Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A65977
|
A letter out of Suffolk to a friend in London giving some account of the last sickness and death of Dr. VVilliam Sancroft late Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.
|
Wagstaffe, Thomas, 1645-1712.
|
1694
(1694)
|
Wing W209; ESTC R5719
|
18,920
|
38
|
him afforded him larger and more frequent Opportunities of conversing with God and with himself of imploring the Divine Favour Forgiveness and Assistance of perfecting his Repentance making up the Accounts of his Soul and preparing himself for another World And these were the Companions of his Solitude the Fruits and Improvements of his Sufferings But besides his own personal and particular Concerns there were others of a more publick Nature which he charg'd himself with and interested himself in the Groans of a languishing and afflicted Church and the Scandal and Sins of an ApostateOne were each of them sad Subjects and both deserved and excited his Christian Compassion and his earnest Address and Application to God for Grace and Mercy in proportion to the respective States and Conditions These are Times of Trial and Temptation of Defection and Apostacy and as God knows there was occasion enough so he suited his Petitions to the Exigency of the Times That God would be graciously pleased to establish the strong confirm the weak reclaim and recover the lapsed those who deserted his Authority as well as their own Principles could not run away from his Prayers and Charity and God grant that they may find the benefit of his holy Devotions who would receive none by his Influence and Example But besides these there is yet another Ingredient which render'd his Solitude more Triumphant and that is the Reason and Occasion of it it was not the Effect of Weariness or Satiety of Sullenness or Disappointment but founded in just and righteous Principles and the goodness of the Cause sanctified the Affliction and made his Privacy venerable in the Eyes of all and very comfortable to himself it was indeed the Exercise and Safeguard of his Vertues but it was moreover the actual Suffering for them and this gave it Life and Spirit chang'd the Stile and Denomination made his Meanness his Glory his Abasement his Honour and Ornament and though he was always a very Great Man yet he made a greater Figure in the World and sustained a more Honourable Character in his Privacy and Retirement than ever he had done in the utmost Extent of his Prosperity and Plenty And this was not only external and terminated without him but it was an Honour founded in Righteousness The Honour this comes from God only which exerts a mighty Power within and sheds ineffable Comforts into a Man's own Breast He saw nothing about him but what were Arguments of his Uprightness and carried the Marks of his Sinceriry and this join'd with the internal Testimony of his own Soul is perhaps one of the most reviving and cherishing things in the whole World And here we may contemplate the mighty power of a good Conscience how easily it triumphs over the World and what unspeakable Pleasure ariseth in the Soul from the sence of an honest and resolute Adherence to Duty He did not only bear his Suffering and low Condition with Patience but be exulted in it it was matter of the highest Satisfaction to him and any Man might read the Pleasure in his Breast by the constant Serenity and Cheerfulness of his Aspect and I dare say that the most greedy Worldling never enjoyed half that solid Complacency in the most lucky and fortunate Acquisitions as he did in being deprived of all and reduced to the mean Circumstances of a private Habitation Thus Holy were his Exercises thus Heavenly his Comforts till at long 〈◊〉 pleased God in order to perfest and compleat them to visit him with a long and langishing Sickness His Disease was at first an â—â—â—ermitting Fever but the Fits were so extream Violent that he was very near Dying in the Second and lay Speechless and bereav'd of his Senses for some Hours but by the help of the Cortex Peruvianus advised and directed by his Physician a Third Fit was prevented But however the stopping the Fits gave some Respite yet it was without any promising Hopes he had some Lucid Intervals but recovered no Strength he lay under a general Weakness and Decay and so continued Wasting to the last Period till his Spirits and Vitals were exhausted and his Soul took Wing from a dry and emacirated Carkass This Distemper from the Beginning to the End continued just Thirteen Weeks He fell Sick on the 26th of August and Dyed on the 24th of November following And now Sir I presume you expect to see the Fruits of a good Life the Conduct of sincere Vertue when it is to wrestle with the Terrors of Death this is the last and it is the greatest of Trials And here we perceive the wonderful Advantages of Sincerity that it standeth us in stead when we have most need and when all things else fail us it supporteth us when our Spirits are spent and enableth us to look Grim Death in the Face not only with Confidence but with Address When he had once shewn his Physician his wasted and shrivl'd Thighs and Legs void of Flesh and all nourishing Juice and Moisture saith he And can these Dry Bones live In truth he was not only contented and willing to die but he breath'd after it with Ardency he desired it and called for it but still with the humblest Submission and Resignation to the Will of God He used to express the Sence of his Heart in these Words of the Psalmist I will bear the Indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against hin I will lay my Mouth in the Dust In his greatest Extremities and Agonies he used to set before him the great Example of our Saviour For saith he As a Lamb carried to the Slaughter he was Dumb and opened not his Mouth Those great Vertues of Humility and Patience of Trust and Affiance in God of Universal Charity and good Will to Men which by a long Practice he had made habitual and familiar to him now exerted themselves most powerfully in this Critical Season and we beheld the Graces of his Life triumphing over the Decays of Nature and were both the Support and the Crown of his Death-Bed which plainly teacheth us how necessary it is to gain a Habit of Vertue in the Days of our Health that we may not have it to seek when we have the greatest occasion to use it We saw the admirable Humility and Patience of his Soul with what quiet and chearful Resignation he submitted to the Divine Will throughout the whole Course of his languishing Sickness There was not the least appearance of any Disturbance or Discomposure but the same Meekness which had always calm'd his Passions under former Dispensations was ready now to assist him and was in in truth more eminent and visible in extremis That which came the nearest to a Complaint was only a Description of his wasting Condition in these Pious Words Thy Hand is heavy upon me Day and Night my Moistare is like the Drought in Summer But even this joined with an Act of high Trust in God for saith he I am
