SERMON PREACHED AT THE FUNERAL OF THE RIGHT HONOURABLE JOHN Earl of Rochester, Who died at Woodstock-Park, the 26th of July, 1680, and was buried at Spilsbury, in Oxfordshire, the 9th Day of Auguft. By ROBERT PARSONS, M. A. Chaplain to the Right Honourable Anne Countess of Rochefter. ADVERTISEMENT. ALL the lewd and profane poems and libels of the late Lord Rochefter having been (contrary to his dying requeft, and in defiance of religion, government, and common decency) published to the world; and (for the eafier and furer propagation of vice) printed in penny-books; and cried about the streets of this honourable city, without any offence or dislike taken at them: it is humbly hoped that this fhort difcourfe, which gives a true account of the death and repentance of that noble Lord, may likewise (for the fake of his name) find a favourable reception among fuch perfons; though the influence of it cannot be supposed to reach as far as the poison of the other books is spread; which, by the strength of their own virulent corruption, are capable of doing more mischief than all the plays, and fairs, and ftews, in and about this town can do together. LUKE xv. 7. I fay unto you, that likewife joy shall be in heaven over one finner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine juft perfons that need no repentance. Fever there were a fubject that might deferve IF and exhaust all the treafures of religious eloquence in the defcription of fo great a man, and fo great a finner, as now lies before us; together with the wonders of the Divine Goodness, in making him as great a penitent; I think the present occafion affords one as remarkable as any place or age can produce. Indeed, fo great and full a matter it is, that it is too big to come out of my mouth, and perhaps not all of it fit or needful fo to do. The greatnefs of his parts are well enough known, and of his fins too well in the world; and neither my capacity, nor experience, nor my profeffion, will allow me to be fo proper a judge either of the one or the other. Only as God has been pleased to make me a long while a fad spectator and a secret mourner for his fins, so has he at laft graciously heard the prayers of his neareft relations and true friends for his converfion and repentance; and it is the good tidings of that efpecially, which God has done for his foul, that I am now to publish and tell abroad to the world, not only by the obligations of mine office, in which I had the honour to be a weak minifter to it, but by his own exprefs and dying commands. Now, although to describe this worthily would require a wit equal to that with which he lived, and a devotion too equal to that with which he died, and to match either would be a very hard tafk; yet, befides that I am not fufficient for these things, (for who is?) and that my thoughts have been rather privately bufied to fecure a real repentance to himfelf whilst living than to publish it abroad to others in an artificial dress after he is dead: I fay, befides all this, I think I fhall have lefs need to call in the aids of fecular eloquence. The proper habit of repentance is not fine linen, or any delicate array, fuch as are used in the court, or king's houses, but fackcloth and ashes and the way; which God Almighty takes to convey it, is not by the words of man's wisdom, but by the plainness of his written word, affifted by the inward power and demonftration of the Spirit: and the effects it works, and by which it discovers itself, are not any raptures of wit and fancy, but the most humble proftrations both of foul and spirit, and the captivating all human imaginations to the obedience of a despised religion and a crucified Saviour. And it is in this array I intend to bring out this penitent to you; an array which I am sure he more valued, valued, and defired to appear in, both to God and the world, than in all the triumphs of wit and gallantry; and, therefore, (waving all these rhetorical flourishes, as beneath the folemnity of the occafion, and the majesty of that great and weighty truth I am now to deliver,) I fhall content myself with the office of a plain historian, to relate faithfully and impartially what I faw and heard, especially during his penitential forrows; which, if all that hear me this day had been fpectators of, there would then have been no need of a fermon to convince men; but every man would have been as much a preacher to himself of this truth as I am, except thefe forrows and yet even these forrows fhould be turned into joys too, if we would only do what we pray for, that the will of God may be done in earth as it is in heaven; for fo our bleffed Lord affures us : "I fay "unto you, that likewife joy fhall be in heaven "over one finner that repenteth," &c. From which I fhall confider, I. The finner particularly that is before us. II. The repentance of this finner, together with the means, the time, and all propable fincerity of it. III. The joy that is in heaven, and should be on earth, for the repentance of this finner. IV. I fhall apply myself to all that hear me; that they would join in this joy, in praise and thanks giving |