lengthning out of yours and their deaths may make way for yours you will be the greatest losers they undoubtedly will be gainers Phil. 1.23 24. They are your watchmen if they be removed spoylers may quickly breake in upon you they are your guides if they die you may soon step into by-paths they stand between God and you that judgement might be kept off that mercies might be continued if they fall to the earth it will not be long ere wrath will fall upon you Be so kind and loving to your selves as not to be unkind or cruell towards them lest you hasten their deaths whose prayers and teares preserve your lives Slight not that counsell which they deliver you from God oppose not those truths which they bring stampt with divine authority turne not your backs upon their Ministry or that Ministry which they have received from the Lord set not up nor abet nor countenance any factions against them let there be no divisions no separations which have not Gods allowance and approbation let not your lives be loose and scandalous give them not cause to say we have laboured in vaine we have spent our strength in vaine these things will pierce the hearts of gracious Ministers and bring them with sorrow to their graves Phil. 3.18 Jer 9.1 as your close walking will be their joy so your carnall walking will be their grief what faithful servant will not mourn to see his Masters errant slighted and contemned As it is a dreadfull thing for Ministers to be guilty of the bloud of their peoples soules by any cursed neglect so it is a dreadfull thing for people to be guilty of the bloud of their Ministers by their ungodly and unwarrantable practices Thirdly Must godly Ministers dye make use then of them whilest you have them let a physician come to your house but for an houre or two and you will aske him all that you can thinke of which may be conducible to your bodily health Do the Prophets live for ever Here they have no abiding place they are every day upon removing suffer them not to go to heaven without receiving some spirituall good from them get some benefit by that precious liquor which is in them before the earthen vessels that carry it be broken in peeces they are given you to make you better all their gifts all their graces all their abilities are yours 1 Cor. 3.23 when Elisha understood that his master Elijah would ere long be taken from his head he would not leave him one moment but was carefull to improve him to the utmost how gladly would we be instruments of your conversion helpers of your faith furtherers of your joy every way promoters of your spirituall welfare How willingly would we spend our selves and be spent for you Oh that you were but as desirous to receive good from us as we are desirous to do good to you God knows how earnest we are that Christ may be formed in you before we go hence and be no more seene take the counsell which our Saviour Christ gave his hearers Ioh. 12.35 improve Gods Ministers in publike be constant and diligent hearers of them receive the Law at their mouths let not their counsels be as water spilt upon the ground which cannot be gathered up let them not have cause to complaine as Simon Peter did Luke 5.4 that they have cast the net Sabbath after Sabbath but have caught nothing Improve them in private conferre often with them how glad would we be of your company we are willing to give you our counsell without the expectation of a fee improve their experiences our temptations our consolations 2 Cor. 1.4 our buffetings our trials in a word all our experiences are for your advantage we are exercised with doubts feares desertions assaults that we may be the better able to speake a word in season unto you God hath lent you a pious and a painfull Minister for 27 yeares he hath preached the word amongst you in season and out of season oh turne your eyes inward and examine your selves how you have improved him for God will examine you one day if any of you after so much plowing dressing dunging still remaine barren let me tell you you are neere unto cursing if those multiplied shoures of divine truths which have fallen amongst you have not bettered you Mat. 10.14 15. your condemnation at that great day will be greater than the condemnation of Sodom and Gomorrah Fourthly Must usefull and godly Ministers die Yet let us keep them as long as we can we will do what we can to preserve the lives of those who are instruments of much good unto us we have more cause to seek the safety and continuance of our soule-friends than of the friends of our bodies spirituall welfare is better than corporall and a thriving soule than a prosperous estate God hath lessened the number of able and gracious Ministers very much of late many burning and shining Lights have been extinguished call we upon God to stay his hand lest we be overspread with darknesse let them not dye for want of our prayers and teares to keep them alive Peter was nigh unto