A26780:20
An account of the life and death of Mr. Philip Henry, minister of the…
An account of the life and death of Mr. Philip Henry, minister of the gospel near Whitechurch in Shropshire, who died June 24, 1696, in the sixty fifth year of his ageAn account of the life and death of Mr. Philip Henry, minister of the gospel near Whitechurch in Shropshire, who dy'd June 24, 1696, in the sixty fifth year of his age
London: printed for Tho. Parkhurst, 1698
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
CHAP. I.
Mr. Philip Henry's Birth, Parentage, early Piety, and Education at School.
HE was born at White-hall, in Westminster, on Wednesday August 24. 1631. being Bartholomew-day. I find usually in his Diary some pious Remark or other upon the Annual return of his Birth-day: As in one Year he Notes, that the Scripture mentions but two who observed their Birth-day with Feasting and Joy, and they were neither of them Copies to be Written after: viz. Pharaoh, Gen. 40. 20. and Herod, Mat. 14. 6. But (saith he) I rather observe it as a Day of ⟨p. 2⟩Mourning and Humiliation, because shapen in Iniquity and conceived in Sin. And when he had completed the Thirtieth Year of his Age, he noted this, So old and no older Alexander was when he had Conquered the great World, but (saith he) I have not yet subdued the little World my self. At his Thirty third Year he hath this Humble Reflection; A long time lived to small purpose, What shall I do to redeem it? And at another, I may Mourn as Caesar did when he Reflected upon Alexander's early Achievements, that others younger than I am, have done much more than I have done for God, the God of my life. And (to mention no more) when he had lived Forty two Years he thus writes; I would be loth to live it over again, least instead of making it better, I should make it worse, and besides, every Year and Day spent on Earth is lost in Heaven. This last Note minds me of a Passage I have heard him tell of a Friend of his, who being grown into Years, was asked how old he was, and answered, On the wrong side of Fifty: Which (said Mr. Henry) he should not have said; for if he was going to Heaven, it was the right side of Fifty.