of happiness a fulness of Glory both subjective and objective glory shining in them and glory shining upon and round about yea into them transfusing its bright beams through them a fulness of honour infinitely transcending all those fading Titles which advance one man so high above another in this lower World and a fulness of joy satisfaction and delight even those pure refined pleasures that are at Gods right Psal 16. v. 11. hand for evermore All this and a great deal more that neither our words nor thoughts can reach is summarily comprehended in that Eternal Life which all they shall certainly attain at the end of their course who by patient continuance in well-doing do seek for glory and honour and immortality Which will more plainly appear to us by considering that which follows in the next place in order namely III. That which remains in the last place to be spoken to is the connection between the qualifications imported in the foregoing Character and that glorious felicity unto which all that bear it shall at last be advanced between a Christians course and his crown between his seeking for glory and honour and immortality in the way here described and that eternal life in which he shall finally enjoy all that he sought for That there is a connection between them is sufficiently evident inasmuch as the one is attainable no other way but by the other And of what kind this connection is I am now to shew And in short It is easie forus to apprehend that this connection is not natural and necessary but ordinate not such as doth necessarily result from the nature of the things themselves that are here connected but such as hath its foundation in the gracious ordination and appointment of God For it is sufficiently evident to any one that doth attentively and seriously consider it That there is no just and adequate proportion between the most diligent and industrious Christians present service and his future eternal reward And so it is no less obvious for us to conceive that the connection that is between them is not founded in Merit but in Free Grace For when we have done all we must say we Luk. 17. v. 10. are unprofitable Servants we have done only that which was our duty to do And it is most absurd for any one to think to merit any thing by the payment of a just Debt And therefore the Scripture speaks of eternal life under the notion of a Gift as obtained only by the free donation of God and not as a possession accruing to us by any desert of our own whereas on the other hand that eternal death which is the just punishment of Sin is called Wages as being no more than what it doth most iustly deserve Rom. 6. 23. For the Wages of Sin is death But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And so the Reward of the eternal inheritance is several times in Scripture under the Title of Mercy As the Apostle prayed for Onesiphorus 2 Tim. 1. 18. The Lord grant unto him that he may find Mercy of the Lord at that day And so we are exhorted to keep our selves in the love of God looking for the Mercy of our Jude v. 21. Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life And therefore it is manifest that the connection that is between the Christians service and reward his Course and his Crown is not founded in merit but in the free Grace and undeserved Love of God in Christ to which alone that gracious Promise or Covenant is intirely owing whereby he hath been pleased to establish an immutable order between them so as that the one shall be infallibly consequent upon the other But the connection is never the less firm or certain for being so founded as it is but rather the more so For the Covenant of Grace which is the more immediate ground and foundation of it is an everlasting Covenant a covenant not 2 Sam. 23 v. 5. only ordered in all things but also sure Forasmuch as the divine eternal veracity is engaged to make good every Article of it to as many as have regularly laid hold upon it and by an hearty compliance with its conditions come to have a real interest in it For altho' God was unlimitedly free before he made the promise and established his Gracious Covenant with us yet that being once done he is obliged for the honour of his Truth and Righteousness to make it good And so though in strictness he can owe nothing to us he is a Debter to his own Promise And at the last day he will be glorified not only as the free and magnificent Donor of all the Treasures of Heaven but also as the God of Truth in fulfilling all the exceeding great and precious Promises that he 2 Pet. 1. v. 4. hath made unto his faithful Servants And therefore Vnto them who by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality he will not fail to render eternal Life And having thus with as much brevity as the Subject could well admit finished what I proposed to speak doctrinally from this Text of Scripture All that now remains is to make some application of what hath been said unto our selves And 1. From hence we learn with what magnanimity and nobleness of Spirit true living Christianity doth inspire those in whom it takes place elevating and raising their minds and hearts above this perishing World and all its fading transitory enjoyments Steadily inclining them to seek those things that are above Col. 3. v. 1. insomuch that nothing lower than heavenly glory and immortal