found or made a shift to excuse himself for a while that he might converse with his God Which an ingenious Modesty did so contrive that it was not so much as suspected to be done upon design Yea when he was so pressed that he could get no time in the Day stollen He made it up in the Night Often he used to be Eight hours a day in the immediate Service of God beside His diligent observance of the Lords Day which was indeed Singular He used a constant Method in reading Scripture wherein he was much conversant Neither did the Translation satisfie him but He searched the Original carefully For he could quot the New Testament and Psalter as easily in the first Language as most can do in their Mothers Tongue In his daily Reading he did still choose some place which he fixed in his Mind To the Consideration whereof he recollected his Thoughts all that day when ever he found himself at leisure Which he used to say was his Sanctuary whither he retreated from the Persecution of Idle Thoughts Many such Methods used he to wing up His soul to the work of Cherubims ever to behold the Face of his Heavenly Father Yea a Radiant Splendor which possessed his Looks when he returned from his Closet could make us easily discern what joyfull and pleasant work he had been about He used often to separate whole dayes for the Worship of God wherein He denied himself any other Refreshment save what was ministred to his Soul He performed himself the duties of his Family constantly at two returns each day where you might have heard both Reading Singing and Prayer and that with such a true and unaffected Devotion as discovered how little Formality may be in the Observance of Forms The first arrest of that Fatall sicknesse had exhausted the Active Vigour of his Spirit so far that the Keennesse and Fervour of his Soul was somewhat blunted which drew him into Sadnesse judged Melancholy by Beholders For he complained that then when these Attaques of God did alarum him up to a greater diligence He was become more languid and tepid This Trouble was but of short continuance for he found the union of his soul to his God as close as ever though a Mistuned Body could not bear up in a Concord with it The last Lords Day of his Life was he diligent in the search of his Heart and earnest in wrestling with God the Issue whereof was a Quiet and Composed Mind Which was apparant in the Cheerfulnesse of his Spirit which was greater that Night than it had been all the while of his sicknesse Two dayes after he was seized with a spotted Feaver or rather His Sicknesse did evidently discover it self to be such Which having in a sudden disturbed his Fancy what after that came from him like himself was rather Curt though raised and Divine Contemplation than any fixed and well ordered conceptions Often did He pray often did He speak of the Glory of His God and of His Redeemer Yea never mentioned he either but his Soul seemed to go out with Fervour The Last Night of his Life Five times did he direct his desires to God in the words of the Lords Prayer About the Morning His Raving seemed to have taken leave of Him for about a Quarter of an Hour did he with great seriousnesse and in well fitted words call upon the Lord and invocate his aid Neither did he forget His Soveraign the Church His Nation or His Family He had no sooner ended when the Fury of his distemper as if it had given him Truce only for that blessed work did again invade him It was a few hours after that for he scarce spoke any more that the Cords of his Tabernacle begun to be slackened and before we were awar He gave up the Ghost and fell asleep passing into Glory Is there not then a great Man fallen this day in Israel Having thus viewed the Greatnesse of that Soul wherein I do protest no Hyperbole hath been used neither hath ought been said but what I certainly knew to be true Those who are little acquainted with True worth and who Imagine there is no such thing in the World but that it is a Chimaera contrived to amuse and overaw the sons of Adam will may be look on what hath been said as a Flaunting Story But it will gain credit with such as are neither strangers to Virtue nor to Him What was seen of him was so fair and alluring that every one will not stick to believe the Vnseen and Hidden parts of him must be the most Glorious All will believe the Closet of a Palace to exceed the Glory of the Walls But it is a Sad Conclusion to say There is a great Man FALL'N I shall rather invert the words There is a Great Man RAIS'D up The Soul and Body are wreathed into unity by such a Congruity of Life that forgetting the Difference of their Natures they come to be so linked in the embraces one of another as to move joyntly in all their Operations Whence followeth such an Eccho of the One to all the Affections of the Other that they both gain or losse according as their Yoak-fellow is Pleased or Prejudged Which being a Riddle too hard for the crazed Vnderstanding of Man whose sight hath not yet reached