bring us together again and make amends for all the loss herein sustained Then we shall be ever with the Lord in that triumph of which the stranger cannot intermeddle with the Joy Comfort one another with these words and the God of all Consolation be with you Amen FINIS THE EMBALMING OF A Dead Cause OR Christ's kind acceptance of sincere though weak attempts to preserve a sweet savour upon his Concerns in the World under those many deaths he is pleased to draw on them until their promised Resurrection Heb. 12.22 But ye are come to Mount Sion and unto the City of the Living God the Heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of Angels Gen. 50.26 So Joseph died being an hundred and ten years old and they embalmed him and he was put in a Coffin in Egypt Isa 26.19 Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise Awake and sing ye that dwell in dust for thy dew is as the dew of herbs and the Earth shall cast out the dead Job 14.14 If a man die shall he live again All the dayes of my appointed time will I wait till my change come Printed in the Year 1668. THE EMBALMING OF A DEAD CAUSE Mark 14.8 She hath done what she could she is come aforehand to anoint my Body to the burying THese words are part of Christs own Vindication of and Apology for a very acceptable work of an Holy Woman which nevertheless through their great mistake came under a very severe censure at the hands of the very Disciples of Christ themselves Mat. 26.6 who taking knowledge only of so much therein as occured to their sense and carnal reason admitted thereby not a little disquiet on their own spirits they had indignation vers 4. they murmured vers 5. and reflected much trouble upon hers vers 6. Even such high-raised and Heavenly actions of Saints as have the most choicest esteem and acceptance with the Lord may yet meet with very undue representations and procure very strange reflections from the hands of others truly dear to Christ It should therefore be no greater strange thing to us to be judged by mans judgement it s well we stand or fall to another Master But so well was the integrity of her spirit and the noble principles and springs of this action known to Christ and approved by him that himself undertakes her defence when perhaps her trouble at their hard measure might stop her own mouth and appears to plead her cause not only so far as to give a present check to their rash conclusion and a testimony to the goodness and acceptableness of her work but withal takes order by an unalterable appointment for perpetuating the praise thereof vers 9. That where ever the Gospel of Grace should be Preached throughout the world this that she had done should be declared for a Memorial of her Christians under cloudy censures lose nothing at last by leaving their censured selves and actings to be vindicated by the Lord to whom their integrity is known and their cause committed Micah 7.9 10. Where ever the Doctrine of the Grace of Christ should be proclaimed this should be produced as a lively instance pattern and example to illustrate and confirm the power and prevalency thereof in that it is of power to beget on so contemptible a weak vessel as this poor Woman was such exceeding largeness nobility and ingenuity of spirit as was beyond what the gallantest principles or endeavours of meer Man could arrive unto and yet when the memorial hereof was to be mentioned when the Gospel should be Preached either to Nations abroad or Generations to come the principal intendment was not meerly to affix a mark of honour upon this individual person or this single act for her very name is hid both here vers 3 and in Mat. 26.6 7. but to commend and advance the value of the principles and motives she went upon to the encouragement and admonition of us and others upon whom the ends of the World are come 1 Cor. 10.11 Rom. 15.4 I purpose not to mention or stay upon the profitable deductions and inferences that would commend themselves from the coherence of the words or matter round about them intending but a present brief Comment on them In the words first read we have a double Character of her noble spirit set forth First In the extent of her act She hath done what she could Secondly In the intent of it She is come aforehand to anoint my body c. She hath done what shâ— could The word doth not meerly signifie that she had stretched her self to the utmost bounds of her estate and ability that way to purchase so costly a confection as this was for the greatness of the cost manifested it self to their offence and it could no way mitigate their disquiet to tell them how much she had expended in that respect but hereby I understand Christ would have them know that a certain raisedness and greatness of spirit had acted her to the utmost beyond the ordinary sphere of Beleevers to devise and practise liberal notable things so that she was not capable of being restrained and circumscribed within a narrow