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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	believe_v	double_a	great_a	25	3	2.1020	3	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A85510	A modest vindication of the doctrine of conditions in the Covenant of Grace, and the defenders thereof, from the aspersions of arminianism & popery, which Mr. W. E. cast on them. By the late faithful and godly minister Mr. John Graile, minister of the gospel at Tidworth in the county of Wilts. Published with a preface concerning the nature of the Covenant of Grace, wherein is a discovery of the judgment of Dr. Twisse in the point of justification, clearing him from antinomianism therein. By Constant Jessop, minister of the Gospel at Wimborn minister in the county of Dorset. Whereunto is added, a sermon, preached at the funeral of the said Mr. John Grail. By Humphrey Chambers, D.D. and pastor of the church at Pewsie.	Graile, John.; Chambers, Humphrey, 1598 or 9-1662.; Jessop, Constantine, 1601 or 2-1658. Pauls sad farewel to his Ephesians.	1654 (1654)	Wing G1477; Thomason E817_1; Thomason E817_2; ESTC R207370	97,971	125

inquiring Dost thou renounce the Divel c. he replyed I do renounce Which Answer when Infants could not make of themselves they had Parents and Sponsors who made it for them Thus was there a formal stipulation required of growne persons at their first admission into Covenant and the administration of the seal of the Covenant to him Farther As before baptism growne persons did thus professe and promise so by being baptized did they seal For this Seal of Baptism as it is Gods seal to us assuring us of remission and other benefits promised in the Covenant so is it also the Christians Seal unto God whereby he seals the promise of Repentance Faith and new Obedience Hence are they said to be baptized into Christ into his Death into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost To be baptized into any ones name is to be consecrated to his Worship so that he is named from him as from his Lord and that he dedicate himself wholly to his service saith Piscator And learned Zanchie having at large expressed the same in several particulars doth briefely sum up all Baptism is a note and mark whereby we do protest that we will observe the Conditions of that Covenant which in Christ is established between God and us Baptism is saith Bishop Davenant A Covenant made with God of loading a more holy life therefore we must take care that what was once Sacramentally done in Baptism may be performed truly throughout our whole life As Souldiers saith Martyr swear in the name of the General and are so bound to him that it is not lawful for them afterwards to be conversant in the enemies tents if they do the offence is capital So by Baptism we are obliged unto Christ and we swear that we will not afterwards at any time revolt to the Divel So also Paraeus It is known from the Catechisme That we are baptized in the name of the Trinity because we are bound in the name of God to faith in to Worship and obedience of God and we do also promise again these things unto God We are baptized into the death of Christ in a double respect first in respect of God in as much as he doth by the Seal of Baptism give and seal to us the benefits of the death of Christ Secondly in respect of our selves by promising again faith to believe these so great benefits of Christ and the mortifying of sin by the power of the death of Christ that it reign not over us any more With these forementioned doth also Mr. Byfield concur who tels us that Baptism is a Bond that tyeth us to the desires and endeavours after the beginning and finishing of our death to sin and Spiritual life according to these Authors sense of the places forenamed Baptisme sealeth our promise of Repentance Faith and new Obedience to God as well as his promise of remission unto us It is our pledge our Covenantmony and military oath whereby we do tye and bind our selves to the service of the Most High which I cannot possibly conceive how it should be such if there were no restipulation or repromission in the Covenant as you maintain Thus much at present concerning Restipulation in the Covenant passe we on to some other Arguments and because I remember you told me that I had in my Sermons a number of Citations out of the Old Testament you shall hear some more of the Arguments I used then for some of them I have set down already To what hath been said add then Gods mercies are to be obtained in Gods way that way and manner which God hath from all eternity pitched on therein to bring men to the enjoyment of these mercies But God hath from all eternity purposed to give Remission Justification Adoption c. as through Christ for he hath predestinated us to the Adoption of children through Jesus Christ Ephes 1. 5 7. so through faith in Christ and in a way of repentance Rom. 3. 25 28. chap. 8. 28. Acts 13. 38 39 48. chap. 5 31. chap. 11. 18. Therefore till men actually repent and believe they cannot actually partake of remission Adoption Justification and those other benefits and purchases of Christs passion Againe those mercies which the Prophets and Apostles propose and promise unto men not absolutely but on termes of Repentance and Faith they are not absolutely but upon performance of the proposed termes to be expected but the faithful messengers of God both in the Old and New Testament do both proffer and promise remission in this manner Look into the Sermons of the Prophets and we shal find in their fullest and highest descriptions of free grace and offers of mercy they still require repentance of men So Isai 1. Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow But when when they should seriously set upon the practice of Repentance for so in the words foregoing Wash ye cease to doe evil c. Come now and let us reason No parley at all before this to be expected So cha 55. a place much insisted on by Dr. Crisp for to prove the absolute freenesse now in hand There are many things required as thirsting coming hearing seeking calling forsaking of sin and turning unto God So the other Prophets Jer. 3. 12 13 14. Ezek. 18. 31 32. chap. 33. 11. chap. 36. 26 27. Zach. 1. 3. Now whereas you told me That these were proofs out of the Old Testament I hope you neither deny proofs thence to be authentical nor yet the Prophets then to have been Preachers of free grace The Covenant I hope was for substance the same then that it is now not a conditional one then and an absolute one now The Fathers of the Old Testament saith Luther before Christ appeared in the flesh had him in the Spirit believed in him and were saved by him as we are according to the saying Jesus Christ is one yesterday to day and shal be the same for ever Luther in Galat. c. 4. v. 2. Come to the New Testament and we shall find that salvation was held out in the same manner then Christ and his fore-runners were Preachers of Repentance yea the Commission for preaching of the Gospel which is still on record doth shew how it was then and is still to be published not without but on terms of Repentance Luke 24. 47. That Repentance and remission oft sin should be preached to all Nations The rule of which their commission the Apostles observed as they themselves tell us Testifying both to Jewes and Gentiles repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ Acts 20. 21. Nay it would be no difficult task to pick out most conditional Particles out of their and our Saviours Sermons c. scil Mark 9. 23. Acts 8. 37. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 6. 14. Rom. 10 9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 si modo Coloss 1. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth.

6 15. John 8. 24 Matth. 18. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 11. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mark 5. 36. If but if unlesse except only si sin modo dum dummodo were conditional when I learned my Grammer 3. The Office of the Ministry what is it for but to prepare people for mercy by working something in them that may fit them for the receipt of the benefits promised in the New Covenant As John was so are they to be Christs Harbingers and are to make ready a people prepared for the Lord Luke 1. 17. To preach to them that they might be saved 1 Thess 2. 16. To open their eyes and to bring them from darknesse to light and from the kingdom of Satan unto God that they may receive remission of sins c. Acts 26 18. Thou hast ascended up on high thou hast lead captivity captive and hast received gifts for men even for the rebellious that the Lord God may dwell among them Psal 68. 18 On which Dr. Crisp thus glosseth Vol. 2. p. 410. Who is that Them The Rebellious saith the Text And p. 412. The Holy Ghost doth not say that the Lord takes Rebellious persons and fits and prepares them by Sanctification and then when they are fitted he will come and dwell with them but even then without any intermission without any stop even when they are rebellious the Lord Christ hath received gifts for them that the Lord God may dwell among them Thus the Doctor But certainly the Apostle Paul was more acquainted with the mind of the Holy Ghost then Dr. Crisp now he Ephes 4. 8. alledging this of the Psalmist openeth it far otherwise and delivereth it so as to me it seemes full for the confirmation of that we have in hand When saith he he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men I hope he gave no other then what he received for them Now what gave he It followes He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers and for what end For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we come c. He did not then receive this gift that though they were rebellious the Lord God might dwell among them whilst they remained so as the Doctor avers But on the contrary he received and gave abroad these gifts of the Ministerial function that thereby people might bee taken off their rebellious principles and broken off their rebellious practices and fitted for the communion with the Most High The sum is the Ministers of the Word are sent on this businesse to prepare people for the Lord for remission and salvation therefore there is something required of them some work to be wrought in them on them before they can actually partake of remission or salvation from the Lord or enjoy communion with the Lord. 4. That which these Ministers of the Gospel have directed sinners to do for the obtaining of Remission Justification and Salvation that in order of nature is to be done before Remission Justification and Salvation can actually be obtained But the Ministers of the Gospel have directed sinners to repent and believe for the obtaining of c. Acts 2 38. chap. 3. 19. chap. 16 30 31. Gal. 2. 16. Nor was it remission or justification in cognoscend only that they were directed to seek in this way of faith and repentance Can any imagine that the meaning of that Query of the Jaylor Sirs what shall I do to be saved should be no more then this What shall I do to be certified and assured of my Salvation Besides that Justification that Paul did himself and directed others to seek by faith Rom. 3. 28. Gal. 2. 16. was such in which works have no hand But to Justification in cognoscendo or in foro conscentiae to the evidencing to us and assuring us that we are justified works do concur James 2. 16. 