THese Words contain one of the chief grounds of encouragement which the Christian Religion gives us against the fear of death. For our clearer understanding of [Page 2] them it will be requisite to consider the Context, looking back as far as the begin­ning of the Chapter: where the Apostle pur­sues the argument of the foregoing Chapter; which was to comfort and encourage Chri­stians under their Afflictions and sufferings from this consideration, that these did but prepare the way for a greater and more glorious reward; Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And suppose the worst, that these sufferings should extend to death, there is comfort for us likewise in this case, ver. 1. of this Chap­ter, For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a buil­ding of God, &c. If our earthly house of this tabernacle; he calls our body an earthly house, and that we may not look upon it as a certain abode and fixed habitation, he doth by way of correction of himself add, that it is but a tabernacle or tent which must shortly be taken down: And when it is, we shall have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. This is a description of our heavenly habi­tation, in opposition to our earthly house [Page 3] or tabernacle: It is a building of God, not like those houses or tabernacles which men build, and which are liable to decay and dissolution, to be taken down or to fall down of themselves, for such are those houses of clay which we dwell in whose foundations are in the dust, but an habitati­on prepared by God himself, a house not made with hands; that which is the imme­diate work of God being in Scripture op­posed to that which is made with hands and effected by humane concurrence and by natural means: And being the imme­diate work of God, as it is excellent, so it is lasting and durable, which no earthly thing is; eternal in the heavens, that is eter­nal and heavenly.

For in this we groan earnestly; that is, while we are in this body we groan by reason of the pressures and afflictions of it. Desiring to be clothed vpon with our house which is from heaven: If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. Desiring to be clothed upon; that is, we could wish not to put off these bodies, not to be stripp'd of them by death, but to be of the number of those who at the coming [Page 4] of our Lord without the putting off these bodies shall be changed and clothed upon with their house which is from heaven, and without dying be invested with those spiritual and glorious and heavenly bodies which men shall have at the Resurrection.

This I doubt not is the Apostle's meaning in these Words; in which he speaks accor­ding to a common opinion among the Dis­ciples grounded (as Saint John tells us) up­on a mistake of our Saviour's words con­cerning him, if I will that he tarry till I come: upon which Saint John tells us that there went a Saying among the brethren that that disciple should not die; that is, that he should live till Christ's coming to Judgment, and then be changed; and consequently that Christ would come to Judgment before the end of that Age. Suitably to this com­mon opinion among Christians the Apostle here says, in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. It hath puzzled Interpreters what to make of this passage, and well it might; for whatever be meant by being clothed, how can they that are [Page 5] clothed be found naked? But I think it is very clear that our Translatours have not attained the true sense of this passage, [...], which is most naturally rendred thus, if so be we shall be found clothed, and not naked: That is, if the coming of Christ shall find us in the body and not devested of it: if at Christ's coming to Judgment we shall be found alive, and not dead. And then the sense of the whole is very clear and cur­rent: we are desirous to be clothed upon with our house from heaven (that is, with our spiritual and immortal bodies) if so be it shall so happen that at the coming of Christ we shall be found alive in these bo­dies, and not stripp'd of them before by death. And then it follows, For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burthe­ned (that is, with the afflictions and pres­sures of this life) not that we would be un­clothed (that is, not that we desire by death to be devested of these bodies) but clothed upon (that is, if God see it good we had rather be found alive, and changed, and without putting off these bodies have im­mortality as it were superinduced) that so [Page 6] mortality might be swallowed up of life. The plain sense is, that he rather desires (if it may be) to be of the number of those who shall be found alive at the coming of Christ, and have this mortal and corruptible body while they are clothed with it changed into a spiritual and incorruptible body, without the pain and terrour of dying: of which immediate translation into heaven without the painfull divorce of soul and body by death, Enoch and Elias were examples in the old Testament.

It follows, ver. 5. Now he that hath wrought for us the self same thing is God: that is, it is he who hath fitted and prepared for us this glorious change: who also hath given us the earnest of the Spirit. The Spirit is fre­quently in Scripture called the witness and seal and earnest of our future happiness and blessed resurrection or change of these vile and earthly bodies into spiritual and heavenly bodies. For as the resurrection of Christ from the dead by the power of the Holy Ghost is the great proof and evi­dence of immortality, so the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelling in us is the pledge and earnest of our being made partakers of it.