compass she did what she could for she could not but do what she did She is come afore-hand to anoint By what impulse or instinct of spirit or with what distinct and evidence her understanding was assisted to receive the Doctrine of and to make provision for the Funeral of her Lord is not expresly mentioned This is evident that the Disciples generally were very dark nay averse to notions of this kind their expectations being very earthly carnal of being advanced with him to some external Pomp and Glory which his Death and Burial so suddenly was inconsistent with by reason of their weakness and readiness to be offended wherein the Lord was very tender of propounding the Doctrine and distilling the Notions of his Death among them whilst he was with them John 16.4 And what he delivered of this kind was hardly regarded or remembred till afterward John 2.22 12.16 Luke 24.8 But this good Woman had early impressions made upon her heart of this blessed Truth Shâ—â—as afore-hand not only with the dispensation it self but also with the most forward of the Disciples themselves expecting it and preparing for it To anoint my Body to the burying This was the manner of the Jewes to bury John 19.40 especially where a reverend and honourable estimation or singular affection were to be expressed What might be extraordinary in her eye will hereafter be spoken to only towards the drawing this act of hers into a way of improvement for common use it may not be amiss to consider the body of Christ not only litterally as was immediately intended in her act but in a figurative acceptation as other Scriptures may help and warrant to consider it and our concerns about it Thus sometimes by the Body of Christ is intended his Church
to keep you in perfect peace Now to him that after you have suffered a while is of all power to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his Glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power now and ever Amen 7th 3d month 60. Upon the death of some whom he honoured to two of his Acquaintance then fellow-Prisoners The Lord send you help from his Sanctuary and strengthen you out of Sion Greatly Beloved I Salute you both as is meet in the Lord. These two last Posts I have not written any Letter to you partly for that I have been out of Town some little journies but principally having been much under the surprize that those were Job 2. ult The voice indeed is loud and as if seven Thunders had at once uttered their voices the terribleness of it makes many shrink as Eliah into his den When Oh when shall we hear the still soft Voice and as men of understanding see his Name We may well cry out he hath shewn us hard things and given us to drink the Wine of astonishment which falls the heavier in that such who have obtained favour to lay nearest to heart the concernments of Sion and to be therein aided with greatest boldness and sweetest intimacy near to the heart of Christ and have had their Affections enflamed most with what they have sought and seemed to themselves and others to have been of those bosom intimates that know all that their Friend doth and have hereupon spoken openly and without clouds or reservations their confidence of things that have appeared in the issue to be mistakes how some of them bear it I do not well know but sure I am the hand is very sorely turned upon the little ones that believe in Christ great is their astonishment like that Isa 51.17 to the end I have often thought of them Acts 21.4 Who said to Paul by the Spirit that he should not go up to Jerusalem How like the language of our spirits heightned by fervent affection and attended with providential bringing to remembrance of sutable Scriptures and all this on a soul enjoying clear access to the Lord is to the voice of the spirit in truth as he fulfils that Promise He shall take of mine and shew it unto you and shall shew you things to come And if it may please the Father after he hath graciously allayed the storminess of these perplexing waves that at present doubtless discompose for any thing to lead his holy ones into a more perfect discerning of things which in this kind do differ and in mean time instruct to think more soberly of themselves and judge more tenderly of others I shall yet hope this sharp dispensation may bring out meat and sweetness that we thought not of As for the poor Martyrs themselves when I review what was of late said of their particular perswasions and how when their departure was hid from them they enjoyed such un-interrupted joyful communion with the Lord I cannot but admire the wisdom and goodness of the Father that took that course with them to anoint them for their burial but alas they had no burial But much more grace to admiration appears to me in it that when their perswasions and expectations from the Lord in that point gave way to his determinations yet that at that very time the Tempter should be bound up who doubtless desired to have them that he might have winnowed them as Wheat and would have made a great market of the least discouragement upon them over the whole Antichristian World Oh! how unsearchable are his wayes and his works past finding out The deadly Treacle that you speak of will doubtless swiftly become a Cup of trembling to this wretched generation and entayl the guilt of all down along from Abel c. A very strange efficacy that it hath to cry and to prevail at length though it tarry long first That Abels was not answered and expiated in the Flood that destroyed the World of the ungodly nor that of Zacharias if it was his who said The Lord look upon it and require it 2 Chron. 