A

CHRISTIAN’S CONFLICTS AND CONQUESTS;

OR,

A DISCOURSE

CONCERNING, THE DEVIL'S CONTINUAL HOSTILITY AGAINST MAN; THE WARFARE OF A CHRISTIAN LIFE; THE CERTAINTY OF SUCCESS IN THIS SPIRITUAL WARFARE.

SIRACIDES, Cap. 2, 1.

A CHRISTIAN'S

CONFLICTS AND CONQUESTS,

REPRESENTED

IN A DISCOURSE UPON JAMES 4: 7. " Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

CHAP. 1:

The Introduction, summarily treating of the perpetual Enmity between God, the Principle of Good, and the Principle of Evil, the Devil: as also between whatsoever is from God, and that which is from the Devil.

IT has been an ancient tradition among philosophers, that there are two main principles that spread their influence through the whole universe: the one they called the principle of good, the other the principle of evil and that these two maintain a continual contest the one with the other. The principle of goodness, which is nothing else but God himself, who derived himself in clear and lovely impressions of beauty and goodness through the whole creation, endeavors still to assimilate and unite it to himself. And, on the other side, the principle of evil,, the prince of darkness, having once stained the original beauty and glory of the Divine workmanship, is continually striving to mould and shape it more and more into his own likeness. And as there is such a perpetual and active enmity between God and the evil spirit, so whatsoever is from God is perpetually opposing and warring against that which arises from the devil. The Divine goodness has put enmity between whatsoever is born of him or flows from itself, and the seed of the serpent. As at the beginning he divided between the night and the day, between light and darkness, so that they can never be reconciled one to the other; so neither can those beams of Divine light and love which descend from God upon the souls of men be ever reconciled to those mists of sin and darkness which ascend out of the bottomless pit. That spirit is not from God, who is the father of lights, and in whom there is no darkness, as the apostle speaks, which endeavors to compound with hell, and to accommodate between God and the devil. God himself has set the bounds to darkness and the shadow of death. Divine truth and goodness cannot contract themselves with any thing that is from hell: as it was set forth in the emblem under the old law, where none of the holy seed might marry with the people of any strange god.

He that will entertain any correspondence with the devil, or receive upon his soul his image or the number of his name, must first strip himself of all that has any alliance to God or true goodness within him. He must transform his mind into the true likeness of those fiends of darkness, and abandon all relation to the highest good. And yet though some men endeavor to do this,. and to smother all those impressions of light and reason which God has folded up in every man's being, and destroy all that is from. God within them, that so they may reconcile themselves to sin and hell; yet they can never make any just peace with then:” there is no peace to the wicked, but they are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest.” Those evil spirits are always turbulent and restless; and though they maintain continually a war with God and his kingdom, yet are they always making disturbances in their own kingdom; and the more they contest with God, and are deprived of him, the more full are they of horror and tumultuous commotions within. Nothing can stand firm and sure, nothing can have any true and quiet establishment, that has not the everlasting arms of true goodness under it to support it. And as those that deliver over themselves most to the devil's pleasure, and devote themselves most to his service, cannot do it without a secret inward antipathy against him, or dreadful thoughts of him; so neither can those impure spirits stand before the Divine glory, but being filled with trembling and horror continually endeavor to hide themselves from it, and flee away before it as the darkness flies away before the light. And according as God has in any places, in any ages of the world, made any manifestation of himself to men, so have those evil spirits been vanquished, and forced to quit their former territories; as is very observable in the ceasing of all the Grecian oracles soon after the gospel was promulged in those parts, when those desolate spirits, with horrid and dismal groans, resigned up their habitations, as Plutarch has recorded of them.

Our Savior found by good experience, how weak a thing the devil's kingdom is, when he “spoiled all the principalities and powers of darkness, and made a spew of them openly, triumphing over them in his cross.” And if we will resolutely follow the Captain of our salvation, and fight under his banner, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, we have full security given us for the same success: “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

CHAP. 2:

That the Devil is continually busy with us. The Devil considered under a double Notion. 1. As an apostate Spirit which fell from God. The great Danger of the Devil's Activity, not only when he presents himself in some corporeal Shape, but when he is unseen.

IN these words, “resist the devil, and he will flee from you,” we shall take notice first, of what is evidently implied, viz. That the devil is continually busy with us. This may be considered under a double notion.

1. By the devil we are to understand that apostate spirit who fell from God, and is always designing to hale down others from God also. The old dragon (mentioned in the Revelation) with his tail drew down the third part of the stars of heaven. As true goodness is not content to be happy alone, so neither can sin and wickedness be content to be miserable alone. The evil spirit told God himself what his employment was, viz. “To go to and fro in the earth, and to walk up and down in it.” He is always walking up and down through dry places, (where no Divine influences, fall to water it,) as our Savior speaks, seeking rest, though always restless. The philosophy of the ancients has observed, that every man that comes into this world, has a good and an evil genius attending upon him. It were perhaps a vain curiosity to inquire whether the number of evil spirits exceed the number of men; but this is too certain, that we never want the secret attendance of them. The devil is not only a word or a name made to affright timorous men: neither are we then only in danger of him, when he presents himself to us in some corporeal form. It is a superstitious weakness to be afraid of him only when he appears, and to neglect that unseen and insensible influence which his continual converse with us may have upon us. Those evil spirits are not yet cast out of the world into outer darkness, though it be prepared for them; the bottomless pit has not yet shut its mouth upon them. They fell from God not so much by a local descent, as by a mental apostasy and dissimilitude to God. And they have all this habitable world for their rendezvous, and are styled by the apostle” spiritual wickedness in high places.” Wheresoever there are any in a disposition to sin against God, wheresoever there are any capable of a temptation or diabolical impression, there are they. A man needs not dig into the chambers of death, or search among the shadows' of darkness to find them; lie needs not go down into hell to seek them, or use any magical charms to raise them up from thence. No, those wicked spirits are always wandering up and down amongst us, seeking whom they may devour. As there is a good spirit conversant in the world, inviting and alluring men to virtue,, so, there is an evil spirit perpetually tempting and enticing men to vice. Unclothed and unbodied natures may converse with us by secret illapses, while we are not aware of them. I doubt not that there are many more impressions made upon the minds of men, both good and bad, from the good Spirit of God, than are ordinarily observed; there are many soft and silent impulses, gentle motions, like our Savior's putting in his hand by the hole of the door, as it is in the Canticles, soliciting and exciting men to religion and holiness; which they many times regard not, and take little notice of.

There are such secret messages often brought from heaven to the souls of men by an unknown and unseen hard, as the Psalmist speaks; “Once, yea twice have I heard it, that power belongs unto God,” And as there are such Divine irradiations sliding into the souls of men from God; so there is no question many suggestions to the imaginations of men arising from the evil spirit; and a watchful observer of his own heart and life, shall often hear the voice of wisdom and the voice of folly speaking to him. He that has his eyes opened, may see both the visions of God falling upon him, and discern the fires of Satan that would draw away his mind from God.

