THE Righteous Mans death LAMENTED A SERMON PREACHED At St. Austins London Aug. 23. 1662 AT THE Funeral of that Eminent Servant of Jesus Christ Mr. SIMEON ASH Late Minister of the Gospel there By EDMUND CALAMY B. D. The righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance Psal 112.6 LONDON Printed in the year 1662. To the READER AS the Words of Dying Men are remarkable so the words spoken of at the Funerals of dead Ministers are most observable Now Reader this Sermon claims thy serious perusal upon both these accompts for as the Minister whose funeral he preached was dead so the minister who preached it was civilly dying for it was the last Sermon but one that the Reverend Author of this Sermon preach'd Thus two Lights were put out together although in a different manner the one his light as to us is put under a clod of earth and the other is put under a Bushel I will not say this Sermon is in every word the same in publication that it was in preaching but this I shall say I do not know that there is one Cubit added to its Stature Thy Friend and Servant M. D. ISAIAH LVII Ver. 1. The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous are taken away from the evil to come WE are here met this Evening to perform the last Office of Love for an eminent and ancient Servant of Jesus Christ and excellent Minister of the Gospel Mr. Simeon Ash one who hath formerly performed this Office for many other Ministers and now we are met to perform this Office for him and it is not long before others will meet to perform the same office for us so frail so brittle and so uncertain is the life of man Now the Text that I have chosen is suitable for this occasion For this Reverend Minister was first a righteous man he was righteous in an Evangelical sence he was one that was justified and sanctified Secondly He was a mercifull man both in an active and passive sence he was one that shewed mercy to the distressed Members of Jesus Christ and he was one to whom God shewed mercy this righteous and merciful man is now perished as to his outward condition not as to his everlasting condition but as to his outward bodily condition he is perished and he is taken away the word in the Hebrew is very emphatical merciful men Colliguâ—tur are gathered it is the same word that is used concerning Josiah 2 Kings 22.10 Thou shalt be gathered to thy Fathers and go to thy grave in peace and shalt not see the evil that I will bring upon this Nation This godly and righteous man is now gathered as ripe Corn in the Barn of Heaven he is taken away from the evil that is to com from the beholding that evil that is coming upon the sinful World he is taken away in mercy that he may not be troubled with the troubles that are coming upon many he is taken away from the evil to come And thus you see how suitable the Text is to the occasion there is only one particular that I desire may prove unsuitable for the righteous and merciful man in the Text perisheth and no man considers nor layes it to heart These words are Verba Commentantis objurgantis the words of the Prophet bemoaning the spiritual security of the people of Israel chiding and reproving them for their spiritual Lethargy Now I desire that this part may not prove suitable but that all of you may lay to heart the death of this ancient merciful righteous man The Observations from the words are these Six First That the righteous man must perish as well as the unrighteous Secondly That the perishing of a righteous man is nothing but his gathering to God Christ and the blessed company of Saints and Angels Thirdly That a righteous man as long as he liveth is the preservative of a Nation and the supporter of a Kingdom the Chariots and Horsmen of a Nation Fourthly The death of a righteous man is a Warning piece from Heaven a Beacon set on fire to give notice of evil approaching F fthly That God doth on purpose take away righteous men that they may not see the evil that is coming on a Nation Sixthly That it is a great and common sin not to consider and lay to heart the death of a righteous man First it is a common sin and therefore it is set down in the greatest latitude the righteous perisheth and no man layes it to heart that is very few And merciful men are taken away no man considering that is very few 2dly It is a great sin and therefore the Prophet Jeremy in the former Chapter calls to all the Beasts of the Field to devour that is all the Enemies of the Church to destroy the Children of Israel because they drank strong drink filling themselves with merriment and promised themselves happy dayes but did not consider that the righteous were taken away from the evil to come I shall begin with the first That the righteous perish as well as the unrighteous How is it that the righteous perish not in their soul they cannot perish so nay the truth is they cannot perish properly in their bodies for the bodies of the Saints never totally and finally perish for the very dust of the Saints in the grave is precious in God's sight and they are asleep in Jesus and by the power of Jesus Christ they shall be raised again glorious bodies Nothing perisheth of a righteous man by death totally and finally but sin and therefore the meaning of the word is as Musculus and Justin Martyr observe perit perisheth that is not according to the truth of the thing but according to the opinion of the world and the proper language of this expression is this The righteous perish that is the righteous must dye and go down to the house of rottenness as well as others and that upon a four-fold account First Because the righteous are included within the Statute of death as well as the unrighteous statutum est Heb. 9.27 It is appointed for all men once to dye the righteous as well as the unrighteous Indeed it is true Jesus Christ hath taken away the hurt of death but not death it self Jesus Christ hath disarmed death made death like the Viper that fastened upon Paul's hand but did not hurt him he hath made it like the brazen Serpent that hath no sting but a healing power in it Christ hath sanctified death conquered and sweetned death at present we are all under the Statute of death but at last this Enemy shall be destroyed 2 Cor. 15 latter end 2dly The righteous consist of perishing principles as well as the unrighteous the righteous are earthly vessels made of dust their foundation is in the dust their lives are a vapour as well as the lives of the unrighteous 3dly The righteous must dye
