the Society of Saints and Angels yea of God himself and the blessed Iesus And shall we then * Ejus est morieim â—imere qui ad Christum nollâ—tâ—lrâ—â— Cyprian fear to die Oh let 's get above this 3. Let all God's People rejoyce in the Thoughts of Heaven Vsm 3. What a Place and State will that be to such when you shall be gathered into the Fellowship of the glorified Saints shall see Abraham Isaac Iacob with all the rest of that vast Body shall converse with them and have Communion with them in the praising admiring and magnifying of God for ever what a transcendent Happiness will this be Here your Company is mixt there none but Saints shall be with you Here your Company is often afflictive to you there it shall be wholy rejoicing to your Souls Here the Best you converse with have their Infirmities there all shall be perfect Here you see this and that Saint scattered as a little good Grain in the midst of a Field of Tares there you shall see the whole Body of Saints from first to last The Sight of one St. Paul would be a blessed Sight but to see all the Apostles all the Martyrs and Confessors all the great Instruments of God's Glory ancient and modern Lord what a transporting and ravishing Sight will that be How should the serious Sense of this both fill up our Joy and also inflame our Desires after Heaven How divinely does the Oratour speak O blessed Day when I shall go to that divine Society and Convention of Souls O praeclarum diem cù ad illud di inum Animarum Concillium coetumq e proficiscar cùm ex hac turba colluvione disâ—edam Tul. de Sen. and shall be freed from those Crowds filthy Persons that are here had he such Notions of a future State and of the Happiness thereof what Notions should we have of it And yet that which I have been upon is but the least of Heaven To be gathered to the glorified Saints is very good ah but to be gathered to God to Christ to be admitted into the immediate Presence Vision and Fruition of these surely this is incomparably better This is the Heaven of Heavens the very Top and Zenith of Glory And this shall be the Felicity of all who are sincere with God 1 Thess 4.17 So shall we ever be with the Lord Having a Desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Philip. 1.23 In thy Presence is Fullness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for evermore Psal 16.11 Oh therefore you who fear God and walk with him as the great Instance in the Text did how may you comfort your selves in this and what cause have you to say My Soul doth magnify the Lord Bless the Lord ô my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name THe first part of my Work is dispatch'd I go on to the second The Example which the Text propounds I have done with I come now to that Example which the Providence of God sets before us this day You all expect I should say something of that Antient Faithful Eminent Minister of Christ and Servant of God Mr. Thomas Case whose Funerals in the Religious Part of them we now solemnize Concerning him therefore I will 1. Give a brief A count of his Life and Death 2. Then give a more particular Narrative of him in his several Capacities Not to instance in the Time and Place of his Birth he was the Son of a Minister in Kent a Person eminent in his time for Parts and Piety This he testified as in all other things so in his great Care to give this his Son a pious and religious Education which he was the more excited and encouraged unto upon his perceiving of those more than ordinary buddings and blossomings of Grace and Ingenuity that were in him in his Childhood When he was grown up and sit to be sent abroad he was put to School first at Canterbury then at Merchant-Taylors School in this City And there he was continued until his Father meeting with Troubles and Embroy Iments in his Estate by Law-Suits and other Occasions was forced to remove him from these Nurseries and to take him home to himself where he gave him all that Instruction in the Arts and Languages that his many Diversions would admit of Having arrived at a Competency of Age and Learning Adde pâ—ssent alij haud pauci ab eruditione merito celebrandi quales crediderim Thomam Case c. Antiq. Vniv Oxon. l. 2. p. 283. he was sent to the University admitted in Christ-Church in Oxford that Famous Society where his Industry and Proficiency was such as that by the Dean and Canons then being he was unanimously elected Student of that House There he resided till he had commenc'd Master of Arts and a Year or two after From thence he now being in a considerable measure fitted for the Work of the Ministry by the great Importunity of Mr. R. Herrick his most intimate and affectionate Friend he was prevailed with to come to him and to be with him at his Benefice in Norfolk After some short stay with him he was called to the Exercise of his Ministry at Erpingham a Town in the same County There he continued eight or ten Years indefatigable in his Work preaching twice every Lords-day expounding the Holy Scriptures catechising the Younger repeating in private what he had delivered in publick Hither many resorted