the inside of Beings their Natures some take a Compendious way to extricate themselves by saying It is but agitated and subtile Matter that keeps us in Life How well this may be applied to such Agents as are devoid of Ratiocination and to the Plantall and Animal Actions of a Man I am not now to examine But that Cogitation can be an effect of Matter even when it acts on Immaterial Objects and in Self-reflexions will be found a greater difficulty than that they intended to shun And sure in the Conception of a Cogitating Being there is no greater Absurdity than in that of an Extended One After the Soul hath lodged in the Body that space of Pilgrimage and Probation appointed it by God Then the time of its Dissolution draweth nigh When it is to be unfettered then through the dark shades of Death must we passe to Immortality And though there be nothing more dreadfull to them whose Leud and Atheistical life doth fill them with just apprehensions of approaching Miseries Yet the Lord God who can out of the Eater bring forth Meat and out of the Strong give Honey hath ordered that to be the Fore-runner of a Blisse so far elevate beyond the mean and lo apprehensions we Frail Mortals can conceive that the most Fluent Eloquence can do it no Right May we but Imagine what an Amazement a Holy Soul will be struck in when it finds it self of a suddain freed from the Depressions of a Grosse and Terrestrial Body the Allurements of a Debauched Mind the Entisements of a Foolish World the Contagion of Evil Company the Stings of Sicknesse and Pain and from an Unactive
Vnchristned Reason taught these Philosophers to argue And sure if they Lived as they Talked they shall rise in Judgement against many called Christians who see a Clearer Light and yet walk in Greater Darknesse and Disorder It is no Disgrace neither to Our Religion nor to the Grace of God to magnifie the Morality and Worth of the Heathens Methinks it saith and that strongly for the Honour of it to find among the Rubbish of Ruined Nature still remaining some Impressions of Virtue But if we attempt a Comparison betwixt that Sacred Doctrine delivered in the Bible and the Writings of the more Moralized Heathens you may as justly compare a Fish eye to a Pearl or a Diamond to a peece of Christal Natures Light being as the First Dawning of the Morning pleasing to One wearied with the Blacknesse of Night which may well delight the Eye with its Beauty but will hardly guide the Traveller on his way But the Divine Light like the Noon Beams which clearly discovers all things here below and maketh us easily discern every Object save it self not for any dimness in its Self but an Excessive Brightness So after one hath been vexed with looking on the Darknesse of Heathenish Idolatry and finds in Greece something of a higher strain He cannot choose but be somewhat satisfied But will find himself little furthered Their Doctrine being able excellently to inform how he is to be unhinged but Prescribing no foundation to fix on nor furnishing any helps towards such an Atchievment This is Peculiar to the glory of the Latter House whose radiant splendour doth discover to us all the Instances of our Duty and fills our Hearts with true Understanding for the perfect knowledge of every thing in our course Only He whose Glory it is to be incomprehensible cannot be found out to Perfection The truth whereof shall be now applied to the Affair in hand Religion then teacheth us That in this life we are but Pilgrims and aiming at but not attaining Happinesse and that the very Essence of all Earthly Enjoyments is to be Transitory For we have no lease of Life nor of the Comforts thereof There is a wildernesse betwixt and Canaan in which we must Sojourn We must not then fret although we have no water at every Station But with all cheerfulness ought we to follow every Remove of Divine Guidance For Here we live in Hope and expect that after we have walked through the Valley of Baca we shall appear before the Lord in Sion in that Rest that remaineth for the People of God Being thus in the Gospel assur'd of that approaching Glory How Irrational is it to Reckon upon our Present Troubles which last but for a moment No Traveller will deeply resent the losse of Company he encountered on the way much lesse if he be assur'd to find them at home before him Why should the Death of an Excellent Person be accounted a losse when we know the Separation shall last but a few hours compared with the Boundlesse length of that Eternal fellowship wherein we shall enjoy one another Further the Gospel tells us that all things here below are managed by the exactest Skill and a well ballanced Providence The most despicable of Creatures are no forgot by Him much lesse the Masterpeece of his work Man in the greatest concernment thereof Life The hairs of our head are numbered much more the years of our Life the End whereof never approacheth but in the fittest and best chosen time For we are not exposed to the uncertain Chances