Grief allayed, Death sweetened, Hope raised.  
A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF THE HONOURABLE CHRYSTOPHER SHERARD, Esq Eldest Son to the RIGHT HONOURABLE BENNET Lord SHERARD; February the 28 th', 1681.  
By T. L. M.A.  
LONDON, Printed by S. Roycroft, for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Paul's Churchyard, 1682.   

To the Right Honourable, the Lady Elizabeth Sherard, Fullness of true Consolation in Christ.  
Madam,  
HAD not your Ladyship desired a Sight of this plain Sermon, I should scarce have assumed the Confidence to have presented it to your perusal; but as I receive your desire as a Command, so your favourable Acceptance will add weight and worth to it. If the witty Censurer shall say, That I tell him nothing but what he knew lefore; I shall be contented with it, and rejoice that he was so well Instructed, and wish also that he needed not a Remembrancer; howsoever, no man ought to be offended, that Sermons are not like curious Inquiries after New-nothings, but pursuances of Old Truths. I am very sensible your Ladyship is furnished (from much more Learned Physicians than I am) with very proper Receipts against the late cause of your Sorrow; yet I hope (Madam) that this which I here present unto you, may somewhat heighten and improve their efficacy: And in so doing, I shall esteem it amongst those Blessings, with which God useth to reward those good Intentions which himself first puts into our hearts, and then recompenses upon our heads. All Sermons are but Arguments against us, unless they make us quit our Mistakes, and suffer them in some instance and degree to do the work of God upon our Souls. And the special design of this here present (dedicated to your honourable Patronage and Protection) is, to describe the greater Lines of our Duty, when our Faces are bedewed with Tears, and our Backs clothed with Mourning: And whatsoever relish your Ladyship may find in the Comment, yet I am sure the Text, being carefully laid up in your Religious Breast, will be sound, wholesome, and consolatory; though what I have in much weakness performed is only in Duty expressing the many and great Obligations you daily renew upon.  
Your Ladyship's Most obliged Servant, and devoted Chaplain, Tho. Laxton.   
1 Thess. 4.13. 
But I would not have you to be ignorant, Brethren, concerning them which are asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.  
THE weeping Eyes and bleeding Hearts which are so plentifully discovered in this Assembly, tell you the sum of my Errand, our present Business, the Work in hand, a Funeral. The Party deceased; a most accomplished, ingenious, pious, well-natured, well-nurtured Person: The first Son and hopeful Heir to the Great and Generous, Heroick and Ancient Family of the Sherards'. The Mourners, not only all present, but absent, in numbers as great and considerable, as our loss and tears are great and wonderful: The Place of Burial, the Sepulchre of his Progenitors. When Samuel died, 1 Sam. 25. all the Israelites were gathered together, and lamented him; and buried him in his House at Ramah. To be buried, is an honour; buried in one's own Country, much; in his own Place, more; with solemn Lamentations, most of all; the Saints Honour: For he that spends his days, though few, (as this most excellent Branch of Virtue did) upon God and Man, shall at the last have all the Honour Heaven and Earth can cast upon him: A holy and a virtuous Life ends in an happy and honourable Death. Josiah having received his Death abroad, is brought home in his Chariot, and much Honour attends him to his Grave; he is buried amongst his Fathers; all Jerusalem, nay all Judah, and the Neighbouring Towns, are Mourners: God and Man concurred in this, that Josiah's Name should never die. Good men never go to the Grave unlamented, but generally are attended with Mourning, as the Mourning of Hadradrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon. And here lies the mistake of weak and frail man, that too often performs actions in themselves lawfully good, after an unlawful and immoderate manner. The words therefore that I have chosen for our present Subject, are a choice portion of Scripture; teaching us to steer our Course, and keep up our Heads, that we neither sink nor drown in these Waters of Affliction. And though I have before now treated on the same Text, yet, at this time, and upon this occasion, I have renewed my Meditations, and adapted them, not only for Matter, but also in such Order and Method, as may be most proper for the end I propose, even, the allaying our Griefs, and raising our Hopes; I would not have you to be ignorant, etc.  
The Scope of the Apostle in these words, is to regulate immoderate Sorrow for them that sleep in the Lord.  
For the Thessalonians, ' though well instructed an confirmed in the Faith, and particularly of the Resurrection (which Faith, if it had its full working, would necessarily infer and enforce a mean in Mourning for deceased Christians) yet, it seems overborne sometimes with immoderate Passion for their deceased Brethren, they gave way to excess of Sorrow. Against this Infirmity, the Apostle gives this Exhortation, as a seasonable and wholesome Remedy. I would, etc.  
1. Where observe, The Substance of the Precept, to keep a Mean in Mourning; not to pour out ourselves into excessive Sorrow for the Dead.  
2. Reasons to enforce it, interwoven with the Precept. From, 

1. The Nature of Death; a Sleep.  
2. The Issue of Death; a hopeful Resurrection.    
Withal secretly taxing and reprehending this immoderate Sorrow, as arguing too little knowledge (practical knowledge) of future Blessedness; and too much savouring of Gentilism, whose hopes were terminated with this present Life, and of the blessed state to come, were altogether hopeless. The first, in the first words, I would not have you ignorant; and the other in the last, even as the Gentiles, etc.  
The first general Oservation is, That Christians ought to moderate their Sorrow for the Dead.  
