A Gainful Death the end of a truly Christian Life A SERMON At the FUNERAL of Mr. John Griffith Late Minister of the Gospel Who departed this Life May 16. in the 79th year of his Age. Preach'd May the 20th 1700. By RICHARD ALLEN LONDON Printed for Andr. Bell at the Cross Keys and Bible in Cornhil and M. Fabian at Mercer's Chappel in Cheapside 1700. TO THE READER I Have no other Excuse to plead for exposing the following Sermon but the common one that it was not by my own choice but thro the earnest and often repeated Importunities of the dearest Relatives of that Worthy Person at whose Interment it was preach'd 'T is impossible I should commit it to the Press verbatim as then deliver'd But tho several Expressions then used may have eseaped my Recollection yet the substance from my own brief Notes and Memory is here transmitted with some little Additions The Subject is undoubtedly excellent had my Abilities in handling it been somewhat proportionable I should hope the advantage would well compensate the small Cost and Labour of the perusal Such as it is I commit it to publick View If God please by his Blessing to make it in some measure useful to promote a Christian Life and a gainful Death in any into whose hands it shall come let such be excited to give the greater Glory to God from the Consideration of the meanness of the Instrument R. A. Phil. i. 21. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain AS I thought strange when Application was made to me so I doubt not but several here may wonder that I should be ingaged in a Funeral Discourse at the Interment of this antient and worthy Minister of the Gospel Such I would inform that it was nothing but the earnest Solicitations of his dearest Friends and Relations together with the venerable Esteem I had for himself that prevailed with me And having consented I had many thoughts what Text to make the foundation of my present Discourse but being assured that these excellent words of the Apostle were a very great Support and Solace to the Mind of this Reverend Person in the approaches of his Dissolution and often repeated by him with much delight but few hours before his last Exit I concluded none more fit to be consider'd upon this solemn occasion and the rather because they are the words of one to whom I will venture to liken tho in vastly different degrees this our deceased Friend viz. an antient faithful Minister of the Lord Jesus Christ the great Apostle Paul who was now a Prisoner at Rome and under the apprehensions of a sudden Dissolution not indeed as our antient Friend through the Infirmities of Age and Sickness but as a Martyr of Jesus Christ which Apprehensions were so far from being frightful and surprizing that they were very comfortable and delightful to him as appears v. 20. The ground of which holy Confidence and fearless Expectation of Death was his consciousness that Christ was his Life and that therefore Death would be his Gain as it is expressed in my Text For to me to live is Christ and to die is Gain In which words we have two Generals First The Apostle in himself gives us a Description of a living Christian in these words For to me to live is Christ or as Tremellius from the Syriac and others render it * Vita enim mea Christus est For Christ is my Life understanding that the Apostle useth the Infinitive †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to live for the Noun ‖ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Life which is very usual both in Scripture and other Authors and being thus understood the words contain this Proposition That Christ is the Life of a true Christian as Col. 3.4 When Christ who is our Life shall appear c. Secondly The happy Exit of such a one He that can say upon clear grounds with the Apostle That Christ is his Life may assure himself that Death will be so far from being the King of Terrors that it will be Gain to him Doct. All those and only those who have Christ for their Life shall be Gainers by their Death In handling this Truth I shall endeavour two things I. To shew what 's included in Christ's being the Life of a true Christian II. What are the Advantages that such gain by their Death I. The first thing we shall enquire is What may be included in Christ's being the Life of a true Christian that thereby we may make some Judgment of our own State I conceive it includes these following things which I may little more than glance at 1. Christ is the meritorious Cause of a true Christian's Life We are all thro Sin dead in Law and under Condemnation but a true Christian is passed from this State of Death and Condemnation into that of Justification and Life But how Rom. 3.24 Being justified freely by his Grace through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ 'T is thro the meritorious Sufferings and Obedience of the Lord Jesus imputed to Believers in respect of the saving Benefits thereof By Sin all are alienated from the Life of God but the true Christian is rais'd up from a Death of Sin to a Life of sincere Holiness But how 't is by the gracious operation of the Spirit of God which he shed on us abundantly Tit. 3.6 through Jesus Christ our Saviour 2. Christ is the Principle of the Spiritual Life of a true Christian which springs from Vnion with him 'T is a dangerous Error for any to suppose themselves to live a Life of Justification before they have some real experience of a Life of Sanctification and 't is impossible to live a Life of Sanctification