Funeral Sermon of Honor Viner, Title page – Dedication
DEATH AND THE GRAVE No Bar to Believers Happineſſe.
OR, A SERMON preached at the Funerall OF THE Lady HONOR VYNER, In the Pariſh Church of Mary Wolnoth in Lombardſtreet, July 10. 1656.
By WILLIAM SPURSTOW, D. D. and Miniſter of Gods Word at Hackney.
If in this life onelyonly we have hope in Chriſt, we are of all men moſt miſerable,
1 Cor. 15. 19.
I will ranſome them from the power of the grave, I will redeem them from death: O death I will be thy plague; O grave, I will be thy deſtruction,
Hoſea 13. 14.
Omnia ſub ſole vanitas; ergo ſupra ſolem veritas. Paulin. in Opuſc.
LONDON, Printed for J. Rothwell, at the Fountain in Goldſmiths-row in Cheapſide. 1656.
TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFULL Sir THOMAS VYNER, Kt. And Alderman of the City of LONDON.
SIR,
SInce that you are pleaſed not to be disſatisfied with the long ſtay of this Sermon, it matters not to give an account to others, to whoſe hands it may happily come, what the cauſes are that have made it to ſtick ſo long in the birth. And yet I am willing they ſhould underſtand thus much: Firſt, that it is a ſad work, and that I never preached or printed more unchearfully: Sorrow is a paſſion that moves ſlowly, it makes the words ſlow as well as few, and the pace to be creeping, and ſnailelike: there is nothing in it that runs, but teares. Secondly, that it is an imperfect work, and unfit for that end to which it ſeems to be deſigned; and therefore I gladly would that it might have been ſtill hid like Saul behind the ſtuffe, and not have appeared in publick view. For I know it will be looked upon as a kind of record that beares upon it the name of the Lady HONOR VYNER, whoſe name ſhould alwaies be written by me, aureis potius literis, quam vili hoc liquore, in Letters of Gold rather then with this vile and cheap Inke, ſo many were my obligations to her for the conſtant and reall favours that ſhe was pleaſed to heap upon me, which muſt ſtill live, and be acknowliged by me: But the beſt at preſent that I can make of this way is, that black is ſuitable to mourning, and that broken notes, ſentences, and inconſiſtencies (with which I feare this little piece abounds) are in ſorrow pardonable, if not commendable. And this is all that I ſhall now ſay on my own behalf.
To you Sir, who are ſtill a ſad mourner under this band and ſtroke of God, I hope this Sermon may afford ſuch prevailing conſiderations as may cauſe you not to ſorrow as others that have no hopes, in regard that ſhe is not dead but ſleeps, is not loſt but found, not taken from the company of the living, but of the lamenting. Though therefore your eyes may drop as a limbeck, yet let them not run as ſpouts; though ſighs may come from you, yet take heed of repinings. It is God that hath done it, and who ſhall ſay unto him, What doſt thou? I know you do ſtrive againſt dejections, (and I bleſſe God) that hitherto you have born your croſſe as becomes a Chriſtian; continue, I beſeech you ſtill in the exerciſe of Faith and Patience, that ſo when you are tried, you may receive the Crown of life that the Lord hath promiſed to thoſe that love him, James 1. 12. And that you may thus do, and be thus crowned, ſhall be the prayer of him, who thankefully acknowledgeth all your love, and reſts
SIR, Your moſt affectionate friend and ſervant in the Lord WILLIAM SPURSTOWE.