to him to partake of his Labours and God wonderfully succeeded them to the Conversion of many Souls But meeting with Troubles in that Diocess under Bp. Wren he was forced to remove out of it His fore-mentioned Friend being made Warden of Manchester took him into Lancashire with him there in a short time he was presented to a Place in the Neighbouring County But great Revolutions happening in the Nation a little after he was by the Urgency of some Persons of Quality perswaded to accompany them to London So Providence first brought him hither and then fixed him here Here he was chosen first Lecturer then Pastor at Milk-Street where how laborious and faithful he was in his Lord's Work many yet living can testify Besides his lord's-Lord's-day's Pains in this Place he preach'd a weekly Lecture every Saturday in order to Persons being the better prepared for the Sabbath And here he first set up the Morning Exercise which has been kept up in this City from place to place ever since it too having lived to a good old Age and not as yet given up the Ghost And not confining his Labours to this Parish he also preached a Lecture at St. Martin's in the Fields every Thursday which he kept up above twenty Years In those days the Engagement being vehemently urg'd and he refusing to take it he was put out of his Place at Milk-Street But God would not have him to be idle if one Door be shut upon him
Years but in regard of the great Progress he had made in Faith and Holiness A more satisfactory Answer is this That Abraham's Age absolutely considered especially at that Time wherein he lived when God shortened the Lives of Men very much was a good old Age although it was not so if taken comparatively with those that lived before him And in a comparative Notion too it was so Auctor Cat. in Lipem if we compare it with the Age of them who did succeed him 'T is true Isaac lived some-what longer than he for his days were an 180 Years Gen. 35.28 But as to the rest of his Issue and as to the Body of succeeding Mankind few if any ever did attain to his Age. The Days of our Years are threescore Years and ten Psal 90.10 and not one of a thousand now live to this Abraham much exceeded this Proportion and so it may be well affirmed of him that he died in a good old Age an old Man full of Years From this Head I 'll raise three Observations 1. That to live to and to die in a good old Age Observ 1. is a great Blessing It may be said to be a good old Age either Upon a Natural and Physical or a Moral and Spiritual Account According to the first Consideration 't is either a great and long Age or a strong and healthful Age either sera or sana Senectus 1. A great and long Age Namely when a Man's Days and Years are many when the Number of them rises very high when he has full measure of them measure press'd down and running over Some divide Old Age into three Periods according to which they distinguish it into First Second and Last the First they make to commence from the 60th Year of Man the Second from his 70th and the Last from his 80th 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V. Drusâ—an loc Now when a Man's Life is prolong'd not only to the First and Second but also to the Third of these Stages surely his is a good old Age. Now this is a great Blessing So the Scripture represents a long Life and a late Death God himself makes use of it as a Motive to Obedience the Apostle turns it into a Promise Eph. 6.2 Honour thy Father c. that thy days may be long upon the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Exod. 20.12 It s Promised Thou shalt come to thy Grave in a full Age like as a Shock of Corn cometh in in his Season Job 5.26 The number of thy days I will fulfil Exod. 23.26 You see this good old Age is promised as a Mercy The opposite to it is threatened as a Punishment So in the Case of Eli and his Posterity 1 Sam. 2.31 Behold the days come that I will cut off thine Arm and the Arm of thy Father's House that there shall not be an old Man in thine House Psal 55.23 Bloody and deceitful Men shall not live out half their days Job 15.32 33. It shall be accomplished before his time and his Branch shall not be green He shall shake off his unripe Grape as the Vine and cast off his Flower as the Olive David therefore deprecates this O my God take me not away in the midst of my days Psal 102.24 It 's observable when God would set forth the glorious State of the Church in the latter days he doth it by this Allusion Isa 65.20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old Man that hath not filled his days for the Child shall die an hundred Years old but the Sinner being an hundred Years old shall be accursed To prove it to be a Mercy it appears to be so 1. In regard of Others 2. With respect to the Aged themselves 1. In regard of Others It 's a great Mercy to be serviceable and instrumental in the promoting of the Good of Others 't is that which we are all born for have all our Graces and Gifts for that which all stand obliged unto by many Bonds that which is the highest Expression of true Love and Charity that which will much