own examples, to do still, as you have done hitherto. For, for that, that which is especially in my contemplation, the conversion of the people, as I have received, so I can give this testimony, that of those persons, who have sent in moneys, and concealed their names, the greatest part, almost all, have limited their devotion, and contribution upon that point, the propagation of religion, and the conversion of the people; for the building and beautifying of the house of God, and for the instruction and education of their young children. Christ Jesus himself is yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever. In the advancing of his glory, be you so too, yesterday, and to-day, and the same for ever, here; and hereafter, when time shall be no more, no more yesterday, no more to-day, yet for ever and ever, you shall enjoy that joy, and that glory, which no ill accident can attain to diminish, or eclipse it. PRAYER. WE return to thee again, O God, with praise and prayer; as for all thy mercies from before minutes began, to this minute, from our election to this present beam of sanctification which thou hast shed upon us now. And more particularly, that thou hast afforded us that great dignity, to be, this way, witnesses of thy Son Christ Jesus, and instruments of his glory. Look graciously and look powerfully upon this body, which thou hast been now some years in building and compacting together, this plantation. Look graciously upon the head of this body, our sovereign, and bless him with a good disposition to this work, and bless him for that disposition: look graciously upon them, who are as the brain of this body, those who, by his power and counsel, advise and assist in the government thereof; bless them with disposition to unity and concord, and bless them for that disposition: look graciously upon them who are as eyes of this body, those of the clergy, who have any interest therein: bless them with a disposition to preach there, to pray here, to exhort everywhere for the advancement thereof, and bless them for that disposition. Bless them who are the feet of this body, who go thither, and the hands of this body, who labour there, and them who are the heart of this body, all that are heartily affected, and declare actually that heartiness to this action; bless them all with a cheerful disposition to that, and bless them for that diposition. Bless it so in this calm, that when the tempest comes, it may ride it out safely; bless it so with friends now, that it may stand against enemies hereafter; prepare thyself a glorious harvest there, and give us leave to be thy labourers, that so the number of thy saints being fulfilled, we may with better assurance join in that prayer, Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly, and so meet all in that kingdom which the Son of God hath purchased for us with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood. To which glorious Son of God, &c. Amen. 244 SERMON CLVII. A SERMON OF COMMEMORATION OF THE LADY DANVERS, LATE WIFE OF SIR JOHN DANVERS*. PREACHED AT CHILSEY, Where she WAS BURIED, JULY 1, 1627. THE PRAYER BEFORE THE SERMON. O ETERNAL and most glorious God, who sometimes in thy justice dost give the dead bodies of the saints to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth, so that their blood is shed like water, and there is none to bury them': who sometimes sellest thy people for nought, and dost not increase thy wealth by their price: and yet never leavest us without that knowledge, that precious in thy sight is the death of thy saints; enable us, in life and death, seriously to consider the value, the price, of a soul. It is precious, O Lord, because thine image is stamped, and imprinted upon it; precious, because the blood of thy Son was paid for it; precious, because thy blessed Spirit, the Holy Ghost, works upon it, and tries it, by his divers fires; and precious, because it is entered into thy revenue, and made a part of thy treasure. Suffer us not therefore, O Lord, so to undervalue ourselves, nay, so to impoverish thee, as to give away those souls, thy souls, thy dear and precious souls, for nothing; and all the world is nothing, if the soul must be given for it. We know, O Lord, that our rent, due to thee, is our soul and the day of our death is the day, and our deathbed the place, where this rent is to be paid. And we know too that he that hath sold his soul before, for unjust gain, or given away his soul before, in the society and fellowship of sin, or lent away his soul, for a time, by a lukewarmness, and temporizing, to the dishonour of thy name, to the weakening of thy cause, to the discouraging of thy servants, he comes to that day, and to that place, his death, and death-bed, without any rent in his hand, without any soul to this purpose, to surrender it unto thee. Let therefore, O Lord, the same hand which is to • Mother of George Herbert. Vide Walton's Life of Herbert. * Psalm XLiv. 12. receive them then, preserve these souls till then let that mouth, that breathed them into us at first, breathe always upon them, whilst they are in us, and suck them into itself, when they depart from us. Preserve our souls, O Lord, because they belong to thee; and preserve our bodies, because they belong to those souls. Thou alone, dost steer our boat through all our voyage, but hast a more especial care of it, a more watchful eye upon it, when it comes to a narrow current, or to a dangerous fall of waters. Thou hast a care of the preservation of these bodies, in all the ways of our life: but in the straits of death open thine eyes wider, and enlarge thy providence towards us, so far, that no fever in the body may shake the soul, no apoplexy in the body damp or benumb the soul, nor any pain or agony of the body presage future torments to the soul. But so make thou our bed in all our sickness, that being used to thy hand, we may be content with any bed of thy making; whether thou be pleased to change our feathers into flocks, by withdrawing the conveniences of this life, or to change our flocks into dust, even the dust of the grave, by withdrawing us out of this life. And though thou divide man and wife, mother and child, friend and friend, by the hand of death, yet stay them that stay, and send them away that go, with this consolation, that though we part at divers days, and by divers ways, here, yet we shall all meet at one place, and at one day, a day that no night shall determine, the day of the glorious resurrection. Hasten that day, O Lord, for their sakes that beg it at thy hands, from under the altar in heaven: hasten it for our sakes, that groan under the manifold encumbrances of these mortal bodies: hasten it for her sake, whom we have lately laid down in this thy holy ground: and hasten it for thy Son Jesus Christ's sake, to whom then, and not till then, all things shall be absolutely subdued. Seal to our souls now an assurance of thy gracious purpose towards us on that day, by accepting this day's service at our hands. Accept our humble thanks, for all thy benefits, spiritual, and temporal, already bestowed upon us, and accept our humble prayer for the continuance and enlargement of them; continue and enlarge them, O God, upon thine universal church, dispersed, &c. 2 PETER iii. 13. Nevertheless we, according to his promises, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. I PROPOSE to myself, and to this congregation, two works for this day: that we may walk together two miles, in this Sabbath day's journey. First, to instruct the living, and then, to commemorate the dead; which office, as I ought, so I should have performed sooner, but that this sad occasion surprised me under other preobligations, and pre-contracts, in the services of mine own profession, which could not be excused nor avoided. And being come now to this double work, whether I look up to the throne of heaven, and that firmament, for any first work, the instruction of the living, or down to the stones of the grave, and that pavement, for my second work, the commemoration of the dead, I need no other words than those which I have read to you, for both purposes: for, to assist the resurrection of your souls, I say, and to assure the resurrection of your bodies, she says, Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. But first let us do our first work, and pursue the literal purpose of the apostle, in these words. Which words, out of their connexion and coherence, be pleased to receive, thus spread and dilated into this paraphrase ; Nevertheless, that is, though there be scoffers and jesters that deride and laugh at the second coming of Christ, (as the apostle had said, ver. 3,) and nevertheless again, though this day of the Lord will certainly come, and come as a thief, and as a thief in the night, and when it comes, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up, (as he had also said, ver. 10,) though there be such a scorn put upon it, by scoffers and jesters, and though there be such a horror in the truth of the thing itself, yet, nevertheless, for all that, for all that scorn, and for all that horror, we, we, says the text, we that are fixed in God, we that are not ignorant of this one thing, (as he says ver. 8,) that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, we that know, that the Lord is |