Selected quad for the lemma: grace_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
grace_n	richard_n	sir_n	thomas_n	4,601	5	9.6736	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28180	A funeral sermon preach'd on the decease of Grace Lady Gethin, wife of Sir Richard Gethin, Baronet, on the 28 day of March, 1700 at Westminster-Abby and for perpetuating her memory a sermon is to be preach'd in Westminster-Abby, yearly, on Ash-Wednesday for ever / by Dr. Birch ...	Birch, Peter, 1652?-1710.	1700 (1700)	Wing B2937; ESTC R23089	10,751	34

the same Case Flete alios c. Go Weep for others My Daughter doth need no Tears So Prays at the Throne of Grace for Your Ladyships Health and Happiness both in this World and the next Honoured Madam Your Ladyships most Humble Servant F. G. INSCRIPTION on the Lady Gethins Monument On the South-Side of Westminster-Abby TO the Pious Memory of Dame Grace Gethin Wife of Sir Richard Gethin of Gethin-Grott in Ireland Bar nt Daughter of Sir George Norton Knight and Bar nt and Grand-Daughter of Sir George Norton Knight and Great Grand-Daughter of Sir William Owen of Salop Sir Thomas Freak of Dorset and Sir Thomas Culpeper of Kent Knights Who being Adorned with all Graces and Perfections of Mind and Body Crown'd them all with Exemplary Patience and Humility and having the day before her Death most devoutly receiv'd the Holy Communion which she said she would not have omitted for ten thousand Worlds she plainly evidenced Her sure and certain hope of future Bliss And thus continuing sensible to the last She resign'd her Pious Soul to God in fervent Transports of Spiritual Joy and Comfort for her near Approach to the Heavenly Glory Obiit October the 11th in the Year of her Age 21 of our Lord 1697. Her Disconsolate and Afflicted Parents for a lasting Memorial of this Her Godly and Blessed End Erected this Monument She being the last of their Issue REV. 14. 13. And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them THIS is a Triumphant Hymn over Death the King of Terrors and the last Enemy of our Nature and so have all regular Churches understood it for they have long used it in their publick Offices as an expression of the firmness of their Faith and the Alacrity of their Hope that this Mortal should put on Immortality and that which is now sown in Corruption shall be raised up in Glory And of this we are assured by St. John beyond the possibility of mistake I says he heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me Blessed are the dead And this wonderful Sentences which only Heaven could Reveal was immediately ratified yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours A Consolation so strong amongst those who first receiv'd it that of old they seemed Ambitious of a preference in Death and so to rejoyce in the Tribulation as to tempt their Fate and run too fast to the Crown They knew not the modern Arts to cover Infidelity or thought it became them to dissemble in the presence of their greatest Foes but gave up their lives unto Death and rejoyced they were counted worthy to lose them Hence came those Holy Customs of attending the Dead with Thanksgiveings of yearly Celebrating the remembrance of Martyrs Agonies of burying the remains of their Bodies under their Altars of making the days of their Death Festivals and the places of their Burial Churches This was the Practice of an undefiled Christianity and it often awakened the observation of unbelievers to enquire into the reasons why the faithful esteem'd them Blessed whose end seem'd to be without Honour nay we often read that this lead them on to Conviction and so the Blood of Martyrs became the Seed of the Church As for those who wish these Honours had not been paid to the Saints departed and who refuse to continue them they do alone by consequence as wish their Religion had not prevail'd and as for those dumb Funerals they would introduce in their stead these express neither Faith nor Hope nor is it imaginable what such a stupid Custom can express but only the Pleasure of Contradiction at parting As to the Sense and Connexion of the Words they are part of a Prophecy so hard to be understood that it may well excuse all pretence to a strict Interpretation But in general they seem intended for a present Comfort to the Christians of that early Age who were appointed to bear the weight of the succeeding Persecutions and had need of all the Faith and Patience of Saints to support them The Title at least c. 1. only speaks of things that must shortly come to pass and so the most antient Writers that best knew the Language of the times Interpret it In their Sense the fall of Babylon was that of Heathen Rome with the Idolatry it supported and the Planting of the Faith of Christ in its place was making all things New and this is a Sense which it is possible to understand still but to kill the Witnesses of the Church Universal in the corner of an Island or to make Scotland or Genva sit Scenes for all the mighty and surprising Events that are here recorded this is a Modern and still undigested thought one that seems intended to make Court to Friends but hath certainly made sport for Enemies Whatever is the Design we are sure of the Event Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord and not in their Sins and in that Latitude it is a