honour can now content them or compose their Desires into a complacential Rest and satisfaction While others that are acted by the forbid abject and base Spirit of this World lie groveling in the dust of this earth drudging and toyling for what is only accommodate unto their mortal part the living Christian being made alive to God through Rom. 6. v. 11. Jesus Christ his Lord and having received not the Spirit of this World but the Spirit that is from God is continually 1 Cor. 2. v. 12. aspiring upwards in heavenly thoughts desires and aims ever seeking for glory and honour and immortality till he comes to the actual fruition of all in eternal life 2. What hath been said may serve also to discover to us the preposterous folly of their presumptuous hopes who think at last to obtain eternal life tho' they take no care to seek it in that way which the Gospel doth prescribe and in which only it is to be found even by a patient continuance in well-doing Heaven and eternal happiness are promised to none as an absolute irrespective Gift but as a Reward consequent upon service And therefore whosoever are careless and unconcerned about the duty and service of the present state will be sure to sall short of the glory and felicity of the future
And then the higher their presumptuous and groundless hopes have been raised the greater will their shame and disappointment be when they and their hopes shall perish together 3. The firm and certain connection which the gracious Promise and Covenant of God hath made and settled between a patient continuance in well-doing here and the enjoyment of eternal life hereafter may further serve for the comfort and encouragement of all his sincere and faithful Servants under all the difficulties and hardships afflictions and sorrows exercises and Tryals which they undergo here in the course of their obedience He that hath obtained a clear prospect by faith of the invisible World and of the glory honour and incorruption which are to be eternally enjoyed there by all that regularly seek after them here and is withal conscious to himself that he is one of that happy number can easily see through the darkest cloud and discern a comfortable end of all his present troubles And therefore his Faith mightily animating his Hope and his Hope proportionably strengthening his Patience he doth not faint in the day of Adversity nor is he weary of well-doing Prov. 24. v. 10. because he is sufficiently assured that the time is short and so that it will be but yet a little while before all Tears shall be wiped away from his eyes and all Isa 25. v. 8. grief and sorrow banished from his heart and endless Joyes succeed in their Rev. 7. v. 17. room 4. The same consideration may serve as a sweet and comfortable allay to the sorrows of such as are mourning for the death of such of their near and dear Relatives or Friends who in their life-time gave sufficient proof of their exemplary care and diligence to persevere in such a steady course of duty and obedience as hath eternal life and glory connected with it It is indeed very selfish and unbecoming our Christian hope with immoderate and unallayed grief and sorrow to lament the death of such For asmuch as altho' their absence and departure from us be very sensibly our great loss their presence with the Lord is in an infinitely higher degree their gain And therefore methinks even natural affection which makes us wish well to our dear Relatives especially when sanctified by Grace and assisted by faith should give some check to our immoderate grief for the Removal of such of them from us by the stroke of death concerning whom we have such comfortable and well-grounded hopes For why should we grieve at or regret their happy advancement unto that immortal glory and honour which they had been long seeking for but could never reach before 5. What we have heard may serve both for our direction and excitation unto such a regular and steady course of obedience here that we may all obtain eternal life hereafter Let us endeavour therefore to have that Truth which hath been this day suggested to us out of the Word of God so deeply impress'd upon our very hearts that the thoughts of it may continually dwell with us and have a constant influence upon us by the grace of God for the engageing us to the most strenuous diligence and constancy in prosecuting our present duty as that which hath by the divine ordination and appointment a direct tendency to our future eternal felicity Let us never forget that the only way to glory and honour and a blessed immortality is a patient continuance in well doing And so let none of us any longer indulge our selves in the neglect of that upon which our eternal welfare doth so evidently depend but let the time past suffice us to have wrought the Wills of the Flesh and to have misemployed the active strength and vigour of our Souls in minding only earthly things And now let us resolve by the grace of God to call off our hearts and affections from this lower World and all its perishing vanities and so set our selves in good earnest to seek those things that are above Minding the great Duties of Christianity with a more serious care than ever we have hitherto exercised about them Making True practical Religion more our business as it is what will turn to the best accompt unto us at last O let