before this vital Vnion Gal. 2.20 I live says the Apostle yet not I but Christ liveth in me and the Life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me 3. The Laws of Christ are the governing Rule of the true Christian's Life If we savingly receive Christ we receive him as Lord Col. 2.6 i. e. We as willingly receive him as our King to rule and govern us and to save us from the Power and Dominion of Sin at present and from Sin it self hereafter as we receive him for our great High Priest to atone for our Guilt and procure and maintain our Peace with God by his Sacrifice and Intercession Christ is the sole Author of eternal Salvation Heb. 5.9 but 't is only to them that obey him 4. The Love of Christ is the constraining Motive of a true Christian's Life None can upon clear grounds say with the Apostle To me to die is Gain but such as can in some good measure also say The Love of Christ constraineth us 2 Cor. 5.14 2 Tim. 4.8 The Crown of Righteousness is promised to all them and to them only who love
his appearing And to be sure none can love Christ's appearing but such as can truly say 1 Joh. 4.19 We love him because he first loved us 5. Christ is the Pattern and Exemplar of a true Christian's Life God hath predestinated all his Children to be conformed to the Image of his Son Rom. 8.29 both in Grace and Holiness here and in Glory and Happiness hereafter And the former is the only and necessary way and means to the latter 'T is vain for us to pretend to be savingly interested in Christ unless in some good measure we are like him in Holiness Humility Meekness Self-denial Zeal for the Divine Glory 1 Joh. 2.6 c. He that saith he abideth in him * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 5.10 must needs himself also so walk even as he walked Lastly The Glory Honour and Interest of Christ is the great End of a true Christian's Life He does not only sometimes speak or act for Christ 2 Cor. 5.15 but habitually lives to him Our Apostle tells us here V. 15 18. he rejoic'd while Christ was preached and glorified and his Interest carried on tho himself was by the same Persons envied and despised We must in this be like him and hereby evidence that Christ is our Life if we would say upon like grounds with him Death will be our Gain These are brief hints of the severals I take to be included in this Phrase To me to live is Christ or Christ is my Life which taken together I conceive give us an excellent Description of a true living Christian He is one that through the meritorious Sufferings and Obedience of the Lord Jesus is vitally united to him by Faith and thereby justified and sanctified rul'd by his Laws and influenc'd by his Love his Life is conform'd to Christ's Life and devoted to the advancement of his Glory and Interest To all such and such only Death will be Gain And so I come to the II. General to treat something of the Advantage that every true living Christian gains by Death This we shall consider more generally and more particularly I would in a more general way premise two things 1. Every true living Christian is a present and immediate Gainer by Death When their Body returns to the Earth Eccles 12.7 their Spirit happily returns to God who gave it Hence heavenly-minded Christians earnestly long to be absent from the Body 2 Cor. 5.8 that they may be present with the Lord. Without presupposing this I can't see what rational Account can be given of the Apostles Option ver 23. Having a desire to depart or * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be dissolv'd and be with Christ Which Truth I think also plainly taught by our Saviour in his gracious Promise to the petitioning Malefactor Luke 23.43 Verily I say to thee To day or †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hodie q.d. hoc die Pasor this very day thou shalt be with me in Paradise that is in heavenly Delights and Pleasures Who also teaches all his faithful Servants by his own Example Ib. ver 46. to commend their expiring Spirits into the hands of their Heavenly Father But 2. The fulness and completion of their Gain by Death is reserv'd for the glorious Appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ When the Bodies of Saints shall be rais'd and reunited to their Souls then they shall fully enter into the Joy of their Lord. Hence this is constantly spoken of as the great day of Redemption and Recompence 'T is when Christ who is our Life shall appear Col. 3.4 that we shall fully appear with him in Glory 2 Thess 1.10 When he shall come to be most eminently glorified in his Saints and admir'd in all them that believe Whence all that have valiantly and victoriously fought the good fight c. 2 Tim. 4.7 8. die in a comfortable hope of receiving a Crown of Righteousness at that day viz. of his appearing Thus much in general I shall now more particularly endeavour to set before you something of the Advantages which living Christians gain by Death And 1. They gain thereby a perfect freedom from all Sin I need not prove to any serious Christian that this is a very great Gain Believers are indeed now characteriz'd to be such as are made free from Sin Rom. 6.22 but this means no otherwise than as the Apostle afterwards explains himself 8.2 made free from the Law or Dominion of Sin An absolutely perfect freedom from Sin is peculiar to the future Life The remains of this Plague in Believers like that inveterate Leprosy in the Houses of Israelites Lev. 14. can't be perfectly cur'd