Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A43312
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[Mataiobrachytēs tou biou] The brevity and vanity of man's life : discovered in a sermon preached at the funerals of Mrs. Ellen Hartcourt, youngest daughter to the virtuous and excellent Lady Cony of Stoke in Lincolnshire, who was interr'd in Saint Andrews-Holborn-Church, March 23, 1661, being married that day five weeks before / by Richard Henchman.
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Henchman, Richard.
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1661
(1661)
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Wing H1428; ESTC R227539
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20,951
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44
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with Tears and pour out my matter in a Sorowfull and Dolefull Complaint of our loss Curie leves loquun ur Ingentes Stupent I could willingly I confess now give scope to mine and your Passion that we might sit down a while in silence and onely by the Language of our Tears speak the sence of our Loss But then I conceive I should be Injurious to this Solemn and Sorrowfull Assembly to God's Honour our Friend's Memory and others Profit since by paying the Tribute of Praise to God's dear Servants we advance God's Glory and Perpetuate their Remembrance and add Spurs to the Pious endeavours of those who survive I could speak much having known her from a Childe to the Glory of God's Rich Grace in the Embalming her Name with a pretious Memory but I shall not need to Expatiate my self in her just and Due Character But some things that were very Remarkable in her towards her latter End I must not Omit Give me leave therefore for your Imitation to break this Alabaster box of pretious Oyntment and to pour it forth upon you that the Savour thereof may fill the whole house of God with a Sweet Perfume and that such an Example and Precedent of Piety may incite and Encourage you to remember your Creatour in the Daies of your youth before the Evil Day of your Death comes Indeed I know the Applause and Welcom that the Saints and Angels have given her in Heaven and the Blessed Euges that the Authour and Finisher of our Faith has now Recieved her into these These are the true and full Commendations that he Soul now rests in Onely this we must know that as the Death of this Illustrious and Vertuous Person is in God's Eyes so in ours also it ought to be Honourable and Pretious And because Saint Bernard's Speech is most true Pretiosa Mors Sanctorum quam commendat vita pretiosa A pious Life makes a pretious Death I might trace this young Lady through her whole Life and observe many remarkable Passages in it by which as by so many Steps and Paces she walked on daily to the Attainment of this right Christian and Comfortable Death First For her Birth and Parentage t was of good Note and Esteem being born at Stoke in Lincolnshire and descended from an Antient Family having Grave Ingenuous and Religious Parents Honourable Noble and Generous Persons to her Relutions and though I confess the Dignity of Birth if alone and unattended with moral Accomplishments be but a cold and slender Commendation Et genus proavos quae non fecimus ipsi Vix c. Yet this when it stands in Conjunction with Virtue it sets a Price and Lustre upon it 't is Splendor Virtutis it casts a Varnish upon Virtue it self and makes it more Conspicuous But Secondly If you surveigh Her in the Moral and Practick Part of Her Life you 'd finde many things in it very observable Take Her in Her familiar Conversation and so she was a Loving Faithfull and Constant Friend thankfull for any Kindness and studious to requite it She was wont to extenuate not to aggravate any Injury or Unkindness offered Her she would not Scintillam in Flammam nec festucam in Trabem enatare as Saint Augustine speaks of some Contentious Persons In a word in all her Deportment as ever I perceived she was Regular and Just Affable and Virtuous to all Thirdly Take Her as to Her Relations and so she was an obedient Childe to her Parents a loving Sister to her Brethren and an indulgent and kinde Wife to her Husband and though it pleased Almighty God to divorce them by Death almost as soon as they were married yet she shewed her Affection to the last for when I asked Her what she would leave her Husband as Memorial of her true Love amongst those small Legacies she had Power to dispose off she replyed She would leave him her Hearty Prayers that God would bless him and direct him in all his Ways And I hope he will live to reap the Benefit of her Prayers The best Legacy certainly that a good Wife can leave her Husband These I know you will all grant were lively Virtues in the Sphere of Morality but yet there were two Graces more remarkable in Her of an higher Pitch more Divine and Spiritual more immediate Fruits of her Christian Religion viz. her Charity and her Piety her Compassion to the Poor and her Devotion to her God First for her Charity to the Poor She was not only a Friend