death the Church praies for him and God gave her Peters life as an answer to her prayers Act. 12.12 13. Take heed also of slighting scorning and abusing of the Ministers of God nothing provokes God more to deprive us of his blessings than our wretched undervaluing and abusing of them Mat. 23.37 Jesuiticall designes are on foot to lay aside and root out Gods faithfull Messengers never was there greater cause of feare that what hath often been attempted shall now be put into execution those revilings and contempts which have been and still are cast upon the Ministry with too much countenance from some and without any check from others may incense God to put out those lights that are as yet shining and to give way to the cursed enterprizes and machinations of men of corrupt minds and malicious and prophane hearts Againe would we have God to continue our Teachers unto us would we see their faces still and not have them driven into corners let us be fruitfull under their Ministry answer the paines and cost they are at with us God will not grudge any kindnesse to a soulethriving people the barrennesse of hearers will cause a dearth and scarcity of Preachers Isa 5.1 2 3 4 5. You will not suffer your servants to spend their time alwaies in ploughing dressing and sowing that ground which notwithstanding all your labour brings forth nothing but briars and thornes God will call away his Ministers from those places where they have bestowed much paines but cannot prevaile with their people to be a jot better Againe would you see the faces of your Teachers still Blesse God for them unthankfulnesse deprives us of many choice favours we live in sad times Gods Messengers are lookt upon as the burdens of the Nation but had the Nation no worse burdens
A SERMON Preached Decemb. 16. 1654. AT THE FVNERALL OF Mr ANDREVV PERN Preacher of the Word of God at Wilby in Northampton-shire BY SAMVEL AINSWORTH Rector of Kelmarsh LONDON Printed for William Gilbertson and are to be sold by Thomas Collins neare Alhallows Church in Northampton 1655. To the Religious and my much honoured Aunt Mrs Mary Pern Grace and peace be multiplied Deare Aunt WE read in the first Chapter of Ruth how Naomi a very gracious Matron lost first her Husband and not long after her two Sons Your condition is not much though somewhat unlike hers Your losse in respect of your Husband is not a jot inferiour to hers her losse in respect of her children was greater than yours she lost two Sons you a Daughter only what difference soever there hath been between your losses I suppose there is none between your griefes When you enjoyed both Husband and Child you might well be called Naomi pleasant but since the wise God hath deprived you of them both the name Marah bitter hath been more sutable to your condition for it hath been sad and bitter To tell you what a Husband you have lost were but to encrease your sorrow which I feare needs stopping rather than venting I shall therefore observe that course which was used by the Iews who when their deare friends or neighbours had lost either Husband or Wife Father or Child they brought them a cup of consolation for to comfort them Jer. 16.7 The Prophet David tels us Psal 119.50 That the word of God was his comfort in his affliction and the Apostle Paul labours to support the Thessalonians for the losse of their Christian friends by setting the word of God before them 1 Thes 4.18 These following Scriptures therefore are the cup of consolation with which I shall present you to mitigate your too much abounding sorrow Prov. 3.12 Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth even as a father the son in whom he delighteth Rom. 8.28 We know all things worke together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose Isa 27.9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Iacob be purged and this is all the fruit to take away his sin Heb. 12.10 11. For they verily for a few daies chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holinesse Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous but grievous nevertheless afterwards it yeeldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby Isa 54.5 Thy maker is thy husband Psal 146.9 The Lord preserveth the strangers he releeveth the fatherless and widdow Now if God hath taken away your deare husband and child out of love to your soule if their naturall deaths shall promote your spirituall life if their taking up to heaven shall prepare and make you fitter for heaven if their losse shall be your gaine the purging away of your drosse and the making of you a more refined vessell for your Masters use the weakning of your corruptions and the strengthning of your graces if God will be a husband to you whose love is more pure strong ravishing satisfying and durable than the love of the best husband that ever breath'd upon earth if God will be present with you in whose presence is fulnesse of joy and