THESE Words exhibit and set forth to us a Truth care­fully to be Remembered and seriously Pondered, as by all the Individuals of Mankind, so by every parti­cular Person in this Great and Noble Audience; as containing a Mene Tekel and irreversible Sentence of our be­ing necessarly and inevitably separated from all the Kingdoms of the World and the Glory thereof. They are spoken to us by the Excellent Job, as bottomed upon a two-fold Certainty.

1. The Infallible Forsight of his own particular Fate, For I know Thou wilt bring me to Death. Words obliging us to a Seri­ous Pause, and a very Inquisitive Recollection. What a Me is this? and by whom are these Words uttered? Not by one of the Common Rout of Mankind at a venture; whose Pretensions commonly are but very small to the Indulgences and Dispensa­tions of Heaven; but by a great and singular Friend of the most High, Characterised by Him in the first Chapter of this Book of Job, and 8th Verse, in these Words spoken to the most exact Check and inveterat Destroyer of Mankind, the Devil: Hast thou considered My Servant Job, that there is none like him in the Earth, a perfect and an upright Man, one that feareth God and e­sheweth evil? And in the view and prospect of Death, what Fa­vour, think we, might he justly have expected? was Enoch tran­slated and did not see Death? had Elijah a fiery Chariot to carry him to the Regions of Blessedness? and might not Job have look­ed [Page 2]for some extraordinary way of being brought into the same Courts? Nay; but I know Thou wilt bring me to Death. And since he hath said so, let us make ready for it, the more wretch­ed Sinners of Mankind. But,

2. These Words are uttered not only upon the Forsight of his own particular Fate, but upon the Inevitable Destiny and Fate of all Mankind: And therefore doth he, here, term Death (which is a Metonymie of the Effect for the Cause) the House appointed for all Living. The blessed Apostle expresseth it thus, 1 Cor. 15.22. In Adam all die, speaking of the Great Argument of the Re­surrection, Perfected and truely Instructed by the Death and Re­surrection of the Blessed Jesus. And when Men, that are Vain upon the Antiquity of their Pedegree and Extract, begin to E­numerat their Ancestors; It's to tell the World that so many more Mortals lived once upon the Earth: And though never so Great, and never so Wise, though never so Rich, and never so Potent, yet behoved they to yeild to the Common Fate of Man­kind. And with one of them, very lively to express their Con­viction in that Matter, who upon the Death of a Dear Child, and the surprising Advertisement given of it, made no other Account of it than this, Scio me genuisse mortalem: I know I did beget a Mortal. To which we shall only add the Statutum est Heb. 9.27. It is appointed for Men once to Die. Or, if we need to say further upon that Point, let the Experience of all Ages, and our own daily Experience end the Inquiry.

And now, how deeply is it to be regreted, that however Death be the most familiar Comerad of Humane Life, yet of all Others it is least Acquainted with it! Though he that bears the Passing Bell in any tolerable Populous Place, as he opens the Morning, so he shuts up the Evening with it: Besides the Noise of his Fatal Monitor at the Common Funeral Hours and Ap­pointments, [Page 3]and more Plentifully in these Times, wherein God hath shewed his Anger against Us, by breaking the Staff of Bread, and with it the Common Stock of Health, and gives Death so fre­quently in all the Streets of our Cities, and in the High Ways of the Countrey. Or doth either the Urgency of our Affairs, or the duty we owe to our friends settle us in any Society, seldom, or never do we dismiss or part from one another without some Notice or Memorial of Death given from the Fate of our Friends or Neighbours. Or take we History in our hand, whether Sa­cred or Prophane, and scarce have we Celebrated the Birth, and but a little Traced the Life, when we are surprised with the Death of the greatest Hero's in the World. How Familiar is Death made to us Day by Day in the common Occurrents of our Life? and yet how little are we acquainted with the Shibboleth and Language of it, or with the Work of the Grave? For,

1. So little Impression doth it make upon the Minds of Men, to Day they are in the House of Mourning, and either are, or or ought to be deeply Affected with the Stupendous Changes that Death maketh upon the Persons and Families of their Friends, and to Morrow, their Discourses are as much Larded as ever, with Foolish and Prophane, Nauseating, and truly defileing Jests and Entertainments. Others are proud of having a Roman Spi­rit ascribed to them, and therefore talk of Death with as much Superciliousness and Indifferency, as these Sadducees against whom the Holy Apostle reasons in the forcited 1 Cor. 15.32. And of whom the Holy Prophet Esay taketh notice in his days, Isai. 22.13. the common Jargon of whose Communications was, Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for to morrow we must die. Plutar.

