THIS is the End of all Men; And, Oh! that the Living may lay it unto his Heart!

Ecclesiastical History mentions a Person of Quality, who came into a Religious As­sembly; a Place which it seems, he had [Page] not been much us'd unto; where the Minister happened then to be Reading, The Fifth Chapter of Genesis. — In the Read­ing, he observed the Clause, — And he Died, Eight or Nine times Repeted in i [...] And he Died! The Clause affected him, amazed him: This then, thinks he, will be said of All Men; It will be said of me too And he Died! God Sanctified the Though [...]; It never left him, until it had made a Serious Christian of him. The Repetition of it is this Day to be carried on▪ God grant, that it may be with a Good and Great Effect upon this very Numerous Auditory!

We have before as, The [...] of the Antediluvian World▪ Probably [...] pre­served in the Ʋpper Story of the Ark, such Writings and Records, as might furnish that admirable Historian Moses, with Materials for this Ancient History.

It was a curious Meditation of the Bles­sed Austin; That there are Two Societies, among the Children of Men; There are the Children of Cain, & there are the Chil­dren of Seth. In the Antediluvian Chro­nicles, the Cainites and the Sethites, give us a Type of what is carrying on to the End [Page 5] of the World. Among the Cainites, you find, They Built Cities; they proposed fix­ed, settled, lasting Habitations upon Earth. About the Biggest part of them, you find Nothing spoken at all; They did Nothing worthy to be spoken of. Yet, you find Arts Cultivated among them; Some of them are Notable Artists, and Learned men; and by their Learning they obtain a Name for themselves. The Great Light of Africa, carries on his Remarks; and from the Women mentioned among the Cainites, he reflects, Terrenam Civitatem Carnales habi­turam Generationes. But now, among the Sethites, it seems, as if they lived more like Pilgrims and Strangers on the Earth. We read of no Cities among them. They look for the Heavenly City; the place that Enoch went unto. All their Hopes, all their Joys, are upon what is in the Heavens reserved for them. Among the Arabian Writers, you will find surprising Traditions, That they maintained a most intimate Commu­nion with the Angels of GOD. But I must not impose Quotations from Elmaecinus & Patricides, upon the present Auditory.

Well; Since these Two Setts, Two Sorts, Two Societies, are continued in the [Page 6] world unto this Day under their different Characters; My Hearers, make a wise Choice for your selves; Chuse with whom you will Associate your selves. Chuse the People with whom you would be Gathered as your own People. Tis impossible to Ad­dress you with an Exhortation of a greater Importance! Methinks, The Consideration which is now brought from the Story of a Sethite, should Awaken us. Death, Death, which you see Reigning from Adam, over the Ensuing Generations: the Consideration of Universal Death, Unavoidable Death; Oh! How should it Enliven our Piety!

In the Holy Line of the Patriarchs, single out one Exemple of Mortality, to be at this time Discoursed on; Tis one whose Name was Enosh▪

That I single him out; One of my Rea­sons is, Because he was a GRAND-SON in a Famous Family. First Adam appears; a Worshipper of GOD; a Believer on CHRIST; the GOVERNOUR anon of a Little World. Then Seth appears; the Substitute and Follower of a Righteous Abel; and one that had on all accounts upon him, the Image of his Father: Now comes [Page 7] on the Grandson, Enosh, of whom little more is Reported but this, And he Died. Indeed one thing more is in the Report; which is by some thus translated; Then began to be Profaned the Name of the Lord. This Person Lived, it seems, to see much Profanity and Apostasy to gain upon a Sin­ful World. Others rather keeping to our own Translation, Then began men to Call on the Name of the Lord, suppose that Congre­gations were formed for the Service of God; and one Enosh was a Great Encou­rager of them. Yea, some read it, Then began Preaching in the Name of the Lord; The Hebrew word, (from whence comes the Greek word for Preaching,) favours it. Probably Enosh was one who heartily Countenanced the Best Preachers. Our Enosh would have such for his Counsellors. Tis more than probable, That the Pro­tevangelium, in the Third of Genesis and the Fifteenth, was the Text most usually Preach'd upon.

