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A44544
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A sermon occasioned by the death of the Right Honourable the Lady Guilford by Philip Horneck ...
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Horneck, Philip, 1673 or 4-1728.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing H2854; ESTC R8311
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12,434
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36
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A SERMON Occasioned by the DEATH OF THE Right Honourable THE Lady GVILFORD By Philip Horneck L. L. B. Chaplain to the Right Honourable Francis Lord Guilford LONDON Printed for Edmund Rumball at the Post House in Russel-street in Covent-Garden MDCXCIX The Epistle Dedicatory TO THE Right Honourable FRANCIS Lord GVILFORD MY LORD WHilst others Mourn in Silence the Loss of the Deceased Saint I must beg leave to make a Publick Declaration of my Grief tho it must fall short of a true Sympathy with Your Lorship 's who being Related to her in the strictest Alliance best knew the value of her while Living must sensibly perceive the want of her now Dead This my Lord would Naturally draw on a Consolatory Discourse were I not fully assur'd of the Presumption of such an Attempt Your Lordship is furnish'd with better Arguments than I can give the happy effects of which appear in that true settlement and composure of your Spirits I that saw Your Lorship 's demeanour at the most Melancholy Juncture with what Christian Courage and Constancy you receiv'd the News of My Lady's Death how Glorious you rose above the Billows which threaten'd you cannot doubt but the same Principles which fortify'd you at that time have since confirm'd you beyond a possibility of falling Such exemplary Conduct My Lord was highly requisite to secure the Interest of Religion for had Your Lordship fail'd in that great Point of Resignation Hundreds that stood beneath your Shade might have stagger'd in their Belief when they had seen so Tall a Cedar shatter'd and broke by the assaults of Fate But still Your Lordship's Grief was comely your Lamentations well-temper'd All the Tenderness and Passion that could be fairly allow'd Your Lordship express'd yet at the lowest ebb never betray'd a Sorrow without Hope This was truly Great and Rational for as a Philosopher of old observes It is not Benevolence but Weakness that prompts a Man to continual Grief and makes those only fear whom Reason has not sufficiently arm'd against Contingencies And here I cannot but Congratulate Your Lordship upon bearing the Stroke so well For none can imagine how near a touch Nature gives how piercing the Sufferings of one's Blood are but those whose tender Bowels feel the Smart and I dare affirm no Person of such quick Resentments as Your Lordship is Master of could have set bounds to their Passion None besides your Lordship but must have fainted under the Load In fine No Person that had once enjoy'd so voluable a Consort but would have courted Solitude for ever But Your Lordship has bravely Surmounted the busy Encroacments of Nature and wisely considered that this Inestimable Prize was snatch'd from as by the special designation of Providence Vertue has no security from the Grave Death riots on the spoil of the best as well as the worst Cato enquires of the Gods why Pompey should be vanquished by Caesar who had much the better cause We may likewise wonder but with more Modesty Why the Rightous Perish and the wicked Survive and Prosper No doubt the Almighty has great reason for such severe dispensations either that we are not worthy of them or that me prize them too much In this late sorrowful Instance I hope I shall not exceed the bounds of Modesty if I ascribe the former to our selves the latter to Your Lordship For Your Lordship must own you Lov'd her Lov'd her dearly nay Lov'd her passionately This God saw and perhaps deprived Your Lordship of so great a Blessing on purpose to draw of your Thoughts from all Sublunary things This is the result of his boundless Knowledge who foresees what is best for us and mingles ill with the good things of this Life Fears with our Hopes Crosses with our greatest Pleasures least we should set too great a value upon any thing here below and abandon Heaven for present Fruition The Spirit is apt to yield in Prosperity and we grow too frequently upon the liberal Distributions of Providence till God humbles us by Affliction recalls our wandring Thoughts and out of these Clouds creates a Glorious Day As to these following Pages I have little to offer in their behalf and therefore must beg Your Lordship's Protection both for them and my self The first Essays in any kind are hazardous but Attempts of this Nature are almost desperate For upon such occasions we are unavoidably exposed to one of these two Censures either of saying too little or too much The latter of which Imputations does no ways concern me For how prevalent soever the Malice of the World may be I will venture to affirm that I have not neither was I in a possibility of doing Justice to My Lady For those Characters I have drawn are only Sketches of her Life but could I have been led into her Retirements I do not question but there might have been form'd one of the compleatest Models that has been exhibited to the World for some Ages past Indeed those scatter'd Pieces of her Life ought to have been toucht by a more masterly Hand but I had no power to dispute Your Lordship's Command which will in some measure I hope attone or the Defects Here I must not forget to acquaint the World what repeated Hints I receiv'd from Your Lordship to avoid all artificial Strains false Colourings and suspicious Glosses These I have strictly obey'd nay I have went so far as to lay asido even common Ornaments that I might not endanger the truth of the Character And now My Lord it 's time to ask Pardon for this trouble but at the same time must beg Your Lordship to indulge one Plea if it may be admitted as such That the miscarriages of Young Adventurers are more excusable than others especially where neither Rashness or Ambition has any hand in the Attempt From these Crimes I can safely absolve my self and if Your Lordship will be pleas'd to forgive the rest it will be a mighty Encouragement to the green Enterprizes of MY LORD Your Lordship 's most Devoted Servant and Chaplain PHILIP HORNECK ERRATA Page 30. line 25. read her for our A Funeral-Sermon ON Proverbs XXXI xxxi And let her own Works praise her in the Gates THIS Chapter contains the True and Genuine Character of a Vertuous Woman with relation to a Married State The proper Offices and Employments are specify'd and her Vertue is plac'd not only in Prayer and Devotions but likewise in the prudent Conduct of her Domestick Affairs Instruction of her Children and keeping much at home These Qualifications the Wise Man exacts of the Female Sex and prefers them to Beauty Shape or any other outward Accomplishments Favour is deceitful and Beauty is vain but the Woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised And lest any one should Object that it 's possible after having done so many laudable Actions no person will set a due value on them he prevents all fears of this nature by adding that her own works will