[Page 7]From all which the Apostle concludes in the words of the Text, Therefore we are al­ways confident, that is, we are always of good courage against the fear of death, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, [...], which may better be rendred whilst we converse or sojourn in the body, than whilst we are at home; Because the design of the Apostle is to shew that the body is not our house but our tabernacle; and that whilst we are in the body we are not at home, but pilgrims and strangers. And this no­tion the Heathens had of our present life and condition in this world. Ex vita dis­cedo (saith Tully) tanquam ex hospitio non tan­quam ex domo; commorandi enim natura diver­sorium nobis, non habitandi locum dedit. We go out of this life as it were from an Inn, and not from our home; nature having designed it to us as a place to sojourn but not to dwell in.

We are absent from the Lord; that is, we are detained from the blessed sight and enjoy­ment of God, and kept out of the possession of that happiness which makes Heaven.

So that the Apostle makes an immediate opposition between our continuance in the [Page 8] body, and our blissfull enjoyment of God; and lays it down for a certain truth, that whilst we remain in the body we are detai­ned from our happiness, and that so soon as ever we leave the body we shall be admit­ted into it, knowing that whilst we converse in the body we are absent from the Lord. And ver. 8. we are willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the Lord; intima­ting that so soon as we quit these bodies we shall be admitted to the blessed sight and enjoyment of God.

My design from this Text is to draw some usefull Corollaries or Conclusions from this Assertion of the Apostle, That whilst we are in these bodies we are detained from our happiness; and that so soon as ever we depart out of them we shall be admitted to the pos­session and enjoyment of it. And they are these,

1. This Assertion shews us the vanity and falshood of that opinion, or rather dream, concerning the sleep of the soul from the time of death till the general Resurrection. This is chiefly grounded upon that frequent [Page 9] Metaphor in Scripture by which death is resembled to sleep, and those that are dead are said to be fallen asleep. But this Meta­phor is no where in Scripture, that I know of, applied to the soul but to the body re­sting in the grave in order to its being a­wakened and raised up at the Resurrection. And thus it is frequently used with express reference to the body. Dan. 12.2. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Matth. 27.52. And the graves were opened, and many bodies of saints which slept arose. Acts 13.36. David after he had served his own generation by the will of God fell on sleep, and was laid to his fathers and saw cor­ruption; which surely can no otherwise be understood than of his body. 1 Cor. 15.21. Now is Christ risen from the dead and become the first-fruits of them that slept: that is, the resurrection of his body is the earnest and assurance that ours also shall be raised. And ver. 51. We shall not all sleep, but shall all be changed; where the Apostle certainly speaks both of the death and change of these corruptible bodies. 1 Thessal. 4.14. If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that sleep in Jesus shall God bring [Page 10] with him; That is the bodies of those that died in the Lord shall be raised, and accom­pany him at his coming. So that it is the body which is said in Scripture to sleep, and not the soul. For that is utterly in­consistent with the Apostle's Assertion here in the Text, that while we are in the body we are absent from the Lord, and that so soon as we depart out of the body we shall be present with the Lord. For surely to be with the Lord must signifie a state of hap­piness, which sleep is not, but onely of in­activity: Besides, that the Apostle's Argu­ment would be very flat, and it would be but a cold encouragement against the fear of death, that so soon as we are dead we shall fall asleep and become insensible. But the Apostle useth it as an Argument why we should be willing to dye as soon as God pleaseth, and the sooner the better, because so soon as we quit these bodies we shall be present with the Lord, that is, admitted to the blissfull sight and enjoy­ment of him; and while we abide in the body we are detained from our happiness: But if our souls shall sleep as well as our bodies till the general Resurrection, it is all [Page 11] one whether we continue in the body or not, as to any happiness we shall enjoy in the mean time; which is directly contra­ry to the main scope of the Apostle's Argu­ment.

2. This Assertion of the Apostle's doth perfectly conclude against the feigned Pur­gatory of the Church of Rome; which sup­poseth the far greater number of true and faithfull Christians, of those who dye in the Lord and have obtained eternal redemption by him from hell not to pass immediately into a state of happiness, but to be detained in the suburbs of Hell in extremity of tor­ment (equal to that of hell for degree, though not for duration) till their souls be purged, and the guilt of temporal pu­nishments, which they are liable to, be some way or other paid off and discharged. They suppose indeed some very few holy persons (especially those who suffer Mar­tyrdom) to be so perfect at their depar­ture out of the body as to pass immediate­ly into Heaven, because they need no pur­gation: But most Christians they suppose to dye so imperfect that they stand in need [Page 12] of being purged; and according to the de­gree of their imperfection are to be detain'd a shorter or a longer time in Purgatory.