conduce to the securing and heightning of our own Future Happiness This Life now being the only time for this Service must it not be a great Mercy if God will lengthen it out and spare a Person to a good old Age In this respect and upon this account the Life of Christians here is preferable before the glorified Life of the Saints in Heaven inasmuch as here they may be serviceable to others which there they cannot be Oh the longer thy Life is continued the more Good thou mayst do the more thou mayst bring in to God the more thou mayst instruct exhort comfort and the like and is not this Mercy He that goes not to bed till nine or ten at night may certainly do more Work than one who enters upon his Repose early in the Morning or at Mid-day And besides this Old Age does both qualify Persons for Service and also make their Service most successful 'T is to be presum'd that the Aged have a greater Stock of * Mens Ratio Consilium in Senibus est Temeritas est slorentis Aetatis Prudentia Senectutis Tull. de Sen. Wisdom Experience than the Younger and so are more able to advise convince reprove and every way to further the Good of others And then upon that Reverence and Veneration which all but profligate Persons have for these what they say and do comes with great †Apex Senectutis Authoritas Tull. de Sen. Authority That Admonition Counsel and Reproof which is slighted as it comes from the Young is received with awe when it comes from the Aged An eminent ‖ Mr. Gattaker Abraham's Decease â— 282. Divine treating of this Subject cites this Speech of one A few gray Hairs may be of more worth than many Locks and a few gray Beards do more than many green Heads Old Age where 't is not decrepit and superannuated is not the unuseful and unserviceable part of Man's Life as to others but quite the contrary 2. With respect to the Aged themselves The longer they are continued here the more time they have to set their House in order to prepare for their everlasting State Isa 38.1 Phil. 2.12 1 Tim. 6.19 to work out their Salvation to lay a good Foundation for Eternal Life to get clear Evidences for Heaven The longer the Fruit hangs upon the Tree the riper it grows 't would be sad if they who live long should not be full ripe for Glory when they die Upon this twofold Consideration it s a great Blessing to live to a good old Age. 2. Let 's consider it as it speaks a strong and healthful old Age. Abraham dyed in a * i. e. Prospetâ valetudine haouit faciâ—em Senectam P Martyr Vid. Oleast Piscat Semectute bona i. e. quae aliena a â—â—dlis incommodis Senectutis Vatabl. good old Age though he
was old yet he was hail vegete and vigorous not bowed down with those Infirmities that usually attend old Age. Some are Old when Young others Young when Old their Senses Parts are as vivid and fresh as ever We have two famous Instances of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Holy Writ That of Moses Deut. 34.7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty Years old when he died his Eye was not dim nor his natural Force abated And that of Caleb Josh 14.10 11. And now behold the Lord hath kept me alive and he said these fourty and five Years even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses while the Children of Israel wandered in the Wilderness and now lo I am this day fourscore and five Years old As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me as my Strength was then even so is my Strength now for War both to go out and to come in Profane †Val Max. l. 8. c. 13 Cie de Sen. Diusius says of himself Col Senectus melior quam ipsa Juventus History abounds in variety of Examples of it but I 'll make no Citation of them Now that this is a great Blessing needs no Proof To be full of Years and yet free from the Diseases Pains Weaknesses which are the common Retinue of old Age it admits not of the least Doubt but that this is an eminent Mercy Some bring the fore-cited Promise Job 5.26 unto this Mr. Caryl 〈…〉 Thou shalt come to thy Grave in a full Age i. e. full of Strength and Health thine old Age shall not be a troublesome Age thou shalt not be weak and crazy distempered and sick a Burthen to thy Self and Friends but shalt die in a lusty old Age It 's promised us as a Mercy you see and it must be own'd to be so This for the Natural and Physical Notion of a good old Age But then 2. There is the Moral and Spiritual Notion of it And so it may be said to be good either in respect of Grace or of Peace and Comfort when 't is a vertuous religious pious old Age or a peaceable and comfortable old Age the Soul having the Peace of God and Divine Joy in it this is truly * Tenen dum est praecipuam partem bonae senectutis in bonâ conscâ—entiâ animo sereno tranquillo consistere Vnde soquitur nonnisi in verâ—s justâ—â—ia cultores competere quod Deus Abrahae promitit Calv. eminently a good old Age and that which is peculiar to Good Men. In both respects Abraham's old Age was good First as it succeeded an holy and well-spent Life and then as it self was filled up with ‖ Discedens in Cratia Lyra. Grace and Holiness for according to the Promise