24. A man is justified assured of Justification by Works and not by faith only So that the other Justification must be of another and different kinde works being wholly excluded from having any thing to do therein 5. They who are in an estate of wrath and death until they do believe and then upon their believing passe out of that estate into an estate of life they are not actually justified till they do believe But the Elect are in such an estate of wrath and death till they do actually believe Ephes 2. Children of wrath even as others Tit. 3. 3. and then when they believe they passe out of that estate 1 John 3 14. We know we are passed from death to life Under the power of death we were then otherwise we could not have passed from it And when passed we from it the same Apostle in his Gospel tells us John 5. 24. chap. 3. ult in one of which places he assures us that he that heareth and believeth is passed and in the other He that believeth not the wrath of God stil abides on him which terms of passing and abiding clearly shew that all the Elect are and continue actually in that woful estate until they do believe I hope you will not say they passe in their own sense and apprehension and so are children of wrath according to their apprehensions The Apostle saith They are children of wrath even as others and certainly others are not only sensibly and appearingly so nay perhaps neither of these wayes but really so For my part I conceive no difference between a vessel of Election and a vessel of wrath but only in regard of Gods purpose and Christs purchase which til it be brought into act doth make no real change in the parties state and condition 6. Until men come actually to have Christ to be united unto him and one with him they cannot partake of Justification nor have any right thereto 1 John 5. 12. He that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Son hath not life But until men have faith they have not Christ nor are united to him for by faith they receive him John 1. 12. go to him John 6. 35 37. Feed on him dwell in him and he in them John 6. 40 56. By faith they live in him and he in them Gal. 2. 20. By faith he dwelleth in their hearts Ephes 3. 17. Ergo Until men have faith and by faith do actually believe on him they cannot partake of Justification through him John 3. 36. I remember that when in a private conference I pressed some of these places of Scripture in stead of answering to them you demanded Whether the Elect had no benefit by Christ nor right to Christ before they did believe To which I replyed 1. That though there be a purpose in God to give salvation to them and a purchase of it by Christ for them yet had they no right thereunto until they had faith 2 That they might

on both these places doth Dr. Ames expresse himselfe for that conditionality in the Covenant which we maintain and that in the same place whence you fetch your proof against us Was it for this my good friend that you took the paynes to write so much out of the Doctor and that you shewed me your written copy and not the book when I was with you lest if you had brought the book the place it self should have spoken answered for it selfe Whether this were the cause or no I leave it to your conscience but assuredly your carriage in this and that other passage about Chamien whom you would not take notice of to hold conditions proper though it followed immediately your allegation out of him until I read it to you and then would not look upon it nor hardly hear it but put it off with saying that he did eat his owne words I say these carriages make me and mine and your dear friend who was with me fear that your Opinion sticks more in your will then in your mind Your eies and ears are open and ready to entertaine any Author though a Popish one that makes for your opinion but if he be against your Tenent though he be never so godly hardly have you patience to look upon him Well Sir what hath now been as also what was formerly alledged out of Dr. Ames do abundantly prove him to have been for that conditionality of the Covenant we defend 7. Passe we on to Doctor Preston where againe you may be blamed for when the Doctor laid down a distinction betweene the Covenants or rather between the Promises of the same Covenant viz. the promise of Grace which he calleth an absolute Covenant made with the Elect Jer. 31. Ezek. 36. and the Promise of life which he cals a conditional Covenant made with all If thou believe thou shalt be saved You run away with a piece and put downe Dr. Preston for a defender of the absolutenesse of the Covenant though both there and in his Treatise of the Covenant of which I believe you were not ignorant he writes many leaves to the contrary But I hope you will wipe this Author also out of your list after I have rehearsed some passages unto you out of him Look then either in that or the Sermon foregoing for I have not the Book now by me and you shall find Dr. Preston asserting faith to be required and that precedently to our being in Covenant For thus he writes That which is required of them is only that they take it And there is nothing precedently required or looked for on our parts but taking and applying of it So page 18 The taking of Christ makes Christ ours Faith is that whereby the right of Christ is made ours unto salvation Pag 62 63 he tels us of the reconciling and justifying act of faith which he saith is direct and is that whereby we take Christ as well as of its pacifying act which he calls reflex and saith it is that whereby we know we take him yea he tells us that Humiliation is required not as a qualification but as our sense of sicknesse is required to our seeking of cure so this to our seeking of Christ without which wee will never come to Christ And would you know what this taking of Christ is which he saith is precedently required He tells you toward the latter end of the first Sermon that it is to know Christ rightly as Prophet Priest and King To obey him To forsake all other for him To pitch on him with our whole deliberate and sincere will Moreover after this our