Let Epaminondas his Fortitude have all the Praise that the Gre­cian Ethicks did then deserve, who being wounded at the Battle of Mantinea with a Dart or Spear, the feathered end of which [Page 4]being broke off stuck in his Body; and being told that so soon as it were plucked out, he behoved to die; took no other no­tice of the direful Advertisement, than to ask first, if his Shield were Safe, and next if his Army was Victorious; and being an­swered to both in the affirmative, thought then fit to tell his Friends, that he had lived long enough since he died unvanqui­shed, and then bid pluck out the Dart, and with it breathed out his last. But forgive me to prefer the digested Seriousness of the wise Solomon, Eccles. 12. who understood the Consequents▪ and weighed the Work of Death in a deeper Recollection of Mind, and therefore thought fit to pen a whole serious Chapter upon the different steps of its Approach though in a Natural way: And the more ponderous account that Job's. Friend makes of it Job 18.14. when he calls it the King of Terrors. How great a Stran­ger and yet how familiar soever a Comerad it be found to the most of Men, how little soever they seem to understand the Language of Death and the Work of the Grave, so little impres­sion doth it take upon the Minds of Men.

II. So little Change doth it work upon their Lives, they are alse False and Treacherous, they are alse Proud and Vain, they are alse Unjust and Unrighteous, they are alse Intemperat and Unclean, they are alse much sunk in Dotage upon the World, they are alse much Strangers to the things of another Life, as e­ver. This is too too obvious in the Practice of many Profligats, who in the time of their witnessing the Severity of Justice upon the Persons, if not of their Accomplices yet of their Neighbours and Acquainrances, can have the Hardiness, or rather Stupidi­ty, to perpetrat the very Crimes for which they die. So Pick­ing and Stealing are commonly enough to be found at the Exe­cutions of Theeves and Robbers: Or at the out-breaking of acci­dental Fires, when the Lives and Goods of some are consumed [Page 5]in Merciless Flames, the Hellish Hands of others are busied in carrying away what remains. And when these Wicked and Ungodly Men, Men Cruel and Unjust, come themselves within View of Death, seldom do we find them inclined to restore what they have unjustly taken. How great Strangers must these needs be to the right Improvement of the Approaches of Death, or to the Work of the Grave, made Plainly evident in our two former Condescendences, however familiar Death be made to them in the common Occurrents of their Lives? O Tempora! O Mores! And thence it is that,

III. When they come to die, they are either shaken with Fears, or sunk in Confusion of Mind, and no wonder, for Death to them is die Executioner of a double Sentence, at once strike­ing off their Present Beeings and their future Hopes. Their Life hath been bad, and their Conscience is no better. GOD is at Enmity with them, and the Pit must needs stand open for them. Thence come Horrors and deep Concussions of Mind, the exact Reverse of Saint Paul his Prospect of Death, Philipp. 1.21. To me to live is Christ, and to die is Gain. But their Life being but a total Alienation from the Life of Christ, their Death must ne­cessarly lead them to these Fears and Confusions, we speak of: For, a Wounded Spirit who can bear? And it was an excellent Observation of Tacitus upon the Horrors that Tiberius the Em­peror professed he dayly endured for his Bloody Cruelty, Tan­dem (said he) Facinora & Flagitia in Supplicium vertuntur.

At length Mens Sins become their Punishments, Witnessing how little these Men have been acquainted with Death, or busi­ed about the Work of the Grave.

May we ask, What can make Men Serious? It seems, nothing from without them can: Should Almighty God order a Dread­ful Spectre, in all the Formidable Shapes, in which we can fan­cy [Page 6]or represent Death, to hang about a Mans Body from his Cradle to his Grave; at least, from his Riper Years, when he becometh capable of Rational and Solid Fear: We may presume, after a short times Familiarity, it should become but like the common Scar-Crow, which is set up to fright Birds from the early or tender Seed, which in a little sit down upon it without Fear.

This hath been the common Disease of Mankind from the be­ginning of the World to this day. Hence was it, that by all the terrible Appearances that GOD made in his Theocracy, and immediat Government he took over die Jews, they were not frighted unto their Duty, or at least kept in it for any conside­rable time. So was it with all the Miracles that the Blessed Je­sus did in his Theophania, or Divine Appearance amongst Men: Notwithstanding of all which, His very Disciples and Apostles were not inviolably knit to him, or the Work which he came to do in the World. You know that one betrayed, another de­nyed, and all forsook him upon the first Approach of a Try­al; but the Truth is, these were Men not yet arrived at these Measures of Grace and Divine Illumination they attained to at the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon them, after the Resurrecti­on of our Lord; so that nothing from without is like to work upon the Spirits of Men. How just is that Answer, which Abra­ham gave to Dives? Luk. 15.29. When he was asking of him, that he would send one from the Dead to his five Brethren upon the Earth, who were in hazard of coming to the same Place of Torment: They have Moses and the Prophets, (said he) let them hear them. But (replyed the rich Glutton) if one went unto them from the Dead, they will repent. To which again was made that most Righteous Return, If they hear not Moses and the [Page 7]Prophets, neither will they he perswaded, though one rose from the Dead.

