Licenced,  
W. Jane.  
March 27. 1678.   

THE BELIEVER'S Groan for Heaven: IN A SERMON At the FUNERAL Of the Honourable Sir Richard Hoghton, of HOGHTON Baronet.  
PREACHED At Preston in Amoundernes in Lancashire. Feb. 14. 1677.  
By Seth bushel, D. D.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Philo lib. 1. de vita Mosis.  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Chrysost. in Act. 26.  
LONDON, Printed for Tho. Sawbridg, at the Three Flowers-de-luce in Little-Britain, and Philip Burton, at Preston in Lancashire 1678.   

To the Honourable Sir CHARLES HOGHTON Of HOGHTON Baronet, And the Honourable Lady The Lady SARAH HOGHTON His Mother, Mercy, Grace and Peace.  
THE ensuing Discourse is most properly yours, being had upon that occasion, wherein yourselves and Relations are concerned so nearly; and therefore this Public tender thereof is firstly made unto you: and that not in point of concernment only, as your interest, but of his duty too; by whom the tender's made: Who does ingeniously acknowledge as your Candour and kindness, and therein the many engagements laid upon him, so his readiness to express a due sense thereof, in all things, on your account, wherein he's capable of doing Service, or may testify the sense of an obligation: And who in the mean while is an humble suppliant at the Throne of Grace, for the continued influence of all grace upon you and yours, in order to a prosperous well-being in this life, and everlasting happiness in the life to come.  
So prays, Your Honour's humble devoted in all love and Service, SETH BUSHEL.   

THE BELIEVER'S Groan for Heaven.  2 Cor. 5.2. 
For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from Heaven.  
THE door into the Text, and the discourse thereon shall open at no further distance than the foregoing Verse, wherein the Apostle styles not unelegantly the frail mortal body of man, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the house of this Tent, or Scene, or Tabernacle; which may seem to be Metaphorically taken, either from War, or the Stage.  
If from War, it expresses our life a warfare, and that we are in a flitting ambulatory condition, ever and anon in danger; engaging or expecting to be engaged by the enemy, and our Tents are to be removed when the battle is done; and the Victor is then rewarded.  
If from the Stage, (where the word [Scene] is still used) it expresses the whole world to be but a great Play, where some act the Prince, some the Captain, some a Beggar, as they have their several parts assigned to them by the Master of the Drama. Therefore Epictetus adviseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, to personate that which you have undertaken, and to act your part as well as you can, considering what critical spectators and judges you have. But when the Comedy is done, the Scenes are removed; when the parts are acted, the properties must be pulled off, and all are equal behind the Curtain.  
But possibly the Apostle may allude to the Jewish Tabernacle, that portable moving Temple in the Wilderness, opposite to that so firmly built at Jerusalem: This was given for a time to the Israelites, but afterwards was to be changed, and that from a house of skins, to a sumptuous Cedar building. Thus St. Peter says, that he must put off his Tabernacle, 2 Pet. 1.14. And God is said to dwell in us, as in his Tabernacle, 2 Cor. 6.16. This expresses our condition as Strangers and Travellers; we cannot stay here long, for we have here no continuing City. Hence the Apostle infers, that we ought to long for a better, and more perfect Tabernacle, that is to say, not of this building; not a Manufacture, not earthly, not to be dissolved, not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, an house not to divert, but dwell in, [eternal in the heavens.]  
For in this (says he) we groan, That is in this earthly Tabernacle we groan. Forasmuch as we are surrounded and oppressed with the miseries and afflictions of this present state, and our heavenborn Souls are cloyed and constringed with these earthly bodies, and the infirmities of all sorts that attend them; therefore in the interim we groan that we may be dissolved: which is St. Paul's wish that had a plerophory of a better state.  
We groan, It implies something he would be from, i. e. the burden he labours under: And something he would be at, i. e. an heavenly Mansion, an heavenly body.  
In the words we may note these Two particulars.  

1. St. Paul's Passion.  
2. The motive and object of that Passion.   
1. His Passion, expressed here by two vehement words, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, [we groan earnestly, desiring,] which denotes a longing desire, impatient of delay.  
