SERMON II. A FUNERAL SERMON". AT ST. MARTIN'S IN THE FIELDS, ON THE SEVENTEENTH OF JUNE, A.D. SERM. II. WE are come hither to perform a double duty to this our sister deceased, to commit her body to the ground, the first, and to commend her good name and memory to the world, the second. While she was alive, she had her soul, her body, and her good name; but as for her soul, God has taken it to Himself, but these two He has left behind with us to preserve and lay up for Him while His own coming at the last day. I will speak somewhat of both. And though her body be now to us as all other dead bodies are, brought hither by us to be decently interred in the earth; yet--because the reason of the Churches' ceremony, as we too well know, perhaps, being made but a matter of course and common custom only-we will tell you now once for all why we do it, not only to her, but to all other that depart, as she hath done, in the faith of Christ. The Church then would have us consider, that as God hath taught us to put a difference between the soul of a beast and the spirit of a man, (for the soul of a beast goes downward to the earth from whence it came, but the spirit of a man returns This Sermon, after being considerably altered and abridged, was subsequently used upon an occasion nearly similar. See Appendix, No. 2. It is probable that the Dorothy Holmes here mentioned was sister to Bishop Neile, and that she was the wife of William Holmes mentioned in his will as his brother. A Walter Holmes wrote a Septimana Epigrammatum,'dedicated to the Bishop, of which the unpublished MS. was presented in 1837 to the British Museum by John Holmes, Esq., F. S.A., one of the assistant Librarians of that institution. The Dedication however makes no mention of relationship, although it recites the many favours which had been conferred upon the writer by the Bishop. C While, i.e. until, as in Macbeth iii. 1. While supper-time alone; while Death, a sleep to the Christian. 25 to God That gave it, as the Wise Man speaks,) so likewise He Eccl. 3.21. hath taught us to put a difference between their bodies too. The bodies of other creatures consume away and perish, and shall never be heard on again, after they are once dead. But our bodies are not so, for though the soul be now gone from it, yet one day it shall return to it and make it stand up from the grave. When we sleep you see we rise again, and this death of the body is but a little longer sleep than ordinary, which is the reason that we read so often in Scripture how the kings of Israel slept with their fathers. Nay, it is but a See 2 Sam. rest, saith David, a rest from the troubles and cares of this 1 Kings world, and not a bare rest, and no more, but a rest in hope: 2. 10. 'my flesh shall rest in hope,' saith the Prophet, in hope of 1 Thes. 4. being raised up again at the last day, to a far better state 13, &c. than ever it was in in this world; which hope other creatures have not. 7. 12. Is. 26. 20. Ps.16.9.cf. Acts 2.26. The difference then being so great, since it is not God's pleasure that our bodies should be neglected and cast away, as the bodies of other dead creatures are, to become dung for the earth, and to have our bones lay scattered abroad to the sight of the sun: it was the Prophet's complaint, that Ps. 79. 2. they gave the dead bodies of His servants to be meat unto the fowls of the air, and the flesh of His saints unto the beasts of the land, that their blood ran about like water, and that there was none to bury them. And that being such a kind of barbarous inhumanity, God and the Church have taken order for it, that when His servants are gathered to their fathers, their souls gone up to heaven, there should be care taken to have their bodies laid up with honour, seemly, and decently, in the bed of the earth, while1 it shall please until,' as God to awaken it again. In the earth? nay, that is not enough; for then what need we to make all this solemn procession to the church; we have earth enough every where about our houses, and we d Orig. contra Celsum, lib. viii. edit. Opp. de la Rue, tom. i. p. 764. ψυχὴν λογικὴν τιμᾷν μόνην ἡμεῖς ἴσμεν, καὶ τὰ ταύτης ὄργανα μετὰ τιμῆς παραδιδόναι κατὰ τὰ νενομισμένα ταφῇ· ἄξιον γαρ τὸ τῆς λογικῆς ψυχῆς οἰκητήριον μὴ παραῤῥιπτεῖν ἀτίμως, καὶ ὡς ἔτυχεν, ὁμοίως τῷ τῶν ἀλόγων· καὶ μάλιστα, ὅτε οἱ τὴν τιμὴν τοῦ σώματος, ἔνθα λογικὴ Non patiemur figuram et figmen- 16 before. II. Jer. 22. 19. 26 Commendation of the deceased. SER M. might lay our dead bodies there. But it is not God's will that our bodies should be buried as an ass is buried, in the common fields; but here is a place chosen out and dedicated to that purpose; and therefore Abraham would not bury his dead in the corn fields, nor among the Hethites, but we see Gen. 25. he purchased the plain of Mamre to lay the bodies of God's servants up in peace together. And so after his example has the Church ordered amongst us, that are of the See Bingh. seed of Abraham, and accordingly are we met together to xxiii.ii. § 1. commit the dead body of this His servant, our sister departed, to her hallowed grave in peace, and in hope of the glorious resurrection hereafter. That, for the first duty to her. 10; 49. 31, 32. seqq. Ecclus. 44. 