But now, besides that there is no Text in Scripture from whence any such state can probably be concluded (as is acknowledg­ed by many learned men of the Church of Rome) and even that Text which they have most insisted upon ( they shall be saved, yet so as by fire) is given up by them as in­sufficient to conclude the thing. Estius is very glad to get off it, by saying there is nothing in it against Purgatory: Why? no body pretends that, but we might reaso­nably expect that there should be some­thing for it in a Text which hath been so often produced and urged by them for the proof of it. I say, besides that there is nothing in Scripture for Purgatory, there are a great many things against it, and ut­terly inconsistent with it. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, which was de­signed to represent to us the different states of good and bad men in another world, there is not the least intimation of Purgato­ry, but that good men pass immediately into a state of happiness and bad men into [Page 13] a place of torment. And Saint John, Rev. 14.13. pronounceth all that dye in the Lord happy, because they rest from their la­bours; which they cannot be said to do who are in a state of great anguish and tor­ment, as those are supposed to be who are in Purgatory.

But above all, this Reasoning of S. Paul is utterly inconsistent with any imaginati­on of such a state. For he encourageth all Christians in general against the fear of death from the consideration of that happy state they should immediately pass into, by being admitted into the presence of God; which surely is not Purgatory. We are of good courage (says he) and willing rather to be absent from the body: And great reason we should be so, if so soon as we leave the body we are present with the Lord. But no man sure would be glad to leave the body to go into a place of exquisite and extreme torment, which they tell us is the case of most Christians when they dye. And what can be more unreasonable, than to make the Apostle to use an argument to comfort all Christians against the fear of death which concerns but very few in com­parison? [Page 14] So that if the Apostle's reasoning be good, that while we are in this life we are detained from our happiness, and so soon as we depart this life we pass immedi­ately into it, and therefore death is desi­rable to all good men: I say, if this reaso­ning be good, it is very clear that Saint Paul knew nothing of the Doctrine now taught in the Church of Rome concerning Purga­tory; because that is utterly inconsistent with what he expresly asserts in this Chapter; and quite takes away the force of his whole Argument.

3. To encourage us against the fear of death. And this is the Conclusion which the Apostle makes from this consideration. Therefore (says he) we are of good courage, knowing that whilst we converse in the body we are absent from the Lord. There is in us a natural love of life, and a natural horrour and dread of death; so that our spirits are apt to shrink at the thoughts of the ap­proach of it. But this fear may very much be mitigated and even overruled by Reason and the considerations of Religion. For death is not so dreadfull in it self, as with [Page 15] regard to the consequences of it: And those will be as we are, comfortable and happy to the good, but dismal and miserable to the wicked. So that the onely true anti­dote against the fear of death is the hopes of a better life; and the onely firm ground of these hopes is the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, upon our due preparation for ano­ther world by repentance and a holy life. For the sting of death is sin; and when that is taken away the terrour and bitterness of death is past: And then death is so far from being dreadfull, that in reason it is extreme­ly desirable; because it lets us into a better state, such as onely deserves the name of life. Hi vivunt qui ex corporum vinculis tan­quam è carcere evolaverunt: vestra vero quae dicitur vita, mors est. They truly live (could a Heathen say) who have made their escape out of this prison of the body; but that which men commonly call life is rather death than life. To live indeed, is to be well, and to be happy; and that we shall never be till we are got beyond the grave.

