Life Tho his Life on Earth is far from being a noxious and hurtful Vapour yet 't is a vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4. 14. The Bodies of the Just must be brought down into the Grave as well as the Bodies of others that mankind and best of men may have a sensible Document how hateful Sin is to God upon all that have sinned death passes Rom. 5. 12. Tho the Bodies of the Saints are Members of Christ and Instruments of Righteousness to Holiness and the Temples of the Holy Ghost himself yet these Temples must be demolished and cast to the ground and for a while turned under it and after they have been so long imprisoned in the Grave how glorious will be the strength and love of Christ their Lord and Head in rescuing his Members all of them from under Death's Dominion and in totally abolishing Death it self and how will the power of the Spirit be manifested in rearing up his Temples out of the Dust and in making them so transcendently glorious and likewise so firm and durable that they shall stand and abide unto eternity Rom. 8. 11. If the spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you 5. Death puts an end to all that Corruption which remains in the upright Man Sin was the Parent of Death and at Death sin it self is totally destroyed The mortal and corruptible Body of the Saint shall at length put on Incorruption and Immortality but the body of Sin is annihilated and shall be no more he shall never complain of any evil present with him nor be troubled with any the least lustings of the flesh against the Spirit How contrary and offensive to the new Nature were the remainders of the old Man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts But at Death the upright man when he puts off his earthly Tabernacle does quite put off the old Man not the least Member of that Body can remain unmortified and in what glorious perfection does he put on the Lord Jesus Christ He is perfecting Holiness while he lives 2 Cor. 7. 1. which intimates that at Death his Work and Labour to cleanse himself will be at an end and Holiness will be perfected And how beautiful and glorious will his separate Soul be in it s perfected and unspotted Purity In the fifth place The end of the perfect and upright man is remarkable as well as himself for his end is Peace The Scripture is true concerning him Eccl. 7. 1. The day of his death is better than the day of his birth He was born into a wicked and a wretched World but Death sends him to an everlasting Habitation of Bliss and Life and Glory His dying day may well be the joyfullest day that ever he lived because the last moment of his time is his entrance into a blessed Eternity He is indeed a Son of Peace and Death should not disturb it 1. The perfect and upright man dies in peace with God He is reconciled to God by the death of his Son How sure is Salvation upon such a Reconciliation The Enmity between God and him being slain by the Cross of Christ Eph. 2. 16. the Value and Virtue of Christ's Crucifixion must needs make Peace that is lasting The middle Wall of Partition that is thrown down shall never be reared up again The upright man's Sins are all removed from him as far as the East is from the West Psalm 103. 12. and he may as well imagine the two Poles that are so far distant should meet together as fear that any of his Sins which are not imputed to him should again be laid unto his charge Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died Neither at Death nor Judgment shall any of their Sins be found against them that are upright A Covenant of Peace is made with them more firm than the strongest Hills and Mountains Isaiah 54. 10. The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee nor the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy upon thee 2 The perfect and upright man dieth in peace with others If all things are to be done with charity 1 Cor. 16. 14 then dying must be in Charity likewise How can he dye in the love of God whose heart is full of malice and hatred to his Brother I remember what that blessed Martyr Bradford said at his Death I ask all the World forgiveness and I forgive all the World there was a great deal of Judgment and Grace in this Expression The World had dealt very hardly with him and was so furious as to burn him with Fire yet he forgave the Injury Thus the Protomartyr Stephen of old from his heart forgave his Persecutors and his last Prayer was for them that God would not lay their Sin and blood-guiltiness to their charge Acts 7. 60. When the heart is emptied of Wrath and Bitterness and desire of Revenge whatever Injuries have been received when peace has been pursued and there has been an universal Love to all Saints and in Obedience to Christ's Command it has been extended even to despightful Enemies here is a comfortable evidence of Peace with God and of an interest in his Love Forgive says Christ and you your selves shall be forgiven 3. The perfect and upright Man when he comes to dye has reason and good ground to have peace within himself I dare not affirm That every good Man concludes his Days with this Peace The Letters of Mr. Paul Bains discover a great measure of Grace and Holiness and an excellent Spirit in him yet he professes himself a great Stranger to the Sweetness of Religion and the Joys of the Holy Ghost that disconsolate humour of Melancholly possibly might be one reason of it Nay when he came to dye his Death-bed was uncomfortable and sadness remained upon his Spirit till he entred into the Joy of his Lord. Yet I am sure there is sufficient ground for peace within the perfect Man For Christ died that Death might be unstung and that Believers might not be terrified at it but triumph over it Through Death he destroyed the Devil as he had the Power of Death that is to make Death terrible and consequently deliver them who through the fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 14 15. What a most desirable way of dying is this when Conscience has great Peace being purged and healed by the Blood of Christ When the God of Love and Peace speaks Peace to the departing Soul by his comforting Spirit And a Saint can say with righteous Simeon of old Luke 1. 29 30. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart
and that is his end Fifthly His end is remarkable as well as himself for his end is peace An upright Life and a peaceful Death how truly desirable are they and the former is the way to the latter whereas there is no peace saith the Lord to the wicked while he lives and when he dies and his Soul is required at his hands he will perceive how foolish he was in crying peace and safety to himself These Particulars I shall insist on and then conclude with the Application In the first place I am to speak of the remarkable Man in the Text and he is the perfect Man It is a wonder considering the general Corruption and Depravation of Humane Nature and how full of Snares and Temptations this World is that there should be ever a perfect Man upon Earth But see what the powerful Grace of God can do It can renew and alter Nature it self and change it from contrary to contrary from wickedness and deceitfulness to holiness of truth That the perfect Man may be the better understood you must know that there is a threefold Perfection spoken of in Scripture Legal Coelestial Evangelical 1. There is a Legal Perfection This was in Adam before the Fall he was made perfect and upright but being made mutable he quickly sought out many inventions Eccles 7. 29. and made himself quite and clean another Creature from what he was at first created When other things were made God's bare word of command that they should be gave them a Being but when Man was to be formed it was not done without some kind of Solemnity and Consultation Gen. 1. 26. And God said Let us make man in our image after our likeness And how did Man shine with this Image upon him when he came first out of his Maker's hands If all things were very good in their kind how perfect was Man's Goodness in his kind not the least moral Evil was to be found in him What a clear light was there in his mind How exactly conformed was his Will to the Divine Will How regular were his Affections Not the least Evil was in him either in Action Thought or Inclination He had a Power to keep the whole Law of God in every Part and Point of it and a Will most free and forward in it He could and for a while did come up to the terms of the first Covenant Do this and live And thus perfect he did remain till through the Temptations of the evil One he let go his primitive Righteousness and Integrity 2. There is a Coelestial Perfection and that is the Perfection of glorified Saints in Heaven we cannot aspire unto or desire any thing for our selves higher than or so high as this This the Apostle speaks of 1 Cor. 13. 9 10. For we know in part and we prophecy in part but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall he done away This Perfection is preached of and heard of at present and they who attain to the greatest measure of Grace and Holiness can best give a guess at it Our Brother who is lately taken away from us now understands and experiences to his Joy what Heavens perfection is We read Heb. 12. 23. of the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven and the spirits of just Men made perfect How clear is that light in which God who is light is seen How perfect is that Purity which is consequent upon this Vision of him how have they all been transformed into the Image of him whom they do behold fully resembling him in Righteousness and true Holiness 1 John 3. 2. We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is The separated Spirits of Saints having left their Earthly House and Tabernacle have put off their sinful Infirmities nothing that makes them in the least unlike to God or that he dislikes remains in them The great Physician began the Cure of those blessed Souls in this World and now in the other World 't is perfected that Scripture is applicable to every one of them Cant. 4. 7. Thou art all fair my love there is no spot in thee And as the Spirits of just Men in Heaven are perfect so their vile bodies will be changed and made like unto Christ's glorious body Heb. 3. 21. this corruptible will put on incorruption this mortal immortality Adam's Body before the Fall was of an admirable Make and Constitution not the least peccant Humour in it And if he had stood the Tree of Life the Sacrament of the first Covenant was to assure him of Immortality yet that Body was much inferior to a Spiritual Body at the Resurrection Oh how illustriously perfect as to their whole Man will all Saints be when Christ their life shall appear and they appear with him in glory Col. 3 4. The perfection of Heaven which Christ is the Purchaser of will be found by many degrees to be beyond that Perfection which was in the first Paradice 3. There is an Evangelical Perfection and the Man spoken of in the Text is in this Sense perfect Legal Rigour is abated in the Gospel the Gospel does not curse every one that continues not in all things required in the Law Legal exactness is not expected from Believers God does not mark iniquities nor enter into judgment with them A sincere Saint is evangelically a perfect Man tho in strictness of Law there is some Imperfection in his Holiness The Apostle without Self-contradiction affirms himself to be perfect and not perfect almost in the same breath Phil. 3. 