This is our unhappiness, that the devil is so near us, and we set: him not; he is conversant with us, and we are not aware of him. Those are the most desperate designs, and likeliest to take effect, that are carried on by an unseen enemy; and if we will provide ourselves against the devil, who never misses any opportunity to tempt us, we must have our” senses exercised to discern both good and evil;” we must get our minds awakened with clear and evident principles of light; we must get our judgments and consciences well informed with sober and practical truth, such as tends to make us most like to God, and to reconcile our natures more perfectly to Divine goodness. Then shall we know and discover that apostate spirit in all his stratagems whereby he seeks to bereave us of our happiness. We shall know him as well when he clothes himself like an angel of light, as when he appears in his own nakedness and deformity. It is observed by some, that God never suffered the devil to assume any human shape, but-with some character whereby his body might be distinguished from the true body of a man. And surely the devil cannot so exactly counterfeit an angel of light, but that by a discerning mind he may be distinguished from him; as they say-a beggar can never act a prince so cunningly, but that his behavior sometimes sliding into the way of his education, will betray his pedigree to one of a true noble extraction. A bare imitation will always fall short of the copy from whence it is taken; and though sin and error may take up the mantle of truth and clothe themselves with it, yet he that is inwardly acquainted with truth, and an ingenuous lover and pursuer of it, will be able to find out the imposture, and to see through the veil into the naked deformity of them,

CHAP. 3:

Of the Activity of the Devil, considered as a Spirit of Apostasy, and as a degenerate Nature in Men.

When we say of the devil is continually busy with us, I mean riot only some apostate spirit as one particular being, but that spirit of apostasy which is lodged in all men's natures; and this may seem particularly to be aimed at in this place, if we observe the context; as the scripture-speaks of Christ not only as a particular person, but as a Divine principle in holy souls.

Indeed the devil is riot only the name of one particular thing, but a nature. He is not only one particular being designed to torment wicked men in the world to come, but a hellish and diabolical nature seated in the minds of men. He is not only one apostate spirit fallen down from heaven, out of the lap of blessedness; but also a spirit of apostasy, a degenerate and depraved nature. Could the devil change his foul and impure nature, he would neither be a devil nor miserable; and so long as any man carries about him a sinful and corrupt nature, he can neither be in perfect favor with God, nor blessed.

Wheresoever we see malice, revenge, pride, envy, hatred, self-will, and self-love, we may say here, and there is that evil spirit. This indeed is the poison and sting too of that diabolical nature; as the kingdom of heaven is not so much without men as within, so the tyranny of the devil and hell is not so much in external things, as in the dispositions of men's minds. And as the enjoying of God and conversing with him consists not so much” in a change of place, as in a participation of the Divine nature,” so our conversing with the devil is riot so much by a local presence as by a wicked nature derived upon men's souls. Therefore the Jews were wont to style that original pravity that is lodged in men's spirits, “The angel of death.” Those filthy lusts and corruptions which men entertain in their minds, are the noisome vapors that ascend out of the bottomless pit; they are the thick mists and fogs of hellish darkness arising in their souls, as a preface and introduction of hell and death within. Where we find uncleanness, intemperance, covetousness, or any such impure or unhallowed behavior, we may say, Here

Satan's throne is.

This sinful nature being the true issue of hell itself, is continually dragging down men's souls thither. All wickedness in man's spirit has the energy of hell in it, and ’is perpetually pressing down towards it as towards its own place. There needs no fatal necessity or astral impulses to tumble wicked men forcibly into hell; no, for sin itself, hastened by the mighty weight of its own nature, carries them down thither with the most headlong motion. Sin has no other extraction than may be derived from those unclean spirits that are nestled in hell. All men in reality converse either with God or with the devil, and walk in the confines either of heaven or of hell; they have their fellowship either with the Father and the Son, as St. John speaks, or else with the apostate and evil angels.

I know these expressions will seem to some very harsh and unwholesome. But I would beseech them to consider what they will call that spirit of malice and envy, that spirit of pride, ambition, vain-glory, covetousness, injustice, uncleanness, that commonly reigns and acts in the minds and lives of men. Let us speak the truth, and call things by-their own names; let us not flatter ourselves, or paint our filthy sores; so much as there is of sin in any man, so much there is of the diabolical nature. Why do we defy the devil with our tongues, while we entertain him in our hearts Men do but quarrel with him in the name of him, while their hearts can readily comply with all that which the devil is; their hatred of the devil is nothing else but an inward displacency against something entitled by the devil's name. Or else at best, corrupt minds do nothing else but fashion out a God and a devil, a heaven and a hell, to themselves, by the power of their own fancies. And so they are to them nothing else but their own creatures, supported by the force of their own imaginations which first raised them. And as they commonly make a God like to themselves, such a one as they can best comply with and love; so they make a devil most unlike to themselves, which may be any thing but what they themselves are, that so they may -most freely spend their anger and hatred upon him. Just as they say of some of the Ethiopians, who use to paint the devil white, because they themselves are black. They may thus cheat themselves for awhile, but the eternal foundation of the Divine Being is unchangeable. God is but One, and his name One, as the prophet speaks, howsoever the fancies of men may shape him out diversely; and where we find wisdom, justice, loveliness, goodness, love, and glory, in their highest elevations and most unbounded dimensions, that is He; and where we find any true participations, of these, there is a true communication of God; and a defection from these is the essence of sin and the foundation of hell.

Now if this be rightly considered, I hope there will an argument strong enough appear from the thing itself, to enforce St. James's exhortation,” Resist the devil;” endeavor to mortify and crucify the old man, with all corrupt lusts and affections.

We never so truly hate sin as when we hate it for its own deformity; as we never love God so truly as when we love him for his own beauty and excellency. If we calculate aright, we shall find nothing better than God himself, for which we should love him; so neither shall we find any thing worse than sin itself, for which we should hate it. Our assimilation to God and conformity to him, instates us in a firm possession of true happiness, which is nothing else but God himself, who is all-being and blessedness; and our dissimilitude to God, and apostasy from him, involves us in our own misery, and sets us at the greatest enmity to what our unsatiable desires most of all crave for, which is the enjoyment of true and satisfying good. Sins are fiery snakes, which will eternally lash and torment all damned spirits: every man's hell arises from the bottom of his own soul; as those tempestuous exhalations that infest the earth have their first original from the earth itself. Hell is not so much induced as educed out of men's filthy lusts and passions. Eternal death is begotten and brought forth out of the womb of lust, and is little else but sin consummated.

Would wicked men dwell a little more at home, and descend into the bottom of their own hearts, they should soon find hell opening her mouth wide upon them, and those secret fires of inward fury and displeasure breaking out upon them, which might fully inform them of the estate of true misery, as being a short anticipation of it. But in this life, wicked men, for the most part, elude their own misery for a time, and seek to avoid the dreadful sentence of their own consciences, by flying from themselves into a converse with other things, else they would soon find their own home too hot for them. But while men's minds are perpetually rambling all the world over in a pursuit of worldly designs, they are unacquainted with the affairs of their own souls; and know not how a reflection upon their own prodigious deformities would pierce their souls with anguish; how vastly they would swell with fury, rage, horror, consternation, and whatsoever is contrary to that ineffable light, and love, and peace, which is in heaven, in natures fully reconciled to true goodness! As true goodness cannot borrow beauty from any external thing to recommend itself to the affections of good men, seeing itself is the very life of all beauty and perfection, the source of bliss and peace to all that partake of her; so neither can sin and wickedness to an enlightened soul appear more ugly, loathsome, and hateful, in any other shape than its own.

CHAP. 4:

The Second Observable, viz. The Warfare of a Christian Life. True Religion consists not in a mere passive Capacity, and sluggish kind of doing nothing, nor in a melancholy sitting still, or slothful waiting, but in inward Life, and Power, Vigor and Activity. Of the Quality and Nature of the true spiritual Warfare, and of the Manner and Method of it.

