Dr. PAYNE's SERMON UPON THE QUEEN.   

A SERMON UPON THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN, Preached in the Parish-Church of St. MARY WHITE-CHAPPEL.  
By WILLIAM pain, D. D. Rector of St. Marry White-Chappel, And Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty.  
LONDON, Printed by J. R. for B. Aylmer, at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill: S. Smith, and B. Walford, at the Princes-Arms in St Paul's Churchyard, MDCXCV.   

A SERMON Preached upon the DEATH OF THE QUEEN.  PSALM lxxxii. 6, and part of the 7. ver. 
I have said, Ye are Gods, and all of you are Children of the Most High; but ye shall die like Men.  
THIS Psalm was directed to the Princes, Judges, and Magistrates of Israel, by Asaph the Author of it.  
It is not my design, or to my purpose, to take any further notice of the Business or Occasion of it, then as it gives Them the great Character in my Text, calling Them by the Name of Gods, and of Angels; for that is meant by the Children of the Most High, as it is expressly in the Chaldee.  
Yet when it had put these High Titles, and Honourable Names upon them, and Raised them to a Degree and Quality almost above Mortals; it thinks fit to remind them at the same time, that they are still but Men; Though of that High State and Dignity above others, yet subject to the same Death and Mortality with their Poorer and Meaner Brethren; Though in some Respects nearer Allied to Heaven, and like Gods and Angels, yet still Akin to Earth, and who should die like Men.  
I have said, Ye are Gods: &c.—  
The Loss of our Late Excellent Queen Suggests and Offers both parts of my Text to our Thoughts in the fullest manner.  
I am apt to believe, She had as much of God in her, and as much of Angel, as any Prince, Judge, or Magistrate that ever Sat upon a Throne, or a Bench, or that was any way Advanced above the rest of Mankind.  
And yet to our great Grief, we find, She was subject to Death; to a Sudden, an Over-soon Death, had not God thought otherwise, as well as any of her Subjects.  
Her Godlike and Angelic Qualities which She had not only in common with other Princes, but upon many Accounts far above them, could not preserve Her from the Common Fate of Mortality, of Dying like other Men and Women.  
I shall first show upon what Accounts Princes and Magistrates are called Gods, and are like Angels, or Children of the Most High; And how these Characters do in an especial manner belong to our Late Gracious Queen.  
Secondly, I shall consider Theirs and Her Death, and what thoughts ought to be thereby suggested to us.  
I. Upon what Accounts Princes and Magistrates are called Gods, and are like Angels, or Children of the Most High.  
The Expression seems to refer to the Gentile Opinion of many Lesser Gods, owing their Birth and Original to, and being Children of the Supreme 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, , Appointed by him to be Rulers and Governors over particular Parts and Provinces of the World, as their Jupiter, Mars, Hercules, and others; who were indeed only Kings and Rulers, Generals and Great Men, Deified and Worshipped after their Deaths; which was, I believe, one of the Chief Rises of the Heathen Idolatry and Superstition, though there are various Accounts of their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, and a very different History of their Religion.  
Revelation and Christianity give Princes and Magistrates the Name and Title of Gods, Elohim, as is plain from this Psalm, and others; 
Psal. 45. Psal. 79. Exod. 7.1. 1 Sam. 2.11.  from other places in the Old Testament, and from our Saviour's Words in the New, John 20.34. not as any Objects of Religious Worship, but as partaking some Qualities and Perfections like to those of God, and other Superior Being's, who are far above Ordinary Men; and chief on these three Accounts.  

1. In Respect of Power.  
2. As Instruments of Greater Good to the World.  
3. As Objects of Higher Honour and Esteem.   
1. Princes are called Gods, in respect of their Power and Authority, as they are the Ministers of God, Rom. 13.4. his Deputies and Vicegerents Appointed and Commissionated to Govern the Lower World under him: And 'tis usual we know, to have Persons called by the Names of those they Represent.  
All Civil Power and Government, of whatever kind, is from God; the Powers that be, are Ordained of God; who is the Fountain of all Authority and Dominion, by whom King's Reign, and Princes Decree Justice, Prov 8.15.  
The Particular Specification and Modifying of this Power, both as to Persons and Things, depends upon Humane Consent and Agreement, and the Laws and Customs of Particular Countries; for God has not prescribed any Model of Civil Government, nor Appointed either the Subject, or the Limits of it, but has left it to Humane Prudence and Contrivance; and so 'tis an Ordinance of Man, as St. Peter calls it, 1 Pet. 2.13. But Government and Governors are the Ordinance of God and Nature, for the Peace, Order, and Good of the World; and are in General of a Divine Original and Institution.  
Prince's therefore, and Sovereigns, are a sort of Earthly Gods; and have a Divine Authority committed to them, by which they have a Power over men's Lives, which none but God can give them; and they bear the Sword, 
Rom. 13.4. Rom. 12.19.  and are Revengers, to Execute Wrath in the Name of him to whom Vengeance belongeth.  
