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A92746
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A sermon preached at the funeral of the Lady Newland. At Alhallows Barkin, London By John Scott, D.D.
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Scott, John, 1639-1695.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing S2075; ESTC R229814
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11,228
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21
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Laws and Customs So that considering all I cannot well imagine what should move a good and well-resolv'd Man to be afraid of dying for when I am verily perswaded that Death is only a narrow Stream running between Time and Eternity and I see my God and my Saviour with Crowns of Glory in their Hands beckoning to me from the further shore to come over and receive those blessed recompences Why should I thus stand shivering on the Bank like a naked timorous Boy as if I were afraid to dip my Foot in the cold stream of Fate which as soon as I am in I am over and landed safely on Eternal Bliss But to conclude 4. And lastly Hence also I infer how diligent and industrious we ought to be in Religion since we are therein seeking this abiding City and how can we account any work hard of which Heaven is to be the Wages Methinks this should be enough to infuse new Life and Spirit into the most Crest-fal'n Souls for how much pains do we ordinarily take upon far less hopes in hopes of a little transitory Wealth which we know we shall enjoy but a few years and then part with it for ever We thrust our selves into a perpetual Crowd and tumult of Business where with vast concern and thoughtfulness with eager and passionate Prosecutions we toil and weary out our selves and make our lives a constant Drudgery and shall we flag when Heaven is the object of our Prosecutions When therefore we find our endeavours in Religion begin to droop and flag let us lift up our Eyes to that Crown of Glory and if we are capable of being moved by objects of the greatest value that must infuse new vigour into us and make us all Life and Spirit and Wing whilst we are running the ways of God's Commandments For what though my way lies up the Hill through Thorns and over Precipices so that I sweat and smart at every step and each assent is a torment to me yet when I am up I am sure to be entertain'd with such pleasant Gales and glorious Prospects as will infinitely out-balance all my Pains in climbing thither so that there with an over-joyed heart I shall sit down and bless my labours Blessed be you my bitter Agonies and sharp conflicts Blessed be you my importunate Prayers and well-spent Tears for now I am fully repaid for you all and do reap ten thousand times more Joys from you than ever I endur'd Pains For what are the Pains of a moment to the Pleasures of an Eternity Wherefore hold out my Faith and Patience yet a little longer and your Work will soon be at an end and after a few laborious Week Days you shall keep an Everlasting Sabbath For what though your Voyage be through a stormy Sea yet 't is to the Indies of Happiness and a few Leagues further lies that Blessed Port where you shall be Crowned as soon as you are landed Go on therefore O my Soul with thy utmost Courage and Alacrity and then let the Winds bluster and the Waves swell never so much yet thou canst not miscarry unless thou wilt For thou art not like other Passengers left to the mercy of Wind and Weather but thy Fate is in thine own hands and if thou wilt have but thy Fruit unto Holiness thy End shall be Everlasting Life AND now I will crave your leave to conclude with a few Words upon this sorrowful Occasision the Funeral of my Lady Newland with whom I never had the Happiness to be otherwise acquainted than by the frequent Reports I have heard of her Exemplary Piety and Vertue which was such as I think my self bound in Justice both to her and you not to bury them with her but so far as in me lies to Embalm her Memory with them and to represent them as an Excellent Pattern to you her Survivers And what I shall say of her I have under the hand of her Reverend Pastor who intimately knew her while she was living and who attended her through her Sickness to the Gates of Eternity She had a Mind fairly prepared for the Eternal Exercise and Joy of Saints and Angels which is to adore and praise the Fountain of their Being and Happiness as appeared by the Constancy of her Devotions both in private and publick in private her Devotion was always the first business in the Morning near two hours of which she continually spent in Prayer and Reading and Meditation and how late soever she happened to be detained at Night whether by business or innocent Diversion she always separated at least one hour from her rest for the same Divine and Heavenly Exercises after which she constantly attended the Family Devotions not suffering one Duty to interfere with another And then as for her attendance upon the publick Prayers of the Church it was so remarkably constant that whenever she absented from them one might certainly conclude either that she was detained by Sickness or some very extraordinary Occasion Yea so very exact and punctual was she in this matter that she always took care so to contrive her Business and Diversion as that they might comport with her Attendance on the publick Service so as that when ever it did so happen as that she could not be present either Morning or Evening in her own Parish Church she might be sure not to miss of it in some other And as for the Holy Sacrament that best Repast and Banquet of Devout Souls she was a constant Guest at it once a Month at least and as for the most part oftener as she found opportunity her hunger and thirst after that Righteousness therein sealed and conveyed being too eager to be satisfied with the common stint of twice or thrice a Years participation of it Thus did this Divine and Heavenly Soul spend the much greater part of her Life in Heaven and this in so great a plenty of Worldly Enjoyments as was sufficient to have corrupted an ordinary Piety and to have vitiated its relish of the Enjoyments of the World to come And which is very remarkable this severe and abstracted kind of Life which she led and which in others is too commonly attended with some very bad consequents with Moroseness and Peevishness Pride and Censoriousness was so far from producing these bad effects in her that they produc'd the quite contrary For as for her Conversation it was always free and open charming and obliging and as my Author expresses it carried such an amiable air about it as sufficiently demonstrated the excellency of the temper from whence it did proceed And so remote was she from any thing that lookt like Pride and Self-Conceit that I am very apt to think there is no Person in the World could think so meanly of her as she did of her self none that she found so much fault with as she did with her self She was a very severe and truly I believe a too severe Animadverter on her own Actions for