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death_n	life_n	sin_n	sting_n	7,166	5	11.4862	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53333	The blessedness of good men after death a sermon preach'd at the funeral of the Revd. Mr. Henry Cornish, B.D., who died on Sunday, Decemb. 18th, in the eighty ninth year of his age and was interred on Thursday, Decemb. 22d, 1698, in the Church of Bisiter, in the County of Oxford : with a preface to rectifie some misrepresentations &c. in a late pamphlet, entitled Some remarks on the life, death, and burial of the said Mr. Cornish / by John Ollyffe ...	Ollyffe, John, 1647-1717.	1699 (1699)	Wing O286; ESTC R7832	31,135	36

not he had learned from his Great Lord and Master who was kind unto all and who by his Pattern and Precepts had made Universal Love the great Character of his Religion And by this means one would think He could not have many Enemies For who could find in their Hearts to be Enemies to one in whom there was resplendent so much Goodness And this Goodness was set off by a profound Humility and low Condescension and Respect to the Meanest the Lowest the Least By this He was apt to prefer others before himself and to set a Value upon the Parts and Performances of some Young Persons above his own Gray headed Knowledge and Experience By this Kindness and Humility his Self-distrust and Self-abasement He was preserved from the Fiery and Furious Zeal which is the Blemish of some of all Parties that differ in some Circumstantials of Religion and Worship He could not imagine why a Difference in some Circumstantials should make Men Hate and Curse one another among whom there was a good Accord in the Main and Substantial Points of Christian Doctrine Therefore He could bear a Kind and Friendly Respect to other Good Men of other Perswasions besides his own as He would hope for the like from them He had a great Calmness in his own Temper but He was Forward and Fervent in Spirit in the Service of his God as appeared in his Devotions in a Private but much Honoured Family where I have heard him And his long and continu'd Labour in the Service of God in that Way wherein He thought He might Glorifie God even to extreme Old Age is a great Instance of his Delight therein of his Pious Zeal for the promoting of Religion and of his Earnest Desire of the Eternal Welfare of Men. He always appeared to me to be one of Eminent Piety of Exact Walking of an Healing Spirit and to be full of Love to God and Good Men of different Denominations He was not for a Wrangling or Disputative Divinity which tends to Gender Strife but for Plain Practical Godliness in its Life and Power which hath always indeed most Sweetness in it and so will especially appear to have at the last His Afflictions I hear in many Respects have been many but that his Faith and Patience also have been as Eminent Wherein He deserves as in many other Things your Pious Imitation In a Word He Lived long in the Exercise of Piety towards God and of Good Will to Men and how He Died you know I could gladly have enlarged much more upon his Character but these few Things I could not but mention being always bound to have his Memory in Honour For I must ever acknowledge I have had him of Old in many Respects my Friend in some Respects as my Father and Patron and in some others a Guide and Director when I first entred my self upon this Sacred Function This Acknowledgment I cannot but take this Opportunity to express nor do I know any just Reflections that any can make upon it I shall now only make an Inference or two from what I have said on the foregoing Subject and then Conclude First To Comfort and Prepare Good Men for the Expectation of their Death that they may not be Frighted at the Approach of it as such a Dreadful Thing it being most certain that when they remove out of this Tabernacle they enter into an Estate of present Bliss in the presence of their Lord. If the Soul indeed were to lye in a stupid Lethargy in the Grave and have no more Sense or Reflection or Enjoyment after the time of Dissolution they should desire to continue here as long as they can that they may bring more Honour to God in the World and so might further their Reward hereafter thereby And they might have just Cause to take Death for their Enemy whensoever it comes that should deprive them of so great Advantages here and bring them none in the room But there is no fear of all this The Soul is an Active Spark the Breath of the Almighty which whilst it is in the Body by the Laws of Union that were fix'd in the Original Creation by the great Creator must sympathize with it But when the Body is no longer a tolerable Habitation for it it will then Dislodge and take its Flight and the Holy Angels wait to carry it aloft through all the Airy Armies of invisible Fiends to place it above out of the reach of all their Malice For the Soul is a Thinking Substance which hath no Relation to Matter but is of another Nature from it and hath quite other Properties in its Idea And being Immaterial it is not subject to Putrifaction or Dissolution of Parts because it hath no Parts and therefore none to be