FROM these words, resist the devil, we-may take notice of the. warfare of a Christian life, of that active life and valor which-good men express in this world. A true Christian spirit is masculine and generous; it is no such poor sluggish thing, which some men fancy, but active and noble. “We fight not,” says the apostle, “against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places.” True religion does not consist in a mere passive capacity, in a sluggish kind of doing nothing, that so God might do all; but in life and power within; therefore, it is called by the apostle, The spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind; the law of the spirit of life,” strongly enabling good men against “the law of sin and death.” True wisdom, as the wise man has well styled it, is “the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory of the Almighty; neither can any defiled thing enter into it.” It goes in and out in the strength of God himself,; and, “as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.” Everything, as it partakes more of God, and comes nearer to him, so it becomes more active and lively, as making the nearer approaches to the fountain of life and virtue. A good man does not only then move, when there is some powerful impression and impulse upon him,” but he has a spring of perpetual motion within. When God restores men to a new and Divine life, he does not make them like so many dead instruments, stringing and fitting them, which yet are able to yield no' sound of themselves, but he puts a living harmony within them. That is but a mechanical religion, which moves no longer than some external weights and impulses are upon it; whether those be from some worldly thing, or from God himself, while he acts upon men, from without them, and not from within them. It is not a melancholy kind of sitting still, and slothful waiting, that speaks men, enlivened by the spirit and power of God. It; is not religion, to stifle and smother those active powers that are within us, or to dry up the fountain of inward life and virtue. How say some amongst us, that there is no resurrection from the dead-no spirit of life within

But all our motions in religion arc merely from some assisting form without Good men do not walk- up and down the world merely like ghosts and shadows, or like dead bodies, assumed by some spirit, which are taken up and laid down again by him at his pleasure; but they are living men, by a real participation from him who is a quickening Spirit. Were our religion so much a thing without us, as some men would seem to fancy; were we so dead and lifeless, that we could never move, but from an external force; as our religion could never, indeed, be called ours, so neither could we ever have the inward sense of that bliss and peace which goes along with it, but must be like so many heavy logs, or dull pieces of earth, in heaven and happiness. That is a very earthly and flat spirit in religion, which sinks, like the lees, to the bottom. We know the pedigree of those exhalations, that arise no higher than a mere external force from the sun's heat, which weighs them up, to be but base and earthly; and therefore, having, no natural warmth or energy within themselves, sink down again to the earth from whence they came. The spirit which is from heaven, is always, out of an inbred nobleness which bears it up, carried upwards again towards heaven, powerfully resisting all things that would deprive it of God, or hinder it from returning to its original; it is always moving upwards, in an even and steady way towards God, from whence it came, leaving the dark regions of hell and death under it. It resists hell and darkness by conforming itself to God; it resists darkness in the armor of light; it resists death and destruction, by the power of Divine love. It must be something of heaven, in the minds of men, which resists the devil and hell.

We do not always resist the devil when we bid him defiance, or when we declaim most zealously against him; neither does our resisting and opposing sin consist in the violence of some passions, which may sometimes be raised by the power of fancy against it; it consists rather in a mature and sedate resolution against it, in our own souls, arising from a clear judgment of the foul and hateful nature of sin itself, and him who is the patron of it; in. a constant and serious endeavor of settling the government of our souls, and establishing the principality of grace and peace within ourselves. There is a pompous

and popular kind of tumult in the world, which sometimes goes for zeal for God and his kingdom against the devil; when men's own pride and passions disguise themselves under the notions of a religious fervency. Some men think themselves the greatest champions for God and his cause, when they can take the greatest liberty to quarrel with every thing which is not shaped according to the mould of their own opinions, their own will, humor, and interest: whereas, indeed, this spiritual warfare is not so much maintained against a, foreign enemy, as against those domestic rebellions that are within.

neither is it carried on most successfully, when men make the greatest noise, and most of all raise the dust. That impetuous violence and tempestuousness with which men are acted, in pretensions of religion, arises ordinarily, I doubt, from unquiet minds within; whereas, it is indeed, inward commotion, sin and vice, and not a holy zeal, which discomposes the minds of men. Sin, where it is entertained, will breed disturbance, and break the peace of a man's own spirit; but a true resisting and opposing it, is the restoring the soul to its just consistency, freedom, and serenity. As God's kingdom is set up, so the devil's kingdom may be pulled down, without the noise of axes and hammers. We may then attain to the greatest achievements against the gates of hell, and death, when we most possess our souls in patience, and collect our minds into the most peaceful, composed, and united temper. As true religion is no lazy or sluggish thing, but in perpetual motion, so all the motions of it are soft and gentle; while it acts most powerfully, it acts most peacefully. The kingdom of heaven comes not with observation, that men may say,” Lo here, or lo there!” it is not with the devouring fire coming after it, or a whirlwind, going before it.

This fight and contest with sin and Satan, is not to be known by the rattling of chariots, or the sound of an alarm: it is transacted upon the in stage of men's souls and spirits, and is rather a quieting all those riots and tumults raised there by sin and Satan; it is a reconciling the minds of men to truth, justice, and holiness; it is a captivating and subjecting all our powers and faculties to God and true goodness, through the effectual working of a Divine love and humility; and this resistance is always attended with victory.

CHAP. 5:

The Certainty of Success and Victory to all those that resist the Devil.

Obser. 3. The certainty of success to all that resist the devil.” Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” He cannot stand, when opposed in the strength of God; he will fall down as swift as lightning; he cannot bear the glory of God shining in the souls of men: here it is no more, but” Stand, and conquer; resist, and vanquish.”

For first of all, the devil and sin in themselves are but weak and impotent; they cannot prevail over that soul which yields not to them; the evil spirit then only prevails over us, when we ourselves consent to his suggestions;' all his strength lies in our treachery and falseness to our own souls. Though those wicked spirits be perpetually so near us, yet they cannot bow or bend our wills. There is a place of defense in the souls of men, into which they cannot enter; they may stand at a distance, allure and entice them, but they cannot prevail over them, except they deliver over their strength into the enemy's hand. It is, indeed, nothing but hell itself, in the souls of men, that gives. the devil such free entertainment there: the wills of men, stamped with a. diabolical form, and bearing the devil's image, declare his right: over them: men are, therefore, so much captivated by him, because they voluntarily take his yoke upon them. Could we, or would we, resist sin and Satan, they could not hurt us. Every thing is weak and impotent, according to the distance it stands from God, who is the only fountain of life and power; and therefore it was well resolved by the philosopher, sin, in itself, is a weak and impotent thing; it consists not, properly, in any native power and strength which it has within itself, but in an impotency and privation of all true perfection; and therefore, wheresoever any thing of God appears, it will destroy it. He that is born of God, shall overcome the world, the devil, and sin; for” the seed of God remains in him.”

Let us endeavor to get our minds enlightened with Divine truth, clear and. practical truth; let us earnestly endeavor after a true participation of the Divine nature, and then shall we find hell and death to flee away before us; let us not impute the fruits of our own sluggishness to the power of the evil spirit without, or to God's neglecting of us: say not, Who shall stand against those mighty giants No; arm thyself with the mind of Christ, a fixed resolution to serve the will of the Almighty, and then fear not what sin and hell can do against thee. Open thy windows, thou sluggard, and let in the beams of Divine light that are waiting upon thee till thou awake out of thy slothfulness; then shalt thou find the shadows of the night dispelled, and the warm beams of light and love enfolding thee, which the higher they arise upon thy soul, the more fully they will display their native beauty upon thee, transforming thee more and more from darkness to light, from the similitude of Satan into a participation of the Divine image. The devil is not to be kept off from us by setting any spell about us, or driven away from us by any magical charms. We need riot go and beat the air to drive away those evil spirits from about us; but let us turn within ourselves, and beat down that pride and passion, those holds of Satan there, which are therefore strong, because we oppose, them weakly.

