{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_36332/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_36332","id":"gutenberg_36332","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36332","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Funeral sermons","Sermons, American","Storrs, Harriet, 1786-1834 -- Death and burial -- Sermons"],"text":"</pre>\n\n\n\nProduced by Gerard Arthus, Diane Monico, and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAN\n\nADDRESS,\n\nDELIVERED\n\nAT THE INTERMENT\n\nOF\n\nMRS. HARRIET STORRS,\n\nCONSORT OF\n\nREV. RICHARD S. STORRS,\n\nBRAINTREE, MASS.\n\nJULY 11, 1834.\n\nBY\nREV. JOHN CODMAN, D. D.\n\n\nPrinted for private distribution.\n\nBOSTON:\nMUNROE AND FRANCIS.\n\n1834.\n\n\n\n\nADDRESS.\n\n\nThere are some events, in the providence of God, so completely\noverwhelming as to render it extremely difficult, almost impossible, to\ngive utterance to the full feelings of the soul through the medium of\nwords. Language refuses its aid to relieve the burdened heart; and the\noppressed spirit finds itself more inclined to the deep silence of\ngrief, than to the expression of its sorrows by the human voice.\n\nWhen the heart-rending intelligence reached us of the event that has\nfilled our souls with grief and dismay, we felt that no language could\nrelieve our distress or mitigate our sorrow. We were dumb: we opened\nnot our mouth. Our hearts bled--and they bled most freely in silence.\nBut the solemnities of the occasion await us, and the usages of society\ndemand, that we should attempt to give utterance, in the presence of\nour fellow creatures, to those feelings, which we can pour out before\nour compassionate God and Saviour in sighs and tears, without the\nintervention of set forms of speech.\n\nBut where shall we find words to express the depth of our affliction?\nWhere shall we find language to depict the character of the dear\ndeparted--or to administer comfort and support to the beloved survivors?\n\nMysterious Heaven! how unsearchable are thy judgments, and thy ways past\nfinding out! We bow before that holy and righteous Being, whose\ninspiration gave us _understanding_, and who has the undoubted right to\nresume the gift which he bestowed. We know that all his ways are just\nand equal, and that he will not hold us accountable for any act,\ncommitted in the absence of that mental and moral power by which we are\nenabled to distinguish between right and wrong.\n\nOn the painful and distressing circumstances, by which our ever lamented\nand beloved friend is numbered among the silent dead, we will dwell no\nlonger than to express an entire and unwavering conviction, that her\ncharacter and present condition cannot in the least degree be affected\nby the manner of her removal from this sublunary state. We have not the\nshadow of a doubt, that the spiritual intelligence, which once beamed\nupon us with such mild and gentle lustre, and which was, for a short\nseason, shrouded in darkness, is now rekindled by the same gracious hand\nthat so mysteriously overshadowed it, to burn, with increasing and\nnever-ending brightness, with seraphs that surround the throne of God.\n\nIt is utterly impossible for the speaker to do justice to the character\nof our much loved friend, though it has been his privilege to have known\nher worth for nearly thirty years. The circle of christians which, at\nthe time of his first acquaintance with her, then resided in our\nmetropolis, many of whom are now in heaven, were distinguished for deep\nand ardent piety. Surrounded as they were by fashionable and increasing\nerrors, they maintained their integrity and held fast their attachment\nto the doctrines of grace. The precious names of Mrs. Waters, and Mrs.\nMason, and other aged saints, are embalmed in the memory of many a child\nof God. With these venerable pilgrims was associated a young disciple,\nwho, with all the loveliness of youthful attractions, separated herself\nfrom the world, and consecrated herself to the service of her God and\nSaviour. From the prayers and conversation of these aged saints, through\nthe blessing of God, she seemed to receive a peculiar unction of spirit,\nwhich was strikingly characteristic of her future course. In all plans\nof usefulness, which, though small and few when compared with those\nwhich distinguish this stirring age, no one took a more decided and\nactive part. Her peculiarly affectionate manner ingratiated her with\nmany, who were won by her mild and lovely spirit to congeniality of\nsentiment and effort. Her usefulness at that period, in the sphere in\nwhich she moved, was by no means inconsiderable; but the great Head of\nthe church had still more important and interesting duties for her to\nperform.