without dissolving this earthly House of their Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5.1 Christ will at and after Death compleat his Work and present his Church and each living Member thereof Eph. 5.27 glorious not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but holy and without blemish Then they shall be without fault before the Throne of God Rev. 14.5 2. They are freed by it not only from all Sin but from all Temptations and Inclinations to Sin This is much more than the former Our first Parents in Innocency were wholly free from Sin but 't is certain they were not free from Temptations to Sin Yea the second Adam our Lord Jesus tho perfectly holy and undefil'd yet in the state of his Humiliation he was not only assaulted with Temptations but violently assaulted with most black and hellish ones and tho he could not in the least be prevailed upon to sin by these Temptations yet he suffered Heb. 2.18 which seems to import some difficulty in bearing and resisting of them no wonder then that the best Christians very often find themselves grievously tempted and too much inclin'd to a sinful compliance when yet through Grace they are kept from those Sins to which they are tempted But Death will free the sincere Christian not only from the destructive malignity of the fiery Darts of the wicked one Eph. 6.16 but also from their afflictive Injections not only from being overcome by those fleshly Lusts 1 Pet. 2.11 which war against their Souls but also from being any more molested by the motion of them Death will not only secure them from being destroyed by this present evil World Gal. 1.4 but it will totally deliver them from it In this respect Death will usher the living Christian into a Life transcendently more excellent than the present Life of Grace wherein whatever ground Christians have to think themselves to stand 1 Cor. 10.12 or * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 13.1 to be established they must still take heed lest they fall And sure the most confirm'd Christian while here as well as the great Apostle has need to maintain a cautionary Fear and Endeavour 1 Cor. 9.27 lest he should be or †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
express 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall see him as he is and as the blessed Effect of this Vision we shall be like him And well may this according to the Apostle's design raise admiring Thoughts and Meditations in our Minds concerning that State and the Divine Love which gives us an Interest therein 'T is very unchristian to murmur and repine at the Death of our Godly Friends and Relations which is only the accomplishment of the gracious Will and mediatory Request of our Saviour Joh. 17.24 Father saith he I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory c. O! what a desirable thing must it be to be for ever with the Lord 1 Thess 4.17 and in the perpetual and uninterrupted fruition of him To all such who count it no less their Privilege than their Duty to behold his Glory now tho it be only in the Glass of Ordinances to all those who often in some good measure experience the Psalmist's Devotion breathing forth with him Psal 42.20 My Soul thirsteth for God for the living God when shall I come to appear before God And again 63.1 2. My Soul thirsieth for thee to see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary 7. Death will bring them into the most blessed and delightful Society They now enjoy not only a visible Fellowship with Saints but a sweet and invisible Communion with holy Angels who delightfully perform that kind Office in which they are imploy'd by our common Head being by him made all ministring Spirits Heb. 1.14 sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation But they shall ascend from the valley of Death to the top of Mount Sion Heb. 12.22 23. and to the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect Made perfect that is freed from all those defects in Knowledg and Holiness which here render the Society even of Saints sometimes very unpleasant and troublesom But O what a Felicity will it be to meet in that perfect State with many of our dear Friends and Relations and it may be some of our Enemies too persectly reconciled to us to enjoy intimate Society with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and Martyrs and in a word with all those Noble and Excellent Saints that ever we read or heard of You can't but from the Consideration of these things conclude with me in the 8. Place That Death will bring them into the most ravishing Joys and into the most pure and unmix'd Pleasures The most refin'd Joys of this Life have a great alloy and mixture of Sorrow The most delightful Pleasures are attended with Pain and Uneasiness The most happy Estate here is often obtain'd with care kept with fear and lost with trouble Honour and Greatness are commonly uneasy to those that have them and hated and envied by those that have them not Liberal Education and Knowledg is one of the sweetest Pleasures and Delights of an ingenuous Mind yet even this if we may believe him who had the largest Experience of it is not without its Vanity and Vexation of Spirit For in much Wisdom Eccles 1.18 saith he is much Grief and he that increaseth Knowledg increaseth Sorrow Yea the very Sweets and Delights of Religion are here exceedingly dampt partly by the Consciousness of our great Imperfection therein partly by Melancholy and partly by the Malice