A DISCOURSE Occasion'd by the DEATH OF The Right Honourable THE Lady CUTTS By FRANCIS ATTERBURY Chaplain in Ordinary to His Majesty The Second Edition LONDON Printed for Tho. Bennet at the Half-moon in St. Paul's Church-yard 1698. TO The Right Honourable JOHN Lord CUTTS Baron of Gouran c. My Lord AT Your Command I preach'd this Discourse but upon so short a warning that nothing less than Your repeated Commands could have excus'd me for publishing it The Subject of it is Death a thing which You my Lord have very familiarly convers'd with and seen in all its Shapes but never I believe found it so truly terrible as in the Face of my Lady All that were about You were witnesses with how Sensible a Concern You bore the Loss of Her and indeed it was such a Loss as even all Your Courage was but little enough to bear I pray God it may turn to account to Your Lordship another way and may furnish You with such Reflections and inspire You with such Resolutions as if well pursu'd will make You amends for any Loss on this side Heaven Your Lordship has chosen to express some part of Your Grief this way by giving the World an Opportunity of grieving with You which it will certainly do wherever my Lady Cutts's Character is truly known and I have endeavour'd to make it known in the following Pages with all the Sincerity that becomes my Profession a Quality which I must own to Your Lordship I would not forfeit upon any account no not tho' I were sure of doing the greatest Good by it Some part of what is there written I know and the rest I do in my Conscience believe to be true after a very strict and particular Enquiry If I may be so happy in what I have said as to contribute any ways towards fixing a True Opinion of my Lady's merit and spreading the Interests of Vertue and Piety by the means of it I have all the Ends I propos'd to my self in this Discourse beside the Honour of publishing to the VVorld that I am Your Lordship's Most obedient and most humble Servant Francis Atterbury A DISCOURSE Occasion'd by the DEATH of the Right Honourable the Lady CUTTS ECCLES vii 2. It is better to go to the House of Mourning than to go to the House of Feasting for that is the End of all Men and the Living will lay it to heart THE first Step to Happiness is to correct our false Opinions and to learn to esteem every thing according to that Rate and Value not which the World or our own mistaken Imaginations may have plac'd upon it but which in it self and in the accounts of right Reason and Religion it really bears The Wise Hebrew therefore has in this Chapter lay'd together a Sett of Religious Paradoxes which however they may startle aud shock us a little upon the first hearing yet when closely examin'd will appear to be very serious and weighty Truths and such by which the whole course of our Lives ought to be steer'd and govern'd In the first Verse of this Chapter the Verse before the Text he tells us that a Good Name is better than precious Oyntment and the day of ones Death than the day of ones Birth A Good Name is better than precious Oyntment i. e. rich Oyls and sweet Odors in the use of which those Eastern Countries mightily delighted are not half so grateful or valuable as a good Reputation well founded This is more truly fragrant more diffusive of its influence more durable it gives a man greater comfort and refreshment while Living and preserves him better when Dead than the most precious Embalmings And agen The day of ones Death is better than the day of ones Birth i. e. the day of the Death of such an one as has and deserves a Good Name of such an one as has liv'd well and dy'd well is preferable by far to the day of his Birth for it enters him upon a State of perfect rest and tranquility of undisturb'd joy and happiness whereas the Day of his Birth was only an Inlet into a troublesome World and the beginning of sorrows And then it follows very naturally in the words of the Text that It is better also to go to the to House of Mourning than to go to the House of Feasting as Death to a Good man is more advantageous than Life so to a Wise man the Contemplation of the one is more desirable than all the Enjoyments of the other He had much rather be present at the sad Solemnities of a Funeral than partake of those Festival Rejoycings which are usual in all Nations but especially among the Iews at the Birth of a Child Hard Doctrine this to the Men of Liberty and Pleasure who have said to themselves Come on let us enjoy the things that are present let us fill our selves with costly Wine and Oyntments and let no Flower of the Spring pass by us let us crown our selves with Rosebuds before they be wither'd Hard Doctrine I say it is to such men as These and which will run the hazard of not being entertain'd by ' em The Wise man therefore has condescended to prove as well as assert it and to back the severe Rule he has lay'd down with very convincing Reasons for that says he is the End of all men and the Living will lay it to heart As if he had said This Dark and Melancholly State it will one day certainly come to our share to try and what must some time or other be undergone ought now and then to be consider'd beforehand this is the End of all men and all men therefore should have their Eye and