\n\nThere are few situations in life that present more promising fields of\nusefulness to a pious, devoted female, than that of the wife of a\nminister of a united parish. Even the pastor himself, with his\nadditional opportunities of affording instruction from the sacred desk,\ncan scarcely exert a greater or a happier influence upon the minds and\nhearts of his congregation, than is often produced by the more humble,\nbut not less important labours of his devoted companion. Her influence\nis not unfrequently greater than his, especially upon her own sex, and\nupon the tender, opening minds of the lambs of the flock. In the\npromotion of benevolent enterprize, by female associations, and in\nmaternal counsels and prayers for the children of the church, she finds\nher appropriate and successful sphere, though upon the whole\ncongregation, in their varied seasons of prosperity and adversity, her\nsilent but benign influence is felt like the dew of Hermon, like the dew\nthat descended upon the mountains of Zion.\n\nFrom the more diversified and exciting scenes of usefulness in a city\nour departed friend was called to the more arduous and self-denying\nlabours that devolve upon the conscientious wife of the pastor of a\ncountry parish. With what untiring zeal, with what scrupulous fidelity,\nshe discharged these duties, I need only appeal to this crowded, this\nweeping, this afflicted assembly! From lisping infancy to hoary age, the\ntestimony is one and the same. The children of affliction remember with\naffectionate gratitude her tender sympathy and her active benevolence.\nWith the spirit of her divine Master, it may be truly said, that \"in\nall their afflictions she was afflicted.\" Mothers, with their youthful\ncharge, will never forget her wise counsels and her fervent prayers. The\naged and infirm will pour out their benedictions upon her memory, and\neven babes and sucklings will lisp the praises of one, who watched with\nmaternal solicitude over their cradles, and taught them to pronounce the\nname of Jesus.\n\nBut, great and painful as this bereavement is to this afflicted\npeople,--their griefs are almost forgotten, when we turn to the chief\nmourner in this scene of deep and heart-rending calamity. God help thee,\nmy brother!--The God of Jacob, the Angel of the Covenant sustain thee!\nThat your brethren, your people, the church of Christ, your numerous and\nattached friends, feel for you, you cannot doubt. Could they have\naverted the dreadful blow, how readily would they have hastened to your\nrelief. But no human precaution could turn aside the fatal stroke.\nDethroned reason will find opportunity to escape the most vigilant eye,\nand to elude the most watchful care. But dwell not, my brother, on\ncircumstances which were beyond human control, and which affect not in\nthe least degree the accountability of the dear departed. Bury in the\ngrave, to which we are soon to assign these precious relics, as far as\npossible, the memory of the awful circumstances that attended their\ndissolution, and think only of the bright and happy spirit, of what she\n_was_, and what she _is_. O! she was every thing which a fond husband\ncould desire in a companion of his life and labours; truly a help-mate\nfor him in his temporal and spiritual concerns, in his family, and in\nhis parish; in the social circle, and in the widely extended plans of\nusefulness in which the devoted servant of Christ is sometimes engaged\nbeyond the limits of his congregation.\n\nMy brother, in the repeated domestic bereavements which you have\nsustained, you have indeed been greatly afflicted, but you have also\nbeen greatly blessed. To the lot of but few does it fall to have been\nunited to two such companions to cheer them in their pilgrimage through\nthis vale of tears.[A] Their sainted spirits are waiting to receive you\nto those blessed mansions where reason holds her unclouded empire, where\nsighing and sorrow can never come, where death can never enter, and\nwhere sin can never defile.