none of us be guilty of such preposterous folly in the great concernments of our immortal Souls as we would be ashamed of in the management of our secular affairs separating the Way from the End as if the one might be attained without a serious and due attendance to the other The Way in which we must seek for future glory and happiness if ever we would have it is plainly delineated to us in the Text And all those that are gone before us and have actually received the Reward of the eternal inheritance both sought and obtained it in this way and no other even by a patient continuance in well-doing It doth therefore concern us to tread in their steps that we also may in due time and in our appointed order come to the fruition of the same happiness with them And so my earnest exhortation to you is in the words of the Apostle Heb. 6. 11 12. That every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end that ye be not slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises And here for your further excitation I shall now on this solemn occasion set before you the illustrious and worthy Example of our deservedly honoured and lately deceased Friend whose immortal part is now with Christ For She was indeed One upon whose Heart and Life the divine Spirit and Grace had in most conspicuous and shining lineaments drawn that excellent and noble Character by which the Heirs of Blessedness are described in the Text And to that in the several parts of it I shall principally confine my self in the following Account that I shall give you of her Wherein my more immediate design and aim is to shew you how eminently this Text of Scripture was exemplified in her that you may thence be the more confirmed in your comfortable and well-grounded assurance of her being now happily possessed of that Eternal Life which by the divine designation and appointment belongs to all that bear that Character And therefore not to say any thing of her natural endowments either intellectual or moral altho they were such as made the Grace of God to shine with the greater lustre in her discreet and well-ordered conversation I shall speak only to those that were manifestly divine and supernatural And for as much as my happy acquaintance with her did commence too late to capacitate me to give you any particular account of the more early impressions of the Divine Grace upon her Soul or the more distant Passages of her pious Life and that I may keep my self as remote as may be from all suspition of flattery and falsehood in the payment of this my last solemn
and infinitely the best company There we shall be admitted to lean our heads on Christs bosom and tell him all our most concerning secrets and have him to be our dear friend and companion for ever There we shall be equal to the Angels and become their fellow-servants and fellow-worshippers And there shall we enjoy the company of all the glorified Saints the Patriarchs Kings Priests Prophets Apostles Evangelists Martyrs and eminent Ministers and Christians that as bright clouds of witnesses have got to heaven before us And there among others we shall meet with endeared Embraces our loving and dear Friends and Relatives that were so acceptable to us on earth We shall all meet together in the Celestial Regions and in the streets and Mansions of the new Jerusalem and as we shall be ever with the Lord so shall we be ever also with one another 6. An untainted good Name This is yet another blessing that attends the true life For to be exposed to reproaches and to underly calumnies and evil reports is inconsistent with the notion of this tho' I grant God can turn this as other evils to the advantage of his own But alas this is one superadded misery to the many that we meet with here that we are tossed to and fro with the various censures of men Even the Apostles themselves were so far from escaping this Contagion that they were esteemed as the dross and refuse of mankind as the very vilest of miscreants by a blind mad world Fame hath been for a long time the Goddess of ambitious and high Spirits But it is the greatest nonsense to talk of perpetuating ones name here since the furthest that the fame of any can go is but to the limits of time and space Fame and good name then are Jewels of the Eternal Crown of Happiness wherewith God doth adorn such only as he admits to the everlasting enjoyment of himself He then that conquers the Vniverse hath but the shaddow of true Fame which God bestows only on such who have thorow grace attained to overcome sin Satan and the world And he also who hath left his name behind in the frontis-piece of an hundred learned Volumns hath yet fallen short of a perpetual fame except he hath also attained to have his name ingraven and inrolled in the eternal Registers and Records of Heaven 7. The Perpetual Duration of all these Had we all the forementied Qualifications of true and perfect Life yet if we did but admit of a suspition in our thoughts as to their continuance and permanency This one suspicious thought would be enough to dump all our satisfaction with respect to so many blessings And therefore to make Life every way happy and perfect this superadded Qualification of the Eternity of all must of necessity come in And therefore we are hence led to see that there is no true Life here since all our comforts and enjoyments