2. They are called Gods, as they are Instruments of Great Good to the World; the Chief Instruments of Divine Providence, to Preserve, and Procure the Present , and Worldly Happiness of Mankind, all those Benefits and Advantages we have above other Creatures, by being in Society with one another. The World would be a place of Confusion, an Uncivilized, and Uncultivated Desert, and Mankind only greater Herds of Lions and Tigers and Wild-Beasts without Government: There would be no Peace, or Quiet, no Order or Civility; no Living in the World with any Comfort without it; and therefore the worst Government is a Thousand times better than mere Anarchy; All Princes and Governors then, though Bad, are the Authors of a great deal of Good to the World; and good Princes are the most Powerful Instruments of doing good, next to God himself; and are therefore calledby the Name of Benefactors as our Saviour observes; and do above all Persons, 
Luke 27.25.  make good that saying of homo homini Deus, and were thereupon anciently Deified, and had Images and Altars Erected to them; and now may each of them have that Compliment of Tertullus made to them, Seeing that by Thee we enjoy great Quietness, and that very Worthy Deeds are done unto this Nation, by thy Providence, we Accept it always, and in all Places, Most Noble Foelix, with all Thankfulness, Acts 24.2 3.  
3. Upon both these Accounts they are Objects of Honour and Esteem, not only upon the Score of their Personal Virtues, which shine brighter, and have more, both of Lustre and Influence, when placed in so high an Orb above others; in which they can easily turn all the Lesser Circles, and Subordinate Spheres about with them; but as their very Places and their Characters call for this, whereby they Personate and Represent, and are in the Place of God, and therein do a great deal of good to the World; and are Gods, though not by Nature, yet by Office; so that to despise Dominion, and speak evil of Dignities, even the worst, and bring a Railing Accusation against them, 
Judas 8.  though never so true, is stigmatised as a great fault by the Apostle: And what Michael the Archangel thought not fit against the Devil, though contending with him; but rather used that more Decent Language, The Lord Rebuke thee: Which some Christians would do well to Consider.  
Thus I have briefly accounted for this Expression in my Text, of calling Rulers, and those none of the best, by the Name of Gods and Angels, and this by the Holy Ghost himself; whom none can have the Blasphemous Impudence to charge with any Flattery in so doing.  
I am now to Apply this Character upon more Particular, and more Eminent Reasons to one of the best Princesses who ever sat upon a Throne  
I know not how to draw her Picture; 'tis so all over Beauteous, without any Foil, any Shade, any Blemish, so Perfect in every Feature, so Accomplished in every Part, so Adorned with every Perfection and every Grace, having such an exact Symmetry, and such Rich and Lively Colours of the most Beautiful Virtues Appearing in all her Actions, and Shining through her whole Life, that Her's must be the very Picture of Virtue itself, drawn to the Life; not in the Dead and Cold Descriptions of it in the Books of Moralists, or in the Lectures of Divines and Philosophers; But in such a Living Pattern and Example of it, as makes Virtue itself become Visible and Embodied; and Answers Tully's Wish, and Justifyes his Saying, That if it could thus be seen with Bodily Eyes, it would Excite Admirable Love of itself 
* Que si corporeis oculis conspici possit admirabiles suae excitaret amores. Tull. Off.  in all that behold it.  
'Tis a hard thing in Painting, to draw a Perfect and Exact Circle; it outdoes that Art to draw Light, or the Lustre of the Sun; or with a Cold Pencil, to describe Fire: And it can no more equal the Natural Beauty of the Rose with its Faint Colours, than the Fragrancy of it. The Work and Difficulty is as great in our Present Case, To Describe the Perfect Virtues of our Incomparable Queen: No Art or Skill can come up to them, much less Exceed them: There is no room for Fancy and Imagination to add any thing; Nature and Grace have outdone that, and set before us such a Complete Peice, I had almost said, such an Original of Humane Virtue and Perfection, as the World has not had in many Ages. We must draw Her as Apelles did Venus, not by any Single, though most Beautiful Pattern, but by taking the several Excellencies and Perfections of all other Women, and putting them together, as God had done, in Her; We must Draw Her by no other, we must Draw Her only by Herself: I mean by no other Humane likeness; by none of the Imperfect Copies of Mortal Virtue She has left behind her; No, We must Draw Her truly by the likeness She had to God, the Fountain and Original of all Excellencies and Perfections; and by Her Similitude to the Angels, those Holy and Heavenly Spirits, the first Images of God; and both Him and Them She Resembled as Highly, as could well be done by mere Humane Virtue: She was an Excellent Copy both of the Divine and Angelic Nature and Virtue; as like God, and as like the Blessed Spirits above, those Children of the Most High, as perhaps any Man, or any Woman ever was within our Knowledge except Him that was a True God as well as a Man, and Her that was the Mother of God.  
I say not this to flatter Her, She is above that; She is got out of the reach either of Flatterers or Slanderers; and She was above it here, Her Virtue was always too great to be flattered, or to have more said of it than it deserved; and it was so great likewise, that neither Envy nor Malice durst ever slander it: But I speak my Judgement and Opinion of Her, out of Her hearing, by which neither I am to get any thing, nor She: And I believe there are hardly any that knew Her, will much differ from me, or will think that too much can be said in Her Praise. Her Name ought to live in the highest Monuments of Fame, Adorned and Gilded with all the Glorious Ensigns that Art can put upon them. We ought to build Her Tomb with the best Work, and garnish it with the best Ornaments, and hang it with the finest Garlands, and strew all the Flowers upon it, that the Withered and Decayed Poetry and Oratory of our Age can furnish. We may do any thing, we ought to do every thing, but building an Altar, and making an Office, and saying Ave Maria to Her: She was the Saint of our Church, of our Age and Nation; of whom we have reason to be Proud, and make the Most, seeing however they abounded, in former Rubrics at least, they are so very scarce now. I am sure Her Memory ought to be very precious to us all; and Her Righteousness to be had in Everlasting Remembrance; not only as a Due we ought to pay Her, but as a Benefit we are still to receive from Her: Her Excellent Example ought to live after her, and do as much good as can be; (though nothing so much as She would have done, had She lived) and ought to be set before the World in the best Light, and with the best Advantage to Teach the Present Age Piety and Religion, and all manner of Virtue; and be Transmitted down to Posterity with the greatest Honour Imaginable; i. e. with the Greatest and Exactest Truth; for it needs no more.  