\n\nBut not yet, my brother. The Lord hath need of you to work in his\nvineyard. From your repeated and heart-rending trials you will be better\nqualified, than ever for that important work which the Lord has assigned\nyou in his American Israel. Go on then, my brother, and spend and be\nspent for Christ; and when you shall have performed your appointed\nservice, you shall be welcomed by those whom you have loved on earth to\nthe society of the redeemed--to the vision of Jesus--to the presence of\nGod.\n\nAnd you, the dear and only child of the lamented dead! My heart bleeds\nfor you. Your loss is indeed irreparable; but a mother's prayers are\nyour legacy, and they are better than thousands of gold and silver. How\nmuch she loved you, and how closely you were entwined about the fibres\nof her heart, is abundantly evident from the affecting fact, that\nmaternal solicitude, struggling with departing reason, directed her to\nthe bed of her sleeping child to bid him a last and long farewell.\nAlthough the affecting circumstances of her removal can never be\nobliterated from your memory, think less of them than of the pious\ncounsels, the holy example, the fervent prayers of your much-loved\nmother. Let these dwell on your mind, and they will be a restraint, a\ncomfort, and a support to you under all the various trials of life to\nwhich you may be called. God bless you, my dear child! May your life be\nspared to your surviving parent, to console him in his deep affliction,\nand to be the prop of his declining years.\n\nThe near relatives of our departed friend claim and receive our tender\nand affectionate sympathy. More especially do we feel for that afflicted\nsister, who, while she mourns with us on this affecting occasion, has\nthe additional trial of watching around the sick bed of a beloved\nhusband, deprived also of the exercise of his reason. May she be\nsupported, in this season of her deep affliction, by the consolations of\nthat holy religion, which are neither few nor small.\n\nAnd may all the relatives and the numerous christian friends of the\ndeceased, whether present or absent, be graciously sustained under this\npainful bereavement, and bow, with humble submission, to the will of\nGod.\n\nFriends of this Church and Congregation, with you too we heartily\nsympathize.\n\nYou have been called in divine providence to repeated trials. We bear\nrecord to your disinterested regard to the cause of evangelical religion\nin our growing country, in consenting to the arrangement by which, for a\ndefinite period, you have been deprived of the immediate services of\nyour beloved pastor. You have hitherto had the consolation, and it has\nbeen one of no small importance, of the presence and laborious efforts\nfor your good of the partner of his life. With what exemplary patience,\nwith what admirable self-denial, she sustained the peculiar trials of\nher situation, watching around the couch of a dying brother,[B]\nadministering to the comfort of your late youthful pastor,[C] adopting\ninto her family the orphan and the fatherless,[D] while her best earthly\nfriend was laboriously employed in the service of the church, are well\nknown to you all, and ought to be suitably appreciated. How far she fell\na sacrifice to these painful deprivations--to this uncommon self-denial,\nis known only to Him, who is best acquainted with the intimate\nconnection between the body and the mind.[E] That she died in your\nservice--in the service of her family--and in the service of her God and\nSaviour, cannot admit of a doubt. You will delight, I know, to cherish\nher memory, to dwell upon her virtues, and to imitate her example.\n\nAnd now, my respected hearers and friends, it only remains, that we\ndeposit these precious relics in yonder receptacle of the dead! there to\nrest, till the trump of the archangel awake the sleeping dust. Then,\nwhen the millions of the dead shall burst the cerements of the grave, we\ndoubt not that the bright form of our departed friend, arrayed in\nimmortal youth and vigour, will ascend to meet the Lord in the air, and\nenter with him into his glory.\n\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[Footnote A: Mrs. Sarah Strong Storrs, the first wife of the bereaved\nhusband, was the daughter of Rev. Nathan Woodhull, of Newtown, Long\nIsland; married April 2, 1812--died April 6, 1818, aged 25 years.