as well as others because they have a body of sin that they carry about with them for there is no man so wise that lives and sins not Eccles 7.20 Wherefore there is that which deserves death in a righteous man Lastly and especially The righteous must perish upon a peculiar account For if we had hope only in this life saith the Apostle we are of all men most miserable and therefore they must perish to keep them from perishing they must say as Themistocles Periissem nisi periissem they must dye that they may rest from their labour for here is not our rest Micah 2.10 There remaineth a rest for the people of God there is no rest in this World the word quies wants the plural number 3dly The righteous must dye that they may have their reward their Crown of glory that God hath laid up for them they must first fight the good sight and finish their course and then they shall receive a Crown of glory 3dly They must dye that they may be free from sin for they shal never put off the body of sin till they put off the body of flesh 4thly They must die that mortality may be swallowed up of life that corruption may put on incorruption 5ly They must dye that they may be perfect in Grace Lastly They must die that they may see God face to face and be for ever with the Lord which they cannot do till they dye therefore blessed be God that the r ghteous must perish If a man should bring news to a righteous man that he should always live on Earth always be young rich and healthful it would be unwelcom news for while we are in the body we are absent from the Lord and subject to sin and therefore when Peter asked Christ what should be done with John Christ tells him If I will that he tarry till I come what 's that to thee from henceforth there went a report abroad that John should not die John 21.32 Now the Apostle himself was much displeased with this report and look't upon it as a great affliction that he should not die and therefore he himself confutes it But yet Jesus said he said not that he should not dye as if he had said God forbid that I should not die Before I come to the Application of this point give me leave to speak something to the second point and so I shal apply them both together The second Doctrine is this That the perishing of a righteous man is nothing but a gathering of him to God Christ and the blessed Society of Saints and Angels in heaven This is contained in the second expression Merciful men are taken away the word in the Hebrew is colliguntuâ— they are gathered it is exegetical of the former they did not perish but they are gathered to God and Christ there is a great deal of excellency a magazine of sweetness in this expression they are gathered It implies two things First That the righteous are in a scattered condition while they are in this World and that three ways First They are scattered among the wicked and ungodly of the World as Sheep among Wolves as Lambs among Lions rent and torn in pieces forced to wander up and down in sheep-skins and Goat skins 2dly The righteous are scattered in the world one from another and that two ways 1. They are scattered by their different habitations for the godly are forced to separate one from another as Lot from Abraham 2. They are scattered one from another by the cruel persecution of wicked men and therefore you read Acts 8. that at that time when there was a persecution against the Church at Jerusalem that they were all scattered abroad 3dly The godly are scattered in this life from the glorious presence of God in Heaven indeed they are never sattered from the gracious presence of God but sometimes they are scattered from the comforting presence of God and as long as we live in this World we shall be scattered from the glorious presence of God for while we are in the body we are absent from the Lord. Secondly This implyes a bringing of God's people out of this scattered condition it is a gathering of the righteous out of this world into another from a sinfull persecuted world into a sinles glorious world from diversity of dwellings on earth to dwell altogether in one heaven it is a gathering out of the reach of men and divels a gathering them not only to the gracious but to the glorious presence of God and Christ and to the souls of just men made perfect and to the general assembly of the first born and to the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem where they shall live together never to be scattered again To understand this the better let me offer 3 things to you shewing you that the godly are gathered to God 3 wayes In this life at death and at the day of judgment First the righteous are gathered to God in this life and that is at their first conversion for by nature we are all aliens and strangers to God scattered from any union or communion with God not only scattered from the glorious but from the gracious presence of God God made man at first to enjoy communion with himself but Adam lost this by his sin and now we are all Cains and Vagabonds scattered from the love of God and from union and communion with God but when God converts any of the elect he gathers them home to himself for conversion is nothing but God's gathering them to himself in the second Adam that were scattered from him in the first Adam the first Adam was a root of scattering a root of separation from God but the second Adam was a root of union and conjunction Christ is the head and all the elect are all gathered