Tis an happy and a lovely Sight some­times Exhibited, in the World; The same Family sometimes has afforded Eminent and Renowned men, successively for Three Generations. It was accounted a Singular [Page 8] Honour to the Family of the Curij at Rome, that there arose from that Stock, Three Excellent Orators one succeeding another. More than One Family in this Land have had the Greater Honour, of yielding Three Ministers of the Gospel one succeeding a­nother. But the Family of the WINTHROPS, has this way something very Peculiar in it. Three JOHN WINTHROPS, a Father, and a Son, and a Grandson, have by the Election of the Peo­ple, been made GOVERNOURS over a People of God; And after all their Service in their Generation falling Asleep, they must not without a sensible Interposal of the Divine Providence to bring it about, ly [...] together Encombed in the same Sleeping-Place and Sepulchre. There is not such another TOMB to be seen in all America.

One of the Seven Wonders of the world, was a TOMB. This may be Esteemed One of the American world.

Another of my Reasons, is, Because I must make a profitable Reflection on the Name of my Enosh. It has been com­monly thought, That the Name of Enosh, is as much as to say, Sorrowful Man, Af­flicted Man, Miserable Man. Alas, In the [Page 9] Vanity and Vexation which every day be­fals every man, there is Enough and E­nough to Justify such a Denomination. But I forego the Thought. Eusebius has better instructed me, That Enosh rather signifies, EPILESMONA, Forgetful Man, or Forgotten Man. Truly, the wretched­ness of Man lies very much in Forgetfulness. For, first, Man did soon Forget his Obliga­tions to God, and continues to do so. Se­condly, If Old Age comes upon a Man, he soon grows very Forgetful of Every thing; and it is a principal Infirmity and Cala­mity of Old Age thus to do. Thirdly, It is the Fate of a Man to be soon Forgotten; he appears a very little while, and it is quickly Forgotten, that ever he was in the World. Behold, the Elegancy of a pas­sage in the Psalms, where the Name of Enosh is used; Psal. 8.4. What is Forget­ful and Forgotten Man, that thou shouldest Remember him!

Enosh indeed is a Name-sake for every man, in this Assembly. But, O Man, of whatsoever thou art Forgetful, do not For­get this; And he Died; Oh! Do not For­get this Maxim, which we are now going to insist upon;

There is no man Living, but anon this Account must be given of him, He Died; this Account, He's Dead. Or, if you will rather have the DOCTRINE, in the Ex­press words of the Scripture, take it so; Psal 89 48. What Man is he that Liveth, and shall not see Death?

The Antediluvians indeed, were com­paratively Long Lived People. But the most marvellous Macrobius among them all, anon came to this; And he Died. The Shortning of Humane Life, and then the Standing of it, at the Term it is now set at, I have never yet seen, any Natural Reason given for it, tho' I have Read what others have said on it, (besides a Collection of all in the Incomparable Heidegger,) that could give any tolerable Satisfaction. This only I have seen, That when Physicians, from whom the most of satisfaction might be Expected, come to write of it, they give the least of any. In Reading Beve­rovicius you'l find it so. All the Reason that we know of it, is; Tis even so, Lord of our Life, because it pleases thee! Tis now [Page 11] but a very Little, Little while; A Time that may be measured by a Span; Tho' according to the ancient Arithmetick of the Hand, wherein the Little Finger of the Right Hand Contracted, signified an Hun­dred, it is well if it prove Half a Little Finger; before every one of us has ar­rived unto the Period of his Life; And he Died. The GOVERNOUR of Israel [...]aid, Our Dayes on Earth are as a Shadow, and there is none Abiding. Another GO­VERNOUR invites us now to insist upon [...] Every Living man may say with him, [...]b 30.23. I know that thou wilt bring me [...] Death. Tho' Ordinarily we do not know, the Time of our Death; nor the Way of our Death; yet every man must certainly Know, That God will bring him to Death. Tho' a man be never so Ignorant of other Things, yet this One Thing, he cannot but Know most certainly, That God will bring him to Death.

Shall we now spend a few Minutes upon that Enquiry;

What are the Demonstrations, What the Admonitions, that we have of our own Mortality?

[Page 12]I Confess, Tis a Satyr upon Mankind, for to make such an Enquiry. It is from a Stupidity which deserves a Satyr, That we need any thing to mind us of our own Mortality. A Foolish Lawyer not long ago, Published a Book, to Prove, That a man might by Faith Escape Death; And he had the Folly to declare in his Book, his own Faith, that he himself should never Dy. God soon Confutes his Madness; God makes him find, that the Writ of Death cannot be Quash'd! That Mad Man has no Professed Disciples among us; None that are so Vain as to Profess Immortality. But we too too ge­nerally Live, as if we were so. We Live, as if Death were an Article, of as Difficult Belief, as the Resurrection of the Dead. It is needful, that we should be Enlivened with the Demonstrations of this thing, That we are to Dy. Sirs, Attend unto them!