of that malignant Spirit who if he can't hale us with himself into Hell will be sure to make us go as droopingly as possible in our way to Heaven But Death transmits holy Souls into the immediate Presence of God where there is fulness of Joy Psal 16.11 and at whose right-hand there are Pleasures for evermore Then all the Doubts of sad and dejected tho sincere Souls shall be chang'd into full assurance all their Darkness into the most clear Light their Mournings into Melodies their Sorrows and Sighs into Songs of Praise and joyful Hallelujahs to him that sits upon the Throne Rev. 19.1 chap. 5.13 and to the Lamb for ever and ever Lastly All these Advantages will be eternal and everlasting This is indeed but a Circumstance but 't is such a Circumstance without which all the Happiness of Heaven it self would be imperfect Yea the greater the Felicity is the greater and more amazing would be the damp it would strike upon the Spirits of those who are in the fruition of it to think Alas one day I must be depriv'd of all this and either relapse into my former Miseries or else sink into the abyss of Nothingness I believe there are few living Christians but are ready to cry out with Job under a sense of the Sinsulness and Miserableness of the present Life Job 7.16 I would not live always But it is impossible any such thought should enter into the Mind of a glorified Saint Where there is fulness of Joy it can't but be an inconceivable Pleasure to know it shall be for evermore As the Felicities of Saints after Death are call'd weights of Glory because of the Greatness of them so they are call'd eternal weights because of the Durableness and Permanency of them O consider then what a blessed thing it is to be regenerated and born again for such are begotten to an Inheritance not like the Inheritances of this World fading and uncertain 1 Pet. 1.3 5. but to an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you who are kept by the Power of God thro Faith unto Salvation Thus I have set before you a little and I may without any Rhetorical Flourish say but a little of the Advantages which every sincere Christian shall gain by Death I am confident whoever of you pass thro the dark valley and shadow of Death into those Regions of Light and Blessedness and O that it may be the Portion of every one of you who are my Hearers or Readers you will then wonderingly say of this your Gain by Death as the Queen of Sheba of Solomon's Wisdom Behold 1 Kings 10 7. the half was not told me and the Glory and Felicity far exceeds the Fame I heard I now proceed to make some brief Application of the whole And among many very useful Reflections which might be made upon this excellent Subject I shall shut up my present Discourse with these brief ones following 1. Well may we hence infer the Wisdom of sincere Religion If such be the end of a truly Christian Life then as the Scriptures frequently so they most fitly represent sincere Religion and Piety as the truest Wisdom Let even Reason impartially speak whether it be not the truest Wisdom to prefer the Fountain of Living Waters before broken Cisterns that can hold no Water to prefer
〈◊〉 become a Reprobate or Castaway Yea Death will advance the living Christian into a transcendently better Life than that paradisical one of our first Parents in Innocency as was hinted before For tho they were free from Sin and furnish'd with Strength and Ability to have continued in that State yet they were not freed from the possibility and danger of sinning as the event wofully manifested But Believers thro Death will be secur'd not only from Sin but from all danger of sinning and establish'd in an impeccable and immutable state of Holiness 3. Death will free the living Christian from all Sorrows and Miseries They are already exempted by their Justification from liableness to future-Wrath and Condemnation 1 Thess 5.9 God hath not appointed them to Wrath but to obtain Salvation thro our Lord Jesus Christ But while they have any remains of Sin they must look for Sorrows and Afflictions which are the inseparable Concomitants of it Job's Experience is as true of the best Christians as of other Men that as they are of few days in this World so those few days are full of trouble How many Sorrows afflict some thro want and penury and no less Sorrows attend others in obtaining and using of Riches and a while after it may be far greater accost them by the sudden loss of an Estate or great part of it by some surprizing Calamity Prov. 23.5 while Riches make themselves Wings and fly away as an Eagle towards Heaven Many times they have great Sorrows from the Malignity of open Enemies at other times no less from the Treachery of pretended Friends and the Mutability and Fickleness of once real ones The dear Children of God here labour often under Sorrows by reason of Pains and dolorous Distempers in their Bodies and many times by reason of Doubts and Fears in their Minds They have many times Heart-breaking Sorrows from the woful Miscarriages of Children or other dear Relations and often very cutting Sorrows by a sudden removal of them thro a surprizing stroke of Death It would be endless to enumerate the variety of Sorrows and Calamities that more or less afflict God's Children while here but at their Dissolution God will wipe away all Tears from their Eyes Rev. 21.4 and there shall be no more Death neither Sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more Pain for the former things