together in him 1 Eph. 10. that he might gather together in one all things in Christ so that conversion is nothing but a gathering of the elect of God to Christ by faith and a gathering to one another by love and charity Secondly Gods people are gathered at death here they are gathered to Christ by grace but at death they are gathered to Christ in glory here they are gathered to God by hope but at death by fruition here Christ is gathered to us he comes down and dwells with us but at death we shall be gathered to him we shall go up and be joynd with him There 's a great deal of difference between esse cum Christe and esse in Christo esse cum Christo to be one with Christ is a Christians great security but esse in Christo to be one in Christ it is a Christians great felicity In this life we are gathered to God by faith but at death by vision Lastly we shall be gathered to God at the day of Judgment it is called the day of the gathering of the Saints together A day when all the Saints
that are have been or shall be shall all be gathered together 2 Thes 2.1 I beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him at the great day At the day of judgement we shall all be gathered together and shall be all taken up to heaven I mean all the righteous and be ever with the Lord and so much for the opening of the doctrine But here it may be objected Are not the unrighteous gathered by death as well as the righteous I answer it is true the unrighteous are scattered in this life and gathered by death as well as the righteous but with a great deal of difference First the wicked are scattered in this life but they are scattered from God but the godly are scattered for God and for a good conscience many times as they as Jerusalem were scattered The godly are scattered from the glorious presence of God in heaven but the wicked are scattered from the gracious presence of God on earth Again the scattering of the wicked is a curse to them and it is threatned as a curse Levit. 26.32 I will scatter you among the heathen and draw out my sword after you and wherever the wicked come in what part soever of the world the wicked are scattered they bring the curse of God with them and they bring the judgments of God on Towns or Cities where they are as plauge famine and sword and all miseries But the godly when they are scattered they are scattered as a blessing into what Country or Town soever they come they come as a blessing they come like a ship laden with corn to a Town ready to perish with famine they come as a blessing four ways First by their prayers to pray down a blessing on the place where they come Secondly they come as a blessing by their holy life and conversation that is a loadstone to draw others to holiness Thirdly they come as a blessing by their holy advise and counsel that they give to the place where they come Nay fourthly their very presence is a blessing as long as Lot was in Sodom Sodom could not be destroyed so long as Paul was in the ship the three hundred could not be drown'd So that the godly come as a blessing where-ever they are scattered but the wicked are as chaffe scattered by the wind and they are scattered as the dust of the earth You know when the dust is scattered it gets into mens eyes and blinds them and falls upon their cloaths and fullies and defiles them so the wicked where-ever they are scattered they defile the place where they are scattered The godly are as planets that wander and move from one part of heaven to another carrying light to the world Secondly as the wicked are scattered whise they live so when they dye they are gathered it is true but how not to God and Christ and his Angels but they are gathered to the divel and his Angels and to damned spirits not as bundles of wheat into the barn of heaven but as bundles of tares to be burned for ever in everlasting fire Now if the righteous perish as well as others and if their perishing be nothing but a gathering to God and Christ then First learn hence the preciousness of every righteous man the great God will not gather things of no value great men do not use to gather chaffe and straw and therefore when God saith of Josiah I will gather thee to thy Fathers it was a sign he was a precious pearl worth the gathering and of a high value and account in the sight of God and so is every true child of God right dear and precious are they in the sight of God both living and dying they are bought with a great price not with gold and silver and other corruptible things but they are bought with the precious blood of the Son of God They are as precious to God as the apple of his eye so precious that be hath given Christ for them and to them so precious that he called them his Jewels his peculiar treasure Jedidiahs and therefore God will not suffer them to perish but gather them to himself before the evil day come as the husbandman gathers in the corn before the beasts go out into the field Secondly Learn here what reason we have to be comforted in the death of a righteous man or woman because their death is not a perishing but a gathering to God and Christ and the society of Saints and Angels The death of a righteous man is no more then if a Merchant that hath abundance of Jewels in a far country should send for them home Why death to a righteous man is nothing but Gods sending for his Jewels home Such a phrase there is in Mal. 3.17 In the day that I make up my Jewels they shall be mine In this life they are imperfect Jewels they are like gold in the oar mingled with a great deal of drosse and death is nothing but a perfecting of these Jewels death is nothing more and God doth nothing by death but as a gold-finder gather up all his ends of gold and silver It is nothing but just as if a Father should send for his Son home that had been a long while absent from him to his own House it is a carrying us to our Father's house And therefore let us be comforted when our righteous Friends dye though