4. This Consideration should comfort us under the loss and death of Friends, which [Page 16] certainly is one of the greatest grievances and troubles of humane life. For if they be fit for God, and go to him when they dye, they are infinitely happier than it was possible for them to have been in this world: and the trouble of their absence from us is fully balanced by their being present with the Lord. For why should we lament the end of that life which we are assured is the beginning of immortality? One reason of our trouble for the loss of friends is because we loved them: But it is no sign of our love to them to grudge and repine at their happiness. But we hoped to have enjoyed them longer: Be it so: yet why should we be troubled that they are happy sooner than we expected? But they are parted from us, and the thoughts of this is grievous: But yet the consideration of their being parted for a while is not near so sad, as the hopes of a happy meeting again, never to be par­ted any more, is comfortable and joyfull. So that the greater our love to them was, the less should be our grief for them, when we consider that they are happy, and that they are safe; past all storms, all the trou­bles and temptations of this life, and out [Page 17] of the reach of all harm and danger for ever. But though the Reason of our duty in this case be very plain, yet the practice of it is very difficult; and when all is said, natural affection will have its course: And even after our Judgment is satisfied, it will require some time to still and quiet our Passions.

5. This Consideration should wean us from the love of life; and make us not onely contented but willing and glad to leave this world, whenever it shall please God to call us out of it. This Inference the Apostle makes, ver. 8. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord. Though there were no state of immortality after this life, yet methinks we should not desire to live always in this world. Habet natura (says Tully) ut aliarum rerum, sic vivendi modum: As nature hath set bounds and measures to other things, so likewise to life; of which men should know when they have enough, and not covet so much of it till they be tyred and cloyed with it. If there were no other inconvenience in long life, this is a [Page 18] great one, that in a long course of time we unavoidably see a great many things which we would not; our own misfortunes and the calamities of others; publick con­fusions and distractions; the loss of Friends and Relations; or which is worse, their mi­sery; or which is worst of all, their mis­carriage: Especially, a very infirm and te­dious old age is very undesirable: For who would desire to live long uneasie to himself, and troublesome to others? It is time for us to be willing to dye, when we cannot live with the good will even of our friends: when those who ought to love us best think much that we live so long, and can hardly forbear to give us broad signs that they are weary of our company. In such a case a man would almost be contented to dye out of civility; and not chuse to make any long stay where he sees that his com­pany is not acceptable. If we think we can be welcome to a better place, and to a more delightfull society, why should we de­sire to thrust our selves any longer upon an ill-natured world, upon those who have much adoe to refrain from telling us that our room is better than our company?

[Page 19]Some indeed have a very happy and vi­gorous old age, and the taper of life burns clear in them to the last: Their understan­dings are good, their memories and senses tolerable, their humour pleasant and their conversation acceptable, and their Relations kind and respectfull to them. But this is a rare felicity, and which seldom happens but to those who have lived wisely and vertu­ously, and by a religious and regular course of life have preserved some of their best spirits to the last, and have not by vice and extravagance drawn off life to the dregs and left nothing to be enjoyed but infirmities and ill humours, guilt and repentance: But on the contrary have prudently laid up some considerable comforts and supports for themselves against this gloomy day; having stored their minds with wisedom and know­ledge, and taken care to secure to themselves the comfortable reflexions of an usefull and well-spent life, and the favour and loving-kindness of God which is better than life it self. But generally the extremities of old age are very peevish and querulous, and a declining and falling back to the weak and helpless condition of Infancy and childhood. [Page 20] And yet less care is commonly taken of a­ged persons, and less kindness shewed to them than to children: because these are cherished in hopes, the others in despair of their growing better. So that if God see it good it is not desirable to live to try nature, and the kindness and good will of our Rela­tions to the utmost.

Nay there is reason enough why we should be well contented to dye in any Age of our life. If we are young, we have ta­sted the best of it: If in our middle age, we have not onely enjoyed all that is desirable of life, but almost all that is tolerable: If we are old, we are come to the dregs of it, and do but see the same things over and over again, and continually with less plea­sure.

Especially if we consider the happiness from which we are all this while detained. This life is but our Infancy and childhood in comparison of the manly pleasures and employments of the other state. And why should we desire to be always children; and to linger here below to play the fools yet a little longer? In this sense that high ex­pression of the Poet is true

This life is wholly in order to the other. Do but make sure to live well, and there is no need of living long. To the purpose of preparation for another world, the best life is the longest. Some live a great pace, and by continual diligence and industry in serving God and doing good do really dispatch more of the business of life in a few years, than others do in a whole Age; who go such a santring pace towards heaven, as if they were in no haste to get thither. But if we were always prepared we should rejoyce at the prospect of our end; as those who have been long tost at sea are overjoyed at the sight of land.

