Advice to Mourners Under the Loss of Dear Relations, Elegy 2 – Table of contents
On the greatly lamented Death of Mrs. Ann Terry, my most dear Aunt, who departed this mortal Life on the 9th of November, 1693. in the thirty eighth Year of her Age.
A Pindarique Ode.
O faciles dare summa Deos! eademque tueri
Difficiles.—————Lucan.
Stanza I.
IN vain do Mortals court Eternity;
In vain do they attempt to baffle Fate,
And hope by Actions worthy Praise
Themselves to Immortality to raise:
No: they are all to Death predestinate.
For both the Vertuous and the Vitious must
Fall, alike, undistingaish'd in the Dust:
Else thou, bright Mirror of thy Sex,
Had been preser…'d ali…e
To endless Ages; but thy glorious Fame
Thy fading Ahes shall survive,
And with Arabian Sweets persume thy fragrat Name.
II.
O that my (long since bed-rid) Muse
Cou'd somewhat worthy thee produce!
But how (alas!) can she, enfeebled, sing
The Praises of an earthly Cherabim?
How can she he prepar'd for such a losty Theme?
Or such rapturous Strains bring forth
As may be adaequate to thy immensurable Worth?
He that unto thiue Altar comes,
Must bring no less than Hecatombs.
Thy Vertues do require a nobler Pen:
Vertues above the reach of mortal Verse,
And all that the sublimest Flights of Fancy can rehearse.
But yet, (methinks) though not inspir'd,
I may be suffer'd to attend
Unto her melancholy Urn,
So dear an Aunt, so much esteem'd a Friend.
Thy Bed of Rest with briny Tears I'le strow,
And on thy gloomy Hearse my Wreath of Cypress throw.
III.
Thy outward Beauty was so exquisite
It claim'd, at once, both Wonder and Delight.
Hadst thou but lived in Apelles time,
(And thy corporeal Graces in their prime)
He had not pick'd up Features, here and there,
To limn a Goddess, all in thee collective were.
Nature thy Form thus elegant …iv'd,
As if that (yet more) radiant Gem thy Mind
Disdain'd, in a less glorious Case, to be confin'd.
But O! who can express
Th' Immensity of thy ubounded Tenderness?
A Temper so for Obligations frram'd,
Requests were ever granted, soon as nam'd.
A general Philanthropy thou hadst,
And so th' whole Universe thy Debtor mad't.
For thy surprining Goodness did extend
Beyond the narrow Limits of a Relative or Friend.
Thus we in thee a Female *Titus Vespasian the Roman Emperor.Titus find,
Born to be the Delight of all Mankind.
IV.
But still those had the best Pretence
To thy distributive Benevolence,
As were afflicted, tatter'd, poor,
Who up and down the World, by want, were thrown;
And unjust Fortune's Langhing-stock become:
Rarely did they go unrelieved from thy Door.
Nor didst thou hereby aim at Praise,
(The wise Man's Scorn, though Pride of Fools)
Or strive vain-gloriously to gain Applause.
Thou wast too gen'rous, such mean Ends to have,
Thy left Hand seldom knew what 'twas thy right Hand gave.
Vertue, that's so transcendent, wants a Name,
Exceeding Wonder, and surpassing Fame.
Such was thy exemplary Piety,
So imaffected, and so void of Art,
As made appear, Sincerity
Had Livery and Seisin of thy Heart.
What, didst thou not attempt to be
A Denizon of Immortality?
Whilst here on Earth, in thee we might have seen
A Citizen of New Jerusalem.
Thou couldst not with inglorious Sloth dispense,
But stormedst Heaven with a Holy Violence:
Inflamed with Seraphick Fire,
Thither thou didst, from whence thou cam'st, aspire.
Thither thou didst both Aims and Actions bend,
And to that blessed Port did all thy Steerage tend.
V.
Knowledg, the richest Boon that can be given,
To Earth's Possessor, by indulgent Heaven;
Which others (often) labour for in vain,
And reap no Fruit to recompense their Pain,
Thou hadst, without a stint;
Dispensed with such Liberality,
That twas not difficult to find
A whole *The Circle of Instruction.Encyclopaedia in thy Mind.
It came so swift, we (almost) did believe
'Twas not acquir'd by Study, but intuitive.
Yet so transcendently immense was thy,
Not to be parallell…d, Humility;
As is that vast illustrious Magazine of Worth
That with so great a Splendor did shine sorth,
And unto all that knew thee was reveal'd,
Were only from thy modest self conceal'd.
Thus, o're his radiant Face, a Vail the God-like Moses drew,
And shrowded Glories much too bright for mortal Eyes to
(view.
VI.
Yet so divinely great a Life
Found not uninterrupted Ease:
Thy Conduct in full Lustre did appear,
When thou, by Fate, wast summoned to steet
Thy fluctuating Bark in most tempestuous Seas.
Heaven saw it fit to exercise
Thy passive Vertues, that Afflictions should
Imbitter a vain World to thee,
(A World made up of Vanity)
And from its Ore refine such precious Gold.
This Blessing only didst thou want; before
Thou wast a Saint, but now almost a Consessor.
At length (too good for Earth) thou'rt called hence,
A Member of the Church Triumphant to commence.
But why, (invidious Death) O why so soon?
Why must her Night come, e're sh'as ended Noon?
Well may those Wretches fear to die,
Whose ill-spent Life
No Prospect, but Eternal Wee does give.
Thou calmly didst surrender up thy Breath,
Unterrify'd at the Approach of Death.
Nor did emasculating Grons betray
Thee, emulous of any farther stay,
Or loth the gastly Summons to obey.
Thy Life was wondrous, but its Exit is
A Glorious *Taken up amongst the Blessed.Apotheosis.
Thus though with Splendor Phoebus gilds
The Morning of his Race,
Yet are his brightest Beams reserv'd
The setting Sun to grace.
Feb. 19. 1693/4. Sic moerens deflevit, HEN. CUTTS.
The CONTENTS of the Papers.
Paper I. AN humble Avouchment of God to be her Portion, pag. 34.
Paper II. An earnest Expostulation with her self in reference to the great Concern of her Pretious and Immortal Soul, p. 37.
Paper III. Her most serious Thoughts on this Passage, You will not come unto me that you may have Life, p. 44.
Paper IV. Her grave and godly Advice to her Children, p. 47.
Paper V. Her humble and chearful Deportment under Afflictions, p. 53.
Paper VI. A thankful recounting of many particular Mercies vouchsafed to her, p. 55.
Paper VII. The Scriptures of great Use and Comfort, p. 63.
Paper VIII. Serious Reflections on the late Earthquake, p. 67.
Paper IX, & X. An awful Sense of Death and her own approaching Dissolution, p. 71, & 76.
Paper XI. A delightful Contemplation of the Blessedness of the Saints in Heaven, p. 82.
Paper XII. Texts of Scripture that yielded great Comfort and Support under her desponding Thoughts, p. 90.
Paper XIII. An earnest Desire to be fitted for and brought unto Heaven, p. 99.