take care of you to protect and counsell to help and releeve you be your enemies and dangers what they will Have you not more cause to rejoyce in these spirituall priviledges than to mourne for your temporall losses Take therefore the counsell of the Apostle 1 Thes 4.18 Comfort your selfe in the meditation of these Scriptures Do as David did when he had lost all at Ziglag encourage your selfe in the Lord your God 1 Sam. 30.6 Although Cisterns fail yet God is a fountaine that cannot be drawn dry when the Creature neither is nor can be the same to us yet God is the same yesterday and to day and for ever Heb. 13.8 Now that the God of all grace and consolation would make up your losses by the abundant supplies of his blessed Spirit sanctifie his correcting hand unto you support you under your heavy burden and fit you with all joy and peace in beleeving is the prayer of Your sympathizing and much obliged kinsman SAMUEL AINSVVORTH A SERMON 2 Kings 13.14 Now Elisha was fallen sick of his sicknesse whereof he died and Joash the King of Israel came down unto him and wept over his face and said O my father my father the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof IN these words we may take notice of these two generall parts First Elisha's sicknesse wherin we may consider 1. Who this Elisha was he was not only a holy man but a holy Prophet 2. The event of his sicknesse sick he was and that unto death and died of this his sicknesse Secondly Joash's visiting of him in this his sicknesse 1. Who this Joash was who came to visit him no mean person no plaine country man no poore neighbour but a man of eminent place and dignity he was no lesse than a King and King of Israel 2. The paines he took to visit him he did not take a step or two to see the Prophet Elisha was now no neere neighbour he was either at Jericho or at Bethel or in some other place remote from Samaria the usuall seat of the Kings of Israel and from whence Joash came down to visit him It had been no small favour for so great a Prince to have sent one of his choice favourites upon this errand and to have staied at home himselfe but he thought it not sufficient to dispatch his servant with a How do you but waits upon the poore Prophet in his own person he questions it not whether it would not be too great a condescension for his excellent Majesty to see how so meane a subject did he made no scruple whether his disease might not be noysome or infectious he waved these things stood not upon his magnificency but makes a journey himselfe 3. The motive that prevailed with him to visit this man of God which makes the action more commendable it was nothing else but that respect which he did beare unto him Elisha had been a great friend to the State secured it againe and againe against the incursions of the Syrians procured water for the Armies of Israel when they were in danger to perish for want of it assured them of the great victory that they should obtaine against the Ammonites helpt them also when they were at a dead lift by his prayers these worthy acts were remembred by this King who honoured the Prophet for them and exprest what high thoughts he had of him by giving of him such a friendly and honourable visit Ahab the Predecessor of Joash though not immediately would never have shewed such kindnesse to Elijah the predecessor of Elisha he would rather have been glad of then
and malicious enemies are delivered from them And is not this the condition of all our gracious friends vvhen they dye Are they not novv at ease vvho vvere once in paine Are they not novv at liberty vvho vvere once in prison For this vvorld is a prison to a pious soule Are they not novv freed from all their enemies vvho could have no rest night or day from one enemy or other Rejoice therefore that their vvarfare is accomplished and blesse God that he hath not taken avvay himselfe from us though he hath deprived us of such vvho vvere our deare friends vve have no cause to grudge at the losse of these Cisternes so long as vve have the fountaine What though these bottles be dry vve cannot vvant the refreshing vvaters of comfort so long as the spring is vvith us vvhen God takes avvay our outvvard helps he takes avvay such as may better be spared than himselfe let our losses be what they vvill they may very vvell be borne so long as vve enjoy God vvho is alsufficient Hast thou lost a loving husband yet blesse God that Christ vvho loves thee and will live vvith thee is not lost thy naturall Father is dead but thou hast a Father in heaven vvho vvants no vvisdome to counsell thee no love to comfort thee no povver to help thee no supplies to relieve thee vvho is not ignorant or unsensible of thy condition and vvill be vvith thee continually Thou hast lost a precious Pastor yet thou hast a better shepheard to take care of thee the Lord Jesus blessed for ever But vvhy say I vve have lost our friends vvhen they dye We rather