So that nothing from without us is like to make Men Serious. All the Funeral Parads on Earth, all the Paleness that sits upon the Faces of our dead Friends, and all the Solitude it leaves upon their Families, serve but a little to amuse the Minds of Natural Men, and, e're we are aware, the Impressions are gone. But a right and Habitual Seriousness is the Effect of a great deal more Recollection than the Generality of Men alloweth themselves; and of a great deal more Application to Almighty God, than is ordinarly found with them. Thence indeed comes the Work of God upon the Heart: And except you think you cannot learn, except you ask, you cannot receive: Except you seek, you cannot find: Except you knock, it cannot be opened to you.

And were I able to awaken you out of your Securities, and quicken your Meditations, and set you forward in your Appli­cations to Almighty God, by suggesting to you any such Rouz­ing Considerations as this Subject may afford us, I have my End, and you have yours (I hope) in coming to this Audi­ence. There be therefore these two Serious Thoughts I would have you to weigh with me, in order to this End, and as ari­sing genuinely enough from this important Subject.

I. Death maketh a total and final Separation betwixt us and all our Temporal Enjoyments, as

First, From all the Stations in which we are placed. Indeed, by the way, it is by different Stations and due Subordinations, that the Societies in Heaven and Earth are governed: And if any pretend by another Method to subsist, it is Heteroclite and Singular, and must necessarly terminat in the deepest Con­fusions. But let us reflect, all the Beauty of Order, and all the Measures of a true and Temporal Felicity upon these Stations [Page 8]of Men, and the Peaceful Effects of them throughout the World: Yet, as to the Men themselves, it is perhaps fit enough to tell them, at least to bring them to Remembrance at all Occasions of this Nature, that they must drop from their Benches, and, as the Holy Psalmist speaking of the Highest of them, Psal. lxxxii. v. 6, 7. I have said, Ye are Gods: And all of you the Sons of the most High, but ye shall die like Men, and fall like one of the Princes. And since it is so, behave your selves as these that live in a continual Prospect of Death, and not as such who have nothing but Worldly Projects before their Eyes. Pray, do not either desire these Stations, while you have them not; nor cajol your selves in them, while you have them, merely upon these following Heads, with Worldly and Carnal Men, as

1. To Deck your selves with Plumes of Glory to be admi­red of your Fellow Creatures. Thus do the Vain affect the Heights of the World, and whom in this place, I shall only call to Mind of that Advertisement of our Blessed Lord and Saviour, Matth. vi. v. 2. Given with Respect unto the right Distribution of Charity, When thou doest thine Alms, do not sound a Trumpet before thee, as the Hypocrites do in the Synagogues, and in the Streets, that they may have Glory of Men. Verily, I say unto you, they have their Reward. And no other, indeed, can I promise them in another World. But, upon the contrary, when they are by Death, which hasteth upon them, stript of all their Plumes of Glory, and covered with the Beggers Mantle of common Grass, they shall be brought to the Blush before the Throne of God, (where they have nothing to cover the Vileness and Na­kedness of their Crimes and Faults) and from thence to the lowest and loathsomest Pit of Miseries. Neither,

2. Use these your Stations Majori fastu incedere, to step with a loftier paw, or to exercise an higher hand over the same thy [Page 9]fellow Creatures: For so do the Proud affect their Stations. But remember, Thou must ly by the side of him, whom sometime thou thought unworthy to stand before thee. And therefore Walk softly, and Speak with an humble Voice, and remember the Regions of endless Darkness, and the Place of remediless Torments, for the Vain and the Proud are there. And,

3. Use not your Stations to this purpose, to act Revenge u­pon thine Enemy; by so doing thou may prompt Revenge in him to thine own Dishonour, if he chance to Survive thee, to set his Foot with Indignation upon thy Breast, while thou lyest upon thy Back in the Dust, and so may bring him with thy self into the very same place of Torment. Nor,

Use your Stations for no other end, than to enhaunse a Naboth's Vineyard, or a poor Man's Ewe-lamb. Thy Possessions shall not avail thee, when for an inch of the Earth thou finds thou hast lost a spann of Heaven, even all the Regions of Blessed­ness. Nor shall thy Pleasures relish with thee in the midst of these Flames thy Lusts have kindled upon thee. Remember how narrow thy Lodgings are in the Grave, and how scant thy Pro­visions are among the Damned.