dissolved but must in its own Nature Subsist and Live still But whatever the Philosophy of the Soul may be we have full assurance from Divine Revelation of its continued Life and greater Perfection and Enjoyment after Death than before Mat. 10.28 Our Saviour told his Disciples That Men tho' they might kill the Body yet were not able to kill the Soul and therefore bid them not be affraid of them Rom. 8. The Body indeed must Die because of Sin but the Spirit the better part is Life because of Righteousness So that Good Men have no Cause to be mightily Affrighted at the Approach of Death For tho' it be the King of Terrors to outward appearance yet they may look upon it as a Routed or Conquered Enemy as a Serpent that hath lost its Sting and Strength which howsoever it may Hiss and show its Rage and Fury yet cannot hurt So that Good Men may Triumph over it and over all Things else besides because neither Death Rom. 8.38 nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate them from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But in and over all these Things they are more than Conquerors through him that Loved them Death is now rather a Friend to them the Messenger of the great King to invite them to his Supper which he hath prepared for them The same Comfort there is at the Departure of Others Friends and Relations that Die in the Lord. For now they are past from all their Labours and Troubles from all their Fears and Dangers their Pains and Sufferings whatsoever and are gone but to take Possession of the Promised Crown It is a Loss to us indeed that they are gone and Self-Love makes us to Mourn and Complain at it But what do They lose in leaving us or the World and the little Accommodations of this Life that are now entered upon the Possession of the Inheritance Tho' we lose by them because they are gone yet we ought not sure to Grudge at their Happiness Secondly To Exhort all to the Faith and

follow them IN these Words we have Three Things considerable which we have an account of from the Voice and Spirit of God First That they who Die in the Lord are Blessed Secondly The Reason or Parts of this Blessedness They rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Thirdly The time of the Beginning or Commencement of this Blessedness From henceforth First They that Die in the Lord are Blessed But here the Question is who they are that may be said to Die in the Lord Or what it is that is intended in that Expression or Description of those to whom the Blessing here doth belong I make no doubt as it is also generally understood that these Words were especially and principally intended for the comfort of such Christians who were then like to suffer in those Days of Persecution of the Church of God whereby the Patience of the Saints of which he speaks ver 12. was so much Exercised The outward State of the Church was then very dismal and sad in those dark and afflictive Times And therefore it was but need to give a Word of Comfort and Support to such as were like to bear the Burden of those direful Calamities that were about to fall upon them This seems to be mainly intended here in this Blessing that they might be encouraged thereby to hold out in their Faith and Profession notwithstanding all that should fall upon them In this Sense then by those that Die in the Lord the Holy Martyrs must first be intended who laid down their Lives for the Lord that is for his sake or for their Adherence to his Faith and Gospel This being a very grievous Case God was pleased often in the Scriptures to provide for their Encouragement 2 Tim. 2.11 It is a faithful saying saith the Apostle if we be Dead with him we shall also Live with him If we Suffer we shall also Reign with him Rom. 8.16 17. And that we shall be also glorified together and that the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 that shall be revealed in us For saith he our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Thes 1.6 Seeing it is a Righteous Thing with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe And a great many more such Promises and Encouragements there are to Suffering Christians who Die in the Lord. But then it must be likewise supposed That those who Die thus in or for the Lord and for their Adherence to the Faith of Christ do Die in or under the sanctifying Power of that Faith also the great Design of which was to Purifie the Heart and Work by Love Without which Effect obtained Martyrdom it self if it could be supposed would not at all profit them as we have the Apostle's own Resolution in the Case 1 Cor. 13.3 For saith He Tho' I give my Body to be burnt and have not Charity which is the great Christian Vertue and comprehensive of all the rest it profiteth me nothing For the great End of the Faith of Christ and of the belief of the Gospel is to make Men Holy to recover the Image of God in Men that they may Live to his Glory So that there is no Salvation without this let Men's Sufferings for the Faith seem to have been never so great But then on the other side they who Live and Die in the Power of that Faith having felt the transforming and sanctifying Vertue thereof