A LETTER OUT OF SUFFOLK TO A FRIEND in LONDON GIVING Some Account of the last Sickness and Death of Dr. VVILLIAM SANCROFT late Lord Archbishop of CANTERBURY LONDON Printed in the Year MDCXCIV A LETTER out of SVFFOLK to a FRIEND in LONDON c. SIR WHen you was pleased to desire of me a particular Account of the last and fatal Sickness of our late Metropolitan and of his Grace's pious Behaviour under it I could not but Congratulate with my Self the happy Imployment you had put me to and do hereby return you my most hearty Thanks for the fresh Opportunity you have been instrumental in giving me of revolving in my Thoughts those admirable and Christian Vertues so eminent and conspicuous in the whole Course and Tenor of his Life and yet more illustrious at the Time of his Death The Memory of him indeed will be always precious in the Eyes of good Men and I am perswaded his Name will never be forgotten in these and the Neighbouring Kingdoms nor ever remembred or mentioned but with Marks of Honour Esteem and Veneration But such Memorials are general and languid and will but coldly affect our Hearts or dispose us to Imitation except his particular Graces be ruminated on and rivetted within us by devout and serious Meditation This will raise in us as was in him a Spirit of Meekness Mortification Fortitude and Constancy And his Death will improve the World as his Life always did by recommending a most generous and sincere Piety and encouraging us in the most difficult Duties of Religion And I must confess to you that it is owing to your Commands that I have had a greater occasion on this great Subject of glorifying God who hath given such Graces to Men of supporting my self and encouraging my Brethren in a State of Affliction and Trouble by the power and prevalency of so renowned an Example I conceive therefore your Request to me in this particular was not so much to satisfy your Curiosity as to affect your Conscience to provoke you to and preserve in you such a steady and unshaken Fidelity to Truth as is not to be undermined or wrought upon by any specious Temptations from the World Our Holy Faith is not founded on the Examples of Men but the Practice of it is mightily encouraged and assisted by them And here you have before you a Glorious Confessor here you have your Holy Arch-Bishop making a safe Passage through Storms and Tempests and carrying his Integrity and Conscience undefiled to the Grave And doth not this bright Example mightily enspirit and inflame your Zeal Doth it not make your Afflictions easy and your Vertue strong Would you now receive the Wages of Unrighteousness how much soever you may want them Or would you change your desolate and narrow Circumstances for those more plentful at the Expence of your Conscience for all the World These are the Fruits of this great Prelates Vertues and this is the use we are to make of them to animate us in the same Course to aspire to the same degrees of Uprightness to despise the World and to take up the Cross not as a Blemish but an Honour to us Otherwise however we may praise and admire him 't is but Flattery and Hypocrisy we celebrate his Memory deceitfully both to his Injury and our own For if his great Vertues deserve to be commended they deserve to be imitated too The Praise of the Tongue is but Breach and Air and the Character goes no deeper than our Lips But if we live like him and pursue the same Vertues with the same Faithfulness and Constancy our Love and Admiration is seated in our Hearts and Consciences and we evidence the Honour we had for him by the noblest Principles of Humane Nature If therefore we shall make him our Pattern and follow his Example we shall do more right to his Memory than by all the Panegyricks in the World I could heartily wish that I were able to set this great Example in a true Light that I could draw his Grace's Picture at full length and give you a compleat Account of the whole Series of his Life from the beginning to the end and this if it was faithfully done perhaps would be as bright a Pattern of Vertue as has for many Ages been communicated to the World and would emulate the Piety of the first and purest Times and the Faithfulness of the Primitive Christian Bishops But this is a Task too difficult for me upon many Accounts and I hope will be undertaken by some abler Hand and indeed is more than you require of me However as Introductory to what follows I shall lay before you these two General Observations I. That that high and important Station which he held in the Church of England was never better filled nor manag'd with better Conduct His great Abilities of Learning Wisdom Courage and Sincerity abundantly qualified him to guide the Church and steer the Helm of it in the most dangerous and surprising Junctures There never was a Time since the beginning of Christianity when all these Qualifications were not necessary in a Christian Bishop and which he had not always more or less occasion to exercise But it must be confessed that in his Days the Church was beset with extraordinary Difficulties and required an extraordinary measure of Prudence and Resolution of Faithfulness and Zeal to manage that great Trust committed to his Charge to the Honour of God the Interest of Religion and the good and benefit of the Church There are two famous Instances which give testimony to this and abundantly evidence the greatness of his Mind the wisdom of his Conduct and the zeal and care he had for the preservation of Religion and the safety of the Church The First was when he was to struggle with the Commands of a Lawful Soveraign which seem'd to interfere with the Interest of the established Religion and the known Laws of the Land but of this he made no difficulty and soon resolved rather humbly to decline the Commands of his Rightful Prince than to obey him to the prejudice of the true Religion and the Established Laws But the manner of doing this was as exemplary as his Courage when his King laid uneasy Commands and which he could not comply with he did not presently fly in his Face and load Him with Invectives and Aspersions much less did he undermine his Throne invite the Invader of it or by ungodly or revengful Arts endeavour to defeat him of his Just and Hereditary Rights But like a true Christian Bishop he committed his Cause to God and possessed his Soul in Patience He could not do an unlawful thing but he knew well that that Reason extended to all unlawful Things and that he could no more violate the Rules of Religion and the Laws of the Land in resisting his Lawful Prince or injuring him in his undoubted Rights than he could violate them in Obedience to him Sincere Vertue is