I have now done with my Text, but have another Subject to speak of; that excellent Man in whose Place I now stand: whom we all knew; and whom all that knew him [Page 22] well did highly esteem and reverence. He was born in Shropshire of a worthy and an­cient Family, the 11 ^th of March, 1609. was the sixth Son of his Father: and being bred up to learning and very capable of it, was sent to the University of Cambridge, and planted there in Emanuel College, where he was chosen Fellow, and was an excellent Tutour and Instructour of Youth, and bred up many persons of great Quality and others, who afterwards proved usefull and eminent; as many perhaps as any Tutour of that Time.

About the age of four or five and thirty he was made Prevost of King's College; where he was a most vigilant and prudent Governour, a great encourager of Learning and good Order, and by his carefull and wise management of the Estate of the Col­lege brought it into a very flourishing con­dition, and left it so.

It cannot be denied (nor am I much con­cerned to dissemble it) that here he possess'd another Man's place, who by the iniquity of the Times was wrongfully ejected; I mean Dr. Collins the famous and learned Divinity-Professour of that University. During whose [Page 23] life (and he lived many years after) by the free consent of the College there were two shares out of the common Dividend allotted to the Prevost, one whereof was constantly paid to Dr. Collins, as if he had been still Pre­vost. To this Dr. Whichcot did not onely give his consent (without which the thing could not have been done) but was very forward for the doing of it, though hereby he did not onely considerably lessen his own profit, but likewise incurr no small censure and ha­zard, as the Times then were. And left this had not been kindness enough to that wor­thy Person whose Place he possessed, in his last Will he left to his Son, Sir John Collins, a Legacy of one hundred pounds.

And as he was not wanting either in re­spect or real kindness to the rightfull Owner, so neither did he stoop to doe any thing un­worthy to obtain that Place; for he never took the Covenant: And not onely so, but by the particular friendship and interest which he had in some of the chief of the Vi­sitours he prevailed to have the greatest part of the Fellows of that College exempted from that Imposition; and preserved them in their places by that means. And to the Fellows [Page 24] that were ejected by the Visitours, he likewise freely consented that their full Dividend for that year should be paid them, even after they were ejected. Among these was the Reverend and ingenious Dr. Charles Mason; upon whom, after he was ejected, the Col­lege did confer a good Living which then fell in their gift, with the consent of the Prevost, who, knowing him to be a worthy man, was contented to run the hazard of the displeasure of those Times.

So that I hope none will be hard upon him, that he was contented upon such terms to be in a capacity to doe good in bad Times.

For, besides his care of the College, he had a very great and good influence upon the University in general. Every Lord's day in the Afternoon, for almost twenty years together, he preached in Trinity Church, where he had a great number not onely of the young Scholars, but of those of greater standing and best repute for Learning in the University his constant and attentive Audi­tours: And in those wild and unsettled Times contributed more to the forming of the Students of that University to a sober sense of Religion than any man in that Age.

[Page 25]After he left Cambridge he came to London, and was chosen Minister of Black-Friars, where he continued till the dreadfull Fire: And then retired himself to a Donative he had at Milton near Cambridge: where he preached constantly; and relieved the poor, and had their children taught to reade at his own charge; and made up differences among the neighbours. Here he stayed till, by the promotion of the Reverend Dr. Wil­kins, his predecessour in this Place, to the Bishoprick of Chester, he was by his interest and recommendation presented to this Church. But during the building of it, upon the invitation of the Court of Alder­men, in the Mayoralty of Sir William Turner, he preached before that Honourable Audi­tory at Guild Hall Chapel every Sunday in the afternoon, with great acceptance and ap­probation, for about the space of seven years.

When his Church was built, he bestowed his pains here twice a week, where he had the general love and respect of his Parish; and a very considerable and judicious Au­ditory, though not very numerous by rea­son of the weakness of his voice in his decli­ning Age.

[Page 26]It pleased God to bless him, as with a plentifull Estate, so with a charitable mind: which yet was not so well known to many, because in the disposal of his charity he very much affected secrecy. He frequently be­stowed his alms (as I am informed by those who best knew) on poor house-keepers dis­abled by age or sickness to support them­selves, thinking those to be the most proper objects of it. He was rather frugal in ex­pense upon himself, that so he might have wherewithall to relieve the necessities of others.

