Prayers cease not to Ascend for You your Pious Consort and eminently Hopeful Branches May You ever be more and more Honours to them and They be more and more Joys unto You. May neither of You now sleep in the Afternoon for to that Time of Day it is come in your Lives And may both of Them have their Noon and Evening answerable to their fair Morning May Self-denial be Your and their Business without which all Religion is but your Play May your Prosperity neither slay or so much as wound you in your Eye may the Paradises which have no Tree of Life in them be contemned though they are possessed May great Roots under Ground make you great Trees above it rich Truth in the inner-parts make you rich in good Works May you prefer Heaven above Earth as manifestly as others prefer it above Hell Not accounting your selves to have much profited in Christianity till you count that you have nothing else to profit much in And always remembring that if you take not the Kingdom of Heaven by force the Kingdom of Hell will take you by it May the Mercy of the Lord rest upon the Family of the Ashhursts and his Righteousness be to their Childrens Children Under many Obligations and in sweet Hopes thus prayeth SIR Your Honourer and Humble Servant DANIEL BURGESS BOOKS published by Mr. Robert Fleming 1. THe Fulfilling of the Scripture In three Parts 2. The Confirming Work of Religion 3. The Treatise of Earthquakes 4. The Epistolary Discourse Dedicated to the Queen's Majesty 5. The One thing Necessary 6. The Survey of Quakerism 7. The Present Aspect of the Times 8. The Healing Work written twelve Years ago upon the account of Divisions among Professors in Scotland A SERMON on the Death of Mr. Robert Fleming 1 COR. XV. 55 56 57. O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law But Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ubi est Aculeus tuus O Mors Ubi est Victoria tua Inferne Syriac Ubi suprema Vis tua O Mors Arabic Ubi igitur Mortis Victoria Ubi igitur Mortis Stimulus Aethiopic UPON this mournful Occasion I present this Text as a Pearl-Cordial and the most Restorative that I could find in the Divine Dispensatory Wonderful Words it consists of such as seem too high to be uttered below Heaven and too soon-spoken before the Resurrection But what Heavenly Scribe wrote them you do all know and with how like a Boldness and Bravery of Faith our holy FLEMING did use to sing them all of you are not ignorant They are made the Theme of this Discourse for this end that they may also become our Song in the House of our Pilgrimage There are obvious in them A triumphant Song v. 55. A justifying Reason v. 56. A holy Gratulation v. 57. A triumphant Song wherein Rhetorick hath even exhausted it self such is the Melody of its Prosopopaeia speaking to Death and the Grave as Persons and not Things Such is the Pungency of its Interrogation which doth not here doubt but upbraid and insult Such the Elegancy of the Meiosis covering the biggest part of its meaning asking no more than what is become of their Power to hurt though meaning that both are made to work for Good Such is the Glory of the Celeusma and Shout wherein Victory Faith and Joy as above Expression are published in Form of Admiration O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory O Death O Grave our one Enemy bearing these two Names once so strong as to conquer all and so cruel as to spare none once a Dragon that swallowed up the World an Abaddon and Apolluon of Jewish World and Gentile Christian Faith now dares look thee in the Face and ask in Zebul's Words to Gaal Where is now thy Mouth It proclaims thee to be as the Beast in the Revelation which was and is not yea as a corrected Viper of an horrid Poison to be made a sovereign Medicine of a King of Terrors to be made a gracious Prince of Peace the loathsom Prison of thy Grave to be turned to a quiet Bed-chamber and thy Sepulchers to be no more Hell's Gates Camero in Myrothec in Mat. 16.18 but Heaven's Porches It is true thou retainest Power to kill the Bodies of Saints but having so done thou canst do no more and what is it that thou dost therein Thou killest but makest not an end of them Thou curest them of Sin their loathsom Disease and art a real Saviour and but a seeming Destroyer Power indeed thou hast sometimes to affrighten Souls Abraham our Father was affrighted by thee Gen. 12. David the valiant was also scared 1 Sam. 21. Miserably thou didst terrify upright Hezekiah Isa 38. And Peter's Magnanimity vanished at a Shadow of thee Mat. 26. But egregiam laudem spolia ampla Is this thy Praise To affrighten is no more than every Shadow can do and what is more inglorious than a Bugbear that is harmless Thy affrightning Believers speaks much Weakness in them but not any Strength in thee It is confessed as for thy Appearance it is as of a Curse and not a Blessing Thou comest with a Warrant in thy Hand from the supreme