I. We have the Admonitions of our Death, dispensed unto us in the Lively Oracles of GOD. The infallible Word of GOD, has with Repeted Thunder­claps, infallibly assured us, That we are [Page 13] to Dye. We have the Word of GOD for it; Heb. 9.27. It is Appointed unto men once to Dye. Some have Died Twice; [Those who were miraculously Rais'd from the Dead, but not with the Better Resur­rectim:] But there is a Statute of Heaven for All to Die Once. The Word of GOD, which miscalls Nothing, has call'd Men, by the Name of Methim, or, Mortals. We are Instructed in the Word of GOD; [Rom. 8.21.] That every man is under the Bondage of Corruption. By Corruption is meant Mortality. We are in Bondage to it; Bound over to undergo it; And, as tis elsewhere said, The Fear of it keeps us in Bondage.

We are assured in the Word of GOD, That Good Men as well as others, must un­dergo the stroke of Death. We read, Job 14.1. Man that is Born of a Woman, is of Few dayes. By, Man that is Born of a Woman, may perhaps be understood, that Religious and Regenerate part of Mankind, who at the beginning of the Bible, are called, The Seed of the Woman; [of her, who is called, The Mother of all the Living;] The People that belong to Him, who is the Principal and the Promised Seed of the Wo­man: [Page 14] Even These must see but a Few days in this world; and those Few must be Evil Dayes, Winter Dayes The First Man that Ever Died, was a Favourite of GOD.

We have the Law of Death, Declared and Pronounced, in the Word of GOD: A Law ten thousand times more unaltera­ble, than any one of the Medes and Per­sians. Let us turn to the Law; Gen. 3.19. Dust thou art, and to Dust thou shalt Return. Death is by the Law of GOD, the Penalty of Sin. The Penalty was thus Express'd, In the day thou Eatest, thou shalt surely Dy. Most Expressive is the Gloss of Theodoret upon it; Mortalis eris, et singulis diebus expectabis Mortem. Tis come to pass; By One Man Sin entered into the world, and Death by Sin. We are involved in the First Sin of the First Man. I make no doubt, but the Inspired Historian, intended an Illustration upon that very Text, Unto dust thou shalt Return, in this Emphatical word, which he makes the EPITAPH to so many of the Fathers; And he Died! And he Died! He seems to say, ‘Behold, The terrible Threatning of Death, Be­hold, How terribly it is accomplished.’

[Page 15]Remarkable is that Word of GOD; Rom. 6.23. The Wages of Sin, (or, Paid by Sin,) is Death. Gerhard notes, That OPSONIA, which we render, Wages, pro­perly are, Gibaria quaedam et lautitiae, qui­bus milites alliciebantur, qui ventris Gulaeque causa vitam habent Venalem; The D [...]ets and the Dainties, with the prospect whereof, the Commanders drew their Hungry Soul­diers to Expose their Lives. We are here Elegantly call'd back, to Consider the First Sin of the First Man. Sin, which is com­pared unto a General, inticed us with an OPSONION, a Dish of Fruit, a Delicate Entertainment: But we found nothing but a miserable Death in the Dish; while we were thus drawn to List under the Banner of the Devil, in a Rebellion against the Holy GOD.

Sin, Sin, is the Sting of Death. Tis by our Sin, that we are Stung to Death. An Angel of Death, upon it, comes Ar­med with a Commission to Cut us off.

Indeed, the Second Adam, will deliver us from the Death, which the First Adam has brought upon us. But this Deliverance will be by a Resurrection of the dead The Word of GOD, forbids all Imagination