I am at present only to show, how this Title and Character which is here in my Text given to Princes and Magistrates; whereby they are called Gods And Angels, or Children of the Most High, does in a Peculiar and more Eminent manner belong to her: and that not only in respect of Her Office, Her Power and Authority, Her High State and Dignity, whereby She was Advanced above other Mortals, which was the Principal Reason why other Princes are called Gods and Children of the Most High; But especially upon Account of Her Personal Qualities and Excellencies, and particularly upon these Four, which I shall single out of all her others, (for She had All) wherein she was most remarkably like God and the Angels.  

1. The Goodness and Benignity of Her Nature.  
2. Her Charity and Inclination to do all good to others.  
3. Her Universal Virtue, Innocence, and Purity of Life.  
4. Her Extraordinary Piety and Devotion.   
As to Her Sovereign Power and Office, which Entitled her to this Character in my Text, in common with other Princes, That, though it Raised Her above the Common Pitch of Ordinary Virtue, and Ennobled Her Mind with an higher Senfe of Honour, Greatness and Generosity of Spirit, and made her Virtues, like Diamonds, well Set, the more Resplendent; yet this was Owing to Her Birth and Fortune, which She made not herself, And of those She might have said, Vix ea nostra voco; though to Improve all that Greatness and Worldly Prosperity to the Advantages of Virtue, which are the Common, and almost Unavoidable Temptations in others to a great many Vices, is no small Commendation of Her Virtue: She could make a Court, that Corrupts so many others, a School of Virtue, and even a Religious House; for Her House was always a House of Religion, a very Temple, and like God's House, a House of Prayer.  
But Her Office and Sovereign Power, is Charged upon Her as Her Fault; And the only Thing in Her that needs an Apology with Her Greatest Enemies, is this, that She took her Father's Crown: To which I make this short Return, Who should have took it else, but She and Her Husband, when her Father left it? For otherwise he must have had it again upon his own Terms, which would have been a great deal worse than the first Reasons of his not keeping it; and no less in the Issue, than the Kingdoms utter Ruin and Destruction: I must therefore beg some men's leave to Commend Her, even for that which they count Her Great, but Her Only Crime: If it was so, it has done us so much Good, and preserved us from so much Evil, which we all saw coming Inevitably upon us a few Years ago, that we Protestants at lest ought to forgive Her. Would any such have had Her Left our Poor Church and Nation as a Prey to be swallowed up by Popish Councils, and the most Mischievous Designs of its Enemies at that time? Then She had been guilty of a great fault, I doubt not, both to her Country and Her Religion, and Her Husband, To all whom Her Obligations of Conscience were much stronger than to Her Father: Her Natural Tenderness and Affections to him, which She has shown, I doubt not, as many ways as She could with Her Love to Her Religion, and Her Country; these might a while struggle with Her Reason, but England and Europe have reason to be thankful they did not overcome it; and though these made the thing a Difficulty, and Her Crown more a Burden than ordinary, yet She took it as all Princes ought to do, more to Please, and do good to others, than to Herself: And as She had always a satisfied Conscience in it both Living and Dying, so She showed a true Judgement therein that could reach beyond one obvious thought; which the weakness of a great many, especially of Her own Sex, cannot get over; and that She had a much larger compass of Understanding to Determine and Settle Her Mind in a nice practical Case, than is common to them. That, with Her Love to Her Country and Religion, which are such Sacred Ties and Obligations as supersede all other more private ones to any particular Person, made Her our Queen sooner than She desired to be; and it would be a strange and hard Case, if Religion, and every thing, even the whole Legal Constitution in Church and State must be sacrificed and given up to its worst Enemies, for the sake of an unhappy and misled Father; who had ventured both his own Father's Curse, and his Grandfathers too, to Embrace and Serve Popery: Our Bigots, I suppose, forget that, who tell us so often of the Fifth Commandment; who are so zealous for that, as to have no care of the First or Second, if of any other; and the most Conscientious of them, I doubt not, would not scruple to kill another in their own necessary Defence, notwithstanding the Sixth, but let plain Reason either Interpret or Dispense with a Divine Law in one Case, and why not then in another? And yet many of them, who are for keeping none of the Commandments will talk here as confidently of Judgements, as if they were the Counsellors and Secretaries of Heaven, and had countersigned its Warrants; and will judge others very rashly and unchristianly for hidden things, when they judge not themselves for plain ones.  
I will readily own the Queen's Death to be a Judgement, and that a very severe one, as Heaven could well Inflict; but not to Herself, but to us and the whole Nation, to whom the Loss is inexpressible: But She is a Gainer by it, and is gone to that God, and to those Angels above, whom She was like here, and so much Resembled upon Earth upon the Four accounts I named; and now proceed to.  
1. The Goodness and Benignity of Her Nature: This, in Infinite Perfection is what makes God. Neither Infinite Power, nor Infinite Wisdom without this, would Constitute such a Being as we mean by God, but one quite different and contrary to him; 'tis the best Definition therefore of God which St. John gives, 1 Epist. 4.8. God is Love; the most Benign, most Gracious, most Kind, and Good Being, which makes him the Object of our Love and Affection more than of our Fear and Dread, and bends not only our Knees, but our Hearts to him.  