King and irresistably turnest all Flesh into Destruction Upon thy devouring Sword Christians do read Sin 's terrible Mark though Socinian Eyes see nothing but mere Nature's Puncturâ peccati morimur is the Saints Motto They believe thee sent from their God to execute Wrath on their Sins and full often do fear thee sent to inflict it on their Souls so much do thy cruel Hands look like God's vindictive ones but simillimum non est idem And what art thou O Death but as the End of Plants and Brutes and the Ruine of Sinners so the Gain of Believers such a Gain as passeth Understanding and maketh their holy Faith to proclaim thee more than a spoiled Spoiler even a good and faithful Servant become unto them a Servant unto thy old Servants who were all their days subject to Bondage through fear of thee all the days of their Christless Estate subject to Bondage But now that they are Christ's thou O Death art theirs Thy Name hath a Place in the Inventory of their Goods 1 Cor. 3. Feed on then upon thy Egyptians Psal 49.14 But know O Pharaoh and thy Princes O Death and thy Harbingers the Heads of Leviathan are broken in pieces they are given to be Meat to Israelites inhabiting the Wilderness Psal 74.14 If it be insolently said that this Triumph is too loud that Death is the great Fear of none but little Souls and deserves not so lofty a Song or that it is not yet so dead but that it has Sting enough left to pinch and pain and poison its most
by them exposed to the Jealousies of his Children and to the Prejudices of his Enemies Their Character is blotted and they must be taken rather for the defiling Pitch than the cleansing Salt of the Earth Lastly Believers are obedient Children of God and it is their required Obedience to triumph in their Victory through Christ It is not only a Licence for it that the Gospel giveth them but it is a Precept The old Primitive Law bound Man innocent to Joy and Glory in his blessed Life The Redeemer's Law doth not less oblige Man renewed to Joy and Glory in his more wonderful Salvation in his more blessed Life brought out of Death Who knows not how expresly and repeatedly this Precept is proclaimed Be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye Righteous Shout for Joy all ye that are upright Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud Rejoice and be exceeding glad Rejoice in the Lord and again I say Rejoice Rejoice evermore Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with Joyfulness and Gladness of Heart thou shalt serve thine Enemies c. Texts are numberless Under the Law it self many were the Feasts instituted for one Fast In the Gospel-day the Holy Ghost is sent to be a Comforter extraordinary It were endless to enumerate the Ways in which God expresseth his Zeal for his Saints Joy The Reasons of which Zeal are both great and evident For Joy is the commanding Affection the End of all others that which all do subserve and seek And if this Ruler be corrupted all its Servants are necessarily wicked If this Potentate be not obedient to God it draws the whole Man into Rebellion He that rejoiceth not in Christ Jesus feels a thousand Temptations to forsake him yea in a fearful Degree he doth forsake him for not to delight and rejoice in him is to vilify and dishonour him and that is to forsake him with whatever unpleasant Services you shall all the while follow him All is Carrion that is not chearfully given it is not pure Sacrifice that is not offered with Joy and Gladness In short Thoughts of a Christ not delighted in will come but seldom and stay but little in any Mind and a Heart not delighted in him will soon believe a little Meditation of him to be enough and all the Duties which are laborious to be an Excess Why are secret ones and publick so generally neglected What maketh Backwardness to them and Weariness in them Whence rise Christians Inclinations to foolish forbidden Chats and Games Whence cometh their Quarrelsomness with each other and with their spiritual Fathers and Nurses To these and many like Questions it must be answered They rejoice not in Christ Jesus It needs not be said how impossible it is without Joy in him to rejoice in Tribulations to take joyfully the spoiling of outward Goods and to lay down our Lives for him Sense doth sufficiently certify it What shall we then judg of Believers if we take them for Men that make no Conscience of rejoicing in Christ We must judg them in the worst sense to be Solifidians very Demoniacks that break all Bonds and cast the strongest Cords of God behind their Backs which is as truly impossible as it would be unrighteous for a sound Believer ordinarily to do Extraordinary is the Case of Persons obstructed by a melancholy Habit of Body and temporary Temptations To will is present with them though how to do they find not They are not Fugitives but Captives and sold under Sorrow So that it is a Duty they would do which they do not do while remembring Death they are troubled they complain and their Spirit is overwhelmed Of other Christians I stick not to say They do not rightly seek the Lord who rejoice not and are not glad in him through whom they are Conquerors of Death who are Strangers to the Peace the Joy and the Glory of Faith Rom. 5.1 2 3. I am next to show that §. 