receipt of him We are saith he required to obey him to be holy as he is holy to forsake all which he calls after-clap conditions and hard conditions And pag. 25. Those that be humble and see Gods wrath what it is that have their consciences awakened to see sin will come in and be glad to have Christ though on these conditions but the other will not If you will have Christ on these conditions you may But we preach in vain all the world refuseth Christ because they will not leave their Covetousnesse Pride c. And all because they be not humbled Now whereas he excludes conditions in some passages he tells you in what sense he excludes them Pag. 15. When we exclude all conditions we exclude such a frame and habit of mind which we think is necessarily required to make us worthy to take him By which it appears clearly they were meritorious conditions he excluded To these I may add how in his Treatise of the New Covenant page 217. he gives this for his fourth Reason why uprightnesse is required viz. That there might be an integrity on both sides A Covenant as on Gods part so on ours That as he promiseth he will be all-sufficient so he requireth this again on our parts That we be altogether his And pag 357. That the Condition God required of Abraham was that he should believe where he spends many leaves in shewing that and why faith is the condition of the New Covenant Page 389. That Repentance the condition required of us is part of the Covenant both on Gods part and on ours The condition that is required of us as part of the Covenant is the doing of this the action But the ability whereby we are able to perform these is a part of the Covenant on the Lords part Pag. 398. That when we do believe at that very hour we enter into Covenant and are translated from death to life And pag. 458. When the heart gives her full consent and takes the Lord for her God and Governour then is the Contract made up between them These passages Sir abundantly satisfie me concerning that holy and reverend Author that he held faith to be the grand condition of the Gospel precedently required to not only our knowing our selves in state of Grace but our very being therein and right thereto If he say that the Covenant that is one part of it viz. the Promise of Grace is absolute he saith no more then others for I know none of our side that hold that part to be antecedently conditional Some call it a Free others an Absolute promise others a Covenant with Christ for us c. Yea in regard of the freenesse and absolutenesse of it they grant the Covenant in respect of the Elect to be equivalent to an absolute Promise and the purchase equivalent to an absolute purchase as you may see Owen Vniv Redempt lib. 3. c. 2. the conditions on which salvation is promised being purchased and promised as well as the salvation Notable are the expressions of Mr. Rutherford in this particular We teach faith a condition on our part and also a grace promised Christ brings himselfe his righteousnesse and the condition of faith too which doth receive him As if some Prince should freely promise to marry some maid of low estate on condition she wear

in the end for troubling of the Church her peace they were some of the chief of them cut off and banished May not my dear brother the like use be made of your present Doctrine Yea is it not think you already made by divers Are not the hearts of many taken off thereby from their faithful Ministers and Pastors whom before they loved prized hearkened to received good from yea haply received their conversion by if they be indeed converted are not I say their hearts taken off from these their spiritual Fathers so that they neglect their Sermons contemne their counsels call them nick-name them Legal Teachers and Ministers of the Old Testament when yet I hope you your selfe cannot in your conscience but acknowledg them for the true Ambassadors of the Lord Jesus May not this ill issue of your Doctrine lye heavy on your spirits Again may not the Writings of Pemble Preston Perkins and other our Worthies now with God for their holding of Conditions and professing the conditions of Faith and Repentance as without which we cannot have life be laid aside and neglected Nay are not these Authors themselves contemned as men of darker times and not acquainted with such cleare light as now shineth though you know there is more of the power and marrow of Christianity in one of their pages then in ten leaves of your new lighted Meteors Beside are not many of the godly who love you and were hearers of you driven from your Lectures or at least cannot come to them without fear and jealousie others thereby amazed not knowing whom to follow and most called away from the practice of Religion to that needlesse disquisition of a curious speculation When he builders clash the Building must needs be interrupted and when the Witnesses disagree the Jurors can bring in little better then an Ignoramus in their Bill I do beseech you Sir to consider how by this your Tenent the names and Doctrine of Gods faithful Ministers dead and living are aspersed the minds of the godly troubled the peace of the Church disquieted the hands of the wicked strengthened the mouthes of the Adversaryes opened and the hearts of your friends exceedingly sadded and to draw back your foot before you are gone too far By the wicket of an interpretative absolutenesse I should hope that you might yet recover your self in safety however by the door of retractation I am sure you may and though that work be an unpleasing businesse to flesh and blood yet is it one of the noblest Offices of a Christian souldier in which spiritual warfare as well as in temporal as much honour may be gained by a good Retreat as by a couragious Incounter or prosperous Victory FINIS PAULS SAD FAREVVEL TO HIS EPHESIANS OPENED IN A SERMON At the FUNERAL of Mr. JOHN GRAILE Minister of TIDWORTH in the Country of WILTS By HUMPHREY CHAMBERS D. D. And Minister of the Gospel at Peusie in the same County Praelucendo periit He was a burning and a shining light John 5. 