A SERMON PREACHED AT THE FUNERAL OF Sir HENRY JOHNSON, Kt. Who was Interred in the Chapel at Poplar, November the 19th. 1683.  
By Samuel Perk, Minister there.  
LONDON: Printed for Tho. Parkhurst, at the Bible and Three-Crowns, at the lower end of Cheapside, near Mercers-Chappel. 1684.  
Academiae Cantabrigiensis Liber.   

To the Worshipful HENRY JOHNSON, Esq  
Worthy Sir,  
THAT neither a private interest, nor itch of vainglory have the least share in this Undertaking (in whole or in part) God and my own Conscience bear me witness. And that a compliance with the repeated and reasonable commands of some Friends of the Deceased (to whom I bear a deserved respect and honour) have made it public, you and they are able to testify. 'Tis somewhat larger in the Press than 'twas in the Pulpit: yet no more than what should have been spoken, had the time permitted. What is said of the Dead, I am satisfied, Envy itself cannot disprove or contradict. The Discourse is not polite, but plain. For 'tis never my custom (upon such Solemn occasions) to interline my Sermons with much Reading, nor to gloss them with much Rhetoric; knowing that the leaves of Antiquity would make but a weak Shield against the stroke of Death. And that the fine Flowers of Rhetoric are not Armour of proof against the Conquering fears of the King of terrors. Such as it is, I hope you will accept: And if it may prove persuasive to any into whose hands it shall fall, timely to prepare themselves for Death and Judgement, I have my desired end, and fervent prayer, who am,  
Decemb. 1. 1683. Sir, Your respective Friend, and Servant, SAMUEL PERK.   

A SERMON Preached at the Funeral of Sir HENRY JOHNSON, Kt.  2 Cor. V. 1. For we know, that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 
HE that in his private recesses and solitude, takes a serious and impartial survey of most men's works and actions; how they spend their strength for nought, and (as the Prophet speaks) labour in the fire for very vanity; 
Hab. 2. 13.  How greedily they pursue the World, and what sinful and indirect courses they take to further and promote themselves therein; How they blind their Judgement, bribe their Reason, and baffle their own Consciences; dally with God and their Souls, and play the wantoness with Death and Judgement, and every thing that is good and serious; will sadly break forth in the words of the Royal Psalmist, Psal. 36. 1. The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, there is no fear of God before his eyes. So the lives of such men make me think that Death and Judgement seldom enter into their hearts; that the reward of the Righteous, and the recompense of the evil doer, are seldom the subject of their Meditations; and that they have but a very weak Faith of the invisible realities of the World to come. For did men firmly believe, and frequently consider, That for all these things God will bring them to judgement; and that an unalterable Weal or Woe will follow upon it, according as their works shall be; it must needs excite them (unless they are hardened to destruction) to a Religious life, a Godly conversation; yea, it would make them serve the Lord, and work out their salvation with fear and trembling.  
'Tis Chronicled of Philip King of Spain, That though he never committed any great sin all his life, yet he cried out dreadfully at his death, saying, O, that I had never been King: Oh, that I had never reigned: for than I should not have now to answer for the neglect of doing the good I might, and for not preventing the evil I ought in my Government. And though God hath not set any of you in Places of so great weight and trust, yet there is none of you to whom he hath not committed many Talents, and opportunities of doing and receiving good, in order to Death and Judgement. And will it not be a fearful time with you, when you are grappling with the King of Terrors, when you are upon the brink of Eternity, and within view of that Eternal Judgement (which the Apostle calls the terror of the Lord, 2 Cor. 5. 11.) to have Conscience fly in your faces, and accuse you for your falseness and unfaithfulness in your places and relations? For neglecting your time, and abusing your Talents; wishing a thousand times you had never been, or that you had never known what the Gospel meant; for than your account, before the great Tribunal of the Righteous God, would have been less strict, and more easy by far, than it is now like to be; for those evils which you might have avoided, but would not, and for all that good, which (by your pious Patterns and holy Examples) you might have done, but did not? Alas, Who can conceive the sad Apprehensions, and kill Terrors that wrack the soul of such men, in such a day! Let the belief hereof provoke you to make a better improvement of your Time, and Talents, Opportunities and Enjoyments than hitherto you have done. Lay them not out upon Toys and Trifles, Worldly, Lying Vanities, which like your own Flesh or Bodies, are frail, uncertain, and will quickly fail you; for St. Peter tells you, All these 