part vvith them for a season than lose them they are gone a little before us to that place vvhere vve shall be ere long and enjoy them more refined more pure more lovely and amiable never to part vvith them more Besides vve have cause to rejoyce though not in the death of our Christian friends yet in the spirituall benefits that vve shall reap by their deaths God hath said Rom. 8.28 All things shall vvorke together for good to those vvho love him and are the called according to his purpose True vve cannot see hovv the losse of gracious friends shall turn to our advantage but vve must shut the eyes of sense and live by faith in the promise it is ground sufficient for us to beleeve that vve shall be gainers by our losses because God hath said so vvho cannot lye 7. Must godly men dye Then let godly men take heed of setting their hearts inordinately upon these outward blessings and comforts from which they must part the more the world is in our affections the lesse pleasing and welcome will the thoughts of death be unto us Why are we loath to dye Because we are not prepared and why are we not prepared But because we have minded earth too much and heaven too little Oh the world the world how hath it got too much hold of the hearts of too many good Christians never was there more need to preach upon that Text Take heed and beware of covetousnesse Or upon those words of Paul Set your affections upon things above not on things below What heare we from the men of the world For ought we see these who pretend so much to heaven are as greedy after the earth as others and it were well if their tongues were no flander in this particular if the world be our treasure why make we a profession of Christ And if Christ be our treasure why do we embrace the world It is no wonder to see earnall men who have not God for their Father who have no promise for a necessary supply of those outward things who have no spirituall stock to comfort their hearts no heaven but what may be found in the confluence of temporall enjoyments to be violent in their desires and endeavours after the world but you that are Christians indeed and not in name only have no cause to be over-carefull or to cumber your selves with too many things Gods power and faithfulnesse are engaged that you shall want no good thing Psal 84.11 Mat. 6.33 Rom. 8.32 Grant you have wife and children to provide for yet take heed of wounding your own soules and consciences by excessive thoughtfulnesse for their bodies the Apostles rule must be obeyed or else we shall be found guilty but what is that you will say read 1 Cor. 7.29.30 31. the best way we can take to provide for wife and children is to do what God commands and not to practice what God forbids Psal 112.1 2 3. As I would not have you to neglect your particular callings so I would not have you to forget your generall callings thinke not only that you are men and stand in need of earthly supplies but remember also you are Christians and are call'd to have your conversation in heaven be you thoughtfull to honour God and God will be thoughtfull to maintaine and provide for you and yours Walke therefore closely with God keep up and maintaine the power of Godlinesse improve all opportunities put into your hands to do or to get good balke no duty commanded Be more mindfull to make thy friends and children good than great and to leave them in the armes of Christ than to leave them millions of gold and silver An estate raised by sinfull neglects or commissions will do thy children more hurt than good and it is more than an even lay that that will be spent loosely by them which hath been gotten covetously by thee 8. Must the godly dye Then let those who are godly prepare for death do nothing now which may move God to conceale his love in that last houre True it is no sooner shall your breath be stopt here but your soules shall be carried into heaven yet you may so order the matter that your departure may be clouded Ah! how sweet will it be for God to smile upon us when we come to dye to say unto us Well done thou good and faithfull servant enter now into thy Masters joy Give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure keep your evidences cleare blot them not by any loose or scandalous practice take heed of grieving that spirit which hath at any time sealed you to the day of redemption 9. Must the godly dye Let this be matter of support and consolation unto all godly ones in the midst of those troubles and temptations which they meet withall in the world Art thou buffeted by sathans temptations wearied with that body of death which thou carriest about thee Dost thou groane under the burden of a vile and cursed heart Art thou followed with variety of afflictions Do thy enemies scorne and persecute thee Be of good comfort death will come death will come ere long and set thee free from all thine enemies Job speaking of the grave tels us There the wicked cease from troubling there the weary are at rest Job 3.17