12. Not as tho I had already attained or were already perfect and yet he says ver 15. Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus indeed He had a perfection of sincerity but unto a sinless perfection he had not attained The Evangelically perfect Man I am now to describe The perfect Man is renewed in all his Parts and Powers The whole Man is corrupted by Nature and the whole Man is renewed by Grace This the Apostle expresses by Sanctification throughout in body soul and spirit 1 Thes 5. 23. Tho in degree Sanctification be put in part yet every part is truly and really sanctified When the Lord makes a perfect Man he works a change in the whole Man Nothing in the Soul but has some gracious Alteration wrought in it No one Power or Faculty is let alone to be altogether as it was The Mind is enlightned the Conscience awakened the Will and Affections have a new byass and the Memory retains things necessary and worthy to be remembred and the heart being purified the members are yielded as Instruments of Righteousness unto Holiness The new Creature lacks not any parts and degrees of Grace are still to be added In this Sense all things are become new 2 Cor. 5. 17. and yet the inward man is further to be renewed day by day 2
World can witness when he saw occasion he used various Ways and Methods that his great end your Happiness might be attained 2. Be sure to follow his very good Example What kind of Children should the Children of such a Father be there would be a kind of monstrousness in being very grosly unlike to him As to his youngest Son who is a Minister of the Gospel I heartily wish tho it be an hard thing which I wish that a double portion of his Fathers Spirit may be vouchsafed to him 3. Be encouraged by this That your deceased Father has treasured up a stock of Prayers for you and you may expect a gracious return If you give your selves to Prayers God may answer his Supplications after his death in bestowing Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Benefits upon you To others that hear me this day I shall only give two words of Counsel Think much of your later end Let it be your great care that your end may be peace 1. Be all of you wise to consider your later end Death did set out against you as soon as you were born and it makes still nearer and nearer approaches to you every day and hour and moment of your lives Every step you take is a step towards the Grave Every moment of your time which passes away brings you nearer to Eternity God wishes you wise to consider your later end he will be much pleased to see you very earnest with him to make you so he is ready to teach you so to number your days that you may apply your hearts unto wisdom Psal 90. 12. The serious thoughts of death will quicken you in your Duties and break the force of Temptations Think of the time when you must leave the World that eagerness after the World may be abated To how good purpose will you live if with the Apostle you dye daily 1 Cor. 15. 31. 2. Let it be your care that your end may be peace Believe in Jesus the great Peace-maker between God and Man that you may joy in him because by him you have received the atonement Rom. 5. 11. Let your Faith be accompanied with Obedience and Love to the Laws of God Psal 119. 165. Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them Value the inestimable Jewel of a good Conscience and take heed of every thing that may defile and wound it When the Apostle had the sentence of death in himself the testimony of his Conscience that by the grace of God he had had his Conversation in the World in simplicity and godly sincerity did fill him with Peace and Joy 2 Cor. 1. 9 12. Never be weary of well-doing that your Lord when he comes may find you so doing 'T is labour best bestowed when you are diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless Several Passages concerning Mr. Lawrence out of Two Letters which were sent by Two Ministers Eminent for Learning and Godliness and both of them intimately acquainted with Him The First LETTER concerning Mr. Edward Lawrence MR. Lawrence was admitted into Magdalene Colledge in Cambridge in the Year 1645 and was Studious a Promoter of serious Godliness among the young Scholars and was so noted also for his Parts and Learning that we would have made him a Fellow But when he had taken his Degree of Batchellor of Arts some Years after he took the Degree of Master of Arts he being some ways engaged went into the Countrey and began to preach having been of a good Age when admitted about 18 as I remember and with much Acceptance He took up with Baschurch a Vicaridge of about 60 l. a Year where though if he had sought great things he might have been removed to a greater Place considering the Love and Esteem he had he continued till Bartholomew 1662 and then left his Station and Subsistence though he had a Wife and seven or eight Children and no Estate and oft used to say He lived upon the sixth of Matthew About the Year 79 the Quakers rising thereabout he Disputed with one of their Chief Ring-leaders and shamefully baffled him in the Judgment of the Multitudes of the Hearers and as appears by the Relation of it put out by the Quaker He was dangerously ill and upon his