To banish indeed all Affections out of the Nature of Man, may be a part of Stoical, but not Christian Philosophy. Religion, as it doth not abolish Reason, but sanctify and guide it; nor deprive us of Sense, but teacheth us a right use of the Senses; so it destroys not the Affections, but orders and husbands them aright; as Joshuah did dot kill the Gibeonites, but subjected them to the use and service of the Tabernacle. They therefore are to be blamed that stupefy Nature, and quench those Affections that are implanted in us by the Finger of God in our first Creation; as that rigid Sect the Stoics, who would have their Wiseman, or Philosophical Saint so mortified, as in no Accident to Joy, or Grieve, or change a Countenance; or in any Loss, even of dearest Friends, to suffer any relenting. Such pains they took to cease to be Men, that they subjected themselves below the degree of Beasts. Patience they may count it, & insuperable Fortitude, which is indeed rather the want of natural affection, 
Rom. 1.  condemned by the Apostle as a blockish stupidity; and may justly fall under that Censure, 
Jer. 5.3.  Thou hast smitten them, but they have not grieved: For certainly the death of Friends is a stroke. 
Ezek. 24.  I will take away the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; (saith God to Ezekiel,) a stroke which toucheth all of dear relation; and is it fit the strokes of God should fall upon a flinty and unrelenting heart? Therefore we find that Abraham mourned for Sarah; Joseph for Jacob; the Israelites for Moses, Aaron, Samuel. Customary it was among the Jews to mourn seven days; sometimes longer; with fasting and renting of the Clothes: This perhaps more of Superstition, than either of Necessity or Decency.  
Yet there ought to be a Moderation for them that are dead in Christ. As all our Affections, that they may be useful in a Christian Life, must be bankt up within their due Bounds, and bridled with a strong hand of Grace; neither misapplied in their Object, nor falling over or short in their Measure: And therefore some of the very Heathen have placed the top of Wisdom in the Moderation of the Affections; their Ethics, or Doctrine of Moral Virtues being exercised chief in this Task: So particularly a special care is to be had that they overflow not the Banks in mourning for the Dead. Hence God did forbid to his People those Heathen Rites of cutting themselves, 
Deut. 14.1.  and shaving of the hair. Our blessed Saviour, in the case of Jairus his Daughter, newly dead, when both the Father and Mother of the Child, and the Disciples there present opened the Sluice of Tears to their Affections, sets Bounds and Banks to that Passion, in these words, Weep not; she is not dead, but sleepeth. For this cause he disliked in their Solemn Funerals, the use of the Jewish Minstrelsy, the end whereof was to increase Sorrow by sad and doleful Tunes. 
Detestandae sunt illae lacrymae quae non habent modum. Thraenodiae.  Affection (saith One) in this Case hath need of a Bridle, not a Spur. St. Hierom's Caution is worthy of Observation, Those Tears are to be detested which have no measure.  
Indeed, some of God's Children have Impotently yielded to the violence of this Passion (as indeed it is most easy to slip into Excess, where the Matter about which our Actions are conversant, is of itself confessedly Lawful:) Hence Rachel's Weeping, Mourning, and great Lamentation for her Children, because (as to her present sense) they were not. And David's Passionate Ejaculations for Absolom; O Absolom, etc. would God I had died for thee, etc. But these Examples are neither commendable nor imitable; and rather Documents of Humane Infirmity, than Precedents of Imitation. And for the last; he bewailed not so much, in St. Augustine's Judgement, his Son's death, as that fearful state wherein he seemed to die; stained with horrid Incest against his Father's Bed, and Unnatural practices against his Father's Life. How much more comely and Imitable was his Demeanour in the Death of his Child, born to him by Bethshabe? Seeking to the Lord by Prayer and Fasting for the Child, while it was yet alive; 
2 Sam. 12.23.  but when dead, Wherefore (saith he) should I fast? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.  
Now, for the suppressing of this Inordinate Passion, take into your serious Thoughts these Considerations.  
1. That it is Gods doing; and we must give him leave to use his own Power and Sovereignty over his Creature, 
Isai. 64.2.  in whose hands we are all as Clay in the hands of the Potter. He that inspired the Breath of life, may justly recall it: Whatsoever the Weapon be, the Hand is his that wields it. This one Meditation is enough to silence all Repining and Impatient Thoughts; as to draw from us that humble Resignation of St. Paul, 
Acts 21.14.  The Will of the Lord be fulfilled: Of Eli, It is the Lord, let him do what seems good in his sight: Of David, I held my peace, and opened not my Mouth, for it was thy doing. This Consideration allayed Jobs Sorrow in the loss of his Children: He looked not at the Rotten House, or the Four Winds that smote it; but at him that bringeth the Winds out of his Treasures; and therefore sets up within himself this patiented Resolution, The Lord giveth, 
Job. 1.21.  and the Lord taketh away; Blessed be the Name of the Lord.  
2. Consider the Vanity and Unprofitableness of Excessive Sorrow; it profiteth neither the Living, nor the Dead. Not the Living: 
Prov. 12.25.  Heaviness in the heart of Man bringeth it down, and Worldly sorrow worketh death. As Fire lightly sprinkled, burns more clearly; too much overwhelmed gives neither heat nor light: So moderate Sorrow advantageth the Soul in many Natural, Moral, and Spiritual Actions; Immoderate, quencheth the Vigour of the Spirits, and renders us unfit for every good Duty.  
Again, It profiteth not the Dead. Should we fill their Tombs with Tears, and spend our Lives in Lamentation, we cannot redeem them. Excessive Sorrow may bring us to them; no Sorrow, Care, or Cost can bring them back to us: As David, I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.  
