encourag'd by the most bountifull example of the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and the Court of Aldermen to all which he constantly added two Thirds of his own estate which as I have been credibly inform'd was two hundred pounds a year I say by all these together there were every year eight hundred sometimes a thousand poor children educated as I said before and by this example several of the most considerable Towns of Wales were excited to bring up at their own charge the like number of poor children in the like manner and under his inspection and care He likewise gave very great numbers of the Books above mention'd both in the Welch and English Tongues to the poorer sort so many as were unable to buy them and willing to reade them But which was the greatest work of all and amounted indeed to a mighty charge he procured a new and very fair Impression of the Bible and Liturgy of the Church of England in the Welch Tongue the former Impression being spent and hardly twenty of them to be had in all London to the number of eight thousand one thousand whereof were freely given to the poor and the rest sent to the principal Cities and Towns in Wales to be sold to the rich at very reasonable and low rates viz. at four shillings a piece well bound and clasped which was much cheaper than any English Bible was ever sold that was of so fair a print and paper A work of that charge that it was not likely to have been done any other way and for which this Age and perhaps the next will have great cause to thank God on his behalf In these good works he employed all his time and care and pains and his whole heart was in them so that he was very little affected with any thing else and seldom either minded or knew any thing of the strange occurrences of this troublesome and busie Age such as I think are hardly to be parallel'd in any other Or if he did mind them he scarce ever spoke any thing about them For this was the business he laid to heart and knowing it to be so much and so certainly the Will of his heavenly Father it was his meat and drink to be doing of it And the good success he had in it was a continual feast to him and gave him a perpetual serenity both of mind and countenance His great love and zeal for this work made all the pains and difficulties of it seem nothing to him He would rise early and sit up late and continued the same diligence and industry to the last though he was in the threescore and seventeenth year of his age And that he might manage the distribution of this great charity with his own hands and see the good effect of it with his own eyes he always once but usually twice a year at his own charge travelled over a great part of Wales none of the best Countries to travel in But for the love of God and men he endured all that together with the extremity of heat and cold which in their several seasons are both very great there not onely with patience but with pleasure So that all things considered there have not since the primitive times of Christianity been many among the sons of men to whom that glorious character of the Son of God might be better applied that he went about doing good And Wales may as worthily boast of this truly Apostolical man as of their famous S. David who was also very probably a good man as those times of ignorance and superstition went But his goodness is so disguised by their fabulous Legends and stories which give us the account of him that it is not easie to discover it Indeed ridiculous miracles in abundance are reported of him as that upon occasion of a great number of people resorting from all parts to hear him preach for the greater advantage of his being heard a mountain all on a sudden rose up miraculously under his feet and his voice was extended to that degree that he might be distinctly heard for two or three miles round about Such phantastical miracles as these make up a great part of his History And admitting all these to be true which a wise man would be loth to do our departed Friend had that which is much greater and more excellent than all these a fervent charity to God and men which is more than to speak as they would make us believe S David did with the tongue of men and Angels more than to raise or remove mountains And now methinks it is pity so good a design so happily prosecuted should fall and die with this good man And it is now under deliberation if possible still to continue and carry it on and a very worthy and charitable person pitched upon for that purpose who is willing to undertake that part which he that is gone performed so well But this will depend upon the continuance of the former Charities and the concurrence of those worthy and well disposed persons in Wales to contribute their part as formerly which I perswade my self they will cheerfully doe I will add but one thing more concerning our deceased Brother that though he meddled not at all in our present heats and differences as a Party having much better things to mind yet as a looker on he did very sadly lament them and for several of the last years of his life he continued in the Communion of our Church and as he himself told me thought himself obliged in conscience so to do He died in the 77th year of his age Octob. 29th 1681. It so pleased God that his death was very sudden and so sudden that in all probability he himself hardly perceived it when it happened for he died in his sleep and as it is said of David after he had served his generation according to the will of God he fell asleep I confess that a sudden death is generally undesirable and therefore with reason we pray against it because so very few are sufficiently prepared for it But to him the constant employment of whose life was the best preparation for death that was possible no death could be sudden nay it was rather a favour and blessing to him because by how much the more sudden so much the more easie As if God had designed to begin the reward of the great pains of his life in an easie death And indeed it was rather a translation than a death and saving that his body was left behind what was said of Enoch may not unfitly be applied to this pious and good man with respect to the suddenness of his change he walked with God and was not for God took him And God grant that we who survive may all of us sincerely endeavour to tread in the steps of his exemplary piety and charity of his labour of love his unwearied diligence and patient continuance in doing good that we