2. The motive and object of this desire, expressed here in a double Metaphor, denoting the glory of the Resurrection, 

1. By [a house from heaven.]  
2. In the manner of being possessed of it, viz. by [being clothed upon.]    
A complication of Metaphors taken from several things is usual in Scripture, and here carries on the same sense.  
1. From St. Paul's Passion expressed in groaning, observe that,  
Our present state is a burden under which we groan.  
That this present mortal state should be a burden, and this life spent with sighing, as there's nothing more certain, so nothing is more duly sensed by true Believer's: Let us inquire therefore into the reasons why; and we shall find that it is a burden in respect of Corporal and Spiritual evils.  
1. Corporal evils, such are these, viz. 

1. Chastisements from the hand of God.  
2. Injuries from the hands of Men.  
3. Pains and infirmities of the Body.    
1. Chastisements and corrections from the hand of God. These are to subdue our corruptions, to purge away our dross, and take away our Tin: the end is good, and the design our benefit, though the means be bitter, and the work unwelcome. The Physic is from Heaven, yet 'tis sharp and griping, and makes the heart to ache, the belly tremble, the lips to quiver, and rottenness to enter into the bones. The hand of the most High is heavy, and turns the moisture of man into the drought of Summer. Thus we are chastened of the Lord; but it is that we may not be condemned with the world.  
2. Injuries that we sustain from the hand of men. For whilst we are in this world, it is impossible but that offences will come. And they that will live godly must expect to suffer from the men of the world. They shall have tribulation, they are killed all the day long, and are accounted as sheep for the slaughter: the rod of the wicked lying upon the lot of the righteous.  
3. The pains of the body, and the manifold infirmities, weakness and sicknesses thereof; these render this present mortal state a burden. We are born to these troubles as the sparks fly upward. And as we grow in years, so in diseases; the older we are, the more infirm: and death is the best Physician that cures us of all our maladies, which in our lives do so superabound. For ipsa vita morbus est, Aug. Therefore in the interim our present state in respect of corporal evils is a burden under which we groan.  
2. But the burden of spiritual evils is more disquieting and insupportable: such are these, viz. 

1. The burden of our corruptions.  
2. Of Satan's temptations.  
3. Of Desertion upon the account of sin.    
1. The burden of our corruptions, which are continually heaving and fermenting within us; ever stirring to bring forth fruit unto death. The flesh lusting against the Spirit; and the law of the members warring against the law of the mind. This old man is active, and unwearied in his work. This makes Believer's groan, and cry out, [woe is me that I dwell in Mesech, and have my habitation in the Tents of Kedar.] And this burden a man labours under all his days: So that he only that is dead, is free from sin, Rom. 6.7. This made the Apostle so grievously bemoan his present state, Rom. 7.24. O wretched man that I am; who shall deliver me from this body of death? It's fitly styled a body of death, as well in respect of its weight and ponderousness; as of its loathsomeness and annoyance.  
2. The assaults and temptations of Satan, who is ever busy, going about, seeking whom he may devour. Who bestirs himself with the utmost diligence to captivate immortal Souls: His winnowings and buffet, his arts and stratagems, his subtleties and devices, which as a Sophister or Politician he uses, to catch us in his snares, and to bring us into his Net; these are an heavy burden to Believer's; and stir up in them, as the spirit of watchfulness against his encounters, so groaning to be delivered from him.  
3. Desertions upon the account of sin; when God withdraws the light of his Countenance, and hides his face that we cannot see him. When the joy of the Lord, which is the strength of the Soul, is removed, and darkness, yea thick darkness covers; then the Soul languisheth under weakness, and does utter its grief by groans in private. The spirit of man may support his infirmity, but this wounded spirit, who can bear? And thus the burden of spiritual evils does make believer's groan.  
2. From St. Paul's Passion expressed in [desiring.]  
Observe that,  
It is the property, nature and duty of true Christians to desire to get rid of this burden by death.  
