And from all which we must therefore conclude,
That it is a very vain thing to place any confidence
in Man upon this first Account, viz. That the
Power, even of the greatest Persons, to Help us is
exceeding Small; exposed to so many Casualties,
and attended with such Inconveniencies, as renders
it of very little Use, and of no Dependance at all
to us.
But 2dly Were the Case quite otherwise;
were there any Order of Men so perfect, in all
other Respects, that they Could supply us with All
that we should ever be likely to Want, and Would
give us whatsoever we should Desire: And were
their Inclinations towards us so Fixt and Immutable,
that we might depend upon them that they would
never forsake us, but be at all times ready to Grant
us whatsoever we should ask of them: Yet still
their Life is so Uncertain, and, at the best, so Short;
that it would be a very vain thing for us, after all,
to set up your Trust and Confidence upon them.
For alas! Where is the Man so Great and Self-sufficient,
that can secure himself the next Hours
Breath? And in the heighth of all his Fortune
presume to say, that to Morrow shall not lay him
Equal with the Dust, and return him to the Earth
from whence he was taken?
It is an extraordinary Character which the Holy
Spirit gives to some Persons, Psal. lxxxii.6. I have
said that ye are Gods, and that ye are all the Children
of the most High. And yet what follows immediately
upon it? A Sad, but Certain Truth: Nevertheless
ye shall Die like Men. This is the Conclusion
of all; The Common End of the Greatest,
as well as of the Meanest, Persons. Here they
may seem to be a Sort of Gods upon Earth: May
dispense the Fortunes of Men as they please; Set
up, whom they will set up; and Pull down,
whom they will pull down. They may be Honour'd
too as Such, by Those who know no Religion
above their Interests; nor think any Divinity
more worthy of their Regard, than Those who
have in their power to promote them to Riches,
and Honour, and Authority.
But Death observes none of these Formalities.
When that strikes, the Crowned Head falls as
surely before it, as He who had not where to lay
his Head, till the Grave afforded him a place for it.
All the difference is, that as such Persons are exposed
to more Dangers, and subject to Greater
Hazards, than lesser Men; so are their Lives more

B

Uncertain; and, generally Speaking, more Short
too. A Cottage may, and oftentimes do's afford
us an Example of a Vigorous Old Age: But this
is a Sight which the Palaces of Princes are seldom
blessed with; nor can it reasonably be expected
they should often Enjoy it.
And when this is the Case, what a folly must it
be to build our Hope upon such Protectors? Who
are so far from being able to Help us, that alas!
they are not able to Help themselves, in those
Instances, in which both They and We, the most,
stand in need of Assistance. Whose Breath is not
their Own: who live by the meer Favour of Another:
Who to day appear in Glory and Honour; and
to morrow go down into the Grave, and yield to
the Fate of other Ordinary Men.
So foolish a thing is it, in point of Reason, to
put our Trust in Man; be the Place, the Power, or
Authority which he Enjoys, what it will. And
for a yet more sensible confirmation of this Great
Truth; give me leave, but briefly, to illustrate it
to you, in that Fatal Evidence it has pleased God at
this time to give us, in the Person of our late Royal
Soveraign, How little dependance is to be placed upon
any Human Support; upon the Best, or Greatest of
the Children of Men.
If, First, We consider Her with respect to her
Power and Dignity; She was Queen of a Mighty and
Renowned People: Endued with the Highest
Authority that a Crown could give her; and in
that with the largest Capacity that any Creature
could pretend to, of Doing Good. Her Opportunities
were Many, and her Advantages very Great
for such a Purpose. Much was expected from
Her; and we must, with Gratitude, Acknowledge,
that much she did Do.
For indeed, 2ly; Her Will was not at all Less, nay
I may venture to say, it was much Greater than her
Power. Nor did she value any thing so much in the
Eminence of that Station to which it had pleased
God to raise her amongst us; as that it put her
in a Condition of extending the Exercise of her
Vertues a great deal farther, than it had been possible
for her to have done in a Lesser Fortune.
Never was there Any in so High a Place,
more free and easie of Access, even to the most
Ordinary Persons: More Desirous to Oblige all, or
that better knew how to Do it. Insomuch that I
believe it has seldom been known that Any ever
Applied to Her, but what have gone away Easie
and Contented from Her: And either obtained
what they wanted, or not known how to Complain,
if they have not.
The truth is, She was a Person in whom Nature
and Grace seem to have concurr'd, to make up
One great Master-piece of Excellency and Perfection.

