Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A54464
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A sermon preach'd upon the occasion of the Queen's death on the 4th Sunday in Lent, being the 3d of March, 1694/5 / by W. Perse ...
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Perse, William, 1640 or 41-1707.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing P1655; ESTC R33385
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16,721
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28
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blessed Mary Sweet was thy Oyntment But Sweeter was thy Love Gracefull was thy Action but more gracefull was thy affection The Scent of the rich Perfume was quickly gone but the Sweet Odour and the fragrant Smell of thy pure and Sincere Love shall bee preserved in the Sacred Records of the Gospell as long as the world endures and the memory of that precious Oyntment wherewith thou didst anoint thy Saviours head and feet shall bee more lasting and incorruptible then the oyle of Cedar the great Preservative against the moth of time 2. Though Maryes designe was only true and unfeigned Love in this Action yet as our Saviour intimates the divine Providence had a further reach and prospect Viz That this anointeing which was common both to festivalls and Burialls should emblematically presignifye our Lords approaching Death and Passion Thus our purposes often times unawares to our selves serve Gods end and looke farther then wee direct them This Custome of anointing the Body for the sunerall and of strawing it over with rich gummes and Spices among the Jews is made plaine from the last Offices that were performed by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to the Body of our Saviour after it was taken downe from the Crosse and before it was layed in the Sepulchre At feasts the head was generally anointed but when the Body was dresst and prepared for a funerall all parts Shared in the anointeing And if we looke into the nature and kind of this particular Oyntment which this good woman poured upon the Head and wherewith she anointed the feete of our Saviour wee shall find that as it was a very fit present by reason of the richness of the scent and the greatness of the Value to express her Love and gratitude so that likewise it was very proper and correspondent to the end to which Gods providence had allotted it Viz To foreshowe his Death and Buriall The pure confection of Nard was no dry Oyntment but moyst and fluid Whence Nonnus calls it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a dew or watry Substance and is reckoned among those precious Oyntments which distill out of Canes or Stalks either of their owne accord or when cut and bruised by others hence this was called Spikenard from the Tops of the Plant from which that Odoriferous Liquor issued either naturall or which it yeelded after it was bruised and wounded and in both these respects was proper to represent Christs death and Buriall Thus it foreshowd that naturall Balme his precious bloud which was Shortly after to flow in streames from all the hollow Vessells of his body And as the stalks were sometimes bruisd before they yeelded that Soveraign Balsame and as Mary brake the Albaster Vessell before she poured forth the Oyntment so his Body more white and pure then any Alabaster was bruised for our Sinnes and broken for our transgressions and from thence did issue forth that noble Iuice that precious liquor which not only by the fragrancy of the Smell as being a Sacrifice of a Sweet smelling Savour makes us acceptable unto God but also by its healeing balsamick quality cures all our inward wounds and heales all our sinfull distempers Well didst thou O Mary to diffuse thy Oyntment over the blessed body of thy Lord and Saviour the holy Iesus to mollify it against the then approaching time of his bitter and dismall Agony in the garden wherein hee was to sweat blood out of every pore for thy sake well didst thou to anoint that Sacred Head the head of the universe which was shortly to bee crowned with thornes well didst thou to anoint those feet the extremest parts which came nearest to the Earth to which hee descended for thy good those feet which had taken so many Sharpe and painfull journyes for the benefit of mankind well didst thou to anoint and Supple those feet which were to Support his Body in carrying up the heavy Load of his Crosse made heavier by our sins up that steep and craggy hill Mount Calvary and which were to drop forth a more generous and Soveraign Juice to heal all our Spiritual Infirmities Alass O Lord thou didst not need any of these to the unnecessary Ceremonies either liveing or dead Thou like the Rose of Sharon and like the Lilly of the Valley to both which thou art compared had'st as being free from all the pollutions and corruptions of our decayed Nature an innate sweetness in thee far surpassing all aromatick perfumes and as there went a healing vertue out of thy Body so likewise we may well imagine that an Odoriferous scent must needs Transpire out of that exactly temper'd Complexion and constitution Neither didst thou need either Spices or Oyntment to preserve thy body when dead and laid in the Grave for that as the Prophet David hath assur'd us could suffer no Corruption could admit of no Putrefaction And yet O blessed Jesus thou wast pleas'd to permit these usual Offices to be performed to thy self and kindly to accept of them To show us that thou dost allow of neatness and chearfulness of the Oyle of gladness and of the Wine of rejoycing and that we may be thy Disciples without wholly abjureing the use of those Creatures which thou of thy Almighty wisdome and Infinite bounty hast provided for the comfort and refreshment of mankind and to show us likewise that we may and ought to take a decent care of our Bodies after their better part their Immortal Companions have left and forsaken them seeing that which shall cre long be crumbled to dust shall by thy allquickning spirit return to itsold forme and those two old Friends be reunited never to suffer a second separation Thus O Lord both thy Life and thy Death both thy Burial and Resurrectioun and every circumstance thereunto appertaining teach us some or other good Lesson and whil'st our Meditations are concerning thee we cannot fail of wholesome Instructions 2. The second General part of the Text is the end of the Publication of Maryes good work it was done for a Memorial of her where ever vertue and goodness break forth eminently and exemplarily like the Sun in its noone-tide strength there alwayes remaines the indelible Character of a happy Remembrance The commendation of this Woman in my Text is chiefly excellent in these two respects 1. It is such a praise as shall never be in any danger to be lost it points to futurity it shall be told in Ages to come Praise not any saith the wise man before his death because such commendations are neither safe on his part that commendeth in that it begetteth a shrewd suspition of Flattery nor on his part that is commended because if he conceive the praise that is spread abroad of him to be true it is much to be fear'd that it may puffe him up with Pride and vain Glory so that the most opportune time to give Vertue her deserved commendations is when a man can neither be hurt with Flattery nor infected with