2 Pet. 3. 11.  things (as well as these earthly tabernacles) shall be dissolved. But let us spend them upon better Objects, upon a better Inheritance, a more durable and lasting Estate than this World can afford us; seeking to make him our Portion, who will be a living Comfort in a dying Hour, the ever Blessed and Glorious God; spend more Strength and Time in his Service: Let us have 
Phil. 3.20.  our conversation in heaven, here, as the Apostle exhorts; that we may obtain an Assurance our Habitation shall be there, when we go hence, as the Apostle tells us he had, saying— We know that if this earthly house of our tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  
Which Words are both an Illustration and Confirmation of the reason which our Apostle gives his Corinthians, why he did so courageously and valiantly labour in the Work of the Ministry, notwithstanding the many Difficulties and dangers, the continual Trouble and Opposition he met withal on every side, for commending himself to every man's conscience in the sight of God. For he had spoken in the preceding Chapter, of the perishing of the outward Man, and of renewing the Inward Man day by day, of the great Weight of Glory which should succeed his light Affliction for a Moment in this life; and that those things that are not seen, which are eternal, are to be looked to, and minded, rather than these things which are seen, and are only temporal, chap. 4. 16. to the end. Now in the beginning of this chapter he doth farther expound himself concerning the dissolution or change of the Outward Man, and the building up or perfecting the New Man, as also concerning the short continuance of these things that are seen, and the stability or continuance of those things that are not seen; affirming, that he himself and others of the faithful, did certainly know, that after this short and transitory life was ended, they should enjoy an estate, Heavenly, Glorious and Eternal. And this Assertion and Article of Christian Faith he cloaths with variety of sweet and significant Metaphors; helping the soul by the body, the understanding by the sense, saying, We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, etc. Where he compares this miserable body, as it now is in this life, to an earthly house, and that not a Sumptuous Palace, Impregnable Castle, or other strong and well- framed Building; but to a Tabernacle, a weak, frail, brittle Cottage of Earth or Clay: We know if this earthly house (wherein the soul d wells for a Time) if this Tabernacle were dissolved— Then,  
He opposeth to this, the state or condition of the body glorified in the life to come, which he resembles to a building firm, durable, and lasting; yea of Eternal continuance and duration; the beginning of which is the blessed Estate of the Soul at Death; and the perfection of it is the glorious Estate of Soul and Body reunited at the Resurrection: We know we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Where you have these Two Considerables recommended by the Holy Ghost to our Meditation, seasonable to the sad occasion of this great Assembly.  

1. What our Body is in respect of the frailty of it in this Life, an earthly house, a brittle Tabernacle that must down, must be dissolved.  
2. What house or building the souls of the faithful have after the dissolution of this earthly Tabernacle; A building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.   
Both these together are a brief and full Metaphorical description of our Mortality, and Immortality, of our weak and frail Condition in this life, and of our Eternally Blessed and Glorious Estate after Death.  
1. First, What our body is in respect of its frailty in this life, an earthly house, a brittle Tabernacle, that must be dissolved and go down to the dust. These bodies wherein our souls take up their residency for a time, are but earthly Tabernacles, of short and uncertain Continuance. The body is so called elsewhere, 2 Pet. 2. 1, 14. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle: and Job 4. 19 'tis termed an house of clay, whose foundation is in the dust. Eliphaz in the foregoing Verse speaks of Angels, here of men; and these Words are a description of Man opposed to Angels, those Inhabitants of Heaven, those Courtiers of the New Jerusalem; called therefore the Angels of Heaven; the place of their special residency being the Heavens, in and with which they may seem to have been created; Whereas men are said to be on the Earth, on the surface only, as a tabernacle ready to be shaken off, as having no foundation. Having here no abiding place, no continuing city, no settled abode, till we come to Heaven where the Angels are. Some Huts we have, rather than houses. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a clayie cottage, an earthly tabernacle, as St. Paul and Plato call the body of man, which is made up of a little dust or clay, somewhat sublimated and refined by art or nature. What is man, saith Gregory Nazianzen, but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Soul and Soil, Breath and Body, the one a puff of wind, the other a pile of dust; no certainty, no solidity in either. Pulvis & umbra sumus, We are dust and a Shadow, no more; 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, saith the Greek Proverb; Man is but an earthen pot, no better. The first man Adam was of the earth earthly; and no more are the best of men; Quas ex meliore forsan lato finxit Titan; who are made of the first common Mold somewhat refined. And the finer the Glass, the slighter the Tabernacle, the more subject to break and fall; and so are we to die. Man's flesh will fail him, saith David, Psal. 73. 26. Those whose spirits are noble, will find their bodies brittle. The highest, the holiest man's heart will not ever hold. Princes and Peasants are of the same flesh, which, saith the Prophet Isaiah, is but grass, it soon withers and fades away; they are alike dust, and to dust they must return. What man is 
