Sermon Preached Upon the Death of Queen Mary, Application
The Application of the Point.
From hence we may understand the Reason of the supreme and solemn Adoration that all intelligent Creatures are obliged to pay to God; 'tis for the absolute and unchangeable Perfection of his Nature, whereby he is infinitely superiour and separate from all created Beings. There are different Degrees of Excellency in the Creatures, but in comparison with God they all vanish and are equally nothing. As if one should be raised to the Region of the Stars, and cast a look down on the Earth, the highest Mountains with the Vallies would appear an equal Plain. God's incommunicable Name is, I am; he is alone from himself infinite and immortal, and in propriety of Speech he only is: all other Beings are derived and dependant on him, and have but a Countenance and Shadow of Being.
Let us consider Men and Angels, that in Nature are more excellent than other Creatures. The first Man in the Perfection of Paradise was mutable, his natural Life was in a continual Flux, and to be preserv'd by the Fruits of the Garden. If he had persevered in his Obedience, after a short Immortality on Earth, he had ascended to Heaven alive in his intire Person, but he must have been changed in his Ascension, for Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. He had Strength to stand, but was free to fall; and that Freedom to Evil was a Branch of Imperfection. There is a woful Proof of this in his rebellious Disobedience, for which he lost more in a Day than his Progeny can recover to all Ages. The Angels are superiour Spirits, yet they were charged with Folly, that is, a Slipperiness and Mutability from which God alone is entirely exempt. The Elect Angels, who continued faithful when such mighty Numbers were false, and deserted their Duty, (and fell from their original Purity and Glory) are not absolutely unchangeable: their Confirmation and Stability is from the continual Irradiations and Influences of Divine Grace, that preserve their Minds from Error, and their Wills from irregular Desires, and consequently they cannot sin, nor forfeit their Felicity; for all Sin proceeds from Error in the Mind, and Disorder in the Will.
In the Perfection of Glory the Angels are not without Change; their Understandings and Wills are variously tinctur'd and colour'd by Diversity of Objects: their Minds are illustrated with new Discoveries of the Divine Counsels in their gradual Accomplishment. The Apostle tells us, Unto Principalities and Powers is Eph. 3. 10.made known by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God. With the intellectual Change their Wills receive new Impressions of Joy. At the Incarnation of our Saviour a Chorus of Angels sang with celestial Harmony, Glory to God on high, on Earth Peace, good Will towards Men. At the Conversion of a Sinner there is new JoyLuke 15. among those blessed Spirits: but the blessed God is always the same. 'Tis from the Consideration of God's Peerless Excellencies that the glorious Seraphims are for ever in a Posture of lowest Reverence before the Throne, and magnify him by the transcendent Title that separates him from all Creatures of the highest Order, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Host: the Earth is full of thy Glory. The most proper Affection due to that infinitely excelling Object, is Admiration mix'd with humble Fear.
2. This should confirm our Trust in God at all times. The Psalmist's Induction is from hence, Thou art the same, and thy Years have no End. The Children of thy Servants shall continue, and their Seed shall be establish'd before thee. We will consider this Security of the Church in the present and the future State.
1st. While the Church is in this lower World the Sphere of Mutability. The first Sin of Adam open'd a Passage to innumerable Evils, that either oppress us, or are impendent over us: Man at his best Estate is altogether Psal. 39.Vanity: not only when languishing and wasting by Diseases, when afflicted by Disasters, but in his fairest Flower and best Vigour. Nay, the higher his Exaltation is in this World, the more he is exposed to the Storms of Mutability. How shall Man, a Creature so impotent and apprehensive of Dangers, compose the Disorder of his Passions? How shall he support his Spirit in an unsafe and unquiet Condition? The present World, as 'tis insufficient for our Satisfaction, so it cannot afford us Protection: it cannot fill the Immensity of our Desires, nor extend to the Eternity of our Duration, nor preserve us from Afflictions here. The seeming Felicity hence is like a Feast in an empty Dream, mere imaginary Food, and vanishes in a little while. What then can quiet our Fears under imminent Evils? what can revive and support our Hopes in our Distress and Exigencies but the unchangeable God, whose Love, and Power, and Truth, are everlasting? Therefore we are encouraged to trust in the Lord for ever, because in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting Strength. He sits in Heaven, his Throne is unshaken, when things below are whirl'd about in a vertiginous Circle. Creatures may promise us Relief in our Troubles, but they are so false or fading, that we shall be deceived in our Reliance on them, and Disappointment will increase our Vexation; yet our carnal Constitution strongly inclines us to depend upon them, either for the obtaining what we desire, or for the preventing what we fear: The Reason is, because we see things with the Eyes of Flesh, and accordingly esteem their Strength and Sufficiency as 'tis visible to us. Therefore we are so often directed not to put our Trust in Princes, nor in the Sons of Men, in whom there is no Help: His Breath goeth forth, he returns to his Earth, in that very Day his Thoughts perish. They are distinguish'd from others in the Quality of Living, but are under the same hard and inflexible Necessity of Dying. They cannot retain one Ray of the superficial Lustre of their Crowns, to enlighten the dark Shadow of Death: they carry no Reliques of Majesty into the next World, to impress a Reverence upon others. All Flesh is Grass, and the Glory of it as the Flower of Grass: the Grass withers, and the Flower thereof fades; but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. God is our living Strength, a sure Refuge to which we may fly in our Extremities. He can compose a raging World, or preserve his Church in it, as he did the Ark in the Universal Deluge. The Prophet alledges this Reason of his Confidence, Art not thou from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine holy one? we shall not die. And accordingly the Prophet Jeremiah argues; Thou O Lord remainest for ever, thy Throne is from Generation to Generation! Wherefore Lam. …. 19, 20.dost thou forget us for ever, and forsake us so long time?
