A SERMON, DELIVERED AT THE INTERMENT OF MRS. LYDIA NORTHROP, WIFE OF MR. STEPHEN NORTHROP, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE APRIL 26, 1704. 26 PREFACE. The following sermon was first delivered extempore, without much premeditation, or any expectation of publication; but, as the friends of the deceased have requested a copy of it, I have summed up the leading ideas, and present it to the mourners, in an abbreviated form. I am conscious of its deficiences, both as to depth of divinity, and beauty of diction; and the most that I can expect from the performance, is, that it may console the sons and daugh ters of sorrow, for the loss of a dear friend. Cheshire, July 10, 1794. J. L. SERMON. The solemn procession of the day brings to mind the following passage; Genesis, 53, 2: And Sarah died in Kirjath- Arba, the same is Hebron, in the land of Canaan; and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her. We are taught to be followers of them, who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. Ambition prompts aspiring souls to walk in the steps of those who gained the summit of honor, in hopes of obtaining a similar palm. If the examples of heroes, monarchs, and men of wealth, have so much magnetic force on the sons of earth, how much more should the virtuous actions of those "Elders, who have obtained a good report," influence the sons of heaven to follow their steps? "They do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible." Our text presents us a couple of characters worthy of our attention. Abraham is declared to be the father of the faithful and the friend of God; and Sarah is held forth, by the sacred penman, as a pattern for wives, in her modest apparel, and subjection to her husband. When God called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, to forsake his native country of idolatry, and travel into a strange land, where the pure worship of Jehovah should be established, Sarah was not such an unbelieving idolater as to depart from her husband; but, true to her conjugal engagement, and firm in her faith in the providence and promises of the Almighty, she cheerfully forsook her country, her kindred and their gods, and travelled in a strange land, a pilgrim and sojourner, with her beloved husband. When God made promise to Abraham, that he should beget a son, and become the father of many nations, he changed his name from Abram (a high father) to Abraham, (a high father of a multitude ;) and when it was revealed to him that Sarah, his proper wife, should bear the son from whom the nations should arise, her name was changed from Sarai (my lady) to Sarah (the lady of a multitude.) But after these promises were made, their faith and patience were long put to exercise, before they received the promise; and after Isaac was born, the joy and delight of his father, Abraham was called by God, to perform a deed, the most strange and cutting that ever man was induced to, in the performance of which he gave the most unequivocal proof of his obedience to his God. Nothing short of his strong faith in God, in raising his son from the dead, sustained the old patriarch in offering his darling son, in whose line the promises of God were fixed. While Abraham and Sarah were travelling from place to place, they were constantly protected by an omnipresent God, who suffered no man to do them wrong, "yea he reproved kings for their sake." How safe and happy are all those who constantly trust in Abraham's God, and cheerfully obey his commands ! The things which appear most imitable in Sarah, are First. Her leaving all that was near and dear to her, to follow and obey the God of her husband. In this she acted the part of Ruth, the Moabitess, and stands forth as a bright example for her sex to go and do likewise. Second. Her modest subjection to her husband. Men should love their wives, as Christ loved the Church, and confer honor on them as weaker vessels; neither abuse their persons, nor expose their weaknesses. But two reasons are given why the woman should be in subjection to the man. The first is taken from the order of nature; the man was first made: the second, from the order of sin; the woman was first in the transgression. After Sarah had lived until she was one hundred and twenty-seven years old, our text follows, And Sarah died. Death is the common lot of all. It is an article in the creed of the universal progeny of Adam. That the death of the body came in at the door of Adam's sin, is generally believed; but whether it is a penalty, sovereignly imposed for transgression, or was naturally occasioned by the poisonous fruit of mortalization, that grew on the forbidden. tree, is not a point of present examination. But one thing is certain, viz: Christ never came to take off the curse, i. e. to save men from dying. Adam and all his offspring experience it; there is no discharge in this war -innumerable have gone before, and every man follows after; the rich, the wise and venerable, indiscriminately fall a prey to the monster. The innocency of Abel, the righteousness of Noah, the faithfulness of Abraham, the virtue of Joseph, the meekness of Moses, the strength of Sampson, the valor of David, the wisdom of Solomon, the piety of the prophets, the fervor of the apostles and the godliness of later saints, deliver none from death. Neither righteousness nor wickedness repel its force. In the single article of death, man has no pre-eminence above the beast. Some die in infancy, some in youth; some are snatched away from their busy scenes and useful enterprizes; while others live long and wear out by the decays of old age. Death has a name, but no form; it is an article abstract by itself; it hardly belongs to this world or the next; but is a kind of imaginary line between the two. The pains that do reduce to death are great; |