but a Mother Her Bowels of Compassion were enlarged toward them not onely in her Life but at her Death for to my Knowledge she has left to two Parishes in Lincolnshire five pounds a piece to be distributed to the Poor and five pounds to the Poor of this Parish wherein she is to be interred and to the Ministers in these three Places twenty Shillings a piece as a Token of her Affection for them The Age we live in though it has the Lamp of Profession yet God knows liâ—tle of this Oyl of Charity Many though they have floutrishing Estates yet they have withered Hands and cannot stretch them out to good Uses this Lady had but a small matter left in her Hands to dispose of and she left it freely to those that had most need She had indeed a free and noble Soul to all but most generous and bountiful to the Poor what should I say of Her She sowed plentifully and she has reaped plentifully 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Basil speaks she was merciful and no Question but she has obtained Mercy Secondly for her Piety Though it was diffused in a constant Tenour through the whole Course of her Life yet it appear'd most glorious near her Death then she bitterly bewail'd the pretious time she had spent in worldly Vanities in unnecessary and complemental Visits and she said If God should lengthen out her Days the World should see such an Alteration and Change in her how she would endeavour to redeem that time she had so mispent by a double Diligence in the Practice of Holiness When I prest her to finish that great work of Repentance and Sorrow for Sin before she 〈…〉 Course â—… telling her that 't was Sin that made Death bitter and until that Sting be taken out by true Repentance and Faith in Christ's Merits we cannot finish 〈◊〉 Course with Joyâ—… Lord 't was admirable to me to see how low she sunk her Spirits humbling her Soul to the Dust by an hearty Confession loathing the went thoughts of her former Transgressions abhorring her self for all her Sins and saying with that blessed Martyr in the Point of Justification None but Christ none but Christ throwing her self into his Arms by a lively Faith acknowledging no Name under Heaven by which she expected Salvation but onely in and through Jesus Christ our Lord Sublimis Patria sed humilis via Heaven is high but the Passage to it is low we must stoop 〈…〉 our Death by an humble Confession of our own Vnmorthiness and the Worthiness of Christ or we shall never come thither Non aestimator meriti sed veniae largiâ—… when all is done will prove the best Divinity and must for dying Persons and I 'le assure you our deceased Sister had learn'd this Lesson very well for I never saw if I can rightly judge a Soul more truly penitent and â—…ble then hers was The time she lay upon her sick â—… was not very long but very sharp and as I am informed in the time of her Sickness so patient so contented so willing to be at God's Dispose either for Life or Death so full of sweat holy and heavenly Instructions Exhortations Counsels to her Relations Friends and Servants lifting up her Soul Night and Day in Prayers and devout Ejaculations for Mercy upon her own Soul and for all that were about her Not long before she dyed she sent for mer and after I had prayed by her she intreated me to administer the holy Sacrament to her which I could not deny and if you had seen but with what Devotion she hungâ—…d and thirsted after this her last Viaticum with what Fervency of Spirit she received it you would never forget her 't was the last Manna she fed upon on this side Jordan now she is in the Land of Promise 〈◊〉 cortice Sacramenti sed adipe frumenti saginaâ—… Now she is at the Well-Head and Fountain of all Joy and Bliss Thus she both liv'd and dyed like in Lamb liv'd meekly and dyed quietly 〈…〉 onate Husband or loving Allies 〈…〉 inordinately she dyed young indeed 〈…〉 her time her Days were but as an hand 〈…〉 cause not before she was ready for Death She was cut down by the sickle of Death I confess betimes in her best Estate I but yet she was not cut down before she was ripe for the Harvest Youth and flourishing Days you see cannot privilege any from the Grave the Beauty of Rachel will not keep her from the Dust neither is it Parentage or Wealth can put Death out of Commission Riches avail not in the day of Death no nor Holiness nor Piety can deliver any from the Grave It preserves indeed from eternal Death but not a Temporal We see this by dayly Experience I need not expatiate my self on this Theme Our dear Friend and Sister is now at Rest And in that blessed Rest we shall now leave her assuring our selves that she dyed in the Favour of God in the Faith of Christ in the Peace of a good Conscience Nothing now remains but that we render all humble thanks to Almighty God for this so blessed a Departure of his Faithful Servant Beseeching him to grant that when the Hour of our Visitation comes upon us we may be found of him with Peace appear before him with Comfort and may be received with Joy into those Heavenly Mansions which our Blessed Saviour has purchased for us AMEN So be it FINIS