and so have attain'd to the great End of it tho' they have not undergone the Sufferings of Martyrdom surely may be said to Die in the Lord also They Die United to him adhering to his Interest and Cause Yea they Die for him fighting under his Banner and in his Quarrel against all his Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil And these are also Martyres Animo in the Disposition of their Minds and they would by his Grace maintain the Field for his Sake to the very Death And the sufferings of Mortification which they have endured already are a kind of Martyrdom in cutting off their Right Hands and plucking out their Right Eyes in bringing down the Old Man and crucifying the whole Body of Sin Therefore there is no doubt but that to these also the Blessing here mentioned doth belong For these the Apostle tells us being made free from Sin and become Servants to God have their Fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life Rom. 6.22 And all these shall partake of the Inheritance which are sanctified by Faith that is in Christ Acts 26.18 In which Sense 't is a very comfortable Consideration to all truly Penitent and Sound Believers and Good Christians For the evidencing of which these few Things may be farther considered to perswade us that it shall be so First Because the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ is in them so that they are led by the Spirit and live in the Spirit by the Dictates and according to the Rules of the Holy Spirit of God Now there is no Condemnation saith the Apostle to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made them free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.1 Rom. 8.11 And if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Ver. 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God and if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint Heirs with Christ These Men are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and God will no more destroy those Temples than he will allow others to do so But the Spirit of God with the Blessed Fruits of it which is in them when they Die is a sure Pledge and Earnest of more Blessings to be received afterwards Secondly From hence it will follow That the Image of God is upon them and that in a more eminent manner than it is upon any others They being renewed after the Image of him that Created them in Righteousness and true Holiness So that they have not only the Natural Image of God as it may be called for distinction sake in the Spirituality Powers and Immortality of their Spirits but they have the Moral Image of God also which is the Glory of the Divine Nature which is wrought in them by the transforming Power of the Holy Ghost to whose Holy Dictates and Motions they have been brought to submit themselves And by this Means they are

The Blessedness of Good Men-after Death A SERMON Preach'd at the FUNERAL OF THE Rev d. Mr. Henry Cornish B. D. Who died on Sunday Decemb. 18th in the Eighty Ninth Year of his Age and was Interred on Thursday Decemb. 22d 1698. in the Church of Bisiter in the County of Oxford With a Preface to Rectifie some Misrepresentations c. in a late Pamphlet Entitled Some Remarks on the Life Death and Burial of the said Mr. Cornish By John Ollyffe Rector of Dunton in the County of Bucks LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden-Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1699. THE PREFACE I Had not the least Intent when I first Composed and afterwards Preach'd this Sermon to make it Publick But there being a very busie and angry Reflector who it seems was then an Auditor who hath concern'd himself to Print Remarks upon it in a very little time after it was Preach'd which I cannot but take for very dis-ingenious and hard Usage and not knowing what may be the Consequence thereof among those who may frame their Judgments only by his Report and may be apt to kindle at his Fire I think my self obliged for my own Vindication as also to satisfie the Desires of some whom I have a Respect for at length to send it abroad and to take some little Notice of his Reflections upon it And I am not without hope but that by the Blessing of God it may be of use to some devout Minds at least howsoever He or some Others took it This Reflector saith He is really as much against a Persecuting Spirit as any of those Men whose Interest or Coldness it is to be for what they call Moderation He knoweth himself best Far be it therefore from me to charge him with that which he denieth of himself But it seems tho he be against Persecution yet he is not for Moderation For this he reckons to be from Coldness or Interest which are too low Principles for him to be influenc'd by And so one would think by him Now I must own to this Reflector and to all the World that I am not only against a Persecuting Spirit and so have always been but am for Moderation too yet not from Interest or Coldness but because I think it is a very great Christian Vertue And I believe if the Reflector had something less of a Persecuting Spirit and a little of Moderation it would be never the worse and then I am apt to think he had spared