This is the first serious Thought I have offered thee, That Death shall make a total and final Separation betwixt us and all our temporal Enjoyments. As from all the Stations in which we are placed, so

II. From all the Natural Endowments in Body or Mind, with which we are blessed. I speak of these as they consist in con­junction with one another in this perishing and imper­fect Life. For after Death the Souls of the Blessed shall be infinitely better endued, when brought nearer unto God, and in fellowship with the Spirits of just Men made perfect. Here we see but in part, and know but in part; but [Page 10]but there we shall see as we are seen, and know as we are known. So after the Resurrection, our Bodies shall have infinitely more perfect powers, 1 Cor. xv. 42. Sowen in Corruption, raised in Incorruption; Sowen in Weakness, rais­ed in Power? Sowen a Natural, raised a Spiritual body.

Only here as the powers of the body and faculty of the Soul exist in Conjunction with one another in this perishing and im­perfect state, at least in so far as they ad upon temporal beeings and objects, they are quite broken of and cut short, for which reason in like manner (as I have already said) we are to take special care not to use them to unrighteous ends.

In the body, is it strength? Use it not to Oppress, but to rescue and defend the Weak, as Moses would have done ( Exod. ii. 13.) betwixt the two contending Israelites. Because Solo­mon's evil days haste upon thee. Eccles. xii. 3. When the keepers of the house shall tremble and the strong Men shall bow themselves.

Is it Nimbleness and Agility? Use it not to be swift to shed in­nocent blood, & to execute evil offices with wicked Men, but to be quick in the measures of thy duty to God, thy Neighbour and thy Self. I will run the way of thy Commandments (satih the Psal­mist) when thou hast enlarged my Heart. Because the same evil days come, when the Almond Tree shall flourish and the Gras­hopper shall become a burden: And in the withered stalk of Old Age, thy joynts shall deny their Offices.

Is it Beauty? Use not this as a snare to thy own or thy neighbours Soul, to become a Trap in the hand of the unclean Spirit; but further to set off the virtues of the mind, as an E­merauld in pure Gold, or, as Solomon terms Words fitly spoken, Prov. xxv. 11. As Aples of Gold in Pictures of Silver. Because these evil days also come upon thee, when these that look out at the Windows wax dim. The most sparkling Eyes shall be­come [Page 11]Dull and Lifeless: They shall move no more in the Head, or entice into the works of Darkness, but in a little their Impe­rial Seat shall become the Windows of a Lizard, or a loathsom Toad. Such is the End and Exit that all the powers of the Body do make at Death, and in the house of the Grave.

So likeways it is with all the natural endowments of the Mind as existing in Conjunction with the Body, as I have already said, and as acting upon temporal Beeings and Objects. Profound searches and nimble Wit and Facetious Humour, and all evanish, Psal. cxlvi. v. 4. When his Breath goeth out, and he returneth to his Dust, in that very day his thoughts perish. So,

III. It is with all the great Acts and Conquests of a Mans Life. We have heard of the House which Solomon built, 1 King. 10. v. 4, 5. And of the Ascent by which he went up to the House of God admired, by the Southern Queen; for the Temple it was ordered by a Greater Architect. We have heard of the great Babel which Nebuchadnezzar built, and of the Tower and Ci­ties of Nimrod: Of the Conquests of Alexander, and of the great Atchievements of all, both Roman Emperors and Hero's. And whatever may be the fullest Extent of Mens Acquests, or the most beautiful Ornaments of their Habitations, from all these doth Death make a total and final Separation, even from all the Enjoyments of this Life. And which, is yet of far greater Importance.

The Second Serious Thought which I offer to you, That they are concluded under an Irreversible State, and Condition of Felicity or Misery in another World. As the Tree fallcth, so it lyeth, and as Death leaveth, so Judgment findeth.

This is the Import of all that Doctrine, which our Blessed Lord & Saviour delivered, when he was in the World, and of all these Parables, by which he represented the State of another Life: As [Page 12]in that of the Sheep and the Goats, Mat. 25. How plain are the Words? And he said to these upon his Right Hand, Come ye Blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World. Again to those upon the left Hand; Depart from Me ye Cursed, into Everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels. And in the Conclusion of all, and these went into Everlast Punishment, but the Righteous into Life E­ternal. So in that Parable of Dives and Lazarus, Luk 15. There is made mention of a great Gulf betwixt the two, and declared to be Impassible, so that the one cannot come to the other. Pray, for what is all this? but to tell us of an Irreversible State, as of Bless and Glory to the One, so of Misery and Sorrow to the Other, and that without End or Period.

And as this was the Doctrine of the Blessed Jesus, so of all his Servants the Apostles in their time, and under the Trust put in­to their Hands. Rom: 2.6. Who will render to every Man ac­cording to his Works; and so forward in the 7, 8, 9, 10, Verses. To them who by patient Continuance in Well-doing, seek for Glory and Honour and Immortality, Eternal Life: But unto them that are Contentious and do not obey the Truth, but obey Unrighteousness; Indignation and Wrath, Tribulation and Anguish upon every Soul of Man that doth Evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile: But Glory, Honour and Peace, &c.