their Thoughts upon it And then further We are most of us so immers'd in the Pleasures and taken up with the Follies of Life that we need all methods of reducing our straggling Thoughts and Desires and of giving our selves a Serious Frame and Composure of Mind and of all Methods this of repairing to the House of Mourning is best adapted to that Good End and will soonest and most effectually bring it about The Living will lay it to Heart I have largely explain'd the Connexion and Meaning of the Words which have been pitch'd upon to imploy Your Thoughts on this mournful Occasion The next thing should be to excite You to a Complyance with the Direction there given by the particular Arguments of the Text and by several other powerful and moving Considerations to prove to you the Folly and Emptiness of a Life led all in Mirth and Jollity and Pleasure the Wisdom and Reasonableness of shifting the Scene sometimes and of turning the Gloomy side of things towards us in a word of exchanging the House of Feasting for the House of Mourning and of making a discreet and decent use of those sad Opportunities of Reflection which God mercifully severe is pleas'd to put into our hands But I am prevented in this part of my Discourse by
a Loss as well as You True Virtue and Piety have suffer'd in her fall and All therefore that have a Regard for Them shall bear a part with You in Your Sorrows The True Servants of God shall lay it to heart who from their Souls desire the encrease of Religion and Goodness and know the Power and Influence of so sweet so winning so perfect a Pattern as was set by Her who promis'd Themselves a mighty Countenance and the World strange Advantages from her Exemplary Sanctity and Goodness They that Minister in holy things will lay it to heart to whom She repair'd with so much constancy and seriousness to hear the Divine Oracles explain'd by 'em and to enquire the Law at their mouths They consider what an Helper and Furtherer of their pious Labours they have lost and how much more lifeless and ineffectual their Discourses will now be than they were heretofore when She encourag'd 'em by her presence and by her practise and by the strict attention She paid to 'em made way for 'em into the hearts of Others Virtue went out from her in whatever congregation She appear'd She secretly rais'd and set an Edge upon the Devotions of the Place Every Day of her Life preach'd up Goodness as effectually as the most rational and moving Sermon The Enquirers into the Methods and adorers of the Mysteries of Divine Providence will lay it to heart Why will they say when God has most Work to do in the world is one of the best and faithfullest Instruments of his Glory call'd out of it why is She snatch'd away from us at a Time when we could least have spar'd her when Iniquity and Irreligion run high and Piety is in danger of growing out of Fashion and out of Countenance Why in such a Juncture is this Good Lady taken and why are so many of her Sex so unlike her left Is it in Mercy to Her on in Judgment to Us Is it because She was too good to live here or because We were too wicked to deserve her company Righteous art Thou O Lord when we plead with Thee yet let Vs talk with Thee of thy Iudgments Her Domestics will lay it to heart whom She shone upon always with a singular Goodness who were near Witnesses of her most retir'd Graces and Virtues and had the best opportunities of forming themselves upon her admirable Model and who will now alas be destitute of her Example and Encouragement of her sweet Advice and gentle Reproofs and will be left to live upon that Stock of Virtue which has been happily laid in by 'em that Measure of Goodness which They have already deriv'd from attending and observing Her Finally the Poor will lay it to heart whose Bowels She refresh'd and whose Wants She reliev'd and was ever their sure Refuge and Support their Kind and Merciful Patroness and Friend But above all her Relations will lay it to heart Those to whom She was most nearly joyn'd by Blood or Love and who had a more particular Interest in all her Virtues They will lay their hands on their Breasts in the Day of Adversity and consider how have we offended that we are thus grievously punish'd and which of Our Miscarriages is it that this Heavy infliction is Intended to reform This is the wisest and best Use that can be made of such Solemnities as these not by the means of 'em to excite our truly pious and Christian Grief to an immoderate and unchristian Degree nor to sorrow as Men without hope but to take Occasion from thence to search and enquire into our selves to learn the meaning of these Divine Admonitions and after we have interpreted 'em truly to resolve to obey ' em The Dead are unquestionably happy whose Loss we deplore Happy will the Living be also if they thus wisely thus effectually lay it to heart It is better doubtless to go into the House of Mourning than into the House of Feasting but upon this condition that we come better out of the one than out of the other that we leave our Vanities and our Vices behind us that we lay aside our Affections towards this World and our Indifference towards another that we put on holy and hearty Resolutions of being even Now what we shall wish we had