Death is ommibus finis, multis remedium, nonnullis votum. Therefore we find death in Scripture spoken of, promised, and bestowed as a blessing. All things are yours, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 3.21. And in the enumeration of divers particulars there mentioned, death is reckoned up as one, and theirs, and theirs to advantage. Solomon prefers it before the birth day. And St. Paul desires to be dissolved, as far better, Phil. 1.23. And he groans and waits for the redemption of the body, Rom. 8.23. and is willing to be absent from the body, 2 Cor. 5.8.  
Though St. Paul be not so much a Standard as a Pattern to Christians, being a Star of the first Magnitude, in respect of his high assurance, and great measure of holiness; yet there is no Christian, though he comes not nigh to the glory of this example, but is bound to long for a better state, though he pass thereto through the Valley of the shadow of death. For where there is a principal of grace, there will be imprinted a propensity towards Heaven. 'Tis the nature of grace to abstract a person from the world, and to produce a tediousness in earthly things; and to engrave a new bias in the Soul, whereby it is carried towards Heaven as its centre and place of rest: Devotio est motus mentis in deum. Where there is a work of grace, there the Soul follows hard after God, and longs to appear before him, and would break through all obstruction, and endeavours the removing of all impediments that lie in its way. 'Tis the nature of love, that it cannot burr desire enjoyment; and the more fervent and true it is, the more it breathes after a full enjoyment of its Object: Where the treasure is, there will the heart be also. Thus the love of Christ shed abroad in the Soul has a constraining virtue in it, and stirs up in true Christians a desire to die.  
But here in reference to this point there are some particulars to be considered, as that  
1. This desire of death is Spiritual, and not Natural; not for its own sake, but the advantages and consequences of it: as it is an outlet from sin, and an inlet into happiness. Nay nature cannot but abhor a dissolution, the principal whereof is self-preservation. Thus says our blessed Saviour, [let this cup pass from me,] which yet upon other thoughts he presently corrects by a free submission to his Father's will, [nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.] His sufferings as the Schoolmen say, were against his voluntatem sensualitatis, by which we desire life, and avoid that which is sad and painful; but not against his voluntatem rationalitatis.  
2. This desire to die must be without impatience and peevishness, as Elijah when he was persecuted, then, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my Fathers. And Jonah when the Gourd failed him, and he fainted; then he wished in himself to die. As many do when the world frowns on them, and their enjoyments are imbittered to them, when their hopes are disappointed, and their humours crossed, than discontent seizeth their spirits, and they would go off in a pet, and pass out of the world in a passion, as weary of God's work, in either doing or enduring what he calls them to. This perverse temper the very Heathens did explode, says Seneca, Ridiculum est ad mortem currere taedio vitae. But now the true Christian desire much be with submission to the Divine Will and Wisdom: we are not to stir from our Sentinel, nor quit our station, till we have our Passport and furloe from the General. We must wait God's leisure as to our going off. There are many things we may desire to have done, which we must not do ourselves. We must not procure or hasten our own death, not break the Prison, but stay for a legal release: Say, it is the Lord, let him do what seems good unto him.  
3. This true Christian desire to die may be consistent with some kind of lothness to change. For there are several degrees of grace, and strength, and all men are not equally prepared for, nor fortified against the King of terrors. For  
1. Men may desire God to delay their deaths, that they may be further serviceable to the Church. That was David's design in his Prayer, to be spaired a while, till he had showed God's strength to that generation, and his power to them that were to come, Psal. 71.18. The like was St. Paul's case, which put him in a straight, Phil. 1.23, 24. For I am in a straight betwixt two, having a desire to departed, and to be with Christ, which is far better: nevertheless, to abide in the flesh, is more needful for you: And having this confidence I know that I shall abide, and continue with you all.  
But men must be careful in bounding and moderating this desire, lest they flatter themselves, out of an over-love to this present life, that they are more necessary for the Service of their Generation than indeed they are.  
2. This Christian desire to die may be consistant with some lothness to change, and that for fear of those things that lie betwixt us and the other world: such are  
1. A separation by death, the divorce between soul and body, the parting of those so old and close companions. Nature shrinks at it, and St. Paul is not willing so to be unclothed, as to be found naked.  