And now if it be so, whence hath arisen the new Doctrine of some of our late Discanters upon the State of another Life, who quite Annihilat the Punishments of the Wicked, to the great Encouragement and Increase of Atheism and Irreligion? Nay, though there were no revealed Religion owned amongst Men, (as these New and Dark Tapers would have it, who take the Boldness to set themselves in the Light of the Sun) which is a Supposition so contrary to all the Motives of Credibility, the [Page 13]History of our Saviours Life, Death, Resurrection and Doctrine doth give us, the plain Analogy and Proportion betwixt Him and all the Types and Prophecies, which have been concern­ing him throwout the whole Jewish Dispensation, the Confes­sion of Enemies both Jews and Heathens, and the Acknow­ledgment of Devils themselves; That a Man may alsewel deny every thing that he hath not seen, though never so convincing­ly instructed: Which were a Practice so absurd, that the whole Learned World should run to his Condemnation. Far less ground of Certainty do Men acquiesce in and rest upon in other Matters which concern not Religion. No Body denies a Hector and an Achilles, a Pompey and an Alexander: And it is much they de­ny not a Julius Caesar, because an Augustus is made mention of in the New Testament. But I say, supposing all this, (only absit Blasphemia) yet if we own the Beeing of a God, which none a­mongst all the new sprung spawn of Deists or Demi-Atheists hath yet denied, then we must own Him, among all the rest of His excellent Attributes, to be purely Just and Righteous. But how shall He be so, if He have not reserved Rewards and Punishments for another Life? while in this we see prosperous Villany set be­fore our Eyes throughout all the Ages of the World, and the most excellent Virtues groaning under the heaviest Oppressions: So that we may easily stumble upon the stumbling Block of the ho­ly Prophet Ps. 73. passim throughout the same. I was envious at the Foolish when I saw the Prosperity of the Wicked. They have no Bands in their Death, neither are they in trouble as other Men. And further is he led unto the very brink of Atheism: In vain have I cleansed my Heart and washed my hands in Iunocency; for I am Plagued and Chastned every Morning. But immediately he pulls in the Roynes, amd gives himself the Check from the 15. Vers. and downward. When I sought to know this, it was too Painful for me. [Page 14]Until I went into the Sanctuary of God, then understood I their end. And so furth. But in the 24 Vers. Thou shalt guide me with thy Counsel, and afterward receive me to Glory And in the 27 Vers. Lo, they that are far from Thee, shall Parish. They, that is, All they: An Indefinite being equivalent to an Universal. And since not all of them Perish, but some of them Prosper in this Life, we must necessarly conclude, that Punishments are reser­ved for them in an other.

Except you say in the next place with the fore-mentioned Deists and Disciples of Epicurus, that Almighty God exerciseth no Providence, nor regardeth what is done upon the Earth. If so; what account shall we make of the Misgivings of the best laid Designs and Projects amongst Men, and the success of those things, that having less Counsel and Contrivance in them, pass commonly under the Name of Accidents? What Accounts can we make of many Instances in Prophane History? If these dis­ingenuous Creatures will not admit Sacred History to the bene­fit of Common Credit and Repute, least they read their own Condemnation in the midst of it? What Account can we make of the disappointment of Brennus and the Gauls in their designed surprize of the Capitol of Rome by the keckling of the Geese in Juno's Temple? What Account can we make of Sardanapalus his burn­ing himself with his own Women in a Pile of Wood, who loved so much to live in the Flames of his Lusts? What Account shall we make of St. Augustin his Digression, (which he thought not of) in a Sermon against the Manichees, by which Firmus a Mani­chee was happily Converted? What shall we make at another time of his mistaking his Way, by which he escaped the bloody Hands of the Donatists who lay in wait for him?

Or, if they will carry any regatd only to the History of the Old Testiment so anciently and closly asserted by the then Lear­ned [Page 15]and most Celebrated Nation of the Jews, and so firmly ad­hered to till this very Day: And what a Providence do you think was the saving of Moses in the Ark of Bulrushes? Exod. ii. And what a Providence that Pharaoh's Daughter should own and inhaunse him? and what a Providence that his Mother was al­lowed to Nurse him? and what a Providence that he should re­fuse, when he came to riper Years, to be called the Son of Pha­raoh's Daughter, that he might step up to a far more Glorious Trust, thorow a Thicket of interwoven Dangers and Contradi­ctions, to be the Deliverer of the People of God? What a Provi­dence was it that Joseph was sold into Egypt, and by the way of a Prison was sent to Pharaoh's Court, for the safety of these very Brethren that sold him? Nay, what a Providence, that David escaped out of the City of Keilah, where he thought himself so secure; when afterwards he was made to understand the Keilits would certainly have delivered him up? Or if these be interpre­ted Accidents still, and this be all the account that can be made of the singular Providences, which every considering Person is able to find out in the Tract of his own Life. Let us again mind these Athe [...]sts in Masquerad of the essential and inseparable Attri­buts of that God whom they still own in His Beeing. If that God be Omniscient and infinitely Wise, (which they must agree to) He must needs see all the wicked Actions of ungodly Men. And then if He be alse Just as He is Wise, He must alse necessar­ly Punish them, or then acquiesce in a very great Disorder in the Oeconomy of that World which He made.