are transitory and fading as being momentary and confin'd within the narrow limits and precincts of years days hours and minutes And no wonder since even that which we call Life here is it self but a vapour that appeareth for a little and then vanisheth away yea such a vapour as has not so much a being as the shew and appearance thereof For to this purpose doth James ch 4. v. 14. Point it forth very expressively when he says it is a vapour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But on the other hand this adds to all the happiness of the future Life that all the enyoyments and blessings there are permanent and eternal No rust doth there corrupt them nor Thief steal them nor age wast them nor death devour them They that once enter upon the actual fruition of such Enjoyments do ever retain their possession of them And thus I have run thorow the Qualifications and Properties of true Life as briefly as I could Which since they only quadrate with the future Life of perfection I suppose it is easy to conceive what Reason we have to conclude with Solomon that Death to a Saint is far preferable on all accounts to his Birth or to speak it in his very words Better is the day of such a ones Death than the day of his Birth The Improvement In the next place I come to bring home the Doctrine to our selves by a serious Improvement thereof Which I design shall be Judgment and Regulative of our Practice with respect to our Duty as to both 1st The Information of our Judgments Although all that hath been said was with this design to rectifie our thoughts as to the Doctrine which is the subject matter of the Text Yet there are these things farther that we may rationally and indeed necessarily Inferr hence 1. Infer We see from what hath been said not only the certainty of a Future Life and state but of an immediate Happiness and Glory also which the Souls of the Righteous pass into at Death When the poor Beggar dyed he was carried by Angels into Abraham's bosome Luk. 16. 26. And the poor penitent Thief was on one and the same day in misery on the Cross with Christ and in paradise with him Luk. 23. 43. And St. Paul the great Columbus of the upper world who first made a voyage and returned again in time as we see 2 Cor. 12. 1 4 c. Could never reflect afterwards upon that paradise which he then saw but with earnest breathings to be there again as we see 2 Cor. 5. 1 2. c. Phil. 1. 23. And indeed if there were not a future state we could never give any rational account why God should make so Noble a Creature as Man but might then cry out with the Psalmist Psal 89. 47. Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain And were not this glorious life and state to be entered upon by the Souls of Believers Immediately at Death it would greatly damp the sweet and comfortable reflections which they are called to have thereof then 2. Infer We have hence also a rational and satisfactory Answer to give to all the scruples and Objections that can be put up by any against this Doctrine And now since we hinted before some Doubts that naturally might arise in mens minds from the first proposal and idea of this Doctrine I shall therefore in this place briefly Answer the same from what hath been already said Wherefore 1. Since Atheistical and Anti-scriptural Persons cry out upon this Doctrine as ridiculous from a fond imagination that the Soul has no existence when separate from the body I Answer 1. That such an imagination is not only contrary to Scripture but Reason it self For how is it possible for us to conceive that such a noble active and intelligent being as the Soul of Man should be meerly dependant on the body and have only its duration for a short space in this vain world Especially 2. since we see that this present life is rather an appearance than a reality as all things
Respect unto her Memory I shall only speak of what I have had the peculiar advantage of observing my self for the space of almost seven years that I have in two distinct periods lived in her Family And I must have been very inobservant indeed if in all that time I had not taken notice of what was so visible both in her habitual Temper and constant carriage exactly answering to every part of that descriptive Character of the true Christain which I have been this day unfolding to you of which I shall give you a distinct and impartial account in the following Particulars And 1. Her habitual heavenly-mindedness was such a shining Excellency in her as could not be hid under that Vaile of Humility and Modesty which was her constant ornament but did discover it self in an holy contempt of this lower World and all its perishing Enjoyments in a steady Aim directed unto higher and more noble Objects and in a continual aspiration after glory and honour and immortality The divine Grace had inspired her with that true magnanimity and nobleness of Spirit that her Desires and Hopes could by no means be confined within the narrow limits of Time nor be long together held down to sublunary and terrene objects And therefore her Soul would be often mounting upward upon the Wings of Faith into the bright Regions of light and glory above to contemplate the eternal and glorious Objects that are there And more especially toward the end of her Time having been observed for some months before her Death to have her thoughts