A

SERMON

Preach'd in the

Cathedral Church of St. Paul,
At the

FUNERAL

O F

Mr. THO. BENNET.

Aug. 30. 1706.

I. CORINTH. XV. 19.

If in this Life onely we have Hope in Chrift, we are of all Men moft miferable.

S

UCH Difcourfes, on fuch Mournful Occafions as thefe, were inftituted, not fo much in Honour of the Dead, as for the Ufe of the Living: that Opportunity may be taken from

hence

hence to excite in Perfons, attending on thefe Solemnities, a due Sense of the Uncertainty and Vanity of all Earthly Satisfactions; to imprint upon their Minds, by proper Arguments and Reflections, a lively Perfuafion of the Certainty of a Future State, and an earnest Defire of fitting and preparing themfelves for it.

There is no Seafon, to which fuch Thoughts as these are more fuitable; nor any, wherein Men are likely to be more affected with them: And therefore I have chofen (not unfitly, I hope) to explain to you, at prefent, that great Argument for a Future State,which S. Paul hath couch'd, in the Words I have read to you; If in this Life onely we have Hope in Christ, we are of all Men most miferable: that is, If all the Benefits, we expect from the Christian Inftitution, were confin'd within the Bounds of this prefent Life, and we had no Hopes of a better State after this, of a great and lasting Reward in a Life to come; We Chriftians fhould be the most abandon'd and wretched of Creatures; All other Sorts and Sects of Men would evidently have the Advan tage of us,and a much furer Title to Happiness than We,

This Conceffion the Apostle openly makes, and from hence he would be understood to inferr (tho' the Inference be not express'd,) That, therefore, there muft needs be another State, to make up the Inequalities of this, and to falve all irregular Appearances; fince it is impoffible to conceive that a Juft and Good God fhould fuffer the justest and best of Men (fuch as the best Christians certainly are) to be oftentimes the most miferable.

If St. Paul found it neceffary, earnestly to prefs this Argument on the Corinthians, foon after he had planted the Gofpel among them, and confirm'd it by Miracles; it cannot but be highly requifite for Us, who live at fuch a distance from that Age of Miracles , to fupport and enliven our Faith, by dwelling often on the fame Confiderations: and this Argutherefore, I fhall endeavour to open, and apply, in the following Dif courfe: wherein,

ment,

First, I fhall fhew the undoubted Truth of the Apoftle's Conceffion; and from thence fhall establish, in the

Second Place, the Truth of that Conclu

fiot, which he builds upon it.

I.

II. ·

After

III.

IV.

I.

After which, I shall fuggeft to you fome Rules and Directions, which, if duly perfu'd, will enable you to live like those, who have their Hope in another Life; like Men, who look upon themselves, as being only on their Paffage through this State, but as belonging properly to that which is to come; on which, therefore, their Eye, their Aim, and their Hopes are altogether fix'd and employ'd.

And these General Reflections shall be follow'd (as they will very naturally be follow'd) by a juft and faithful Account of that Valuable Perfon, whose Remains now lie before us.

As to the Conceffion of the Apostle, I fhall urge it fomewhat farther than the Letter of the Text will carry us; proving to you, under two different Heads, That, were there no other Life but this, Firft, Men would really be more miferable than Beafts; and, Secondly, The best Men would be often the moft miferable: I mean, as far as Happiness or Mifery are to be meafur'd from Pleafing, or Painful Senfations: and, fuppofing the Present to be the Only Life we are to lead, I fee not, but that This might be efteem'd the true Measure of them.

First, Were there no Life after this, Men would be more miferable than Beafts for in this Life, it is plain that Beafts have, in many refpects, the Advantage of them; inafmuch as they enjoy greater Senfual Pleasures, and feel fewer Corporal Pains, and are utter Strangers to all those Anxious and Tormenting Thoughts which perpetually haunt and difquiet Mankind.

The Pleasures of Senfe are probably relifh'd by Beafts in a more exquifite degree, than they are by Men; for they tafte them fincere and pure always, without mixture, or alloy, without being distracted in the Perfuit, or difquieted in the Ufe of them.

They follow Nature, in their Defires and Fruitions, carrying them no farther than fhe directs, and leaving off at the Point at which Excefs would grow Toublesome and Hazardous; fo that their Appetite is not deftroy'd, or dull'd, by being gratified, but returns always fresh and vigorous to its Object. Hence Their Organs are generally better difposd than Ours, for receiving grateful Impreffions from fenfible Objects; being lefs liable to be vitiated by Diseases, and other

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