of Accidents nor folded under the Fatality of Stoicks or the influence and aspects of Stars but led by an unerring Wisedome that doth all things in Number Weight and Measure It is then but a well set off Blasphemy against the Wisdom of God to be offended with his Government of the World Again Christianity informs us well what Death is That it is no Extinction of the Soul nor doth it carry us to still and dark Caverns where in an unactive Drowsinesse we shall sleep over our Time much lesse to any Violent though Temporal pains as some dream But the Instant of a Christians Dissolution is the time He shall be invested with all Glory and Dignity and possess'd of all Blesse and Happinesse How strong a curb must this be to any Believers sorrow when without being Criminal in a Secret Envying their deceas'd Friends Glory they dare not regrate his Death For all their Complaints do carry in their bosome so many wishes that the Ground of their trouble had not been and Self-interest and Satisfaction is preferred to the unspeakable Advantage of him that is Dead Even true Friendship would command one to say Since my Happinesse cannot come at any other rate than my friends being detained from His which is a good degree of Misery with all contentednesse of mind shall my losse redeem my friends Gain Further there be Comforts and Delights of the Mind of a Higher nature than those of the Sense and Fortune which can never be shaken by any thing without us These true Delights which a well grounded assurance of the Love of God doth bring into the Mind are so far beyond all the World can promise much more give that when weighed in a true Ballance they prove lighter than vanity The Lord God out of his Love to Man doth use all means leaving none unessayed that He may obtain the Mastery of the Soul when Earthly Satisfactions do carry on this Design they are allowed us But if they prove Retardments the same reason doth call for their Removal An absolute Belief of the Fulnesse of the Love of God who maketh all things work together for good to them that Love Him will secure the Peace of the Soul so entirely that none of all the Batterings of Passion will brangle it And it is by these scorchings of Affliction that God draws in many to dwell under the shadow of his Wings where they are in safety whereby they come more actively to attempt and carry on a Triumph over all the Entanglments of Sense and Passion Thus the Foundation of our Joys and Hopes the Love of God in Christ remains unmoved however the Outside of our Condition which is but our Exteriour happinesse may be subject to Change It is by these Considerations of the Truth whereof by the interiour operation of the Spirit of God we are perswaded That the Faith and Fear of God doth guard our Minds and preserve them in Perfect Peace So that we are not afraid of evil Tydings every one whereof carrieth that Strength and Evidence with it that to it quickly the Assent of the Mind is gained And although the Fetters of Nature and Passion not being wholly while in the Body broke off they will as a Hurrican master for a while the whole powers of the Soul Yet that fury being over in cold blood do they begin to condemn themselves and to amass those comforts of the Gospel by the
only by which we must essay to climb up to Heaven Our Heros was behind few Mortals in this atchievment Did we not see an unclouded sweetnesse and serenity so possesse his Looks that easily we might conclude how little his thoughts were disturbed For being ever the same the elevations of Joy did not transport him neither could the depressions of sorrow crush him Hymens pleasures had not so mastered his Soul as to make him neglect the duty he owed his God Neither did the death of his deservedly beloved children imbarasse his Spirit Those who by injuring Him intended his disturbance missed of their Design for he knew that no man could wrong him and that Malice and Revenge only bricole on the Doer without prejudging the Party against whom they are directed For then only doth one suffer when he permits himself into a Passion and Wrongs done us in this world are rather the Occasions than the Causes of our Misfortune Which he was so fully perswaded of that if at any time Passion peeped it did but give opportunity for the exercise of Reason in the quelling so strong an Enemy He wisely considered the Tongue to be that whose intemperate speeches do give Rise Growth and Continuance to Passion It being the Rudder which when dexterously managed holds us in an even and steady Course but if let loose makes us fluctuate and move at randome His thrift of discourse was great but his sparingnesse in Censuring Rebuking Reproaching and Detracting was such as perhaps in all his life he was never accus'd by any yea I believe scarce by himself the most severe Critick upon his ovvn Actions of this fault So studious was he to evite every occasion of affronting his Reason So that justly we may say there is a Prince and a Great Man fallen