been Hereafter when the Fatal Hour approaches and of living the Life of this Righteous Person that we may dye her Death too and be remember'd and lamented as She is by those who survive us Let us assure our selves that the best way of doing honour to her Memory will be by making her Character still live in Our Lives and Actions that the truest instance of our Love and Esteem of Her is to endeavour to be Like Her for Thus we shall even add to the Vast Reward She is entitled to some further Degrees of Happiness and Honour and shall make the Crown of Glory she is to wear bright as it will be yet brighter in the Day of General Retribution Till when it may be piously suppos'd that the Saints departed are not admitted to the Fulness of Ioy that in the mean time the Influence of their good Examples and good Deeds spreading far and wide That too when their Accounts are made up may be taken into them and the Fitness and Proportionableness of their exceeding great Recompence then bestow'd be manifested in the Sight of Angels and Men. Wherefore lift up the Hands that hang down and the feeble Knees Think not so much and so long on the incomparable Character of the Deceas'd as to forget the true Use You are to make of this afflicting Accident and to neglect those good Improvements under it which the Wise and Kind Inflicter expects at Your Hands You have paid Your sad Respects to Her be not now wanting to Your selves but Gird up the Loins of Your Mind and be Ye comiorted The Consideration of what She was which afflicts You should much rather chear and revive You had She been worse indeed You would with more reason have bewail'd her But why should You continue to mourn for One who is enter'd upon a state of unspeakable Joy Why should You be dejected at Her Advancement She is gone to the place where all Tears are wip'd from her Eyes where there is no more Death nor Sorrow nor Crying She is gone and her Works have follow'd and will follow her to her Great and Endless Advantage God grant that when We also follow her we may do it with as little Surprize and as much Chearfulness To him Father Son and Holy Ghost be ascrib'd as is most due all Honour Adoration and Thanks now and for ever Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by Tho. Bennet at the Half-moon in St. Paul's Church-yard A Sermon before the Queen at Whitehall May 29. 1692. Publish'd by Her Majesties special Command The Power of Charity to cover Sin A Sermon before the President and Governors of Bridewell and Bethlehem in Bridewell-Chapel Aug. 16 94.
the Pious Design of this Meeting You are already doing that thing which I should recommend to You from the Text paying the Tribute of Your Tears to the Memory of One whose Worth You knew and whose Want you feel and bewailing the Loss of Her under the different Characters She bore of a Wife a Daughter a Relation a Mistress a Friend All therefore I have to do on this occasion is to fall in with Your Pious Grief already rais'd and to bear a part in it by dwelling together with You a while on the Character of that Incomparable Lady whose Death we lament by uniting as well as I am able the scattered parts of it and recalling to Your Thoughts at once the several Excellencies and Perfections of which it was compos'd which made her belov'd and reverenc'd by You while Living and will make her Memory ever Dear and Desirable to You now She is Dead and which rais'd her above the greatest part of her Sex much more than any Outward Marks of Rank and Distinction 'T is now after her Decease a fit time to speak of her in those Terms of Respect which she deserv'd for in her Life-time she would not bear it and took pains to avoid it hiding as many of her Virtues as she could from Publick Observation and so behaving her self in the practice of those She could not hide as shew'd She had no mind to be told of 'em discountenancing as far as lay in her power that odious and designing Flattery which Custome has now made a kind of Debt from Persons of one Sex to those of the other and almost a necessary part of good Breeding But the Dead may be prais'd with Decency tho' the Living hardly can especially Such of the Dead as have not probably a greater indifference and unconcern for what we say to their advantage now they are Dead than they had heretofore while they were Living There is a Publick Homage due to Desert if we take a proper Season of paying it and the Ministers of the Gospel who are entrusted with so many Methods of promoting Piety in the World are entrusted with this among the rest the giving Honour where Honour is due and the provoking the Imitation of Men by setting before 'em shining Patterns of Virtue as well as the inculcating good Rules and Precepts of Life 't is their immediate and particular Employment to Praise God and it does no doubt in some measure also belong to 'em to praise those that are Like him And now how shall I enter upon this fruitful Argument What Particular of her comprehensive Character shall I first choose to insist on Let us determine our selves to begin there where She always began at her Devotions In These She was very Punctual and Regular Morning and Evenning came not up more constantly in their Course than Her stated Hours of Private Prayer which She