then and not till then he could put forth his hand to receive the Crown of Righteousness, 2 Tim. 4.7, 8. If our Lord find us so doing he will pronounce us blessed.  
II. The last particular, the crown of reward for so doing; Blessed is that Servant. Here 'tis not to be expected in the running of those few sands that are yet behind, I should fully or 〈◊〉 describe the Blessedness of the Text. He that with the young man can truly say, O●nia haec observavi, he that doth these things with faithfulness and diligence, shall better understand this blessedness by a fruition of it, then by the largest account can be given of it, however allow me but in two words to give a short and distant prospect of this Holy Land, as it were to show you a glimpse of this happiness. 'Tis to be able to meet the King of terrors without fear, to bid Death welcome as the messenger of happy tidings, to have the Soul enlarged from a prison of sin and sorrow, trouble and temptation, to have a company of the Militia of Heaven, the Courtiers of the great King conduct and introduce us into the Royal Presence, to have the whole Choir of Saints and Angels shout at our entrance, and welcome us into the joys of our Lord, to enjoy the pleasures of the spirits of just men made perfect, to look back with amazing transport on that world of sin and misery we are rescued from and have left behind us, those vast rocks and dangers we escaped shipwrecking on, to admire God's goodness, and praise him for it continually: and after all this, when the Harvest is ripe, and the end of the world is come, and the consummation of all things, to have our bodies at the resurrection fashioned like the glorious body of Christ, and be made a fit receptacle for the soul to enter and for ever dwell in, to be caught up in the clouds, and meet the Lord in the air, to have our persons pronounced righteous and innocent in the hearing of men and Angels, to sit on the bench with Christ, to encompass his royal seat of Judicature and with him judge the world of wicked men; and after this grand Assize is over, to have a more solemn inaugration into bliss, each of us to take his place in the upper house, to be seated about the Throne of God, and there to be for ever with the Lord.  
Thus have I carried you through the several parts of my Text, and at last brought you to the haven where you would be, the haven of rest, the highest Heavens. Let me now entreat you to take one turn in the valley of the shadow of death, whilst I apply my discourse, and you your meditation to this sad Text before us. Of this Honourable Person our deceased Sister, and my ever honoured Lady, I hope it is not expected, it may seem needless for me to say much to you her Relations, Neighbours and Acquaintance, to whom she was so well known, and especially in this place where her works so loudly praise her in the gates: I shall not therefore power forth the whole Box, only shed a few drops of this precious Ointment. Not to tell you that she was descended of an ancient and honourable Family, (though that be a thing not contemptible) this her just funeral Exequys declare better than I can; but vix ea nostra voco, my task is to blazon a more noble Escutcheon, her Honours she bears in the Heraldry of Heaven, her Virtues which were properly her own, and a more enobling nobility then that derived from her Anbestours. In her minority she had (as I am well informed, and have good reason to believe) the advan●●●● and blessing of a virtuous and severe education, which early tincture left that relish, which verified wise Solomon's maxim, Pro. 22.6. Train up a Child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not departed from it. At an unusual age (though mature in regard of her gravity and discretion) she entered into a married estate, in which above forty years she was a most loving and loyal Consort to her dear Lord, in which time she had so fully studied Solomon's Economics, that her life was a most exact transcript of them; and without the least flattery, I may say, her carriage in her domestic Relations was the best Commentary I ever met with upon the 31 ch. of Proverbs, Solomon's description of a virtuous woman, and a good housewife. If ever any woman had that ornament of a meek and quiet spirit in her family, which St. Peter makes to be of so great price in the sight of God, this good Lady had it. To her now disconsolate Lord she was such a wife as Solomon describes. Pro. 31.12. she will do him good all the days of her life; to her Children a tender and indulgent Mother, to her Servants a loving and kind Mistress.— But there were among many other three eminent virtues in this excellent Person, which should I not mention, besides a great injustice to the dead, in suffering her name to die, I should wrong the living of a worthy example, her Piety, her Charity, her Patience and Christian Magnanimity.  
I. I begin at the House of God, where she so delightted to be, her Piety. And in this she was not new-fangled, as the Age, but old-fashioned. Her Religion was not a bare show or an empty noise, only that of the tongue or an outside paint, but her Piety was solid and substantial, even and uniform, that which exerted itself in the fruits of a good life. As to the external acts of Divine Service and Worship, she was most frequent in them, she seldom took up with so little as David's morning, evening, and noon, but very often came up to the Psalmist's highest Pitch of devotion, of praying to and praising of God seven times in the day; besides her public and closet-devotions, she constantly attended on the morning and evening sacrifice of her family, in which she gave a most eminent example: the sticking of a pin, or the laying of a hair kept her not till the service was half over, but her zeal for the service of God made her careless of what habit or dress she came in, rather than stay away or come tardy; her exceeding devotion carried her to David's pious option, to enjoy the Doorkeepers place to be first in and last out of the House of God. And truly she was of Joshua's sociable temper, she was for I and my house will serve the Lord. Her servants never met with greater displeasure or more severe chiding from her than for the neglect of their duty to God.  