this day in Israel Well! we have considered Reasons first Triumph over Passion Its next Conquest is the Trading on the cares and concernments of this Life Our Bodies are the Case which contains the Jewel The Shrine for that Stem of Divinity So the Cares and Concernments of the Body must never come in consideration but as Vassals to our Souls But now this order is inverted Are not mens Bodies become the Prisons if not the Tombs of their Souls The Caring for the One is accounted a Debt but Thinking on the other is thought an act of Charity and Benevolence How many impoverished Souls are lodged in Bodies whose cabinets are well stored with Riches Many a Plump body is the Receptacle of an Hunger-starved Mind Me thinks they resemble Egypts Temples whose Outside had a tearing show but when admitted to the interiour recesses of that Idol-house with the wan light of an half extinguish'd Torch they could discern an Ape So what a sight should it be if we could unfold the Plicatures of the Garments wherein many souls are invelopt Within these Cloutes vvould vve see pitifull Brates on whom if one look he will be at a losse whither he shall have Pity Contemn or account them Unworthy of all his thoughts Is it possible that so Sublime a being as the soul of Man made and shaped for high things can be drencht in the dirt of sensuality and luxury or grovel on this Earth Far different from this are the Apprehensions of a transformed Spirit which laboureth to forget its being detained in a Body when it finds it self hailed to and depressed in Earthly Imployments doth with Sorrrow and Pity regrate the distance it is at from the Object of its Ioy and Desire the smart of which the Body will feel in severe Mortifications being denied the wanton Jolleties and unnecessary Flatterings which are craved by a luxurient temper Yea the formerly bewitching pleasures become more bitter than Gall and Wormwood And even Life it self the Preservation whereof carrieth away the Supremacy of our Affections and Desire doth prove a Burden since it detaineth from that which the purified Soul so vehemently longeth for And while the Pilgrimage continueth what time they bestow on humane Affaires is rather Complying with the Providence of God who ordereth every one to their Post and several Imployments in this world than out of any Pleasure they have in it or any Desire of self-satisfaction And when their Occasions and Hours of Divine employment do avocate them they quickly disingage Themselves and their Craving Appetites unsatisfied with every thing beneath God will with an unexpressible satisfaction suck in those comforts that are sweeter to them than the Honey or the Honey comb With how little Flattery what I have been saying may be ascribed to Him who now enjoyeth what he much desired His freedome from Covetousnesse did discover it self in the pain he was at when Crouding Affairs did invade many Portions of his Time Careful was he to rid himself of that Load And though he was dexterous enough so to order his affairs as to throw away nothing Vnnecessarily which may be occasioned mistakes in some Yet these to whom His Soul was known could well discern it flowed from no sordid ground And his frank and large Charity did fully discover of what Mettal he was Yea a Resolution of his which his modesty keeped unknown to all save those who shared in the secreter motions of his Soul never to have encreased his Estate but to offer what improvements he could make of it to God by relieving the Necessities and Wants of the Poor and Needy Such a design I say to those who knew what a Plentiful Fortune he enjoyed and what Children he had will make them believe that he counted the things of this world but Dung. Little did they know of him who know not how regardlesse he was of his Body He was notar for his Temperance sparing in the enjoyments of his lawful pleasures Neither could the weaknesse of his Body extort from him Care and Tendernesse but rather draw from him Pity and Contempt The Society of Drunkards he hated and shunned as much as a Toad Yea so little force had all the Enjoyments of this life although even of these God had bestowed on him a large Share on his Spirit that he was ever desiring to be rid of them all and to be where no Affair could avocate him from that he so much desired That being uncloathed of his vile Body he should be fred from Grosse and Material Conceptions of Spiritual things from the Tribute he owed his Body and from the trouble he was at with businesse but most of all from the dregs of corrupted nature which pinch the Soul and make it long to be with Christ. Some dayes ere he died being desired not to wrong himself with the Apprehensions of Death his Answer was That having exercised himself so long with the thoughts of it He did not apprehend it with fear as an enemy and therefore with Joy did he receive the approaches of it It was the last morning of his life that He said even in the midst of high and furious raving occasioned