in the gap to keep off judgements from breaking in upon them had it not been for the prayers and teares of their faithfull Pastor divine vengeance might have ceased upon them long before now how many times hath God been ready to draw his sword to cut them off to lay his axe to the root of them and to chop them down when their watchfull and compassionate overseer hath interceded for them and held Gods hands from destroying them Jeremies prayers for the Jews did prevaile with God for a season to spare them and when God was fully determined to ruine them he bids Jeremy not to pray for them Chap. 14.11 Psal 106.23 Ezek. 22.30 31. Luke 13.5 6 7. Thirdly The godly where such a Minister did live have cause to mourne when he is taken away for 1. As God is angry with the wicked so he is angry with his own people when he deprives them of their Pastor it is promised as a singular testimony of Gods love to his children to let them have the liberty of seeing the faces and enjoying the labours of their Teachers Isa 30.20 2. They have lost one who was watchfull over them carefull to prevent their falling into sin and ready to raise them up with all possible speed when fallen 3. Some of them have lost a spirituall father and ought not the child to lament the losse of his father Besides all of them have lost a diligent instructer 4. They have lost one who through Gods blessing hath kept them out of many a snare carried on the work of grace in their hearts awakened their drouzy soules quickened their dead hearts strengthened their feeble hands and knees revived their almost expiring graces reduced them when they have been wandring encouraged them in the waies of God when they met with strong opposition comforted them when they have been sad answered their doubts scattered their feares and filled them with joy and peace through beleeving Eph. 4.12 5. They have lost one who was acquainted with their condition knew in some measure the state of their soules and so was the better able to speake seasonably to them and to their necessities A stranger may preach wholsome truths to a people but he knows not so well to apply his doctrine to them as their own Pastor Another may give a child meat to eate but he cannot tell what that food is which is most convenient for it so well as the mother that Physitian who hath been longest acquainted with our bodies knows what Physick is most proper for us thus you see all sorts have cause to lament the fall of a faithfull Minister the reasons are these First God commands us to mourne when he afflicts us with the losse of godly and painefull Ministers when God was pleased to take away Nadab and Abihu none of the best Priests and such who died in their sin yet even then did God call upon the people to bewaile the burning which he had made Lev. 10.8 Must the death of wicked ones be lamented then certainly we must lament the death of the righteous Must not Nadab and Abihu go to their graves without teares What teares should we poure out when a Samuel and Elisha or a Stephen go to their graves Secondly It hath been the practice of the godly bitterly to bewaile the losse of pious and faithfull Ministers what is written in this particular is written for our learning we must be followers of those who are good so far as they are followers of that which is good 1 Sam. 25.1 Micah 7.1 Acts 20.37 38. it went to their very hearts to thinke that they should lose one who had been such a notable instrument to promote Gods glory and his Churches good Paulinus writing of the life of Ambrose reports thus much of him Quod flebat amarissimè quotiescunque fortè annunciatum illi fuerat de cujuscunque sancti obitu Sacerdotis that he wept most bitterly whenever any one told him of the death of any godly Minister It is also reported of Philo that when he heard where he came of the death of any holy man he would weep very bitterly because the Town and the Church had no small prejudice by such a losse Thirdly Such as have had no grace have lamented the death of the Prophets and Messengers of God we have Joash for an example who will rise up in judgment against and condemne those who can let godly Ministers go to their graves without sighs in their hearts or teares in their eyes when the old Prophet who seduced the Prophet sent to Jeroboam saw that he was slaine by the Lion he brought his carkasse into the City laid it in his own grave and they mourned over him with the Text saying Alas my brother 1 Kings 13.30 Fourthly God complaines of those who neglected to lay to heart the death of the righteous Isa 57.1 God never finds fault where there is none were it not a duty to lament the losse of Gods servants none should have met with a check for the neglect of it Fifthly Peoples sins are the cause of Gods taking away their faithfull Pastors the unthankfulnesse and unfruitfulnesse of heares provoke God