Sin is nothing else but a degeneration from true goodness, conceived by a dark and cloudy understanding, and brought forth by a corrupt will; it has no consistency in itself, or foundation of its own to support it. What the Jews have observed of error, is true of all sin, *, it has no feet, no basis of its own to subsist and rest itself upon. Let us withdraw our will and affections from it, and it will soon fall into nothing. We ourselves uphold that kingdom of darkness, which else would tumble down into that nothing from whence it came. All truth and goodness are of an eternal nature, they are one and unchangeable, subsisting upon the strength of Omnipotency: but all sin and. vice is our own creature; we only give life to them which are our death, and would soon wither away, did we withdraw our conturrence from them.

Secondly, we have a further ground for our expectation of victory in all contests with sin and Satan, from the powerful assistance of God himself,” who is never wanting to those that seek after him, and never fails those that engage in his quarrels. While we strive against sin, we may safely expect that the Divinity itself will strive with us, and derive that strength and power into us that shall at last make us more than conquerors. God has not forsaken the earth: but as his Almighty Essence runs through all things, sustaining and upholding the frame of the whole universe; so more especially does it bear up in its almighty arms those things that are more nearly related to himself. Wheresoever God beholds any breathings after himself, he gives life to them, as those which are his own breath in men. As he who projects wickedness, shall be sure to find Satan standing at his right hand ready to assist him in it: so he that pursues after God and holiness, shall find God nearer to him than he is to himself, in. the free and liberal communications of himself to him. He that goes out in God's battles, fighting under our Savior's banner, may look upwards, and opening his eyes may see the mountains full of horses and chariots of fire round about him. God has not so much delight in the death and destruction of men as to see them struggling and contending for life, and himself standing by as a looker

on no, but with the most tender and fatherly compassions his bowels yearn over them, and his Almighty arm is stretched forth for them; and in his strength they shall prevail: they shall be borne up, as upon eagles' wings; they shall walk in the might of his strength who is able to save, and not faint. Where there is any serious and sober resolution against sin, and real motion towards’ God, there is the blessing of heaven in it; he that planted it will also water it, and make it to bud and blossom and bring forth fruit.

Wherefore to shut up this discourse, let us make use of this as a further argument to enforce the apostle's exhortation upon ourselves,” Be Strong in the Lord and in the power of his might'-” and, as the Psalmist speaks of his enemies, so let us say of our spiritual enemies,” They compass me about, they compass me in on every side; but in the name of t1j&Lord I will destroy them.” Let us set ourselves, with might, to mortify the old man, and to crucify all the affections of the flesh:” Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily besets us, and run with patience the race that is set before us; looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who is set down at the right hand of the throne of God,” as a great and mighty conqueror,, who will declare the perfection of his power in our weakness, if we lay hold of his strength. Though we are not able to change our own natures, or to rise above the source of our animal and selfish beings, by our own power; yet let us endeavor to subdue all those external vices of luxury and wantonness, of injustice, revenge, and the like; let us withdraw the fuel of our pride, malice, vain-glory, and whatsoever else holds us in captivity to hell, and with confidence apply ourselves to him who is an Almighty Savior; and when he joins his almighty strength with us, we need not fear any thing: he shall tread down Satan under our feet,” and we shall one day “tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shall we trample under our feet:” we shall break the serpent's head, though he may bruise our heel. Though God may suffer him so far to serve his own rage, and the hellish malice of such as are in league with him, as to pull down with violence our earthly tabernacles; yet while we so suffer by him, we are conquerors over him.

 

A SERMON PREACHED AT THE FUNERAL OF MR. JOHN SMITH,

Late Fellow of Queen's College in Cambridge;

Who departed this Life, August 7, 1652, and lies interred in the Chapel of the same College.

BY SIMON PATRICK,

Then Fellow of the same College.

V

4

A

SERMON.

2 Kings 2: 12.

And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My Father, my Father, the Chariot of Israel, and the Horsemen thereof.

WHEN I saw the blessed spirit of our brother, shall I say or, our father, making haste out of that body which lies before us, these words, which I have now read, came into my mind: and me thought my soul catched, as I fancied Elisha to have done at Elijah; and I cried out, 11 0 my father, my father.” Desirous I was that I might have stayed the wheels of that triumphant chariot, wherein he seemed to be carried; that we might have kept him a little longer in this world, till, by his holy breathings into our souls, and the grace of God, we had been all made meet to have some share in that inheritance of the saints in light: and so he might have gone to heaven with his train, taking all his friends along with him as attendants to that glory wherewith I make no doubt he is crowned. It grieved me that there should be so many orphans left without a father, a society left naked without one of her best guardians, her very “chariot and horsemen;” unto whose instruction not a few of us will acknowledge that they owe much of their skill and abilities. If he was not a prophet like Elijah, yet I am sure he was (as Gr. Nanzianzen, I think, speaks of St. Basil)” an interpreter of the Spirit, a man sent down from heaven for our good, and is now gone thither from whence he came, leaving us behind him here, a company of poor fatherless children, the sons of this prophet, weeping and crying out,” O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.”

Which sad note would have been most fitly sung at the ascension of his holy soul; yet give me leave to descant a while upon it, now that we are come to inter his body, which was the dark shadow where that admirable learning, wisdom, and godliness, walked up and down and shone through upon the world.

You will easily see at the first glance, that something will here offer itself to be said of Elijah, and something of Elisha: of Elijah, in that he is called “father, the chariot and horsemen of Israel” of Elisha, in that he applies this relation to himself, saying, “My father, my father.”

Concerning Elijah we may observe, 1. His superiority, eminency, and dignity. 2. His singular care which he took of others. 3. His great usefulness. Concerning Elisha we may observe three things likewise; 1. His great affection. 2. The sense he felt of his great loss. 3. That honor which he gave him.

I shall speak a little of all these, and then parallel our case as well as I can to both.

1. Observe Elijah's eminency, superiority, and dignity; which is both signified in the word father, and also in the other expression, the chariot and horsemen of Israel. The Talmudists say that the word Abba is a word of honor and glory; even as Rabbi; whence the Latin Abbas, and our English Abbot, have been derived, to denote the greatest person in a society. And therefore he whom he here calls father, is called, ver. 3 and 5, master, or lord; Knowest thou not that Jehovah will take thy lord, or master, from thee to-day” Elijah was the head in the body of the prophets, a leading man among the rest. And this was by reason of his wisdom, experience, and grey-headed understanding, expressed in the word father. He was a sage and grave person, such an head as was full of prudence, skill, and advice, wherein were molded many sober resolutions, many weighty determinations, profound notions, holy and pious counsels for the teaching of greener heads. He was one that did imitate God, the Father of all, and in some sort represent him here below, being an oracle among them. And such instruments God has always in the world, men of greater height and stature than others, whom he sets up as torches on an hill to give light to all the regions round about; men of public influence, like the sun itself which illuminates all, and is not sparing of its beams: men whose souls come into the world (as the Chaldee oracle speaks), *, clothed with a great deal of mind, more impregnated than others with Divine notions, and having more teeming wombs to enrich the world with the fruit of them: men of wide and capacious souls that can grasp much; and of enlarged and open hearts, to give forth that freely unto men which the Fatherly Mind (as the same oracle calls God) has given unto them, that so in some sort they may become fathers in the world in subordination to God. The Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ, is described with seven stars in his right hand, Rev. 1: which were the angels of the churches; men, (it seems) who were adorned and beautified with more than ordinary brightness of mind and understanding, and sparkled with more than common heat of love and piety, and shone as lights in the world in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. Elijah was such an one; and so was the other Elias, John the Baptist, a burning and a shining light; and so also shall we find our father that is deceased to have been.

2. Take notice of the care which Elijah took of Elisha, and that first as a master of his scholar, and secondly as a father of his son. Elisha calls him by this name of father, because he was his scholar; and they used commonly to give this title to their masters, or teachers. And so in the New Testament, that which is received by tradition from their fathers, signifies nothing else but what their doctors and learned men delivered to them;, and therefore they are sometimes called the traditions of the elders.