2. There is also in death a dissolution and corruption of the body, turning it into dust, becoming vile and loathsome, the meat of worms. This body is sown in corruption, and dishonour, 1 Cor. 15.43. This strikes nature with a kind of dread, which good men cannot wholly put off.  
3. The dreadfulness of the last Judgement; approaching before the infinite greatness and Majesty of that God, from whose face Heaven and Earth fled away: who is Inexorable in his Justice, Irresistible in his Power, and Intolerable in his Wrath: This may make one say with David, My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy Judgements. This may make men desire time to gain better assurance of their state, which is but imperfect, and attained by degrees: Therefore life is a precious mercy, not so much for what we enjoy here, as for that a blessed eternity, and the assurance thereof depends upon it; and he that will find a treasure in Heaven hereafter, must be careful to lay it up here, and give diligence to make his calling and election sure. And hence it is, that men when they are visited with sickness may pray for recovery; and are to use the means appointed in order to the obtainment of it. They are also to pray for others in their sickness, and to make Sackcloth their clothing, and to humble their souls with fasting, Psal. 35.13. And further they are to give thanks for such recoveries as a great mercy, and value the time so granted, and improve it as a choice and signal blessing, that must strictly be accounted for. He that does thus, loves Heaven better than Earth; and this present life only in order to that which is to come.  
But 3dly. There is a lothness to die, which is an evil disease, and may be truly styled Antichristian; which proceeds from men's inordinate affecting their present state; when men sit not lose from the world, but their hearts are glued to it, that they cannot part with it: When they love the things in this world better than the things of Jesus Christ; and prefer their lusts before their Saviour; and would rather feed upon husks with Swine, than the bread of life in their Father's House. These are struck dead with the very thoughts of death; and their heart like Nabal's becomes could as a stone, upon the violent darting in of an unacceptable apprehension of their latter end. Thus Adrian the Emperor breathes out, when ready to die: 
Animula, vagula, blandula,  
Comes hospesque corporis,  
Quae nunc abibis in loca,  
Pallidula, nudula, rigida,  
Nec ut soles dabis jocos?   
This evil frame of heart is dangerous and destructive: So Ben Sirach, O death, how bitter is the remembrance of thee, etc. When linquenda est tellus, & domus, & placens uxor, as he saith; haec sunt quae faciunt invitos mori.  
And thus much for the former particular in the Text, viz. the vehemency of St. Paul's Passion, expressed in [groaning earnestly, and desiring.]  
I come now to the latter particular, viz. the Motive and Object of this desire, (for death is desirable but accidentally and indirectly) and this is expressed in a double Metaphor in these words, viz. [clothed upon with an house which is from heaven.]  
Clothes are for a covering, an ornament, defence, a distinction: and such is the glory of the future State.  
For clothed upon signifies not any clothing in this life; as putting on Christ, and the Robes of his Righteousness, or the putting on the Newman, or the Wedding-garment, or the like: but a Vesture of Immortality, which the followers of the Lamb are clothed with, styled White Raiment, and fine Linen white and clean, Rev. 3.5. and 19.14. to denote their Joy, their Dignity, and their Triumph.  
2. Nor Secondly, does it mean any clothing before the Resurrection; but then either the soul with a body, or that body with glorious Endowments. The Apostle distinguisheth between being naked, and being clothed, and being clothed upon; which the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the Text does intimate and offer to us.  
3. Neither thirdly does this [clothing upon] necessarily imply death, but a change, which shall be the condition of those that are found alive at the day of Judgement, and second Coming of the Son of Man. 1 Thes. 4.17. 1 Cor. 15.51. This day the Apostle looked upon as near at hand, and did suppose it might come in his time: how much more may we expect it every moment; Surely the night is far spent, and the day is at hand, therefore let us wait earnestly till our change come. This of clothing is the former Metaphor.  
The other Metaphor is [the House from heaven] denoting the glory of the Resurrection: the stability and permanency whereof is hinted, in that it is called an house; and the sublimity and spirituality of that glorious condition is expressed, in that it's said to be from heaven. Only here must be thrown off two heretical Expositions, that would fond be put upon these words.  