B2

Her Natural Dispositon was Free and Generous;
Open and Sincere. She had a Sweetness of Temper,
finish'd and heightned with a large mixture
of Christian Charity and Compassion: Such as
never loved to see any in Misery, Otherwise than
as it gave her an Opportunity thereby of Doing
somewhat for them to make them Easie.
Thus was she fitted to Do Good: And a singular
Dexterity She had in the Doing of it. She
knew What was fit to be done for Every One;
and After what Manner; and At what Time. And
seldom did She Vouchsafe a Favour to Any, but
the very Way that she bestow'd it in, doubled
the Obligation; and made a deeper Impression
upon the Mind of Him who receiv'd it, than the
Benefit it self did.
In short; So Great was her Comprehension;
So Correct her Judgment; So Easie her Dispatch,
of whatever came before her; That God seemed
to have fitted her Soul to her Place and Character:
And to have given her a Capacity as far beyond
that of Other Common Persons, as she was in
Rank and Dignity above Them.
Such good reason had we, upon All these accounts,
to expect some more than Ordinary Blessings
under her Government; and to put a greater
Trust and Confidence in her, than was almost fit
to be placed in any Creature. And the more to

10

encourage us so to do, it had pleased God to all
his Other Endowments, to Add such a Vigour
of Body, and Firmness of Constitution, as seem'd
to Equal the Vivacity of her Mind: And promised
us almost an Age of Happiness yet to come,
under the Influence of her Conduct.
And now, when so many Circumstances concurr'd
to encourage our Relyance upon Her;
who could Blame us for being willing to flatter
Our Selves, that such a Queen was certainly raised
up by God to do some extraordinary Good for
that Church and Kingdom to which He had given
Her? But alas! a Sad Experience has shewn us
that we ought not to have put our Trust even in
Such a Person. And if Such a Person may not
be rely'd upon, We may then safely conclude,
that We must look beyond this World for our
Support: And not place our Confidence on any
but that God who alone, both Can Do All things
for us; and will continue, for ever, to Help and
Defend Us.
Which therefore brings me to the Other Point
I proposed to speak to;
Secondly, That he who will place his Trust
upon a sure Foundation, must place it upon
God; who alone is Able to Succour us in All
our Exigencies, and will Always continue in
a Capacity so to Do.

11

And 1st. That God is Able to Succour us in All
our Exigencies; is evident from hence, that he
is Able to do whatsoever he pleases both in Heaven
and Earth. That he has no Equal, much less
any Superiour Power, to Controul his Will;
and to hinder him from bringing Whatsoever
he purposes, to the End which he Designs.
That as he is the first Being, and Author of
all Others; So was there Nothing before him
to Confine, or Limit his Perfections. He Received
not his Power from Any; Nor has he
therefore any Restraint upon it but what proceeds
from himself, and is subject to his Own Will.
Man, as he was Created by God, so was he
limited too by him in his State and Condition,
to a certain Degree of Perfection, beyond which
he cannot Go, nor Raise up himself above it.
And therefore, whatsoever Power he has, is confined
within those Bounds which the Divine
Wisdom has thought fit to set to it: Nor can
he Go, the least Tittle, beyond what God has
permitted him to Do.
But God himself is Free and without Constraint.
With him nothing is impossible, but
what is Sinful; And that is not an Instance of
true Power, but of Impotency and Infirmity.
So that if we would then Trust in Man, we
must do it with those Restrictions which his Nature
requires us to limit our Trust withal: And
depend upon Him as One whose Power may fail;
Whose Mind may Change; nay, whose very Life
may be taken from him.
But with God we shall need none of these Reserves.
He is Absolutely Able, in Every thing, to
Help and Succour us: And in all such Cases wherein
it is fitting for Him to Do it, He will help us, if
we do but duly apply our selves to Him, and depend
upon Him. And when such is the Advantage of
God, in this Respect, above Any of his Creatures;
much more above Man, the Lowest of all the Rational
Kind in Power and Dignity: Well may
the Psalmist pronounce him Blessed, whose Wisdom
and Piety have taught him to fix his
Trust there, where Nothing can hinder it from
being Beneficial to Him, but his own Neglecting
to seek for Help as he ought to Do.
I say nothing now of the many Other Arguments
that might be offered to Encourage us in
this Trust, and to shew the Happiness of that Man
who has placed his Hope upon it. Such are,
The infinite Wisdom of God, in judging what is
Best for Us, and after what Manner it will be
most for our Interest to be Helped by him. His
infinite Knowledge, for the Discovery of our Wants,
oftentimes long before We Our selves are sensible
of them. His Power to Relieve Us, not only
in All our Exigencies, which I have before Observed;
but to Do it in a Moment, at the very Minute
that it will be most Seasonable for Us to have
it done. And, not to mention any more; His
Ability to Prevent Evils from Coming upon us, no
less than to Free us from them, or to Support us under
Them, when they have Overtaken Us. And
in all which the Wisdom and Power of Man can
either Do Nothing at all, or Nothing Comparable
to what God is able to Do.
But One Consideration more there is, which
neither the express Words of my Text, nor the Occasion
of the present Discourse, will permit me to
pass by: And that is, 2dly. That God is not only
thus Able, as I have shewn, to Help us in All our
Needs; but will continue for Ever in a Capacity to
save and defend Us. For God is Eternal in his
Duration, as well as Infinite in his Power; and
as He never had a Beginning of Being, so neither
can He Ever Come to an End of it.
Now how far this sets him up above all
Earthly Benefactors, I have already shewn you;
and the mighty Loss, we have just now sustain'd,
does but too plainly Declare.
When One of our Earthly Benefactors Dies, not
only all his Good Dispositions towards us perish
together with Him, but all his Power too of putting
them in Execution, from that instant, Ceases.