of sufficient support under great trials and sufferings And nothing but the hopes of a better life could have born up the spirits of men under such cruel tortures And of this we have a most remarkable Instance in the History of the seven Brethren in the Maccabees who being cruelly tortured and put to death by Antiochus do most expresly declare their confident expectation of a resurrection to a better life To which History the Apostle certainly refers Heb. 11. 35. when he says others were tortured not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection where the word which we render were tortur'd is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the very word used in the Maccabees to express the particular kind of torture us'd upon them besides that being offer'd deliverance they most resolutely refus'd to accept of it with this express declaration that they hop'd for a resurrection to a better life But to return to my purpose notwithstanding there might be more clear and express Texts to this purpose in the ancient Prophets yet our Saviour knowing how great a regard not onely the Sadduces but all the Jews had to the Authority of Moses he thought fit to bring his proof of the resurrection out of his Writings as that which was the most likely to convince them Thirdly If we consider further the peculiar Notion which the Jews had concerning the use of this phrase or expression of God's being any one 's God And that was this That God is no where in Scripture said to be any ones God while he was alive And therefore they tell us that while Isaac lived God is not called the God of Isaac but the fear of Isaac As Gen. 31. 42. Except the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac had been with me and ver 53. when Laban made a Covenant with Jacob 't is said that Laban did swear by the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor and the God of their Fathers but Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac I will not warrant this Observation to be good because I certainly know it is not true For God doth expresly call himself the God of Isaac while Isaac was yet alive Gen. 28. 13. I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father and the God of Isaac It is sufficient to my purpose that this was a Notion anciently currant among the Jews And therefore our Saviour's Argument from this Expression must be so much the stronger against them For if the Souls of men be extinguished by death as the Sadduces believed what did it signifie to Abraham Isaac and Jacob to have God called their God after they were dead But surely for God to be any ones God doth signifie some great benefit and advantage which yet according to the notion which the Jews had of this Phrase could not respect this life because according to them God is not said to be any ones God till after he is dead But it is thus said of Abraham Isaac and Jacob after their death and therefore our Saviour infers very strongly against them that Abraham Isaac and Jacob were not extinguished by death but do still live somewhere for God is not the God of the dead but of the living And then he adds by way of further explication for all live to him That is though those good men who are departed this life do not still live to us here in this world yet they live to God and are with him Fourthly If we consider the great respect which the Jews had for those three Fathers of their Nation Abraham Isaac and Jacob. They had an extraordinary opinion of them and esteemed nothing too great to be thought or said of them And therefore we find that they looked upon it as a great arrogance for any man to assume any thing to himself that might seem to set him above Abraham Isaac or Jacob With what indignation did they fly upon our Saviour on this account John 4. 12. Art thou greater than our father Jacob and chap. 8. ver 53. Art thou greater than our father Abraham whom makest thou thy self Now they who had so superstitious a veneration for them would easily believe any thing of privilege to belong to them so that our Saviour doth with great advantage instance in them in favour of whom they would be enclined to extend the meaning of any promise to the utmost and allow it to signifie as much as the words could possibly bear So that it is no wonder that the Text tells us that this Argument put the Sadduces to silence They durst not attempt a thing so odious as to go about to take away any thing of privilege from Abraham Isaac and Jacob. And thus I have as briefly as the matter would bear endeavoured to shew the fitness and force of this Argument to convince those with whom our Saviour disputed I come now in the II. Second place to enquire Whether this be any more than an Argument ad hominem And if it be wherein the real and absolute force of it doth consist I do not think it necessary to believe that every Argument used by our Saviour or his Apostles is absolutely and in it self conclusive For an Argument which doth not really prove the thing in Question may yet be a very good Argument ad hominem and in some cases more convincing to him with whom we dispute than that which is a better Argument in it self Now it is possible that our Saviour's intention might not be