in the Text You see that Lazarus was a good Man a declared Friend of Christ yet neither his goodness before Christ nor his relation to Christ could priviledg from Death We read of Abraham the friend of God we read of Isaac Jacob Moses Samuel David Solomon Hezekiah Josiah all eminent men for parts and piety yet nothing of all this would secure them from the stroke of death The Prophets where are they do they live for ever In a word saith David Psalm 49. 7 8. No man by any means can redeeem his brother nor give God a ransome for him For the redemption of their souls is precious and it ceaseth for ever For saith Paul It is appointed unto all men once to dye and after that to judgment 2. WE next come to shew you what Death is Death is the dissolving of the Union that 's betwixt two Beings or it is the separation of the Soul and Body each from other Two near Friends that were knit together in the Womb but now divided asunder under the Tomb. THERE is a threefold Death A death spiritual a death eternal and a death temporal or corporal FIRST of all There is a death spiritual or a spiritual death which is the dissolving of that blessed Union that was betwixt God and Man in Paradice for as the soul is united to the body of a Man so was God united to the soul and body of a Man tho not in so corporal but in a mystical mannner And as the body dies when the soul which maintains the life of it is gone in like manner did our souls dye to all spiritual life when God was gone Mark the Apostle's words in Ephes 2. 1. You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins We ceased to live the Life of God ever since that happy union was broken betwixt us and God Psalm 49. 12. 2. THERE is an Eternal death which is that state every graceless man and woman living and dying so is appointed unto after this Life of Nature is at an end And what that state is you may read in these following Scriptures Matt. 8. 11 12. I say unto you that many shall come from the east and from the west and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Psal 9. 17. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. Psalm 11. 6. Vpon the wicked shall God rain snares and fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. 2 Thess 1. 7 8 9. When he shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power so Rev. 14. 9 10 11. 3. THERE is this natural death which unties the Soul from the Body which a good Lazarus as well as a wicked Dives must partake of from which stroke saith David no Man can keep alive his own Soul. Solomon's Wisdom Abraham's Faith Sampson's Strength David's Zeal Hezekiah's Godliness Josiah's Uprightness Job's Patience Absolom's Beauty Hammon's Honour Dives his Riches could not prevent this stroke of death Saith Solomon As dyeth the fool so dyeth the wise man and all this as the fruit of sin For the wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. 2. WE now come to the Reasons of the Point Why good men must die as well as bad men Reas 1. BECAUSE of Gods determination he hath decreed and appointed it to be so Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed once for all men to dye Now there is no withstanding of a decree of God Numb 23. 19. God is not a man that he should lye nor the son of a man that he should repent Hath he said it and shall he not do it or hath he spoken it and shall he not make it good You may as well turn the Winds out of their points the Tide out of its course the Moon out of her place or stop the Sun in its race as to hinder the execution of the least decree of God therefore none ever yet could stop or prevent his own departure hence THO Christ himself as God could have prevented his own death John 10. 18. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again But yet as Christ was Man he could not avoid it HENCE saith the Apostles Acts 4. 27 28. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles with the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done Now if the determination of God brings Christ to the Grave much more will it bring other good men to the Grave also Reas 2. IT 's so Because good Men have sinned and thereby deserved this stroke of Death as well as bad Men Rom. 3. 23. with Rom. 6. 23. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God the wages of Sin is Death Only there is this difference betwixt the bad Man and the good Man's death the bad Man dies as it 's said our Lord Jesus died when all the Sins of the Elect were upon him he dyes a cursed Death Gal. 3. 13. So do the wicked they dye a cursed Death because they dye with all their Sins upon them 1 Joh. 8. 24. Except you believe in me you shall dye in your sins But the godly Man hath all his Sins done away in Christ and where Sin is pardoned there Death is disarmed Death may gape but it cannot bite it may hiss but it cannot sting a believer because both its Teeth and Sting are broken and pluckt out by Christ in the behalf of every true Christian Reas 3. WHY good Men must dye as well as bad Men is Because they might actually possess that glorious Inheritance which Christ hath purchased for them above Eph. 1. 14. Which is the earnest of our Inheritance until the Redemption of the purchased Possession unto the praise of his Glory So that it appears that Jesus Christ hath not only purchased a Redemption for his People by his precious Blood from Sin Satan the Curse and Condemnation of the Law and Wrath to come but by the price of the same Blood hath he purchased an Inheritance in Glory for them saith Peter 1 Pet. 1. 4. An inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you But most certain it is while the Godly are in this Life they are at a great distance from this purchased Inheritance of Glory 2 Cor. 5. 6. Therefore we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. So
