Serm. XV. Sojourners upon Earth. s 13 tend what they will to Philofophy, and Contempt of the World, and of the pe- rifhing Comforts and Enjoyments of it ; to the Extirpation of .their Paffions, and an Infenfibility ofthefe Things, which the weaker and undifciplin'd part ofMan- kind keep fuch a Wailing and Lamentation about : But when all is done, Nature bath framed us as weare, and hath planted in our Nature ftrong Inclinations and Affe&ions to our 'Friends and Relations ; and thefe Affeftions are as naturally moved upon fuch Occafions, and pluck every String of our Hearts as violently, as extreme Hunger and Thirft do gnaw upon our Stomachs. And therefore it is foolifh for any Man to pretend to love Things mightily, and to rejoyce greatly in the Enjoyment of them; and yet to be fo eafilycon tented to lofe them, and to be parted from them. This is to feparate Things which Nature bath ftrongly linked together. . Whatever we mightily love, does thereby, in fome fort, become part ofour felves, and it cannot hang loofe to us, to be feparated and divorced from us without. Trouble; no more than a Limb, that is vitally and by ftrong Ligaments, united to the Body; can be dropt off when we pleafe, or rent from the Body without Pain. And whoever pretends to have a mighty Affection for any thing, and yet at the fame time does pretend that he can contentedly, and without any great Senfe or Signification of Pain, bear the Lofs of it, does not talk like a Philofopher, but like an Hypocrite; and, un- der a grave Pretence of being a Wife, is in truth an Ill -natur'd Man. For moft certainly, in Proportion to our Love of any thing, will be our Trouble and Grief for the Lofs of it. So that under thefe great and heavier Strokes, we had needboth of Faith and Patience. And, indeed, nothing but the firm Belief of a better Country, that is, an Heavenly, of another Life after this, and a bleffed Immortality in another World, is fufficient to fupport a Man in the few and evil Days ofhis Pilgrimage, and to fuftain his Spirit under the. great Evils and Calamities of this Life. But this fully anfwers all, That the Affliftions and Sufferings of this prefent time; are not worthy tobe comparedwith .the Glorywhich (hall be revealed in us. Nay; that if we bear thefe Affli&ions patiently, and with adue Submiffion to the Will ofGod (efpecially our Sufferings for his Truth, and Caufe) it will certainly in- creafe our Happinefs in the other World, and work for us afar more exceeding and eternal weight of Calory. IV. The Confideration of our Prefent Condition, and of our Future Hopes, fhould fet us above the Fondnefs of Life, and the flavith Fears of Death. For our Minds will never be raifed to their true Pitch and Heighth, till we have in fome good meafure conquered thefe two Paffions, and made them fubjeft to our. Reafon. As for this prefent Life, and the Enjoyment of it, What is it that we fee in them, that fhould make us fo ftrangely to dote upon them ? .Que lucis miferis tam dira cu ido ! This World at the belt is but a very indifferent Place, and he is the wifeft Man that bears himfelf towards it with the molt indifferent Mind; and Affeflion; that is always willing to leave it, and yet patient to flay in it as long as God pleafeth. And as . for Death, tho' the Dread of it be natural, yet why fhould the Terrors of it be fo very furprizing and amazing to us, after we have confider'd, that to a good and pious Soul, it is no other but the Gate of Hea- ven, and an Entrance into Eternal Life ? We are apt to wonder, to fee a Man undaunted at the Approach of Death, and to be not only contented, but chearful, at the Thoughts of his Departure out of tins World, this Sink of Sin, and Vale ofMifery and Sorrow. Whereas, if all Thingsbe duly confidered, it is a greater Wonder that Men are fo patient to live, and that they are not glad of any fair Excufe and Opportunity of getting out of this ftrange Country, and retiring Home, and of ridding themfelves of the Troubles and Inconveniençies pf Life. For, confidering the numerous Troubles and Calamities we are liable to in a Iong Pilgrimage, there are really but three Confiderations that I can readily think of that can make this World, and our prefent Condition in it, in any good meafure tolerable to a wife Man ; viz. That God governs the World ; That we are not always to ftay in it ; That there is a Happinefs defigned and referved for us in Q another
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