[Page 17]II. The Experience of dying Mankind, Admonishes all men to be mindful of it, That they are also to Dye. O most over­whelming Admonition! Since all Mankind in every Age has Died before us, and is every Day Dying about us, that man is a Bruit rather than a Man, who Dreams, that he shall Escape the common Lot of Mankind. We read; Eccl. 1.4. One Ge­neration passeth away, and another cometh. Yea, and the Generation that Cometh, we see also Passing away. There have never been a­bove Two men, that have Escaped the Common Lot, for more than Five Thousand Years, which have rolled away since the day that God made Man upon the Earth. The Empire of Death is an Ʋniversal Monarchy. The King of Terrors is a Mo­narch so Great, that he alwayes has the Sun both Rising and Setting in his Dominions. On the whole Face of the Earth it may be, there are about Five Hundred Millions of People. In a few Years, there will no be One of them left! And what is become of them that Peopled the Earth, in the Former Ages? Death, Death has melted them all away, [Page 18] as Drought and Heat Consume the Snow-waters. Our Sinful Earth, has never af­forded, any Priviledged Place unto the Children of men, where the Arrest of Death could not come at them. Has Holiness Exempted any man? Truly, No. The Holy Moses must have it said, Mo­ses my Servant is Dead. Has Courage done it? No; David was a Brave man; And he Died. Has Vigour done it: No; Sampson was a Strong man; And he Died. Has Wisdom done it? No; So­lomon was a Wise man; And he Died. Has Riches done it? No; Ahashuerus was a Rich man; And he Died. Have the Best Qualities imaginable, preserved any man so Invulnerable, that the Arrows of Death could not come at him? No; As Useful, as Humble, as Lovely a man as Paul, a man that had been both in Para­dise, and in the Third Heaven too, must have a Time of departure: And he Died. Every Generation feels the Fulfilment of that Prophecy; Isa. 24.1. Behold, the Lord makes the Earth Empty.

My Hearers, I will put you into a way to pursue this Thought, with a most affecting Pungency! Pass over the several [Page 19] Streets of your Neighbourhood. Stay; — Call to mind a Little: — Who Liv'd in such an House, — and who in such an One, — so many Years ago? — But, where are they now? Oh! They are Gone! They are Gone! The Places that have known them, shall know them no more. Death has carried them off into the other World. — We are deprived of our Senses, if we do not now make that Con­clusion; Isa. 20 6. And how shall we Escape? No, Never think of such a thing!

III. Don't we Feel our selves Dying? Methinks, we are most Feelingly Adomnished by this, That we are to Die. Our Con­stitution may be our Admonition. The deadly Blow is already struck Death has already siezed upon us. Every Day we may perceive Death growing upon us. What are all our Bodily distempers? They are but so many Advances of Death. In all our distempers. Death is hacking and hewing down our Tabernacle. The E­nemy has broken in, and is breaking down, the Carved work thereof, with Axes and Hammers. These things are the Messen­gers of Death. A Wrathful King is at hand. [Page 20] The Term of, Mortis Caduceatores, has been justly put upon them. We read, Job 30 22, 23. Thou dissolvest my Substance; I know thou wilt bring me to Death. He Knew it, because he found a dissolution already begun upon him. O Man, Thy dissolution is already at work upon thee.

Ingenious was the Parable of the An­cients. A man made an Agreement with Death, never to call for him till he had first Warned him of it. At length, Death does call for him; and the man Expostu­lates, That he was not Warned according to Agreement. Say not so, replies Death, Say not so! Did not your Head Ake such a day? Did not your Side Ake such a day? And such a day, did you not find your Sto­mack out of Order? Those, Those are the Warnings that I use to give. Ah, Sirs, if these be the Warnings of Death, you must not pretend, That you are not Warned. More or less, we all have some Touches now and then upon our Health. But this is the Language of them all; Man, Thy Death, Thy Death, is coming on.

Indeed all the Sorrows of Life, are cal­led by the Name of Death. I am sure, They tell us, That we are to die. [Page 21] Yea, The very Supports of Life, carry broad Intimations of our Dying in them. We Die, if we don't now and then go to Sleep. That very Sleep is the Shadow of death. Oh! Fall Asleep with such Con­templations; These Eyes must shortly be Closed by Death! These Limbs must shortly ly down in the Grave. Our Bread is the Staff of Life. If it were not for that Staff, we should soon fall down unto the Earth, into the Earth, from whence we fetch our Bread. Will it alwayes keep us from Falling? No; it sayes, My Friend, whence I came, thither art thou going. A Great part of the Food on which we Live, is the Flesh of dead Creatures. We have Death Death, Dish'd out unto us, on our Tables; DEATH in almost every dish. Oh! Feed with such Contempla­tions; Feed on them too; Most certainly, I cannot alwayes Live upon the dead. Most certainly, dead Creatures can't save me always from Death.

We see the Doctrine of Mortality, un­der some of its Demonstrations. But our Main Work this Day, and indeed the Main Work of every man, every Day of [Page 22] his Life, must be to make some Good Improvement of such a Doctrine.