1. Of the Socinians, that suppose the Soul to sleep till the Resurrection, and then to have a new heavenly body fitted for it; which consumes and swallows up the old mortal body. And this they would have to be the [house from heaven.]  
2. Of those that would raise upon these words the Platonic Vehicles: As if this house were the Aetherial Vehicle, to which the Souls of the just are to be advanced, which is all the body designed for them at the Resurrection. For they make three sorts of these Vehicles, viz. Trrestrial, Aerial, and Aetherial. The Terrestrial, say they, is that into which Souls are thrust, as into a Prison for misdemeanours in a former world, and this is their earthly Vehicle. Then those that have done well, and squared their actions according to the meet rule of justice, these have an Aerial Vehicle. But thirdly, those that have abounded in well-doing, and by living up to the height of virtue, have raised themselves, and arrive at Heaven, these are advanced to the Aetherial Vehicle; the Terrestrial, like the Prophet's Mantle, dropping from them in their assent thither. And they suppose this place of Scripture clinks to their thinking: as all Heretics do coin notions, and then stretch and wrest the holy Scriptures to give them countenance. They turn the sacred Scriptures into Philosophical burlesque, and apply them to the groundless fancies, and vain superstitions of a fabulous Philosopher. Beware of such corrupters of the Divine truth, who bring in damnable doctrines, that are incompatible with the Christian Systeme, and deny the great Articles of our Belief; as the Resurrection of the dead, the Misery of Mankind by nature, the Incarnation of Christ, the Covenant of Grace, and Life everlasting, and the like, which were so highly contended for against the wit and malice of the Heathen; and the errors of those that held contrarily thereto were accordingly condemned in the five general Councils. Beware of those, they are Original errors, and in that the more dangerous, and of evil consequence, by how much the more ancient.  
Now for the correcting of these and many such gross conceits, we must not think that Allegories run on four feet; nor must Metaphors be driven from their borrowed to their natural Senses.  
We shall therefore here endeavour to show two things.  
First, That by [being clothed upon] the Apostle means the retaining of the same body at the Resurrection, not any new, not any other body.  
Secondly, What that is that makes this body [an house from heaven.]  
1. It is the same body that is Clothed upon: For he says that he would not be found naked, but have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swallowed up of life; that is, that mortal should put on immortality. Now there is no abolition, nor transubstantiation, the same remains, but altered in quality, like Christ's body at the Transfiguration on the Mount; which was a Praeludium of the Resurrection. So must our vile bodies be fashioned according to that pattern, Phil. 3.21. and it is this mortal that must be so fashioned. Thus Christ himself arose with the same body, to the conviction of Thomas, with flesh and bones and scares. The miraculous resuscitations of some in the Gospel were perambulatory proofs of the Resurrection: as at Christ's Passion many bodies of Saints which slept arose, and came out of their Graves, Mat. 27.52, 53. And such is the description of all that rise; they are said to sleep in the dust, and to be in their Graves. The Sea and the Grave must deliver up their dead, Rev. 20.13. and they refund but what was in their custody. Nor can there be a Resurrection unless the same body be restored; for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a quickening or setting up that which first fell: now the spirit of man falls not, it goes upward; the soul dies not, 'tis the body that dies. And that body that before was deprived of life, and that has its particular individuation and distinction from other bodies, even that very body shall rise again. Resurget caro, & quidem omnis, & quidem ipsa, & quidem integra. Bern. Can the justice of God permit that these bodies, that suffered for him here, should be rewarded in a Substitute? that these should contend and be victors, and others carry away the Crown? Must they not all appear before the Judgement Seat to receive the things done in the body, 2 Cor. 5.10. It is the same mortal body that shall be quickened? Rom. 8.11. Death shall give up its dead, and that to be judged every man according to his works, Rev. 20.13. Now this is not to be understood of the soul, but of the body; for it's the body that dies; this death delivers up, which reunited with the soul does constitute and make the man, who is to be judged: and this extends to every individual person, for [Every man is to be judged] and that according to their works, which are their own, and not the works of any other: and these works done in that very individual body. And thus it is evident that it is the very same body that is to be raised again, which is here expressed by being [clothed upon.]  