35. The Righteous perish and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come Isai 57. 1. London Printed for Math. Keinton at the Fountain in Pauls Church Yard 1655 A Funeral Sermon COncerning the very sad occasion of our present meeting there is no need that I speak unto you seeing it is or may be knowne unto you all that we have at this time accompanied though not a very aged yet an able faithful painful and godly Minister of Jesus Christ unto his grave that house prepared for all the living where as to his body he is to rest until that great day when all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth they that have done good to the Resurrection of life they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation at what time the faithful Ministers of Jesus Christ how much soever contemned clouded and cloathed with reproach in this world who have fed the stock of God taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind neither as being Lords over Gods heritage but being example to the flock when the chief Shepherd shall appear they also shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away Yea they shall then together with all other Gods servants enter in all fulnesse into the joy of their Lord and be possessed of an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for them The Holy Ghost tels us in Eccl. 7. 11. That a good name is better then precious ointment with that rich Embalming is our dear Brother gone unto his grave which will make his memory sweet and precious enough to all that knew him and love God And of such a one who is buryed with this sweet Odour the Holy Ghost witnesseth in the end of that verse That the day of death is better then the day of birth The day of Birth brings every one to an afflicted dying life but the day of death bringeth every such one yea every child of God to an everlasting life of never dying glory Whether you that are the Inhabitants of this place were sensible of your blessing in the enjoying the Ministry of this our deceased Brother or are apprehensive of your losse in his departure from you I cannot say for you are all strangers unto me but this I am sure of concerning very many who have occasionally enjoyed the fruit of his Labours that they sadly bewail the removing of one so furnished with skil and will to declare the truth of God and to oppose the old Superstitious and new or rather renewed Errors which on the right and left hand do oppose the Progress of a blessed Reformation amongst us And upon this Account my heart greatly mourneth over this brother of ours whom God hath taken away from us by whose death a great breach is made amongst us of the Ministry in these parts at this time wherein open profanenesse and pernicious Errours do so much abound When wee consider our Brothers Ministerial Qualifications and Graces his Ability and Humility embracing and beautifying each other his conscionable and Christian circumspection over himselfe and his Doctrine it is very doubtful whether he were more ripe for life or fit for death Questionlesse this our Brother after he had notice of deaths approach towards him could not but be sensible of the Apostle Pauls strait between a desire of living to do good to others and dying to receive good for himselfe of serving the Lord Christ in life and possessing the Lord Christ more fully in death yet I am confident that in this case he did prostrate himself obedientially at the feet of the will of God And seeing the Lord hath now declared his purpose to make this our dear Brothers gain our losse we must

even as Christ Jesus It is not possible to make a higher expression of enlarged love then this is whereby the Apostle set forth the affection which the believing Galatians bare towards him as a Minister of the Gospel who loved him and welcomed him upon this account as they would have done an Angel from Heaven or the Lord Jesus Christ himselfe if he had personally appeared and spoken to them The Grounds of this enlarged love of true Believers towards the faithful Ministers of the Gospel are amongst others which it would be too large exactly to treat of these which follow 1. First Believers look upon the faithful Ministers of the Gospel as a special gift of Christ unto his Church What thoughts soever others have of faithful Ministers yet true Believers know that they are in much love given by the Lord Christ for the edifying of his body till all the Members thereof come in the unity of the Faith and Knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ And therefore Believers cannot but love such a guift of love proceeding from their beloved Lord and Saviour 2. Secondly True Believers look upon the faithful Ministers of the Gospel as Ambassadors for Christ in whome hee negotiateth with them in much mercy for the accomplishing their reconciliation to God and eternal happinesse 2 Corinth 5. 