24.22 But they both must cry against that generation that put to death the Lord of Life and neither of these cryes expire at the ruines of them and their devastation to this day but shall be found as fresh in out-cry against that great City where also our Lord is crucified Rev. 18.24 And though it 's hard to discern yet great is the pravalency of those cryes of Saints that night and day follow the Lord herein though he not only tarry long but even seem to be angry with the Prayers of his People that word hath sweetly stayed me in this hour of temptation Thou tellest my wandrings put my tears in thy bottle are they not written in a Book by thee If their wanderings staggerings be tenderly numbered and their tears bottled and their grouns booked and all this by thee a Book of remembrance before the Lord We need not be so sollicitous what becomes of them though they are above out of our sight doubtless when it comes to much Incense in the Angels hand the Censor will be cast into the Earth Rev. 8.3 4 5. Rests Yours in tears 24. 8. month 60. Unto one who had acquainted him with the departing of some from their holy Professions The early visits of the bright and morning Star be a light in your dark place till the day dawn and the shadows flee away Beloved in and of the Lord SInce my last I have received yours wherein you were pleased to remember and send such a rich Token to your poor Friend whom you are pleased to describe by that merry title of your Father who blesseth God for grace and support ministred by tracking the footsteps of the Father of Spirits in those paths of peace and pleasantness wherein he pleaseth to lead you and others of his suffering ones so contrary to the methods and expectation of men whose breath are in their nostrils Job 22.29 Psal 41.8 12 13. unto which I account it no diversion that he is pleased as your last intimates to keep you in an humble sense of the shortness of self-sufficiency for bearing you up against the hour of temptation the very fear whereof hath already cast down so many stars from their excellency on whom this inscription is manifestly engraven as a caution to us though a by-word to scorners Lo this is the man that made not God his confidence Over whom as I have little ground to glory 1 Cor. 10.12 Rom. 11.18 20. so neither is there just occasion to be greatly offended Isa 2.22 2 Tim. 4.16 17 18. Joh. 6.66 67. chap. 16.13 32. Although I find it somewhat difficult to draw the memorial of their slips into a gracious perpetual remembrance without some mixtures either of wrath or doubting I confess it makes me many times tremble to think
one sort of men against another so foolish have I been and as a Beast so ready to condemn the Generation of the Righteous so unbelieving and ready to cast away the Faith and Prayer of ten thousand Saints one of whose sighs shall not be lost but such fearful effects sometimes trouble disquietment disappointment and carnal fear will produce But certain it is none of the many cryes of the people of God shall be lost nor their Faith disappointed God hath a peculiar design in hand and we are to find it out that we may be able to answer them that make enquiries If you lay not this foundation of your procedures I shall not wonder if you err in your wayes it is your Pole-Star and will be so by which your whole course is to be steered your Shield which whilst it is safe though you die yeâ— your Glory abides And the same Author further discussing what this Work and Design of the Lord was results it mainly in this That Godliness and the love of the Lord Jesus be preserved protected and secured from a return of the hand of violence upon it What then may we now expect but after a little further fluctuating upon the deep to suffer shipwrack upon some Shelves or Rocks seeing we have ceased our steerage by this Pole-Star what may we expect but slaughter and extirpation since that Mighty Shield is vilely cast away as though it had not been anointed with Oyl considering also that if the hand of violence be returned its confederated with under the sacred ties of Oaths Covenants even whilst it manifestly opposes Godliness and bends the edge of all its power against such as love the Lord Jesus in sincerity I am sure it calls for