observ'd not formally as a Task but return'd to 'em always with desire delight and eagerness She would on no occasion dispense with her self from paying this Duty no Business no Accident could divert her from it She esteem'd it her great Honour and Happiness to attend upon God and she resolved to find Leisure for That for whatever else She might want it How She behav'd her self in these Secret Transactions between God and her own Soul is known to Him alone whom She worship'd but if we may guess at her Privacies by what we saw of Her in Publick we may be sure She was all Humility Devotion and Fervency for so She remarkably was always during the time of Divine Service Her Behaviour was then the most devout and solemn and yet the most decent and natural and unaffected that could be there was nothing in it either negligent and loose or evtravagant and strain'd but all was full of attention and composedness it was throughout such as declar'd it self not to be the work of the Passions but to flow from the Understanding and from a thorough knowledge of the true Grounds and Principles of that her Reasonable Service This Knowledge She attain'd by early Instructions by much Reading and Meditation to which She appear'd from her Infancy to be very particularly addicted and give me leave to add by a very diligent and exact attendance on the Lessons of Piety which were utter'd from the Pulpit which no one practis'd better becaure no one delighted in listen'd to or consider'd more For at these Performances She was all Attention all Ear She kept her Heart fix'd and bent to its holy Work by keeping her Eye from Wandring It was her misfortune indeed that the Exemplariness of her Behaviour call'd off the Eyes of several to observe it but more Her and Their misfortune that when they had seen it and satisfied their Curiosity they did not go on also to imitate it She often expressed her dissatisfaction at that Indecency of Carriage which universally prevails in our Churches and wonder'd that They should be most careless of their Behaviour towards God who are most scrupulously nice in exacting and paying all the little Decencies that are in use among Men. When the Bread of Life was distributed She was sure to be there a devout and never failing Communicant and the strictness of her Attention and the reverence of her Behaviour were if it were possible rais'd and improv'd on those occasions The lively Image of a Crucify'd Saviour then exhibited could not but make very moving impressions on a mind of so much pious Warmth and Tenderness Books She took pleasure in and made good use of chiefly Books of Divinity and Devotion which She studied and relish'd above all others History too had very often a share in her reflections and sometimes She look'd into pieces of pure Diversion and Amusement whenever She found 'em written in such a way as to be Innocent as well as Entertaining I need not tell You to how narrow a choice She was by this means confin'd But of all Books the Book of God was That in which She was most delighted and employ'd and which was never for any considerable time out of her hands No doubt She knew and felt the great use and sweet influence of it in calming her mind and regulating her desires and lifting up her thoughts towards Heaven in feeding and fanning that holy Flame which the Love of God had kindled in her Heart and which She took care by this means to keep perpetually burning When She met with any thing in her Reading there or elsewhere which would be of remarkable use to her in the conduct of her Life and Affairs She trusted not her Memory with it not even that excellent Memory which She safely trusted with every thing besides but immediately committed it to Writing Many Observations of this kind She has left drawn from good Authors but chiefly from those Sacred Pages and in collecting which whether her Judgment or her Piety had the largest share it is not easie to say The
Malice by turns And if These are the chief marks of Wit and Good-breeding it must be confess'd that She had neither With all this Goodness Gentleness and Meekness of nature She had at the same time a degree of Spirit and Firmness unusual in her Sex and was particularly observ'd to have a wonderful Presence of mind in any accident of danger to shew that Innocence and Courage are nearly ally'd and that even in the softest Tempers where the one of these is in perfection there will and must be a good degree of the other Shall I say any thing of that innate Modesty of Temper and spotless Purity of Heart which shone throughout her whole Life and Conversation a Quality so strictly requir'd of her Sex and so generally I hope enjoy'd by it that it may be thought not so properly commendable in any of 'em to have it as infamous to want it However in the most common and ordinary Graces there are uncommon Heighths and Degrees and it was the particular happiness of this Wondrous Good Lady Remarkably to excell in every Vertue that belong'd to her even in those in which almost every body excells Shall I say that from this love of Purity it was that She banish'd her self from those Publick Diversions of the Town which it was scarce possible to be present at without hearing something that wounded chaste Ears and