Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A56119
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A sermon on the occasion of the death of the Right Honourable Elizabeth Lady Cutts containing an account of her most pious life and lamented death.
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Provoste, John.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing P3878; ESTC R2910
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29,829
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45
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invented to deceive the Grief and the kind Desires of Men to restore Friends and Heroes to us after Death that they who excelled in Virtue and reigned in the Affections of Mankind by a delightful Mistake may seem to be alive and we to behold them She who is so much in our Thoughts and so much deserves to be in one of the best places there appeared whether she would or no highly Good in her Life but still more did she appear so at her Death in her Papers left behind her as the Riches of some wealthy Men are discovered when they dye to be so much greater than we did imagine But alas how dear bought was this our Knowledge We could have been contented to have known no more of her Piety than what we saw in her Life when that Piety was so great and that Life so valuable Was there need of her Death like that of a Martyr for the propagating of Religion as once the Blood of the best Christians was the seed of the Church Was she to bequeath her Piety to others in Writing and as it were by Will These Papers like those of a late Noble Lady and directed as a Letter from the other World to her Lord were far more valuable than such as are often left by the Learned to amuse the World afterwards with Posthâ—mous Books The reading of the Psalms and other parts of Scripture which was the daily Exercise of Primitive Saints was to her a daily Duty and the performing of this Duty was the last composed Action of her Life as Religion was the first thing and the last in her Thoughts And so she went forth from her Closet as a Great General goes out from his Tent to Fight she went forth to begin her encounter with Death when she first had taken not only St. Paul's Shield of Faith and Helmet of Salvation but his Sword of the Spirit which is the word of God How suitable were the Psalms for this Day for this her Great Day of Tryal As at the time of the Death of King Charles the First the Second Lesson for the Morning Service was an History of the Crucifying of Christ and read before the King he ask'd the Bishop who attended him in his last Hours whether he had chosen that too suitable Lesson for that too sad occasion the Bishop answered It was no choice but the Day of the Moneth and the Order of the Liturgy had presented it Another Excellent Person and not less so for being nearly related to that good Prince whose Piety was as great as his Misfortunes heard the last Sermon upon that Text Heb. 12.1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed abâ—ut with so great a Cloud of Witnesses c. That is of such whom as in the Chapter before The world was not worthy of and who all died in Faith and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the Earth The First Psalm of the other fatal Day we speak of the 139th begins with a lively Acknowledgment of that which Governed her that which she seemed to think of always in her Actions God's Presence in every place and His Knowledge of every thing O Lo d thou hast searched me and known me Thou knowest my down-sitting thâ—u understandest my Thoughts afar off Thou compassest my path and my lying down and art acquainted with all my ways In the same Psalm there is afterwards a praising of God for our Birth as every one besides her self had cause to praise God for hers I will praise thee for I am feaâ—fully and wonderfully made My substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth And then alas her Substance thus curiously formed was soon to be dissolved In the next Psalm the 140th she read these words and her condition made them her own O God the Lord the strength of my Salvation thou hast cov red my head in the day of Battle That was indeed to her the Day of Battle And Surely the riâ—hteoâ—s shall give thanks to thy Nâ—me and the up ight shall dwell in thy presence Then was she ready to go into and dwell in the Presence of God and to have that new occasion of giving Thanks unto his Name In the other Psalm the 141st she found something very grateful because very agreeable to her own eager Devotion Lâ—rd I cry unto thâ—e make haste unâ—o me then would there be need for her crying and for God's making haste to her Give ear unto my voice whâ—n I cry unâ—o thee let my prayer be sâ—t forth befâ—re thee as Incense and the lifting up of my Hands as the Evening Sacrifice She never failed to offer that Incense and that Sacrifice too not only the Evening but the Morning one Had she indeed offered so much that she at last had nothing left to offer but her self and so she became her self a Sacrifice An Evening Sacrifice for then was the Night coming upon her in which no man can work Her Prayer was truly Incense for never was any thing more sweet it was made up of the Breathings of her Soul never had any thing a more Sovereign and Refreshing Smell Warm it was like that burning at the Altars and as Incense it was diffusive and spread all around her in the Virtue of it this as the other things she did was an odour of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable well pleasing to God Phil. 4.18 In the same Psalm says David afterwards Our bones lye scattered at the Graves mouth but mine eyes are unto thee O God the Lord in thee is my trust leave not my Soul destitute She was concerned for her Soul her Body which every one else thought worthy of Care had little from her and when it was at the Graves Mouth she would scarce have open'd her own for its deliverance if she were to have considered as she seldom did her self alone The Lesson she read was 1 Thess 4. which thus begins Furthermore then we beseech you brethren and exhort you by the Lord Jesus that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God so you would abound more and more v. 1. She had walked and had pleased God and she had abounded more and more but she was not to do so any longer here she was to make her advances in higher Degrees and with more ease and security in the state of abundance and infinite Perfection The latter part of the Chapter speaks of Death and of Sorrow for it And was she to depart in peace upon the reading of that Word as Simeon did upon the fulfilling of another The Heathen coveted Death when he had read Plato's Book of the Immortality of the Soul and so did the suffering Christians the Noble Army of Martyrs when they had heard God speaking to them from the Scriptures as in ancient History the Soldiers are said to do upon the encouraging Orations of their Leaders