3. Consider the Necessity of Dying. Ever since that necessitating Law, Dust thou art, and unto Dust shalt thou return, Man is by the Chain of God's irrevocable Decree tied unto Death. It is appointed to all Men once to die; and who shall disappoint his Appointment? Whatsoever parts have been acted upon this Stage of Mortality, Death is the Catastrophe, and the Grave the place of Retiring. The Wisdom of the Wise cannot prevent it; the Tongue of the Eloquent cannot charm it; the Strength of the Mighty cannot resist it: It Reverenceth neither the Grey hairs of the Aged, nor the Green locks of the Young. No swiftness can overrun it, no Prowess over-match it: No gifts of Nature, privileges of Place, endowments of Grace, can free us from the stroke of it. Where are those Millions of Generations, that have hitherto Peopled the Earth? Have they not made their Beds in the Dark? And when they have served their time, have they not seen Corruption? And shall We think to have our Friends, Fathers, Mothers, Husbands, Wives, Children, exempted from the Universal Law of Humane Nature?  
4. But that which is yet more effectual to moderate Sorrow for the Dead, is, that Death is indeed a Portal and passage unto Life. If indeed they were utterly extinct, shut up in Eternal Darkness, some reason had we with Rachel to Mourn for them, supposing that they are not: But we know that they are, and believe that they are happy; and that when this Earthly house of our tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. When the Soul, taking her flight into a state of Bliss, and leaving behind her this Clog of Mortality, shall be removed an incomputable distance from this Vale of Sin and Misery. And are we sorry for this blessed Exchange? shall we Mourn for their glorious preferment, whom we profess to live with God? 
Spei nostrae ac Fidei prevaricatores. Simulata, ficta, fucata, videntur esse quae dicicimus. Cyprian.  What difference, in this respect, between the Hopeless Heathen, and the Professed Christian? St. Cyprian thinks it incongruous to Mourn for them in Black, that follow the Lamb in White. This perhaps may seem a Flower of Rhetoric; but certainly, Excessive Sorrow shows us to be of a defective Faith: That Faith can hardly be thought sincere, unto which we walk so contrary in Practice. Especially seeing a very Heathen could say, That we do (not amittere, but praemittere) not lose them, but send them before us; in Hope (as our Faith further teacheth us) to follow and communicate with them in the same Glory and Blessedness.  
And this leads me to the next General part of the Text, the First Reason against Excessive Sorrow for the Dead, the Nature of Death, It is a sleep.  
Sleep, in phrase of Scripture, admits of divers senses; for we find, First,  
The sleep of Nature: A binding of the Senses; 
Somnus Naturae.  a Rest, cessation, and suspension of them from their Actual operations; and consequently, 
Ligatio sensuum.  of all the Members of the Body from executing their Natural offices and functions. Thus Adam slept in Paradise, Jesus in the Ship, Peter in the Prison.  
2. The sleep of Sin: A secure Spiritual Lethargy. 
Somnus Cul●ae. Eph. 5.14. 1 Thess. 5.6.  Awake thou that sleepest. Let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober; that is, Arise from the Grave of Infidelity and Sin, unto the Life of Faith, the Life of Righteousness; and then to keep the Eyes of our Souls continually waking, lest we be inveigled by the Devil or the World's Temptations.  
3. The sleep of Grace: 
Somnus Gratiae.  A holy Peace and Tranquillity of Mind, arising from the apprehension of God's favour in Christ. I will lay me down and sleep. If David can attain a glimpse of the light of God's Countenance, than he will lay him down and sleep.  
4. 
Somnus Sepulcri.  The sleep of the Grave: The long sleep of Death; when the Body lying in the Bed of Dust doth rest until it be awakened by the Sound of the last Trumpet. Now to prevent Error and Mistake, this Sleep is not to be conceived of the separated Soul, as some have vainly thought; supposing it to be not only without Organical by a bodily Instrument action, but without all Action: Not considering, that the Soul, even in the state of Union and Commerce with the Body, hath her proper and Immaterial acts of Thinking, Reasoning, Judging, etc. Yea, the most perfect Acts of the Soul are exercised, when the Bodily Senses are tied up, as in Ecstasies and deep Contemplations. Besides, the Spirits of Men, in and after their Transmigration, are still Spirits; but without motion and activity they would be no Spirits: For the Nature and Essence of a Spirit consists in Act; and it is not obscurely intimate, Rev. 5.12. that they are employed in Magnifying and praising God. Understand this Sleep therefore to be of the Body in the Grave; a Metaphor very frequent in Holy Scripture: 
Deu. 12.2.  Many of them that sleep in the dust of the Earth, shall awake. Of divers of the Kings of Israel and Judah, 'tis said, that they slept with their Fathers. St. Paul reproving the abuse of the Holy Sacrament in the Corinthian Church; For this cause (saith he) many are sick and weak among you, and many sleep. And St. Stephen, having commended his Spirit into the hands of Christ, 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Act. 7.59.  fell asleep. A Similitude used among the Heathen: Hence their distinction of the Greater and Lesser Sleep. 
Homer. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  One calls it Death's Brother; Another, Death's Sister; Another, Death's Image. Of one Gorgias it is said, That being sick and heavy unto Death, and very sleepy; being asked how he did, 
Virgil. Stulte quid est somnus gelidae, nisi mortis Imago. Jamme somnus incipit tradere fratri suo. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  replied, Now sleep gins to deliver me up to his Brother Death. These, although Ignorant of a Resurrection, could easily find in Death the similitude of a Sleep: Hence our Graves are called Beds, and our Churchyards, Sleeping-places, or Dormitories. And indeed, if Death be a Sleep, the Grave must needs be the Bed. 
Isai. 57.2.  Unto this may fitly be applied that of the Propht, They shall enter into peace, they shall lie down upon their Beds; each one walking in his uprightness.  
Divers Reasons may be given of this Similitude; I shall pitch upon two: First, Sweetness of Rest. Secondly, Certainty of Resurrection.  