to bring a conclusive proof of the Resurrection but onely to confute those who would needs be disputing with him And to that purpose an Argument ad hominem which proceeded upon grounds which they themselves could not deny might be very proper and effectual But although it be not necessary to believe that this was more than an Argument ad hominem yet it is the better to us if it be absolutely and in it self conclusive of the thing in Question And this I hope will sufficiently appear if we consider these four things 1. That for God to be any ones God doth signifie some very extraordinary blessing and happiness to those persons of whom this is said 2. If we consider the eminent faith and obedience of the persons to whom this promise is made 3. Their condition in this world 4. The general importance of this promise abstracting from the persons particularly specified and named in it Abraham Isaac and Jacob. First If we consider that for God to be any ones God doth signifie some very extraordinary blessing and happiness to those persons of whom this is said It is a big word for God to declare himself to be any ones God and the least we can imagine to be meant by it is that God will in an extraordinary manner imploy his power and wisedom to doe him good that he will concern himself more for the happiness of those whose God he declares himself to be than for others Secondly
men thoroughly convinced of this plain and certain Truth that there is a vast difference between Time and Eternity between a few years and everlasting Ages would we but represent to our selves what thoughts and apprehensions dying persons have of this world how vain and empty a thing it appears to them how like a pageant and a shadow it looks as it passeth away from them methinks none of these things could be a sufficient temptation to any man to forget God and his Soul but notwithstanding all the delights and pleasures of sense we should be strangely intent upon the concernments of another world and almost wholly taken up with the thoughts of that vast Eternity which we are ready to launch into For what is there in this world this waste and howling wilderness this rude and barbarous Country which we are but to pass through which should detain our affections here and take up our thoughts from our everlasting habitation from that better and that heavenly Country where we hope to live and be happy for ever If we settle our affections upon the enjoyments of this present Life so as to be extremely pleas'd and transported with them and to say in our hearts It is good for us to be here if we be excessively griev'd or discontented for the want or loss of them and if we look upon our present state in this world any otherwise than as a preparation and passage to a better life it is a sign that our faith and hope of the happiness of another life is but very weak and faint and that we do not heartily and in good earnest believe what we pretend to do concerning these things For did we stedfastly believe and were thoroughly persuaded of what our Religion so plainly declares to us concerning the unspeakable and endless happiness of good men in another world our affections would sit more loose to this world and our hopes would raise our hearts as much above these present and sensible things as the heavens are high above the earth we should value nothing here below but as it serves for our present support and passage or may be made a means to secure and increase our future felicity 2. The consideration of another Life should quicken our preparation for that blessed state which remains for us in the other world This Life is a state of probation and tryal This world is God's school where immortal spirits clothed with flesh are trained and bred up for eternity And then certainly it is not an indifferent thing and a matter of slight concernment to us how we live and demean our selves in this world whether we indulge our selves in ungodliness and worldly lusts or live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world No it is a matter of infinite moment as much as our souls and all eternity are worth Let us not deceive our selves for as we sowe so shall we reap If we sowe to the flesh we shall of the flesh reap corruption but if we sowe to the spirit we shall of the spirit reap everlasting life Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart The righteous hath hopes in his death Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace But the ungodly are not so whoever hath lived a wicked and vicious life feels strange throws and pangs in his conscience when he comes to be cast upon a sick bed The wicked is like the troubled sea saith the Prophet when it cannot rest full of trouble and confusion especially in a dying hour It is death to such a man to look back upon his life and a hell to him to think of eternity When his guilty and trembling Soul is ready to leave his Body and just stepping into the other world what horrour and amazement do then seise upon him what a rage doth such a man feel in his breast when he seriously considers that he hath been so great a fool as for the false and imperfect pleasure of a few days to make himself miserable for ever 3. Let the consideration of that unspeakable Reward which God hath promised to good men at the Resurrection encourage us to obedience and a holy life We serve a great Prince who is able to promote us to honour a most gracious master who will not let the least service we doe for him pass unrewarded This is the Inference which the Apostle makes from his large discourse of the Doctrine of the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 58. Wherefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast and unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. Nothing will make death more welcome to us than a constant course of service and