Elijah taught and instructed him-out of the law, but with such a care and fatherly affection, that Elisha was truly his son as well as his scholar, one whom he loved and tendered, whom he wrapped as a child in his mantle when he was following the plough, whom be begot into another shape and made another man, in whose heart he sowed the seeds of true righteousness and godliness, that he might do more good in the world. For what God does by men, that they many times are said to do. Hence the apostles call Christians their little children, and dear children, whom they had “travailed in birth withal, till Christ was formed in them.”. They lay in the apostles' wombs, and they brought them forth Christians, and so were truly their spiritual fathers. And we may still see such noble souls which God continues amongst men,” whose mouths (as Solomon says) are as a well of life, whose lips feed many, and whose tongues are as choice silver:” men that are common fathers, and will embrace every body as a son, so they be but willing to be taught; that have the whole world for their school, and are instilling wholesome notions and apprehensions into men's minds, and implanting the truth which is after godliness in their hearts: men that in all meekness, tenderness, and fatherly affection reprove those that oppose themselves, that endeavor to bring them into their wombs, that (if it be. possible) they may beget the life of God and of his Son Christ in their souls: men who cherish and foster the least gasping, panting life that is

in any soul; who endeavor to free this life from any obstructions that dull and oppress it: and so in every sense prove -themselves to be the true fathers of the church, common fathers, (as before I expressed it) neither bound up in themselves, nor addicted to any particular sect, but minding the good of all: who think that they were not born for themselves, nor to be linked to this or that party of men; but are to be” perfect as their-heavenly Father is perfect, who does good to all, even to the evil and unthankful. A natural affection there is in them, which makes them think that every man's child is their own; and if they could hatch any heavenly life in them, they would willingly cover them under their wings.

Such a person was St. Paul, who went through fire and water, had a pilgrimage through this world upon nothing but briars and thorns, out of his great love that he bare to men:” The care of all the churches lay upon him; and no man could be weak, but he was weak also; no man was offended, but he burned:” and all this because he had the bowels of a father. Such another was St. John, who has every where in his mouth, “My little children.” A good old father he was who breathed forth nothing but love to man. And it need be no offence, if I add there was a Socrates in Athens, who had so much of this kind of spirit in him, that he styled himself” a servant of love, and professed that he knew nothing but how to love. He would often acknowledge himself to be an ignoramus in all those things where into their wise men used to inquire, but he durst not deny himself to have skill in that *, in the art of love, wherein he was continually employed; instructing their youth, amending their manners, and making them truly virtuous; which thing the ungrateful wretches of the city called corrupting their children. And truly it is very often the lot of these fathers, which I am speaking of, who nourish up youth in true piety and virtue, to be esteemed by many the corrupters of the fountain, pests rather than fathers of the places where they live. But they fare no worse than Elijah did, who was accounted the troubler of Israel, though he was the chariot and horsemen thereof; a man so useful, that they could not tell how to want him, though they knew not bow to value him.

3. We have here observable the usefulness of Elijah; he was not only a father, but the chariot and horsemen of Israel, the security and safeguard of the place where he was. He calls him by this name in an allusion to the chariot wherein he was fetched to heaven, and would express, by this form of speech, the good service he did for Israel. He was instead of an army to them, like David, worth ten thousand of the people. He alone was able to fight with all their enemies, and by his force to break all their legions in pieces. And indeed all good men, especially men of extraordinary wisdom and godliness, are the guard and defense of the towns where they reside, yea of the country whereof they are members. They are the tutelar angels of a nation, men that can do more by their prayers and tears, their virtuous and holy actions, than an host of men, wherein none is of less valor than Sampson. How had it been with Israel, had it not been for Moses, the meekest man on earth, and yet” terrible as an army with banners” And in what a case had Samaria often been, if it had not been for this Elisha, the son of Elijah, who was encompassed about with chariots and horses of fire to fight at his command What if I say of such men in the Platonists' phrase, that they are *, the keepers of the world, that preserve it from being made like to Sodom and Gomorrah And if there had been but ten of these holy champions there, they had shielded their heads from the arrows of the Almighty, and kept the showers of fire and brimstone from being rained upon them. Good men are the lifeguards of the world; next to God and ood angels, they are the walls and bulwarks of a nation; for” by their strength they have power with God,” as it is said of Jacob. And so the Chaldee paraphrast reads these words of my text, `Thou wast better to Israel by thy prayers than chariot and horsemen.” They are the glory of the world, and without them it would be but a rude rabble, a beast with many heads and no brains, a mere chaos and confusion. And it is by reason of them that it does not run into such disorder as a company of children would do without their father, or a multitude of mad soldiers without their skilful leader and commander.

And so I have briefly set before you what Elijah was, what those who are eminent for godliness are, what every good man ought in some measure to be, and what you shall shortly hear our deceased father was in an high degree: men of worth and great renown, (in a good sense) men of name, men that may be taken notice of in the world, and shine by their wisdom, justice, and goodness, that cheer the world by their love and fatherly care of all, that heartily endeavor to do good, and would not for a world see men perish if they could help it; in a word, men that are as the soul of the world, without whom it would be a stinking and insufferable place.

2. Now let us look a while upon Elisha,’ and see what he thought of such a man. And,

1. We meet with his great affection expressed in the very form of the words, My father, my father!” Methinks I feel within myself with what pure, dear, and ardent love he spake these words; what a glowing fire there was in his breast when he thought of his spiritual father. He burnt in love to him, as if some spark had fallen from Elijah's fiery chariot into his heart. He was all in a desire, as if the angels that fetched his father had lent him a waft of their wings, whereby he strove to fly with him to heaven. There is not a child that can cry more after the breasts that gave it suck, and the arms of her that carried it in her womb, than he calls and cries after his father,” O my father, my father! where shall I find my father what will become of me without my father” _ A tender love there is to be in our hearts to all men, of what nature or nation so ever; no man ought to be a lover of himself, but a lover of mankind: yet a more singular cleaving of souls, there should be: to those that are good; but the most unspeakable and greatest

union to those by whom we have profited in wisdom and godliness, and whose lips have dropped' the word of life into our minds. For, as Solomon has it, “There is gold, and a multitude of rubies; but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel.”

We should stand affected to them as the Galatians to St. Paul, who would have pulled out their very eyes, and given them unto him. They ought to be to us dearer than our eyes: by which speech God expresses his extraordinary love to his people Israel, saying that he kept them” as the apple of his eye.” And indeed it can scarce be otherwise but that there should be an unknown love between such persons, there being such a secret fascination in frequent converse and familiarity, as entices a man's soul and heart out of himself. Those precepts which we imbibe from another's mouth, naturally call forth a strong affection to him; and he who inflames our souls with love to God, will certainly enkindle a subordinate love in us to himself. The words of wisdom smite an ingenuous soul as with a dart, (if I may use Greg. Thaumaturgus's expression concerning Origen's discourses) and cannot but wound it both with a love to wisdom and him that shoots those piercing arrows into his heart. They bind a tractable soul, as it were, in indissoluble necessities, so that it cannot but love those words, and kiss the mouth also from whence they flow unto it. A teachable mind will hang about a wise man's neck, and thereby they come to cleave as fast together as the soul of Jonathan did unto the soul of David. So the aforesaid Gregory speaks of himself and Origen,” This David (meaning Origen) has entangled and bound up my soul in such necessary fetters of love, he has so tied and knit me to him, that if I would be disengaged, I cannot quit myself: no, though we depart out of this world, our love cannot die; for I love him even as my own soul; and so my affection must remain forever.” The words of the wise (says Solomon) are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of the assemblies,” Eccles. 12: 11. If a master fix his doctrine in his scholars' mind, he nails himself likewise with the same stroke, quasi trabali clavo, by a pin as strong as a beam, to his scholar's heart: they mingle souls as they do notions, and mutually pass into each other.

