A Funeral Sermon. likely mc.1ns to engage 11s to live in fi1ch confbnt holinefs and prcparaticn, as that after death we may live in eternal Glory and Happinefs. The word~, though they arc thus obfcnrf: in their coherence,' yet in thtmfclvcs and their own proper and genuine fcnfc, arc very clear and perfpicuous. They contain in them the Jndgmeflt that the living pafs upon their own Mortality; and as they lie before us, cannot be fo much as fi1fpcd:ed of any difficulty. I {hall therefore, waving all other enqn irics, make only thefe two. · t. Firft, Whence it is, that the livi'ng 1attain~he fur-c and infallible knowledge of their own death . ~ .. - '"- 11. Secondly_, \:V hence it proceeds, that though all Men generally know tltlt they Ihall die, yet fo few do fcr ioufly and in good earneft prcpa.re themfclvcs fur it. l. TO the firll, I anfwer; there be many things froTn whencC we ma:v collect the ne- · cenity of dying. 1 fh:tll pretermit divers, and only fpeak to thcfe following. \Ve may collca it by thofe Harbingers and Forerunners of Death, Difeafes, Pains, and natural Dec.:ays, which arc incident to all Men. Man is compounded of the contrary and jarring. qualities of Heat, ~nd Cold, Drought and .Moifture ; which arc always wag~ng ·an, intcftine War ~it~in,hiin. ' Health is tho equal balance of thefe Contrarieties; when thCy arc fo tcmper'd tog'ether, the more aCtive with the more refifting, that neither: of them can get the Vi&ory over the other. And therefore fome fuppofc that Adam (\\o'ho doubtlefs was created in the higheft perfe(boh of natural Health and Strength) h:1d all thefe ·mixed ad)ondtJJ, in fo everT ;t temper, thJt none of them could naturally Gvay him to Corruption; and that God then infti&cd the Death he thrcatned, when upon tho.Jirft TranfgrcOion he turned the evennefs of his Conftitntion, and thereby brought him into..a mortal State~ ;Sicknefs is nothing cJfe but a prc(\omin'ant Faction in a Man's Temper, which, .as RebelliOns nfe to do, raifcth it fclf upoh the tnin <ilf the whole. A~ . ~~d nackS"IJ,S the ITiits to fome qmlity in the greater World, when ,he inteJtds ~o1 bring a gc i\Cral· Calamity and DcftruCl:ion upon it (for thus we read, that he onpe dcf!;roycd tlw \\Tot:ldl hy a Dropfie, in the great Dcln~e; and that he will again deftroy it 1hy i1 ' fe,~cr, in the bft Conflagration) fo li kewifc in Man, wJ10 is the· Jcffcr \:Vorl,d) God doth f01'nctimes let loofc the reins, and gives fame of his natur-al qnalities an unnawral predominancY; and either floods him with Dropfies, or burns him with Fevers, or numns him with Pal lies, Lethaq:des and Epilcpfies, and by other innumerable Difeafe<: fo r.1vageth his Health and Vigour, his Youth and Beaury, that he bccoHlCS a Ghoft, before yet he he a Corps. . Yea thofe who /1.1ve had no filch· violent A!13ults as· thefc, yet find their decavs; grow np together \'{ith their Years. &Jlomon hath given us a:1 clcgapt dcfcription 9f them, Fa:lef 11. from the fecond. to ·the feventh V'crfc. Dunnef'S of fight, dcafnefs of hearing, weaknefs and trembling of limbs, fiUAAifhnefs of fph,·irs, chiJncfs of blood, lofs of appetite and deft res; and a wholeRofpital of other incurableDifcafcs. are the attendant~ of old Age, which is it fclf the m.ofb i.ncurahle of all: tbat the very length of living may be argument enough ~f ~he nccefii.ty of dying. This i~ that he:wy burthen that bows down ·all on whom 1t hcs, . that makes tham go ftooping to the Ground, as if it would b.id them contemplate what they are, lfin the d.Mt, and confider their mortality in that ca1·th i'nto which ·they Jntfft:. Jhon)y faJJ. All thcfe arc as fo many Harbingers of Death fcnt before to hid us f>rCJ.*lrc, .£01: tha.t; tthc King of Tcrrours 'Cannot be long afcdr. ·~: ,. · , )I !1 ' , , 2. The obferv>:ttion of Death's' 1iniverHli Empire over all othen :thiag", and over all other Men, may give us a certa in knowledge that We alfo mnft fhqrrly die. Jf, we confider the vicinltndes of natural things, we Ihall find that Death re i,?:ns. in all of them. The Day d ies in to Night, Summer into Winter; Time ·it fclf that de~ ftroys all things, yet dies continually,'' nor can cxift one minute together. Our ve~ ry life is nothing elfe but a fi1cceffion of dying: every day and hour wears. a\yay part of it, and fo far as it is already fpenr, fo far are we already dead and buried: fo that the longcft.. liver: hath no more bnt that he is longer a dying· than others . This indeed is only to die fucceffivcly, bnt that fatal and final ftroke i~ ~omif!g, when we fhall no more li.ve nor die. All others have felt it, and therefore !Javid calls Death the way of lil/ the Earth. We need no other proof of this than to fcarch inFo the
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