2. Saints do Righteously triumph aloud over Death To shout for Joy as soon as they are in Christ is their reasonable Service The Equity of the Command is apparent as the Authority of the Law-giver and the Objections against it are Chaff easily blown away The Sum of them all is this Heaven only is the Seat of high Joy On Earth 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absurd and out of Place It is a Business proper for none but Spirits made perfect unspotted with Sin unclouded with Sorrow unalarmed with Fear but most unfit for Souls that are bemired with Corruption laden with Guilt clothed with Infirmities surrounded with Temptations and in Jeopardy every Hour The Answer is of no Difficulty Though the King's Presence makes the Fulness of Joy above it gives abundance below The Victory given to Believers in Vocation and Adoption possesses them of an Heaven on Earth We which have believed do enter into Rest Heb. 4.3 Ye that believe on the Name of the Son of God may know that ye have eternal Life 1 Joh. 5.13 This but-inchoate Victory makes all old things pass away and all things become new The Believer's Corruption is mortified Guilt 's pardoned Infirmities gradually healed Temptations rebuked Persecutions sweetned Death disarmed and all things are made to serve his Interests All things are yours 1 Cor. 3. What is there to hurt after removal of Sin 's Guilt and the Law 's Curse which is the Divine Hatred and Wrath What is lacking to his Comfort whose Transgression is forgiven and Sin covered In short There do meet in this inchoate Victory of Believers all things requisite to make an Object of Joy unspeakable and thereby to justify the most lofty Triumph For what should put a Soul into Exultation if not First So Great a Blessing One if it must be called it is One and All. And of a Greatness shining forth in the extreme and eternal Evil from which it exempts and Good wherewith it endows If the Pitch of Joy should be proportionable to the Good of its Object here can be no Excess Secondly So Everlasting an One The greatest things if like Jordan's Streams they hasten to a sulphurous Lake are unworthy of Delight It is a sorry Feast on which Death it self must one day feed But Duration makes things of value to be invaluable And nothing is more durable than a Believer's Victory His Crown is immortal And Heaven shall no longer be a Kingdom than he reigns in it with Christ Peccata non redeunt his Pardon is irrevocable the Love of God to him is unchangeable the Seed of God in him is incorruptible If then Immortality it self doth appretiate all Joy is not too much for him whose Object is for all Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly So Sutable an One The most durable Goodness gives little Joy without Sutableness Pleasure is applicatio convenientis convenienti All the Mines of India would less transport a famishing Man than a Morsel of Bread But never was
exulting Victors and Strength enough to hold them in its Dungeon till the Resurrection This Mouth of Infidelity is presently stopped Here follows A justifying Reason such as clears the Triumph from the Charge of Absurdity It is confessed if Death were but it self and not Pars minima sui it would be unworthy of the Honour of being insulted over it would be an Insect of an inconsiderable Sting if not a perfect Drone An Enemy too despicable to be triumphed over with Harp and Psaltery nor would Christians blow a Trumpet for the Overthrow of a Wasp But Death's Name is Legion and as it 's an Host of Enemies in one it is a formidable one The Sting of Death is Sin q. d. Sin is the whole Element of Evil it is all the Evil of Doing Nothing beside is Evil essentially or meritoriously This Hell of Sin being infused into Death makes it like it self even the whole Element of Misery and all the Evil of Suffering where then if not here shall be found a Trophy for Faith Here in Death envenomed by Sin By Sin whereof a Spark made Devils of the most blessed Creatures And no more than the imputed Guilt made the ever-living God to sweat Blood Seems this to be a Paradox Hear then The Strength of Sin is the Law q. d. No wonder that Sin is so pernicious a thing for the Curse of the Divine Law is on it And who can think what is God's Power or his Law 's Terror His Law must be like himself as in its Precepts and Promises so in its Threats The Punishments of so great a King must necessarily be great The Breach of his Law 's Duty can deserve no less than Extremity and Eternity of Misery and the Curse laid upon it is no less