1. Sweetness of Rest. 
Rev. 14.13.  Blessed are the Dead which die in the Lord, for they rest from their Labours. Man is born to affliction, as the sparks fly upwards. No Family, Age, Sex, or Condition of Men, but hath experience of Humane Miseries: A heavy yoke is laid upon the Sons of Men, from the day of their Birth unto the day of their Death. Afflictions, like Waves, come rolling one upon another; the end of one misery is the beginning of another. Hear we not one crying, My belly, my belly! with the Prophet? another, My head, my head! with the Shunamites Son? One, My Father, my Father! with Elisha? another, My Son, my Son! with David? One complaining of Cruel Enemies; another of False Friends: One of Sore Labour; another of Hungry Meals: One of Grief in the Body; another of Sin in the Soul? Here lies Jacob in the Fields, there Joseph in Prison; Here Jeremy in the Dungeon, there David in the Wilderness; Daniel among the Lions, the Three Children in the Fiery Furnace. It is not unsignificant that Nature sends us into the World, Weep; a sad presage of our future Calamity: Such our Ingress, such our Progress through this Vale of Tears. So that Man and Misery seem to be born under one Planet. If Man had not been, Sorrow upon Earth had never been. And as we suffer many Evils, so we do more; the Flesh continually lusting against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the Flesh: so that the good which we would, we do not; and the evil which we would not, that we do.  
From all these, this Sleep in my Text, gives us a sweet discharge; the Soul carried into Abraham's Bosom. And what is the Father's Bosom, but a place of Repose unto the Child? The Body laid up in a Couch of Sacred rest and security; sweetened, sanctified, seasoned and perfumed by the most precious Death and Burial of Christ; 
Cubile in quo mollius dormit quisquis durius se en hâc vitâ gesserit.  where our sleep shall be sweeter, as our labour hath been harder. The Body no sooner dead, but it feels nothing; the Soul no sooner fled, but it feels itself happy.  
2. Certainty of Resurrection. Indeed, more certain than we are of rising in the Morning, when we go to Bed at Night. 
Dan. 12.2.  They that sleep (according to daniel's Prophecy) shall awake. The Sea and the Grave shall deliver up their Dead, as faithful trusties and Depositaries of that which is committed to them. A Voice will one day sound, like that of Christ (who is the Resurrection and the Life) to Lazarus; Lazarus come forth: Or like that in the Prophet, Awake and sing ye that dwell in the Dust; 
Isai. 26.19.  for thy dew is as the dew of Herbs, and the Earth shall give up her Dead. As the sweet Dews or Showers (as we commonly say) loosen many a Prisoner, make Corn and Grass to grow; so the Dew of heavenly Virtue and Influence which flows from Christ, shall loosen many a Prisoner; raise our Bodies, the Prisoners of Hope, from that dark Cell of the Grave, unto a state of Blessedness and Glory.  
And now since death is a sleep, much may be learned hence for our Instruction and Comfort.  
1. For Instruction, first, Unto a due and serious preparation for it. We prepare ourselves to sleep, by setting aside all worldly Negotiations, giving to Body and Mind a Cessation from outward Employments: So should we dispose ourselves to this last sleep, laying aside all worldly Cares and Distractions. 
2 Kings 20.1.  Set thy House in order (saith the Prophet to Hezekiah) for thou must die. While the House is out of order, the Mind is out of frame, and not yet rightly composed to sleep: Especially the Soul itself is to be set in order, by serious Repentance, and unfeigned Resolutions and Endeavours of a new Life. It was Agurs Prayer, 
Prov. 30.7.  Two things have I desired of the Lord, before I die. One is, Remove from me Vanity and Lies: Sin is often represented to us under the Notion of vanity and lies (as in the sourth Psalm, and elsewhere) indeed a lying vanity; abusing our Apprehensions with the shadow and appearance of a seeming good, but in the mean time betrays us to a real evil of guilt and torment. This therefore should be the chief care, aim and endeavour of our whole Lives, not to die in our sins: But laying aside the sin which besets us about, as Clothes do the Body, 
* 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  the rotten rags of the Old man, and so having made our peace with God, we may be fit to lay down our heads in peace. Thus prepare thyself continually for this blessed Rest, by renewing thy Repentance; fortifying thy Resolutions of better Obedience; confirming thy Interest in the Merits and Mediation of Christ, that whensoever it shall please God to call thee to Bed, thou may'st with a serene Conscience, and a good assurance of Hope, lay down thy dying head upon this Pillow, the free and immerited Grace of God in Christ, and cheerfully Commend thy Soul into his hands, as into the hands of a faithful Creator and Redeemer.  
2. It teacheth Resignation: When we sleep we willingly yield to Nature, without struggling or reluctation; so should we unto the God of Nature, when he calls us to this long sleep; being not haled or dragged out of this Earthly Tabernacle, but willingly resign it into the hands of our great Landlord. Our Death should not be a violent Divulsion, but a gentle Dissolution. Mark St. Paul's words, 
2 Tim. 4.6. Nihil interest utrum abjures depositum, aut doleas restitucum.  I am now ready to be offered; ready, as a Freewill Offering. God requires but what he hath for a time lent us; and shall we be unwilling to restore? We had as good deny the Debt, as grieve to make Restitution.  