Psal 92.14 He brought forth Fruit in his old Age. And Secondly †Expirare mori in Senectute bonâ est placide mori excessiâ— dâ—lcissimo hanc vitam finire River as in it he enjoyed much inward Serenity of Mind and Peace of Conscience This he had this he died with so he died in a good old Age. If we state it thus Does it not carry much Mercy in it In a full Age when Death is making its near Approaches for any then to be able to reflect upon a good and gracious Life to appeal to God as Hezekiah did Isa 38.3 Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in Truth and with a perfect Heart and have done that which is good in thy Sight Lord I have not lived a vain and wicked Life thou knowest I have not spent my best Age in Folly and Vanity all my days I have endeavoured to live in thy Fear it has been my great Design all along to glorify thee in my Conversation to do Good to Men to serve my Generation And now I am old yet still I keep my Integrity still I love thee and fear to sin against thee still to the utmost of my Strength I am for Prayer Meditation hearing the Word all Religious Exercises Oh good and blessed old Age Is not the end of this Man Peace Conscientia benè acta vita multorumque bene factorum recordatio jucâ—â—dissima est Tull. de Sen. does he not leave the World and go off the Stage full of Comfort as well as full of Days Does he not now find the sweet of his Sincerity past and present To die in such an old Age is Mercy indeed Long Life and old Age simply and abstractly considered are not so great a Blessing as to make a Person blessed For the Sinner of an hundred Years old shall be accursed Isa 65.20 Take them thus they do but aggravate Men's Guilt here and Condemnation hereafter Ah but when they are attended with serious Piety and Goodness then there is a great Blessedness in them and a greater Resulting from them As the Wise Man states it as to the Honour of old Age An hoary Head is a Crown of Glory if it be found in the way of Righteousness Prov. 16.31 So we must state it as to the thing in hand Long Life Old Age is a Mercy if it be found in the way of Righteousness if not what ever it may be in it self as consider'd Absolutely to the Person Eventually it will have more of Judgment than of Mercy in it VSE Let me a little apply this Point 1. To the Aged Have any here liv'd to this good old Age You can number 70 80 some may be more Years you have had a long Lease of Life and 't is not yet expired Pray look upon this as a great Blessing and own it to be so Let it not be burdensome to you be not querulous and impatient under it but thankful blessing God that he has spared you so long Old Age all desire all would live long and yet the most when they have it Senectutâ—m â—t adipiscantur omnes optant candem accufant adepti Cic. de Sen. ure discontented and disturb'd at it this is not ingenuous let it not be so therefore with you You are apt to judg of it by the outward Inconveniences and Hardships that attend it and these render it afflictive to you Whereas you should judg rather by this Oh what a large space of Time have I had for the honouring of God doing good to Men and saving my own Soul Oh when thousands and thousands about me have been cut off in the first blossomings of their Age or as soon as they were grown up to Maturity and so hurried into their Everlasting Estate I am yet spared to make further and better Preparation for Eternity I say would you but judg by such Considerations as these they would prevent Impatience and promote Thankfulness in you to God for lengthening out your Lives so long It was the Saying of one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he whom God loves Men and. in Plutarch dies when he is young I
in his Parts yet even then it might be seen what he had been in the Prime of his Days as the Glory of Carthage might be discern'd in the Ruins of it For his Natural Temper he had fervidum Ingenium a pritty quick and warm Spirit zealous he was for or against what he approv'd or disapprov'd especially if God and Religion were concern'd therein And this in the late unhappy Controversies expos'd him to severe Censures from more than One Party whether justly or not 't is not for me to determine Onely this I would say for him if sometimes undue Heat did prevail in him either in Words or Actions much Allowance is to be given for it to his natural Temper And further he was an open plain-hearted Man One who was totally a Stranger to those little Arts and Frauds those subtile Reserves and Pretences which the World is too full of He knew much of other things but as to Dissimulation I think he knew as little of that as any What Opinion he embraced he never concealed and what Affection prevailed he usually disclosed He was so honest and true as always to think what he spake and for the most part so un-reserv'd as to speak what he thought He could I question not had he pleased have acted the Wisdom of the Serpent as well as others but he was wholly for the Simplicity of the Dove If this was a Fault pray pardon it there are but few that err on this hand In his Converses he was