No marvel then that Sin 's Guilt maketh a Hell of Death being the Law 's Curse maketh Sin a worse thing than Death or Hell an Evil that Hell it self must have all Eternity to punish But over both Law and Sin God giveth us the Victory As fiery as this Law is Christ's Blood quencheth it As boiling a Furnace as it makes of Sin it cannot make Sin to be the Death of a Believer's Soul These the worst of Enemies are first slain For upon our first believing Christ's Righteousness is imputed and by that Imputation the Law 's Curse and Sin 's Condemnation are removed Over them we have Triumph sounded Rom. 7.4 Ye are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ And ver 24 25. Who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death's Dominion is therefore at an end though its Power to kill the most holy Body and to detain the most sacred Dust for a time be not taken from it In short the Grace of Christ hath made Sin a broken Enemy the Law a kind Friend and Death a useful Servant Doth the Saints Triumph therefore precede or exceed Victory let the Wise judg When Israel was brought through the Red Sea what Songs of Praise were straitway sung though they had a howling Desart to be passed through and were not presently in Canaan Their Songs injected Terror to the Dukes of Edom and the mighty Men of Moab Yea the Greeks no sooner heard the Articles of Peace purchased for them by Titus Flaminius but they cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Saviour a Saviour Plutarch in vit T. Flam. And with such Shouts of Joy as made the Air to ring and the Birds to drop down astonished A deep Lethargy it is that maketh Christians Joy to be less while their Reason for it is infinitely more That restrains them from such Triumph as would make the Infidel World to tremble But O where shall Offerings and whole Burnt-offerings be found For this Victory this Inchoate one Lebanon is not sufficient or the Cattel upon a thousand Hills But as Jehoshaphat in Berachah the Saints throughout the Earth do bless the Captain of their Salvation and Conquest The next Verse and Breath is An holy Gratulation A lovely Heaven of it in a little Globe of Words Thanks be to God! To the Father Son and Spirit our One God be all holy Obedience Whereof Gratitude is the principal Part that which contains and animates all Laws bind to Obedience and Benefits unto Thankfulness But God our Law-giver is in all things our Benefactor His very Laws all are Benefits To him be therefore all Obedient Thankfulness and all Thankful Obedience To him Who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Of his Saints Victory we publish the Truth We declare his Gift of Grace to be the Original We testify the Limitation of this Gift unto Believers only and the Extent of it unto all Believers As well to Babes in the Cradle of Christianity as the oldest Mnason's in God's Kingdom We proclaim the never to be forgotten Purchaser of it the Lord Jesus Christ Whose Death gave the Angel of Death his mortal Wound Whose Resurrection certified and exemplified Believers Whose Righteousness by Faith received instateth them in the Power of an endless Life Whose Sanctifying Spirit mortifieth sinful Lusts which be not the least Stings of Death Whose Comforting Spirit takes out the Pain and Anguish that Sin sticketh into our Souls And whose Glorious Appearing one day will fulfil his old Word to a tittle O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Waving all others the Argument I take hence is this Holy Believers on Christ do rejoice in their Victory over Death Truly Righteously and Holily they rejoice in their Salvation by Christ They sing O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory c. The Plural Number in which he speaks may assure us that the Apostle sung in Consort Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory And it shall be shown that this Text is all the Holy Catholick Church's Song Which while Militant is so far triumphant We may say of Death and of all Enemies in Combination with it as St. John saith of the World Whosoever is born of God overcometh them And this is the Victory that overcomes them even our Faith Consequently he that overcometh and shall not be hurt of the second Death must take it for his Duty and make it his Practice to joy in the Lord and rejoice in the God of his Salvation But lest with the Dogs I should shut Children out of the Church-Doors and wound any that have already the Arrows of the Almighty sticking in them I must premise two things Obstructions are allowed for It is not affirmed that all or any Believers do always rejoice Full oft they are hindred by Bodily Maladies by Mental Mistakes by Satan's Buffetings and by Divine Desertions Under which their Harp is turned to Mourning and their Organ into the Voice of them that weep And Secondly Degrees be wondrously different Of them that sing Triumph the Voice of some is as Thunder which all