Angels of God in Heaven where she is who have no Off-spring Mat. 22.30 and are Immortal in themselves without the help of Children to make them so The Writer of the Book of Wisdom speaks of a Woman Righteous and Childless Wis 3.13 14 15. She shall have fruit in the Visitation of Souls and of such a Man To him shall be given the special Gift of Faith and an Inheritance in the Temple of the Lord more acceptable to his Mind for glorious is the Fruit of good labours and the Root of Wisdom shall never fall away Better it is to have no Children and to have Virtue Wis 4.1 2. for the memorial thereof is immortal because it is known with God and with Men when it is present men take example from it and when it is gone they desire it it weareth a Crown and triumpheth for ever having gotten the victory striving for undefiled rewards The private Peace which was at all times within her Breast was lately so much more because there was a Publick one that she at her Death as the Angels at Christ's Birth she at her going up to Heaven as they at their coming down from thence might praise God and say Luke 2.13 14. Glory to God in the Highest and in Earth Peace Good will towards men But was she to be offered upon the return from War as the Daughter of Jephthah was Jud. 11.31.38.40 the mighty Man of valour who had declared Whatsoever cometh forth of the Doors of my house to meet me when I return in Peace from the Children of Ammon shall surely be the Lords She offered her self to God when Living must she when Dying be made an Offering too like the Lambs and Turtles under the Law The Daughter of Jephthah had two Months allowed her to bewail her fate upon the Mountains there were not two Days here The Daughters of Israel went yearly to lament the Daughters of Jephthah four days in a Year the Daughters and the Sons of Israel lament in the case before us and not four days only not in an Yearly but a Daily course of Mourning And now perhaps my Hearers will say With all those Perfections wherein you have pronounced her Perfect and Upright there was one thing too Imperfect that was her Life that too short Young she was and Young she died alas as Young as Good Eighteen Years and Eighteen Days How narrow a Space for something of so Great a Compass to be contracted bound up and restrained to This should be no more a grieveous thing then it is that any one should run a Race in a little time and win the Prize when the very running in less time does win it So run that you may obtain and then you may be concerned no farther not for your selves not for others She was the more a Wonder that she thus soon should become thus Excellent and such Excellence was a particular Mark of God's Favour as it was the peculiar Gift thereof She must receive it from Him alone when there was not the usual course of Time and long method of Discipline for the attainment of it as Miracles are not wrought by slow by natural and common ways Therefore you read v. 7. to 18. Wisdom 4 Though the righteous be prevented with Death yet shall he be in rest for Honourable Age is not that which standeth in length of Time nor that is measured by number of Years but Wisdom is the Gray Hair unto Men and unspotted Life is Old Age And then how Old was she of whose short Life we so much complain Yea speedily was Enoch taken away lest wickedness should alter his understanding and deceâ—t beguile his Soul He being made perfect in a short timâ— fulfilled a long time This the people saw and under stood it not neither laid they up this in their Minds That God's Grace and Mercy is with His Saints and that he hath respect to His chosen Thus the righteous who is dead shall condemn the ungodly who are living and youth which is soon perfected the many years and old age of the unrighteous for they shall see the end of the wise and shall not understand what God in his Counsel hath decreed for him and to what end the Lord hath set him in safety And Ecclus. 41. Fear not the sentence of death Ecclus. 41 3 4. remember them who hâ—ve been before thee and who come after for this is the Sentence of the Lord over all flesh And why art thoâ— agaâ—nst the pleasure of the most High for there is no inquisition in the grave whether thou hast lived tâ—n or an hundred or a thousand years Indeed the hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of Righteousness v. 31. Prov. 16. But Righteousness at any time is a Crown of Glory it is to the head which is not hoary so much more to this when the Righteousness has not like that of Old Age the sins of Youth to deface it not the necessities of approaching Death to lessen it and has only the Graces and Charms of Virtue to recommend it not the Experiments and Evils of Vice to force it Here was a Bloom of Age but then here was a Ripeness of the two best Fruits which grew in the Garden of Eden and now in the Wilderness of the World Virtue and Wisdom as in some hotter Countries a Blossom is seen upon one part of the Tree and ripe Fruit upon the other And so in this Sence too Isaiah's Prophecy is fulfilled The Child shall dye an hundred years old Isa 65.20 and his Question is answered Who hath heard such a thing Who hath seen such things Isa 66.8 Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day or shall a Nation be born at once He who in few days made all the World might well in few years make her that which He would accept and He would love and here too as after the Creation He in a pleasing Review saw that which He hid wade Gen. 1.41 and behold it was very good Gen. 1.12 She had all the Grandeur and comely Gravity of the Roman Matrons when she had the Youth of their Daughters her Age we could much rather have desired to have been that of the Mothers How beautiful should we have thought Old Age in her if we could have seen it there How charming had wrinkles been in her Face and each deeper Line upon her Cheek had given us a fairer Prospect than the most fruitful Valleys We could indeed have wisht her Life and when once we had enter'd upon the wish we know not when and where we should have ceased nor how we could have disengaged our selves again from a Thought so entertaining As there is a Great Prince near the Empire of Moscovy for whom his Subjects have so high a Veneration that they are not willing to believe him Mortal but please themselves with an extravagant Notion that