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A67616 A sermon preached at St. Margarets in Westminster at the funeral of Mrs. Susanna Gray, daughter of Henry Gray, Esq., of Enfield in Staffordshire, who on the 29 of October 1654 began her eternal sabbath. Waring, Robert, 1614-1658. 1657 (1657) Wing W869; ESTC R27055 15,128 48

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the rule of our passions and sufferings Do we dayly profess to God Thy will be done and now it appears to be particularly Gods will seeing nothing is brought to passe in Heaven or in Earth without the will of him that ruleth over all why doe we not give the Lord leave to do what he will in Heaven and Earth whom we so often standing professe the Maker of Heaven and Earth what Atheisme now possesseth us because Gods will crosseth ours to stick at last to pronounce with good Eli in as hard a case as great a loss as any we can complain of the utter ruine of his family and Excision from the Priesthood the loss of two sons and the Ark of God at once It is the Lord let him do what seemeth good unto him 3. There is yet a greater reason of thy Resignation in this Case in that God hath the propriety and right the Soveraign Dominion of all we only the short use If God recall but his own Gift what Injury what so great cause of complaint May not God as well take the Child away from the Mother to whom it was committed only to breed up in the fear of God as the Mother takes it home from the Nurse 'T is call'd to a better home what Relation or Title soever thou canst plead in the dear loss Whether thy Husband thy Child thy Father Brother or thy friend which is as thy own soul God pleads a nearer claim his Creature his Image his Member the price of his redemption c. his by many Titles his even before he was and his when he shall not be 3 Duty or Inquiry How we are from the present sense of anothers death to prepare for our own 1. Prepare by a tender and watchfull apprehension of all those Memento's and Remembrances of Mortality wherewith God and Nature dayly allarum us so that nothing is more frequently represented howsoever nothing be less thought on than death and we at last complain of a surprisal Like to the Man in the old story who had covenanted with death that he should before his last stroak give some warning with a Finger at least lift up and yet after many funerals of his friends and many parcel-funerals and decayes of his own body and senses being to die required some other Messengers and Fore-runners of his end and challenged Death for not knocking at the door before he entred only because he would not hear the knocks Amongst the many Remembrances of death So the Captain of fifty seeing the other Captains consum'd by str● foll upon his face with I pray thee let my life be precious in thy sight 2 Kings 1 13. the most sensible and sharp admonitions towards this preparation are sounded to us by the Last groans of our expiring friends as by the last Trump that Grave which buries part of our Souls with their bodies must needs call some of our thoughts that way And how few are there amongst us that have lived half the age of man that hath not out-lived half his Family or Acquaintance That continued Felicity of the Grecian Prince to pass an whole age without the losss of one Friend was a glory or boast not to be seconded by many Now the first preparative for death is the premeditation of it Death like the Basilisk losing its sting and force being first seen and viewed by us 2 Prepare not only by a weariness and contempt of life and of the world wherein you no longer find your Friend but by a more comfortable Thought of going to him and over-taking him Prepare to follow If this could so sweeten Socrates last deadly draught the Thought of passing to the society of Orpheus Homer and the ancient Sages How much more should it make us gladly embrace death that leads us to the society of Angels and takes us not away but restores us to our Friends and to the Spirits of Just men made perfect by the Vision of the most Holy One Especially if we consider that the Friends we go away to are much more than those we part from VVe are gatherd to our Fathers 3 Prepare by casting aside all that makes Death bitter or terrible unto us Now we fear death saith the Monk on Climacus for one of these two Causes either because we love this present Life or Distrust a better So Reuben Gad and Manasse did chuse their seat on this side Jordan because they saw the ground fit for pasture Num. 32 5. Some there are unwilling to leave their Pastures and Cattel for all the beasts and houses Divines or Astrologers talk of in heaven Some with St Peter confounded with the Glories and bright Honours of the world cry out in an Extasie It is good to be here let 's here fix our Tabernacle but the Text tells us He knew not what he said being dazled with the glorious light Luke 9.33 Others that with the Apostles betray a fear of storms and the danger of death though Christ be in the storm with them deserve Christs check O ye of little faith what are you afraid of So that our whole work of Preparation is reduc'd to these two points Contempt of this world Faith hopes of a better that we strive to leave the world its noise and vanities before we depart out of it Look on the earth and all his Comforts as passengers in swift streams still fleeting and parting from us or we from it and as Sojourners or Pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts never fix our delight in a pleasant way or Inne which is suddenly to be quitted And seeing no distance can hinder us more than the banish'd Jews from turning our faces towards the heavenly Jerusalem let us that we may be able with the Martyrs of old to refuse Life in hopes of a better Resurrection lay hold on Eternal life before this life fail us lay hold by a lively faith on the hands of our Saviour stretch'd out to receive us and lay that sure foundation for the time to come of Good Works that best preparative to a good death a good life Let us not rest till we have brought our Souls to that temper of the good Heathen Summan nec metuas diem nec optes neither to fear nor desire over-passionately the day of our change or rather to this Resolution of St. Paul Phil. 1.21 22 23 24. If I live I shall do well if I die I shall do better To me to live is Christ To die is Gain And now that we may with David rise from our sorrow and wash our faces with tears of Joy in the thought of this Virgin who is not lost but gone before us to that place whither we all strive to follow Let us reflect on that principal Comfort the hopes of that life however lost on earth to us yet recover'd in heaven being hid with Christ While your Eyes overflow with tears being fixed on the Corps on the Mantle here dropt below send your thoughts beyond