This Benignity and Goodness, and Sweetness of Temper was most remarkably in our Gracious Queen: She showed it in Her Looks, where Majesty was always tempered with Sweetness and Cheerfulness; in Her Carriage, where was a Noble Greatness, with a most Taking and Obliging Courteousness; in her Conversation, where Pleasantness and Good Humour were always joined, with the strictest Decency and Wisdom. All these Virtues met in her that do not always go together in others, Great Openness and appearing Freedom, with great Caution and Wise Reservedness; great Shrewdness and Sagacity, with great Sincerity; very good Understanding, without any Guile, and very good Nature, without any Softness. She was easy to Herself and all about Her; generally Merry, always Pleased: Mirth like Oil swum at the Top, Prudence and Virtue were always underneath: She was very Serious, and very Pleasant; often Thoughtful, never out of Humour; obliging to all, Unkind to none: She had such a happy Constitution as made Her above any other, Deliciae humani generis: None ever went sorrowful from Her Presence, and none could be so in it: She filled every Place with such an Air of Livelyness and Cheerfulness, that like the Spring or the Sun, She gave Life to every thing below Her, and spread Light and Vigour all around Her; and now She is gone, there is Darkness and Disconsolateness in those very Places: She was the very Soul of the Court, and one would think, even of Her Royal Consort; who was always thought to have a very great Soul of his own, till he lost her. Death, never disordered or affrighted, much less overcame him before; he could look upon it without any Concern, and brave and defy it however it appeared to him, and face it very boldly at the Mouth of a Canon, or point of a Sword; now it has found out a way to be too hard for him, and to Revenge itself too cruelly upon his Fearless and Undaunted Temper: It has found out his Weakness, and wounded him in his softest and tenderest part; it has wounded him to the very heart. He was invulnerable every where else but in his Queen; and there his tenderness prevailed over his Courage, and the Husband over the Soldier; and he has thereby shown that he had a great deal of that Goodness and Benignity of Temper which was in her; and that this is not a Womanish, but a truly Masculine Virtue, accompanied as it was in Her with the Noblest Courage and Bravery of Mind.  
2. The next Divine Virtue in our Excellent Queen, was her Inclination to do good to all Persons, and upon all Occasions, to the utmost of her Power: Which though a Branch, or an Effect of the Benignity of her Nature, that fruitful Soil, or rather Root of a great many Christian Virtues; yet is it so considerable in itself, and was so remarkable in her, that it ought to be distinctly taken notice of, as it will be by the great Judge at the last day. She fed a great many hungry, and clothed a great many naked, both French and Irish, who had fled for their Religion, and could bring nothing over with them, but a good Conscience; She gave very largely and bountifully to their Necessities out of Her Privy Purse, and her Royal Heart was larger and more open than her Purse could always be: The Poor Widows and Orphans of Seamen and Soldiers tasted very largely of her Bounty, and had the best Provision made for them She was able; and She was Contriving and Designing Hospitals and Places of Refreshment for their Relief and Comfort, and for the better Reception of the Sick and Wounded, who had ventured their Lives, and lost their Limbs for their Country. I have heard of very large Sums given by her, and a great many were given very Secretly; and can be called to no account, but that of God, who has Rewarded her for them: Even some of her Enemies, I believe, when they hungered and thirsted, had according to the Apostles, Rule, Bread and Drink given to them; 
Rom. 12.20.  even those very Mouths that were sometimes opened against her. There were many hard Cases and Instances of Pity occasioned by the Revolution, and the War, not only at home, but out of Ireland and Scotland, whom She tenderly considered, and charitably Relieved as they were offered and represented to her. Pity and Compassion is a most generous Virtue, and a sign of a Noble Spirit; and it was so much hers, that as she never did a hard thing to any, so she did many kind ones where she was blamed; and was merciful, in the Opinion of others, even to a fault; though she was always willing to Err on the right side, if on any, and could hardly be brought to do herself Justice upon her Enemies, till their folly, and her absolute necessity compelled her to it, even against her Will: But besides her Charity and her Mercy, she had a great many other ways of doing good to others, especially to all her Dependants, and those about her; but above all, by taking great care to make them Virtuous and Religious, which was a kindness exceeding all others.  
It was her hearty Endeavour, and she had a great Zeal to spread and propagate Religion; and she did all she could to do it, both by her Example, and by her Encouragement: She had no By-Ends, no Mean and Low Designs to serve, but only the ends of Goodness and the Glory of God; these were her only Scope and Aim, her chief Pleasure and Delight, the very Bent and Tendency of her Mind, the Inclination of her Will, the Complexion of her Soul was to every thing that was good: Whatever things were true, whatever things were honest, whatever things were just, whatsoever things were pure, whatsoever things were lovely, whatsoever things were of good report, if there was any Virtue, if there was any Praise, She thought on, minded and loved and delighted, and was pleased with all those things. She was a Woman indeed after God's own Heart, That Character, I doubt not, belonged as well, if not much better, to Her than to King David himself: She had all his Goodness and Piety, without any of his faults; She had as much Love to God's House, and as good Designs for it, as he: He was not more pleased with his Contrivances about Building a Temple, than she in hers about St. Paul's, and in Building up and Repairing the whole Church of England, and making it like Mount Zion, the joy of the whole Earth; improving its Worship, ordering its Discipline, amending its Defects, in making up its Breaches, and bringing all Sober Protestants to one Communion, which would have been the greatest Blow to Popery, and Service to Religion in general.  