Joh. 3. 13. 14.  he that liveth, and shall not see death? The Psalmist here challengeth all the World to find out one man that could procure a protection from dissolution. Holy Hezekiah could beg his life, and compound for his death for fifteen years, but could not obtain an exemption for ever. No, this earthly house is subject to many storms that shake it, to variety of Diseases, the least of which is sufficient to overthrow it: So that what St. Paul said of himself in a proper sense, we may say every of us in a common, I die daily: My earthly Tabernacle declines and wastes daily: Such is the frailty and corruptibility of the body, that though some are more curiously painted than others, and though all are fearfully and wonderfully made, full of accuracy and curiosity, like a Spider's Web; yet like that we have no stability: And thanks be to man's Apostasy for this frailty; his falling from God, by neglecting his duty, hath brought him to the dust; so the Apostle, Rom. 5. 12. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. Sickness and Death had never touched our bodies, had not sin first tainted our souls. Man in his Innocency was immortal, but now in his state of Apostasy he is determined to death. Had he stood, he should, like Enoch, have been translated, and not seen death; he should have entered into his Father's house, but not through the dark entry of the Grave; but now I know thou wilt bring me through the grave, the house of all the living. Now the body must die, before the soul can (as it were) begin to live. Man must now put off his house of Earth, before he can possess his house in Heaven. When this earthly house of our Tabernacle is dissolved, then (not before) we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. Thus you see by this Metaphorical Expression, what a lively resemblance the Apostle gives of our frail Condition in this world, or in respect to our bodies. We dwell, saith he, in Tents or Tabernacles.  
1. And a Tabernacle or Pavilion is not made of any strong matter, having only a few slight Poles for Timber, and painted clothes for Walls; a weak Lodging, quickly taken down, easily removed or overthrown. Such is the body of man, a fair Fabric, but frail; the bones are its Timber-work, the flesh its walls; all of Clay and Dust; one blast mars it; a little pain or grief shakes it; an Ague, Fever, Dropsy, or as the Prophet speaks, Isa. 38. 12. a little pining sickness quickly dissolves and makes an end of it. For our strength, saith Job, is not the strength of stones, nor our flesh as brass: No, our Earthly House is not framed of such strong and lasting materials.  
2. And like a Tent or Tabernacle it stands in continual need of reparation, being shaken with every wind, and shattered with every storm. Nor is our Food, or Physic, or any other means, which we use as daily props and preservatives to this Earthly House, sufficient to support it without the Divine Protection. There are so many Thousand casualties we are daily subject to, that nothing less than a Divine Providence could preserve these Tabernacles one day. And when by Sickness or Age they are tottering and falling, nothing less than the same Power can repair or restore them. 'Tis God only that brings down to the grave, and then saith, return again ye children of men. No wonder therefore that the wicked, who by their obstinacy in sin, withdraw themselves from under the Divine Protection and Providence, do not live out half their days, as David observes, Psal. 55. 23.  
3. Once more: As a Tabernacle hath no foundation, so no certain continuance in any place; 'tis here to day, and carried to another place to morrow, showing us that the inhabitants are but strangers. No more can we assure ourselves any fixed habitation or abode in the body; We are here to day, and gone to morrow; standing this hour, and pulled down the next; growing in the morning, and (like the grass) in the evening cut down and withered. Our Souls are but strangers in these Tents: I am a stranger in this Earth (saith David): And I beseech you (saith Saint Peter) as pilgrims and strangers, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul. Nay, our bodies in respect of continuance, are more uncertain than any Tabernacle: Other Tabernacles may be removed; this must, God will certainly take it down, it shall not continue; when this earthly house shall be dissolved; it must be so, no help for it, no avoiding of it. That Decree can never be reversed, It is appointed to man once to die, and after this the Judgement, Heb. 9 27.  