\nEminently devoted to the service of her Lord in life, and sweetly\ncheered by his presence in death.]\n\n[Footnote B: Rev. Charles B. Storrs, President of the Western Reserve\nCollege, who left the world for heaven, after five weeks sickness at\nBraintree, Sept. 15, 1833.]\n\n[Footnote C: Rev. Edwards A. Park.]\n\n[Footnote D: The two little sons of Rev. C. B. Storrs.]\n\n[Footnote E: Her feelings on this subject are briefly noticed in her\ndiary. After alluding to the circumstances of the case, and to what she\nbelieved to be the ruling motives of her husband in his request to his\npeople for liberty to engage in the service of Home Missions, she\nsays:--\n\n\"I think in no instance of my life have I felt more entirely willing to\nbe in God's hands, and to have him dispose of us as he pleases. My\ntrembling head at times anticipates evil to my dear husband--and my\nselfish heart, in anticipating the days and nights of loneliness that\nawait me, is ready to say,--'How can I give thee up?' But I would not\ndare to cherish these feelings. God has an entire right to do with us as\nhe pleases--and I would love him for doing just as he does. But O!\nstrengthen us for our coming trials!\"]\n\n\n\n\nNOTE.\n\n\nMrs. Storrs had been for months declining in health--a fact more evident\nto herself than to others, because she still continued to discharge her\nusual domestic duties with alacrity and cheerfulness. But often, the\nconviction of her mind on this subject extorted from her the remark--\"my\nconstitution is breaking up--I cannot long live.\" Though the remark had\nnever fallen from her lips in other years, it was too little heeded by\nher friends.\n\nIt was on the evening of March 5th, 1834, that she was suddenly seized\nwith a delirium that indicated inflammation on the brain. A physician\nwas immediately called, and his skilful applications seemed to be\nblessed; the disease yielded; and after a few days, Reason resumed its\nseat; not however to hold it as formerly, but only to sway a broken\nsceptre, and fill the minds of friends with constant alarms. From this\ntime till the first of June, the struggle between disease and nature was\nconstant, and the issue doubtful; but on the whole, it was evident that\nthe _mind_ was losing its power of judgment, and submitting to the\ncontrol of a bewildered imagination.\n\nHer most judicious friends judged it expedient to change the scene, and\ntry the effect of new objects and the revival of old friendships on her\ndisordered system. She herself, having been often benefitted by the\nfatigues and various occurrences of journeying, consented to the measure\nwith some cheerfulness. And on the 12th of June, we left our home, and\nleisurely pursued our way to the western part of the State, calling\nfreely on those friends she had long known and loved, and sharing\nlargely in their kind attentions. But nothing could restore to her mind\nits balance. Occasionally cheerful for an hour--but habitually brooding\nover some imagined impropriety of conduct, or deficiency of faith and\nlove, she fancied herself a burden to the world, a curse to the church,\nand an alien from God. It was July 7th when we reached home. And by this\ntime, the disease had advanced so far, as to leave but short intervals\nbetween the ravings of delirium. Her agonies, in her oft repeated\nlanguage, were \"inexpressible.\" Her bodings were fearful. And it was on\nthe morning of the 10th instant, between the hours of five and six\no'clock, that she eluded the long continued vigilance of her family, and\nsecured time enough to execute a deed, which of all others she most\nabhorred when of sane mind--a deed, which she believed to be _right_,\nbecause dethroned reason left her a prey to the imagination that the\nhonor of God, and the interests of Zion demanded it.\n\nInscrutable mystery! A more devoted friend of Jesus--a more humble and\nself-denying disciple--a more laborious and consistent co-worker with\nthe saints--a more prayerful and active promoter of the great Cause of\nBenevolence--is rarely to be met with in any age, or in any land.