noble Testimony to the certainty of our future Reward For 1. The distinction is here made that will divide all Mankind for Ever none are pronounced Blessed except those who die in the Lord and are Members of his Body which is exclusive of all others whatsoever It is not a promiscuous blessing that shall fall indifferently upon the Good and the Bad like that of the Sun or the Rain but the Foundation of God standeth sure he knoweth who are his and 't is happy for us he does so because by this the Righteous are assured that they shall not always be vexed with the filthy Conversation of the Wicked 2. The Sentence is again ratified by the same Divine Authority and that solemn Repetition is not in vain for it is the true and proper Foundation of Faith The Voice commands St. John to Write tha strange Proposition Blessed are the dead for a lasting Memorial and the Answer of the Spirit confirms it as a Matter so important that it could not be too often inculcated And 3. The substance of this Answer namely our resting from Labour and having our Works to follow us suggests the best Method of conceiving what the happiness of another World is for so far as our short Conception reaches a Man can Enjoy no more even in desire than to rest from the Evil that attends our imperfect State and to have all his Good to follow him And 1. We are never to forget unto whom alone the Blessing is confined for it is at the Peril of our Souls and of all the dreadful Consequences which attend the loss of them that we remember the distinction The Caution perhaps may not seem pertinent to him that considers only how plain it is in Speculation but there is a continual use of it when reduc'd unto Practice or the uses of Life There every Profession of

proves it possible but not certain from his Power alone we can only conclude that we may rise but it is from his Will that we are sure to do so and that intention is only delivered in his Word It remains therefore that all the true ground of hope is that so hath God appointed and so declared in his Word and hath given assurance of it unto all Men by raising up Jesus Christ For no Argument is so convincing as a miracle in kind to see a Man like our selves rise again by a visible experiment because that which hath been may be again and no objection is good against Experience In so weighty a case then as this is we ought not to build upon any Foundation that will not bear the Superstructure upon thin airy Speculations which only please the weak but never satisfie the wise our wisdom is to pass on from likelyhoods to full assurances that we may dare to look Death in the Face and be stedfast and unmovable when we do so 3. It remains in the last place that we also consider the words as they are a full and adaequate description of our future happiness or at least suggest to us the best method of conceiving it for to rest from our Labours and to have our works follow us seems a division that exhausts the Subject because let a Man call what he will his good or his evil he can wish no more than to enjoy the one and get rid of the other A rest indeed from Labour is seldom apprehended except by those who have tasted a bitter Cup and the possession of good with the security of Enjpyment is but rarely thought of by them that want an Habit of taking care of themselves We need not then to wonder if the fools of Fortune are not commonly wise towards God but he that can either relish a deliverance or a Blessing will not be troubled with a doubtful Choice he will reach forth unto the things which are before and forget the things that are behind It is true what those things are which are before we cannot comprehend and if we could they would not be so great 'T is in vain to attempt the describing of a Life that is hid or that World of Spirits which is Invisible All we Mortals know of the Regions above and the Joys that are there is that they are not like our own and he that pretends to more must go thither and fetch down the knowledge And yet that knowledge which is too wonderful for us is no doubt familiar to that enlightned Soul which looks down and pities our blindness I mean that Excellent Person who is gone before unto Glory and hath left us wretched Mortals to do Honour to her Memory Her Condition is now out of the reach of enquiry above the Praises and much more above the Flatteries of Men. Such adulterate Arts are below the Dignity of the Subject and the place we are in may the Darkness cover them and their sound be no more heard in any Congregation of the Saints But I hope it will not fall under the Censure barely to name what it would be on this occasion a Crime to Conceal Give me leave then to Observe that the Deceased hath a just Title to all that the Civiliz'd part of the World requires as due to Families of note and extraordinary Merit being of a well known race not only for its Wealth and Antiquity but for its Loyalty too If this honourable Character may still be allowed its barren Praise inspight of that insolent Faction who call it a juster thing to have judged their King than preserved him To which if we add the Piety of her immediate Parents in forming her tender Years to Virtue and generously providing to have the Memory of it Annually propagated we need not scruple to call her Good and Pious by descent But she had little