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And therefore, to pretend to be perfectly eafy under any great calamity of life, must be the effect either of hypocrify or ftupidity. However, tho' it be not in our power to make an affliction no affliction; yet it is certainly in our power to take off the edge, and ieffen the weight of it, by a fu and steddy view of thofe divine joys that are repared for us in another ftate, which fhall fnortly begin, and never end: We may fay and think with St. Paul," I reckon that the fufferings of this prefent life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that fhall be revealed." Rom. viii. 18. And thus faying and thinking, we may bear the heaviest load that can be laid upon us, with contentedness, at least, if not with chearfulness. A

Third inftance of our living like those that have their hope in another life, is, if we always take the account of a future ftate into our schemes and reasonings about the concerns of this world; and form our judgments about the worth or emptiness of things here, according as they are, or are not of ufe, in relation to what is to come after.

He who fojourns in a foriegn country, refers what he fees and hears abroad, to the ftate of things at home; with that view he makes all his reflexions and enquiries; and by that measure he judges of every thing which befalls himself, or others, in his travels. This pattern fhould be our guide, in our present ftate of pilgrimage; wherein we often misinterpret the events of providence, and make a wrong ufe of them, by attending to the maxims of this life only; and fo thinking of the world which we are now in, and of the affairs of it, as if both that, and they, and we had no

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manner of relation to another: Whereas in truth, what we fee is in order only to what we do not fee; and both these states, therefore, must be joined and confidered together, if we intend to reflect wifely and justly on prefent appearances; for as 66 no man knoweth love, or hatred;" fo neither can he difcern good or evil, purely "by what is before him," Ecclef. ix. 1.

We perhaps, when we fee vice remarkably profperous, or virtue in deep diftrefs; when a man, who is, and does good to mankind, happens to be cut off in the vigour of his ftrength, and in the midft of his innocent enjoyments; whilft "the wicked grow old, yea are mighty in power, and come to their grave in a full age, like as a fhock of corn cometh in, in his feafon :" Job xx. 7. Job v. 26. We, I fay in fuch cafes, are ready to cry out of an unequal management and to blame the divine administration; whereas, if we confidered, that there is another state after this, wherein all these feeming irregularities may be fet right; and that, in the mean time they are of ufe to distinguish the found from the falfe believer, to exercife the faith of good men, and, by that means, entitle them to a greater reward; This one confideration would make all our murmurs cease, and all thofe fancied difficulties vanish.

Many other inftances, like thefe, there are, wherein, I fay, we shall never be able to give ourfelves a fatisfactory account of the divine conduct, as it appears to us at prefent, without drawing our arguments and reflections from a future ftate, and forming such a scheme of things, as fhall at once

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take in both time and eternity. We may, in the Fourth place, be faid to live like thofe that place their hope in another world; when we have, in a great measure, conquered our dread of death, and our unreasonable love of life, and are even prepared, and willing to be diffolved, and to be with Chrift, as foon as ever he thinks fit to call us. Till we have wrought ourselves up into this degree of Chriftian indifference, we are in bondage; we cannot fo well be faid to have our hope, as our fear in another life, while we are mighty loth and unwilling to part with this, for the fake of it.

Not that it is in the power of human nature without extraordinary degrees of divine grace, to look death in the face, unconcerned, or to throw off life with the fame eafe as one doth a garment, upon going to reft: Thefe are heroic heights of virtue; attained but by few, and matter of ftrict duty to none. However, it is poffible for all of us to leffen our natural fears of this kind, by religious confiderations; by a firm belief of, and a frequent meditation upon those joys that fhall be revealed; to raise ourselves up into a contempt of present fatisfactions, and into a refolution of fubmitting ourfelves, if not joyfully, yet meekly and calmly, to the fentence of death, whenever it fhall please God to inflict it upon us. This, I fay, is a very practicable degree of Chriftian magnanimity and courage; and it is both the duty and the intereft of every good Chriftian to attain it. Which we fhall be the better enabled to do, if, in the

Fifth and loft place, We make a proper use of fuch opportunities as thefe, and of all other

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-feafons of ferious reflexion, which are afforded us, in order to fix in our minds a lively and vigorous fenfe of the things of another world. They zare under the difadvantage of being distant; and, therefore, operate but faintly upon us. To remedy this inconveniency, we must frequently • revolve within ourselves their cértainty and great importance; fo as to bring them near, and make them familiar to us: till they become a conftant and ready principle of action, which we can have recourse to upon all occafions.

If we really live under the hope of future hapepinefs, we thall be apt to tafte it by way of antici pation and forethought; an image of it will meet our minds often, and ftay for fome time there, as all pleafing expectations do; and that in proportion to the pleasure we take in them. I appeal -to you, if it be not fo in your temporal affairs. Hath any of you a great intereft at stake in a fardiftant part of the world? hath he ventured a good thare of his fortune thither? and may rea> fonably hope for a vast and exceeding return? His thoughts will be often employed on this fubject; and, the nearer the time of his expectation approacheth, the more he will think of it; for, where his treasure is, there will his heart also most certainly be, Luke xii. 34. Now, our spiritual interefts, and the great concernments of a future ftate would, doubtlefs, recur as often to our minds, and affect them as deeply, if we were but as much in earneft in our pursuit of them and therefore, we may take it for granted, that we are not fo difpofed as we ought to be towards them, VOL. II.

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if we can forget them for any long time, or reflect on them with indifference and coldness.

That this may not be the cafe, it will, i fay, be neceffary for us to take fet times of meditating on what is future, and of making it by that means, as it were present to us; It must be our folemn bufinefs and endeavour, at fit feafons, to turn the ftream of our thoughts from earthly, towards divine objects; to retire from the hurry and noise of this world, in order to entertain ourfelves with the profpect of another.

This is the proper ufe we are particularly to make of the prefent fad folemnity; and thus, therefore, I have endeavoured to employ it. Nor will it be unfuitable to that defign, if I close these reflections with fome account of the perfon deceafed, who really lived like one that had his hope in another life; a life which he hath now entered upon, having exchanged hope for fight, defire for enjoyment.

I know, fuch accounts are looked upon as a tribute, due to the memory of thofe only who have moved in a high sphere, and have out-fhone the reft of the world by their rank, as well as their virtues. However, the characters of men placed in lower ftations of life, tho' lefs ufually infifted upon, are yet more useful; as being imitable by greater numbers, and not fo liable to be fufpected of flattery or defign. Several of this auditory were, perhaps, entire ftrangers to the pcrfon, whofe death we now lament; and the greatest part of you, who were not, had, for that reafon, fo just an esteem of him, that, it will not be unwelcome to you, I prefume, to be put in mind of

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