AN ACCOUNT Of some of the Dying-Sayings OF SUSANNAH YEATS Late Wife of SAMVEL YEATS of the Parish of Minching-Hampton in Glocester-shire WITH A SERMON Preached at her Funeral By THOMAS WORDEN Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for William Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street 1688. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER IT is storied of Latimer the Bishop that on a time when he was to Preach before King Edward the 6th his Theme was Take heed and beware of Covetousness and so kept on the Repetition of it five or six times together as if he intended that his Sermon should consist of no more words than his bare Theme viz. Take heed and beware of Covetousness BVT if the Bishop were now alive he would see cause to alter his Subject in turning of it from Covetousness to Death FOR as he made use of after Arguments to dehort his Auditors from that Sin so now would he see need to make as often a Repetition of the word Death as the Prophet did of the word Earth O Earth Earth hear the word of the Lord and all would be too little to affright this Age from more gross Sins IT is our unhappy Lot to live in an Age wherein our most sharp Brains are more enclined to exercise the Vanity of Wit than to labour after true Wisdom which would render the ensuing Subject the less pleasant to them For how is it possible that Men should read a Subject of Death with pleasure who so much abound in Sin while they live with so much pleasure IT was the saying once of Queen Elizabeth That of all the Books which she had read she prized mostly these two viz. Senica and the Bible and it would be no small mercy to the most of our Age if they could say That of all things in the World they mostly love these two viz. to live to Christ and to dye to Sin because to such a man Death will not appear as a Lyon but as a Lamb. For those whose bleeding Wounds by Sin are not healed by the Blood of Christ their Death will make the greatest Wound at last IF the Preaching of Death to mens Ears would be the Death of Sin in their Hearts the ensuing Subject then might be as Solomon speaks of seasonable Words viz. like Appels of Gold in Pictures of Silver But instead of any hope this way may we not sit down with the Prophets complaint and cry out as he did Isa 28. 10 12. Tho line upon line be brought to this People and precept upon precept here a little and there a little yet they will not hear As to the following Subject treated upon it was preached at the Funeral of one of my Congregation But if any shall expect quaintness of Words or elegancy of Phrase he will find but little which would suit that humour THEREFORE those that usually read Books to please their Fancies more than to encrease their Faith and love to have their Ears tickled with fine Words rather than their Hearts toucht with real Truths will little applaud the Discourse IF thou readest rather to acquaint thy self with flourishing Sentences than to affect thy Heart with real Substances thou must leave the School of Christ and betake thy self to a Heathenish Academy THE greatest care taken about the following Discourse hath been to trim it up in a Jacob-like Dress plain and pious It s Garment is like to the Israelites Robes for their Humiliation not Silk but Sackcloth Therefore what Beauty lieth in it resembles the stile given of the Church Psal 45. 13. It 's only glorious within It s beauty appears not so much in the Letter without as it doth in the Spirit within AND if thou contemn it only for want of an external Beauty that will but bespeak to thy face thy want of Spirituality I DO declare I never had any further intent in the Study of the ensuing Discourse than to content my self with the bare Preaching of it For to say all I never deem'd it worthy of so publick a view as it 's now arrived unto only strong Importunity hath drag'd it out of my Hand and that it 's now published it 's rather to humour my Friend than to please my self any further than it may be serviceable to some poor Soul. But that God that can make dry Bones to live if he shall make this dry Bone of any quickning-use to thee give God the Praise and me thy Prayer That God would make me in his hand A means that some may understand What slavery their Souls are in Who wilfully do live in Sin That so they may be brought to see The captiv'd State and Misery That Satan have them in beyond all doubt Unless the Lord of Life do work them out And then when they to Christ by Faith do run As Persons that are quite undone And so by Faith on him do clinch Their fiery heat of guilt to quench Which will make Sin the greatest pain And Godliness the greatest gain And by believing rest upon The Lord of Life when this is done Do live to him in Righteousness Its wages being Blessedness Which alters Death from being a foe Which will also free them from woe And land them in their Haven of Rest Where they shall ever be and blest The good of which will make my Crown So heavy that it will weigh down All the discouragements which attend My painful labours to the end Yet do but me thy Prayers give And that will always me relieve Until my painful work be done And I at rest to Joy am come Thine and the Churches Servant THOMAS WORDEN The Dying-Sayings of Susannah Yeats the Wife of Samuel Yeats an Inhabitant in the Parish of Minching Hampton c. ON the Monday night after she fell sick was a night of great temptation to her who lay under the violent assaulting hand of Satan for four hours together the next morning she related her Condition to a Friend which came to see her When after her Friend had asked her how it was with her She replied in these words I remember what my Pastor said once That when Satan is busy with his Tempations to a Person in a Sick-bed it is a sign of Death But said she he hath been busy with me this Night After she had thus said she related what her temptations had been the Night before First she had a sight of Satans appearance to her claiming a propriety in her and that all her endeavour would be but lost labour at last Unto whom she replied O thou Coward that knowest I am a weak Woman weak in Body and weak in Faith if thou hast any thing to lay to my Charge get thee gone go to the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah he will plead my Cause for me if there be not Mercy enough in God if there be not Merit enough in the Blood of Jesus Christ if there be not worth enough in his Righteousness nor Grace enough in his Sanctification
