CORNELL U N I V E R S I T Y LIBRARY CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 3 1924 104 015 205 Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tlie Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 9241 0401 5205 SERMON, YrKITTSN SY THE LATE SAMUEL JOHNSON, L.L.D. rOK T H s FUNERAL OF his WIFE. fUItlSRED BY THE Rev. SAMUEL HAYES, A. M, Usher of Westmikster-Schooi.. I. O N O Q n: Printed for T. CAD ELL, in the Strand. MOCCI.XXXVIII. LATELY PUBLISHED, (In Two Volumes, Price Twelve Shillings, Boards) I. T ETTERS to and from the late SamubV ^"^ Johnson, L. L. D. — ^To which are added, fome, POEMS, never before printed. — Publifhed from the original MSS. in her Poffeffion,— By Hester Lynch Piozzi. .II. ANECDOTES of the late Samuei Johnson, L. L. D. during the laft Twenty Years of his Life. — By Hester Lynch Piozzi.— —Fourth Edition. Printed for T. C A D E L L, in the Strand. J. HE following Sermon (the Authentkit)/ of which cannot be doubted) came, with many others, into the Hands of the Editor by the Death of Dr. 'Taylor, late Prebendary of Westminster, &c. It is now publijhed for two Reafons: Eirjl, as it is a Compofition that will refle£l no Di/grace on the Author ; and. Secondly, as it is upon a Suljedl of the highejl Importance to Mankind. Great Dean's Yard, Weftminfler, March. J 8th, 1788.' S E R M O N, &c. JOHN, Ch. XI. 2^, ibv. Former Part. JESUS SAID UNTO HER, I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE : HE THAT BELIEVETH IN ME, THOUGH HE WERE DEAD, YET SHALL HE LIVE ; AND WHOSOEVER LIVETH, AND BELIEVETH IN ME, SHALL NEVER DIE. TO afford adequate confolations to the laft hour, to chear the gloomy paflage through the valley of the fhadow of death, and to eafe that anxiety, to which beings, prefcient of their own diffolution, and con- fcious of their own danger, muft be ne- ceflarily expofed, is the privilege only of re- vealed reli^on, All thofe to whom the fuper- natural light of heavenly do£trine has never been imparted, however formidable for power, B oi: ( 2 ) or illuflrious for wifdom, have wanted thjlt knowledge of their future ftate, which alone can give comfort to mifery, pr fecurity to en- joyment ; and have been forced to rufli for- wards to the grave, through the darknefs of ignorance ; or, if they happened to be more refined and inquifitive, to folace their paffaget with the fallacious and uncertain glimmer of philofophy. There were, doubtlefs, at all times, as there are now, many who lived with very little thought concerning their end ; many whofe time was wholly filled up by public, or do- meftic bufinefs, by the purfuits of ambition, or the defire of riches; many who diflblved them- felves in luxurious enjoyments, and, when they could lull their minds by any prefent pleafure, had no regard to diftant events, but withheld their imagination from fallying out into futurity, or catching any terror that might interrupt their quiet ; and there were many who rofe fo little above animal life, that they were conipletely ingrofled by the objedts about them, and had their views extended no farther than to the next hour ; in whom the ray of reafon was half extia^Tj, and who had neither hopes ( 3 ) hopes nor fears, but of fome near advantage, or fome preffing danger. But multitudes there muft always be, and greater multitudes as arts and civility prevail, who cannot wholly withdraw their thoughts from death. All cannot be diftra(9;ed with bufmefs, or ftunned with the clamours of aflemblies, or the fhouts of armies. All cannot live in the perpetual diflipation of fucceffive diverfions, nor will all enflave their under- ftandings to their fenfes, and feek felicity in the grofs gratifications of appetite. Some muft always keep their reafon and their fancy in aftion, and feek either honour or pleafiire from intellediual operations ; and from them, others, more negligent or fluggifh, will be in time fixed or awakened ; knowledge will be perpetually difFufed, and curiofity hourly en- larged. But, when the faculties were once put in motion, when the mind had broken loofe from the fhackles of fenfe, and made excurfions to remote confequences, the firft confideration that would ftop her courfe, muft be the in- ceffant wafte of life, the approach of age, and B 2 the ( 4 ) the certainty of death ; the approach of that time, in which ftrength muft fail, and pleafure fly away, and the certainty of that diffolutlon which fhall put an end to all the profpeds of this world. It is impoflible to think, and not fometimes to think on death. Hope, indeed, has many powers of delufion ; whatever is poffible, however unlikely, it will teach us to promife ourfelves ; but death no man has efcaped, and therefore no man can hope to efcape it. From this dreadful expectation no flxelter or refuge can be found. Whatever we fee, forces it upon us ; whatever is, new or old, flourifhing or declining, either direftly, or by a very fhort deduction, leads man to the con- fideration of his end ; and accordingly we find, that the fear of death has always been confidered as the great enemy of human quiet, the polluter of the feaft of happinefs, and em- bitterer of the cup of joy. The young, man who rejoices in his youth, amidft his mufic and his gaiety, has always been difturbed with the thought, that his youthwill be quickly at an end. The Monarch, to whom it is faid that he is a God, has always been reminded by his own heart, that he fliall die like man. This ( 5 ) This unwelcome convidlon, which is thus continually prefled upon the mind, every art has been employed to oppofe. The general re- medy, in all ages, has been to chafe it away from the prefent moment, and to gain a fuf- pence of the pain that could not be cured. In the ancient writings, we therefore find the fhortnefs of life frequently mentioned as an excitement to jollity and pleafure ; and may plainly difcover, that" the authors had no other means of relieving that gloom with which the uncertainty of human life clouded their conceptions. Some , of the Philofophers, in-