these Reflections He saith He is as much by Temper and by Conscience against Railing and Rudeness as against Fawning and Flattery 'T is great pity that a good Temper should ever be spoiled by bad Customs or that Passion or Heat shou'd ever over-rule such a Principle as Conscience But yet so we see it comes to pass sometimes He would have all Justice and Charity he saith shewed to the Dead of all Perswasions And I perceive he is willing enough that Dissenters should have as much Respect shewn them that way as other Men of the most desperate Sects and Factions as Pharisees or as the most deplorable Hereticks in the Christian Church Because there may be some laudable Qualities even in such Men and they are not so lost to God and Goodness but they say and do some things that are Praise worthy and of good Report which is a very notable Concession and which the Dissenters no doubt will Con him much Thanks for that they may be treated at least as well as Turks Infidels Pharisees and Hereticks He is not angry he saith That this Grave Ancient Man was publickly treated with so much Respect and Honour and how comes it to pass then that he is so angry with me for treating him with this Respect and Honour which I have done Especially when he grants that Funeral Sermons should be interpreted with Candour and Concession But it raised his Indignation he saith to hear such an Harangue upon a profess'd maintainer of Division and Schism What that Harangue was is to be seen in the Sermon towards the latter End which is there without the least omission or alteration of any one Word that I know of which if he had consider'd better and had not done in haste what he did he might have thought that there had been no such occasion given for this loud Out-cry which he hath made in this Business As to much of what I have mention'd in the Character of this Worthy Person this Reflector hath said as much as I and somewhat more as I shall give an account afterwards being better acquainted with some Passages of his Life of late than I was and if it be more to the purpose too I am very glad of it and thank him for it But for those Strokes of his Life and Conversation which he saith some People had objected as Blots and Blemishes to him and which I should have made an Ingenious Apology for I knew none there that had made such Objections or that expected such Apologies And I did not in the least design then that my Sermon should have gone farther The Reflector now being well acquainted with Panegyrick hath shewed me what he thinks I might have said both ways but hath inserted or added withal very slighting and undervaluing Reflections which I who have less Skill that way cannot but think he ought to have let alone and no doubt he had done so if he had designed his Remarks in real kindness to his Memory But I for my part did not think I had need to concern my self with any thing of that Nature but must be of Opinion still after all that he hath said That it would have been plainly absurd in the present Audience and that much also of what he has said hath neither relish of Decency nor good Nature in it and therefore I chose rather to express in few Words what I knew in the time of my Acquaintance with him and to omit all other Things which did not concern me For it was not my Business to give an History of his Life nor indeed could I do it being but little acquainted with it but only in short to express his Character as far as I knew And if I did deliver this with as much noise and assurance as Lungs and Liberty could take which He being an Auditor saith I did I hope it may well be ascribed to my Affection and Sense of Obligations which this Reflector grants in Funeral Orations there should be an Allowance for But that I spake it in Triumph over the Head of the Parochial Minister as this Reflector also by a most uncharitable Censure layeth to my Charge I abhor and detest it with as much Indignation as he saith he heard it Far be it from me ever to have had such an Intent or Thought which I am sure never was in my Heart nor could there be the least colour for such a Censure but my Affectionate Delivery which the Occasion drew from

are all but to promote Religion Faith Purity and Charity among Men. And 't is Pride Interest Passion Stiffness and Revenge that spoil and hinder all But whosoever they are that do not prefer Religion and Peace above every Thing else all violent Incendiaries all Self-seekers all Carnal Politicians that to gratifie an Humour to serve an Interest or to keep up a Ballance make it their Business to foment Discord and to keep Divisions a-foot I will be bold to say they know not what manner of Spirit they are of they seek not Christ but themselves their God is their Belly and their Glory is in their Shame And let them be Dissenters or Church-Men or of what Denomination they will they are not true Christians This Wisdom descendeth not from above but is Earthly Sensual Devilish For where Envying and Strife is there is Confusion and every Evil Work But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peacable gentle and easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without