been a Report cast abroad That she should say in the time of her Sickness That none should go to Heaven but such as was of her Judgment and Perswasion in the matters of Religion but of all or amongst all the Passages which she uttered in her dying Condition none that were most conversent with her can in the least remember that she uttered such a Passage I WAS desired to Conclude her Sayings with this Verse which a Friend of hers delivered to me Now as to She or any other that shall be ready at his call Shall ever live and rest with Christ and that is best of all The Funeral Sermon Preached at the Interment of the Body of Susannah Yeats of the Parish of Minching-Hampton in Glocester-shire THE Text was from the Gospel of St. John Chapter the Eleventh part of the Eleventh Verse Our friend Lazarus sleepeth The occasion of these words arose from the Divine Intelligence which the Godhead of Christ gave to his Manhood of the death of Lazarus Brother to Mary Magdellen who deceased in the Town of Bethany verse the first WHICH Intelligence our Saviour communicated to his Disciples in the words of the Text but in a dark and ambiguous manner Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Which doubtful expression occasioned from his Disciples this reply Verse 12. Then said his Disciples Lord if he sleep he shall do well For so indeed natural sleep is a great mercy to a labouring or travelling Man or to one under the visiting hand of God in Feverish or Consumptive distempers now it 's most probable that in this sense the Disciples understood the words of their Master as verse 13. sheweth Howbeit Jesus spake of his death but they thought that he had spoken of taking rest in sleep BUT our Saviour not being willing to leave them in the dark plainly tells them that Lazarus was dead Verse 14. Then said Jesus unto them plainly Lazarus is dead FROM hence we may observe this Note by the way Doct. THAT tho Christ may suffer his People to lye in the Dark as to some things and some Truths for a while yet in his time he will reveal it more plainly to them The Disciples of Christ were as ignorant of most of the Truths of the Gospel and Mysteries of Salvation as they were of what our Saviour meant about the sleep of Lazarus But in his good time he as plainly unfolds the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God to them as he did the mystery of Lazarus sleep Acts 1. 3. Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Not only the light of Prosperity but the light of Knowledg and as it hath its seeding so in Christ's time it shall have its springing season The path of the just shineth more and more unto the perfect day Col. 2. 3. It 's true that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg and it 's in Christ for believers John 1. 16. but he will give it down to them as he sees his time Christ had many things to say to his Disciples but they could not bear them at that time But let this be the comfort of every sincere Christian That first or last Christ will open the treasures of light and knowledg to thee only be often putting up that Prayer for thy self which Paul put up for the Ephesians Ephes 1. 16 17 18 19. and doubt not of a good Issue AND so we come to the words themselves in which you have these three things 1. The Person speaking 2. The Person spoken of 3. The Words spoken 1. YOU have the Person speaking and that was Jesus Christ 2. You have the Person spoken of and that was Lazarus 3. You you have the Words spoken which are these Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Which words have these two things in them first A manifestation of the relation that there was betwixt Christ the Disciples and Lazarus mark he doth not say Lazarus my Friend but Lazarus our friend sleepeth FROM hence we may observe by the way Doct. THAT those who are friends to Christ are friends also to his People Lazarus was Christ's Friend therefore Christ tells his Disciples that he was their Friend Lazarus our friend sleepeth And then if only those which are friends to Christ are friends to his people then those which are not friends to the people of Christ will never prove themselves friends to Jesus Christ There is a reciprocal respect in the relation To love Christ is to love his people and to love the people of Christ is to love Christ because Christ and his people are one 2. THE second thing contained in the words of the Text is this namely the qualification of the person spoken of That is understood tho not exprest namely That he was a good Man for he was the Friend of Christ Lazarus our friend is dead From hence also we may observe by the way Doct. THAT none but godly gracious men are indeed the friends of Christ Christ hath many pretended Friends in the World but for his real Friends we may say of them in our day as Solomon spake of a vertuous Woman in his day One of a thousand of such can we not find Many that will serve Christ so long as they may serve themselves in serving of him but when an impoverished Christ comes to live upon them they will quickly give him cause to say That such friends were never true to them that trusted them And as for ungodly men they are not friends but enemies to Jesus Christ they are enemies to his Person to his Offices to his Laws to his Gospel to his Ministers to his People Col. 1. 21. You that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works IT 's only the Godly and Gracious which are the real Friends of Christ where there is no reconciliation there can be no friendship Now it 's only Grace which can reconcile the heart to Christ and none but godly men have true Grace Therefore none but such can be real Friends to Christ Abraham was a godly man therefore called the Friend of God and Moses was a godly man and it 's said that God talked with him face to face as a man talketh with his friend LASTLY You have the final end of Lazarus as to this Life spoken of 1. Which is delivered figuratively 2. More plainly 1. HIS end is spoken of in a figure Our friend Lazarus sleepeth 2. IT is delivered more plainly Our friend Lazarus is dead FROM hence we shall observe these two points of Doctrine Doct. 1. THAT good men must dye as well as bad men Doct. 2. THAT to the Friends of Christ Death is but a sleep IT is the first Observation which we shall handle at this time which we shall 1. Prove to you 2. Shew you what death is 3. Give you the grounds of the point 4. Apply the whole Doct. THAT good men must dye as well as bad men This you have