to remove their preachers and ought we not to lay to heart those sins which deprive us of very choice mercies Sixthly The death of Gods faithfull Ministers is the forerunner of some approaching judgement what but darknesse can be expected when the Sun is set Have we not cause to feare an inundation of waters when the banks that kept them from overflowing are cut down If the pillars of a house be taken away can the house stand If the watchmen be killed the City is in danger to be surprized Isa 57.1 History tels us that so soon as Saint Austin was dead and gone the Goths and Vandals broke into Hippo the City where he lived and spoyled it The Smakaldicke war began in Germany not long after Luther was laid in the grave Spinola took Heilderberg not long after God had taken away that precious servant of his Pareus You see then there is no small cause of mourning when God takes away his faithfull Messengers and Ministers Uses First This serves to reprove those who are not affected with the losse of Gods faithfull Ministers those righteous men perish and how few lay it to heart They go to their long home but where are the mourners about the streets God hath been pleased of late to put out many shining and burning lights as Dr Hill Mr Whitaker Mr Gataker Doctor Bolton and many others men famous in their generations usefull and precious men of whom the world was not worthy we heare of the fall of those Cedars but tremble not of the removall of those pillars but are not afraid we regard the losse of those blessed instruments no more than the losse of a horse or hog no more say I nay not so much Gadaren-like we can better part with the Messengers of Christ than with our swine
gone gone never to be seen in this place nor in any of your houses or families againe do we love our neighbours and brethren let us mourne that they as well as we have lost at one clap a faithfull friend a faithfull counsellour a faithfull instructer a faithfull reprover a faithfull comforter in a word a faithfull Preacher Let every one of us mourne together and yet mourne apart let the wife mourn that she hath lost so pious a yoke-fellow let his children mourn that they have lost so carefull a father let the servants mourn that they have lost so religious a master let the people mourne that they have lost so painfull a Pastor and let us Ministers mourne that we have lost such a fellow-labourer one that did joyne with us and help us to oppose those grand enemies Sin Satan and the World True it is none have cause to mourne in reference to his present condition but rather to rejoyce he hath fought a good fight finished his course and kept the faith and now is wearing that crown of righteousness which hath been prepared for him Could he speake unto us he would say as Christ to the women who be wailed and lamented him Luk. 23.28 Weepe not for me but weepe for your selves Let us search our hearts and lives and find out the causes of this our losse why God hath given us such a cup of gall and wormwood for to drinke And is there not a cause Yes certainly Our unthankfulnesse our unfruitfulnesse our pride our worldliness our deadness our coldness our lukewarmness our hypocrisie our contempt and undervaluing of such a blessing have provoked God to deprive us of him The losse of our first love hath made God to scourge us with this loss a loss with a witness a loss to many at once a loss to the State a loss to the Church a loss to the Country a loss to his Parish a loss to his Neighbours a loss to his Yoke-fellow a loss to his Children a loss to his Brethren we have lost we know not what this loss may be more felt hereafter than it is for the present I wish you may never have cause to say where is the spirit of Elijah Where is he now whose zeale was wont to inflame our hearts whose forwardness for God was wont to put us forward whose teares were wont to set us on mourning whose spirituall fervour was wont to heate and warme us whose elevated heart in the waies of God hath helped to lift up our hearts in Gods waies the prevalency of whose prayers we were wont to feele in the encreasing and quickning of our graces whose powerfull Sermons were wont to leave most sweet and refreshing influences upon our soules Where is he Where is he God grant that the spirit of Elijah may be doubled upon his successour that you may not pine and languish away in such sad complaints I make no question were it in the power of prayers and teares of fasting and mourning to fetch him back againe you would not be long without him But now it is too late thankfulness fruitfulness and a close walking with God might have kept him still amongst you who cannot be recalled by any teares or supplications Thus having finished the first thing that Joash did after he came to see Elisha we come now to speake of the second effect or fruit of his visitation expressed in the honourable titles which he gave unto him First he cals him