Partiality and without Hypocrisie And the fruit of Righteousness is sown in Peace of them that make Peace Jam. 3.15 This Peace I am for I love neither Faction nor Fury Obstinacy nor Revenge but could be glad to do any thing in the World to convince heal or reconcile And so I hope would many others But I can see but little success of Attempts that have been made this way and can have but little hopes till God is pleased to take the Matter into his own Hands to bring the Spirits of Men to a certain Temper on all sides which yet the most do not seem to be inclined to which hath been no small Trouble to me to observe so that I have been almost tired out with vain Expectation in this Matter But if I can do no good towards a Composure or Accommodation of these our Uncharitable and Unchristian Differences I am resolved however I will not irritate or inflame what I would be glad to heal as I dare say I should have done if I had taken this Reflector's Measures But now we are upon it let us consider what Methods He would have had me used to bring those People to Church more frequently at other times First he saith I should have taken the opportunity to Commemorate the great Charity of the Church of England which like a Natural and Indulgent Mother hath always open Arms to receive even her Froward and Rebellious Sons and alloweth her Offices of Christian Burial to those who despise her other Ordinances that she patiently waits their Submission while they live and affords them the last Offices of Piety when they come to Die which sure might win upon all Ingenious Spirits to oblige her with Conformity and Obedience in all reasonable Service But I am apt to be of Opinion after all that they would hardly have thought this Argument to have any great Weight in it Charity is a very good and obliging Thing But unless they can have Satisfaction given them about the Reasonableness and Unexceptionableness of the Service it self which they Dissent from which this Reflector doth not proceed to nor doth advise me to it tho' that was the chief Thing and would have been most to the purpose I doubt the Churches Charity alone in the respect which he mentions would hardly bring them to Conformity and Obedience to it But to give Him his due He doth not insist upon this as the chief Thing being apprehensive 't is likely of the weakness of it taken by it self It was something else he had principally in his Thoughts as appears by his long Harangue about it which I cannot but wonder at viz. That it was an Holy Place where they were now Assembled and where their Beloved Teacher chose to lie at Rest which He had hinted before And that I might have inferred That they do not Die so much out of Charity with the Church as is commonly imputed to them For they like well enough to be Buried there in the Church Ground And when they come to depart out of this World they leave their Bodies as a Legacy to it And to leave a Legacy to one is justly thought a Sign and Seal of Reconciliation and perfect Love I never heard indeed that they were much out of conceit with the Earth of the Church-Floor And if that be a sign of their Reconciliation to the Church I find they are contented to give a Testimony of it at any time when there is the like Occasion And tho' these Brethren chuse to serve God in a Common and Unhallowed Barn rather than in a Place Solemnly Devoted to be God's House of Prayer yet on Death-Bed Thoughts they cannot Will their Bodies to be committed to the Threshing-Floor but make it their last Option to be Buried with their Forefathers as it is Natural or Customary for all to desire and let their Sepulchres at least be on the good old Consecrated Ground tho' I dare say they never think of the Consecration when they do so And who knoweth but the Better Sort of Dissenters may have such Scruples on them as these That if they should be too soon admitted into the Bosom of the Church they could by no means live up to the Rules and Orders of it whereas delaying their Admission to the last when their Bodies are brought to Church They may possibly suppose that such a final Action may determine their Salvation and to be Buried in the Church be a sufficient Atonement for their long Absence from it And then upon this he saith I might have took occasion to perswade the Brethren there present that they would be as well affected in their Life and Health as they generally come to be in their last Sickness and point of Death that is to bring their Bodies to the Chuich whilst their Souls are yet in them which would be a more acceptable Sacrifice than the bare Carcase and Refuse of Mortality And why should they desire to be Interred within the Precincts of the Church unless they think it their own last Home and proper Place Would any of us request that our Dead Bodies should be carried into an Enemies Country rather than be laid up in our Native Land It must argue some good Affection sure to the Spot of Earth where we resolve to lay down our Mortal Man and to mix our common Dust And moreover therefore I should have encouraged these Brethren not to forsake the Assembling of themselves together in that Holy Place where the Mournful Occasion had now brought them The Ground was not Polluted with Idolatrous Worship if it had their Reverend Teacher would not have desired to have found there an Ark of Rest for his Earthly Tabernacle By these extraordinary Arguments and Motives I should very powerfully have Exhorted the Brethren there present to come to Church every Sunday in the Year And if any of them should have an Humour more Obstinate than ordinary such rare and