14

And we from thenceforth become as Destitute
and Forlorne, as if we had never had any such
Friend or Patron, to rely upon. In such a Trust
therefore there is no certainty: Nothing on
which to build any lasting Hope: any wise and
comfortable expectation.
But God endureth for ever, and therefore his
Help can never fail us. He will be our God unto
Death; nay, and even after it too, will save and
deliver Us. The Grave it self, which puts an
end to all things else, cannot take us out of his
hand, nor deprive us of his Protection. But in
that melancholy Place and State, tho' we know
but little else of what relates to it; yet this we
are sure of, that our Souls continue under his
Care: And that, after a certain Period of time,
our very Bodies themselves shall again be restored
to us; and so we shall be for ever with the
LORD.
And thus I have shewn you, What the Advantages
of that God are, above all Other Supporters,
in whom our Text exhorts us to put our Trust;
and pronounces Him Happy who has taken Care
so to do. And when such are his Advantages
above any of his Creatures, in this respect, as
well as in All Others; What resolution can we
better take up, than that which is pointed out to
us in that Exhortation of the Evangelical Prophet,

C

Isai. 26.4. Trust ye in the LORD for ever;
for in the LORD Jehovah is everlasting
strength.
And this may suffice for the two Points I proposed
to speak to: I shall only draw a few plain
Consequences from what has been said, and so conclude
this Discourse. And,
First, Since such is the Vanity of putting our
Trust in any Humane Help; let us resolve to
take off our Hearts from all such Dependencies:
And not build our Hope on such a Foundation, as
we are sure in a little time will fail us, and we
cannot tell how soon it may do so.
I do not deny, but that as God orders the Affairs
of Mankind by the Ministry of Second Causes;
so we may, without incurring any just Censure
for it, look to them as the Instruments which he
makes use of in his Dispensations towards us.
Nay, we may put some kind of Trust too in them:
Provided that it goes no farther than the Nature
of such Causes admits of; and that we still take
care to look beyond them, to that God who employs
them to our Interest and Advantage. But
yet, when all is done, our last and highest Dependance
must be placed upon God only; who
alone is Able, and will always be so, in all our
Exigencies to Help and Deliver Us.
It cannot be doubted but that We of this Country,
and especially We of this Church, have indeed received
as great a loss, as could well have happen'd
to us, in the unexpected Death of our late
Royal Sovereign.
A Princess she was, such as this Nation never
before had, nor was it now worthy of her. To
draw her Character, and set her out to you with
all the Advantage that her real Worth deserves,
is a Task too difficult for me to presume to attempt:
Though this security I should have in the
doing of it, that let me say what I could, no
one would accuse me of Flattery in it; a Vice ever
odious, and I think no where more so than in
the Pulpit. For howsoever 'tis impossible to
speak of Her, and not say Great things; yet very
hard it is to speak, but a small part, of what
all must allow might justly be reported of Her.
Let it suffice, at present, to say; That if a Queen
so Vertuous, that her very Example was enough
to convert a Libertine, and to reform an Age:
So Courteous and Affable, as to be the wonder and
delight of All that Knew her: So great a Lover
of her Country, and the Interests of it; as to be willing
to hazard what, next her Conscience, she
the most valued, her good Name, and good Opinion
in the World, for the preservation of them:
So firm and constant in her Mind, as not to have
once known, no not in Death it self, what it was