his Father from whence we may observe That honour and respect ought to be shewed from all sorts of men to the faithfull Messengers and Ministers of God Joash did no more than his duty the spirit of God would not have left it upon record for his commendation had it not been a thing that God liked and approved All Sexes whether men or women all relations whether Prince or people husband or wife or all degrees whether high or low rich or poore all conditions whether good or bad righteous or unrighteous learned or unlearned are bound to honour and respect the Messengers and Ministers of Christ there is an inward honour belongs unto them we are highly to esteeme of them to love them there is an outward honour belongs to them we are to honour them in our words by speaking well of them and respectfully to them we are to honour them in our gestures and carriages towards them the Babylonians were charged with this fault that they respected not the persons of the Priests Lam. 4.16 Mat. 13.57 It seemes then nothing was more common and ordinary than to shew respect and honour to the Prophets of God 1 Thes 5.11 1 Tim. 5.17 Reasons First God honours them and therefore men should not neglect to honour them it is ground enough for us to love a man because God loves him and to respect men because God respects them Christ would have us to be mercifull that we might be like unto our heavenly Father who is mercifull Mat. 5. So we must honour those whom God honours that we might expresse our conformity unto God What shall be done unto the man whom the King will honour saith Ahasuerus to Haman Est 6.6 Haman thought no honour too great for and none too great to honour such a man what shall then be done unto the men whom the King of Kings will honour Surely mortall men should not thinke much to honour those whom the immortall God thinkes not much to honour Now there is no faithfull Minister whom God doth not hath not will not highly honour 1 Sam. 2.30 they honour God and God will honour them Secondly Their Office is an honourable office their calling an honourable calling Heb. 5.4 to be a Steward to another man is a place of honour Yearely Stewards if I mistake not are Esquires by their places as Knights eldest Sons are by their birth To be Lord High Steward to a Prince is a place of greater honour Now all Gods Ministers are Stewards to that God who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords 1 Cor. 4.1 Againe the Office of an Embassadour who represents the person of the King is a place of great honour Ministers are Gods Embassadours they negotiate for God and they are employed to treat about a peace between God and man about a marriage between Christ and the soules of people 2 Cor. 5.20 Again they are said to be co-workers and fellow labourers with God himselfe in the salvation of sinners 1 Cor. 3 9. Thirdly Good men have been ready and carefull to honour the Messengers and Ministers of God such who have slighted them before their Conversion have much respect and reverence unto them after conversion Those who mockt at Peter and the Apostles when they were in the state of nature did very much honour them after they were wrought upon by Peters Sermon Acts 2.37 Cornelius a good man was ready to go beyond his bounds in shewing honour to Peter he was ready to give him too much
to cut off the people of Israel but Moses by his earnest cries and supplications stayed Gods hand If Jeremy will pray for the people of the Jews Gods knows not how to deny his request and therefore when God was resolved to destroy them he commands Jeremy to pray no more for them Jer. 14.10 Thirdly Because Gods faithfull Ministers do what they can to advance the true Religion to set up the sincere worship and service of God in the places where they live their study is to draw people unto Christ and to promote and increase the kingdome of the Lord Jesus Now God hath been very favourable to a people and nation where his worship and service hath been set up and maintained 2 Chron. 11.17 How did they strengthen the kingdome of Judah by offering sacrifices to the Lord according to the manner God had prescribed See also Chap. 15.11 12 13 14. Fourthly God many times for his Ministers sake is pleased to spare a nation and will not destroy it till he hath secured them the old world fared the better for Noah that preacher of righteousnes had he been housed sooner they might have been ruined sooner The Angel told Lot that he could nothing against Sodom till he was gone out of it and therefore he bids him make haste That fearefull rout which the Philistines gave Saul when he and his Sons were slaine fell not upon him till after Samuels death Uses First Let God and the world judge whether they are a Nations friends who are bitter enemies to the Ministers of God who say of them as those did Come let us cut them off from being in the nation that their name may be had no more in remembrance were the Philistines the Israelites friends when they took away all their military weapons and would not allow them either swords or speares to defend themselves no better friends are they to a State who endeavour to deprive it of Gods faithfull Messengers who are no lesse necessary for the defence and safety of a State than Chariots and horsemen if such be lovers of Christ or Christians I do not know who may be accounted haters Secondly Then the way to secure a nation against all adverse power and to make it happy and glorious is to plant set up and maintaine a godly and painfull Ministry in every place 2 Chron. 