State of Grace but verbis mentalibus by secret spiritual Words by internal mysterious Whispers testifying unto them that they are in that blessed State For the Matter of Witnessing is more than Enabling a Person to read his Evidence In Westminster-hall he would not be taken for a Witness who should do no more than hold a Candle to one reading his Evidence But the Holy Ghost the Comforter is expresly named a Witness to Believers of their being taken into the Number and being bless'd with all the Privileges of the Sons of God Ordinarily therefore I say that Believers do know the Cause of Joy that they have Though as hath been foresaid Times of Desertion there are in which they know it not And it is most certain the heavenly Comforter doth not at all times comfort Nor is joyful Assurance of the very Essence of justifying saving Faith But by reason of fore-named Obstructions Children of Light may sit all their days in the Dark and in the Deeps And ascend to Heaven at last in a thick Cloud Otherwise we do all generally believe and teach that the Spirit of Adoption being given unto Sons as Sons of God he is given unto every Child of God And commonly they do know themselves Conquerors who are in Christ and are not reprobate unsound Christians This being admitted they must be dead and not lively Stones as St. Peter calls them if they Rejoice not They must cease to be Men if they become not joyful Ones They must be stupified as soon as Justified and Adopted For the Humane Nature hath an inseparable Instinct and Power which on good Tidings heard doth transport Minds and Bodies into Expressions of Gladness Diffusing Spirits and by them sending forth the News trying as it were by communicating to multiply it Gaudio cogendi vis inest The Roman Orator says and all Men feel it Joy enters with a Violence and with a grateful Violence that we are not able to resist breaks forth from us Who thinks that David was able to forbear his Dance before the Ark Or that the healed Cripple could contain himself from Running Leaping and Praising God We have read of them who have died of Joy and it is true which one saith Should Believers have the Degrees of Assurance which imprudently they do sometimes desire they must presently Die for Joy or be kept Alive by Miracle In short then Believers must put off Nature if they rejoice not in Christ's Grace They must be without natural Affection if they be without any spiritual Consolation if ordinarily they be so Secondly Believers are wise Men And it is Wisdom to rejoice in such Felicity as Victory over Death In the Day of Prosperity Nature necessitates Joy and Reason enforces it For Happiness is a Feast made for Mirth and how monstrous a Folly must it be to frustrate so kind a Design upon us Wisdom is a true Gust and right Relish of things Sapit cui res sapiunt ita ut sunt But how far be they from it who taste no Sweetness in the Milk and Honey that flow in this Victory Hearts delighting not themselves in Substances do most certainly delight themselves in Shadows And what a Delusion is that what a gathering together of all Folly and a very Sea of it The Laughter of Wretches laden with Irons or standing on the Ladder ready for Execution seems not greater Madness than the Disconsolateness of them when they are both pardoned and advanced Should the Saints and Angels in Heaven cease rejoicing it were to be asked What Wisdom is in them They would be to be charged with extreme Folly Unreasonable it would be for them to give over Rejoicing as it would be for Devils and damned Ghosts to begin And yet it is most certain that Justified and Adopted Believers have as true Cause of Joy as Angels and glorified Spirits are in a State only in Degree less blessed consequently have as true Reason to sing Hosannah's here below as they to sing Hallelujah's above and cannot but hold on Songs of Joy in the House of their Pilgrimage without first becoming sensless of their Conquest Joyful Praise is comely for them Nor is Triumph on the way to Hell more unreasonable than on the way to Heaven it is discreet In a word To think that Saints did ordinarily incur and indulge the Guilt of its Neglect would be to think them what the World stiles them Men besides themselves This Guilt would be a dead Fly in their Ointment and make it to send forth so stinking a Savour of the most loathsom Folly Thirdly Believers are Righteous Men and it is their Justice to be glad and triumph in their Victory over Death Justice witholds not what is due when it is in the Power of its Hand to repay To repay Vengeance to Evil-doers and Praise to them that do well Death and its Complices the Law Sin Satan and Hell are Enemies that have tragically used Believers made them to bear God knows what shamed them and tempted them to curse the Day of their Birth held them subject to Bondage through Fear all the time that they laid under