2dly. In the next State we shall be unchangeably happy in his influxive Presence. Here there are many Vicissitudes, strange and suddain Prosperity and Adversity, Riches and Poverty, Health and Sickness in the Circulation of time succeed one another: as in a Voyage, the change of the Winds, sometimes a Storm, and after a Calm, the unquiet Agitation of the Ship, the Sickness of the Passengers, are Accidents that happen to those who sail in the Ocean: but when they arrive at the Port, all is at an end. Thus when we shall come to Heaven, all the Variations of Time shall end in a permanent stable State: Our Blessedness shall exceed all our Desires, and exclude all our Fears: it shall be compleat and surrounded with Eternity. There God is All in All.
The Text I have been discoursing of, is very applicable to the Occasion; for we are instructed by very afflicting Experience how fallacious our Hopes are, that depend upon dying Creatures. The excellent Queen, from whose Inclination and Power the Kingdom expected such diffusive Good, and for a long Continuance, was in the Prime and Vigor of her Age taken from us.
How convincingly verified are the words of the wise Preacher, Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity. Those who are stiled Gods by Deputation and Vicegerency, and Psal. 82. 6, 7.Children of the most High, shall die like Men: they are made of the same frail Materials, and liable to the same Accidents with the lowest of the People.
That we may have a due sense of our heavy Loss, I shall endeavour sincerely and briefly to represent what she was, and what a Blessing we enjoyed in her Government.
I know that the praising of the Dead is usually suspected to be guilty of Flattery, either in disguising their real Faults, or in adorning them with counterfeit Vertues, and such Praises are pernicious to the Living. The Temptation to Excess in this kind is never so dangerous as in the Funeral Encomiums of Princes. The most regular Discretion is requisite in managing such Subjects: Flaunting Language, and high sounding Words the more Poetical, are less Perswasive, for they seem to proceed from a vain Ostentation of Eloquence. The discovery of the Paint of Art in a Funeral Sermon defeats the End of it, for it lessens the Credit of the Speaker, and the Esteem of the Person spoken of. The suspicion that more is said than is true, induces a Thought that there is less Praise-worthy than there is. But when the excellent Goodness of a Person in a uniform Tenor of Life was illustriously visible, the naked Narrative of her Actions will be a more effectual Amplification of her Worth and Praise, than the most lively and graceful Colours of Language can impart.
Before I proceed, 'tis necessary to consider two Acts of Divine Providence concerning the Queen, that are eminently observable, and were principal Ingredients in our miraculous Deliverance.
The first is, That She was not early engaged in the Belief and Practice of Popery, a Religion so contrary to Reason and Divine Revelation. Children before they come to the free Exercise of Reason, are very receptive of the first Impressions: especially the Instructions of Parents enter with Authority and Efficacy into the Minds, and more especially if they partake from them as the secondary Authors, not only Life, but high Honour and Riches. There is the clearest Evidence of this, for in all Nations Children receive their Religion from the Quality of their Parents. Now 'tis truly wonderful, that the Queen's Father being so amorous of his Religion, did not take the season of instilling it into her, before she could with Understanding make a Choice of it. It increases the Wonder, in that the Priests were Attendants in his Court, who being deeply struck with Superstition, are watchful to take all Advantages to propagate it. If she had been tainted with it, how unhappy had it been to her self, how pernicious to others? If the Light that is in thee be Darkness, how great is that Darkness? Darkness! Popery is a Religion that begins in inward Darkness, and leads to utter Darkness. If her Mind had been prepossest with so dangerous Errors, how hard to have represented Truth convincingly to her? The Wool that has imbibed a dark Tincture, can never receive a lighter Colour. The change of Inclinations that are deeply set in the Will is very hard, and the change of Opinions concerning Religion that have first possessed the Mind, is equally if not more difficult. How pernicious had it been to others? For the corrupting the Mind of a Royal Person with a false Religion, is like poisoning a publick Fountain, that conveys Infection abroad. How admirable was the preventing Mercy of God, that as soon as she was capable, she was instructed in the knowledg of the saving Truth; and that her Mind and Heart were so firm and fixed in it, that she was neither seduced nor terrified from it. This preventing Grace was an illustrious Mark of her Election.