3. It teacheth hope of a Resurrection. When men go to sleep, they put off their Clothes indeed, but expecting to put them on again in the Morning; so we are to nourish in ourselves this Faith, that ' though we unclothe ourselves of this vile Body, it is not lost, but put to the mending, to be changed in the fashion, restored to Immortality and Incorruptibility, and made like unto the glorious Body of Christ. This for Instruction. Again, here is Matter of exceeding Comfort,  
1. First, against the seeming horror of the Grave: That Death is but a sleep, and differs only from it in this (which is its advantage) soundness of Rest, and perhaps length of Continuance. Fear not then (O Christian) the stink of Rottenness, horror of Darkness, gnawing of the Worms, etc. these things shall not sensibly touch thee. Conceive of it rather as a Castle of Security, a Chamber of Rest, a Bed of Down, a Pillow of Ease, wherein thou shalt safely and sweetly rest till the Morning of the Resurrection. Truly therefore we may say, 
Stultum est mortem horrere, & somno delectari.  It is a vain and foolish thing to delight to sleep, yet to be afraid to die. Dost thou go to Bed every Night, and art thou afraid to go this once? Art thou not yet weary of hearing, seeing, doing, and suffering so much evil? Art thou like a pettish Child, unwilling and fearful to go to Bed? When therefore our time of sleep approacheth, and that we are called to rest in our Father's Bosom, let us be affected as good old Hilarion; Go forth, 
Egredere anima mea, egredere, quid times?  O my Soul, go forth; What fearest thou? My Body lie down and sleep.  
2. This Comforts us against the Miseries and Sufferings of this present Life. Methinks when I look on Man, I see a deplorable Creature, subject to innumerable Miseries, hurried with Temptations, distempered with Passions, 
Job 7.2.  as a Servant earnestly desiring the shadow, and as an hireling the reward of his work. Cheer up thyself in this, that as the shadow of the Night doth equally gratify Master and Servant, High and Low, Rich and Poor, with the common benefit of Nature; so there is a time of sleep and rest approaching, which will shut up our Miseries with our Eyes, and end our Labours with our Lives. Though here we have born the travail and heat of the day, our Comfort is, we shall go to Bed at Night. It is recorded of Babilas, that renowned Martyr, that when Decius the Emperor commanded his Head to be chopped off; receiving that bloody Sentence with a sweet Calmness and Serenity of Soul, he used only those few words of the Psalmist, 
Psal. 116.7.  Return then unto thy rest, O my Soul. A blessed sleep indeed; not as our Natural sleeps often are, troubled and short; but restful without disturbance; blissful without pain and annoyance, and which shall not be startled or amazed with the voice of the Archangel, and the Trump of God: But both Body and Soul united, shall be put into possession of that glorious Eternal Rest, which remains unto the People of God.  
The third General part of the Text remains; which is the second Ground of Comfort, The hope of a blessed Resurrection; implied in these words; Even as they that have no hope.  
The Hope here mentioned (as appears by the following words) is of a blessed Resurrection; and consequently of Eternal Glory: Where besides a severe Reprehension of immoderate Sorrow for the Dead, we have a solid ground of Comfort, both against the Fear of Death, and Sorrow for deceased Christians. And it is this; That a Christian is a Man of Hope.  
It is not the will of God that we should presently enter upon the Possession of our Inheritance; but that we should be here in a state of expectance of that Blessing which is deposited, 
Hoc ipsum quod sumus Christiani spei res est. Psal. 97.11.  laid up for us in Heaven: So that a Christian's Treasure and Felicity consists in Hope. Light is sown for the Righteous, and Joy for the Upright in heart. But sown, and under the Clods here; the Harvest is yet to come: It doth not yet appear what we shall be; 
1 Joh, 3.2.  our Happiness here is in Reversion, not in present Possession. And though God give us a comfortable taste of it, in the first fruits of the Spirit, Peace of Conscience, and Joy in the Holy Ghost; the full fruition is not till the Life to come.  

The Use is first of Instruction,  
1. To inform us of the difference between the Children of God and of this World; one is a man of hope, the other hopeless; one hath his portion, and receiveth his good things here, the things of a better Life he neither cares nor hopes for. For something in present, though a Possession of Dirt, he is ready to forfeit all his great and glorious hopes; with Esau, preferring his pottage before his birthright. But the true Christian is a man of hope, and hath quitted the pursuit of things Temporal, for things Eternal. Therefore may say to the Worldling, as our blessed Saviour to his Kinsmen in another case; your time is always with you; but my time is not yet come; much good may your Portion do you. I envy you not, I rather pity you. I have other things to think of, of more worth and certainty: In the mean time, my Soul shall rest in hope.  
2. To teach us to cherish this Hope by a godly and Christian Life. Hope and Holiness, like Hippocrates Twins, wax and wain, rise and fall, live and die together. As we grow up in the true fear of God, and conscience of well-doing, we confirm our hope of eternal Blessedness. 
Acts 24.15.  We have hope toward God (saith the Apostle) that there shall be a Resurrection both of the just and unjust: And (for this hopes sake) I exercise myself to have a Conscience void of offence both toward God and Man. Thus hope is nourished by the study of holiness, as the light of a Lamp is by the Oil that feeds it: Therefore live well and hope well. 