their Power A holy Revenge is now owing to Sin and to Satan and now that through Christ they are taken out of those cruel Hands they are able to pay it able to expose them and put them to open Shame to shew abroad how they themselves have been used by one mightier than they how the Law as damning is abolished Sin is condemned Satan's Head is bruised Death is plagued the Grave is destroyed and Hell hath its Mouth stopp'd On the contrary there is no finding out to Perfection the Breadth and Length the Depth and Height of God's Grace The Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord passeth all Vnderstanding His Grace and his Gift by Grace unto Believers are ineffable infinitely free without Merit in us or any Motive Astonishingly rich while we were Enemies most defiled and deformed ones and equally without Power to resist damning Justice and without the Prudence to ask Saving-Mercy Angels our Elders and Betters were not pitied but irreversably doomed to Destruction More than Angels and all the Creation was worth was given to redeem us even as much more than they are worth as God by Essence exceedeth the mere Creature Christ is God by eternal Essence and yet God spared not that his Son but gave him up to redeem Rebels whereat Hell envies and Heaven wonders A vast Tribute of Praise must hence rise due so due that if Believers be silent the Stones must needs cry out Believers that now are no longer Mutes have the dumb Devil expell'd and their Mouths opened for Praise their Tongues touched with a Coal from the holy Altar and qualified to lift up the Name of their Redeemer But what save Triumph in their Victory through him can render to Death the things that are Death's or to Christ the things that are Christ's If Faith doth not now play
The Church's Triumph over Death A Funeral-Sermon PREACHED Upon the Decease of Blessed Mr. Robert Fleming Late Pastor of a Church in Rotterdam By DANIEL BVRGESS Miseri Infideles appellant Mortem Fideles vero quid nisi Pascham Bern. de Divin Amor. Mors Christianis Ludus est Vinc. Lirinens London Printed by J. D. for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside and Andr. Bell and J. Luntley at the Pestle and Mortar in Chancery-lane 1694. To the Right Worshipful Sir Henry Ashhurst Baronet SIR THERE is a Frenzy abroad of which Men do together Adore the Pipes and Neglect the Fountain Make great court to his Ministers and slight the King the King eternal Worshipping the Stars that do lead to Christ and crucifying to themselves afresh the Christ that they lead unto yea by Unbelief and Disobedience putting him to open Shame But I must Hope better things of You. And believe it to be your Love of Christ that constrains you to receive a Paul and an Apollos as an Angel of God yea as Christ himself Wherefore as your extraordinary Kindness to another renowned Saint hath been told to the World by incomparable Pens By Mr. Baxter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by Dr. Bates in Dedicat. Epistles I do resolve that wheresoever this Sermon shall be read your like Affection to our heavenly FLEMING shall have its Memorial Very deeply I am impressed with your Favours done unto both For their Love was eminent and much exceeded the Fame of it to a Man Born to Reproach And not pretending to be Richer than his Brethren in any other Treasure A Love to be wondered at had it not been so known that God is Love And that therefore Love is Godliness And where Godliness abounds Loving-kindness overflows As we see in Angels that do flagrantly Love the least of Abraham's Children And highly honour the meanest of sanctified Worms As for the Former Jonathan must needs have known his David and the World will by and by have his Life in Folio to read And as concerning the Latter as little as any Man do you need to be told with what a Fulness of God he was filled Sir Your wondring Eyes were your Witnesses The great Love he bare you gave you more than common Knowledg of him whose Humility and Modesty hid him so that he was not much known unto those who knew him most As Ezekiel speaks of other Angels his Wings so covered his Feet However so much you saw that as very well you might you singularly loved him And esteemed his Love unto you to be of that Kind which is most valuable next unto God's own Love For the Information of others somewhat is said of this Man of God in the following Pages Whereto I can add this which was said of the famous Antonine He hath this Praise crowning all the rest that he hath no Gain-sayer of his Praises I hear not of any Dust to be blown off from this Diamond Honoured Sir Two or three of your Letters to me bewailed the World's Loss the Church's and Your own in the Departure of holy FLEMING Nor do I doubt but the best of the Church and World do lay it to heart Even generally all that hear how much Light and Salt and Balm is taken from a needy Age. For your Relief