An account of the life and death of Mr. Philip Henry, minister of the…

For some Years before he dyed, he used to complain of an habitual weariness, contracted he thought, by his standing to Preach, sometimes very uneasily, and in inconvenient places, immediately after Riding. He would say, every Minister was not cut out for an Itinerant; and sometimes the manifest attention and affection of People in Hearing, enlarged him both in ⟨p. 196⟩length and fervency, somewhat more then his strength could well bear. It was not many Months before he died, that he wrote thus to a dear Relation, who enquired solicitously concerning his Health. I am always habitually weary, and expect no other till I lye down in the Bed of Spices. And (blessed be God) so the Grave is to all the Saints, since he lay in it who is the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Valleys. When some of his Friends persuaded him to spare himself, he would say, It's time enough to rest when I am in the Grave; What were Candles made for, but to burn?

For some Years before he dyed, he us'd to complain of an habitual weariness, contracted he thought, by his standing to Preach, sometimes very uneasily, and in inconvenient places, immediately after Riding. He would say, every Minister was not cut out for an Itinerant; and sometimes the manifest attention and affection of People in Hearing, enlarged him both in ⟨p. 196⟩length and fervency, somewhat more then his strength could well bear. It was not many Months before he dy'd, that he wrote thus to a dear Relation, who enquir'd sollicitously concerning his Health. I am always habitually weary, and expect no other till I lye down in the Bed of Spices. And (blessed be God) so the Grave is to all the Saints, since he lay in it who is the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the Vallies. When some of his Friends perswaded him to spare himself, he would say, It's time enough to rest when I am in the Grave; What were Candles made for, but to burn?

It doth not appear that he had any particular Presages of his Death; but many instances there were of his actual gracious expectation of it, somewhat more than ordinary for some time before. The last Visit he made to his Children in Chester, was in July, 1695. almost a Year before he died, when he spent a Lord's day there, and Preached on the last Verse of the Epistle to Philemon, The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit. By Grace he understood nor so much the good Will of God towards us, as the good Work of God in us, called the Grace of Christ, both because he is the Author and finisher of it, and because he is the Pattern and Sampler of it. Now the choicest Gift we can ask of God for our Friends is, that this Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ may be with their Spirit. This is the one thing needful, the better part, the Root of the Matter, the whole of Man, the Principal thing, the more excellent Way, a Blessing indeed, and the thing that accompanies Salvation. The Grace of Christ in the Spirit, enlightens and enlivens the Spirit, softens and subdues the Spirit, purifies and preserves the Spirit greatens and guides the Spirit, sweetens and strengthens the Spirit, and therefore what can be more desirable. A Spirit