1. O how preposterous then is the Care of most men, whose contrivance is chiefly for the body, to gratify and please the flesh, and to provide for it? For its Covetousness, Ambition, Voluptuousness, which the Apostle calls the lusts of the flesh? As if God sent them into, and continued them in the World for no other end but as Cooks to dress up their bodies as well as possibly they could for the Worms: As if they believed these earthly houses should stand for ever, contrary to daily experience; or that there were no habitation for the soul after the dissolution of this Tabernacle, contrary to Divine Revelation. The universal cry of the World (saith David, Psal. 4.) is, Who will show us any good? What shall we eat and drink? Or wherewith shall we be clothed? And how shall we do to live in this hard World? Never once ask their Souls in good earnest; Soul, what wilt thou do for that Bread which came down from Heaven? How wilt thou do to be saved? What shall thy state be eternally? And what hope or assurance hast thou of an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens? And how wilt thou be made meet to be partaker of that inheritance of the Saints in light? Col. 1. 12. These things are not in all their thoughts. Awaken thy Reason, O man! Is not thy Spirit an Heavenly Plant, the immediate product of the Divine breath, of the Eternal Wisdom and Power of God? Is it not the impress and image of the glorious Trinity, in its immortality, in its noble faculties, and capacitiy of honouring and enjoying the chiefest Good? And shall not the life of this Soul run parallel with the life of God, and line of Eternity? Or, do you think our Blessed Lord overvalued it, in saying, it should profit a man nothing to gain the whole world, and lose his soul? Mat. 16. 26. And is not thy body earthly, frail and fading? Do you not find it now and then tottering, as if it were ready to drop down? And is not the welfare of thy body involved in the welfare of the Soul, and that for ever? What madness is it then to take so much care for the former, and so little for the latter? To make so much provision for the Flesh, and none for the Spirit? To prefer Dirt before that which is Divine? that which is brutish, before that which is the Picture of Gods own Perfections? To love and admire the Box above the Jewel, the Clay walls above the Treasure; and to let the Vessel sink, and yet presume to preserve the Passenger that saileth in it? Certainly were not men poisoned with Atheism, drowned in sensuality, or scared and become senseless, it were impossible they should act so much beneath the principles of a right Reason, as well as of all Religion.  
2. And as inconsistent is it with Religion and Reason, to be proud of our bodies, of our earthly tabernacles, though never so fairly built. For their excellency (saith Job) passeth away, their beauty fades daily; the poor Cottage decays of itself, and must shortly to the dust, to the house of corruption and rottenness, and become a prey to the most contemptible worms. O who can be proud of so mean a thing, as a moth can crush, Job 4. 19 a Fly choke, or a single hair destroy and dash in pieces! Yet such are our bodies, which we take so much ear, and are apt to have so high a conceit of. But which is more, the Lord beholds every one that is proud, to abase him. To be proud of it, will provoke God to abolish it. If we dote too much upon our dwelling-place, he can quickly turn us out; for at the breath of his mouth we perish, at the blast of his nostrils we are consumed. Let not our hearts therefore be puffed up with pride of, nor perplexed with overmuch care for these tabernacles that cannot long continue; that are no better than a vapour, which appears a little while, and then vanisheth away, Jam. 4. 14.  
