956 A Funeral Sermon on Dr. William Bates. -- ing punllually with all diligence,_knowing his Friend's Life t~~;;;{e'ir;~ za r~; che 1j·rantJ m great AdmtratiOn of thetr mutual Love and _Fid.elity, pardons t he condemned, and requefts of them both, that they would admit hun, as a th ird Perfon, mto t he Society of thCir Fnendfhip. V> hat they tell us of 'divers others, I mention not, whom no death could fever. whom dangers did more clofely unite. · Such as are conJoyn'd in the fame common Caufe, their mutual Love, mutually Phil. 1 • 1 4· f~~:~~~ ti~le~~n;:na:~n:.ace:.~~ 1;a~:~a~~~~~c~h;n;;J~e~ b~~~;, ~~1i1e~ottf~1;c~1~u1d not but be thought Bonds of Death. No doubt, becau!'e he was dear to them. So ~f,:~.he~~:~1~~~1/,"f;n[;,el.~~;~~Jf~n!~t t~:a~~ m~~:J",~!;a~~~~y: ~:re'~~:h~;~~~r~Ts his own Love, or tend to inflame od1er Mens, than when_ that ~reat Apoj/1< befpeaks the Chrij/Mm of that ume, as havmg his Life bound up m theirS? I tn.,e if Je jland 1 Thclf. 3· 8. [aft- that he was read:] to tmpart, with the Gojftel, even his own foul to them, be- ;'~!~.~:~: eaNje they were dear to him. A.nd that they were in his Jmzrt to live and d1e with them. There feem'd to be but olle life, common to him and them. \•Vhen there are fuch Unions, that each, is co the other, an alter Ego, another Self; and another's Soul, is ro a Man as half his own; as he pathetically Phrafes it. Here is the height of Alfefrion ! And rhat Affection mutually heightens each others courage, and is a continual and reciprocated fource of a generous Magnanimity, fpringing from the one, into the others breaft; while they perceive in one another, a m?tual vyios, who fhall the more advemuroufly ru01 upon death, fo r, or in ConJunction \V!Ch, the other. 1 his feems not alien from the temper of Thomas' s mind in his utteri ng of thefe Words. For when our Lord propofed going into 'j11dea, othe r of the Difciples objecting that the 'Jews had there lately fought eo Inll him; He, when he underftood L azarus was dead, whom he knew to be a fi·icnd to that Caufe, rho' he did not for it; Come, fays he, let us now fear no de~tth, let us rnfb, in media arma, throrv our ftlves into tbe midft of death, and there breathe forth our j'ouls, full of Love, to God, and Chrijf, aJJd him, and one another; even ttpon the fame JP~t , where this Friev4 of ortr Lord, and our common Caufe and lntereft, breath'd forth hts. Thefe nobl~ Prmciples, Fortitude and Love, might have made two dillinct Heads of Difcourfe; but they are fo complicated, and interwoven with one another, that they \\lCre fcarce eo be confi· dered apart. And this Complication, thefe Words more than intimate.- That their hearts may be comforted (or incited, and llirr'd up, as the word there ufed fignifies) bring knit together in love. 7· A lively apprehenfion of tbe large, abounding dijfu{ion of the oivine {>~lnefs; fufficiently able to replenifh, and fatisfy, all that !hall be prepared to partake in it. That this good Man's eye was upon fomewh at elfe, than meer Death, and that he coveted not to die, for dying fake, muft be out ofdoubt with us. He certainly aim'd at a bleffed State after Death. And who can fuppofe his mind void of rhat fo common notion, that the BlefJednefs of Sotds m>~j/lie in God? But this could not he ail. ~~~fe~~ :~~~~{f.• ";{;:;·m~lla t:l~cg;e~;, ~,.}{JJ~p~r:l~e~~~' o~0i~1~o~.gm£Y,}~::eti~ intervening death to be gone through. And he expreffes himfclf wdlmg to attempt this difficult pafs. Let us go-·-- that we m4J dye---- How few do you Imow, orconverfe with, that are without this notion, that God is the Bleffedne!S of Souls? Or that affent not to it affoon as they hear it? Yet how few do you know, that are willing to die, to enjoy him ? No, no, they are generally willing rather to ear the daft of the e.rtb, and feed upO» afhe~; thoufands ofYe .1fs, than g~ to God for~ better Portio~ ! Notwithftanding their dud, jpmtlrfs, i~ejficacioNs notion of a dtvme heav.en!J FehcJty, they had rather want It. A Bleifcdnefs not to be had on Earth, or that muft come by dying ! They blefs themfelves from fuch a Bleffednefs! 'Tis plain then, there mufr be more than .a dead n_oti~n, to overcom~ t~eir Averfi?n ~~ 'll;~~g~ B1,ff~d':,J,a~11 c'!J0~~ ~};:, ~:;:h: 'Tis as piam, It mufi be a v,nd apprehenfton And that imports two things. . .. 1 , A JJivine Faith of It. It muft be the _apprehenfion of Fatth, and of a drvrn< Faith. Almoft every one pretends to bel ieve it; but it is generally~ with an humane fattb only. Becaufe their Parems, or Preachers, or the common VOice ofthe Coo~;~;
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