She had a great many such Excellent Designs for the good of Religion, of the Church and Nation, which her own Thoughts, and our late Excellent Primate had suggested to her; and had she outlived the present Troublesome and Expensive War, we should have seen a great many more Instances of her doing good in all kinds, than we yet know, or have heard of; for what Mighty things would such an Active Mind, such a Power joined with such an Inclination to do good have produced, had it been set free from all hindrances and encumbrances; but God thought not us of this sinful Nation worthy of such a Blessing, nor the World worthy of such a Woman; but rather thought her worthy of a sooner Reward for the extraordinary good Deeds she had done already; according to Plutarch's Remark upon Biton and Cleobis, two Grecian Youths, who for an extraordinary Act of Piety done by them, for which their Mother prayed they might receive the best thing could be given to Mortals, were that Night found dead in Juno's Temple, whither they had drawn their Mother's Chariot, the Goddess as he supposes rewarding their signal Piety and good Deed with a sudden Death. 
Plut. Cousol. ad Apollon.   
3. I come next to consider her Universal Virtue, Innocence, and Purity of Life; in which she was so Angelical, and so confirmed, as no Devil ever dared to Tempt, or which is more, to Slander her: Her whole Life was the Brightest, the most Charming, the most Lovely and Complete Example of all manner of Virtue, through all the parts of it; it broke forth very Early, and appeared in the very Morning of her Age, and gave very promising hopes of what she proved afterwards, a most Excellent Princess; it risen Higher, and shone Brighter and Brighter, even to a perfect Day; and as all admired its Lustre, so not a few felt its Influence; it scattered and dispersed Vice wherever it came, as the Sun does Mists and Vapours, and made it either fly before it, or hid itself in Corners: It could never be more truly said of any Good King or Queen, than of her, that she scattered away evil with her eyes, Prov. 20.8. All that were near her were forced either to leave their Vices, or to dissemble them; and either to be Virtuous, or to seem so; so that she put a stop in a great degree, if not to Vice itself, yet to the Impudence of it; and made it look sneaking and contemptible, and out of Countenance: She brought Virtue into Credit and into Fashion, and made it not only a Country, or a Monastic, but a Courtly Accomplishment: She showed the World what an Honour this was to the Highest Quality, what an Ornament to the Greatest Beauty, what a Jewel to the Richest Crown: How Amiable, how Lovely, how Glorious did it appear in her! Who could do otherwise, but Love, Esteem, and Admire it there, even although they Practised it not themselves, for it must necessarily gain their Hearts, and prevail over their Reason, though it could not overcome their Lusts and Inclinations: Virtue is very Charming, and Attractive in so great an Example, and that if any thing would have cured the Debauchery and Lewdness, and which is the Consequence of those, the Atheism and Infidelity which abounds among us, It had, I doubt not a great Efficacy, while she lived and spread a Salutary Contagion all about Her; and I hope it will Live and Operate after she is dead, and be like a Perfume, not only to Embalm her own Name, but will keep its Virtue, and be a strong Preservative to keep others from the Infection of Vice; especially those of the best Quality, and of her own Sex.  
She taught them Virtue, and she Practised it herself, in a right manner, and to the best advantage: Not as a Sullen Melancholy Humour, a piece of Peevishness and Moroseness, or a Superstitious Restraint from the Innocent Freedoms and Pleasures of Life, which has affrighted so many from it; but as a Wise and Rational Government of all our Actions by the Rules of Reason, Decency and Religion: Not as a Monkish Discipline, or a Cynical Severity, but as the Wisest, Genteelest and Pleasantest thing in the World, what is as fit to dwell in a Palace as a Cottage, and might be Practised as well by a Queen we saw, if not much better, than by an Hermit; what is in truth the most proper Accomplishment for Persons of Breeding and Quality, for Virtue is the greatest Decency of Behaviour to all others, and Religion the best Manners to one above us; so that Great Persons should look upon Vice and Irreligion as the greatest Rudeness, and most Unbecoming Clownishness, as well as the greatest Blot and Blemish to their Honours; especially after having had such a Royal Pattern and Example to give such Measures to them. She showed them how Consistent Virtue is with Greatness, and how becoming it. She gave them Patterns of Virtue, not Uncouth or Fantastic, Affected or Unnatural, such as we meet with in the Legends; but what are agreeable to Civil Life, and to all the Stations of this World, what Christianity and the plain Laws of God require of us, and those things which they had not forbidden, She did not think necessary to forbid herself; The undue Rigours and Severities of some Indiscreet Persons have done great harm to Religion and Virtue, by condemning those things as absolutely sinful, which are so only by accident, but in themselves Innocent; such as Dancing, Playing at Cards, going to Plays, and the like: Our Admirable Queen could distinguish here between Duty and Prudence, between Unlawful and Inexpedient; She would not refuse those common Diversions, nor use them too much; She would not wholly keep from seeing Plays, as if they were utterly unlawful, but went very rarely; to show she did not much approve them, and that she thought her time much better spent another way; and she spent indeed the greatest part of her leisure Hours which were free from Business in much better things, in Reading, Prayer, and Meditation; either Private or Public Devotion, in her Closet, or in her Chapel. Which brings me to the Last and Greatest of Her Excellencies, and that which Crowned all the rest, namely, her Piety and Devotion.  
Only I cannot but take notice of one way of her spending her leisure Hours, not very usual in Women of Quality, but surely much more commendable than in Idle Visits abroad, or in their own Dressing Rooms at home; and that was not at her Glass, but at her Needle, and in some Work becoming her Sex; She would be wanting it seems in no Excellency of a Woman, but would revive and call up the most Antiquated Virtues belonging to her Sex; Virtues as old as the times of Solomon, in the famous Character of his Virtuous Working Woman, Prov. 31. and upon this, and all other accounts, I may safely, I dare say, apply to her the Commendation there given to the other; Many Daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all, ver. 29.  