And he was not onely charitable in his life, but in a very bountifull manner at his death; bequeathing in pious and charitable Legacies to the value of a thousand pounds. To the Library of the University of Cam­bridge fifty pounds: and of King's College one hundred pounds: and of Emanuel Col­lege twenty pounds: To which College he had been a considerable benefactour before; having founded there several Scholarships to the value of a thousand pounds, out of a Charity with the disposal whereof he was entrusted, and which not without great dif­ficulty and pains he at last recovered.

[Page 27]To the Poor of the several Places where his Estate lay, and where he had been Mi­nister he gave above one hundred pounds.

Among those who had been his Servants, or were so at his death, he disposed in An­nuities and Legacies in money to the value of above three hundred pounds.

To other charitable uses and among the poorer of his Relations, above three hun­dred pounds.

To every one of his Tenants he left a Le­gacy according to the proportion of the E­state they held, by way of remembrance of him: And to one of them that was gone much behind he remitted in his Will seven­ty pounds. And as became his great good­ness, he was ever a remarkably kind Land­lord, forgiving his Tenants, and always ma­king abatements to them for hard years or any other accidental losses that happened to them.

I must not omit the wise provision he made in his Will to prevent Law-suits among the Legatees, by appointing two or three persons of greatest prudence and Authority among his Relations final Arbitratours of all differences that should arise.

[Page 28]Having given this account of his last Will, I come now to the sad part of all: sad, I mean, to us, but happiest to him. A little before Easter last he went down to Cam­bridge: where, upon taking a great Cold, he fell into a distemper which in a few days put a period to his life. He died in the house of his ancient and most learned Friend, Dr. Cudworth, Master of Christ's College. Du­ring his sickness he had a constant calmness and serenity of mind: and under all his bo­dily weakness possest his soul in great pati­ence. After the Prayers for the Visitation of the Sick (which he said were excellent prayers) had been used, he was put in mind of receiving the Sacrament; to which he answered, that he most readily embraced the proposal: And after he had received it, said to Dr. Cudworth I heartily thank you for this most Christian office; I thank you for putting me in mind of receiving this Sacra­ment: adding this pious ejaculation, The Lord fulfill all his declarations and promises, and pardon all my weaknesses and imperfections. He disclaimed all merit in himself; and de­clared that whatever he was, he was through [Page 29] the grace and goodness of God in Jesus Christ. He expressed likewise great dislike of the Prin­ciples of Separation: and said he was the more desirous to receive the Sacrament that he might declare his full Communion with the Church of Christ all the world over. He disclaimed Po­pery, and, as things of near affinity with it, or rather parts of it, all superstition and usur­pation upon the consciences of men.

He thanked God, that he had no pain in his body, nor disquiet in his mind.

Towards his last he seemed rather unwil­ling to be detained any longer in this state; not for any pains he felt in himself, but for the trouble he gave his friends: saying to one of them who had with great care atten­ded him all along in his sickness, My dear friend, thou hast taken a great deal of pains to uphold a crazy body, but it will not do: I pray thee give me no more Cordials; for why shouldst thou keep me any longer out of that happy state to which I am going. I thank God I hope in his mercy, that it shall be well with me.

And herein God was pleased particularly to answer those devout and well-weighed petitions of his which he frequently used in his Prayer before Sermon, which I shall set [Page 30] down in his own words, and I doubt not those that were his constant hearers do well remember them; And super add this, O Lord, to all the grace and favour which thou hast shewn us all along in life, not to remove us hence but with all advantage for Eternity, when we shall be in a due preparation of mind, in a holy constitution of soul, in a perfect renuncia­tion of the guise of this mad and sinfull world, when we shall be intirely resigned up to thee, when we shall have clear acts of faith in God by Jesus Christ, high and reverential thoughts of thee in our minds, inlarged and inflamed affections towards thee, &c. And whensoever we shall come to leave this world, which will be when thou shalt appoint (for the issues of life and death are in thy hands) afford us such a mighty power and presence of thy good Spirit that we may have solid consolation in believing, and avoid all consternation of mind, all doubt­fulness and uncertainty concerning our everla­sting condition, and at length depart in the faith of God's Elect, &c. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.

[Page 31]Thus you have the short History of the life and death of this eminent Person; whose just Character cannot be given in few words, and time will not allow we to use many. To be able to describe him aright it were necessary one should be like him; for which reason I must content my self with a very imperfect draught of him.