obedience to God Sleep saith Solomon is sweet to the labouring man so after a great diligence and industry in working out our own salvation and as it is said of David serving our generation according to the will of God how pleasant will it be to fall asleep And as an usefull and well-spent life will make our death to be sweet so our resurrection to be glorious Whatever acts of piety we doe to God or of charity to men whatever we lay out upon the poor and afflicted and necessitous will all be considered by God in the day of recompences and most plentifully rewarded to us And surely no consideration ought to be more prevalent to perswade us to alms deeds and charity to the poor than that of a resurrection to another life Besides the promises of this life which are made to works of charity and there is not any grace or vertue whatsoever which hath so many and so great promises of temporal blessings made to it in Scripture as this grace of charity I say besides the promises of this Life the great promise of eternal Life is in Scripture in a more especial manner entail'd upon it Luke 12. 33. Give alms saith our Saviour provide your selves baggs which wax not old a treasure in the heavens that faileth not and c. 16. v. 9. make to your selves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when ye shall fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations And 1 Tim. 6. 17 18 19. Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high minded c. that they doe good that they be rich in good works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which our Translation renders foundation according to the common use of it seems in this place to have a more peculiar notion and to signifie the security that is given by a pledge or by an instrument or obligation of contract for the performance of Covenants For besides that the phrase of laying up in store or treasuring up
may meet with that encouraging commendation which he hath already received from the mouth of our Lord Well done good and faithfull servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you perfect in every good work to doe his will working in you always that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ To whom be glory for ever Amen THE END A Catalogue of Books Single Sermons Preach'd and Publish'd since the two Volumes in Octavo by the Reverend Dr. Tillotson Dean of Canterbury viz. 1. A Sermon preached on the Fifth of November 1678. at S. Margarets Westminster before the Honourable House of Commons upon this Text Luke 9. 55 56. But he turned and rebuked them and said Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of For the Son of Man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them 2. A Sermon preached at the First General Meeting of the Gentlemen and others in and near London who were born within the County of York In the Parish Church of S. Mary-le-Bow Dec. 3. 1678. upon John 13. 34 35. A new Commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye love one another 3. A Sermon preached before the King at White-hall April 4. 1679. upon 1 John 4. 1. Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world 4. The Protestant Religion vindicated from the Charge of Singularity and Novelty In a Sermon preached before the King at White-hall April 2. 1680. upon Joshua 24. 15. If it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord chuse you this day whom you will serve 5. The Lawfulness and Obligation of Oaths A Sermon preached at the Assizes held at Kingston upon Thames July 21. 1681. upon Heb. 6. 16. And an Oath for Confirmation is to them an end of all strife 6. A Sermon preached at the Funeral of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Gouge Novemb. 4. 1681. With an Account of his Life upon Luke 20. 37 38. Now that the dead are raised even Moses shewed at the bush when he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God Jacob For he is not a God of the dead but of the living For all live to him Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill And William Rogers at the Sun against S. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet Books Writ by the Learned Dr. Isaac Barrow late Master of Trinity College in Cambridge Viz. A Learned Treatise of The Pope's Supremacy To which is added A Discourse concerning the Vnity of the Church in Quarto The said Discourse of Vnity is also printed alone in Octavo Twelve Sermons preached upon several Occasions in Octavo being the First Volume Ten Sermons against Evil Speaking in Octavo being the Second Volume Eight Sermons of The Love of God and our Neighbour in Octavo being the Third Volume The Duty and Reward of Bounty to the Poor in a Sermon much enlarged preached at the Spittal upon Wednesday in Easter Week Anno Dom. 1671. in Octavo A Sermon upon The Passion of our Blessed Saviour Preached at Guild-hall Chapel on Good-Friday the thirteenth day of April 1677. in Octavo An Exposition of The Lord's Prayer The Ten Commandments and The Doctrine of the Sacraments in Octavo All the said Books of the Learned Dr. Isaac Barrow except the Sermon of Bounty to the Poor are since the Authour's Death Published by the Reverend Dr. Tillotson Dean of Canterbury The true and lively Effigies of Dr. Isaac Barrow a large Print Ingraven from the Life by the Excellent Artist D. Loggan price without Frame six pence Several other Pieces of the Learned Remains of Dr. Barrow may be suddenly expected All Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill The Necessity of Regeneration in two Sermons to the University of Oxon. By John Wallis D. D. Professor of Geometry in that University and a Member of the Royal Society Quarto Light in the Way to Paradise with other Occasionals By Dudley the 2 d L d North. Printed for W. Rogers at the Sun against S. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet FINIS