3. But let us from henceforward reckon it a matter of no small import and concern to us all, seriously to reflect and consider how we are provided for the fall and dissolution of these tabernacles of our bodies. 'Tis our Saviour's advice, Matth. 24. 44. to be always re ady. Down they shall; dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return; and how suddenly we know not; for at our best estate we are altogether vanity, Psal. 39 5. 'tis prudence to consider it; not enough to talk of it; to say, we know it, we believe it; but as the Wise man adviseth, Eccles. 7. 2. to lay it to heart: to cast and consult with ourselves in this, as in other matters, saying, Hence I must: and whither then? whither must my next remove be? There is an everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels: ' This is my desert: how shall I escape it? And there is a rest to come, Heb. 4. 9 an inheritance incorruptible, that fades not away: a building of God, eternal in the heavens, 1 Pet. 1. 4. This I desire; how shall I obtain it? Such thoughts as these would make us as prudent for Heaven, as we are for the Earth; as provident for our Souls, as we are for our Bodies; quicken us to lay up a Treasure in Heaven: Or, as the Apostle exhorts, 1 Tim. 6. 19 To lay up to ourselves in store, a good foundation against the evil day, that we may lay hold on eternal life. Especially if you consider, as the certainty of the dissolution of these Tabernacles, so, that death is daily stealing upon them, as ruin upon an old building; Here falls a Wall, there a Door; here a Tile, there a Rafter, till at last the whole tumbles: Thus the dimness of thine Eye, the deafness of thine Ears, the trembling of thine Hand, the stifness and coldness of thy Limbs; all these tell thee, Death and Dissolution steal upon thy Earthly house of the body, and loudly call upon thee by Faith, Repentance, good Works, and an holy Life, to prepare for it: Remembering what horror and fear will seize upon our Souls, when we behold Death coming or marching upon us, Jehu-like, furiously. Men may talk wantonly of Death, and make a light matter of it, while they think it at a great distance; but when the Sun of Life grows low, when sickness shakes their tabernacle, when the shades of the Grave appear, when (as the Wise man elegantly speaks, Eccles. 12.) Those that look out at the windows are darkened, the strong men bow themselves, the keepers of the house shall tremble, the silver cord is loosed, and the golden bowl broken; when the mourners stand about our Beds. When the grim Sergeant Death lays one hand on their heads, and in the other hand holds a Writ of remove, that cannot be Reversed, and yet they are uncertain whither they must go, and what place or state they shall have in the other World. Now, I say, that which seemed before but a trifle, will appear the King of terrors to their doubting, to their despairing and departing Souls. 'Tis a question that many ask when they are dying, Whether they shall be saved or damned? Whether they shall be happy or miserable, when they go hence? The resolution of which they never seriously minded while they lived, and so continue uncertain in this great concern, till Death resolve them, and they are entered upon that state, in which they must abide to all Eternity, be it a Paradise of Felicity, or Dungeon of Misery. And this great uncertainty is that, that makes the apprehensions of an approaching disfolution so exceeding formidable to them. How happy therefore are those persons, who have made their future state so much their concern in life, that with our Apostle they are able to say when Death comes, We know when this earthly tabernacle is dissolved, we have a building of God, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Which leads me,  
2. To the Second General in the Text; namely, the Blessed Estate of the Faithful after this Life, after the dissolution of the Body, expressed in these words— We have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Of which briefly.  
And here you have the habitation or dwelling place of Faithful Souls, of Saints departed, set forth, or commended to us by these specialties.  
1. The Efficient Cause, or Founder of it, God, [a building of God] the Great Jehovah of Heaven and Earth, whose Glory and Greatness we cannot comprehend, but only in his Works, is the Builder of it. And as great men love to do things like themselves, so doth God. If Ahasuerus make a Feast for his Nobles and Servants, it shall be such as becomes a King. If the King of kings make an House, an Habitation for his Servants, and prepare Mansions of rest for his Children, he acts like himself, answerable to his Infinite Goodness, Mercy, and other Attributes. And what a goodly, what a glorious Habitation must this House in the Heavens be, which hath Infinite Wisdom to contrive it, Infinite Power to erect it, Infinite Treasure to enrich it, Infinite Glory to beautify it, and the Omnipotent God the Founder of it!  
2. 'Tis set out by the manner of its Framing, Created [not made with hands]: Termed an House, 1. For the Spaciousness of it; not a Cottage, but an House; Room enough for the Inhabitants both for necessity and delight; an House wherein there are many Mansions, John 14. 2. Called an House, 2. For its conveniency, for its security; as a man's House is termed his Castle, where he is safe from all assaults and dangers: such is this House of the Saints, a place of security from all evils penal and sinful, and from all Enemies bodily and ghostly. 3. An House [not made with hands] for its Glory and Excellency. Solomon's Temple was a glorious Building, and so many other Buildings in the World are; but not comparable to this, because made with hands, and so subject to ruin and decay. This being made without hands, is perpetual: as far transcending all Earthly glory and happiness, as the curious Frame of Heaven and Earth excels these Clayie Cottages made by men, or made with hands.  
3. Commended to us by the pleasant situation of it. It is situate or placed [in the heavens] where God is, where Christ is, where the Holy Angels, the Church of the firstborn, and spirits of just men made perfect, are. Where there is Heavenly Manna, the Tree of Life, Rivers of Pleasures, and variety of fresh and overflowing Delights, to make the Inhabitants continually and completely happy.  