Imprimatur Guil. Pearson R mo in Christo Patri ac D no. D no. Johanni Archiepisc Ebor. Ã Sacris Dom. Martij 11 mo 166â— A SERMON Preach'd upon the occasion OF THE Queen's Death On the 4th Sunday in Lent Being the 3d. of March 1694 5. By W. PERSE M. A. Minister of Malton and Chaplain to the Right Honourable Lewis Earl of Feversham Dulce est Mori cum Plorant Sui Sen Trag YORK Printed by J. White for Robert Clarke at the Signe of the Crown at the Minster-Gate 1695. To the Honourable the Lady Palmes Madam WHEN I was once perswaded to make the ensuing Discourse Publick I did not in the Least doubt with my Selfe to whom I ought to present it The Place where it was delivered as being part of your ancient Paternall Inheritance for which you have done so much and for which you are still doing more good the many great Favours I have received from your Ladyship Since my Lot fell in this Soyle And the Subiect matter of it Seeme naturally to direct me at what Shrine to Offer it The great Esteeme you ever had for that miracle of Vertue and Goodness our late most Gracious Princess Queen Mary now of happy and glorious Memory the tender concern you expresst for her during her dangerous and too fat all Sickness according to the account you were pleased to give us here in the Country make me hope that the Offering tho but Small yet as being well intended will in some measure attone for my Presumption in placeing your Honours Name before it Besides your great and Singular Goodness and Piety Your extensive Charity eminently Shown not only towards those of your owne Town and Neighbour hood for whom you and your truly worthy Husband have set up a Linnen Manufacture at your great Charge to employ the many Poor among us and to afford them a Competent Subsistence But also your Signall Bounty and Liberality towards those distressed Protestants who left their Country Relations and all that they had for Christs and his Gospells sake in both which Remarkeable Instances you did follow the noble and truly Christian Example of our late Gracious and never Sufficiently to bee Lamented Princess Challenge this Dedication as your sole Right from me who am so much indebted to your goodness and Kindness ever Since I had the Honour to be known unto you which I shall ever gratefully acknowledge and take this Opportunity as being the only Publick one I may ever have to testify the same to the World But shall ever in Private Pray for the Happiness Wellfare and Prosperity of your Ladyship and most worthy and truly honourable Family both in this world and that which is to come as is the Duty of Madam Your most Humble and Obedient Servant William Perse A SERMON Preached on the 3d. of March and the 4th Sunday in Lent With Relation to the Queens Death St. Matthew 26th C. 13 V. Verily I say unto you Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole World there shall also this that this Woman hath done be told for a Memoriall of her I Have made choice of this remarkeable passage of Scripture at this time upon a twofold Occasion to both which it seemes to be most fitly and properly suited So that if the time be a circumstance which like an Embroidred Border setts off the richness of a Garment and if a Word spoken in season and duly applyed be as the Wiseman tells us it is as comely and Ornamental as Apples of Gold inclosed in Pictures of Silver then these few words of our Blessed Saviour who spake as never Man spake will receive all the advantage that a due timeing and a Seasonable opportunity can give them The happy action to which our Saviour referrs and of which he gives so large and so lasting a Commendation had an immediate relation to his own Death and Buriall which were shortly after to ensue As he himself explaines it in the Verse foregoing my Text For in that she hath poured this Ointement upon my head she did it for my Buriall We are now well entered into the dayes of Mourning and humiliation for our Sins Our treacherous Sins that occasioned our Blessed Lords approaching Passion which caused those Bitter paines and dreadfull excruciations both of Body and mind which he underwent for them And therefore ought at this time more then ordinarily to be lamented and sorrowed for by us as being those Traytors which delivered him over to the merciless Executioners and which nay led him to the Cross And which will without a true Repentance and hearty sorrow for them deprive us of all the benefits of those exquisite and all meritorious Sufferings that he underwent for us Men and our Salvation And what can be more agreeable and seasonable to prepare our hearts for the better and more exact celebration of those devoute Exercises of Religion which the approaching Solemnity of our great Passeover requires of us then in the insisting on some of the particulars of Maryes most worthy and significant Action which our Saviour here so honourably commemorates and which he hath applyed to this very purpose telling us withall that the sound of it should go forth into all Lands where his Name should be known and his Gospel publisht through the whole World This is the First and greatest Reason of my pitching on this Subject but I cannot say as our Saviour does in answer to the Lawyers question Which is the great Commandement That the Second is like unto it Though there is great reason for that also For the wise man hath told us that the Memory of the just shall be blessed And his Royall Father David hath assured us that the actions of the Righteous shall be had in everlasting Remembrance Therefore when I shall have shown you how proper a preparation that Action of Marys was for our blessed Saviours Buriall and exhorted all those who design to solemnize his Death and Passion in that holy Sacrament which he Instituted as a perpetuall memoriall of it to imitate this blessed Saint and Convert in that signall Act of Love Charity and Gratitude which she performed to her Saviour in poureing that precious Oyntment upon his Head I shall then crave your Patience to present a small free-will Offering of the sweetest Oyle I can pour out of my shallow and narrow Cruse mixt with a few graines of Frankincense for a memoriall of another Mary our late most gracious Queen now of Glorious and happy memory whose Works shall ever praise her in the Gates and whose remembrance shall be like the Perfume made by the Art of the Apothecary and as sweet and Fragrant to all that wish well to the Reformed Religion in generall and to the Church of England the most refined part of it and to the happiness and Prosperity of these Kingdoms as that precious Oyntment which this Blessed Woman in my Text so liberally poured on our Saviour to anoint him