I. Must we Die? Then we should Live in a Daily Expectation of our Death. A Ser­vant of God could say, 1 Cor. 15.31. I die daily. One thing in dying daily, is to Live with some Expectation every day, as if this may be the day of our death. I do not say, That a man should Live every day, as if he knew it were to be the day of his death. A strain, whereof the Expres­sion should be a little mended. We may very truly and justly, and fairly thus Ex­press it; We should Live every day, as not knowing but that it may be the day of our death. We know, That we are to die; But yet we may say with him; Gen. 27.2. I know not the Time of my death. We do not Know, but this Week, nay, this Day, may be the Time. Every Prayer we make, we may think, It may be this is the Last Prayer that ever I shall make. Every Ser­mon we hear, we may think, It may be this is the Last Sermon that ever I shall hear. Every time we are Conversing with our Friends, we may think, This, may be the Last Time of my Conversation with these [Page 23] Friends. And we may let fall some Weighty, some Useful Sentence unto them, upon that Suspicion: Every Day we may think; Tis possible I may not Live to ano­ther Day. So we are taught; Prov. 27.1. Boast not thy self of To-morrow; for thou knowest not what a Day may bring forth. Such Thoughts, Verily, They should be very Frequent with us! Even Philosophy tells us, That the whole Course of our Life, should be a Meditation on Death. But then, Let us call in Divinity. This will prescribe, A Living to God, as the Preparation for Death, which must be joyn'd with the Meditation of it. And this I am now to proceed unto.

II. Must we Dye? Then our Speedy, our Thorough Preparation for Death, is the ONE THING, that is needful for us. That Word of Command, is now given out, Make all Ready. Tis the Coun­sel of Heaven unto us; Mat. 24.44. Be ye also Ready. Really, the Longest Life is little Enough, to be all spent, in making Ready for Death. Oh! It requires a mighty Preparation! Sirs, We ought im­mediately to make sure of it, That when [Page 24] our Death arrives, it shall not prove a Trap-door, to let us down into Wretched, and Woful, and Hopeless and Endless Con­fusions. With a Message like that, Isa. 38.1. Set thy House in Order, for thou shalt Dye and not Live; I now come unto you, Set thy Soul in Order, for thou shalt shortly Die, thou hast not long to Live.

Here lies the Merit of the Case. The Last Thing that we can say, of this or that Man, is, And he Died. But this will not be the Last Thing that will befal the man. There is a Future State. There is a State of Misery, or of Hap­piness, after Death.

Of a Wicked Man, we read, Luk 16.22, 23. He died, and was buried, and in Hell he was in Torments. The Spirit of a Wicked man, is delivered over into the Hands of Devils. When one part of him, is Covered with the Shadow of Death, the other part of him is Broken in the place of Dragons. If the Relation might be given, it would be this; ‘And he Died: But then his Depraved Soul was cast into an horrid Prison, where it lies in Chains of Darkness, waiting with Horror, for the Eternal Judgment of GOD.’

[Page 25]Of a Godly Man, we read, Rev. 14.13 He is Blessed, and he does Rest. His Death deals by him, as the Wretches did by the Young Man in the Gospel; Catch the Gar­ment; the Person does Escape. So the Relation must proceed, concerning the Spirit of a Godly Man, ‘And he Died: But when his Body is Dead because of Sin, his Spirit is Alive because of Righ­teousness: His Renewed Soul puts on the Garments of Light: It fell into the Com­pany of Holy Angels; and in the Paradise of God, it keeps Joyfully Feeding on its Tree of Life; Joyfully looking for the Ap­pearance of the Great GOD our Saviour, when its Felicity will be Perfected, in the Rais'd and New Body to be bestow'd upon it.’

If these be the Consequences, Oh! What Preparation is to be Endeavoured?

And what is it that will Prepare us for Death; for Blessedness at our Death?

In one word, It is Conversion to GOD. It is that Good Work, whereof we read, Phil. 1.6. God hath begun a Good Work in you.

Briefly, There are Three Points, which our Safety and our Comfort, at our Death, [Page 26] will turn upon. I would propose them to the best Advantage. I will put them into the most Advantageous Form. I will offer them in the Form of Resolutions; Hoping that you will come into these most Reasonable Resolutions, O all ye People, Every one of you.

First; Resolve thus; ‘I am to Die; Therefore I will now flie to the Sacrifice of a Glorious CHRIST, and plead it, and make it my Only Plea, that I may be delivered from the Guilt of Sin, and the Wrath of Heaven. I will now flie to the Righteousness of a Glorious CHRIST, and Thankfully, Heartily, Hopefully Re­ceive it, as the Incomparable Gift of Grace unto me, that I may Inherit the Blessedness of the Righteous.’