or Decay For so it shall be 1 Thes 4. for as much as we shall for ever be with the Lord who will for ever Delight in his People ever take Care of them and be a Guard to them that no Evil shall come near them Oh Blessed Day and Blessed State when all this Good shall be imparted to them But when will all this be Thirdly I now proceed therefore to the Third Thing observable in the Words which is the time of the beginning or the Commencement of this Happiness which shall be Henceforth i. e. from the very Day or time of their Death or Departure out of this World Not that they shall be presently instated in all that full Possession of Good which I have mention'd which cannot be whilst their Bodies remain still in the Grave or before the Resurrection Therefore the full Possession or Perfection of Happiness is not to be expected till the Coming of Our Lord as the Scripture generally sets it forth to us Col. 3.4 But when Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall we appear with him in Glory But yet this Happiness is to begin on the Day of the Saints Dissolution Henceforth from the very time of their Death They shall Rest from all their Labours presently and their Reward doth then begin I know there are other Senses given of this Expression but I can see nothing but this that answers the Design of comforting the Afflicted Servants of God in their present Sufferings which this Text is intended for There is nothing but this Possession of the Reward at Death can denominate them Blessed from Henceforth If they might Glorifie God in this World tho' it were in Suffering yet they would rather desire to do so than be gone hence unless they may come to the present Enjoyment of their Happiness How are they Blessed from Henceforth in having the Reward of their Works if there be no such Reward yet to be enjoyed If the Soul were to sleep in the Grave in a lumpish and unactive State where then would be their Blessedness It were better to continue longer here in performance of their Master's Work and in the Service of their Lord as long as God shall be pleased to uphold them and enable them to hold out in it tho' it were in the midst of Labour and Suffering And they would chuse to do so because hereby they would further their Reward hereafter when God shall Reward Men not only according to the Nature but also according to the Measure and Degree of their Labour and Sufferings All the Troubles and Labours of this Life therefore would rather be endured a great deal than One would chuse to be put into an insensible and unactive State where there is neither Work nor Enjoyment no One that hath any thing of Christian Zeal and Magnanimity would be glad to be removed hence so long as God is pleased to give him Strength and Patience to hold out unless He might immediately pass to the Enjoyment of that Happiness which is the End of all his present Seeking and Striving and Labouring It was this that put St. Paul into such a Strait that he knew not which to chuse Phil. 1.21 For to me to Live is Christ saith he He being heartily devoted to him and being glad to be employed in his Service but then to Die was present Gain For that He must mean or else it had been better and more Gain to live still For if I Live in the Flesh this is the Fruit of my Labour to be serviceable to Christ in the Conversion of more to him Yet what I shall chuse I know not Why Would not the Apostle chuse to serve Christ in the Work of the Gospel rather than cease to be But I am in a Strait betwixt two having a Desire to deport and to launch out from this Body and this World and to be with Christ which is far better That was the Reason why He was willing to be gone from the Body because then he was to be with Christ and that would be far better for him For in this the Apostle is very Positive and Peremptory 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know saith he if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle the Body were dissolved we have a better Dwelling for our Spirit prepared a Building of God an Habitation in the Heavenly Glory an House not made with Hands of Mens or Mortal Facture or Procreation Eternal and undecaying there And in this therefore we Groan earnestly and desire to be clothed upon with that our House which is from Heaven Knowing saith he Ver. 6. that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord therefore are willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. So that it seems the Souls of Good Men at Death are to leave the Body and then be absent from it and then they are forthwith to be present with Christ So 2 Tim. 4.7 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that Day And what Day was that