2. The Disposal of her in Marriage to a Prince of the Reformed Religion, raised by God to oppose the proud Aspirer, and check the Current of his Fury, who usurps the Glory of Heaven, and breaks the Peace of the Earth; who arrogates a Soveraignty over Conscience, and has compelled such vast Numbers to abjure the Truth: whose infamous Ambition has turned Europe into a Stage of bloody Confusion. Our Serenity and Tranquillity, the flourishing of Peace and Truth, are from the benevolent Aspect and favourable Influence of these two bright Stars in Conjunction.
I shall in speaking of this excellent Queen, not insist on the Privileges in the Order of Nature that eminently distinguish'd her from others. Her Descent was Royal: but this is only an external Circumstance, and derives no Moral Value to a Person. The Splendor of Extraction, like Varnish in a Picture that gives more Life and Lustre to the Colours, makes the Vertues or the Vices of a Person more conspicuous.
Her Body was the beautiful Temple of a fairer Soul: Her graceful Presence inspired Reverence and Love in those who saw her, and appeared worthy of Empire. But visible Beauty is often join'd with foul Deformity in the same Person.
I shall begin with her Piety towards God. This is the first Duty of Man in Order and Dignity, and the most considerable in its Consequences: 'tis the Foundation of all Royal Vertues. In the Publick Worship of God, she was a bright Example of solemn and unaffected Devotion. She prayed with humble Reverence, heard the Word with respectful Silence, and with serious Application of Spirit, as duly considering the infinite Interval between the Supremacy of Heaven and Princes on Earth: That their Greatness in its Lustre is but a faint and vanishing Reflection of the Divine Majesty. One Instance I shall specify in this kind: When her Residence was at the Hague, a Lady of Noble Quality coming to the Court to wait on her on a Saturday in the Afternoon, was told she was retired from all Company, and kept a Fast in preparation for the receiving the Sacrament the next day. The Lady staying till five a clock, the Princess came out, and contented her self with a very slender Supper, it being incongruous to conclude a Fast with Feast. Thus solemnly she prepared her self for spiritual Communion with her Saviour. When Moses was surpriz'd at the sight of the flaming Bush, and intended to come near to it, he was warn'd by a Voice from Heaven, Draw not nigh hither: Put off thy Shoes from thy Feet, for the Place wherein thou standest is holy Ground. By the familiar figure of putting off the Shoes, is signified the purifying our selves from all Defilements. And certainly the Presence of the Son of God is more peculiar in that sacred mysterious Ordinance, than it was in the burning Bush; accordingly we should sanctify our selves, and approach with holy Fear.
Her Religion was not confin'd to the Chappel, but every Day she had chosen Hours for Communion with God, of which he is the only Discerner and Rewarder. Some that are High in the World, think it sufficient to pay a Complemental Visit to God once a Week, and content themselves with the external Service, tho destitute of Holy Affections, which are the Life of Religion, or at best are satisfied with a few expiring Acts of Devotion: But the good Queen's Conversation was in Heaven, she was constant in those Duties wherein the Soul ascends to God by solemn Thoughts and ardent Desires, and God descends into the Soul by the Excitations and Influences of his Spirit.
Her Religion was not only exercised in Divine Worship, but was influential into her Practice. The Law of God was written in her Heart, and transcribed in her Life in the fairest Characters.
She had a sincere Zeal for the healing our unhappy Divisions in Religious Things, and declared her Resolution upon the first Address of some Ministers, that she would use all Means for that Blessed End. She was so wise as to understand the Difference between Matters Doctrinal, and Rituals; and so good as to allow a just Liberty for Dissenters in Things of small Moment. She was not fetter'd with Superstitious Scruples, but her clear and free Spirit was for the Union of Christians in Things essential to Christianity. This revives in me the sorrowful Remembrance of the late Excellent Arch-bishop, tho in Place incomparably inferiour to the Queen; their Principles and Temper, their Designs and Endeavours were for Peace: And the hopes of obtaining it are weakened by the fatal Conjuncture of their Funerals.
