Stranger and a Sojourner in a foreign Land a Truth as old as Adam's Fall who by his Sin disposessed himself and all his Posterity and made us at best but Tenants at Will when we might have been Inhabitants and 't is well he did since at the same time he brought a Curse upon the Country and from a Garden of Pleasures converted it into one of Briers and Thorns and so left us to eat our Bread in the sweat of our Brows till we return to the Dust from whence we were taken God indeed was pleased whether as a Favour or a Punishment I shall not say to grant to him and the succeeding Patriarchs a longer Lease of Tilling the Ground than he doth now-a-days to us they had a longer Passage and Pilgrimage and by consequence a more tedious one before they came unto the Country they sought for but still they had no continuing City here they were not immortalized upon Earth nor exempted from the tasting of Death or from the many Miseries and Calamities incident to Life but were inured to hardship and labour evils and afflictions and the longest Life of them all before the Floud was concluded within less than a Thousand Years after the Floud as Sin increased which first shortened our abode so the days of man's Life were contracted tho the evils of it were enlarged so that Jacob confesseth as his days were full of evil so they had been few in in respect of his Forefathers as he told Pharaoh Gen. 47.9 the days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years few and evil have the days of the years of my life been and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage but in the time of Moses for he is generally thought to be the Author of the 90th Psalm the account of man's Life was much shorter much the same with what it now is Threescore and Ten or Fourscore Years but yet such as was attended with Sorrow and Labour as he tells us ver 10. of that Psalm But now how many Thousands end their Pilgrimage in a far shorter time how many now are cut off long before they come at that Age do we not daily almost see or hear of many suddenly snatcht away in the very midst and prime of their days how infinite are the numbers of those whose days are so far from being a Span long that they will scarce admit of any measure at all tho never so little how many are carried from the Womb to the Grave So short so uncertain is man's stay in this World which the Holy Scriptures do fitly represent to us telling us that we are as wind that passeth away and cometh not again that we come forth like a flower and are soon cut down flee away and continue not that man even in his best estate is altogether Vanity man is like a thing of nought his time passeth away like a Shadow as for man his days are as Grass as a Flower of the field so he flourisheth all Flesh is Grass and all the Goodliness thereof is as a Flower of the field the Grass withereth the Flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the People is Grass We are often in Scripture said to be Strangers and Sojourners in this World thus the Author of this Epistle saith of all those whom he had reckoned up Chap. 11. verse 13. that they were strangers and pilgrims upon earth and this he doth also say of all men in the Text and the same did David acknowledge 1. Chron. 29.15 for we are strangers before thee and sojourners as all our fathers were our days on earth are as a shadow and there is none abiding This is the common Fate of all Mankind after a few days are past and gone we must go to the Place from whence we shall not return we must leave this World and go to our long home we must part with all that we have here possession of Friends Riches Honours all must be left we must take our last Leave and bid a final Adieu to all our nearest and dearest Relations exchange the stateliest Palaces the goodliest Mansions the pleasantest Seats as well as the poorest and homeliest Cottages for a dark cold Grave Knowing then what our preasent Condition in this World is that we are Strangers and Pilgrims here let us behave our selves as such since such we are in this World here we have no fixed or settled Habitation we are but Sojourners live at another's Table lodge under anothers Roof and may be dispossessed at his Pleasure The Years that we have here to continue are at best but few and short that man that lived longest lived but Nine Hundred Years and upwards and tho this may seem a long time to us yet how few are these if compared with those many Millions of Ages which he shall live in another state nay indeed there can be no Comparison between them no more than between a Moment and Eternity this World is but an Inn to receive and lodge us for a while and that at best but in Booths and Tabernacles pitched up only for a time passing through this vale of Misery we are to use it as a Well saith the Psalmist only draw a little Water for our refreshment in our Journey but not think to make our abode here alas we have another and farther Journey to take we are to seek another and better Country a Christian is bound for no less than Heaven thither he must hasten and steer his Course if he would find a place of Rest and Safety if he would find an abiding City for it will be but in vain and lost labour to seek it any where else there and there only after all his Labours he may find a Building of God a House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens where he may dwell for ever Being then but Sojourners upon Earth let us as the Apostle exhorts pass the time of our sojourning here in this world in fear let us be careful to live well that little time we have to stay here being assured that upon our present Demeanour depends our future Condition either of eternal Happiness or Misery let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us striving to arrive at the same happy Country where those antient Pilgrims who are gone before us Abraham Isaac and Jacob are that we may sit down with them in the same blessed heavenly Kingdom let us like the Israelites who eat the Passover with their Loins girt and Staffs in their Hands to signifie their readiness to depart out of Egypt where they were Strangers let us like them be prepared too in Heart and Mind to leave this foreign Country where the people are ill affected towards us for we are all here what our
