Bofejsian for Burial, 2 3 S as it feemeth (by Godsdireáiontoo) chofen. But I will go no further than the Text. Whereinfirlt, confider a certain preamble that the holy manufeth to the people that he now convetft with, in thefe words ; I am a f ranger, anda(spurner among ou. Wherein the fweetuefsofhis nature doth thew is lelf, thathe was both hum- ble-minded, to know andconfefs that was a flranger, and all'o that he was full of reverence and refpedt to thole that he dwelt with : /am a {(ranger among son; You are theLords, I a poorTenant ; You the Maftcrs of the foil, I buran In mate, that came in and was firft lodged by you, and with your confent ; and without your confent I will not attemptany thing. That is the permonition whereby he inlinua tech into their affcdions,andmakes wayfor his fpeech and petition, that after he ,,N as to propound and tender to them. And then the Petition followeth, Clive me, becaufe I will not take it ofmy own head : Give me, What ? 4 poffeffian,fuch a thingas I may call my own,as I may have to my own ufe, fequeftred from all other mens : And Give et me ; not upon gift meetly, but for mymoney, give it mefor price : anfwer the what 1 (hall pay, that I mayacquire and make this purchafe. Thirdly, for what he would have this poffelilon : To bury his Wife,and himfelf, and his pofterity ; A burying place for them. A ftrange thing ; a ftrange pur- chafe for a man, to purchafe no other ground, but to buy Land for a burying place. Laftly, whom he would bury there, my dead. He calleth her not his Wife, but his Dead; becaufe now the contras} was ended by Death,and thewasno morehis Wife,but one ofhis loving friends. Burial care after Death, it is committed tomen by God, and by the voyce of Nature, thereforegive me a place to bury mydead out of myJi ht. Itgrievedhim tofee that beauty turned to pale black darknefs,that now had over- faced the face of that beautiful woman : to fee that fweet compofed body that was . the mirrourof the times; and themiracle ofwomen in tholeages, that it was now fubjea to rottennefs and putrefac hon, and did now grow noyfome, that it made men flit from it, that they could not look upon it. That 1 may burymy deadout ofmyfglet. Thefe are the branches of my Text. Firft, concerning the humble preface that Abraham makes; I ama((ranger and afojourner among you. A marvellous thing to confider the great faith ofour Father Abraham, and pati- ence that he ufed in the apprchenfionof Gods promife : for all this land was Abra- hams land,yet he confeft himfelfa ftranger : and Saint Steven faith inAl`ts7. that be had not one foot ofground ; not a foot in all the land that he couldown. This is that wherein God is molt gloriousin his Saints, their expeetation, their patient expeétation of Gods promife : that they think thcmfelves as well for the time to come` for that which fhall come, as if they were in prefent pof- feffton.. :When the Lordbrought Abrahamout ofhis native Country, out ofvr ofthe Chaldees, from the furtheft part of Syria, hebrought him many hundredmiles to an unknown Land,andbe promifed to give him that Land,and to his feedafter him ; who wouldhave thought but he meant to give him perfonal pofeffion ? But no, as foonas he was there, the Lord drives him out by famine into Egypt, and then he uuderftood that Gods mind was not to give it him; but when thefins of the Amo- rites were ripe, and the people of lfracl were grown to anumber, that they might come by fome claimand right, and be fucha multitude as fhouldnotbecontemned, that they might not come by way ofmiracle to take poffelfion, then Godpurpofed to give it him. So that this thing we may learn hence, that God is infinitely gracions to his children,when theyare content with the appearanceof things to come, as well as if they had prefent poffeffion. This is that which the Apoftle Saint Paul frequently (peaks of in Heb. at. that theFathers had regard to thepromifes, and trolled upon H h z God,
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