But not to trouble the World more with that Sect of Men; let us only bid them reflect upon the Quiet of their own Minds, when they do that which is Good: And the Resentments of a na­tural Conscience upon perpetrated Wickedness. And remem­ber [Page 16]who said,

And again

But, if otherways

Nay these bitter Resentments of a Natural Conscience, are but the Fore-runers of that Worme that never dieth in the Regions of the Damned. And indeed, as we have already said, they pass into an irreversible and Irremediless State of Misery. And if so,

In the next place, To what purpose are all the Soul Masses that are offered up in the Church of Rome for such as pass into the State of the Dead, to shorten or totally to remove their Sor­rows; And that according to the offerings of Charity, that are made for them, at least Sums of Money, which are cast into the Treasury of the Church? If our Saviour had meaned any such State of Life from which Redemption could have been so Purchased, how should Dives have been concluded under this irreversible Condition, while he lest such vast Substance behind him, which might have been happily employed to so good pur­pose? But Abraham insinuats no such thing in his Answers to Dives in the fore-cited Parable.

And now, Christians, if these things be True, as I think, there is enough said to evince the Truth of them; That Death makes a total and sinal Separation betwixt us and all the Enjoyments of this World, and concludes us under an irreversible▪ State and [Page 17]Condition in an other Life: How serious ought we to be im­proving the Advertisement my Text gives us? It is the Custom of Children only to throw away Pearls for Peeble-stones, and real Gold for the more glistering Counterfeit; but Wise Men part with the lesser always for the greater Advantages. And what Comparison is there betwixt Time and Eternity? betwixt the pleasures of Sin, that last but for a Season, and the never ending Joyes & Felicities of another Life? Nay, betwixt the Lusts and Passions, that really toss Men amidst the Diseases they bring upon their Bodies, and the resentments they break up in their Minds and Spirits, and these equal and continual Satisfa­ctions of the Blessed in the presence of God, and the Societies of just Men made Perfect?

And to this blessed State and Conditions, we are hopeful, [...]ur truely Great, our truely Noble, our truely Virtuous Friend is gone: Whose Dust lyeth now before us, to be returned to that Dust of the Earth out of which it was taken. Not do I say this out of any Complement to His Friends and Memory; but from very considerable Evidences and Grounds of Charity. And therefore shall presume to set before you, for your Chri­stian Imitation, some of these excellent Virtues which did most luculently shine forth in his Lise: And by which, there was a con­siderable Obedience given to some of the most important of the Gospel Precepts. And this I take to be the chief Design of Fune­ral Discourses upon our dead Friends; to make their Light so shine before Men, that others seing their Good Works (at least hearing of them) may Glorify their Father which is in Heaven. We find the Virtues of Dorcas much talked of, and the Product of her Handy-labour exhibited to her Praise in the sight of the Apostle, who was allowed to raise her from the Dead.

The first two I shall make mention of, are coupled together by [Page 18]our Blessed Lord and Saviour in the Eleventh Chap. of St. Matt. Gospel Verse 24. In a grand Lesson he offers unto, and enjoyns upon his Disciples; It is in these Words, Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in Heart. And sufficiently to understand the Value of these Graces, it will be fit to mention another Scripture Isa: 57.15. Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth: Eternity, whose Name is Holy, I dwell in the High and Holy Place; with him also that is of a Contrit and Humble Spirit, to revive the Spirit of the Humble, and to revive the Heart of the Contrit Ones. Where it is obviously observable, That these Virtue so qualify the Soul as to make it a Habitation for God, and do make up a considerable part of the Image of Christ. Nor do I say that these alone can qualify Us for an Union with God; but that they are two of the most considerable Virtues, in the exer­cise of which we may hope to attain to the Blessedness of an other World.

For the Meekness of our Great and Noble Friend, it was such as that seldom he was found to be Angry. For my self I have heard his Ears provok'd, but never saw his Countenance chang­ed. And if we take in the Holy St. Augustin his Description of the Meek, which is in these Words (Commenting upon our Saviours Sermon upon the Mount) mites qui cedunt Improbita­tibus & non resistunt in malo. He knew to bear evil Offices done him in the World with as equal a Mind as any amongst Men: Nor did he take pleasure to render Evil for Evil, but rather in the Meekness of his Spirit to overcome Evil with Good. And without either Fondness or Hyperbole, I may adventure to say that, if he came not up to the Meekness of Moses in the exercise of this Virtue, he was one of the Meekest Men of all the Societies where he happened to be found.