Again; Resolve thus; ‘I am to Die; Therefore I will Resign my self up unto the Spirit of the Lord, that all my En­mity to God may be subdued; that I may Fear GOD, and Prize CHRIST, and Hate SIN, and Perfect Holiness in the Fear of God; that the Image of Satan may be Extirpated out of my Soul, and the Ho­ly Image of the LORD Introduced, which may render me Meet for the [Page 27] Inheritance of the Saints in Light.’

All this is Habitual Preparation. An Actu­al Preparation is also Necessary. Where­fore,

Lastly; Resolve thus; ‘I am to Die; Therefore I will keep my Evidences for Everlasting Life so Clear, that the Sudden Approach of Death, may produce no A­mazement in my Soul. I would keep my Soul in such an Heavenly Frame, that no Sudden Approach of Death, may find me Indisposed for the Heavenly World.’

How inexcusably Remiss are they, what Remissness, what Sotti [...]hness, beyond an Epithet, are they Guilty of, who do not now come into these Resolutions! — I doubt, I have used a Term a little too Dilatory; that Term, I Will. Instead of, I Will, and all that may look like the least, Hereafter, in the Case, Oh! Let it all be done, Immediately! I say, Immediately!

III. Must we Die? Then we ought Now to Do, what we shall at our Death, wish to have done. Our Death will bring us to a Right Sense of Things. Oh! Let our Sense, that we are to Die, do so too! Men have the Clearest Sight of Things, [Page 28] when they have the Dimness of the Sha­dow of Death upon their Eye-lids. The Thoughts of a Dying Man, are usually the Soundest and the Truest Thoughts. We are so advised; Deut. 32.29 Oh! That they were Wise, that they would Consider their Latter End. There is the Best Wisdom, with such as are so well Advised, as to Consider, what Reflections, will be Grievous, Irksome, Full of Regret unto us, in our Latter End; and Now, shun all that will then cause Reflections: Consider, what Re­flections will at our Latter End, fill us with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory; and Now do those things, which will then yield those Reflections.

My Friend; Suppose thy self in thy Last Agonies; thy Breath failing, thy Throat ratling, thy Eyes giving a ghastly Look, thy Hands clammy, and pulling; and thy Soul, thy Soul, taking wing for the Eternal World; Consider, ‘O my Soul, What would I wish to have done, or to have left undone, at this Decretory Hour!’ Oh! Regulate thy Life accordingly.

Do so particularly, in laying aside Con­tentions and Animosities. Men at the Point of Death, are for Burying all Personal [Page 29] Controversies; they are for a Reconci­liation with their Personal Adversaries. Why should they Live so as they would be Lothe to Die? Sirs, The Sun must not go down upon your Wrath; It will be Sun­sett presently!

IV. Must we Die? Then our Friends must also Die. We must not wonder at it. It is what must befal every one of us all. Ambrose was in the right of it, when he said unto Mourners, Quid ab­surdius, quam ut id quod scias omnibus esse prescriptum, quasi speciale deplores? We are by a Greater Authority so call'd upon; 1. Cor. 7.30. This I say, Brethren, The Time is short. It remains, that they that Weep, be as tho' they Wept not. One sayes, ‘When I have deplored the Death of my Friend, as a Friend, I must learn to bear it as a Saint. It is a wretched Vertue, not to know what else, than to Be­wail the Dead.’ Oh! Let all Friends look for a Parting Time. Live together, as they that must not Alwayes Live together. We see People every where Mourning over their departed Friends. We must look for such things.

[Page 30]Must we so? Then let us Discharge our Duty to our Friends, before it comes to this. Let us do them all the Good that ever we can, while we have, an Op­portunity to Do them Good. Let our Carriage to our Friends, be such, that if they Dye before us, we may be able with inexpressible Consolation, to look back upon our Faithfulness.

Let Me therefore deal Faithfully in this very Thing, with You, my Friends. I must Faithfully tell you; If a Soul Related unto you be snatch'd out of this world by Death, and you must own, you never did any thing for the Salvation of that Soul, Suppose it one of your Children, or one of your Servants, or a Relative nearer than either of them: Oh! the astonishing Anguish, which your Souls, must on such a deplorable Occasion be fill'd withal! Sirs; We are to Dye. We should first make Ready for our own Death; and then for the Death of our FRIENDS. We don't know, which may get the start in the Race to the Goal of Death.