II. As her Piety was great, so her Charity was large. As God had given her the riches of this world, so the knew full well that she had more in her Custody than was her own, the poor's portion; she looked upon herself as the Almighty's Almoner, and understood it his pleasure she should dispense bountifully. An empty belly, a naked back, or the sores of an helpless Lazar, were such oratory as ever prevailed for her relief. I am confident there be many here weeping, as the Widows over Dorcas, Acts. 9 that can show the coats and garments she provided for them, and who were clothed and fed by her bounty. She might justly have made the protestation of Job; If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor for want of covering: if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep, Job. 31.19.20. She was wise in her Charity, and understood her own interest well, and knew that such sowing brought in a plentiful crop, a great increase, that she should make a great return for all she thus laid out, and should be reimbursed with an interest infinitely above the principal, when her Lord at the last day shall publicly read her layings out; Hungry, and ye fed me, thirsty, and ye gave me drink, naked, and ye clothed me.  
3. Her Patience and Christian Magnanimity. And here I may well truly break forth in admiration, as th● Father upon the story of the Woman of Canaan; Mira re● evangelista, mulier non mulier etc. O wonderful! a woman and more than a woman! Troubles & afflictions she had, what Saint ever had not? indeed how could her virtue have been so bright and eminent without them. But her deportment under them was admirable, her trust and confidence in God so stayed her up, that she could be fervent and composed in he devotions, and cheerful in her family, when the greatest pressures lay upon her; nay, to the former they did ever add vigour and activity. If at any time the waves came so thick upon her, that she found herself with Peter ready to sink, she quickly catched hold of a sure stay, and recovered herself with David's reasoning in the like extremity. Ps. 43. ver. ult. Why art thou cast down, O my soul! still put thy trust in God. The meditations of an holy man upon which place of Scripture she very often had recourse unto. 
Dr. Sibbs upon that text.  To hasten.  
There were two circumstances about the death of this eminent Saint I must not omit. About a fortnight before she died, she desired the holy Sacrament at my hands, which I gave her the Sunday following; all the week before (notwithstanding her great bodily weakness) with great devotion she was present at the prayers of her family, and after that continued her attendance to the very last. This Celestial Banquet so refreshed her soul, that the joys and satisfaction she then possessed were a happy anticipation, a delicious fore-taste of that Heaven, from which she was not to be long absent: and here her good nature and Christian Charity took an occasion to express itself in being kindly angry with some of her Servants for their neglect of that opportunity of coming to the Lords Supper, and so not sharing with her in so great a comfort and happiness. She that had been a careful observer of the Lords day in her life, hasted early on that day to the celebration of an eternal Sabbath in the Heavens. In a word, 
Departed about two a-clock on sunday morning  as if in the language of David concerning God's house, she had said of her little Sanctuary: Here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein. But a few hours before she departed this life, she was at prayers with the family at the Chapel, and I doubt not but after that in her greatest Agonies and extremity, which lasted not very long, she had pious Ejaculations and holy Soliloquies, her Lord found her so doing, and she is now in possession of the blessedness of the Text. Where let us leave her, and give me leave to address myself in two words,  
I. To her near and dear Relations. I dare not forbid you the shedding of some tears to the memory of so precious a Saint, and good a Mother, but I beg you to moderate them with your Christian hopes. Your loss is great, and truly so is mine, though I must not equal it, and so is her death to all that had the honour and happiness of her acquaintance. But if you have one eye upon your loss, let your other be upon her gain, her advantage, her happiness; methinks she bespeaks you, Daughters weep not for me, but for yourselves and Children; and look upon her death not so much a loss neither, as a short privation of her company; consider her non amissam sed praemissam; not lost, only gone a little before to that Rest we all labour after.  
II. And to all that are here present, that knew her, let me beg you to let her memory be precious with you, let her virtues never die, but be persuaded to an imitation of them, fix this great example continually before your eye. I conclude all with the exhortation of the Apostle, Phil. 4.8. Finally, Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report: if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things and do them; that when our Lord shall come, he may find us so doing, and pronounce us blessed.  
FINIS.