much exercised about the State and Enjoyments of Heaven And particularly about separate Souls mutual knowledge of and converse with one another taking occasion very frequently to discourse upon that sublime Subject when in company with such as she apprehended might be assistant to her in her endeavours to attain more distinct and clear notions about it Of which she now understands more than any one here could tell her 2. The earnestness of her desires after heavenly glory and felicity was no less conspicuous than the steadiness of her Aims principally directed that way She did not only set this glory honour and immortality before her as the great Mark at which she aimed but was continually pressing forwards toward it seeking after these things with the most close and strenuous application of mind And that more espeically in fervent prayer wherein she was wont to breath out her very Soul to God every day For as her natural Temper inclined her to the love of Solitude so Grace had taught her to make the best improvement of her Solitary hours which she was careful to employ not only in diligent reading and devout meditation but especially in secret prayer whereby she maintained and kept up a continual commerce with Heaven which many a time brought her in very rich Returns in divine communications and manifestations Nor was she content to seek alone for such great things as Grace and Glory are and therefore would often with earnest importunity be-speak the joint-assistance of her more intimate Christian-friends and especially of such Ministers of her acquaintance as she could be most free with in managing this work that so her Addresses to God might be the more solemn by others assisting her therein and Dedicating several hours together unto that sacred service as hath been frequently done at her Request and principally upon her account in her own house 3. She was no less careful about the regular way of seeking for glory and honour and immortality than she was earnest and zealous in the work it self For she was better instructed in the great Doctrines and Duties of Christinity and in the Method of obtaining Salvation by Jesus Christ as it is revealed in the Gospel than to separate the Way from the End or foolishly to think of attaining the one without an heedful walking in the other And therefore it was her daily Study and sincere Endeavour in every thing to walk by rule not abusing the Grace of the Gospel as an encouragement to licentiousness but learning from it to deny all ungodliness and wordly lusts and to live Tit. 2. v. 11 12. 13. soberly righteously and godly in this present World so looking for that blessed hope c. Labouring to have her conversation such in all respects as might Phil. 1. v. 27. become the Gospel and her behaviour answerable to her hope And therefore it was her conscientious care and earnest endeavour to be seriously diligent and constant in performing all the Duties of a Christian both in her personal and relative capacities And whereas in the latter she sometimes found some difficulties under such concurrent circumstances as need not be mentioned which did unavoidably discover such of her Infirmities as otherwise might have been hid I have this to add from certain knowledge that they were by none more deeply resented or more sadly bewailed than by her self For when at any time upon some slender provocation the natural quickness of her Temper did on a suddain betray and hurry her into some more hasty passionate or indecent expressions they were soon followed with such an indignation against her self as did more than bear proportion thereunto and therefore might very justly as I doubt not but it did in a great measure make atonement for them unto such as were most nearly and sensibly touched by them All which I should have passed over in silence had I not considered that what I have mentioned on the one part might perhaps have been observed by many unto whom what is said on the other in her just vindication may be altogether unknown And what I have thus impartially hinted amounting to sufficient evidence that her Infirmities of this kind were no other than were very well consistent with sincerity and a good conscience both toward God and toward Man I must after all in justice to her Memory give her this general Character which all that knew her more intimately will say she justly deserved That she was a loving discreet and prudent Wife a careful affectionate and tender-hearted Mother a faithful compassionate and beneficent friend and in all these respects and many more a most exemplary Christian And then 4. To complete the Character her Patience and Perseverance were no less eminent than her care and diligence in well-doing She was not only unweariedly active and constant in doing but eminently submissive and patient in suffering the Will of her heavenly Father And therefore under all her painful and frequently renewed Exercises and Tryals which indeed were very grievous especially for the last twelve Months of her Life she did with unrepining submission and as much chearfulness as was consistent with her acute pains bow to the Soveraign disposing hand of God resigning her Will to his so as never to have been heard all the time to charge him foolishly in any the least murmuring complaint against him under what in his paternal wisdom he