2. We have here likewise the sense which Elisha had of his great loss. For these words are expressions of sorrow and lamentation, as appears by the words following; “And he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in pieces:” and also from chap. 13: 14,. where we find Joash weeping over this Elisha, and saying these very words of my text,” O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof.” And methinks I see Elisha himself here bedewing his cheeks with tears, and hear these words sighed out of his heart, having lost his dear father, one that took such special care of him whilst he was in the world. Methinks I see his heart, rent as well as his garments, and there I see Elijah graven in letters as great as was his love. How could he look on himself and not lament to think that he had lost his head How could he behold Israel unguarded, and not throw off his own clothes as a token of his sorrow The just shall be had in everlasting remembrance, they shall die desired; and those who can value them, will not let them ’pass away in silence and with dry eyes. No tears are spent so well as for the` want of God and a good friend, or a good man, especially such a one as.1 before described.. And indeed who can think of his gracious lips, his profitable and delightful converse, his cordial love, without a sigh and a tear, without saying, “Ah my father, ah his glory!” No man will be sooner missed than such an one as he ten thousand others may steal out of the world, and no body scarce mind or inquire after them; but let Elijah go away, and you shall, have fifty men go three days to seek him, that if it be possible they may enjoy his company a while longer. We find that Jesus himself wept for his friend Lazarus, John 11: 35, at which the Jews said,” Behold how he loved him!” Two souls joined together in cordial love cannot part without a groan, especially a son and his father, a scholar and his master. The child; cannot hold from crying, when it wants the breast that used to feed it; nor can a soul so thirsty of knowledge but be pained, when the fountain is stopped that used to quench it. There are not so many of these men in the world but their loss will be as soon felt as the want of a buttress against a bowing wall. He who knows one to have been a light in the world and a lamp unto, him, will surely be sad, when he sees that light go out, and himself left in the dark, without that *, those cheerful and beloved beams which used to shine upon him, to illuminate and warm his soul with a true knowledge and love of all real goodness.

3. We may further take notice of the honorable thoughts he had of Elijah, of the reverence and respect which he gave unto him. For so we may look upon these words as an expression of the high esteem he had of him) and regard he bare to him, even after he was gone from this earth, and- could do no more kindnesses for him. Elisha, who had been a minister to him when below,, and used to pour water upon his hands, could not but have very reverend thoughts towards him now the angels came to wait upon him, and in flames of fire to carry him up above. He could not but honor him as his elder and father, as his leader and com-manner, as the general of the sons of the prophets, as the very host and army of Israel. And indeed the souls of those men that are as full of God as- the name of Elijah is, (which includes two, if not three, of the Divine names in it,) cannot but draw our eyes toward them; but-then they so dazzle us with their luster and brightness, they strike us into such amazement at their perfections, that the weakness of man's nature has been apt to give no less than Divine veneration to such persons. It had not been lawful, I know, to have worshipped Elijah, though he had been, an angel; but yet methinks I see Elisha bowing down with some respect to the very mantle which, fell from his master. And I could very well pass some civility upon the gown in which the holy man departed used to walk. There was so much of Divinity enshrined in this excellent man's soul, that it made every thing to have a kind of sacredness in it, and will make his name to be always as a sweet odor unto us.

And so I am fallen unawares in my meditations upon; the application of what has been said to him that is deceased.

Some perhaps will be angry that I should go about to compare him with Elijah, the man of God; but I have an apology ready at hand: they will give me leave, I hope, to do the same that Greg. Nyssen does, who, in his oration at the funeral of his brother Basil, compares him not only with Elias, but with John the Baptist, the second Elias. Suffer me then to use some of his words concerning him of whom we are now to speak. ac None will require of human nature to imitate Elijah in his shutting and opening of heaven, in his fasting so many days, and his going up to God in a fiery chariot; but in other things we will be bold to compare him with that great man, in his zealous faith; in his cordial love to God, in his earnest desire and thirst after that which truly is, in an exact and exquisite life, in a conversation so studied that it was in all things` consonant with itself, in most unaffected gravity, wonderful simplicity, and a countenance proportional to the vigor and strength of his soul, or, in his own words, he had *, a look that was not one key below his intent, and eager, and sprightly mind. If you look upon his care of those things that were hoped for, and neglect of these things that are seen, on his equal love to poor and rich; in these, and such like things, he imitated the wonders of Elijah.”

But that I may proceed in this argument according to our former method.

1. Let us first look upon him in his eminency, dignity, and worth. A very glorious star he was, and shone brighter in our eyes, than any that he ever looked upon, when he took his view of the heavenly bodies; and now he shines as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever; being wise, and having turned many (I believe,) unto righteousness.

I shall speak nothing of his earthly parentage, save only this, that herein he was like to John the Baptist, the last Elias, in that he was born, after his parents had been long childless, and were grown aged. Some have observed, that such have proved very famous; for they seem to be sent on purpose by God into the world, to do good, and to be scarce begotten by their parents. Such are something like Isaac, who had a great blessing in him, and seemed to be intended by God for some great service in the world.

But let us look only at his heavenly descent, and see how he was allied to God himself; for, as the poet says of Xneas,

I may say of him, as Nazianzen says of his sister,” His country was heaven, his town or city was the Jerusalem which is above, his fellow-citizens were the saints, his nobility was the retaining of the Divine impressions and stamps upon his soul; and, being like to God, the archetype and first pattern of all goodness:” and indeed the preserving the heavenly symbols that are in our souls, and especially the purging them from the corruption of nature, he often spake of: and his endeavor was, that the Divine image might be fairly reflected in him, and that it might shine brightly in the face of others.

If I should speak much of the vastness of his learning, it would seem to say, that I knew all he was; which I am not so arrogant as to assume unto myself: this I will say, that he could do what he would. He bad such a huge, wide capacity of soul, such a sharp and piercing understanding, such a deep, reaching mind, that he set himself about nothing but he soon grasped it, and made himself a full possessor of it; and if we consider his great industry, and indefatigable pains, his Herculean labors day and night, from his first coming to the university, till the time of his long sickness, joined with his large parts, and his frequent meditation, contemplation, and abstraction of his mind from sensible things, it must needs be concluded, that he was a comprehension of more than I can say or think of; and, if I could, -it would be too tedious to give you an account of all.

There is a discourse which Charidemus (in Chrysostom,) makes to his friends a little before his death “That this world is God's house, wherein a sumptuous feast is prepared, and all men are his guests; that there are two waiters at the table, which fill out the wine to them that call for it; the one a man, the other a woman; the one called Nas, or mind, from whose hand all wise men drink; the other,’Axercia, or intemperance, who fills the cups of the lovers of this world.” In this house our beloved friend, deceased, stayed between four and five and thirty years, and, I am sure, drank most large draughts from the hand of the former; for lie was a man, he was a mind, he had nothing of that woman in him, and never in the, least was known to sip of her cups. He was a most laborious searcher after wisdom, and never gave his flesh the leisure to please itself in those entertainments; and therefore we maybe confident with that Charidemus, that God has taken him to be his, *, his friend and companion, to drink of the rivers of his pleasure. In a word, he was, as Eunapius speaks of Longinus, a living library, and a walking study. I never got so much good, among all my books, by a whole day's plodding in a study, as by an hour's discourse I have got with him; for he was not a library locked up, nor a book clasped, but stood open, for any to converse with that had a mind to learn; yea, he was a fountain running over, laboring to do good to those who, perhaps, had no mind to receive it. None more free and communicative than he was, to such as desired to discourse with him, nor would he grudge to be taken off from his studies upon such an occasion. It may be truly said of him, that a man might always come better from him; and his mouth; could drop sentences as easily as an ordinary man's could speak sense; and he was no less happy in expressing his mind, than in conceiving; wherein he seems to have excelled the famous philosopher, Plotin, of whom Porphyry tells us, that he was something careless of his words, but was wholly taken up in his mind.