recovery put out his useful Book Of Christ's Power over bodily Diseases which though very good I then told him was below most of his Sermons he usually preached of which I had heard many How he was driven from Whitchurch Mr. H. who was then in those parts will I suppose punctually inform you and for these last four or five and twenty Years his Brethren in the City can give a good account of Him The Second LETTER AFter Mr. Lawrence his remove by the Bartholomew Act from Baschurch where he had been many Years a Faithful Minister of the Gospel of Christ he sojourn'd while with his Wife and Children at a Neighbouring Gentleman's House within the Parish who had a great Respect for him and was very Kind to him and he accounted it a great Mercy that though the Law had silenced him that he must not preach to his beloved Flock yet he had his Abode amongst them and might be many ways useful to them But when the Five Mile Act so called was to be put in Execution in March 66. he went to Tilstock a Village in Whitchurch Parish in the same County to sojourn there and there the Power of the Lord was with him greatly and made him Instrumental of much Good both to the Town and in the Neighbourhood the remembrance whereof is still sweet to many who are yet living As he had opportunity he preach'd to them both in Season and out of Season and which was more his Prudent Pious Conversation was a continual Sermon He had many Children and all with him and no visible Income wherewithal to buy them Bread yet the Lord was graciously pleased to make Provision both for him and them so that they did not want The sixth of Matthew as he was used to say did maintain him During his Abode there he buried a dearly beloved Daughter named Sarah which was a great Grief to him for she was grown up and began to be useful but it Comforted him that she finished Well and God gave him two Sons instead of her which repair'd the loss Another remove he had to Whitchurch Town and while he was there in May 1670 when the severe Act against Conventicles commenc'd in the same Month upon a Sabbath-day in the Afternoon he preach'd in a private House only to four and the Family where they were disturbed by the Minister himself Dr. M. F. in his own Person with others attending him and the Week following Convicted and Fined the Minister 10 l. because Poor the Master of the House 20 l. and two other of the Town 5 l. a piece and one Woman 5 s. Upon each of which Distress was made shortly after with the greatest Rigor They judging themselves wrong'd made their Appeal according to Law and in March following had a Tryal at Salop before Judge Twisden The Pretence against them was That a Daughter of the Family who was sixteen Years of Age but a few Days before coming home from Chester from an Uncle the had there was one present and being none of the Family of her Father made a fifth The Case was argu'd by Council and the Prosecutors made no other account but that the Jury would give their Verdict for the Justices who were the Defendants and lay treble Damages upon the Plantiffs which were intended to be made very great to their utter undoing But it pleased God in whose Hands are the Hearts of all Men without any Motion or Procurement of theirs to incline one of the Jurors to differ in the Verdict from the rest saying He would rather dye than say the Girl was none of her Father's Family This occasioned their stay together all Night and in the Morning being accused of some words spoken by him in their heat of Arguing to one of his Fellow-Jurors he was severely Rebuked and Fined 10 l. and the Cause referred to two Lawyers who never made any Decision of it so that each side sat down with his own Loss and not long after such of their Goods as were taken from them they had again but much demnified 'T was observed That one of the Prosecuting Justices dying during the Prosecution his Houshold-Goods were Proclaimed in the Town to be Sold and were Sold before Chapmen could be found that would buy the Distrained Goods The Informer that told he saw the Persons going into the House did afterwards beg his Bread from Door to Door This Event occasioned the remove of this Excellent Person out of his own Native Countrey where he dwelt among his own People to seek a Habitation elsewhere among Strangers and to London he went where God gave him Favour in the sight of many who sat down under his Ministry and with whom he ended his Days FINIS Lately Printed THe Cure of Distractions in attending upon God In several Sermons from 1 Cor. 7. 35. That we may attend upon the Lord without distraction The Love of the World cured In several Sermons preached upon 1 John 2. 15. Love not the world c. Both by Nathanael Vincent
cast into hell Yea I say unto you fear him The Psalmist also thus expresses himself My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements But though fear has an influence 't is not the only inducement to walk with God He that is upright knows that love is the great thing which God commands and love hinders any other command from being accounted grievous A man has a great evidence of uprightness when love is predominant in him when he is byassed by love to God to do these things that are pleasing in his eyes and he is overcome with a sense of God's loving-kindness to him and is truly his servant Psal 26. 