A funeral sermon for Mrs. Esther Sampson, the late wife of Henry Sampson, Dr. of Physick, who died Nov. 24. M.DCLxxxix / by John Howe ... Published principally for the use of such as languish under painful and chronical diseases.

  • Howe, John, 1630-1705.
Date:
1690
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A funeral sermon for Mrs. Esther Sampson, the late wife of Henry Sampson, Dr. of Physick, who died Nov. 24. M.DCLxxxix / by John Howe ... Published principally for the use of such as languish under painful and chronical diseases. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    CM] this marR could not but lye ftill before the eye of his divine mind’' to which all his works were known from the beginning of the world- Yet the cure is dcfer’d, the releafe is not given till the appointed feafon. When it is the cafeof anyof you to be afflided with long fickneft, and to feel thetedioufnefs of a lingering difeafc ('count upon it that it may be fo, as’ds like, it hath been with divers of you •, ) Do not then permit the matter to the cenfure of an incompetent, partial Judge. If you confult flefh and blood, if jenfe be to pronouiice in the cafe, and give judgment, how hard will it be to perfwade that you are not negledfed m your languifli- ings, that your groans and faintings are unpity’d ; tho’ you are fo plainly told, that whom the Lord loves he chaflens ? Are you not ready to fay, how can this hand wdth being, at the famie time, the objedt of divine pity ? If he pity me, would he let me lye, and languid! thus, in fo mdferablea plight, day after day,-and year after year ? Yes*, thefethingsvery well agree, and I would fain fliortly evince to you that they do. Why J I. His Compaffion may fufficiently be Evidenc’d in ano¬ ther kind, and by another fort of inflances. Sure, it wdll fpeafc compaffion, if he frequently vifit his frail infirm creatures,, and by his vifitation'preferve their fpirits, if he fitpport them, if he re- frefh them, this is grace. My grace jhali be fuffcknt for thee, faith he to the great Apoflle, when he refufed to releafe him from that thorn in the fejh, that ^meffenger of Satan that did buffet him. St. BefldtS, compaffion may appear by this kind of difpenfation it felf. It may not only carry that with it, but in it, which may fliew good will. If long continued afflidion may be fuppofed to pro¬ ceed from compaffion, it doth much m.ore confft with it. It may pro¬ ceed from compaffion, and bear the relation to it of an effedt to the caufe. We find it exprefly fo faid in Scripture; and who can fo truly fpeak Gods mind ashimfelf.? He affiiUs in very faithfal- tiefs 5 and, as many as the Lord loves, he chaflens, and fcottrges every [on whom he receives, Prov. 3. 12, quoted, Heb. 12.5,6. Lev. 5. Afflidiori muft be the elFeft of his real, and moft fincere good will, and compaffion, tho’ of long continuance, if it be apt, and intended to do you good, in higher, and in greater regards, than thofe wherein you fuffer; or if the good your afflidtion does you, or is fitly defign’d to do you be of a nobler, and more excellent kind, than that whereof it deprives you, it muft be anderftood,not