Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
B05935
|
A sermon preached in S. George's Church Southwark, at the funeral of that pious and worthy gentlewoman, Mrs. Frances Fenn. / By R. Sparke ...
|
Sparke, Robert.
|
1679
(1679)
|
Wing S4819; ESTC R184509
|
20,356
|
36
|
A SERMON PREACHED IN S. George's Church SOVTHWARK AT THE FUNERAL OF THAT Pious and Worthy Gentlewoman Mrs FRANCES FENN By R. SPARKE of NEWINGTON M. A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed by T. James for Joseph Collyer and are to be Sold at his Shop at the Angel on London-Bridge a little below the Gate 1679. Imprimatur C. ALSTON Novem. 30. 1678. TO THE Right Worshipful AND His Honoured Friend JOHN TREGONWELL Esq And his Vertuous LADY UPon Request I have assumed the Confidence to Expose this following Sermon to Publick View and if it meet with a kind Reception and a candid Interpretation which I question not from your Self and your worthy Family it is all I beg As for Others if they be truly Learned they will be Civil If Critical and Captious I say to them in the words of Catullus Non vident id manticae quod in tergo est Let it be sheltred under your Protection it is enough and the greatest Ambition the Author aims at I am happy it hath so Noble a Patron I shall not trouble you with a prolix or tedious Discourse of this nature And therefore desiring the Great God to Shadow You your Pious Lady and invaluable Stems under his Almighty Power and establish You and Yours not onely on Earth but in the highest Heavens is the Prayer of Your most Obliged Servant ROBERT SPARKE A Funeral Sermon The Text is in GENESIS the XXIII the first Clause of the 2. Verse Then Sarah died THat silent Witness of Mortality presents the sad Occasion of our Assembly to Celebrate the Funeral of Mrs. Frances Fenn and for a Mournful Meeting what more convenient and necessary than Psalms Sighs and Tears of Sorrow and Lamentation Discourse with Matter Matter with Action Action with Affection Affection with Opportunity Opportunity with Occasion should concur and concord together Suitable for which occasion I have elected and chosen out this Text which speaks of Death a sad and doleful Messenger and end of all And whilst I apply to this sad Spectacle apply your Hearts to Sorrow your Eyes to Tears and your Selves to Mourning If not for her that is dead and gone for she is happy and acquiesceth from her Labours and her good Works shall follow her yet for your own sins which will cause you Volens nolens will you nill you the Lord knowes how soon to follow her But to my Text Then Sarah died Was Sarah the first that ever died Was not Grandmother Eve with many more dead long before If dead why not recorded in Sacred Writ What was eminent what was admirable What was remarkable or singular in her or in her death that she above all her Sex above Eve her self should merit the first Memorial Then Sarah died Certainly I know no other reason can be rendred but this That as Abraham was the Father so Sarah was the Mother of the Faithful and therefore the Holy Ghost confers that upon her which he denies to other Women even a Noble and Honourable mention both of her Age how long she lived and of the time of her death when she died When Sarah was 127 years old so long she lived Then Sarah died Sarah though the Mother of the Faithful though a holy and religious Matron though a Saint and dear Child of God yet Sarah died Whence observe Obs The General and Universal condition of all Mankind and that which the holy Apostle hath many hundred years since abundantly confirmed Statutum est omnibus semel mori It is appointed for all men once to die Appointed and decreed it is and that by Elohim the Mighty God who hath the disposing ordering and appointing of all things and whose Decrees and Appointments are like those of the Medes and Persians they shall not they cannot be altered or changed All must drink of Sarahs Cup the Cup is full of one and the same Liquor the Liquors drawn from one and the same Spring now the Spring it self is poysoned and if the Spring be corrupted the streams will be disturbed too if the Root be cankered the branches will wither and die and if the Head be out of order the whole Body will be indispos'd also Now the head and the root as of Sarah so of all Mankind was Father Adam But Adam disobeying his Creator and transgressing the Law of his God sinned not only in his own person but in his humane nature and so incurred the wrath and displeasure of his good and gracious God and purchased the punishment of sin which is death not only unto himself unto his own person but also to all his Posterity To this I may add that of the Apostle Rom. 5.12 By one Man Sin entred into the World and Death by Sin entred also By one Adam one Eve two in Sex but one in Nature one in offending one in disobedience the Woman seduced by the Serpent the Man induced by the Woman sin entred into the World and Death by sin entred also so death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned Adam at first might have lived freely fully happily and plenteously eating of all the Trees in Paradise except one Now having tasted of that one a necessity is laid upon him and he must die The cause of his death was the breach of diet God forbad him the fruit of one Tree this he hungreth for and taste it he will though it cost him his life S. Augustine bringeth in our first Parents thus disputing in a Dialogue concerning that fruit If this Fruit be good why may I not eat of it If it be not good why groweth it in Paradise Demine dedisti hortum negasta pomum Lord hast thou given us the Garden and denied us the Apple Therefore saith he God hath given thee the fruition and benefit of Paradise that thou mayest know his beneficence his bounty and goodness towards thee but hath denied this one fruit that he may find thy Obedience and Duty to him This Duty and Obedience neglected by our Grandfather Adam Death the Lodge of every mans life cometh with insensible degrees upon the Children of Men. So that now assoon as Man begins to live he begins a continual Voyage unto death and there is none but is nearer death at the years end than at the beginning to morrow than to day to day than yesterday by and by than just now and now then a little before each part of time if time may be said to have part that we may divide it divides and cuts off so much of our life and the remainder still decreaseth Veniente pueritia saith S. Aug. in Psalm 127. moritur infantia veniente adolescentia moritur pueritia veniente juventute moritur adolescentia veniente senectute moritur juventus veniente morte moritur omnis aetas When childhood approacheth or cometh on infancy dyeth when adolescence cometh childhood dyeth when youth cometh adolescence dyeth when old age cometh youth dyeth but when Death the