2. What that is that makes this body [an house from heaven.]  
That this mortal body is to be raised again from the dead we do believe: and that this mortal body shall then be gloriously altered as to heavenly qualities and endowments is a truth which Believers are well satisfied in. Now wherein this glorious alteration stands, which makes this body an [house from heaven,] is to be enquired into. And this the Apostle gives in a fourfold Morphosis, 1 Cor. 15.42, 43.  
1. This body is raised in incorruption. Here the body is liable to corruption, but when raised again shall see no corruption. It shall not be obnoxious to fragility and break, to stench and diseases, to putrifying sores, and corrupting aggressions preparing it to be meat for worms. It shall be freed from passion, not liable to feel, nor suffer under the sense of such evils, as here it is burdened with. The Saints raised from the dead are as the Angels of God in heaven, they die no more, death is swallowed up in perfect victory to them.  
2. 'Tis raised in glory. Here 'tis a vile and inglorious body: but than it shall be gloriously fashioned at the Resurrection. As the face of Christ at his Transfiguration did shine as the Sun; and Moses and Elias did then appear in glory, arrayed with beauty and Majesty; so the bodies of the Saints shall be full of glory. The Prophet Daniel does thus express this change, saying, And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever, Dan. 12.3.  
3. 'Tis raised in power, not needing any of those supports, that the body in this life does necessarily call for. Here the body would fail were it not supported, and from time to time propped up by the continued accessions of meat, and drink, and sleep, and rest. But there the body shall need none of these supplies, but be ever powerful and active to the performance of those heavenly exercises and employments to which it is appointed, without the help of these. This power wherein the body is to be raised, and which the body is to be vested with, does imply its strength for action without weakness, and its agility for exercise without dulness, and this by virtue of that power only, and that to all eternity.  
4. 'Tis raised a spiritual body. Here it is only natural, there it shall be spiritual. The naturality of the body shall be changed into a spirituality. Now this spiritual change does import two things.  
1. That the bodies of the Saints shall be freed from the dregs of the earth; no more of that gross matter, of that lumpish leaven in them: they shall be spiritualised and purified from their earthly dross.  
2. The spirituality of the body does import the perfect subjection of the body to the spirit, without a lust to the contrary, or the least gainsaying motion: No sensual appetite, or unruly passion then begging and craving satisfaction; or maintaining a Plea or Claim to that which the spirit disallows. Then the body shall be wholly governed by the spirit, performing spiritual actions, employed in spiritual services, and in all things suited to the state and condition of heaven; which flesh and blood cannot inherit.  
And thus the body at the resurrection being made a spiritual body, does denote, not only the infirmity, but the corruption of our nature done away.  
And in these four respects chief it is that the body at the resurrection is styled [an house from heaven.  
Thus we have gone through the latter particular in the Text, viz. the motive and object of the Believer's desire to die. Now to close up all in a word.  
Let us well consider the many evils and miseries we are liable to, Use. and labour under whilst we are here in this present world, as also the everlasting rest and blessed eternity that is before us; and then we shall see, how cogent the reasons are for groaning in this present state. We shall groan to be set at liberty from the bonds of evil, and groan to come to the enjoyment of the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. Let us long for heaven, for that is our Country, our better Country; whilst here, we are not at home, but strangers, and sojourners as in the wilderness; O, let the Canaan that is before us take up our thoughts, and invigorate our endeavours; so as the serious consideration of the certainty and sweetness of the end may facilitate the difficulties of the way, and spirit us in our journey. In heaven is our Estate, there are our Relations; where we shall be void of sorrow and pain, of lust and sin, and have the blessed fruition of God and Christ in everlasting peace and joy. Did David so earnestly long after the earthly Temple made with hands, so as his soul fainted for the Courts of the Lord? Did he so fervently desire communion with God there? How much more should we breathe after the heavenly Jerusalem, to enjoy communion with the general Assembly and Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven; and with God the Judge of all, and with the spirits of just men made perfect. We have renounced the world, and by our baptismal vow bound ourselves heaven-wards: Our friends are gone before us, and are there expecting us, the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, the glorious Choir of the Apostles, the noble Army of Martyrs, the whole race of Believers: Let us make haste to them; there is the best place, the best condition, the best company. Therefore hasten your work, gird up the loins of your mind, make full preparation for your journey: loosen your hearts from the things of this world, and the tedious distractions of concerns below: forget the things which are behind, and reach forth unto those things which are before, and press toward the mark, for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Your full and complete happiness is before you, you cannot expect the enjoyment of it here, and you are to pass thereto through the gate of death: every one of them, that appear before God in Zion do pass through the Valley of Baca. Therefore acquaint yourselves with death in the nature thereof, and ends thereof as to true Christians; that so the thoughts thereof may be sweetened to you, and by this means you may learn that great and needful lesson of dying daily: which once throughly understood, and practically improved, will not only make death less fearful, but truly desirable, as being an inlet into your everlasting joy. Into the which joy the Lord of his infinite mercy conduct us all.  
