Required reading
The Works (Vol 4) by William Bates (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read 'A sermon on the death of Queen Mary'.
My summary
This week we begin a new series of sermons that were preached at funerals.
Today's sermon is for Queen Mary and is on 'They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: 27 But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.' (Psa 102:26-27)
The proposition of the discourse is 'that the unchangeable everlasting perfections of God are the sure foundation of the church's hope in its desolate state.'
Bates manages the proposition by considering:
(i) the unchangeable perfections of God;
(ii) how they are the foundation of the church's hope.
Bates then applies the text by exhorting us to:
(i) understand the reason of the supreme and solemn adoration that all intelligent creatures are obliged to pay to God;
(ii) confirm our trust in God at all times.
Bates finishes the sermon representing what the Queen was and what a blessing her people enjoyed in her government.
What grabbed me
I appreciated Bates' comparison of God with the world: 'The present world, as it is insufficient for our satisfaction, so it cannot afford us protection : it cannot fill the immensity of our desires, nor extend to the eternity of our duration, nor preserve us from afflictions here. The seeming felicity here is like a feast in an empty dream, mere imaginary food, and vanishes in a little while. What then can quiet our fears under imminent evil? what can revive and support our hopes in our distress and exigencies but the unchangeable God, whose love, and power, and truth, are everlasting?'
God is the only one who can satisfy eternally.
Next week's reading
Commence 'A sermon on the death of Thomas Manton' by reading up to the paragraph commencing: From what has been discoursed we should, 1. Consider the woful folly of men'.
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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