J1 ~uneral Sern1on. World make you now think it is tO? foon, .fo t_he fiJdden.furprize of Death, and the dreadful fight Of a boundlefs Etermty rullung m upon you, make you hereafter cry out, It is too late, too late. F.wrhly, Men generally put off feriousthoughtsof dying, becaufe of the terrours !V. and infupportable dread that fuch apprehenfions bring with them. And therefore Death is called by ']ob, the King of terrouYJ; a Kmg that comes attended w1th a thon-Job s8. fand Fantafms and frightful Apparitions. Who can without a fhivering horrour 1 ;.. think of the feparation of thofe dearCompanions, the Soul and Body, of the dcbafc· ment and difhonoursof theGrave; that we muft lie in a bed of french and rottennefs, under a coverlet of crawling Worms, there mouldering away to duft in oblivion? Shortly we Jhall be no more our [elves; we muft change this .fhbftantial Life, a Life that is really felt, and hath real comforts in it, \Ye muft ch:mge it, to live only in · the infcription of a Tomb-ll:orie, or the memory of a Friend. Our Eyes mnft no more behold this dear and pleafant Light ; we mull: no more relifh the delights of thisWorld; all our fair-laid ProjeCts will be difappointed, and we in a moment fnatch'd away from whatever we enj9yed or defigned. ~ow thefe are too gloomy Meditations for the jovial and frolick World: Such melancholy thoughts of dying prove little lcfs than Executioners themfelves, ·and leave Death but half its wotk . Humane.N"ature abhors them: we find that Chrift himfelf in whom it was m oft pure and fpotlefs, not ~after'd by any of thofe weak Fears or Fancies that pervert our Luke :u4 Reafon; yet even he, as Man, recoils at that Death, which, as God, he was atfur-42 • cd to conqner. The full eft affimmcc of Heaven is fcarcc fufficient to diC:um the terrours of Death, or reconcile ns to it. Saint Paul, to whom God gave the unexamplcd fight of Heaven, and difc :)Ver'd the ineff.1ble Glories, Light and Lnftrc of t~at hlefled Place, is yet troubled to think that the eternal polfeffion of thefe can be no otherwife obtained than by dying. LoJ.th he was to defccnd irito Heaven through the Grave; and l1aving been once caught up into Paradife, can fcarce think of going thither any~ Cor.,~ ; other way. VVc th11t are in tbU Tabernacle (faith he) do groan, being burthcncd; not4· that we would be vncloathed, but cloathed upou, that mortality might be [wallowed up of Life. l Cot•5·+. Though his fl.elhly cloathing, like theirs that tral'el in foul Weather, become bnr.. thcnfome with Mire and \.Vet, with Sin and Tears; though he groan under the weighty prcfi'nre, and would be glad to be cas'd and cleanfed at any rate; yet nature _it felf ftartlcs when it fees the rude hand of Death ftrctcht out ready to undrefs him, and rather than this Garment ihould be t:lken off, would hlVC it dipt in Light and Glory upon him. Thus Dreadful is Death to us, as Men; but much more as Sinners. 'Tis the Guilt that dcfcrves it, and the Hell that follows it, that gives Death its mofi: hideous lhape. \Vc arc not fo much affi"ighted at the grim and meagre lo::lks of this Officer th:lt is to arrcft llS, as at the ireful Countenance of the Judge, thJ.t is to pafs Sentence upon us; 'Tis not the unfelt rotting in the Grave, or thofe \Vorms that mnft lhortly feed upon their Carkatfes, but the burning in Hell, an,d the rcftle(s ftingings of that tormenting \Vonn, that breeds in a putrid Confdencc: From thcfe Death receives its power _and anguifh. A!ld therefo~e the A poll: le tells us, that the 1 Cor.tS' jli11g of death is fin . And mdeed well may 1t be the fhng of the firft Death, fincc it 56. carries in it the venom and poyfon of the fecond. No wonder then if thofe who are confcious to themfehrcs of Guilt, dare not think of ftanding before the dreadful Tribunal of God. They cannot bear the Thoughts of eternal Wrath and Vengeance, to be forever inftitl:ed by the Almighty Power of an incenfcd God. No wonder at all, that they thruft far from them t~e thoughts of their dying day, be- ~~l~~e~~ey prcfage, that that day, whenfoever It comes, muft needs be an evil day 1 !hall add no more ; but only make fome Application of what bath been fpoken. If we all certainly know that we mu!t die, this might teach us fo much Wifdom Ufe !• as not to fct our alfeEtions eagerly upon any thing in this prefent World a World · ·whichwe muft Jhortly leave. Death will within a while pluck ns from 'it and it will prove a violent. ren~ing ~o us, if our AffeCl:ions be i~ordinately glewed' unto it. Confider that all tlungs m thiS prefent World are but fadmg and perifhing · but your precious Souls are ever living and immortal. Be not unequally yoak'd ; do not join · an
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