1 John 3.3.  He that hath this hope purifieth himself as God is pure. Again, here is matter of Comfort,  
1. First, Against the difficulties we meet with in the course of Piety. There is naturally in us a certain tenderness ready to sink under Duty, unless born up and encouraged with the hope of the Prize set before us, 
1 Thess. 1.3.  St. Paul speaks of a work of Faith, and labour of Love; implying some hard Enterprise. And what is the work of Faith? to march constantly against all Oppositions, to resist Temptations, to overcome the World, to endure hardship, as good Soldiers of Jesus Christ, and to persevere in our holy purposes unto the end. And what is the labour of Love? An unwearied industry and diligence in procuring the good of others, with all good offices and fruits growing from the root of Charity. Both these are quickened by a hopeful intuition of the Reward, which he calls in the next words, the patience of hope. So having blessed God for the Collossians Faith and Love, he points to that which supported both; 
Col. 1.5.  for the hopes sake which is laid up for us in Heaven. Without this hope, we should desire and yet sit still; (like men languishing in strength) purpose and be weary of our own purposes; resolve, and presently loathe our own Resolutions; but the patience of hope having an eye to the Crown, sweetens our Labours, perpetuates our Endeavours, and enables us with invincible Constancy to surmount all Difficulties, Thus hope by fortifying our Resolutions, and smoothing the roughness of the way, makes us to pursue the good we aspire to, with more heat and less pain. The Husbandman would not so freely expose himself to toil and travail, wind and weather, but for hopes sake, which promiseth him the Fruit of his Labour. The Soldier would not cast himself into so many horrid forms of dangers, scale Walls, enter Breaches, thrust himself into the fury of Combats, but for hopes sake of either Booty or Glory. The Merchant would not expose himself to Waves and Storms, Rocks and Quicksands, but in hopes of a golden Recompense: This will men do and suffer for (alas!) a poor shadow of Wealth and Glory. Brethren, as a Christians work is much more honourable, so the reward set before us, to quicken fainting Virtue, is incomparably more glorious. Therefore let this hope in our bosoms encourage us, not only patiently, but joyfully to tread upon all Difficulties, and considering the joy that attends us in the end, to fix our eye, gird our loins, gather up our strength, and run with patience the Race that is set before us.  
2. Against the Sufferings and Afflictions of this present Life: Let us not be dismayed with crosses and losses of whatsoever is dearest to us, so long as the Treasure of our Hope, our Bank in Heaven is safe and untouched. Hope is an excellent Receipt against all Cardiack Passions; it hath a special virtue against fainting of the heart, and therefore to be laid up in the bosom against all distresses, especially when the thing hoped for is so excellent. Well yet (saith Job) I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that I shall one day see him; when his reins were consumed within him. And this wrought in him a patiented expectation of betters things; All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come; a change from sin and misery, to happiness and glory. We see by experience, that even natural hope solaceth the Soul in all Afflictions; it tells us there is no impossibility of Emergency, and rising out of the deepest Miseries; that Humane Calamities have their bounds, and will not always tire themselves about one Man; that there is succession of Storms and Calms in the course of Man's life, that unexpected ways of relief may happen: Such is the Vicissitude of Earthly things. If there be the least chink or cranny to let in any Beam of Comfort, Hope will not lightly fail. Natural Hope therefore is an excellent Anchor in the Troublesome Sea of this World. But (alas) ofttimes the Cable breaks, our Hope spends itself in Vain Imaginations, and in the end makes us ashamed. 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. Heb. 6.11.  But this Hope; as the end is more certain, so the Assurance more full. A full Assurance of Hope, and so of far greater virtue to support the Soul. It hath made the glorious Martyrs to suffer the loss of all things, of Life itself; not accepting deliverance (that is, upon base terms, and with loss and prejudice of their Faith) that they might obtain a better Resurrection. The Natural Hope carries us but to our Lives end; that's the utmost Verge of it: While I live, I hope to live. 
Dum spiro spero, cnm expiro spero.  But the Grace of Hope carries us further: When dead, I hope to live; and therefore let Health, 
The Righteous hath hope in his death. Prov. 14.32.  Wealth, Liberty, Friends, yea Life and Breath, and all go; yet I will hold fast the hope of Joy that is set before me. Though therefore we dwell here as Lot in Sodom; our Souls vexed, tortured with the sinful Vanities of Men, there is hope of a Day when every thing that offends shall be cast out. Though our sincere endeavours to please God be derided by the Profane World; there is hope of a Time coming, when our Judgement shall break forth as the light, and our Righteousness as the Noon day; when we shall have Beauty for our Ashes, and Glory for our Shame. Do we groan under the burden of Sin, the rebellion of Nature against Grace, of the Flesh against the Spirit? there is hope of an exchange of Weakness for Power, Imperfection for Perfection, Necessity of sinning for a Confirmed state of obeying. Thus Hope supports the Spirits, and keeps us from Swooning. It seems, St. Paul was sometime a little dispirited and out of heart; but revives presently: and what was his Cordial? Hope of the Resurrection, and the consequent Glory; That this light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh to us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. If our Hopes were terminated within the narrow bounds of this Life, Christianity were at a poor stay, and Christians of all Men most miserable; (so cold entertainment doth it find in the World) but being Anchored within the Veil, we are of all Men most happy.  
3. To Conclude, as I began; This should moderate our Sorrow for them that are Dead in the Lord; That they breathed out their Souls in hope; that their flesh rests in hope, and their Bodies in Graves are but Prisoners of Hope; and their Reunion with us in a glorious and Triumphant Fellowship, 
In quo non potest subesse fulsum.  is the matter also of our Hope. And though a Fiducial and Infallible assurance of another's final Happiness (while they are yet in the state of Travellers) none can have, without special Revelation. ('Tis well if we can attain this Assurance to ourselves, with all diligence and much difficulty, by many degrees working out our salvation with fear and trembling;) yet for them that have fought a good fight, and finished their course in the true Faith and fear of God; well may we have an erected Hope of a glorious and eternal Association, and that together with them we shall for ever be with the Lord; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, v. 7.  wherefore comfort one another with these words. Indeed, a solid ground of Christian Consolation in this short Temporal privation of our dearest Friends, and such as the Gentiles, who were without Christ, the ground of Hope; without the Church, the Sanctuary of Hope; without the Covenant of Grace, the Reason of our Hope, could not afford. Those Cordials that are fetched out of Nature's Boxes; That Death is the common end of All; 
Mors exitus communis, ea lege nascimus.  that it is the Law and Condition of our Birth, are but cold Comforts, in comparison of that which Christian Hope holds forth unto us: And therefore, Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead; to an inheritance immortal, incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved for us in Heaven. Amen.  