praise her And let her own works praise her in the Gates The sole difficulty contain'd in the Words depends upon that Phrase of being praised in the Gates For the clearing of which be pleas'd to observe that in ancient times the publick Seats of Judicature were fix'd in the Gates of the City to the end that all Passengers might see Justice impartially distributed and if any Person either going or coming had any just Plea against the Sentence pronounc'd he might offer it in favour of the Party Condemned These Gates being publick Places where all Causes were try'd and the common Transactions of the World brought in the meaning of the Expression comes to this issue even That a Person so Meritorious as is represented in the preceding Lines shall have the honour of receiving publick Praise and Commendation Her Praises shall not be confin'd to the single breath of her Neighbours but proclaim'd with a general voice her Merits shall not lie conceal'd within the walls of her own House but flie abroad and become the sole Discourse of the Town Here might be some useful Doctrines rais'd from the Text but I fear they would be too General besides the Solemnity of this Occasion Commands me to particularize and the Illustrious Vertues of the Deceas'd to whose Memory we Sacrifice Challenges from me more than the compass of these following Pages will admit of A Person whose eminent vertues raised her beyond equality and have now given her a proportionate Glory amongst the Saints above A Person whose Death calls for general Mourning but a transcendant sorrow from the good a Person of whom the World was not worthy In fine a Person of whom should I speak but modestly the time would fail me The Theme is spacious and might well excuse enlargements but I shall endeavour to keep within the bounds of your patience and attention Truth shall be my Guide through the several Scenes of her Character and indeed she wants no adventitious Glosses to smooth over the History of her Life That Tongue is to be suspected which is purely tun'd to the Ear and Falshood we know delights in borrow'd Ornaments whilst Truth appears more comely and Triumphs in her Primitive Nakedness and Simplicity The Object will appear truly Glorious without the advantage of false Mirrours so that I am under no temptation of mixing the Colours to advantage or making the Touches appear more lively for her own Works shall praise her in the Gates Yet this must not exclude our pious Officiousness or debar us the pleasure of recounting her Vertues it 's fit they should be convey'd down to Posterity that future Ages may admire and commemorated at this time that the present Age may imitate them It is not sufficient to say that a Person was good without amplifying upon the Character Particulars always leave the deepest impression and excite the Generous to emulation But here I am at a loss where to begin fresh Beauties crowd in and dazle us Wonders lie dispersed thro' the whole Series of her Life and each Minute consisted of Actions Great and Memorable The Infancy of most Persons is deservedly pass'd over containing little else but Simplicities and innocent Pastime and Relators are cautious of introducing them upon the Stage lest they should sully the Actions of their riper years But here even these tender Minutes must not be lost for whilst others of her Age pursued their Childish Diversions she was attentive to good Advice whilst others trifled away their time she would be asking Questions surprizing and much above her Age. She was early possess'd with an awful Reverence of God and with the consequence of that an esteem for Religion It 's true she had been excellently well Principled as being under the Care and Direction of Worthy * The Right Honourable Foulk Lord Brook and his Pious Lady Parents and with Timothy from a Child had been instructed in the Holy Scriptures But still there was something too remarkable in her at those years to escape our acknowledgment viz. her Religious Doubts for she would be scrupulous even about indifferent Matters and could not be prevail'd with to enter upon an Action which seem'd doubtful This was not the effect of Superstitious Fears her Soul was ever exalted above any encroachments of that Nature The truth is she had form'd to her self a due Notion of God's infinite Goodness and from thence made this natural Inference That he was of purer eyes than to behold the least shadow of Iniquity which made her so strict and cautious When very young she express'd a strong desire to go to the Holy Sacrament and would frequently entertain her self with the thoughts of that Bliss she should reap from thence She soon became sensible of what she had promis'd in her Baptismal Covenant and was eager to confirm and ratifie those Engagements at the Altar But still she suspected there was too much rashness in her Desire and forbore till she came to maturer years These Holy Fears were sure Prophecies of her future strictness and her Dawn being so Glorious no wonder that the Day proved so bright As she grew up the impulse was so strong upon her that it could be no ways resisted and accordingly she appear'd at the Holy-Table But what Conflicts did she suffer What different Passions strugled in her Breast Fear left she should prove an Unworthy Receiver Joy that she was admitted to so great an Honour as to be made a Partaker of the Benefits accruing from the Death of her Saviour Her Transports after Receiving were too great to be conceal'd she profess'd there was no pleasure on this side Heaven comparable to it and that it was the richest and most satisfactory Banquet she had ever tasted The Joy she found was a mighty encouragement for her to persist in that Duty and her preparations to it were strict and Laborious All her thoughts came under Correction and as she kept Minutes of her Life so nothing of the least importance could escape her Knowledge She was always free from Reserves but before a Communion she would lay open her Soul make the strictest Animadversions and heighten each Trespass into a Crime and even after the severest Scrutiny would be self-diffident and lay the best of her Services at the foot of the Cross She look'd upon it as an high Indignity to turn her back upon the Holy Table and where ever she found a remisness in the Celebration of that Ordinance she heartily bewail'd the Neglect and was forward in promoting so important a Duty From her Infancy she was an early Riser and what the Ancient Philosophers enjoyn'd as necessary to the preservation of Health she practised upon a Religious account No sooner waking but impatient till she was upon her Knees She always began the Day with Praises to God for the past Nights preservation and then hasted to her Closet to beg his protection of her the following Day in a more humble and solemn manner This