are passed away 4. At Death the living Christian is freed not only from the burden of a sinful but also from the clog of an animal Body A sinful Body is one thing and an animal Body another It would be equally false and irreligious for any to say that our Saviour had a sinful Body but it is certainly true that he had an animal Body like ours liable to the like natural tho not moral Infirmities which Sin hath brought into our Bodies Whence I conceive 't is said he was sent in the likeness not only of Flesh Rom. 8.3 but of sinful Flesh The Bodies of Saints in the present state as they are to them an occasion of much Sin so when they are not so they are a great clog and hindrance and as it were a dead weight to keep their aspiring Souls from mounting upwards in Divine Contemplations and Communion with God Tho the Flesh in them be not so strong as to prove a victorious Enemy yet 't is so weak as to prove a very untoward and sluggish Servant even when they are bless'd with a willing Spirit in religious Duties Whence the best Saints have continual need not only to watch Mat. 26.41 but pray earnestly for help from above to secure them from being vanquished by Temptation But Death will bring them into that blessed State wherein this contemptible 1 Cor. 15.43 44 49. and it may be deform'd Body shall be made glorious and beautiful This weak and frail Body shall be made vigorous and powerful this Earthly and Terrene Body shall be made Heavenly and Celestial this gross and sluggish Body shall be made pure and spiritual Then I conceive they will be enabled even literally to mount up as with Eagles Wings Isa 40.31 to run and not be weary and walk and not faint In a word our gracious Redeemer will change this our vile Body Phil. 3.21 that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things to himself 5. Their Souls at and after Death shall be freed not only from all sinful but also from all afflictive Ignorance and made perfect in the Knowledg of God and his most excellent Works This Knowledg our Saviour calls Life Eternal Joh. 17.3 because as a present sanctified Knowledg of God is the only way to so the Perfection of this Knowledg is of the Essence of Eternal Life and Blessedness The most illuminated Saints here have cause with Elihu to complain we can't order either our Thoughts and Conceptions Job 37.19 or our Words and Expressions aright concerning him by reason of Darkness Indeed the most raised Notions and Conceptions Words and Discourses even of an Apostle while here concerning the Mysteries of God and Religion are but like the imperfect and confus'd Thoughts or lisping and broken Expressions of Children compar'd with what they shall be in Heaven whence spring so many different Apprehensions amongst the most sincere Christians and hence they are too often vehemently contending and quarrelling like Children about those abstruse Difficulties which are clearly apprehended by neither of the contending Parties But Death will cause all Scales to fall from their Eyes and remove every Veil from their Heart then their present obscure Knowledg shall vanish as the twinkling Light of a Candle before the resplendent Brightness of the Sun All which is fully and clearly expressed by the Apostle to the Corinthian Christians 1 Cor. 13 8-12 Then will Saints be let into the full view of the Mysteries of Redemption 1 Pet. 1.12 which things the Angels desire to look into Then will the infinitely wise and beautiful Series of Divine Providence be display'd which here appears many times to the best dark and unaccountable for want of their seeing it from the beginning to the end Eccles 3.11 Then shall the Depths of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness in all God's Works appear to his Saints who shall be the wondring and delightful Beholders thereof 6. Death will let them into the immediate beatifying Vision and full enjoyment of God and their blessed Redeemer Then all that are pure in Heart shall Mat. 5.8 according to our Saviour's Promise be made compleatly blessed by seeing God They shall see his Face and his Name shall be written in their Forehead Rev. 22.4 How and after what manner Saints shall see him who is invisible Heb. 11.27 what human Mind can now conceive and how much less can my Tongue or Pen express it But in this the Holy Ghost is
our Souls in which we were made but little inferior to Angels before our Bodies in which we are little superior to Beasts to give the Preference to Heaven above Earth to Eternity above Time to prefer solid and endless Joys and Felicities before empty and perishing Pleasures and then the result of its Determination must surely be that the seriously religious Person is the only wise one And 2. 