The Life and Funeral Sermon of the Reverent Thomas Brand, Title page – Dedication 2
THE LIFE AND FUNERAL SERMON Of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Brand.
BY Dr. SAMƲEL ANNESLEY.
Phil. ii. 20.
I have no Man like minded who will naturally care for your State.
LONDON: Printed for Iohn Dunton, at the Raven in the Poultrey, 1692.
To the Honourable the Lady Bridget Roberts, Grace be with you, Mercy and Peace ſrom God the Father, and from the Lord Jeſus Chriſt, the Son of the Father in Truth and Love.2 John 3.
MADAM,
THIS Eminent Saint, now in Glory, having been ſixteen Years your Soul guide, to the eternal Advantage of your ſelf, and deareſt Relations, and your Houſe being (as it were) the Sanctuary for Divine Worſhip, for the ſpreading of Religion through the Country. This cannot but render his Memory to you precious; and you may expect, that as they had the Benefit of his Miniſtry from your Houſe, they ſhould receive the Memoirs of it from your Hands. I make no Apology at all for what's In the Narrative, but only for what's left out. I am (perhaps) ſo needleſly ſcrupulous of offending any, that (perhaps) I may eventually pleaſe none. Be it ſo. 'Tis Spiritual Profit I aim at, if I can but hereby provoke and encourage to what is deſervedly imitable: I gain my point. I ſhall ſay nothing particularly to your ſelf; ſhould I ſpeak any good of you, though never ſo true, 'twould look like Flattery, which I abhor; and to ſpeak ill of you (with Truth) is beyond the Power of your moſt captious Enemies (if you have any ſuch.) Go on therefore, as you have begun, practically to remember the ſound Doctrine, and Non-ſuch Example ſet before you; which is beyond any thing that can be ſaid, or done by me: I ſhall always add my poor Prayers, that in ſo doing, you and yours may be bleſſed in both Worlds. Though this may by ſome be accounted the leaſt: Yet this is really the moſt that can be done by
Madam, Your Ladiſhip's moſt hearty (tho' moſt worthleſs) Servant, Samuel Anneſley.
To my deſervedly honoured Friend Mr. John Brand, the only Brother of Reverend Mr. Tho. Brand, now ſleeping in Jeſus, Grace, Mercy and Peace be multiplied.
SIR,
MY delay of this ill drawn Portraiture is utterly inexcuſable. I'll lie down therefore under the Cenſure of it, to be ſo long in tacking together ſo ſhort a Story; which though it be true (and that is all the good that can be ſaid of it, yet) 'tis pity ſuch Truths ſhould be expoſed, ſo deſpicably naked, as to have no faſhionable Ornament, to render it acceptable, ſome being firſt taken with the Dreſs, and that inſinuates the Matter: To this I'll ſay not a word for my ſelf, and but a few to the Subject. I am more than a Witneſs, how ſollicitous you were in fitting your Brother for the Miniſtry; he came firſt into the World, but (I think) you were firſt in Chriſt: Pardon me for giving a hint of your Soul travel for his New birth. I cannot forget, how reſtleſs you were, till you had brought his troubled Soul to a well grounded Peace. Jer. 2.2.I remember (and Chriſt much more) the Kindneſs of your Youth, with what zeal you ſet out your Race: Go on, dear Sir, go on with a growing Vigor. It is not long ſince you thought to have been in Heaven before your Brother; but he hath got the ſtart of you, and hath left you ſuch an Example, which is more to you than to any one elſe in the World; follow him cloſe (thô I hope you will come late to Heaven) in his Piety, Charity, and Uſefulneſs all manner of ways; That none may complain (his Miniſterial Labours only excepted) that Mr. Thomas Brand is dead while Mr. John Brand lives; And, O that he may live in your Poſterity, that you and yours may be the Bleſſed of the Lord from one Generation to another. So prays,
Dear Sir, Your Soul-ſervant, Samuel Anneſley.