11.17 Hezekiah was of this mind and therefore he took care that the Levites might be encouraged in their worke and surely they are far from the holiness and zeale of Hezekiah who do what they can to discourage the Messengers of the Lord in the worke of the Ministry 2 Chron. 31.4 Thirdly Have nothing to do with those men whose designe it is to pull down the publike Ministry to burne up those Chariots to unhorse those horsemen to demolish those bulwarkes and to break down those fences that so foxes and wolves and ravenous beasts may breake in upon us say not a confederacy to whom this people shall say a confederacy Isa 8.12 but rather say as good Jacob said Gen. 49.6 Oh my soule come not thou into their secret unto their Assembly mine honour be not thou united Fourthly Have we not then great cause to mourne and be humbled when God takes away those Chariots and horsemen his faithfull Messengers and Ministers from our heads Would not England be in a sad condition were she deprived of her weapons of defence when the Nations round about would be glad if they were able to make an inrode upon us when a people lose their Ministers when those chariots and horsemen are removed the place and nation where they once lived lie more naked and open to all manner of judgements I cannot blame you that I see so many sad faces some weeping eyes amongst you Rachel wept because she had lost her children and you have cause to weep because you have lost a spirituall father and we have all cause to mourne if we consider what a one he was whom we have lost He was a painfull Preacher laid out himselfe in the Lords vineyard and was carefull to fulfill the Ministry which he had received in the Lord. He was no lesse faithfull than painfull he was one who would not keep back any of Gods counsels but was ready to reveale unto his people the whole truth Acts 20. He studied to divide the word of truth aright and to give every one that portion which did of right belong unto him as he would tell the righteous it should be well with them so he would tell the wicked it should be ill with them He was one who would not daube with untempered morter neither was he afraid to reprove the greatest of sinners to their faces he wrought in the worke of the Ministry very willingly and not out of constraint it was not filthy lucre nor popular applause nor any such corrupt end that drew him forth to preach the Gospell love to Christ an earnest desire to encrease his kingdom pitty and compassion towards poore soules a violent thirst after their salvation and a burning zeale for the honour and glory of God were the motives that put him upon this worke nothing grieved him more than when God denied him the liberty of preaching and he was never better than when in the Pulpit I have heard him often say that he had rather be sick two daies of the six than upon the Sabbath day In the time of this his last sickness he would often say When shall I be able to preach againe And when he felt but a little reviving and strength he was very glad upon this account because he hoped ere long he should declare Gods will again to his people in the publike Congregation what was the longing of Davids soul was also the longing of his sighing out those words When shall I come and appeare before God Psal 42.2 No burden lay heavier upon his spirit than his present inability to be serviceable unto God in his Ministeriall Office he was none of those who are glad of any excuse to justifie their sitting still and not preaching to their Flock He preâ—â— no doctrine upon his people but what he would venture his own salvation upon and upon his death-bed desired his people to cleave fast to those truths which he had taught them for he durst pawn his soule upon them He was most carefull of and loving to his people when he was called to be a Member of the Assembly he was forced to leave them but it was cum animo revertendi with a purpose to returne againe unto them He had a very great living in London but this could not keep him from comming back to his old place so soone as he had liberty and opportunity I have heard him often say he would not exchange Wilby for the greatest Living in the Land Great Livings have severall times been laid down at hi feet but he would not accept of them When he thought he should dye he called his