'T is on the contrary the greatest folly to neglect that Life which alone will end in this gainful Death O what stupendous folly is it to make light of Christ Mat. 20 2-5 who must be our Life if ever we live indeed 'T is great folly in any measure to neglect but what unaccountable Madness is it wholly to neglect this great Salvation Nor is it less folly for any to satisfy themselves with the Name without the Life of Christianity with a mere Form without the Power of Godliness for any to please themselves because they eat in Christ's Presence and sit at his Table tho they secretly work Iniquity and indulge themselves in worldly and fleshly Lusts Such have no part or lot in this whole matter However such Hypocrites may now flatter themselves with a vain expectation of Happiness tho they are regardless of that sincere Holiness which is the only way to it this their Hope shall at last utterly perish and be suddenly cut off Job 8.14 and their Trust will be as a Spider's Web. Tho they feed upon Ashes Isa 44.20 and carry a Lie in their right-hand and are so turn'd aside by a deceived and flattering Heart as to entertain no serious thoughts of securing and delivering their Souls they shall at length be rouz'd out of this delusory Dream However they have lull'd their Consciences asleep fancying themselves spiritually rich by reason of their Profession and external Privileges they shall not by all their empty Pleas be able to deceive their all-knowing Judg nor appease him who will then be inexorable to their most earnest Intreaties but with wrathful Countenance he will profess to them Mat. 7.23 saying I never knew you Depart from me ye that work Iniquity Death will not be to them any Gain but the end of all their Delights and the beginning of never-dying Sorrows and Woes 3. Seeing none shall be admitted into Heaven but those who have Christ for their Life as far as in us lies we should admit and retain no other in Christ's Church which ought to be an Emblem of Heaven upon which account 't is often call'd the Kingdom of Heaven Such as make Christ's Laws the Rule of their Life Christ's Life the Pattern of theirs and make his Glory and Interest their ultimate End and Design these are the only Persons likely to be a Reputation to or receive benefit by Church Communion One scandalous Sinner being indulg'd in the Church tho but a little Leven yet leveneth the whole lump that is 1 Cor. 5.6 renders the whole Church guilty by their abetting of him It is a horrid Reproach to our holy Religion to suffer any such in Christian Communion and much more is it so if such a one should be a magnified Teacher in any Society of Christians as several of the Greek Fathers tell us Theodoret Chrysostom c. Vid. Poli Synopsin in locum Ver. 2 6. that incestuous Fornicator amongst the Corinthians was and that therefore they were puffed up from a conceit of his applauded Eloquence and profound Learning instead of mourning and being humbled and gloried in their connivance at his Wickedness instead of being asham'd of it Heb. 12.15 16. Look diligently saith the Apostle to the Christian Church lest any root of bitterness be suffer'd to spring up and be not rooted out lest there be any Fornicator or profane Person and thereby many be defiled 4. This should perswade all that have Christ for their Life to love one another Joh. 3.3 All such are born * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 11.13 from above and therefore are but Strangers and Pilgrims here below The whole time of their continuance upon Earth is but the time of their sojourning here 1 Pet. 1.17 They are in the World as well as others but they are not of it but are God's elect ones and peculiar Treasure being by their gracious Redeemer chosen out of the World Joh. 15.19 and therefore the World hates them and carries it strangely towards them and they likewise are in the Temper of their Hearts and in the Deportment of their Lives alienated from the World And because they are Strangers on Earth Eph. 2.19 they are no more Strangers and Foreigners in Heaven but fellow Citizens with the Saints and of the Houshold of God As therefore Natives of the same Country tho they may have little acquaintance and familiarity while at home yet are much endeared in their mutual Affections by meeting together in a strange Land especially if it be withal a barbarous Country where they are Partners in Sufferings and Hardships so Christians considering they are all fellow Travellers thro a wast howling Wilderness to the Celestial Canaan should take that excellent Counsel good Joseph gave his Brethren Gen. 45.24 See that ye fall not out by the way If Christ be our Life then we are all Members of one Body Ephes 4.4 and Partakers of one Spirit and call'd in one hope of our Calling we are then all Subjects and Disciples of one Lord Ver. 5. and have in respect of the saving Essentials but one Faith and are all the Children of one God and Father all which are very uniting and endearing Considerations But especially if besides all this we are visibly initiated into Christ's Church by that one Baptism which he instituted different Apprehensions about more disputable Matters of Religion should not hinder us from jointly and studiously endeavouring Ver. 3. to keep the most close Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace 5. This yields great Support when our Godly Friends and Relations are taken from us by the hand of Death We may then indeed have manifold cause to mourn but not to sorrow as others who have no hope 1 Thess 5.13 seeing they are only fallen asleep in Jesus they shall certainly awake and be for ever with the Lord. You the surviving Relations of this our deceased Father have cause to mourn for your Loss and the Church of Christ hath great cause to mourn for hers but you have both great ground of Support in that God continued him with you to a good old Age and especially in that his hoary Head was a Crown of Glory Prov. 16.31 being found in the way of Righteousness He liv'd near fourscore years and more than threescore of them were solemnly and we have just reason to believe sincerely devoted to the Lord Jesus in his Church Yea he had been as I am certainly inform'd about fifty four years a Pastor or