A funeral sermon on the decease of that worthy gentlewoman Mrs. Margaret Baxter, who…

The better your Minds will comply with the preconceived Idea we are to entertain our selves with, of the Constitution, Order, Employment, and Delights of that vast Collection of Heavenly Associates we shall dwell with for ever. And the more will you still incline to be absent from this Body, that (among them) you may be ever present with the Lord.

And if you thus cherish this pleasant Inclination, think how grateful it will be when it comes to be satisfied! How natural is that Rest that ends in the Centre, to which a thing is carried by a natural motion! How pleasantly doth the departed Soul of that good Gentlewoman, whose decease we lament, solace it self in the presence of her Glorious Lord! I shall say little concerning her; You will have her just Memorial more ⟨p. 40⟩at large ere long. I had indeed the opportunity, by an occasional abode some days under the same Roof, (several Years before she came into that Relation wherein she finished her Course) to observe her strangely vivid, and great Wit, and very sober Conversation. But the turn and bent of her Spirit towards God, and Heaven, more remarkably appeared a considerable time after. Which when it did, she showed how much more she studied the Interest of her Soul than the Body; and how much more she valued mental and spiritual Excellencies, than worldly Advantages, in the choice of her Consort, whom she accepted to be the Companion and Guide of her Life.

And if you thus cherish this pleasant Inclination, think how grateful it will be when it comes to be satisfied! How natural is that Rest that ends in the Center, to which a thing is carried by a natural motion! How pleasantly doth the departed Soul of that good Gentlewoman, whose decease we lament, solace it self in the presence of her Glorious Lord! I shall say little concerning her; You will have her just Memorial more ⟨p. 40⟩at large e're long. I had indeed the opportunity, by an occasional abode some days under the same Roof, (several Years before she came into that Relation wherein she finish'd her Course) to observe her strangely vivid, and great Wit, and very sober Conversation. But the turn and bent of her Spirit towards God, and Heaven, more remarkably appear'd a considerable time after. Which when it did, she shew'd how much more she studied the Interest of her Soul than the Body; and how much more she valued mental and spiritual Excellencies, than worldly Advantages, in the choice of her Consort, whom she accepted to be the Companion and Guide of her Life.