John Abel - Death

Death

Abel died in January 1675 and was buried at Sanesfield on 31 January. He was 97 years old. He wrote his own epitaph and built his own tomb. His tombstone read:

"This craggy Stone covering is for an Architector's Bed

That lofty Buildings raised high, yet now lyes low His Head

His line and Rule, So Death concludes, are locked up in Store

Build they that list, or they that wist, for He can Build no More

His House of Clay could Hold no Longer

May Heavens joy frame (build) Him a Stronger

Vive ut vivas in vitam aeternam." —John Abel

In the Victorian era, the tomb was restored by the National Society for Preserving the Memorials of the Dead and the epitaph was slightly altered. In 2001 a campaign was started to restore Abel's tomb.

Famous quotes containing the word death:

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death M even death on a cross.”
—Bible: New Testament, Philippians 2:5-8.

“It is a sign of creeping inner death when we can no longer praise the living.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)

“There is a rhythm to the ending of a marriage just like the rhythm of a courtship—only backward. You try to start again but get into blaming over and over. Finally you are both worn out, exhausted, hopeless. Then lawyers are called in to pick clean the corpses. The death has occurred much earlier.”
—Erica Jong (b. 1942)