He, of whom we now speak, had such a plenty of words, and those so full, pregnant, and significant, joined with such an active fancy, as is very rarely to be found in the company of such a deep understanding.

I have (lone with his learning, when I have told you, that, as he looked upon honors, riches, and the eagerly pursued things of this world, as vanities, so did he look upon this also, as a piece, though a more excellent piece, of vanity (as he was wont to phrase it,) if compared with the higher and more Divine accomplishments of the soul: for he did not value himself by any of those things which were of a perishing nature, which should fail, and cease, and vanish away; but only by those things which were solid and substantial, of a Divine and immortal nature, which he might carry out of the world with him.

He was of a very singular wisdom and great prudence; of admirable skill and readiness in the managing of affairs, which I make an account, is an imitation of that providence of God that governs the world. His learning was so concocted, that it lay not as an idle notion in his head, but made him fit for any employment. He was very full and clear in all his resolutions at any debates; a most wise counselor in any difficulties; dexterous in untying any knot; of great judgment in satisfying any scruple in matters of religion. He was one that soon saw into the depth of any business that was before him, and looked it quite through; that would presently turn it over and over in his mind, and see it on all sides; and be understood things so well, at the first sight, that he did not often need second thoughts, but usually stood to the present resolution and determination of his mind.

Add to this, his known integrity, uprightness, and faithfulness; his strong and lively, his waking and truly tender conscience; which, joined with the former things I spoke of, made him more than a man, act, as men now go. He was (as one of the ancients speaks) an exemplar of true Christian philosophy and virtue; and, as it were the spiritual rule, line, and square thereof. Of so poised and even a life, that by his wisdom and conscience (were it not that every man should know for himself) one might live almost at a venture, walking blindfold through the world, and not miscarry.

He had incorporated, shall I say, or insouled all principles of justice and righteousness, and made them one with himself; so that I may say of him in Antoninus's phrase, he was *, dipped into justice, as it were, overhead and ears. He had not a slight superficial tincture, but was dyed and colored quite through with it: they who knew him, very well know the truth of all this. And I am persuaded be did as heartily and cordially, as eagerly and earnestly, do what appeared to be just and right, without any self-respect or particular reflections, as any man living.

Methinks I see how earnest he would be in a good matter, which appeared to be reasonable and just, as though justice herself had been in him, looking out at his eyes, and speaking at his mouth: it was a virtue indeed that he had a great affection to, and which he was very zealous to maintain.

But he was always very urgent among us, that by the grace of God, and the help of the mighty Spirit of Jesus Christ working in us, we would endeavor to purge out the corruption of our natures, and to crucify the flesh, with all the affections and lusts thereof; yea, to subdue, as much as was possible, even those first motions that are without our consent, and to labor after purity of heart, that so we might see God; for his endeavor was not only to be out of the pollutions of the world, through lust, but to come to the true likeness of God and his Son; or, in the apostle's language, to be partaker of the Divine nature. And here, now, what words shall I use

What shall I say of his love None, that knew him well, but might see in him love bubbling and springing up in his soul, and flowing out to all: and that love unfeigned, without guile, hypocrisy, or dissimulation. I cannot tell you how his soul was universalized, how tenderly he embraced all God's creatures in his arms, more especially men, and principally those in whom be beheld the image of his heavenly Father. There one might have seen running, like to like, and he would have emptied his soul into theirs.

His patience was no less admirable than his love, under a lingering and tedious disease; wherein he never murmured nor complained, but rested quietly satisfied in the unbounded goodness and tenderness of his Father, and the commiserations of Jesus Christ, our merciful High Priest, “who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities.” He still resolved with Job,” though he kill me, yet will I trust in him.” And he told me, in his sickness, that he hoped he bad learned that for which God sent it, and that he thought God kept him so long under such pressures, that patience might have its perfect work.” His sickness, undoubtedly, *, (as Nazianzen speaks), a learned disease, and full of true philosophy, which taught him more of real Christianity, and made his soul of a more strong, able, athletic habit and temper; for, as St. James says, “If patience have its perfect work,” then is a soul a perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” And really in his sickness, he showed what Christianity is able to do; what might, power, and virtue there is in it, to bear up a soul under the greatest loads; and that he could through Christ strengthening him, do all that which he so admirably discoursed of in his life.

But his humility was that which was most conspicuous; you might have beheld in him true humility in a most eminent degree; and the more eminent, considering bow much there was within him, which would have puffed up another. From his first admission into the university, he sought not great things for himself, but was contented in the condition wherein he was. He made not haste to rise, as youths are apt to do; but proceeded leisurely, by orderly steps, not to what he could get, but to what he was fit to undertake. He staid God's time of advancement, with all industry and pains following his studies; as if he rather desired to deserve honor than to be honored. He shook off all idleness and sloth, the bane of youth, and so had the blessing of God upon his endeavors, who gave him great encouragement from divers persons of worth, and at last brought him unto this place. Lowliness of mind made him a true disciple of Jesus Christ, who took upon him the form of a servant, and made himself of no reputation; and I dare say our dear friend was as true to the good of mankind as any person who this day lives, This was his design in his studies, and if it had pleased the Lord of life to have prolonged his days, it would have been more of his work; for he was resolved (as he once told me) to lay aside other studies, and to travel in the salvation of men's souls, after whose good he most ardently thirsted.

Shall I add above, or unto all these, his faith; I say, his true, lively, and working faith, his simple, plain hearted, naked faith in Christ It is likely that it did not busy itself about many fine notions, subtleties, and curiosities, or believing whole volumes; but be sure it was that which' was firmly fixed in the mercy of God through Christ; that also which brought down Christ into his soul; which drew down heaven into his heart; which sucked in life and strength _ continually from our Savior; which made him hearty,. serious, and constant in all Christian virtues. His faith was not without a soul; but what Isidore says of faith and works, held true of him,”

His faith was animated, quickened, and actuated by these. It made him godlike, and he lived by faith in the Son of God; by it he came to be truly a partaker of the righteousness of Christ, and had it wrought and formed in his very soul. For this indeed was the end of his life, the design which he carried on, that he might become like to God. So that if one should have asked him that question in Antoninus,” What is thy art and profession, thy business and employment He would not have answered, To be a great philosopher, mathematician, historian, or hebrician (in all which he was in great eminency), to be a physician, lawyer, general linguist; which names and many more his general skill deserved: but he would have answered, as he does there, My art is to be good; to be a true Divine is my care and business, or, in the Christian phrase, “To be holy as God is holy, to be perfect as my heavenly Father is perfect.” All that remember the serious behavior and weighty expressions he used in his prayers, cannot but call to mind how much his heart was set upon the attainment of this true goodness.

I have transgressed too much my bounds, now it is so late; yet I hope I should not weary you, if I should discourse upon his ingenuity, his courtesy, his gentleness and sweetness, with many other things of the like nature. And let me say thus much, that he was far from that spirit of devouring zeal that now too much rages. He would rather have been consumed in the service of men, than have called for fire down from heaven, to consume them. And therefore though Elijah excelled him in this, that he ascended up to heaven in a fiery chariot; yet herein I may say he was above the spirit of Elijah, that he called for no fire to descend from heaven upon men, but the fire of Divine love that might burn up all their hatred, roughness, and cruelty to each other. But as for benignity of mind and Christian kindness, every body that knew him will ever remember that he ever had their names in his mouth, and they were no less in his heart and life; as knowing without these, truth itself is' a faction, and Christ is drawn into a party. And this graciousness of spirit was the more remarkable in him, because he was of, a temper naturally hot and choleric, as the greatest minds most commonly are. He was wiser than to let any anger rest in his bosom; much less did he suffer it to burn and boil until it was turned into gall and bitterness.