And now my Discourse, like a Circle, is returned to the Point where I began, viz. This truly Virtuous, Noble, Courteous, Dear beloved Gentleman. A great Treasury, though exhausted; a shining Light, quenched; a burning glorious Lamp, extinguished, a sweet, delicious, comely, fragrant Flower, cropped and fading; a bright Star of a distinguished magnitude, removed from our Horizon, and well may Darkness cover this Hemisphere. Here I could willingly sit down a while in silence, and only by the language of our Tears, speak our sense of this heavy Loss; but (as I have newly Discoursed) all Passions, especially that of Grief, need rather a Bridle than a Spur. Let therefore the Thoughts of his Superlative Merits, while living, and the Inexpressible Glories he is now in possession of, bring down the Sluice a while, and damn up the streaming Fountain of our Tears and Sorrow, whilst, to his most deservedly Worth and Memory, and our abundant Delight and Comfort, we pay that Tribute of Praise that is due to God's Servants and Children; advancing thereby his Glory, and adding Spurs to the Pious Endeavours of those who Survive. And that I may the more both suitably and succinctly delineate those Graces, which though they are gone with him, for his Comfort, yet stay behind him, for his Honour and our Imitation.  
Be pleased to view him in the Method of these following Particulars:  
First, In his Birth; There we may see great Excellencies descended to him by his Progenitors. To be born of a good Family, and to be well Descended, is a Mercy not to be neglected; Nec imbellem progenerant aquilae columbam, saith Horace. You have read of Mr. Philpots zealous Martyrdom; 
V 2. Examine. of Mr. Philpot. Acts and Mon. Vol. 3. Dr. Wilk. H. gl.  being a Knight's Son, told his Persecutors, He was a Gentleman. Anabaptistical parity, and Levelling designs, are ever to be abhorred, and looked upon as the ready way to Rapine, Confusion, and Violence. To be born of Noble Parents, from a Family that is not stained nor sullied with the foul spots of Faction and Rebellion; nor tainted with the Seeds of Error, Schism, and Division; nor basely dirted with the black filth of Debauchery, Atheism, Profaneness, and Irreligion; (all which is eminently true without Flattery, in this Gentleman's Escutcheon) questionless, is one of God's choice Blessings: And to a Mind inclining to Virtue, it availeth much to be born well; Est aliquid clarus magnorum splendor avorum— The glorious Deserts of Honourable Parents, is no small Patrimony— sed vix ea nostra a voco—  
Secondly, Therefore consider him in his own Person: And in that, first his Outward, and then secondly his Inward Ornaments, Grace, and Perfections. His Body of exact symmetry and proportion, where we might behold a great share of Comeliness and Beauty, which God our Creator (the Fountain of all Beauty) had imparted to this lovely Creature; and in such a measure, as if Mother-Nature had called a Council, and took a more than ordinary care and cost in its first draught and lineaments: But when it became polished, by an ingenious and liberal Education; every step and motion in his Deportment, was a prevailing Argument to beget both Love and Admiration.  
Thirdly, And all this is as far Inferior to his Inward Perfections, as the shining of the Gold-Ring, in comparison of that lustre and splendid Excellency, which the Artificially Cut and well-set Diamond affords the Spectator. When first Judgement and the use of Reason began to open and perform its Acts, how industrious was he to impress good Habits! That that Season might be improved to Virtue, which in many Children is too prone to Liberty; accustoming himself to good Manners, before he was fully comprehensive of a greater Knowledge and Understanding. And when at any time (whilst under my Tuition) any thing seemed difficult to his obtaining; in that very particular, the goodness of a sweet Disposition so eminently appeared, That did not Court and Compliment an Indulgence from me, but subdue by Conquest. And ever as His days and years increased, so did also a most Accomplished model of his Duty toward God and Man. How often have I (when expecting to have interrupted his Innocent Divertisements by a sudden surprisal) found, to my great Comfort, this hopeful and pious Blossom in a Saintlike posture on his knees to God, with two or three gathered together, tendering his Morning Sacrifice? Nor was it done by fits, and extorted by Fear, or a severe Discipline; but a constant and  Offering. Had you seen that pithy and suitable Form of Prayer annexed in his first Grammar, slubbered and defaced by his tender hands, with his daily perusal; it would be no great wonder, that God should so soon remove him to sing Allelujahs in the Choir of Heaven, that had so early and so well performed it on Earth. He that had so soon versed himself in the Principles of Religion, contained in the Church-Catechism, to the delight of his Earthly Parents, could not long be detained from being made perfect with God's Children, to the glory and honour of his Heavenly Father. He, in whom there was such a fruitful Spring of all imaginable good hopes of doing good in his Generation among Men, is now glorifying God amongst Angels; as the one, in deep Sighs and sad Accents of Lamentations bewails our great loss; so the other, as a most strong Cordial should revive our drooping Souls. Many excellent things might be communicated unto you, not only for Imitation, but Admiration. St. Paul, 2 Tim. 2.20. tells us, In a great house there are vessels of Gold, some to honour, some to dishonour. Give me leave to borrow his Metaphor; In this Noble house, this great Family, He was a choice Vessel. What Eusebius calls his Beloved Friend, I may well apply unto him; he was Vas Virtutum admirabile, A Vessel adorned with an admirable variety of Natural Abilities, Moral Virtues, and Spiritual Graces, every way suitable to his Birth, Quality, and Education. O that all the Sons of Honour of this Kingdom, and Offspring of good Blood, had the like Pious and early Inclinations to good Literature