4. But it was her fearing the Lord, for which she shall chief be praised: In the last Place, Her Devotion and Piety was so Exemplary, and so Constant, that the Sun was not more Exact and Regular to his Rising and Setting, than she to her Daily Devotion; and oftener, I believe was he Eclipsed then that was intermitted; She was a great while in her Closet, Private with God, and observed by none but him, but in Public, with what most becoming Seriousness and Composedness did she behave herself? not with any Affected Shows or Eecstatic Transports, or Unusual Commotions of Body, as if Devotion had been a Disorder to her, an Epileptic Fit, or a Convulsive Distortion; but as the Living Breath or Pulse of her Soul, it moved with an Even, Gentle, Constant, yet very Brisk and Lively Motion: She was so far from any Pharasaical Ostentation, and making too much appearance of her Devout Passions and Elevations of Soul at her Public Prayers, that she chose rather to hid and conceal them, by covering her Face with her Fan; but when that casually slipped aside, her Raised Eyes, and most Devout Air and Motion of Face and Lips, shown a most Raised and Intense inward Devotion of Heart; as some who were near her have often observed with great pleasure.  
I never saw the like Decent Devout Grave and Attentive Carriage and Behaviour, both at Prayers and Sermons, in any Person in my whole Life; She was enough to inspire every one that beheld her with Devotion and Seriousness, and to Correct by her Presence all Undecent Rudeness and Misbehaviour in God's House: There She appeared truly as an Angel and a Cherubin bowing before the Mercy Seat, with her Face covered, as was her Custom; and if the Divine Presence had been to be represented or manifested under the Gospel to our Bodily Eyes, as it was by the Shecinah under the Law, it could not have been done much better by any Creature, or Corporeal Appearance, than by her, as a kind of visible Seraphim with the Devotion and the Countenance of an Angel, having a Golden Censer, 
Rev. 5.8.8.4.  and Vials full of the Incense of Prayers, to be offered up to the Throne of Heaven, both for herself and others: And no doubt we own a great many of those Blessings which God has vouchsafed of late to this Sinful and Unworthy Nation, to the Prevalence and Availing Power of her Righteous Prayers. These were a Guard to her Royal Consort abroad, and a Protection to him in all those dangers, where Providence so wonderfully preserved him; for they followed him every where, and he owed his Success and Victory perhaps more to them, than either to his Fleet or Army; for this depended more upon God and the Blessing of Heaven, than any Second Causes; and whilst her Hands were so Devoutly lifted up thither, he prevailed, God grant that we may not want her help now, and that we of this Nation may not find how much we owed our Safety to her Religion and Devotion, whilst she stood in the Gap to Save us, 
Ezek. 22.30.  and Keep us from being destroyed. May she with our other Friends and Members of the Church Triumphant in Heaven, still afford us the benefit of their Prayers, and may they Powerfully Intercede with God for this poor Church and Nation.  
While she was upon Earth, Devotion was her great Delight, and the Church of God was the Place she loved to be in above all others: There she kept up the Solemnity of Public Worship with the greatest Decency, and did so Worship God in the Beauty of Holiness, without either the Garish Dress of too many Ceremonies, or the Naked and Sordid Undress of none, as made both Religion and our Church appear very Beautiful and Comely to all, even to the Enemies of both.  
She understood Religion very well, for she had a great Judgement and discerning Sagacity in every thing she meddled with; but Religion was the great Business of her Life, that she studied, that she minded, that she delighted in, that she truly understood; and though she had a great Dexterity in managing other things, yet she was a True Mary, who chose that better part, that one thing necessary above them all. Her Ministers of State admired her for her Skill and Dispatch in Business, for her Judgement in the Cabinet and the Council, as if she had minded nothing else but those State-Affairs; Her Ministers of Religion thought she was wholly theirs, and minded nothing but Religion; and the Ladies at the same time thought she minded only the Perfections and Accomplishments of their Sex; so perfect was she in All, as if she had been singular only in one of those Excellencies, and not had them all together: But Religion run through them all, and was the Golden String upon which they all hung; or rather the Mighty Pearl of Price, the most Valuable of all her other Excellencies, and that which gave Value to all the rest.  
Her Religion lay not in Affected Singularities, in Pharisaical Shows and Pretences, in an unnecessary Restraint and Abstinence from things Lawful and Innocent, or in any Bigotry and Immoderate Zeal for little and indifferent things of no Value or Importance in Religion; but it lay in Solid and Substantial, in Wise and Regular and Decent Piety and Devotion, in a great Sense of God and Zeal for his Glory, and an hearty Endeavour to promote Piety, Virtue and Goodness in others; in being very strict in her own way, and very Charitable to others in theirs, being very Conformable in her Practice, and very Moderate in her Thoughts; in being sincerely Devout herself, and judging others tobe so, who differed from her.  
And she was not only a good Christian, but likewise a good Divine too; she had a well furnished Library, especially of Divinity Books, which she very much Read and Studied, and had Judgement enough to find more Sense and Wit and Entertainment in them than in Empty Romances and Frothy Plays; where the Froth is often not only Thin, but Poisonous too.  
She never was better pleased, than either in Reading or Hearing Religious Discourses, both in Private and Public, which best suited both with her Excellent Understanding, and her Pious Inclinations; Therefore she doubled the Sun day Sermons at White-Hall, and was every way for Increasing and Advancing Religion all she could. I well remember the first Afternoon Sermon there, that perhaps was ever in England before a King or Queen, having the honour to Preach it myself before her, Octob. 20th. 1689.  