4. By the durableness of it, ['tis eternal] not subject to decay or dissolution, but everlasting. Our Saviour calls it, a kingdom that cannot be shaken; St. Peter, an inheritance incorruptible; and St. Paul, here, a building of God, eternal. Other buildings, be they never so strong and stately, are subject to decay by storms, by fire, by age; but This, and all relating to it, is Eternal; the Builder of it Eternal, the Inhabitants in it, the Joys and Glories of it, all Eternal. And the truth is, when we have searched and said all we can of this Glorious estate of the Saints hereafter, the Joy, the Life, the Glory of all is this, That it is Eternal. Heaven were no Heaven, the happiness of it no happiness, if it were not endless. Eternity is that, that heightens all Miseries and all Mercies. 'Tis this makes Hell, and all the torments of it so intolerable, That they shall never end, Mark 9 44, 46, 48. And 'tis this sweetens all the Joys and Felicities of the Saints in Heaven, that they are everlasting: This 'tis makes this Building of God, the Habitation and Dwelling-place of Faithful Souls, so pleasant and delightful, That 'tis Eternal—  
5. And lastly, That which is the chief of all, you have here the Believers Right and Title to it, [we know] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, the very top of Faith; we are sure. As certainly assured by Faith, that we shall have it, as if we did now possess it. So sure is it, so certain are we of it, that the Apostle speaks in the present Tense, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, not we shall have, but we have an House not made with hands, Eternal in the Heavens. Thus you have, in the Terms and Epithets which the Apostle gives this Building in the Text, a shadow or glimpse of Heaven, of that Blessed and Glorious Estate, which the Faithful enjoy after this Life. The fullness whereof no Tongue can utter, or Words express; for, saith the Apostle, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what things God hath prepared for them that love him.  
O! Who then would be an Atheist, who would be irreligious or profane, and so at once cut himself off from all hopes of all this Glory! Surely Religion is not an idle, empty Thing, that brings such rewards to all the serious Professors and Practisers of it. 'Tis not in vain to be holy, and to serve God in good earnest. There is a reward for the righteous, and our labour in the 
1 Cor. 15. lat. end.  Lord shall not be in vain to us. The wicked indeed, may be said to have an house, and an eternal house too, prepared for them in another world; but 'tis a sad one, Tophet is prepared for them of old (saith the Prophet) the pile whereof is fire and much wood, and the breath of the Lord, as a river of brimstone, continually kindling it. A state of Sorrow, weeping and mourning for ever, and ever.  
But the House or Dwelling-place of the Righteous hereafter, is in the Heavens, an House of Light, of Joy and Rejoicing, wherein they shall sing Praises and Hallelujahs to the Lamb, that sits upon the Throne for evermore. O how should the belief and hope of this, push us on to the greatest perfections of Holiness, and severities in Religion, if thereby we may attain to an assurance of our right to this heavenly Habitation! How should this make us contemn the world, with all its inconsiderable nothings! How should this bear us up under, and cheerfully carry us through all Afflictions and Troubles, all reproaches and scorns in this World! In a Word, How should the hope and prospect of this Glory, of this Celestial Palace, and Eternal life to come, steal us against death, vanquish from our souls all slavish fears of the dissolution of these bodies, and moderate our Sorrow forour departed Friends and Relations, who have given us any hopes that they have but changed this earthly house, for that glorious Building of God, Eternal in the Heavens; where we hope one day to meet and enjoy them, and they us, without Sin, Sorrow, or Fear of parting more for ever and ever.   

I have said what I intended on the Text;— But I have now another Subject to enter upon, of which it is but fit and necessary somewhat be spoken; that is, Sir HENRY JOHNSON, whose Remains lie yet before us.  
And here I could be large, but both the Time, and the particular Acquaintance which most of you had with him, commands Brevity. Nor is it so much my design in what I have to say, to praise the Dead (whom our Praises can neither reach nor profit) as to provoke you that are living to imitate him in what is good and praiseworthy. And to let you see, 'tis possible for a man to be great and good too.  
I shall omit to speak of him, as he once stood in those Relations of an Husband, Father or Friend, in every of which there are many will testify he deserved an Euge; but shall consider him only as a Christian; and here let his own works speak for him, both living and dying. Some of which I shall set before you from my own Observation; and others from credible and undoubted Information.  
