Selected quad for the lemma: death_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
wondrous old and if any reach to an hundred and fourty or fifty as lately old Parr did he is such a Rarity that he draws more eys to behold his wrinckled wither'd face then any can with their most youthfull Beauty But then again 2. As man's daus are few compared with what he liv'd before the Flood so they are fewer compared with the days which he might have liv'd if he had not faln The State of Innocency had in it a kind of Immortality Sin was the Shortner of man's days 't is the Birth of Sin in man which is the Seed of Death Again 3. If the Days of man are of short Continuance compared with what they once were or might have been upon the Earth How short and few are they in comparison of what they shall be when he shall be raised out of the Earth Then the Days of man's Life within Heaven or Hell in Happiness or in Misery shall be as long as the Day of Eternity 4. And lastly As the Days of man are of short Continuance compared with what he once had or shall have so they are fewest of all compared with the days of God so few that as his days cannot be counted because they are so many so ours can hardly be counted because they are so few they are as nothing before him What is all Time compared with Eternity Oh! then what a Nothing is the Age of man to Eternity Be bold Thou hast made my days as c. And thus you have the Proof of the Point That Man's Pilgrimage on Earth is of Continuance Give me leave but to draw forth some practical Improvements from it and I shall pass to the Second Application First Is it so that Man the most Excellent of Creatures here below is of so short Continuance then this may teach us not to set our Hearts too much on any Earthly Comforts as Children Riches c. 'T is true these things are pleasing and delightful to us for a Time as Jonah's Groud was a great Refreshment to him but God prepared a Worm which smote the Gourd that it withered so Children the Parents take a great delight and comfort in them for a time but then God prepares a Worm i. e. some Sickness or Disease which seises upon these Gourds and makes them wither and dy Jon. iv 10. Many are troubled to know what that Gourd was of Jonah's some Expositours render it by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is as much a Ivy the word in the Hebrew is Kikaion i. e. a kind of a little Shrub or Tree which had broad Leaves like a Vine and a very thick Shadow without Doubt 't was a Plant which quickly grew up and was very shadowy and so refreshing and comfortable The end why God sent this pretty Tree t was to conver the head of Jonas that is might be a shadow to comfort him in his Gries thus God gives Children to comfort them for a time but the would not have us set our Hearts upon such brittle things such Shadows dote upon such Plants not overlove them if so God can quickly send a Worm which will blast their Hopes which will dash in pieces all their Comforts that which they took most delight in shall perish in a Moment Alass all outward Blessings are in themselves fading and perishing The Fashion of this World passes away 1. Cor. vii 31. The Scheme the Beauty of the best earthly things pass away whilst we enjoy them they moulder away between our Hands whilst we are using them We see here in this Instance we are met together upon How quickly the Beauty of all worldly Blessings may be blasted If God gives Commission he can blast all our Estates and Comforts in a day nay in a Moment all Creatures are perishing Substances and swept away in a trice Worldly things the best and greatest of them are but little and for a little time fine Flowers but quickly cropt Man in his greatest Enjoyment is in as perishing a Condition as any thing he enjoys We are always dying and so is all that we have ours are dying Comforts dying Riches dying Honours dying Strength dying Beauty dying Children Is xl 6. All flesh is grass and the goodness thereof is as the Flower of the field that quickly withers and decays The best of earthly Excellencies may soon be taken away from us not only is Man of a brittle Constitution in Nature but all the Perfections which he ha's on this side Grace are brittle to If the Scriptures were silent in this point yet Experience would tell us 't was true Oh! Therefore Christians set not your Affections on things here below set them not upon Earthly Glories upon Earthly Comforts 'T is no wisdom to hold that fast in our Affections which we cannot hold long in our Possessions or to love those things much which may speedily be lost Oh! pursue Spirituals and make sure of Heavenly Comforts these onely are durable of these you can never be strip'd of The Soul that is once thus cloathed shall never be found naked the Comforts of the Graces of Christ in Sanctification these inward Comforts these are unfading flowers an Inheritance incorruptible that fadeth not away All worldly Comforts may quickly be dasht and lost prepare therefore for Changes and use this world as not abusing it i. e. use it well prudently and chearfully become submissive to the All-ruling Providence of God when he takes away any of your outward Comforts say as Job did Ch. i. 21. The Lord gave and the Lord ha's taken away and blessed be the name of the Lord. T is very observable there The Lord ha's given me these Comforts not by my Strength or my Diligence by my Policy or my Prudence I have gotten such an Estate or such Children No but The Lord ha's given He is the Fountain and Donor of all our earthly Comforts They are Fruits of Gods Bounty and therefore that which he gives freely we should when he calls for it part with contentedly If the Lord give us all we have methinks this should make us willing to give back somthing unto the Lord again If we were but throughly perswaded of all our Receipts from him we should be more contented when he commands to give all again back to him God may command these things from us by Authority I but he expects this from us as our Duty In all our Afflictions let us look beyond the Creature In all our Losses we either feel or fear let our Hearts be carried up unto God and say The Lord ha's given c. and the Lord ha's done this and that It came not by Chance or Fortune but it is the Lord and let him do what seemeth him good Let us be dumb and not open our mouths by any impatient Speeches because thou Lord dost these things God is worthy of all Blessing and Praise as well when he deprives us of Earthly blessings as when he bestows them on us And