Her Receiving the Sacrament was very Constant and very Devout, with as much Humility, as if she had been the greatest Sinner, and with the Love and Ardour of the highest Saint. The most Penitent Mary Magdalen could not treat her Saviour with more Signs and Expressions of her Hearty Affection, and be more Hungry and Thirsty for the Heavenly Food of his Body and Blood; and yet I believe she was one of those Just Persons of whom our Saviour speaks, Luke 15.7. who needed no Repentance; Her Innocent Soul form early to Virtue and Religion by a good Education, never lost its Virgin Purity; and her Pure Life was never stained or spotted with any wilful sin that should put her into a Bad State: I cannot say she was an Angel that never fell; to our Comfort and to our Honour she was, as we are, the Offspring of fallen Adam, and brought into the World no doubt without the Miracle of an Immaculate Conception; but had I any Inclination to some men's Principles, I should be apt to think her one of the Greatest Instances of a Particular Election, and of a Special and Irresistible Divine Grace: Her Religion, Virtue, and Piety, will both Make and Prove Her a Choice Vessel of Grace and Election, one of the most Choice and Excellent Christians that ever were; She Equalled, if not Outdid the Helena's, the Placilla's, the Eudocia's those Empresses famous for Piety and Religion, the Marcella's, the Gorgonia's, and the like Celebrated Women in former Christian Ages, only she wants an Eusebius, a Gregory, or an Hierome to set her out: But I hope there will be some Religious Pens in our Age, that in this, will as much outdo those Excellent Writers, as our Great Subject does theirs.  
The Custom of Panegyrics upon such occasions is very Ancient and very Christian, and has greater Leaders than those at home; who thought it served the ends of Virtue and Christianity, as no doubt it does, to commend very highly, where the Example was very Singular, and fairly to Illustrate those Virtues which they would invite others first to look upon, and then to imitate.  
Had Plutarch, that Excellent Heathen (who tells us 'twas a Law among the Greeks to have the Virtues of Great Persons thus Recited and Commended) had such an Instance or Example before him of all Virtue as our Extraordinary Queen, he might have furnished the World with another and a better Book of the Virtues of Womankind from her alone, and have outdone all his other Book of Lives.  
I cannot but apply that Character and Commendation to Her, which Heraclitus the Philosopher gave to his Daughter Athenaea, when for that reason he Disinherited her, and gave her little or no Portion: Sufficient, 
Chronicon Pascale Olymph. 300. Socrat. Histor. Eccles. l. 7. c. 21. Evag. l. 1. c. 20. Nicephor. l. 15. c. 23.  said he, to her are her Beauty, Learning and Virtue, in which she excels all her Sex. Though this afterwards brought her to be an Empress, and which was more, a Christian, by a Public Controversy brought before the Judges concerning her Father's Will, whereby she became known to the Emperor Theodosius the Younger, who thereupon Married her.  
Our Queen had Personal Excellencies enough without her Crown, and without all that Rich and High Estate, and Worldly Greatness, wherewith God had besides Endowed her, to Entitle her every way to the Character of the Finest and Bravest Woman in the World; the very Phoenix of her Sex; nay even to that higher Title in my Text, of God and Angel above most other Princes.  
To give her Character in little, She was certainly one of the best Women, the best Wives, the best Princesses, and the best Christians that ever lived; the Ornament and Glory of her Sex, the Ornament of the Court, of our Church, of the Nation, and of the Age.  
I am loath to leave this Glorious View of Her; But I must come to the Dark and Melancholy Scene, and draw the Cloud that has covered this our Sun at Noonday, that has Quenched and Eclipsed this Light of our Israel, and Darkened all our Joy and Glory with Gloominess and Mourning.  
Though she was a sort of Earthly God upon a better Account, and more peculiar Reasons than most other Princes; and had the most Divine and Angelic Properties, yet alas to our grief, she had not that of Immortality, I have said ye are Gods, but ye shall die like men.  
Neither the greatest Dignity, or greatest Quality of Birth and Fortune, no, nor the greatest Personal Excellencies and Virtues can protect from Death and the Grave, nor Exempt any one from the Common Fate of Mortality, to which all the Sons and Daughters of Adam are subject by the Decree of Heaven, by the Constitution and Frame of their Nature, and by the Punishment of their Sins; God and Nature have appointed a certain Period to Humane Life, such general Bounds as it cannot pass; so that the days of Men are determined, the number of his months are with God. Job 14.5. And we all carry the Seeds and Principles of our own Mortality within ourselves: We are of the Earth, Earthy; and our Earthly Tabernacles, however we prop them up awhile, will at last sink and decay, fall and crumble into Dust; so that we must all go down to the Grave, the place of Darkness and Forgetfulness; where we have seen our Forefathers laid before us; and no Man can be so Foolish or so Sceptical, as to doubt any more whither he shall once die, then whither he was once born.  
Though every one puts the Thoughts of Death far from him, and thinks it is always a great way off of him, and though he come never so near it himself by Age, yet he fancies 'tis still like a Shadow, flying as far from him; and that at Forty or Fifty he has still a good Life to live; and at Sixty or Seventy there are still Older Men than he, and those who have lived much longer; yet alas this is but a weak, however comfortable Delusion; Death will quickly meet us somewhere or other, and come up to us and strike the Fatal Stroke, very probably before we are ware of it; It dogs and follows every one of us, and may be much nearer us than we are ware; and by silent and undiscerned Steps, it is every day nearer approaching and making up more closely to us. Mankind, we see are every day burying of one another; We stand wondering to see such and such drop by us, and to hear of the unexpected Death, as we call it, of such of our Friends and Acquaintance, who were as like to live as ourselves, till it comes to be our own turn at last, and we drop likewise, and are generally as much surprised with our own Death, as we were at theirs.  