dying will be cautious and circumspect in his doing And not like those careless souls who spend their daies their months their years nay their whole time in sin and wickedness not considering what will befall them in the end Now let me fasten two Reasons upon you why you should consider that you must die and to confirm you in the truth delivered First if men seriously did consider that they are mortal and must die and shortly appear before the Tribunal of the just and great Judge it would prove an absolute and soveraign antidote to expel the greatest evil sin and the dreadful consequences of it and a means to avoid the greatest loss the loss of our immaterial Spirits those excellent beings and the way to procure the greatest good Heaven and eternal blessedness What is the reason and cause of that inundation of prophaness and wickedness and those prodigious sins as Treasons Murders Uncleaness Rebellion that are now in the world and in this Kingdom and in all places in most families and persons of all qualities and degrees but this their not duly and effectually considering that they are mortal and must die and come to Judgment This is the reason if not one main ground of sin and of the neglect and omission of all sacred duties For did they believe and remember they must die and come to Judgment and that their naked Souls and their naked crimes and sins must shortly be manifested and stand before the dreadful Bar of the most tremendous Judge of all mankind who will render unto every man according as his work shall be no doubt it would impede and hinder their constant and desperate course of sinning But alas it is the foolishness and unhappiness of most that they defer and put of the consideration of death till they feel and find they can no longer live Secondly Did ye believe that ye must die and answer for all ye have done in the body whether good or evil this if any thing would make you serious diligent zealous and constant in the worship of God and to work while it is day before the night cometh wherein no man can work For this world is for duty the other for glory this for repentance the other for recompence Hic locus luctae ille coronae This is the place of combating that of crowning this of working that of rewarding this for thy mourning that for thy consolating The Apostle exhorts us to consider one another to provoke to love and good works Heb. 10.24 25. And so much the more as we see the day approaching Our work is great and weighty Diversions are various and many Adversaries potent and subtle thy strength is weak and small thy time is short and uncertain thy account is large and great death and judgment are at the door therefore be sluggish and loiter no longer but be active and vigilant now or never Surely did you in the depth of your serious thoughts cogitate of your apparent and inevitable danger that would incite and stir you up to duty To seek the Lord while he may be found Esa 55.6 to call upon him while he is near While God gives you life opportunity peace strength and liberty to seek him before the gate of life be shut God with-drawn and mercy quite gone for ever Were prophane sinners truly sensible of their peril they would pray more ardently more deeply more affectionately more effectually than ever they have done This Consideration of Mortaliry put holy Job upon Prayer Job 7.21 Why do'st thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity for now shall I sleep in the dust Chap. 14.13 O that thou wouldst hide me in the grave until thy wrath and indignation be past that thou would'st appoint me a set time and remember me David when the sorrows of Death compassed him and the pains of Hell gat hold upon him Then said he Psal 116. I called upon the Lord O Lord I beseech thee deliver my soul I might also give you the example of Hezekiah Jonah Paul and Silas with many others but I hasten to the Uses and Application yet let me tell you a through affecting Meditation of your Dissolution and Change would make you speedy in prosecuting your known necessary and religious duties which God requires at your hands Therefore let me beg of you before the Decree bring forth Eccles 9.10 before the day pass as the chaffe before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you prepare for Death for how shall ye escape if ye neglect so great salvation Now let me improve and apply it in a threefold Use the first is for Exhortation the second for Reprehension the third for Consolation Is it so that Life is short and Death certain both which have been sufficiently cleared and proved This then calls and cries aloud unto all those that have made no provision for Death and Judgment to admire at the unwearied patience the matchless and amazing mercies of the infinitely good and gracious God Be exhorted therefore to stand upon your guard and watch and be in a prepared readiness Luke 12.40 For the Son of Man will come at an hour when ye think not All Estates are exhorted to prepare and be furnished Old and Young Male and Female Rich and Poor Noble and Ignoble for the danger is great if men be found unprovided As Death leaveth them so Judgment will find them If it leave them in a state of Damnation it will find them in a state of Damnation So if it leaves them in a state of Salvation it finds them in a state of Salvation As Ishbosheth being found asleep 2 Sam. 4.7 was killed by Rechab and Baanah so if we be sound asleep in Sin and unprepared for the Lord we shall be killed by Sathan that roaring Lion that goeth about seeking whom he may devour Because the Man that was not prepared came to the Wedding Matth. 22.13 he was cast into outer darkness As he is left behind that is unprovided when the wind serveth and the Ship under sail even so he is left in Damnation that is not prepa ed for Christ when Death cometh Many Men make all the provision they can for this Life which is uncertain and forget Death which is certain The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night 2 Pet. 3.10 in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat the Earth also and the Works that are therein shall be burnt up The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night A Thief as well for stealing on us as stealing from us he comes in the dark when no body seeth watcheth an hour which no body knoweth It may be he will come when thou art revelling or banqueting as on the Old World Luke 17.27 or when thou art drunk as on Belshazzar Dan. 5.25 or when thou art lying as on Ananias or when thou art committing