V. Must we Dye? Yet let us Rejoyce in a Redeemer, that will one Day save us [Page 31] from Death Dying Saint; Let that be thy dying Song; Job 19.25. I know that my Redeemer Lives; and that He shall stand at the Latter day over the Earth; And He shall Raise me out of the Earth. O Joy­ful Tidings! The Resurrection was of old called, The Consolation. Tho' the Pagans were Strangers to the Mystery, and Scos­sers at it, [Witness Plinies flouts, Quae malum, ista dementia est, itorari Vitam Morte!] Yet, The Children of God, even in the Secular Times [Called so, Rom. 16.25. because measured by Jubilees:] of the Old Testament, believed a Resur­rection. God promised them a share in the Blessings of, The Kingdom of the Mes­siah. They Died, before these Promises were accomplished. Hence they inferred, That they must be Raised from death, to Enjoy these Promises. It was a Right Inference! Their Faith was God will Re­deem my Soul from the Power of the Grave. But then, the Gospel of the New Testament, has more Conspiciously, more Abundantly, brought Life and Immortality to Light; a Resurrection, that is, to a Life of Immor­tality. For now we have seen our Lord JESUS CHRIST Himself Risen to such a [Page 32] Life; and so Risen, as to leave no Room for doubt, that He will also Raise His Fol­lowers, to such a Life. He has told us, [For so it should be rendred:] He that Believeth on me, shall not die for ever: Tho' he Dye, he shall not lie dead for ever. And we have, in His Resurrection, an Irrefra­gable Proof, That He has not therein Deceived us. This, This then shall be the Triumph of our Souls: ‘LORD, When wilt Thou come, and make the Graves yield up their Dead, and deliver the Law­ful Captive, and the Prey of the Terrible! Rejoyce not against us, O our Enemy, Death; For, tho' we Fall, we shall Rise again; when we sit in Darkness, the Lord shall be a Light unto us!’ Wherefore, Comfort one another with these Words. A­mong the Primitive Christians, they would often have the Pourtraicts of Enoch, of La­zarus, of Jonas, and of Ezekiels Vision, on their Caemeterial Cells, to Proclaim their Comfortable Faith of the Resurrection, to sweeten their Habitation in the Dry Pit in the Land where the Sun shines not. But on the Sepulchral Monuments, it was usual for others of them to inscribe the First Letters in the Name of our Saviour. [Page 33] I ask not for those Actions, but for our Following of the Faith which produced them!

¶ Finally; Must we all Die? Then Persons in a Publick Station are to Dye; Their Publick Station will not Secure them. Even those Men, who because of their Vicegerency are called, Gods, yet have this Praemonition from Him, that is Infinitely Higher than the Highest of them all; You shall Dye like Men. Hence the Indian Kings of Mexico, would have their Coronation-Robes Painted with Skulls and Bones of Dead Men, to mind them of their Mortality, with their So­vereignty.

Give me leave, to do at least the part of a Deaths-Head among you!

OFFICERS of all sorts; You are to Dye. But then certainly your Behaviour in your several Offices ought to be such, that you may give up a Good Account, unto GOD the Judge of All. It was a Voice that once came from the Imperial Purple; the Speech of Alexander the Son of Mammaea; That he had an Hand al­wayes [Page 34] in readiness, to tear out the E [...]es of Corrupt and Pareial Officers. Tis very sure, The Great GOD, hath such and Hand; He has Threatned, He will tear such in Pieces, there shall be none to deliver them:

MINISTERS, They are to Dye. Then, My Fathers and Brethren, You should not be Men of this World. You must Live like men on the Edge of the Eternal World. It was a stroke in the Charge given to Ministers at their Or­dination of old; Habeatis Eternitatem in omnibus Cogitationibus vestris. How Pain­ful, how Watchful, how Faithful ought you to be, in the Discharge of your Ministry! In what a continual [...] Flame, to Do Good, and Serve Christ, and Win Souls? That no part of your Work be found Undone, when your Working Time is done! Excellent the Pattern for us, in One of the Ancients, who could say, Wherever I come, and whatever I do, methinks, I hear the Trumpet of the Arch-angel, Arise ye Dead, and come to Iudgment!