If lie were at any time moved unto anger, it was but a sudden flushing in his face, and it did as soon vanish as arise; and it used to arise upon no such occasions as I now speak of. No, whensoever he looked upon the fierce and consuming fires that were in men's souls, it made him sad, not angry; and it was his constant endeavor to inspire men's souls with more benign and kindly hearts, that they might warm but not scorch their brethren.

And from this spirit, together with the rest of Christian graces that were in him, there did result a great serenity, quiet, and tranquillity in his soul, which dwelt so much above, that it was not shaken with any of those tempests and storms which use to unsettle more low and abject minds. He lived in a continued sweet enjoyment of God, and so was not disquieted with scruples of doubts of his salvation. There was always discernible in him a cheerful sense of God's goodness, which ceased not in the time of sickness. But we most longed to see the motions of his soul, when he drew near the center of his rest. He that had such a constant feeling of God within him, we might conclude would have the most strong and powerful sense when he came nearer to a close conjunction with him. But God was pleased to deny this to us; and by a lethargic distemper which seized on his spirits, he passed the six last days of his life in a kind of sleep, and without taking much notice of any thing, he slept in the Lord.

And now have we not reason to be so sad, as you see our faces tell you that we are But, alas! half of that is not told you which your eyes might have seen, had you been acquainted with him. I want thoughts and words to make a lively portraiture of him. My young experience has not seen to the height or the depth of these things which I have here given. you a rude draught of; and so my expressions must fall far below that excellent degree of beauty wherein they dwelt in him. Let it suffice therefore to say, (that I may keep to the word in the text,) that he was truly a “father,” that he wanted age only to make him reverend; and that if he had lived many generations ago, and left us the children of his mind to posterity, he might by this time have been numbered among the' fathers of the church.

I have almost prevented myself in the two latter particulars, his singular care, and his great usefulness; both which must needs be concluded from the former. His care, I say, of others, as a tutor, his usefulness as a fellow of this now mournful society. Let me speak a word or two of each.

2. All his pupils began to know in his sickness what it was to have and to want a loving father, a faithful tutor. He was one that instilled such excellent pious notions into their minds,. and gave such light in every thing a man could desire to know, that I could have been content, though in this gown, to have been his pupil. His life taught them continual lessons of justice, temperance; prudence, fortitude, and masculine virtue; and above all, he taught them true dependence upon God, and reference of themselves, and all their studies unto him; with true faith in, and imitation of, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: for which end he often expounded to them out of the holy Scriptures. And for human learning, the many good scholars that came from under his hand witness how dexterous he was at training up youth in all good literature. Those that come hither are in a manner without father and mother; but they could not be committed to a. more loving tutor, a more holy and faithful guardian, that would bring them up in all true learning and piety. If any think he was too severe, let me tell them that they are such as find fault with the lion, because he looks not like an ape, but with a stern, royal, and kingly countenance. He both looked and spoke like a man that had drawn into his soul such solid, high, and generous principles as few men are acquainted with, which made him very zealous not only for righteousness, integrity, and holiness, but for a decorum in all things. He had a great regard for all those things which are mentioned by the apostle, Philip. 4: 8, for “whatsoever things were true, honest,” (or rather comely and grave, seemly and venerable,) for all that was “just, pure, lovely, of good report; if there was any praise, or any virtue,” he was most earnest and forward in its behalf.

3. And now what his usefulness was, and the benefit we received by him, all that bear any share in the government of this society will be made to know by the want of him. There is not one but will cry out with Elisha, “O the chariot of this place, and the horsemen thereof:” which words seem to express what a necessary man Elias was, which we may use concerning him that is now dead, our great glory, the pillar upon whose shoulders the weight of business of late lay. O, thou wast both my safeguard and my ornament! Who was a society by thyself, a college in brief, what a loss have we sustained by thy departure! That must not be resolved by me, nor by any one single person of us, but we must all lay our heads together to tell our loss. To which of us was not he dear Who is there that was not engaged to him Who can think himself as wise as he was when we had him

And this our high and dear esteem of him when he was with us, leads me to speak of that honor and reverence which we all express to his name, that affection which is in our hearts to his memory, the sense that is in us of our great and unspeakable loss; in answer to those three foregoing considerations about Elisha. But here I must be very brief. There are none that knew his worth but honor his very dust. And, for my part, I honor him so much, that I wish we might do as the virgins of Israel did for Jephthah's daughter, cone once a year hither and lament his death; and so at once we might express all these three, our respect, affection, and sense of our loss. And whensoever we commemorate his love to us, let it be with some encomium: let us mourn that we are deprived of such a person; but let us rejoice and give thanks to God that we ever had such an one who has done us so much good.

But let me tell you, in conclusion of all, that herein would be shown our greatest love and affection to him, this would be the greatest honor of him, if we would express his life in ours, that others might say when they behold us, There walks at least a shadow of Mr. Smith. And 0 that I might beg with Elisha a double portion among those that I desire should share in the gifts and graces of this Elijah. This is the highest of my ambition, that many might but possess the riches that lodged in this one. They disgrace their master who have not skill in that which they say he professed; but they who tread in’his steps, and excel in his art, shine back again upon him from whom first they received their. light. Let me seriously therefore exhort every one of us to imitate this master in Israel. Imitate him in his industry, if not in his learning; shake off all laziness and sloth; do not embody and enervate your souls by idleness and base neglect; do no emasculate them and turn them into flesh by drowsiness or vain pleasures. Imitate his temperance, his patience, his fortitude, his candor and ingenuity, his holiness and righteousness, his faith and love, his charity and humility, his self-denial and true self-resignation to the will of God: in a word, all those Christian virtues which lived in him, let them live in us for ever. Let us die to the world, as he did, before we die: let us separate our souls from our bodies and all bodily things, before the time of our departure and separation come.

Let us take an especial heed lest, as most men do, we suffer this lower and earthly world; lest we be drawn forcibly into its embraces, and so held from rising aloft. But let us turn our minds continually to heaven, and earnestly desire *, to suffer God; to be mightily and strongly attracted by him from all earthly and sensible delights to an admiration and love of his everlasting beauty and goodness. Let us labor to be so well acquainted with him, and all things of the higher world, and so much disengaged in our affections from this and all that is in it, that when we come to go out of this world, we may never look back and say, 0 what goodly things do I leave I What a brave world am I snatched from! Would I might but live a little longer here! Let us get our hearts so crucified to the world, that it may be an easy thing to us to bid a farewell to our, friends, (the dearest things we have) our lands, houses, goods, and whatsoever is valuable in our eyes. Let us use the world as though we used it not let us die daily, as our dear friend did; and so it was easy to him to die at last.

Die, did I say Shall I use that word, or rather, he is flown away, his soul has got loose, and now feels her wings; or, he has changed his habitation, he is gone into the other world, as Abraham went out of Ur into Canaan; he has taken his journey into another country a little before his body He has left his body behind him a while to take a sleep in the dust, and when it awakes at the resurrection, it shall follow also to the same place. Then shall it be made a spiritual body, then shall it have wings given to it also, and be lovingly married again to the soul, never more to suffer any separation. And at that time we shall all meet with our dear father and friend again, who are now crying out,” 0 my father, my father!” Then shall all tears be wiped away from our eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,, neither shall there be any more pain. Then we shall not need such a light as he was;” for there is no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever.” Amen.