We are Busy and Thoughtful about a great many Projects and Contrivances, which are to take Effect perhaps many of them, several Years hence; but before half of those Years are gone, our whole Life is; and the Mighty Babel we were building to ourselves of Worldly Happiness and Mighty Designs here, is struck down with our Life, and in that day all our thoughts perish.  
We whose Blood is now warm, our nerves strong, and our Pulse beating the Nimble Stroke of Life; we alas must have all these lively Motions stopped, the whole Clockwork spoiled, and we must quickly become only stiff and clammy, cold, numbed and senseless Carcases; laid out at first upon our once warm Beds, locked up in our Coffins, put in our Graves, laid in a Hole, turned into heaps of Stench, Rottenness and Putrefaction, quickly mouldering into the common Dust of the Earth, and as quite forgotten in a little while, as if we had never been.  
Lord, How much is there in this Thought, this one Thought, the serious thinking of our own Mortality! How would the wise and frequent thinking of this one thing, if we did it with due and full Consideration and Application of Mind, How would this Considering our latter End, make us Wise and Religious? How would this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, this Meditation of Death, teach us the truest Wisdom and best Philosophy? make us Wise in undervaluing this Life, and all the Little, and Vain and Momentany things that belong to it; Wise, in preferring the Great and Lasting, and Eternal Things of another World Infinitely before it: Wise, not to be so much concerned for these sorry Bodies of ours, and not make it so much our business to Cater and Provide for them, which must quickly die and perish; but rather to take care of our Souls, those more Precious Parts of us, that make us truly Men, and not to neglect those which are Immortal and will live for ever.  
This was the Wisdom of our Excellent Queen; Though she was encompassed with the highest Glories of this World, and had all the Enjoyments of it set before her, and the glitterings of an Earthly Crown to dazzle her Eyes; yet she looked beyond them all, and fixed her Thoughts and desires upon that Heavenly Crown which She has now obtained, and which she sought and desired, and strove to gain a Thousand times more than she did that other.  
Though she had the Noblest and the Finest Body, built with all the Strength and Beauty, and Elegance of Ornament as a Fit Temple for her more Noble and Divine Soul, so that an Anthropomorphite would by that have took her for a God; yet she took much more care to Improve the one by Wisdom and Religion, then to Adorn the other by Dress or Clothes; and spent almost as many Hours about the former, as Minutes about the latter; for I have often heard that she was remarkably quick at Dressing.  
This Noble and Beautiful Body of hers which carried all the visible Marks and Indications of a Sweet, Beautiful, Noble, Great, and Majestic Mind: This, alas, now like a Glorious Temple fired from Heaven and burnt down to Ashes, like the purest Crystal broke to pieces; like a Star fallen, has all its Beautiful and Shining Greatness spoiled and destroyed: The Sun is gone down, and Darkness and Horror succeeds Light: And though all Regard and Honour is due to her Mortal remains, and they ought like Sacred Relics to be treated with Respect and Reverence; yet alas the most Pompous Funeral is but a poor Reprize against Death, and a very mortifying odd Triumph, where the seeming Conqueror is the true Captive, fast bound in Chains of Death, and goes only more solemnly to Death's Mighty Prison, and shows his greater Victory.  
But her Pious, Virtuous, Heavenly Soul is more than Conqueror, gone up in Triumph to those Regions above, where is no Death or Corruption; welcomed and winged up by Angels to those Mansions above, where she shall be ever with God, and with those Angels whom she was so like upon Earth; where she shall be made more partaker of the Divine Nature, and beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, shall be changed to the same Image, even from glory to glory.  
I shall observe but one Remarkable thing in her Death, which confirms all I have said of her; and that was her Courage, Evenness and Unconcernedness, proceeding from the Goodness of her Life, and consequently her full Preparation for Death; when she heard the fatal Opinion of her Physicians, that she must die, she received it as Martyrs used to do their Sentence, without any Fear or Dread upon her, but in these, or like words, She thanked God She was provided, She never trusted, She said, to a Deathbed Repentance, She hoped She did not flatter Herself, and She thanked God She was not afraid to die. Oh Blessed and comfortable words! coming not from a conceited Enthusiast, or False and Mistaken Opinions of Religion; but from one of Her Understanding, judging of herself by right Principles, and speaking the Sincerity and Comfort of her own Heart: What Wise and Good Christian can have more Hopes, more Assurance in his Death? What Power, what Comfort is there in Religion and a Good Life and Conscience to make even Death itself, the greatest of Natural Evils, no way Frightful or Terrible to us? How do they even then Strengthen and Support us, and Infuse Sweetness and Cordial into that otherwise bitter Cup? How do they take out the sting of Death, and disarm even that King of Terrors of all the Horror and Amazing Dread in which he appears to Dying Sinners? How do they make a Good Christian, such as our Queen was, more than Conqueror in that last Combat?  
Let the Atheists, and all other Enemies to Her, and to Religion come hither, and be Converted by Her Death, and by Her Life: I shall Conclude with the Wish and Prayer of an Excellent Person Attending Her at that time; May I, and may all of us, when God shall think fit to call us, be as well provided as She was; And may we be then as Happy as She now is. Which God of his Infinite Mercy grant, through Jesus Christ our Mediator and Redeemer.  
FINIS.