and others this is all in this Place to be said It is elsewhere shewn how we may hold Departed Saints in our Sight and in our Service Commemoration of Saints departed on Heb. 13.7 If the Course there prescribed be duly followed I am certain that this Saint's Death shall not be only his own Gain But his Ascension to Heaven shall be made to further our Conversation therein And notably contribute unto the Victory Joy and Triumph of Faith which this Sermon describes Thereto I dismiss you without any Sallies of Flattery the common Sin and Scandal of Dedications It must be confessed that if all Praise of Sir Henry Ashhurst be Flattery Old England and New are overrun with that Leprosy And the Israelites are much more sick of its Plague than the Egyptians be The Name of ASHHURST was left richly perfumed by your excellent Father And I hear not but it is so kept by your Self and your Right Honourable Brother Sir William A. Lord-Mayor Otherwise you had before this time loudly heard of it For they do sink deepest who fall from Pinacles highest they who were at first the best Angels are now the worst Devils saith Du Moulin And by the Old Law you had been condemned to be burnt for the Profanation of such a Father's Name Comprehenditur cum filiâ filius c. Calv. Lev. 21.9 Surely the Sun must have looked Pale and the Spheres have cast out their Stars if such as You and my Lord had forsaken your God and the God of your Fathers And had left no better to be said of you than Philostratus says of Perinthius Barely that he was the Son of Rufus But Sir as you very well know my Office is to bring low all Mountains and Hills not the contrary And as my own Heart sweetly knows my Ambition is to Edify not Magnify you to serve your Faith not your Fame which as it less needs it doth less deserve it Much rather would I provoke you to one good Work than make known all that ever you did And be the meanest Instrument to make you a better Man than a Trumpet to proclaim you a good one Plain dealing is a Jewel and will appear so one day though now there be much more of it at the Mill than about the Throne And I do account that Earthly-Gods themselves are seldom so richly treated as my Friends that be entertained with these Complements Sc. That BARONETS must perish without the New-Birth That A Repenting Lazarus is of better Estate than a Jovial Dives That A Grain of holy Faith is worth more than a Mountain of pure Gold That In the Day of Judgment Christ will be Ashamed of the Greatest that are now Ashamed of Christianity That Royal Heads Honourable and Worshipful Ones must worship God's Majesty or bear his Fury That There is no Safety for the Highest on Earth without Trust in the most High in Heaven That They shall suffer eternal Death who Love not Christ Jesus above the richest Life That No Greatness can save them from Vengeance who deny Christ Reverence That Whatever their Rank is in this World their Portion shall be everlasting Shame who do not all that they do to God's Glory That The most Prosperous who will not submit to God's Afflicting-hand shall not escape his Revenging-hand That If they Love not their Enemies and Bless them that Curse them and Do good to them that Hate them and Pray for them that Despitefully use them and Persecute them they shall not be the Children of God Finally that Whosoever of them shall Live without Dying Thoughts he shall Die without Living Comforts SIR My
not that thou art none of his Plants because others do vastly excel thee in all Christian Vertues and out-do thee in all the Works of Righteousness One Rose upon a Bush though but a little one and though not yet blown proveth that which bears it to be a true Rose-tree Look well to thy Sincerity and to thy sincere Labour for Proficiency Then know that neither God or Men do cut down good Trees because small or despise unripe Flowers and Fruits if they be ripening A sorry Speaker may be a most excellent Wrestler Milo had not the Tongue of Cicero Moses that greater Prevailer with God was a Man of a very slow Utterance Do not say you cannot pray because you cannot speak much or well or long Praying is Wrestling with God The Heart is the Wrestler Holy Faith is the Strength of it If by Means of this Strength thy Heart be a good Wrestler though thou art ever so Tongue-tied thou wilt be a Prevailer Rhetorick goes for little in the heavenly Court but sincere Groans have a kind of Omnipotence A Mine of Gold may be a long time unknown The Heat of the Sun may make it many a Year before the Light of the Sun doth discover it It is long before the Spirit doth witness to some what he works in them A King is not the less a King for dreaming himself a Beggar Suppositio nil ponit in esse Victorious Believers are most truly so when they are not sensibly so The most bruised Reed maketh no little Melody to the Lord. Our compassionate Saviour tells his affrighted Dove when driven into