and Education! Such Ambitious Thoughts, to be eminent in Knowledge and Piety! Such Sentiments of the Universities! Such Revere to the Members thereof! Such value and esteem to their Parts and Merits! Then I should be in greater Hopes of seeing a flourishing State and Kingdom: Then would there be more Amicable Overtures between the Church and State. I dare be bold to say it, That there is nothing sooner likely to weaken and prevent, if not expose and ruin the flourishing State of this or any Kingdom, than the want of sound Learning and Exemplary Lives in the Nobility and Gentry thereof. I cannot omit the imparting one thing observable in this young Hero, at his first entrance to make his own Conceptions into Latin; in order thereunto I gave him this Subject, Ignorantia est sola inimica Doctrinae, i.e. Ignorance is the alone Enemy to Learning; which made such impressions upon his tender Thoughts, that (in his most free Conversation with those, that the Hospitable House-keeping of his Honourable Parents, gave many and frequent Opportunities for) He daily observed those Persons, to have the meanest Thoughts, not only of Clergymen, but of all others whatsoever under any Coat or Garb, if Learned, whose Education and Scholarship could carry them very little further than to Writ and Read. I have a large field to turn me in, where I might expatiate in his just and due Character, being gone out like a Taper, that hath left a sweet Savour behind him in the Nostrils of all that knew him: But I am willing to contract myself, knowing I am contained in the prescribed limits of such Time as may be most suitable to the Offices of this Nature. And what should I say more? for the Time would fail me to tell of his Humility, Meekness, Modesty, Courtesy, Condescending to those of low Estate; the great Aims and Ambition to express Duty to his Parents, Love to his Friends, Familiarity with his Neighbour, unmoveable affection to his Servants, Lowliness to his Inferiors, Respect to his Superiors, Kindness to his Equals, and Insuperable Goodness to his dearest and nearest Relatives. Thus he left the World, having obtained a good report through Faith, Heb. 11.39. in the flower and first budding of his days, upon the confines and borders of the 16th year of his Age, at the Feet of Gamallel, newly placed in a station of good Literature, in a Constellation of Arts and Sciences, in that Ancient Foundation of Exeter-Colledge, long since Laid by the Learned and Charitable Walter Stapleton, Bishop of Exeter, amongst the young Glories of our present state, universally Lamented, universally Beloved, in his Virginpurity unstained and unspotted; nowly Espoused (with the joyful Approbation of Parents on both sides) to a Lady whose promising Excellencies, not only of a considerable Fortune, but of Virtue, Youth, Beauty, good Nature, good Parentage, and all such commendable Qualifications, as might have in all appearing probabilities, rendered them both as happy as our Desires and Wishes could have expected, and their Worths merited and deserved. O! But that God, that rules and governs all things by his Wisdom and Providence, the reasons and causes of the various effects whereof, are Subjects to employ the eyes of our Faith and Hope, but not to be discovered in Prospectives of Human Reason) sent an Host of Heavenly Spirits, to attend and recall that Spirit (he himself first breathed) to the celebration of Nuptials of an higher Nature, with Jesus Christ the great Bridegroom of departed Saints, in the Beatifical Vision of the all glorious Trinity, the Father of an Infinite Majesty, the true and only Son, the Holy Ghost the Comforting and Sanctifying Spirit.  
And shall we now either irrationally complain? or religiously murmur and repine at? or uncharitably envy at his glorious Translation? He is enlarged from the Prison of this Life, and shall we bemoan his Liberty? He has quickly weathered through the disturbed Waves in the unquiet Sea of this World; and shall we in a mistaken Zeal debar him the quiet Haven? Unwise Mortals that we are! Is there any Earthly Inheritances, Crowns, or Dignities, that could court him into a Return, or an Exchange, for those Mansions of Eternal Glory, he is in possession of? No, no; his Gains in his removal, are of such a Nature, both for Body, Soul, Estate, Place, and Company, as can neither be sufficiently expressed, or conceived, by Human Wit and Invention: For his Body, that is stripped of all sinful and natural Defects, the Abortions of Sin, and filled with all heavenly Contemplations at its reunion with the Soul; of Mortal, it becomes Immortal; of Corruptible, Incorruptible; of Natural, Spiritual, i. e. not needing natural helps: There is no use of Meats, Apparel, Physic, Sleep, Beds; of weak and infirm, glorious: And for his Soul, that is first eased of all the Rags and Relics of Sin; delivered of Igno rance and Self-love; delivered of all the Consequences of Sin, Griefs, Fears, Guilts, Accusations: And then it is filled with the Image of Jesus; then all the Powers and Faculties are advanced above the ordinary strain of Nature; and his Soul furnished with all the Attendances of Christ's Image, everlasting Joy, perpetual Peace, a constant Correspondence and Communion with God and his Holy Angels.  
And here we leave him; But it is but for a short time; the Division betwixt him and us is of a small continuance; we must suddenly cut over the same Ferry, and meet him on the other side of the Shore; Death's Boat was not appointed to carry all at once; the Ferry not made to land all at one Tide; stay the return of Water for our turn: In the mean time praying for a prosperous Gail, and giving God thanks for all his Servants departed this Life in his Faith and Fear, beseeching him to give us Grace to follow their good Example, that with them we may be partakers of his heavenly Kingdom, through Jesus Christ our Mediator and Advocate, To whom, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, three Persons, and one God, be ascribed all Honour, Adoration, and Thanksgiving now, and for ever. Amen.   
FINIS.