Thus I have done with my Text.  
Now give me leave to add a word or two as to the present occasion, and I have done.  
It has pleased Almighty God, the wise dispenser of all his providences (though many of them dark to us, yet all of them evident to, and ordered by his alseeing and foreseeing eye) by a sudden stroke to make a sad breach in a worthy Family, in taking away the chief head thereof, a person of great worth and honour: of an honourable extraction, of a generous disposition, and of a courteous, kind, and affable temper. Whose high degree was so seasoned with an humble carriage towards all inferiors, as laid upon them a just obligation for true honour and service.  
And that I may give you no other Character of him but what is just and due, and becoming this place. I may truly tell you, and your testimony goes along with me herein, that He was free and hospitable in the entertainment of his friends, and most pleased with their kind and cheerful visits. His comportments at home and abroad were like himself, ever bespeaking a generous and worthy mind; and suitable to that eminency of interest and repute which upon just accounts he held in his Country.  
'Twas his great and deserved commendations, that he was free from those vices (though there is no man without Sin) which are the grand stains of true honour; I mean intemperance, debaucheries, revel, dissolute practices, profligate courses, and the like, with which these evil times, and days of iniquity do so much abound.  
That he was a professed Protestant I need not tell you. 'Tis well known to those that knew him, how real and forward he was that way: And his public receiving the holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper by my ministration in this place, and in this Congregation, according to the usage of the Church of England, as you can testify, bears witness for him.  
He was a person of many moral virtues, and divine graces too. That expression of his to a friend of his not long before he died, that God accepts of a little grace if true and saving: and that none knew what had passed between God and his own Soul in secret, argued more than an ordinary stamp of grace upon him: which might be evidenced in divers particulars, were there time convenient for it.  
He had some forethoughts and previous apprehensions of his death approaching, or at least that he should not live long: which may be hence inferred; in that not long before the distemper seized him, whereof he shortly died, and when he seemed to be well in health as to his bodily state, yet than he discoursed of his death and latter end, as coming on; and of several particulars, which he foresaw would be incident thereupon; (as representing that state to himself in his own thoughts by a previous Survey) and so was a proceeding to give divers directions and monitions, which the love, his dear relations had to him, would not suffer them to hear uttered upon such an occasion.  
God sometimes does preimpress the thoughts of his servants with apprehensions of their latter end approaching, when there's little outward appearance for it: and yet then it may be near at hand. So that such impressions are not to be passed by without their due remarks.  
In a word, I may truly say that the Country has lost a good Patriot; the Gentry an eminent person in their number; the poor Neighbourhood a constant and charitable Supporter; Friends an hospitable Receiver; Kindred an honourable and respective Relation: Servants have lost a good Master, myself a worthy Patron, Children an indulgent Father, an honourable and virtuous Lady a dear Consort. But though the loss be great in these respects on earth, yet the gain is far more exceeding and weighty to him in Heaven: Let the consideration hereof quiet our thoughts, and compose our spirits in setting the one against the other.  
Now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, Three Persons, but one everliving and only true God, be ascribed and given, as meet and due is, all Power, Praise, Honour and Glory, Majesty and Dominion henceforth and for ever. Amen.  
FINIS