3. Thy loving-kindness is before my eyes and I have walked in thy truth 5. The upright man holds fast his integrity When Mammon and Satan combine to rob him of this Jewel yet neither fair means nor foul can make him part with it The reproaches of Job's Friends did enter and go deep into him but a reproaching Conscience would have been a thousand times worse Therefore though he ceased to be Job the wealthy Job the greatest of all the men in the Fast yet he remained Job the upright still Job 27. 5 6. Till I die I will not remove my integrity neither the thing it self nor the evidence of it from me My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live The Providences of God may sometimes be dark and cloudy and his Hand very heavy upon his upright ones so that themselves and others may be amazed at those Trials which their Faith and Patience may be put upon Yet true Gold will endure the hottest Furnace and lose nothing of its Weight and Worth However the Lord deals with them the upright have reason to conclude the immutability of his love and that his faithfulness never fails Job 17. 8 9. Vpright men shall be astonied at this and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite The righteous also shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger And if it be ask'd how the upright man comes to be thus tenacious of his sincerity I answer 'T is not only because of the delight and sweetness he finds in reflecting upon it but also and that chiefly because God's right hand upholds him God fixes his heart renews a stable and a constant spirit in him it 's God who keeps holy Inclinations and religious Purposes alive and firm and strong in him This is acknowledged by David Psal 41. 12. As for me thou upheldest me in my integrity and settest me before thy face for ever In the third place it follows What the perfect and upright man is worthy of He is worthy to be marked He is worthy to be beheld First He is worthy to be marked Mark the perfect man saith the Text And marked he should be and that both For conviction and also For imitation 1. The perfect and upright man is to be marked for conviction As the Saints shall judge the World at last so they are a conviction to the World at present The wicked think it strange that believers run not out with them to the same excess of riot and their Tongues speak evil of them 1 Pet. 4. 4. But their Consciences at the same time may fly in their own Faces and tell them plainly that those whom they speak ill of are much wiser and better than themselves An exemplary Conversation is a very convincing thing it stops the mouths of ignorant and evil Speakers 1 Pet. 2. 15. For so is the will of God that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men It fills the faces of such with shame they being convinced that accusations are false when consciences and conversations are good 1 Pet. 3. 16. Having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil of you as of evil doers they may be ashamed who falsly accuse your good conversation in Christ If the World did but mark the perfect man it might prevent that woe from falling upon them which is denounced against them because of offences which they are apt to take at Religion as if it self were but an imaginary thing and all that profess it were Dissemblers And if loose and carnal Professors would but mark them whose exact and circumspect walking does shew them to be sincere and Saints indeed it might startle their Consciences and make them very unquiet because they are so very unlike those who in their manner of living do shew forth the power of godliness their Consciences might call them vain men their faith a dead faith their profession an empty and vain shew Jam. 2. 20. But wilt thou know O vain man that faith without works is dead 2. The perfect man is to be marked for imitation That excellent Company of Faithful ones mentioned Heb. 11. are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cloud of Witnesses Heb. 12. 1. here seems to be an allusion to the cloud in the Wilderness which directed the Children of Israel to the land of Canaan Perfect men are Clouds their dark side their faults and failings if we observe any in them it must be our care to eschew them But their bright side may be of great use for our direction and encouragement When we observe how holy heavenly full of love to God and goodness and diligent in the Lord's work others have been we should shew the same grace and diligence to the full assurance of hope to the end We should by no means be slothful but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises Heb 6. 11. 12. Our Lord himself indeed is incomparably the best Pattern Sin never found any place in him 1 Pet. 2. 22. Who did no sin neither was guile sound in his mouth Never in the least faulty either in word or deed Yet perfect and upright men are fair Copies for others to write after Phil. 3. 17 20. Brethren be ye followers together of me and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an example for our conversation is in heaven And Chap 4. 9. He says not only those things which ye have heard but what ye have seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with you All would be better if the best were but more imitated Secondly As the perfect and upright man is to be marked so he is worthy to be beheld the Text says Behold the upright The Psalmist beheld the transgressors and was grieved Upright men may be beheld with joy and pleasure though grief may well be raised when by death they are snatched away Now that the Upright man may be beheld to good purpose 1. Behold him in his usefulness Though the perverse and prejudiced World does think the Upright man not fit to live in it yet indeed the world is not worthy of him and is very much beholding to