taken away from all the Evils that are either prefent or to come; and they die to receive the Gift of Life. As to the former, God indulges his Servants an Efcape out of this Clay, and they inftantly lose all their forrowful Refentments; no wafting Sighs, no fhocking Groans damp the Harmony of the upper Realms; they fhall know no more what Perfecution, Tribulation, or Distress mean. There is nothing that gives Anxiety or Difquietude in all the Mount of God. And, oh, ferene and happy Day, that shall chafe away all the Gloom and Horrors that over-caft the prefent! What Light does this throw on the Vail of Death, in order to reconcile you to the Removal of your Minifters, when in the Service of their great Mafter they have weathered all the Storms of Life, he hides and fhelters them in the Grave," where the Wicked ccafe from troubling, and the Weary are at Reft!" Sce Job. iii. 17. Now, as to the latter-As to the Gift of Life, which good Men die to receive.Who can tell what God has prepared for them that love him, can difplay the Glories of the upper World, the vaft unknown Elifs there? Now your Minifters toil under great Difadvantages, to enrich their own Understandings, and inform yours; often they confume the Lamp of Life, to light the other of Knowledge; but they fhail not always wade in Clouds and Mifts; in Mercy they are releafed from

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from this dark Inclosure, and Truth fhines naked into them; they fee Things in their mutual Connection and Dependance, and bafk in divine Light. What a religious Glow of all the Affections is imparted to them by it! And how regular is the Tendency of them! They fee God, and are like him; behold himFace to Face, and are changed into the fame Image ! Say, What must be the Happinets that refults from this Temper! What must be the Bliss of heavenly Converfes! which Honour have all his Saints; and he that would not die to receive it, is not worthy of it. "Tis a Delight even to the Saviour of Mankind himself to fee the Travail of his Soul, and all his fpiritual Progeny, arrive fafe where he is; What then will be the Harmony of thofe happy Souls, when they meet and mingle in the most endearing Intercourfes above! How bright will the Conftellation be, when all the faithful Minifters of the Gofpel, and all other good, or righteous Perfons, "who fhine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father," fhall croud and fill the Firmament of God, together! What a Burft of Light! How will the Heavens glow, when they meet and mingle Rays! and there is that equal conftant Flame that will melt them into an inviolable Union; for the Spirits made perfect are all kind, charitable, and good-natured; they know not the Jargon of our Difputes, nor any of the

Difcord

Discord which obftructs the Satisfaction good Perfons fhould take in one another now. Thefe are a few Strictures of that happy State' which forms the Reward annexed to the Duties of the Character which the Text exhibits to us. And who is there that has any Evidences of an Intereft in them, that can. e forbear crying out in the Language of the Spirit, "Come, Lord Jefus, come quickly." Having thus gone through the Particulars, which the Subject most naturally fuggefts to Confideration, it only remains, that I endeavour to make a fuitable Application of them, and of that gloomy Providence which has led me to them. And, firft,

1. We may learn from a Review of what has occurred in the preceding Parts of this Difcourfe, how little room there is to lament the lofs of Minifters, or other good Men, upon their Account. It muft only be on our own Account. If they could now fpeak to us, it would certainly be in the Language of their divine Mafter, when he was lamented by fome who attended his Execution, "Weep "not for us, but weep for yourselves, and " for your Children." See Luke xxiii. 28. As to them, as to Minifters and other good Men, "If we loved them, why fhould we not rejoice, because they are gone to the Father!" The greatest, the wifeft, and the best of all Beings, "In whose Presence there is a Fulness D 2

" of

"of Joy; and, at whofe right Hand there "are Rivers of uninterrupted Pleasures flow

ing for evermore;" and who is both able and willing to do infinitely more and better than we can exprefs, or conceive of. Dying, to good Minifters, or good Men, or to the good Soldiers of Jefus Chrift is their returning, as it were, from abroad, "Into their defired "Haven of Reft, where they are glad, becaufe

they are quiet," and can calmly review the Dangers of their Expedition, gratefully rejoicing in their Safety, both from the Wiles of the Enemy, and the threatning Waves of a ftormy Sea. And, fhall we repine at their Felicity? No! then let it appear by the Compofure, Submiffion and Refignation of our whole Deportment, by our Temper and Conduct, upon the Removal of our beft-loved Friends, Relations, and Acquaintance, that their advantageous Exchange of Worlds, is a Confideration of more Weight with us than the Lofs we fuftain. Otherways, we may be too juftly reproached with a Degree of Selfifhnefs, which will but ill agree with our Profeffions of Love and Friendship for the Deceafed, But as a farther particular Application of that mournful Event, which we are now endeavouring to improve, in the fecond place,

2. Let us learn from it to revere, adore, and fubmit to the Mysteries of God's Providence. Let us never prefume to determine

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of ourfelves, or for ourselves, what is good, or what is fit, but in concurrence with the Meafures and Intimations of our Father who is in Heaven. We are now under the Exercifes of a very painful Conviction, how little we know of what is Right and what is Wrong; what fhould be and what fhould not be. For who is there in this Affembly, or in any of the diffenting Churches, where the Name and the Virtues of your late worthy Paftor had been heard and allowed of, but would have thought his very ufeful and valuable Life, of Importance enough to have been prolonged, even beyond the Pfalmift's Period of "three fcore Years and ten"? But, alafs, it fell fhort of this Period, and short of that Period too to which many live, whofe Lives, we may imagine, would have been in Mercy taken away long ago; who live a burden to themfelves, and an Incumbrance to their Friends; "Who long for Death, but it cometh not, "and dig for it more than for hid Treasure; "who would rejoice exceedingly, and be

glad, if they could find the Grave." And this is not all: There are fome continued in the World, who only live to be vicious, who grow old in Sin and Mischief; whilst many good Men, of fingular Service to their Families, their Friends and the World, are hurried out of it. Thefe are fome of thofe "Clouds "which furround the Habitation of God's "Holiness,"