I shall not insist upon his exemplary piety and devotion towards God, of which his whole life was one continued Testimony. Nor will I praise his profound Learning, for which he was justly had in so great re­putation. The moral improvements of his mind, a Godlike temper and disposition (as he was wont to call it) he chiefly valued and aspired after; that universal charity and goodness, which he did continually preach and practise.

His Conversation was exceeding kind and affable, grave and winning, prudent and profitable. He was slow to declare his judg­ment, and modest in delivering it. Never passionate, never peremptory: so far from imposing upon others, that he was rather apt to yield. And though he had a most [Page 32] profound and well-poized judgment, yet was he of all men I ever knew the most pa­tient to hear others differ from him, and the most easie to be convinced when good Reason was offered; and, which is seldom seen, more apt to be favourable to another man's Reason than his own.

Studious and inquisitive men commonly at such an age (at forty or fifty at the ut­most) have fixed and settled their Judg­ments in most Points, and as it were made their last Vnderstanding; supposing they have thought, or read, or heard what can be said on all sides of things; and after that, they grow positive and impatient of contradicti­on, thinking it a disparagement to them to alter their judgment: But our deceased Friend was so wise, as to be willing to learn to the last; knowing that no man can grow wiser without some change of his mind, without gaining some knowledge which he had not, or correcting some errour which he had before.

He had attained so perfect a mastery of his Passions, that for the latter and greatest part of his life he was hardly ever seen to be transported with Anger: and as he was [Page 33] extremely carefull not to provoke any man, so not to be provoked by any; using to say, if I provoke a man he is the worse for my company, and if I suffer my self to be provoked by him I shall be the worse for his.

He very seldom reproved any person in company otherwise than by silence, or some sign of uneasiness, or some very soft and gentle word; which yet from the respect men generally bore to him did often prove effectual: For he understood humane na­ture very well, and how to apply himself to it in the most easie and effectual ways.

He was a great encourager and kind di­rectour of young Divines: and one of the most candid hearers of Sermons, I think, that ever was: So that though all men did mightily reverence his Judgment, yet no man had reason to fear his Censure. He never spake well of himself, nor ill of others: making good that Saying of Pansa in Tully, neminem alterius, qui suae confideret virtuti, invidere; that no man is apt to envy the worth and vertues of another, that hath any of his own to trust to.

In a word, he had all those vertues, and in a high degree, which an excellent tem­per, [Page 34] great consideration, long care and watchfulness over himself, together with the assistance of God's grace (which he con­tinually implored, and mightily relied up­on) are apt to produce. Particularly he excelled in the vertues of Conversation, hu­manity, and gentleness, and humility, a prudent and peaceable reconciling temper. And God knows we could very ill at this time have spared such a Man; and have lost from among us as it were so much balme for the healing of the Nation, which is now so miserably rent and torn by those wounds which we madly give our selves. But since God hath thought good to de­prive us of him, let his vertues live in our memory, and his example in our lives. Let us endeavour to be what he was, and we shall one day be what he now is, of blessed memory on earth and happy for ever in heaven.

And now methinks the consideration of the Argument I have been upon, and of that great Example that is before us, should raise our minds above this world and fix them upon the glory and happiness of the [Page 35] other. Let us then begin heaven here, in the frame and temper of our minds, in our heavenly affections and conversation; in a due preparation for, and in earnest desires and breathings after that blessed state which we firmly believe and assuredly hope to be one day possessed of: when we shall be re­moved out of this sink of sin and sorrows into the Regions of bliss and immortality: where we shall meet all those worthy and excellent persons who are gone before us, and whose conversation was so delightfull to us in this world; and will be much more so to us in the other, when the spirits of just men shall be made perfect and shall be quit of all those infirmities which did attend and lessen them in this mortal state: when we shall meet again with our dear Brother, and all those good men whom we knew in this world, and with the Saints and excellent persons of all Ages to enjoy their blessed friendship and society for ever, in the pre­sence of the blessed God where is fulness of joy, and at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore.

In a firm persuasion of this happy state let us every one of us say with David, and [Page 36] with the same ardency of affection that he did, As the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God: My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God; O when shall I come and appear before God. That so the life which we now live in this world may be a patient continuance in well-doing in a joyfull expectation of the blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, now and for ever.

Now the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, through the bloud of the everlasting Covenant, make us perfect in every good work to doe his will; working in us always that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever, Amen.