19 20. And therefore beholding Christ in them they cannot but greatly love them in Christ and very highly esteem them in love for their works sake 3. Thirdly True Believers are experimentally assured that the faithful Ministers of the Gospel are Ministerial Fathers to some and Nurses to all Gods people who hear the Gospel from their mouthes To such as are brought out of a state of ignorance and wickednesse unto the faith and obedience of Jesus Christ by the Gospel which they preach they are ministerial Fathers as we learne from what the Apostle wrote to the Corinthians Though ye have ten thousand Instructors in Christ yet have ye not many Fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel The Lord of his own will originally begetteth his children by the word of Truth dispensed in the mouthes of the Preachers of the Gospel for How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard How shall they hear without a Preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent As it is written How beautiful upon the mountaines are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things The faithful Ministers of the Gospel of peace given by our Lord Christ for the work of the Ministry are therefore Ministerial Fathers too and so as spiritual parents acknowledged and beloved by those who through their Ministry are brought to the faith of the Gospel To others who have formerly entertained the truth of the Gospel in a regenerating power the faithful Ministers of the Gospel are as Nurses cherishing and strengthening them by the Word of God which they preach For the same Word of the Gospel which begetteth nourisheth and buildeth up the people of God unto eternal life And in this second cherishing work the Ministers of the Gospel are and are acknowledged by believers for spiritual Nurses according to the Apostles expression to the Thessaloniuns We were gentle amongst you even as a nurse cherisheth her own children Now Nurses we know sometimes get away the love of children from their true parents and in the case before us it is often seen that though true believers cannot forget their ministerial Fathers yet they are apt to fall much in love with their spiritual Nurses who at present feed and refresh them with the word of Truth The sum is that as Fathers or Nurses or both all those that truly believe the Gospel are ready to love the faithful Ministers of the Gospel whilst they enjoy them Now this Truth being acknowledged the last point I am to speak to in the Doctrine becometh evident of it selfe namely That a faithful Minister is finally parted from with much sorrow by those who truly believe the Gospel for love is a strong bond knitting the soul so fast to that which is beloved that it cannot lose it or be loosed and parted from it without much sorrow We read that Jacob loved Joseph more then all his brethren and when he thought that Joseph was finally taken from him He rent his cloathes and put sackcloath upon his loynes and mourned for his son many dayes And all his sons and daughters rose up to comfort him and he refused to be comforted and he said For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning And even thus it is betweene true Believers and faithful Ministers of the Gospel the true and great love which such Believers bear unto such Ministers makes their presence sweet and therefore necessarily their final parting very grievous unto them To this I will briefly add two further grounds of much sorrow in those who truly believe the Gospel for the final removal of faithful Ministers by death from them 1. First When faithful Ministers are taken away by death Believers are at an utter losse as to the enjoyment of any comfort or benefit from the person or personal Ministry of them that are so removed from them If they could have the least hope of re-enjoying a faithful Minister after death there would be yet some string of comfort to hold by at their departing but Believers know that this is a final parting from a faithful Minister they must never seek counsel or comfort or instruction more from his mouth death unavoydably putteth the servants of Christ to silence and taketh them off from being in their persons useful in the work of the Ministry unto the living for ever The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians that his abiding in the flesh would be needful for them for their furtherance and joy of Faith Philip. 1. v. 24 25. and thereby intimated that when he was by death removed from them they neither could expect nor should receive any farther benefit from his person or personal Ministry Herein our blessed Saviour happily differeth from and hath a transcendent preheminence above his servants in the Ministry that whereas their final parting from their people in the flesh maketh them personally unuseful to others for the time to come it was not so with our Lord Jesus Christ His parting from his people in the flesh caused a greater imparting of himself unto them in spiritual benefits as is testified by our Saviour himselfe saying to his Disciples Neverthelesse I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you Our Saviour went away as a Mediatour and Advocate between God and Man and not as a bare Minister of the Gospel and

in that regard he was forward by his departure in doing good to his servants and continueth more able to communicate himself in all celestial and spiritual blessings to those that wait upon him for he is still walking in the midst of the golden candlesticks and hath the stars in his right hand and is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him because he ever liveth to make Intercession for them But none of these things hold in the inferiour Ministers of the Gospel when they are removed by death their personal Ministry from the moment of their death ceaseth for ever as to all uses and advantages in respect of others and that consideration layeth a heavy weight of sadnesse upon the hearts of Believers when their faithful Ministers are by death taken from them 2. Secondly True Believers know that the final removal of faithful Ministers from any people carryeth in it the face of a Judgement from the Lord. It was a Promise of great love I will give you Pastors according to my heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding And on the contrary when the Lord taketh away faithful Ministers from any people he then depriveth them of one of his choicest mercyes upon earth which cannot therefore but have the appearance of a Judgement in the eyes of true