\n\nAside of all the fond partialities of one who for fifteen years has\nknown the blessedness of the most intimate companionship with so eminent\na child of God, I deem it duty to say, in present circumstances, that\nher duties were always her pleasures--her religious privileges, her\nsweetest delights--her grand aim, in all things, the glory of God;--her\ntrust was reposed in his promises alone--her hopes were founded on\nChrist--and her only desired reward was, the consciousness of honoring\nthe religion she professed.\n\nShe rests with prophets and apostles. So saith the Spirit, and her works\ndo follow her.\n\n                                                    R. S. STORRS.\n\nBraintree, July 15, 1834.\n\n\n\n\nOBITUARY NOTICE.\n\nWRITTEN BY REV. B. B. EDWARDS, AND PUBLISHED IN THE BOSTON RECORDER.\n\n\nDied at Braintree, Mass. on Thursday morning, July 10, MRS. HARRIET\nSTORRS, wife of the Rev. Richard S. Storrs, in the 48th year of her age.\nShe was a daughter of the late Mr. Samuel Moore of Charlestown. Her mind\nwas first deeply convinced of the importance of personal piety in\nlistening to the sermons of the Rev. Dr. Griffin then minister of the\nPark street church. She became a member of the Old South church, when\nthe Rev. Joshua Huntington was its pastor. The depth of the loss\nsustained by her friends and by the church of Christ, cannot easily be\nestimated. In her character was that rare union of lovely natural\nqualities with intelligent, elevated piety, which sweetens domestic\nlife; throws such charms over the intercourse of friendship as all\npersons can feel but none describe; and which exhibits in a most\nstriking manner what that state was from which man fell, and to which\nthe grace of the Holy Spirit can restore him. The path of her life was\ncovered over with evidences of her kindness. Every where she lived for\nthe happiness of those around her. Her benign inquiries, her cheerful\nfootsteps, her sweet smiles, the same in joy and grief, those mysterious\nlines on the countenance, which almost ally the sympathies of humanity\nto the purity of angels, seemed to say to all whom she met, that she was\ntheir servant for Jesus's sake. She was truly the light and joy of her\ndomestic circle, shedding the calm and steady lustre of true piety; in\nher humility apparently unconscious of the blessings which her presence\nafforded; and always prompt to give all the glory of any goodness in\nherself and others, to her Lord and Redeemer. She discharged the\ninteresting obligations, which devolve on the wife of a clergyman, with\nsingular readiness, kind feeling and success. She was aware of the\nresponsible and delicate nature of many of her duties, and habitually\nlooked for guidance to the great Head of the church. He was graciously\npleased to hear her prayers, and to bless her labors. Her name will long\nbe like precious balm in the hearts of multitudes, who testify, with\nentire unanimity, to the value of her labors of love.\n\nFor several months past, \"her soul has been full of trouble,\" for she\nthought that God had \"laid her in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the\ndeeps, that his wrath was lying hard upon her,\" \"that she was cast out\nof his sight, and should never again be permitted to look towards his\nholy temple.\" \"She longed for death\" and it has come; and we doubt not\nthat her glorified spirit is in that land where the inhabitant shall not\nsay \"I am sick,\" where they \"hunger no more, neither thirst any more;\nand where God shall wipe away tears from off all faces.\"\n\nThe funeral of Mrs. Storrs was attended on Friday afternoon in the\nmeetinghouse of the first church in Braintree. We never saw evidences of\nmore unaffected and heartfelt grief, than were exhibited by the large\ncongregation convened on this occasion. Prayers were offered by the Rev.\nMessrs. Gile of Milton, and Perkins of Weymouth, two appropriate funeral\nanthems were sung, and a very interesting and affecting address was\npronounced by the Rev. Dr. Codman of Dorchester.\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nTranscriber's Notes\n\nPage 7: Changed hasiened to hastened\n  (how readily would they have hasiened to your relief.)\n\n\n\n\n\n\n<pre id=\"pg-footer\">","title":"An Address Delivered at the Interment of Mrs. Harriet Storrs, Consort of Rev. Richard S. Storrs, Braintree, Mass., July 11, 1834.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":3526}