C2

to fear: So Happy in Business, as to astonish, rather
than satisfie, those who were the best versed
in it: I say, If to have been deprived of such a
Queen as this; and that at such an Age, when our
Expectations were at the highest from Her, be a
loss above the power of Words to express; then
such is our loss: The greatness of which
we are so far from being able sufficiently to declare,
that perhaps we cannot yet make a just
Estimate of it.
But yet, were we not hereby too much convinced,
how little we ought to depend upon
such kind of Helps; I might presume to say, to
the Glory of God, and to our own Comfort,
that we had still enough of these remaining, to
suppress all disorderly Fears, and undue Repinings
at that which we have lost.
God has, 'tis true, removed our Queen from
us: But He still continues his Sacred Majesty to
us, notwithstanding all the Dangers to which He
has been exposed. He has deprived us of the
Benefit of Her Conduct: But He has left us Him,
under whom She herself grew up in that Wisdom
and Courage, we so much admired in Her.
And even beyond this, we have the Prospect
of a yet farther Succession to fill the Throne; and
to support the Interests both of the Church and
State amongst us.
But yet when all is done, 'tis not upon these
fair and promising Expectations that we must
place our Trust, or account the Fortune of our
Publick Welfare to depend: But it is that God, who
has so long and wonderfully defended us, that
must still be our Support; or all these Helps will
signifie Nothing to us.
Indeed these are the Persons by whom we
justly may, and therefore accordingly do Hope to
be Protected and Defended. And a singular Hapness
it is to us, that we have such a fair Succession
of the Royal Family before our Eyes. But yet
when all is done, 'tis from the Blessing of God
in preserving these Persons to us, and prospering
their Endeavours, that we must look for safety:
And God, even without any such Helps, could,
if he pleased, secure and protect us. But,
Secondly, As these Considerations should move
us, not to put our Trust in any Humane Help; so
should they keep us from being very much surprized,
if at any time such kind of Helps shall
chance to fail us.
It was a Great Expression, and argued a Worthy
Mind, in Him anciently, who being told
of the Death of his Son, pass'd it off with this
only Reflection; That He always knew that He
was Mortal.
And the same should be our Consideration upon
these Occasions. We know that all Humane
Helps are Transitory and Uncertain: And why
then should we stand amazed, as if some strange
thing had happen'd to us, when we come to be
Deprived of that, which we always knew we
had no security of.
I am not so unsensible of the loss we have
now received, as not to think that we ought to
pay a very just regret to it; and to consider seriously
with our selves, for what Sins of this Nation
especially it is, that God has taken away from
us our Royal Defender. But yet I cannot think
that it ought to be any great Surprize to us: Unless
it be some new Calamity to see a Mortal
Die, and to find that to have happen'd to One,
which happens to Thousands every day.
Nay, but Thirdly; We ought not only not to be
Surprized at the failure of such kind of Helps, but
neither should we be immoderately Concern'd and
Cast down at it: Because God is never the less Able
to preserve us for the loss of these, but can either
raise us up New Supporters, or save us without Any,
if He rather sees fit so to Do.
I am verily persuaded that we have at this
time received as sensible a Blow, in this respect,
in the Loss of our Royal Sovereign, as could have
befallen us in any One Life, excepting that of
His Sacred Majesty. But yet far be it from me
so far to despond, or to distrust the Providence of
God, as to think we must needs be ruined, because
our Queen is taken from us. This were certainly
to confine too much the Power of God, and to
give too great an Advantage to our Enemies;
who because they earnestly wish our ruine, are
therefore ready, upon every Occasion, to flatter
themselves that the time is coming which they
so much desire to see.
But to shew you how little Reason either we
have to be rejected, or They to exalt their
Hopes, on any such Account; Let us suppose the
Case be as bad as the most Melancholly Mind
can fansie, or our most bitter Enemies could desire
it to be. That we were indeed left Naked
and Destitute of all Humane Help; and had no
prospect remaining of any succour, much less
had so good a one, as I have before shewn; and
as it is evident to all the World that we have:
Yet still I say that all this would not be enough
to warrant us to Distrust God; but rather,
Fourthly, We should then more especially rely
upon his Help, when all other Supports do the
most fail us.