deep lamentation that a People who had the Name of the Lord upon them are left to that wonderful and horrible thing Jer. 5. last Prophets prophesying falsely and Princes bearing rule by their means and both Prophets and People through a little present fleshly ease and prosperity waxing fat and shining love to have it so the holy Spirit then assures the end will be bitter and that enquiry What will ye do in the end thereof though slightly passed over now will have its resolve by their cry to the Mountains and Rocks to fall on and hide them from the face of him that sitteth on the Throne when in the faileur of justice on Earth he will cause judgement to be heard from Heaven When he ariseth as certainly he will to judge the Cause of the Fatherless and Needy and to save all the meek of the Earth But I may not further thus proceed lest I exceed bounds nor is it needful that more be said of the Author only I am perswaded it greatly furthered him in the search after knowledge of divine mysteries that he never was entangled and disadvantaged by Academical Education which hath been over-fruitful in furnishing persons as worthy Mr. Rutherford on another occasion in his Letters expresses it with ill washen and foul distinctions to shift Christ this age hath over-plentiful testimony thereof this Servant of the Lord as by the account left of himself in the last two Pages of this Book was by his believing Parents otherwise nurtured who waiting at the foot of Christ keeping his precepts diligently became wiser than his Teachers giving occasion to many to renew that saying Whence hath this man letters for he was eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures adding much to such as conversed with him whether by word or Epistle If what is here presented prove of use to strengthen weak hands or to uphold them that are ready to fall by keeping in view the Resurrection and Blessedness prepared for those whom God guides by his Counsel they will know where to give the glory I earnestly wish and pray That those to whom in a peculiar manner he was sent amongst whom more especially he laboured who must give an account of so great a Talent and Price long trusted with them may do it with joy discovering by an obedience of Faith to the Lord Jesus under all tryals that he laboured not in vain and I hope however it may be to others what is here presented may be useful to them keeping in remembrance how holily justly and unblameably he behaved himself amongst them that following his Faith they may be saved from this Generation and be found amongst those who receive the End of their Faith the Salvation of their Soul Amen To the MEMORY of Mr. Abraham Cheare Anagram Ramah Baca here WAs there a voice in Ramah heard Jer. 31.15 Was bitter weeping there ' Cause Rachels children were not spar'd Mat. 2.18 Why should there not be Here Was Baca in time past a Well Psal 84.6 Although a place of drought Was it made so by Israel When journ'ing in the South Did th' one for Children thus lament The other for their Water Oh! how should Sion it resent Lam. 2.1 to 12. Psal 46.4 Amos 1.2 Lam 2.1 Mala. 3.17 Jonah 3.8 Ps 119.126 Mat. 9.38 Zech. 11.4 7 When God her Sons doth slaughter When he cuts off her pleasant streams Her beautious Branches wither When he shuts up her brightest Beams Doth home his Jewels gather Yea how should this increase her cry When in a time of need That Shepherds they should multiply The slaughter'd Flocks to feed That even then God should not spare To take hence in great numbers Isa 57.1 Ezek. 3.26 Job 37.23 The most laborious in their Spheare Place this among his Wonders Psal 36 6. Job 11.7 1 Cor. 2.9 Psal 32.8 Psal 73 24. Job 36.9 10 They wayes O God are in the deep To search them to perfection 'T is not for Mortals pace to keep With thee give thou direction Let 's ponder well thy wayes O Lord Give us thy hearing Ear Some teachings to us do afford Deut. 13.11 Ezek. 12.3 Mal. 3.17 Ezek. 14.16 Mala. 3.1 Jer. 12.1 Ezra 9.13 Lam 3.29 2 Sam. 24.17 Joel 2.17 Ezek. 9.4 Psal 85.10 Jer. 14.7 Job 19.21 Gen. 19.19 Jonah 3.10 Psal 11.17 Zech. 13.7 Lam. 1.15 Isa 40.11 1 Sam. 1.8 2 Cor. 12.9 By what we see let 's fear What this portends thou mak'st such haste To treasure up each Jewel Art minded Lord our Land to waste Must we for wrath be fewel If so 't should be thou wouldst be just 'T were but Sin 's recompence We must our mouths put in the dust We have giv'n great offence Yet spare O Lord spare thou our Land At least in it thy Mourners Thy Mercy will with Justice stand In pard'ning great offenders Make us the objects of thy pitty Thy Mercy magnifie Spare as of old an Heathen City Spare O spare let 's not die But if more Shepherds thou wilt smite And Mighty men must fall Feed Sheep thy self thy Battels fight Be thou in stead of all Amen Amen Another To the Memory of Mr. ABRAHAM CHEARE Anagram Ah me Rear Bacha WHo can but Mourn when men do scorn To Note the Righteous Death Isa