Believers The Prophet Micah represented evil men as weary of the faithful Teachers and saying to them Prophecy ye not and then from the Lord denounced the Judgement of their ceasing from amongst them They shall not prophecy unto them Their refusal of the Prophets was their great sin and the Lords removal of his Prophets was his heavy judgment upon them If it be asked concerning a faithful Minister when he dyeth of what Disease he dyed it may be often truly answered of the judgment of God upon an unthankful people When men are sick again of their faithful Ministers and long to be rid of them it is a righteous thing with God to let them dye that such a people may dye without instruction The contempt of the Ministers of the Gospel who desire to be faithful is a spreading Disease amongst us at this day Men looking divers wayes do yet unanimously consent to render the Ministers of the Gospel in this Nation as odious as possibly they can Without distinction they are all branded as Tythe-Mongers Time servers Antichristian Self-seekers and what not But it is enough that God is the supreme Judge of those that are thus traduced and of their Accusers 〈◊〉 howbeit whilst this Disease so generally reigneth and rageth it is no marvel though many of Gods faithful servants dye of it whose removal by death though possibly some triumph in yet the true Believers of the Gospel of whom there is blessed be the Lord a very considerable number throughout our Land ●annot but be as they are much sadded at it as carrying the face of an ill presaging judgement in it Having thus gone through the Doctrine proposed I come now to a few words of Application 1. Here is one work whereby they that truly believe the Gospel may have reflexive knowledge of themselves namely by their enjoying the faithful Ministers of the Gospel in love and parting with them in sorrow I know there is great difference of judgement at this day who are to be accounted the faithful Ministers of the Gospel of Christ To this an answer may be gathered from what I have before delivered at present I shall only say this That they who being in the place of the Ministers of the Gospel do visibly apply themselves to do the work of the Ministers of the Gospel labouring in the Word and Doctrine that they may ministerially translate men out of darknesse into the Kingdom of Gods dear Son and build them up in faith and holinesse to eternal life are so farre doubtlesse unto others at least the faithful Ministers of the Gospel that they who take them to be such and as such enjoy them in love and part from them in sorrow may from that disposition of theirs receive some evidence in themselves that they are in the number of the true Believers of the Gospel whereas they who make it a chief ingredient of their Religion to scorne and revile the Ministers of the Gospel whilst they live and to insult over them when they dye to vomit out their choler upon them both living and dying are not likely for ought I can learne from the Scriptures to be approved by our Lord Jesus Christ at his appearing as true Lovers and Believers of his blessed Gospel 2. Secondly This should be a strong inducement to those that are imployed in the Ministry of the Gospel to make it their special desire care and study to be found faithful in the Work of the Lord committed to them that they may bee enjoyed in love and have the true Believers of the Gospel their unfeigned Mourners at their Funeral The Apostle saith Let a man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the mysteries of God Moreover it is required in Stewards that a man be found faithful The Office as we see which God hath called the Ministers of the Gospel unto calleth upon them to be faithful Without faithfulnesse a nominal Minister of the Gospel how much soever he boasteth and prideeth himselfe in his Office is but like unsavoury salt good for nothing but to be trodden under foot with contempt both by God and men But when faithfulnesse is found in a Minister of the Gospel it maketh him shine as a Star very gloriously in the eyes of the Lord and all true Believers That Minister of the Gospel hath the best monument to perpetuate his name with honour whose faithfulnesse in the Ministry hath procured him the love of true Believers so that his presence is pleasant to them in life and his memory precious with them after death 3. In the third place the servants of God may here read their warrant for sadly bewailing and mourning over such as have been faithful in in the Ministry of the Gospel when they are by death finally taken from them Heathenish mourning over the dead accompanied with murmuring and impaciency against God becometh not the children of God in any wise It is the Lords command given of old to the Jewes Ye are the children of the Lord your God you shall not cut your selves nor make any baldnesse betweene your eyes for the dead Because they were by Covenant the children of God above other Nations therefore they were not to follow the practice of other Nations in their excessive mourning for the dead but to quiet themselves in the will of their God and Father knowing that his Saints are precious in his sight both in life and death And accordingly the Apostle Paul carefully provided that the Thessalonians having imbraced the Gospel of Christ might not sorrow over their dead as Heathens destitute