need of turning the Atchievements of Ancestors into a property if a Stranger might be allowed to be particular in those Graces in which her self only had a Share Let it suffice barely to name a natural probity of Temper a Meek and Candid Behaviour a remarkable Justice and Charity of Action and above all a sober unaffected Piety which are but a part of her happy Character and might every one be enlarged opon from an undoubted Testimony would it not perhaps appear a betraying of Truth into the hands of Flattery All which therefore lessens the wonder that her end was Peace and a Peace that so filled the Mind as made the beholders judge it a fore-taste of her approaching Felicity What those joys were becomes not us to define for secret things belong to God but we are to lose no opportunity to think of the things which are commanded us with Reverence Every solemnity of this kind allows us to see how frail and uncertain our own Condition is at anothers Expence and he that is Wise will ponder these things The most think of another World under a general representment and as of a thing wherein they have no personal Concern but it is for want of numbring their days in this would they wisely retire out of the noise and tumult of the World to compute how short their days probably are by how many unforeseen Accidents they may be still shorter and that yet upon these uncertain moments of our probation Eternity depends this would allow us to hope for the great end of the Precept I mean the applying our Hearts unto Wisdom to an early Provision for that unknown State which will soon begin but never have an end For all great considerations and important Resolutions require time to ripen them a certain degree of retirement to fix the Heart and take Root in it which our Saviour intends by entring into our Closets and on the contrary a sad experience will not let us be Ignorant that what is lightly undertaken will be lightly pursued In particular we are to turn this bright Example into an Advantage to our selves for tho' the vertues it enforces are of the number of those which make least noise in the World yet they are of most real use Men indeed talk most loudly of their Conquerors and Churches are ever most disturb'd by the heads of Parties and the Authors of Heresies but they get least by these glorious Troublers of the Worlds repose of all Mankind besides the true supporters of Society that make life a Blessing are the humble and contented who do their own business and have a just sense of Humane Condition being full of Mercy and good Fruits If then the Fame of these more retired vertues is not so great yet still it is better for they leave no marks of their Oppression behind them nor are they pursued to their Graves by the Tears if not the Curses of the Miserable A greater Fame is indeed scattered into more Mouths but it is a Trumpet that calls together Enemies as well as Friends a good one is more approved of God and accepted of Men and it ought not to be forgot tho' the Lesson be taught us by one of the lowest instances of God's Providence that his Holy Law takes more care for Oxen that tread out the Corn in Peace than for the Horse which tramples it down in War To conclude we are not to let all remarkable Events pass over our heads without Observation but are to gain by experience or else we make no use of our Reason If then we think this our Interest I hope that only fashionable Argument will make it appear our Duty too Awake therefore says St. Paul thou that Sleepest Eph. 5. and arise from the Dead Shake off thy Sloth and behold the Crown which is reached out unto thee do not abandon the care of thine own Preservation and shut thine Eyes against the light In vain dost thou continue among the Graves of Sin and yet hope to find life among the dead the works of Darkness will never lead thee to the Light inaccessible but if thou sowest to the Flesh thou shalt of the Flesh reap Corruption Be wise therefore for thy self O foolish dreamer and make hast to the Prize for all the treasures aabov lie open to the hearts that are there thou hast but to desire and to enjoy and shalt happily find that a Resurrection of the Soul will not fail to make a joyful one of the Body And Blessed and Holy is he that hath his part in the first Resurrection on such the second Death hath no Power but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ Now to God the Father c. INSCRIPTION on the Lady Gethins Monument TO the Pious Memory of Dame Grace Gethin Wife of Sir Richard Gethin of Gethin-Grott in Ireland Knight and Bar nt Daughter of Sir George Norton and Grand-Daughter of Sir George Norton Knights and Great Grand-Daughter of Sir William Owen of Salop Sir Thomas Freak of Dorset and Sir Thomas Culpeper of Kent Knights Who being Adorned with all Graces and Perfections of Mind and Body Crown'd them all with Exemplary Patience and Humility and having the day before her Death most devoutly receiv'd the Holy Communion which she said she would not have omitted for ten thousand Worlds she plainly evidenced her sure and certain hope of future Bliss And thus continuing sensible to the last She resign'd her Pious Soul to God in fervent Transports of Spiritual Joy and Comfort for her near Approach to the Heavenly Glory Obiit October in the Year of her Age 21 of our Lord 1697.