For his Humility it was as Signal as it was Singular. He ever [Page 19]shunned all pompous Appearances and proud Competitions. He was assable and easy in his Conversation, even with these of in­ferior Quality, and yet with his Equals setting forth a Greatness suitable to his Birth, attended with all the possibly attainable Effects that his Noble and Generous Education at Foreign Courts could have been expected to produce. For his Table it was e­ver opulent and honest, and upon all solemn and singular Occa­sions, second to none amongst his Peers; but nothing Vain or savouring of Ostentation. In his Apparel, though he never wan­ted by him the richest and finest, yet he looked upon himself as Great in the Virtue of his Country, as in the Product of the In­dies, and truely he was so. Whatsoever he had to boast beyond his Neighbours, in considerable acquired Parts, he had no itch to shew them, but industriously kept them up, except when the common Benefit of others did require it. Nor were his At­tainments only in that which we call the Gentile-Learning, espe­cially the Classick Authors, whereof a Copy is extant in his Li­brary, than which there can be none found finer in the Nation; but in other Sciences, that are of greater Use, and require clos­ser and more serious Application. And I have been witness to his modest and bashful Concealing of them, when he had good opportvnity to set them forth to his Praise, making good that Description St. Bernard gives of Humility, Gloriari non solet, contendere non consuevit, it doth not Boast, it useth not to Wrangle.

The next Virtue that shined in him, was his remarkable Justice, in observance of that great Gospel Precept. Matth. 7.12. All things whatsoever ye would that Men should do to you, do you even so to them: For this is the Law and the Prophets. This Virtue did he practise to a great Pitch, in all the Transactions of his greater Affairs, and in lesser Concerns in his State and Family; still [Page 20]Allowing, Approving, and Commending, upon all Occasions, all Actions of that Nature. And was frequently heard to say that, however unjust any were to him, he would be Just to all the World. And in some time his Singular Justice, in most Signal Acts of it, may be made, appear.

To these add his Eminent Charity and Bounty to all that were in want, so necessary a Virtue in these pinching times, and that likwise in obedience to a very great Gospel Precept. Heb. 13.16. To do Good and Communicat forget not, for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased. This is a Virtue that admits not of such pub­lick Evidences, because we are forbid to sound a Trumpet before it. And that is indeed the great difference betwixt true Charity and vain Ostentation. Only this I can say, as upon certain Knowledge, that sometimes I have been called to find out fit objects for his Charitable Distributions.

Now here is a short Catalogue of some of the most Excellent Christian Virtues, which very eminently dwelt in him. And might we stay longer upon this to highten the Morality of his Life, we might call in as Auxiliaries the Cardinal Moral Virtues, admired, practised and recommended by the Ancients, as foun­ded upon the Light of Nature. One of these is already touched, to wit, Justice; the other three are Prudence, Temperance and Fortitude of Mind.

Of the first of these he was Blessed with very large Measures. And if we speak the Language of the Moralists nullum Numen abest, si fit prudentia.

For his Temperance in eating, he could shew himself Sober in the midst of great Abundance. For the other part of it in Li­quors; many times have I heard him remonstrat against the use of them betwixt Meals: And if at any time the corrupt Customs of the Age did impose upon his Gentle and condescending Spi­rit, [Page 21]he bore both the trouble and Resentment of it to a Christian Measure.

For that of Fortitude of Mind, which is indeed the Stay and Anchor of all the rest, he was a Phaenix for it; which cannot miss to be attested by all that had the Honour to Converse with him. Never a more equal and immovable temper of Spirit found ordinarly amongst Men upon the Earth. You ever found him, where you left him, and what he was, he was unto the End.

So that Relative to all these, both Christian & Moral Virtues, he seemed to inhaunce that Precept of the Blessed Apostle. 1 Cor. xv. 58. Be Stedfast and Immoveable.

Signal Evidences of this Fortitude of Mind did appear to a Wonder in the sight of many Witnesses at his Death, his Noble and Honourable Friends whom he had called to the Christian Office of attending him at that Season. There did he seem so far to Triumph over Death, that the ordinar Temper of his Mind suffered no imaginable Change; speakihg with all the Delibera­tion and Digestedness, a very little time before his Death, as he used to do in the time of his Health; with all Demonstration of Kindness, taking by the Hand all that were about him com­mitting them to God; Pardoning and praying for all his Ene­mies; and heartily Blessing his Hopeful Son.