Forefathers were Strangers and Sojourners and absent from our Country This is the present State and Condition of all Men in this World we have here no continuing City I come now to the second Thing which I observed in the Words II. Our Hope 's an Expectations as to another we seek one to come That there shall be a continuing City that we shall after this Life is ended enter upon an eternal State where good Men shall be unspeakably Happy and wicked Men unspeakably Miserable I shall not doubt ye so little Christians as to stand to prove Life everlasting being an Article of our Creed which we all profess to believe taking therefore that for granted which Christianity commands you to believe and which the time now forbids me to insist on the Proof of I shall only deduce this one practical Inference Since we have here no continuing City but look for an abiding City an eternal State hereafter let us prepare for it and to quicken our diligence in this so important an Affair consider that this Life as short and as uncertain as it is is the only time we have to seek this abiding City which we look for 't is here alone we must seek this City 't is here we must secure to our selves an happy Eternity or no where when this life ends when we are in the Grave it will be too late there as Solomon assureth us is no work counsel nor device in the grave whither we are going that as Job describeth it is a land of darkness itself and of the shadow of death without any order and where the light is as darkness No delay therefore is to be admitted sure I am there is nothing so well deserveth our Care as this this is our main Concern the chief Business of our Lives and shall we then neglect it shall we drudge toil and labour to make Provision for a short frail Life And shall we do nothing at all take no care for a long eternal one shall we mind Time and disregard Eternity This one would think is such egregious Folly as no rational Creature could possibly be guilty of but alas we see how busie Men generally are about the things of this Life and how they scarce trouble their Heads with the Thoughts of another how vainly do most Men deceive themselves with the Hopes of a long Life thinking they shall have time enough hereafter to seek this abiding City But to cure if possible such Mens fond Presumption let them consider what I before said of the uncertainty of our State in this World let 'em consider how short how frail a thing Life is What is your Life saith S. James it is a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth quickly doth it pass away soon is it gone wherefore so weighty an Affair as this ought not to be put off to so uncertain a thing flatter not then thy self O vain Man that because thou art now Young and Lusty in perfect Health and Soundness that therefore thou hast yet many years to live and that it will be time enough in thy old Age when thy Strength is decayed and thy Days are almost expired to seek this City for thou seest many as Young and as likely to live in the World as thy self suddenly snatcht away and carried into the other World in the very midst and prime of their Days and how knowest thou O presumptuous Man what assurance hast thou it may not be thy own Condition When thou seest or hearest daily of Thousands that fall besides thee and Ten Thousands at thy Right Hand what security hast thou that the Arrows of Death shall not come nigh thee to strike thee What Seal hast thou upon thy Door that the destroying Angel should pass by thy Habitation as he did those of the Israelites of old and destroy thee not Neglect nor then so great a Concern hazard not thine eternal State at so great an uncertainty thou knowest not but that this frail life of thine may end before this Work be done and then with what Dread and Horror wilt thou leave this World having nothing to comfort thee at thy dying Hour no hope of any Happiness in another Life but dreadful Apprehensions of those grievous Torments which thou must there suffer for ever how wilt thou then bewail thy Folly and when it is too late wish that thou hadst taken care to have provided for thy eternal State Now them while thou hast time take care of this great Concern and prevent what will otherwise undoubtedly be thy dismal Fate none of us all but must be sensible that our time passeth away apace that the Day of our Death hastens it then greatly concerneth us all to prepare for that Eternity which is drawing nigh how soon we may launch forth into that vast Ocean we know not ere long we are sure we must let us not then delay our preparing for it but what we do let us do quickly and with all our Might I have done with the Text and come now as may most justly be expected to speak of this most highly deserving Lady to whom we are now paying our last Respects who is now quickly to be laid in her Bed of Dust there to repose 'till that great Day cometh when all that sleep in the Dust of the Earth shall be awakened and called forth when all the Dead shall be brought to Life again then shall she be raised from thence and her Body being made immortal incorruptible and glorious shall be reunited to her Soul never to be separated from it any more but to continue together both Body and Soul in unspeakable Felicity and Glory I have ever declared my self no friend to Funeral Encomiums nor should any thing have prevail'd with me to give one now but the extraordinary Merit of this deceased Lady to whom I should be highly injurious should I refuse it I know very well how difficult a thing it is to give a Character of any Person which some or other will not be displeased with but this must not discourage me I shall say nothing but what I my self knew to be true or have had from very credible Hands This Lady was descended as is known to many in this Auditory from very worthy Parents her Father Sir Jonathan Dawes a wealthy Merchant an eminent and well known Citizen her Mother one of the Daughters of Sir Thomas Bendish a very antient Baronet in this Neighbourhood Her Education was suitable to her Extraction which her pious Mother her Father dying when she was very young took great care of educating her gentilely and virtuously in all those fine Accomplishments which became her Sex which she improved to the utmost but that which I chiefly remark is her being betimes acquainted with God her being early instructed in Religion which grew up with her which being happily accustomed to she made it her daily Employment finding a great deal of Pleasure Satisfaction and Sweetness