for which She thought no amends could be made to Vertue by all the Wit and Humour that might go along with it These Good Qualities she knew serv'd only to recommend the Poyson and make it palatable and thought it therefore a piece of service to other people who might perhaps be influenc'd by Her Example to stand off tho' She her self were secur'd from the Infection This questionless was One reason of her allowing her self in those dangerous Entertainments so sparingly but it was but One of Many She had really neither Relish nor Leisure for 'em nor for a thousand other things which the World miscalls Pleasures Not that She wanted naturally a Taste for any thing of this kind for her Apprehension was fine and her Wit very good and very ready at Command whenever ehe pleas'd to exercise it but She had turn'd her Thoughts so much on things of Use and Importance that matters of meer Pleasure grew flat and indifferent to her She was so taken up with the care of improving her understanding and bettering her Life in the discharge of the Offices necessary to her Rank in the Duties of her Closet and the Concerns of her Family that she found at the foot of the account but little time and less mind to give in to those vain Amusements She did not think it as I fear it is too often thought the peculiar Happiness and Privilege of the Great to have nothing to do but took care to fill every Vacant Minute of her Life with some useful or innocent Employment Indeed none were Vacant for the several Hours of the Day had their peculiar business allotted to them whether it were Conversation or Work Reading or Domestick affairs each of which came up orderly in its turn and was as the Wise-man speaks to be sure under Her management it was beautiful in its Season And this Regularity of Hers was free and natural without Formality or Constraint it was neither troublesome to Her nor to those that were with her when therefore any accident interven'd it was left off with as much ease as it was practis'd for amongst all her discretionary Rules the chief was to seem to have none and to make matters of Form give way always to Circumstances and Occasions She wrought with her Own Hands often when She could more profitably and pleasingly have employ'd her time in Meditation or Books but She was willing to set an example to those who could not and She took care therefore that that example should be well follow'd by all that were about her and whom She had any immediate influence over for She knew very well that the description of a Good Wife and a Perfect Woman in the Proverbs a Description which She much delighted in and often read was chiefly taken up in commending that Diligence by which She looketh well to the ways of her Houshold and eateth not the bread of Idleness and She knew also that she whose words these are said to be was no less a Woman than the Mother of King Lemuel Diligence and Frugality are Sisters and She therefore we may be sure who was so well acquainted with the one was no stranger to the other She was strictly careful of her expences and yet knew how to be Generous and to abound when the occasion requir'd it But of all ways of good management She lik'd That the worst which shuts our hands to the Poor to whom She was ever very Compassionate and Charitable To the other delights with which an high Fortune furnish'd her She was insensible almost but on This account She valu'd it that it gave her an opportunity of pursuing the several pleasures of Beneficence and of tasting all the sweets of well-doing She deliver'd the Poor that cry'd and the Fatherless and Him that had none to help him the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon her and She caused the Widows heart to sing Very easie sure will this make her Audit at the great day of account that Charity will doubtless be allow'd to be a Skreen to her few Infirmities and Faults which when sprinkled by the Blood of Christ can cover a multitude of Sins In the exercise of this and of all other Vertues She was wonderfully Secret endeavouring to rise up as near as She could to the Rule of not letting her right hand know what her left hand did And this Secrecy of hers She manag'd so well that some of the most remarkable Instances of her Goodness were not known till after her death no not by Him who was partaker of all her Joys and Sorrows Retirement and Privacy She always lov'd and therefore chose it when after the Death of a near Relation an Excellent Person †The Old Lady Pickering under whose Care She had been bred She was at Liberty to have liv'd otherwise From that Time to her Marriage which was more than Three Years She hid her self in the Country having an early and setled aversion to the Noise and Inconveniencies of a Town-life and too little an opinion of her self to think that it was so much the interest of Vertue and Religion as it really was to have her known and distinguish'd When afterwards She went to Court as it was necessary for Her sometimes to do She did it with an Air which plainly shew'd that She went to pay her Duty there and not to delight her self in the Pomp and Glitter of that place Had She gone thither soon enough to see that Good and Glorious Queen the Ornament of It and of her Sex She had been taken we