All the Time I have known him, (now near fourteen Years) I have observed him religiously inclined; not only free from the gross debaucheries and sinful excesses of this Atheistical and corrupt Age, wherein he lived; from those open Vices and Immoralities, which many of his rank are tainted with, and are not at all ashamed of; but very serious in his Discourses, grave and exemplary in his whole deport. No encourager of Faction or Rebellion; no friend to, or favourer of Profaneness or Irreligion; but the contrary, a Countenancer of Religion and Loyalty; this I know. I doubt not to say (without fear of Control) that Sir Henry Johnson was one, who both feared God and honoured the King; a pair of Virtues as inseparable as Commendable, which I wish more were endued with, that make as great a figure in the Word now, as he once did.  
As to the former of these, his Religion towards God, I need mention but this one Demonstration of it; That commendable and Religious Order that he constantly kept up in his Family, by Prayer, reading the Scriptures, and good Instructions to the members of it, especially upon the Lord's Day, or Sundays, which he was a strict observer of. This I myself have sometimes seen; and those of his Household can bear Testimony to the truth of it; and I have often heard him say, that those Servants that would not submit to, and comport with this Discipline, were no servants for him (I wish more Gentlemen were of his mind); so that he seemed to have taken up Joshua's Resolution; As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.  
As to his good works, his pious and charitable deeds, both in his Life, and at his Death, I presume not to give an exact Account of them from my own knowledge, but as I am informed; and in recounting these, I know no reason why that charritable Act of his to the Poor of Wapping, in the late dreadful Fire there, may not be remembered; Since many of you know he was the first and chief Mover to obtain a Contribution to their present necessities, and (I know) a liberal donor thereto himself, which was a great, a public good work.  
In the time of his life (for divers Years last passed, besides his most private acts of this nature) he every Sunday or Lords Day relieved Forty or Fifty poor Persons at his own house, and that not with the Fragments of his own Table; but with good and wholesome Diet provided on purpose for them; and as he fed the poor in his life, so he did not forget them at his Death, having in his last Will bequeathed several Legacies to chairtable uses; some of which I had an account of— As, 

To Two Hospitals, Christ-Church and Bridewell.  
To the Poor of Trinity House.  
To the Poor of the East India Alms-house in this Hamlet.  
To the Poor of Shipwrights Hall in Ratcliff.  
To the Erecting and maintaining of an Alms-House for six poor Persons in Blackwall.  
He hath also given moneys for the placing out of several Poor Children at Albrough in Suffolk; and for the maintaining of a Weekly Lecture at Saxmundum in the same County.    
By these Charitable deeds he hath built his own Monument more lasting than those of Brass or Marble. And I wish every man, to whom the Divine Bounty hath liberally given the good things of this World, would but go and do likewise.  
And now I shall commit him to his bed of rest, when I have said this one thing more: That during his last long and tedious sickness (in which I was seural times with him) he had many excellent expressions of God, and the state of his own Soul. I could mention divers, and the occasions of them, but then I should be tedious. I will only recall some spoken to myself.  
I bless God (saith he) for this affliction; I would not have been without it for all the world. And again, when I told him I should visit him oftener, if his illness would admit me: He replied, I thank God I am never alone, God is always with me, and Christ is my Visitant, who is above all to me, and who (I trust) will work all in me, and for me. He often spoke of the Vanity of the World, and (not withstanding the large share God had given him of it) declared himself willing to leave it: Adding this with great earnestness and vehemency of spirit (being sensible he was not wholly without enemies; and what good man is?) I sreely sorgive all the world. In a word, When he received the Holy Sacrament, which I administered to him in the time of his sickness; as he received it with good devotion, so he afterwards expressed himself very thankful to God for that opportunity, blessing him for the refreshment he found in his soul by it.  
I could mention more expressions of this nature that fell from him, but I forbear. These, with the manner of his delivering them, begot in me (I confess) a belief that he had upon his mind a real sense of God, and a savoury relish of the great things of Eternity; yea, and an hope too of a better inheritance in the other World, than he hath left behind him in this, even of a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens. To which blessed and glorious Estate, God of his Infinite Mercy (in his due Time) bring every Soul of us, for the sake of his Beloved Son, who died for us, Christ Jesus the Righteous: To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit, be Glory for ever, and every,  
Amen.   

ERRATA  
In the Epist. 1. 17. for gloss r. gloze page 11. l. 7. for if r. of page 13. l. 4. for lato r. luto  
FINIS.