at the Throne of Grace in such a decent Manner in such a lowly Posture of Body as becometh Supplicants and as the infinite Majesty of that God to whom we pray doth require and as frequent was she at the Publick Prayers of the Church which she continually attended nay would often go when her Health would ill admit of it being desirous to omit no opportunity of serving God in his own House his House of Prayer where she was wholly intent on the Duty she was about joining with the greatest Devotion and Earnestness and at Sermon time as I have observed when I have occasionally Preached here she was a very diligent serious and attentive Hearer and as she was thus constant at the Publick Prayers of the Church and Sermon so was she also at the Holy Communion which to the end of her Life she frequented having received the Holy Sacrament at Church on Christmas day the last opportunity she had of receiving those blessed Viands which Duty she never went about Heedlesly or Inconsiderately but used the greatest Care and Diligence possible to fit herself for it always setting apart some time for Preparation practising the Apostles Advice examining herself and that strictly too before she would presume to eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup which she did with a Devotion and Reverence suitable to that great and holy Duty Such was her Piety Which is the more commendable because it was an early one she remembred her Creator betimes in the Days of her Youth devoting the best and prime of her Days to his Service a juvenile Piety is most acceptable unto God I love those that love me saith God and they that seek me early shall find me the truth of which gracious Promise I believe this Pious Soul doth now experience the Comfort which the remembrance of her well-spent Life gave her supported her under all her Sickness which made her not only not afraid to Die but if it were Gods Will to desire that she might die which she desired not out of any Impatience for what she suffer'd or out of any Discontent or Dissatisfaction but as she herself assured me when I visited her in her Sickness out of a firm Hope she had that God would pardon her Sins through the Merits of Christ by whose alone Merits she hoped for it and that God of whose Favour she had a well-grounded Assurance would bestow upon her those great and unconceivable Felicities of the other World which she stedfastly believed and hoped through the Mercy of God and Merits of Christ to partake of it was this which made her desire to be Dissolv'd that she might be with God and Christ which is best of all or to give it you in her own Words from a Letter which she left to comfort a dear Relation under this so great a Loss having spoke in that with some certainty of her future Happiness she thus saith I speak not with this Confidence of my future Felicity through any opinion of my own Virtue and Goodness alas no I am deeply sensible of my Deficiency in both and that I deserve nothing but eternal Punishment but all my Dependence is on the Merits of my Saviour who I hope will never cast off a Soul to whom he hath given the Grace to trust in him this is the ground of my Assurance which though perhaps attended with some Fears is still maintained by meditating on the boundless Clemency of my Creator and Redeemer These are her own Words it was this which made her so willing to die having that to cheer her which is the greatest Comfort we can have when we come to die that she was exchanging this short troublesom Life for a blessed Eternal one It pleased God to visit her with a long and tedious Sickness so God often treats his most faithful Servants whom I love I rebuke and chasten and whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth tho her Sickness was severe and long tho she endured much Pain and had many weary and restless Nights yet did no one ever hear a murmuring and complaining Word from her but looking up to God and considering that it was he that afflicted her she quietly and patiently submitted herself to his correcting Hand God having thus made trial of her Graces which in her Sickness she had an opportunity of exercising she having now finished her Course having faithfully served God and secur'd her eternal State God finding her ripe for Glory would no longer delay her Happiness but took her unto himself from Earth to Heaven from Pain Misery and Trouble to Rest Immortality and Glory her Life ended with the Year and she began the New one in the other better World where is no Pain nor Sorrow nor Sickness nor Diseases nor Death where she shall die no more but live in the greatest Happiness for ever And now having such just cause to hope that her Spirit is with God that gave it that she is in an eternally happy State why should we weep weep for her we must not but for our selves who only are the Loosers yet considering that our Loss is her Gain let us moderate our Grief and dry up our Tears and sorrow not as men without hope for her that sleepeth in Jesus whom God at the last day will undoubtedly bring with him it will be an ill expression of our Kindness to her immoderately to bewail her Death which to her is but a passage into a glorious Eternity it will look as if we envied her that Happiness she is is now possessed of to use her own consolatory Words let not her Joy be the cause of our Sorrow since as she saith she took no Delight in this World we ought to esteem it a Mercy rather than a Judgment that God hath taken her to a better even to that Worldon which her Affections were wholly plac'd where she frequently was while she was here upon Earth by her holy Thoughts and devout Meditations by these she had her Conversation in Heaven And now that these Remains of her are immediately to be laid into the Earth and hid from our Eyes for ever tho she be thus wholly taken from us yet let her Memory as deservedly it ought be ever precious unto us let her Name be always mentioned with Honour and Respect let us imitate her holy and pious Life let us follow her as she followed Christ that so at that great Day when we shall all be raised out of our Graves and called to Judgment we may meet together again and take no more sorrowful Farewels of one another but dwell for ever without parting any more spending an Eternity together in singing Halelujahs and Songs of Praise to our gracious Creator and Redeemer who hath brought us to the possession of such unspeakable and endless Felicities FINIS