The Holiness of her Life was Universal. She was Born and Lived in the Court that shines in Pomp and flows in Pleasures, and presents charming Temptations to all the Diseased Appetites. Pride that destroyed both Worlds, and cleaves so close to Human Nature, reigns there. The Love of Pleasure is a soft Seducer, that easily insinuates through the Senses, and captivates the Soul. 'Tis an Observation of St. Chrysostom that the three Hebrew Martyrs that were preserved unpolluted in the Court of Babylon, was a greater Miracle than the preserving them unsinged in the Fiery Furnace. In the absence of Temptations the Corrupt Nature is sometimes so conceal'd that 'tis hardly known to it self; but when tempting Objects arm'd with Allurements offer themselves, the corrupt Nature is presently discover'd: Especially if a Person comes to the Licence of the Scepter, that swells Pride, and authorizes the exorbitant Desires. To be humble in such a high Elevation, to be temperate in the midst of the freest Fruitions, is the Effect of powerful Grace. Who ever saw in the Queen an Appearance of Pride and Disdain? How graceful was the Condescendence of her Greatness? Who saw any Disorder in her Countenance, the Chrystal wherein the Affections are visible? Her Breast was like the Pacifick Sea, that seldom suffers and is disturbed by a Storm. She was so exempt from the Tyranny of the angry Passions, that we may have some conjecture of the Felicity of the State of unstained Innocence, of which one Ray is so amiable. And was so abhorring from the sensual Passions, that nothing impure durst approach her Presence.
In her Relation to the King she was the best Pattern of Conjugal Love and Obsequiousness. How happy was her Society, redoubling his Comforts, and dividing his Cares? Her Deportment was becoming the Dignity and Dearness of the Relation. Of this we have the most convincing Proof from the Testimony and Tears of the King since her Death. Solomon adds to many Commendations of a vertuous Woman, as a Coronis, that her Husband praises her. The King's declaring, that in all her Conversation he discovered no Fault, and his unfeigned and deep Sorrow for his Loss, are the Queen's entire Elogy.
She had an excellent Understanding that qualified her for Government. Of this her presiding in Council in times of Danger, and preserving the Tranquillity of the Kingdom, were real Proofs.
Her Charity, that Celestial Grace, was like the Sun, nothing within her Circuit was hid from its refreshing Heat. Love is the clearest Notion we have of the Deity: God is Love. A Prince in no Perfection resembles God more than in his communicative Goodness. If it were known what this good Queen did, and what she designed to do, among all her relucent Vertues, Charity would be illustrious.
Her wise Redemption of Time from unconcerning Vanities for Domestick Affairs, was the Effect and Indication of her tender and vigilant Conscience. She consider'd her Glass was continually running, and all the Sands were to be accounted for. How should this great Example correct those who are lavish of nothing so much as of Time; which, being lost, is irrecoverable? The Sun returns every Day, but Time never returns.
In her Sickness, Patience had its perfect Work. Her Disease was uncomfortable, yet with resigned Submission she bore it. When the Danger of it was signified to her, she had no fearful Thoughts about her future State. 'Tis a cruel Respect to sick Persons, especially to Princes, to conceal from them their Danger till Death steals insensibly upon them. Indeed considering their past Lives, and their present Anxieties, the Advice of approaching Death is an Anticipation of it. But the Spirit of this excellent Saint was not afraid of Evil-tidings, but fixed, trusting in the Lord. Her Care had been to secure the Love of God in the best time of her Life, this mixed Cordial Drops in the Bitterness of Death.
In short, to finish my Discourse, all the blessed Vertues were eminently seen in her that might render her Government an entire Happiness to the Kingdom. This erected her a Throne in the Hearts of her Subjects: and the Honour the wise Poet attributes to the Emperor Augustus;
Victorque volentes
Per populos dat jura,
That he rul'd a willing People, may more truly be said of this excellent Princess, She was Queen of the Affections of the People, and governed them without Constraint. Her Praise-worthy Actions will eternize her Memory, when other Princes, devested of their secular Pomp, shall either be buried in dark Oblivion, or condemned in History.
The Earthen Vessel wherein all these Treasures were deposited is broke, and the instructive Providence should perswade us to look to our living Strength, the blessed God, fixing our Trust in him. He bestowed this rare Instrument of his Goodness: He can preserve his Servant, our Sovereign Lord, who by the Divine Assistance has the Honour of establishing our Religion and Liberties at home, and gives hope of restoring it abroad, from whence it has been so cruelly and perfidiously expell'd.
FINIS.