A Funeral Sermon. • Gulph :ts cao never be waded through? _Remembrance can with one gl:mce review what's pafi:, and why lbould Hope and ExpeB:ation look upon what's to ~ome as boundlcfsand infinite? are all onr Winter days fpent, and none but our Summer in referve? Are none remaining for us but the faireft and the longcft? Surely both Hemifpbcres of our Lives have equal Horizons; and we fhall find, that our paft and futu re Years have but juft the fame meafure. , !I. Secondly, MOft Men prefi1m~ they Ihall live to cxtream Age. A vain Confidence! As if God would turn the World into an Hofpital,. and fill it with the old and decrepit. We have a Vroverb, That Young Men may, but Old Men mufl: die; whereas Obfervation will inform us, that incomparably fewer die Old than Young: And thofe too arc fo worn out with crazy and languilhing Diftcmpcrs, fo tired with following the Funerals of their Families, that they detelt the Age they formerly delircd, and execrate their Grey Hairs,. made fuch as well by Griefs as Years. This World is God's Nurfery for Eternity, and he will not cumber it with too many old Trunks. Death lies every where in ambufu for us. The 'Jews reckon up nine hundred and three Difeafes, but the Caii.Jalties we are fnbje<l: unto are certainly innumerable. A Tile may brain us, a Peftilential Vapour out of the Earth ftifle us, our Houfes may bury us under their Ruins, our very Meat and Drink may choak us, and the Means to preferve Life may become the Inftruments of our Death. We read of fome that a Fly, or a Grape-ftone have difpatched, that have died by pluck ing offan Hair from their Breafts, God turning a very Hair into a Spear to deftroy them. Our Souls may leak out at fome fmall Crack in thofe hidden Pipes of Life, the Veins. 'Tis a ftrangc Fqlly, that we who arc filbjeB: to fiteh various Difeafes and Accidents, Jhould yet dream of dy ing of no other but Old..{lge. Did we but feriouOy confider by what fmall Pins this frame of Man is held together, it would appear no lefs than a l\-iir.1cle to us, that we live one day or one hour to an end. ur. Thirdly, 1\fen think a few of their latell: days and thoughts are enough to prepare them for Death: They account it extream Folly to lofe the Delights of Lif~, by fl:ill jarrin!? upon this ing1:ateful Remembrance, that they muft ~ortly die, and therefore delay 1t till thofc unwelcome Mon it01·s, Age and Grey-hairs, call loudly upon them, till they caa read deep Emblems of their Graves in their hollow Eyes and furrowed Brows. And iffomething mull: be done for their Souls, it !hail be only a Jinall courtefie at parting. Thus they devote the flower and fpirit of their years to Sin and Ple:1fi.Jre, and think, when their Time runs low, to put offGod with the dregs of it, and content him with the Devil's refufe. Alas! the only thing worth living for is to.die well. 'Tis not to cat, or drink, or Oeep, or fport, or talk; 'tis not to grow rich, or honourable; but, to learn how we may, by a fcvere Mortification, die firft • g~, u:let tt nli 1 uiu. 'lli· to the World, and then out of it. A~d is it n_ot (as * Smeca u tihr .. ~firv4re & id fob~m fpc.1~s) a fhamc, tha~ thon fhoul~e.fl: de~me to this great bufincfs t tmr«lmMmrntid(flimrre (p~d of Life, only thofe Rchcks of thy ttmewh1ch can be employed about ;., nr~011m rtm tonfimp~Jlit.S~n- nothing elfe? Is it never time to become new Men, till you.1re ceatl • b11:v. vit<l, r"P-4· fing to be? or of reforming your Li\•es, till you are endingthem? Believe it, the vaft Concernments of your everlJfl:ing frate require yom· fre01eft Strencrth and Spiri ts. 'Tis not a dying Sigh will waft your Souls m: er into a blcflCd Eten~ty: 'tis not to leave fomcwhat behind for pious ufes 7 nor at the laft gafp to Tecommcnd your fclvcs into God's hands, when you have been all your life long in the Devil's. 'Tis not fomc Chimney-prayer, nor Blanket-devotio.n, nor the Name of God bro_ught up_ in a Cough, that will fu~ce: . Heaven were .a cheap. Prize could it be fo lazily obtatncd. No; Repentance IS qmte another thmg: 'ns to ranfack the Soul, to rend the Heart, to demolilh ftrong Holds, to rout thofcLegions by which we are poffefl:. la a word, 'tis to take Heaven by an holy Force and Violence. An<f what frupendious Folly is it, to defer this greatWork (a Work that will ftrain every Nerve of your Souls to perform it well) 'till the Onggifhnefs and infirmit ies of Oldage opprefs you? Think you, your Souls can then vigorouOy befrir themfelvs when they aTe grown ftiffwith Age, when your Faculties arc benumb'd, and your Spirits congeal'd paft the thaw of .:1 Fire? Arc they then fit for ACtion when they lie wrap'd alxmt with tough and clammy Flegm, and buried under Sloth and Sleep? Be perfuaded therefore inftantly to break off all delays, and from this very moment to provide in good carncft for your Souls; left as the blandifbments of the Flcfu and the World
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=