One Passage did very much instruct the Christian Magnaminity, als wel as Moral Fortitude of his Mind; when the Surprize of a very excuseable Passion made his Dearest and truely Noble Consort break out in some kind & deep Resentments at her Thoughts of his parting from the World: He thus expressed himself as with a Challenge; Why! should not I resign my Soul unto God at His pleasure? All the Greatness and Wealth, and numerous Circumstances of Temporal Felicity were not so much as in his View. The serious­ness [Page 22]of his Devotions, als well as the Fortitude of his Mind, left no place for such low and mean Thoughts. To this add a singu­lar Instance of that orderly and digested Regard, which he pay­ed to God all that Night over, before it pleased God to call him out of this Mortal Life. As oft as Prayers were offered for him, (the returns of which were very frequent) and that most Just and Righteous Conclusion of our Requests (in the Words of our Blessed Lord and Saviours form of Prayer, which rectifies all our undigested Thoughts) sounded in his Ears, he pulled off the thin Covering of his Head (with which he was abundantly discovered when it was upon him) and with the profundest De­votion joyned in the Petitions thereof.

Here is a Chain of Virtues, (made mention of before you) hanging about this Great and Noble Personage. Virtues have al­ways their proper Lustre where ever they are to be found; but set forth a greater deal of Beauty and Glory, when made Con­spicuous by so high a Station, like Pallas or Minerva sitting u­pon a Triumphal Arch, and commanding the profoundest Regard from all their Votaries, passing by them upon the common Le­vel of the Earth. O! What Obligations ly upon Great Men to be Virtuous, provocking to Imitation the Multitudes of such as stand upon a lower Ground, considerably reforming the World, & putting common Debauchry & Dissolutness of Life to the Blush: And, by so doing, greatly advancing the Kingdom of God.

But, to live this Digression, I say here is a Chain of Virtues, Meekness and Humility, Twins of Paradise, fit for the Fellow­ship of Jesus, and meet to enter into the Societies of the Blessed; without which, they cannot abide in these Regions of true Felici­ty, more than Lucifer in Heaven, or Adam in the Garden of Eden. Justice & Charity the two profitable Hand-maids of Human Socie­ty, Ministering to the present Exigences of his lower World; [Page 23]without which neither could the Poor Subsist, nor the Rich be Happy. Again, here are Prudence, Fortitude, and Temperance. The Philosophers have left us little to say of these, only they Treat them likeways with respect to this Life, and the consti­tuting and carrying on of a Temporal Happiness and summum bo­num under the Sun. But in the other World, our Prudence shall be swallowed up of a perfected Wisdom, whereof it is but a Spice or Syre: Fortitude shall lose it self in a fearless and inconcus­sible State: And Temperance shall surrender its Dominion to a total Exemption from the use of the Creature. To all these add Pure and Holy Devotion, and this is a lasting Tribut payable to our Great Lord and Maker, as in this World, so in that which is to come.

And now, with this Climax or Chain of Virtues, in their dif­ferent Positions and Gradations, in their proper Exercises and Operations, did our Great and Noble Friend and Fellow Christi­an shew himself forth in the World: Having them so closs hang­ing about him, and knit unto him, that so long as he was ca­pable of Communion with Us, and the common Union of Soul and Body was allowed to subsist, they shined forth with a Meri­dian Brightness. Only the last of these (as most becoming his Business of appearing before God) seemed in the last place total­ly to possess his Soul, and to shew forth a great work of God u­pon his Heart, making him to breath forth a total Abnegation and cheerful Dereliction of all the enjoyments of this Life.

And in this manner did he spend his Time in the approaches of Death, as he had done for a considerable time before, having, also received the Holy Eucharist from the Hand of one who was Worthy, and had right to Celebrat and Administer it. Thus did he in the strength of a firm Mind, and in the returns of con­tinual Devotions wait for the coming of his Lord, uttering [Page 24]these Words, and never any after them; Into thy Hands, O Lord I ecommend my Spirit.

Thus, this Noble and Excellent Personage, with this upright Job. (whose Patience in a most lively manner he transcribed, as in the course of his Life, where he wanted not singular enough tryals, so most Eminently in his last Fatal Sickness) was brought unto Death and to the House Appointed for all Living.

What was Great and Noble about Him, either in the Extract or Alliances of his Family (where there wants no Ground e­nough to Celebrat his Greatness) we cannot so much consider the Subject of a Funeral, as the work of a Pencil. And therefore recommends you to his Escutcheon, where you will find the Ensigns Armorial of the Noblest and Greatest Families of this Nation.

Or, if there were any Faults or Failings in his Life, (As what Man liveth and finneth not?) that is as little my Business. What I have already said of Him, seems to speak Him more than a Penitent even a Favorite of Heaven, and yet boasting of no Attainments; but in the wonted Humility of his Soul, throwing himself intirely upon the Merits of the Blessed Jesus, the only true and solid Plea of the best of Christians. And here we shall leave Him, where we hope to be found in the day of our Appear­rance.

And what now remains but the last Duty of his Noble and Honourable Blood Friends? To commit his Body to the Dust, since his Spirit is returned to God who gave it. And Blessed are the Dead which Die in the Lord, from henceforth for they rest from their Labours, and their Works do follow them.