7. Now as there is a difference betwixt men and other creatures, for their bodies, so there is a difference betwixt men themselves too, for preserving their good name; which is our second duty to be performed towards her. There are indeed those that die and perish, and have nothing worth the remembering left behind them, people that are clean forgotten and out of mind as soon as they are gone, as though they never were. But yet there are others which are honourable in their generations, as Ecclesiasticus speaks, and well reported of in their times, which have left a name behind them, that when they are gone their praise may still be spoken of and their names be had in continual remembrance. Among which company we esteem this our sister deceased. And to make good what we say, we will a little view her life and death; by both which men are sufficiently tried what they are. She was born of an honest and religious parentage, which, as it was not obscure then, so it has been since, by the worth of them which were nearest allied unto her, made honourable to the world. But howsoever that had gone, being good, she was great enough, virtue being the best thing to measure greatness by, when all is done. Her education was suitable to her birth, such as befitted her in all honesty and piety; and though there be many alive that can bear witness to it, yet the best and surest testimony of that are the fruits that she shewed of it in the ensuing course of her time afterwards. The education of herself and her children. 27 Her discretion and understanding grew as fast as her age; and in her discourse, her apprehensions of any thing propounded, and her answers to it, were many times noted to be more than ordinary; of such a strong and vigorous spirit she was. Of the innocency of her life, they of her continual acquaintance and [who] knew her behaviour can generally affirm that as she was commendable for many good things, so she was careful to keep herself from all blemish of vice, and used the best means she could to keep always an undefiled conscience. And as of herself, so she was sedulous and very affectionate in the education of her children, that they might serve God and the commonwealth, some in one course of life, and some in another; and one of them to her great comfort and content she lived to see pass two degrees of schools in the University, howsoever it pleased God to take him away sooner than she expected. There are now, that neither of themselves, nor of their offspring neither, have any regard at all, but let them run riot, they care not which way, and if they will prove good, so it is, let nature work, and so let grace work too, an it will, they will not force them to it, nor it shall not grieve them much whether they do or no. She was of another mind, so careful to have them do well, that it grieved her when she heard of any other did ill. She had not much, and yet she was so well esteemed as she wanted not, but always laid in that sort as befitted her best; and yet though her stock was not great, nevertheless out of her little which she had, she would not let them want her bounty that had less than she, being noted to be so charitable, as that the sight of any poor creature would make her stand still to give her alms; and besides what love she shewed to many others at home in that kind, those that lived with her, and knew what her actions were, can give an ample testimony. Her attire was sober and decent, and she took no great care to make much of that body which she knew she must one day part withal, to the grave. Marry, now, for her soul, as we all should be, that she was a little more careful on. I will tell you how: myself can witness that her devotions she daily observed, and when sickness did not hinder her, offered II. SER M. up her Morning and her Evening Sacrifice according to the order of our Church in the public place of God's service, in His hallowed temple, the most kindly place for that purpose that can be; and when she could not come forth by reason of her infirmities, what her private devotions were, you may guess by that. Indeed it pleased God to visit her with many crosses and infirmities of this life, but they came not to her soul, they did but touch her body. And no strange thing neither, it is God's wont to do so to them that are dearest to Him; He will not suffer them that are His to feed like flesh-worms upon the pleasures of this life, but keeps them to hard measure here that they may have their fill hereafter. It is St. Gregory's observation, those oxen that are designed to the slaughter-house are suffered to run and range at their will in the pleasant pastures, and are put to no labour at all; but those that are appointed to live, are put into the plough and to the yoke, and are beaten and whipped every day. So the less crosses and infirmities upon us, marry, the worse sign; when we have wealth, and riches, and the world at will, it is a danger but we shall run headlong to perdition, and fat ourselves up for the slaughter only. But when God holds His scourge of tribulation over us, and whips our bodies, it will make us look to our souls the better; we shall still be kept in, and be the more careful of, His service. But for all these troubles, she was content to bear what God laid upon her, even to her death. And when her infirmity grew so strong upon her as she betook herself to her chamber and her bed, that afterwards she breathed her last in, her conclusion was not different from her premises, nor her death from her life. Being warned of her danger she shewed no dismay, as carrying in her conscience the safe-conduct of innocency; and being not in love with her own desires, she committed herself to the good-will and pleasure of God. Her preparation to her end was by humble contrition, and hearty Confession of her sins; which when she had done, she received the benefit of Absolution, according to God's ordinance and the religious institution of our Church; a thing that the world looks not after now, as if Confession and Absolution were some strange |