the Clefts of the Rock that her Voice was sweet Cant. 2.14 The little Specks in the milky way be as real Stars as the Sun We must not argue that we are Darkness it self because we are not the most burning and shining Lights The crying Child is alive as sure as the laughing one If whatever stole away our Joy did steal away our Faith also where would Faith be found upon Earth The World and Church will be soon at an end when all shall kill that maketh to cry It doth often rain and shine together in the Heart of a Believer His Soul hath the Joy that is his Duty and shines with Grace acted in Desires and Endeavours to triumph When as yet it hath not the Joy that is the Largess of God's Bounty by which its Clouds must be chased away no but is lamenting after the Lord for it Dolet de dolore gaudet Joyfully it laments after him for it singing our renowned Gataker's most delectable Lamentations I thirst for Thirstiness I weep for Tears Well pleas'd I am to be displeased thus The only thing I fear is want of Fears Suspecting I am not Suspicious I cannot chuse but live because I die And when I am not dead how glad am I Yet when I am thus glad for sense of Pain And careful am lest careless I should be Then do I grieve for being glad again And fear lest Carelessness take care from me Amidst these restless Thoughts this Rest I find For those that rest not here there 's Rest behind And as for sinful Sorrow it self be it observed A Believer may gloriously conquer even when he is miserably conquered And he doth so when tho Sin strikes him down it cannot make him yield Positive Nolition is Conquest of Sin Of the unconsenting and out-crying Virgin over-powred by the Strength of a Ruffian God did pronounce that there was no Sin in her worthy of Death By resisting she made the Destroyer flee even then when she could not make the Defiler flee The Believer that resists is not struck down under the Wrath of God when he is struck down into the Mire of Sin Glory be to God in the highest Fight against Sin though it be upon our Knees is Conquest And therefore Lastly Rahab is in Heaven as sure as Abraham St. James saith that Dwarf in Faith was justified by it as well as this Giant And it 's sure if justified is glorified Now Whoso is wise and will observe these things they shall to their Joy understand the Loving Kindness of the Lord. My next Exhortation is §. 2. To those that have formerly sung Triumph over Death but have lost that Voice of Joy and Gladness All such are to be thus exhorted First Despise not your Loss For it 's a Loss of more than all the World is worth It 's a Loss of Heaven upon Earth A Loss that was to David as a Sword in his Bones And cannot but be grievous to a Heart that is not perfectly senseless Unto any other to joy in Christ's Love is sweeter than Life and to have that Joy taken away must be more bitter than Death Yet Secondly Despair not under this Loss You are not the first that have faln under it David lost his Joy and cried O spare me Jeremy was afraid to die Jer. 37.20 Hezekiah turned to the Wall and wept at the Tidings of Death Holy Latimer told his Ridley that sometimes he could run into a Hole for Fear A Balm in Gilead there was for them and a Physician that restored them Nor is there any reason why your Wound should be presumed to be incurable It is surely your Duty to pray for the Cure And it were a fond Conceit that you might not look for the things you are bound to pray for Thirdly Enquire how you came by your Loss Whether Pride were not swelling in you and made needful this Loss to keep you from being exalted above measure Or whether Earthly-Mindedness got not into you for as in Nature it cannot be Night till the Earth interpose between the Sun and us so I question whether ever a very dark Night fall on the Face of a Soul but by some earthly things interposing between Christ and it The Achan that is the Troubler must be stoned e're you are like to be quiet To which purpose you are to make diligent search after it Fourthly Blame not God for your Loss Justify God as David did and to your selves take all the Blame and Shame To be sure your own Sin was all the culpable Cause And this know till a Job let 's go his hard Thoughts of God and abhors himself in Dust and Ashes his Captivity is not to be turned But then it is presently turned and his Comforts be forthwith multiplied Fifthly Conceal not your Loss Hide it not from those to whom God saith Comfort ye comfort ye my People Peace and Joy are created by God but they are ministred by his Servants Whom not to consult in your Troubles is to despise And whom to despise is to despise Christ and him that sent him Sixthly Consent to God's Terms for the Repair of your Loss With a thousand Thanks go and enter a-new the Covenant of his Grace He cannot in honour make the Terms thereof any lower But if you humble you as low as the Gospel demands you will be seasonably