MAGISTRATES, They are to Dye. Then, with what Fidelity, with what In­tegrity [Page 35] should they acquit themselves! With what Concern for the Welfare of the People, to whom they are Shields, by the Oath of God upon them! That when they Dye, it may be Testified for them, They did Good in Israel; and had the Seven things, which Maimonides tells us, the Jews required of every one that sat in a Court of Judicature; Wisdom, Humility, The Fear of God, Contempt of Riches, The Love of Truth, A Good Fame, and, To be Beloved of Others. Magistrates must not be Insen­sible, that they are to appear before the Judgment-seat of GOD. Nuper eram In­dex; Jam Judicor. —

GOVERNOURS must also Dye; Em­perors are Dead. What Obligations does their Mortality lay upon them? Even a­mong the Pagans, there were GOVER­NOURS, that were Charming Exemples of Truth, of Justice, of Goodness, and of a Zeal for the Publick. Of such a Conduct, that like Nerva, they could Profess, Were I to return to a Private Life, I have never done any One thing, that should make me Afraid of any One Man in the World. [Page 36] Strangely Beloved among the People; sty­led, like Titus, The Darlings of Mankind. The People have been ready to Adore them, as they did the Antonines, and stigmatize the Houses that had not their Statues or Pictures in them. Cer­tainly, among us Christians, there should be a Greater Excellency; I say, A Greater Ex­cellency. So saith our Saviour, What do you more than Others?

A GOVERNOUR greatly and justly Beloved among his People, [Tis no Flat­tery to Affirm, what Envy it self can't De­ny!] was Lately seen at the Head of One of our Colonies. He is this Day to be Interr'd among us; tis with wondrous Lamentations; with such as I may describe in the words of Suetonius upon the Death of the Illustrious Roman; They are, Non secus atque in domestico Luctu Maerentibus publice Cunctis; Or, such as men have at the Loss of their own most Intimate Rela­tions.

The GENTLEMAN, by whose Death One of our Colonies, as Beheaded, lies a Bleeding, and One who in the Confession [Page 37] of all men, had the, True spirit of a Gentleman, will alwayes be Remembred with Esteem among his People. I Con­fess, we are sometimes affronted with False Praises in Funeral Sermons; which deserve as much to be derided, as those Passages of Nero's Oration were by the Senate, wherein he Cried up the Discretion of Claudius. I shall not be guilty of them, when I say of this our WINTHROP; He will be ever Mentioned, as he was highly Esteemed, very Particularly, for his Courteous way of Treating all men, but especially Good Men, and Old Men, on all occasions; and for his Paternal, and Patient, and Generous Administration of the Publick Affairs.

His Excellent FATHER, One of the Best of Men, [Of whom we may also say, what has been said of another, He was Son to an Excellent Father, and Father to an Ex­cellent Son:] HE laid that Charge upon him; That if ever he had an Opportunity, to do any Service for his People, he should be sure to do it, with all the Alacrity imaginable. He would speak of this Charge, and of the Vast Impression it made upon him. He perform'd it, He fulfill'd it. Our [Page 38] Enosh, never Forgat it. He went over the Atlantic on purpose to procure a Con­firmation of their Invaded Liberties. GOD Prospered him: Returned him. He flew back with an Olive-branch which prov'd a Garland unto him: The Obliged People (instead of an Obsidional Crown for him) Chose him for their GOVERNOUR. They said unto him, as the General As­sembly of old said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, for thou hast Delivered us. They found him a GOVERNOUR, that fully answered their Expectation. I am sure, I shall not fall under the Character, of a Simeon Metaphrastes, for bearing such a Testimony.

And where, O Bereaved Colony, where will you now find a Strong Rod, by which your Government may be Carried on? The Circumstances of the Day require an Extraordinary Man; A Man, which none but a Glorious CHRIST can make for you. Certainly, You will Present your most ardent Supplications unto Him for such a Man. Your Brethren here, that Love you, will also Pray for you. We will Pray for you, That there may be a Perpetual Reign of all Godliness and Ho­nesty [Page 39] among you, and Every thing that a People favoured Above all the Families of the Earth should have shining among them. We will Pray for you, That you may be a People, who for Ʋnity as well as Equity, and for Gratitude and Obedience unto Good Rulers, and Thankfulness & Fruitfulness under your Evangelical Priviledges, may Adorn your Profession wonderfully.

When you Lost the GOVERNOUR, who was the Father of him that is now ta­ken from you, I heard Funeral Sermons, Preached on those Words; 2 Chron. 34.28. Th [...] shalt be Gathered unto thy Grave in Peace, neither shall thine Eyes see all the Evil, that I will bring upon this Place. We will Pray, we will Pray, That Unknown Evil may not now, be coming upon you

I will Conclude with a Good Advice to us all, which I have somewhere met withal.

‘Since we have Lived here, and since we are to Die, and yet we Live after Death, and others will succed us, when we are Dead, we are greatly Concerned, To send Before us a very Good TREASURE; To carry With us a very Good CONSCI­ENCE; And to leave Behind us a very Good EXAMPLE.’