But the Day of his Departure of which he speaks Ver. 6. and saith was then ready at Hand And that we may not think that this was only a Priviledge belonging to him or to such Excellent Persons as he was He adds and not to me only but also to all them that Love his appearing So that we see that this is a Blessing that all the Faithful Servants and Followers of Christ shall partake of as well as the Blessed Apostle himself Now the Enjoyment of this Happiness in the Regions above I do not only in Charity hope as I would of every ordinary Good Christian but do most firmly believe is the State and Condition of this Reverend and Good Man whose Relicks we have now before us and upon the occasion of the Interment of which we are here met Of whom therefore I cannot but say something tho' not near so much as his Character I believe doth deserve my Acquaintance with him having been so long Interrupted as for some Years He seemed to me to be an Aged Person when I first knew him but by Temperance and Wise Conduct and the Blessing of God thereupon and by the Divine Protection warding off Evil Harms and Accidents from him which might either have cut him off or broken his Health much sooner how hath his Life been prolonged to almost half the common Age of Man since that time It being now towards Thirty Years ago since I was first acquainted with him That which I had always observed in him was a great Kindness and Benignity of Disposition joined with an Undissembled Integrity and Uprightness whereby I dare say he wish'd Well to all Men and bore a Loving Respect in his Carriage to all and rejoic'd in all Men's Welfare and Happiness and was glad when He could himself any ways promote it This I doubt

Service of Christ our Lord that they may also Die in him and so be Blessed For we must certainly Live to him now if we will Die in him or be United to him at the last We must have Union with him in Life as our Lord and Head if we think to have Union with him and Relation to him at Death as our Everlasting Saviour We can by no means expect to Live with God hereafter if we will not Live to his Honour here We can never expect that He will receive us into his Embraces at last if we continue now in an Hatred of him and Enmity against him Neither the Work nor Enjoyments of Heaven can be suitable to an Unholy Soul that is not Transformed into the Divine Likeness For what should such an One do with God or among the Saints above that hath nothing at all of a Divine or Saint-like Nature But if we are now made like God and Live to him He will be sure then to take Care of his Own For the Foundation or Covenant of God standeth sure 2 Tim. 2.19 having this Seal the Lord knoweth them that are his And let every One that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity Let all Wicked Men see therefore the absolute Necessity and the great Advantages of Religion They are apt now to have hard Thoughts of it and to Censure it sore for a very Soure and Melancholly Thing tho' that is a very great Mistake and Misprision but how will it be at last Or what will their Thoughts be of it hereafter Then they will find that this had been the only way to Happiness and Bliss whatever they think of it now And should not Wise Men have Futurity in Account as well as the present Time Should they look only at their present Pleasures and Advantages and neglect the future which are infinitely greater Or do they think to Die the Death of the Righteous and yet will not Live his Life This cannot be But you must begin now and should not put off the Study of Piety and Holiness till hereafter neither You Young Ones must not think to Live to the Age that this Holy Man of God hath done This is a rare and peculiar Favour which very few can expect You may be called and summon'd away before you are aware However can you ever begin to be Wise too soon or Blessed too soon For this is certain that you are never Wise or Blessed but in the way of Religion And yet how apt are the most to put this off still and to cry 't is too soon yet 't is too soon yet Yet a little more Sleep and a little more Slumber and a little more folding of the Hands to Sleep A little more of the Pleasures and Vanities of Sin a little more unjust Gain and then we will take up and Repent and Return And yet when the Time is come that they have set they are as backward to it as before or worse Their Hearts are more Hardned and they are farther off from Repentance and Religion than they were some Years ago And will you always be thus deceived You that continue in Sin and the Impenitency of your Hearts what do you think to do at last Where will you appear Do you expect that Christ should take you to himself Dying in your Rebellion against him or that He should save you in your Sins How unreasonable is this Repent Oh Sinners And Return in Time And let those who have begun Well hold on still left they lose their Reward The Day of our Redemption draweth near Therefore let us cast off the Works of Darkness let us keep down Sin which Christ came to destroy Let us Renounce our own Lusts and Wills and Live as his Covenant Servants and then Blessed shall we be FINIS