hearty affectionate all Love and Kindness not morose and magisterial but affable and obliging not vain and frothy yet facetious and pleasant not confining to himself what might be useful to others but very communicative He was somewhat hasty and passionate but his Passion was soon over Anger rested not in him the Fire was quenched as soon as kindled the sooner the better Many other Characters of him might be heaped up but these few are sufficient to give a short view of him considered as a Man 2. As a Christian and such he was not in Title and Profession only but in Truth and Reality so far as we can judge a truly gracious and upright Man How sincere eminent conspicuous were all the several Graces in him He was an ardent Lover of God of Goodness and of all Good Men. His Fear of Sin and of offending God was very great his Publick Ministry was very dear to him yet when he could not enjoy it without submitting to that which to him was sinful not that he judg'd others by himself he patiently laid it down His Heart was full of Penitential Brokenness how often have I seen him pouring forth Tears in the Confession of his own and other Mens Sins His Zeal for God was exceeding high wherein his natural Fervour was helpful to him he could quietly bear his own Sufferings all the Indignities offered to himself but when he saw God dishonoured the Gospel reproached the Truth thereof opposed and undermin'd the good way of Holiness evilly spoken of this he could not bear without great Commotion of Spirit He minded Heaven more than Earth as appears by that small Estate which he left after he had been in the Ministry so long and in such considerable Places for Gain and Profit He had a large Heart for Charity had his Purse been equal to it His Communication was savoury and edifying and altho as has been hinted he sometimes would be facetious in his Dicourses yet so as that always he would miscere utile dulci mingle that which should profit with that which should delight Under his greatest bodily Infirmities at the last when any came to visit him he would still be dropping some spiritual and heavenly Matter into them Who more sensible of the Church's Calamities and Distresses than he Oh how did he use to melt and dissolve in Prayer when he was spreading the Concerns of Zion before the Lord He was indeed a praying Man one that was frequent and fervent in this blessed Duty Not contented with the stated and more ordinary Performance of it how did he set apart upon special Occasions and more than common Emergencies whole days to be spent in solemn calling upon God! And when he himself in his old Age was much disabled for Prayer he would scarce let any Minister who came to visit him go from him till he had pray'd with him Indeed his first Conversion began with this and so too it continued with this It pleased God as he himself related it to me to work upon him betimes when he was but six Years old And at that Age through the Influence of Divine Grace he was inclin'd by himself every Morning and Evening to pray And this he did not by the help of any Book or Form read or remembred but by the gracious Assistance of the Holy Spirit Nay this he did not upon any Precept or Direction either from his Father or any other Person but solely upon God's drawing of his Heart to it So as that of Tertullian is very applicable to him Sine Monitore quia de Pectore Some things I am credibly informed of relating to his managing of Prayer with others when he was grown to eight Years of Age but fearing many will not believe them and many will turn them into Ridicule and Derision I judg it best not to mention them By what I have said it appears that from a Child of six Years to an aged Man of 84. Years he kept a continued uninterrupted Course of Prayer Several other Graces shining in him might be instanc'd in As his great Love to Ordinances how did it afflict him in his confined Condition that he could not enjoy these His patient waiting for his long-desired but long-delaied Release was very admirable But I grasp at too much these with some other of the like nature I must pass over By what I have or should further have said do I design to represent him as one that was perfect Good and unmixtly Good Oh no! He had his dark side as well as his bright side his Corruptions as well as his Graces his Infirmities as well as his Excellencies And where shall we find the Person with whom 't is not thus He was a good Man yet but a Man he was in the State of Grace but it was but in the imperfect State of Grace I would give him his due Worth which was very great but yet so as not to advance him above what he was And the truth is when I consider his Natural Temper the Personal Infirmities which he lay under which have been glanc'd at the many Temptations which he as well as others was assaulted with I conclude all his Grace was little enough for him Nay assuredly it would have been too little had not an higher Grace been sufficient for him 3. As a Minister And as he stood in this Capacity his Worth and Eminency cannot but be so well known in this City where he exercised his