of hope of a future happinesse or glorious Resurrection 1 Thess 4. 13. Howbeit with due moderation in humility of soul and quiet submission to the will of God it is not onely warrantable but laudable a practice which grace bringeth the people of God unto to mourne over the faithful Messengers of God when they are by death called home out of this present world When Steven was slaine by the Jewes Devout men carried him to his Burial and made great lamentation over him This is mentioned by the Holy Ghost not as a groundlesse but as a gracious practice of these Believers evidencing their Christian love to Stephen that blessed Martyr of the Lord. In proportion to this great lamentation made by devout men at Stephens Funeral and the sore weeping of the Believers of Ephesus at Pauls final parting from them mentioned in my Text I doubt not but our mourning over our deceased Brother at this time is lawful and laudable in the presence of the Lord. I will not multiply words in reference to this our Reverend Brother now taken from us I shall leave his Works to praise him in the Gate being well assured that many who have felt and tasted the power and comfort of his Ministry will beare witnesse to him and the working of God in him for their good One thing there is relating to his death which I cannot omit that the Lord greatly testified his acceptation of him in his Work in that he dyed of Epaphroditus his sicknesse of whom the Apostle wrote That for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death The Work of Christ of which Epaphroditus was sick was as far as wee can judge a special part of the Disease of which this our Brother dyed for after that some symptomes and beginnings of a bodily weaknesse had seized upon him his turn came to supply a Lecture at a place somewhat remote from his owne habitation which therefore some neerly related to him earnestly perswaded him to forbear for that time but such was his Zeal towards the work of Christ that it caused him to neglect his friends advice and his own health and to overlook his present danger and so undertake the Work of Preaching the Gospel in his course under the weight of which labour of love his weak body did apparently sink in the time and place of that publick service after which returning home he declined more and more untill the time of his death Our Saviours words therefore seem plainly to reach this our Brother and pronounce him blessed Blessed is that servant whom the Lord when he cometh shall find so so doing The Lord when he came to this our Brother by death found him doing so doing doing his Lords Work faithfully and therefore looking on him we have cause to part with him rejoycingly being much assured of his blessednesse yet looking at our selves we have cause to part with him sadly when we consider that we shal have his help and see his face no more A Pillar is fallen and by the fall thereof a great breach made in this place this County this Land which that the Lord may be pleased in mercy to make up by increasing the number strengthning the hands and blessing the Labours of his faithful Servants in the Ministry we have great cause to bow our knees before him and to beg this favor from him in the name of the Lord Jesus to whom with the Father and blessed Spirit be praise and Glory for ever Amen FINIS a Vind. Ley Lect. 26. pag. 249. b Ames coron artic 1. c. 1. § 4 Impetration is the foundation of application c Camero in Ps 68. inter Arg Solut. Med. ult d Prideaux Ser● Draught of the brook And Perk. Ref. Cath. of Merit e Panstr Cathol tom 3. l. 14. c. 16. 21. ad 25. f Ibid. 9. 38. 12 Cor. 4. 17. h Jer. 3. 13. i 〈…〉 k 〈…〉 p. 112. l Gataker Rejoynd p. 31. m Fidem ponī ut conditionem salutem quidem antecedentem sed electionem ipsam consequentem nunquam à nostris negatum fuit summā verò cum religione constanter traeditum Cor. de Elect. c. 1. §. 4. p. 7. n 2 Thes 2. 11. o Rejoynder p. 47. p Si igitur haec esset mens et sententia Synodi quod simpliciter vellet monstrare illum de quo jam diximus modum et ordinem quo juxta Scripturae traditionem Deus utitur quando homines vult deducere ad justificationem et si illa quae Scriptura tradit procedere tribuerent non viribus liberi arbitrii sed gratiae Dei et operationi Sp. Sancti nec in illis praeparationibus constituerem meritum aut dignitatem propter quam justificemur facilè posset de vocabulo praeparationis dextrè juxta Scripturam intellecto conveniri Exam. part 1 p. 172. q Falsum est igitur quod in 9 canone nobis tribuunt quasi docemus nullum plane motum voluntatis divinitus donatum et excitatum praeced ere acceptionem justificationis Omnino enim docemus poenitentiam et contritionem praecedere Non dicimus praecedere tanquam meritum quod suâ dignitate cooperatur ad justificationem consequendam sed sicut sensus morbi aut dolor vulneris non est meritum sanationis sed urget et impellit ad desiderandum quaerendum et sucipiendum medicum r At Evangelium non promittit salutem absque ulla conditione legis observandae neque id nostrumquisquam docuit modò ne conditio pro merito sumatur tom 3. l. 15. c. 2. § 9. nam et fidei conditio non est antecedens sed consequens quia nullum fidei meritum attenditur sive fides non est causa salutis ſ Non negamus bona opera ullam relationem habere ad salutem habent enim relationem adjuncti consequentis et effecti ad salutem ut loquuntur adeptam et adjuncti antecedentis ac disponentis ad salutem adipiscendam atque etiam argumenti confirmantis fiduciam ac spem salutis sed negamus ulla opera nostra causam esse posse meritoriam justificationis ac salutis Bel. ener tom 4. lib. 6 cap 6. s Promissiones cum conditione obedientiae ut causae juris quod habemus ad rem promissam sunt propriae legis sed promissiones cum conditione obedientiae ut adjuncti aut effecti rei promissae vel dona●ionis ejus locum suum habent in benignissimae gratiae regno ubi meritis nostris nullus habetur locus cap. 5. §. 2. t Haec et hujusmodi opera cordis interna sunt omnibus justificatis necessaria non quod contineant in se efficaciam seu meritum justificationis sed quod juxta ordinationem divinam vel requirentur ut conditiones praeviae seu concurrentes sicuti poenitere et credere vel ut effecta à fide justificante necessariò manartia ut amare Deum diligere proximum De just act cap. 30. Q. 1.