their death be matter of sorrow to us in regard of the loss that we sustain by their death and because their death is a Warning piece of evil to come yet in regard of them we have no cause to mourn I speak this to those that are related to the righteous when they dye Did you ever hear of a Husbandman that mourned for the carrying of his Corn into the Barn or a Jeweller mourn for making up of his Jewels Let us mourn rather that we are left scattered among the wicked of the earth and from the glorious presence of God and Christ and let us mourn for those that are scattered from Christ and from grace and for those that whilest they live are scattered and when they dye are gathered to the Devil and his Angels Let us not mourn for those that dye in Christ but let us mourn for those that live out of Christ let us not mourn over the body that the soul hath left but let us mourn over the soul that God hath left The third Use is of Consolation to all the people of God in reference to evil times that are coming upon us or to the evil of times Whatever befalls a Child of God in this life though he be scattered by wicked men from England into other Forreign Countreys though he wander up and down in Desarts and Wildernesses though he be scattered from house to prison yet there will be a gathering time shortly there will a time come when all the Saints shall be gathered
to Christ and to one another never to part any more The death of Gods people is not a perishing but a gathering comfort your selves therefore with these words against the fear of death look upon death as a gathering as a gathering to Christ You are here as Daniel in the Lyons Den as Jeremiah in the Dungeon yet there will come a gathering and if you dye in a good cause you shall not perish but be gathered to Christ and to his Saints and Angels But you will say If I were sure when I dye that I should be gathered to Christ to live for ever with him this would be matter of great consolation to me but you told me the wicked are gathered by death as well as the godly how shall I know whether when I come todye I shall be gathered to the Devil and his Angels or to Christ and his Angele How shall I know whether I shall be gathered at death as a bundle of tares to be burned in Hell or as a bundle of wheat to be carried up into the Burn of Heaven I answer You may know it by four things First If you are righteous then you shall be gathered to Christ at death for the righteous shall go into everlasting life Heaven is entailed upon righteous men by righteousness I mean the imputed righteousness and the imparted righteousnesse of Jesus Christ I wave the explication of them because time will not give leave Know you not saith the Apostle that no unrighteous man shall inherit the Kingdom of God Damnation is entailed upon unrighteous men Secondly If you are merciful the merciful man shall be gathered to Christ if you are one that is full of bowels of compassion to the distressed Members of Jesus Christ for Christ hath said it Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy Now if you are hard hearted covetous worldly minded remember that Text He shall have judgement without mercy that shews no mercy Thirdly He that is gathered to the second Adam by faith in this world shall certainly be gathered unto Christ by vision in the other world Christ Iesus will save all his members and you must know that Faith is a transplanting Grace it is not onely a heart purifying but a world-overcoming grace it takes a man out of the old Adam and put 's him into the new Adam it takes a man out of the root of scattering and puts him into the root of union and conjunction Wherefore you that are now joined to Christ by faith here shall be joined to Christ in glory hereafter But now you that are Vagabonds Cains and Aliens from the life of God and from the life of Grace You that are wooden Members wooden Legs in Christs body that have no real conjunction with Christ you shal not be gathered to him in glory Lastly If you are gathered here to the Saints by love then you shall be gathered to the Saints in Heaven and to the everlasting enjoyment of God with them to all eternity Consider this Every man shall be gathered when he dies to those whom he delights and chooseth to keep company with while he lives in this world If you are gathered to the wicked in love and affection here you shall be gathered to them at death in Hell and destruction for it's pity companions should be parted Wheat must to Wheat and Tares to Tares for Wheat and Tares shall not be bound together at the last day The last use is of Exhortation It the righteous must perish and if their death be nothing but a gathering then take this threefold Exhortation First Let us labour to make the best use we can of our godly friends and Ministers before they are gathered let us do as Elisha did he was told that his Master Elijah was to be taken up to Heaven and therefore he would never leave him till he had got the spirit of Elijah doubled upon him If Elisha had not thought that Elijah would have been taken up that day he would never have followed him so punctually and inseparably as he did O beloved did you believe that text Zach. 1.5 of which we have often had experience your fathers where are they and the Prophets do they live for ever Indeed if they did live for ever we might get good from them when we please because we are sure never to lose them but they live not for ever but must perish and be taken up to heaven And therefore whilst we have them let us make what use we can of them before they be taken away from us It is a great fault among the people of God that they make no more use of their godly Friends and Ministers I have known many that have godly Relations that have died that it hath been the greatest burthen on their Consciences that they got no more good by those godly Relations while they lived Many of us deal with our Ministers as we do with a strange sight that is to be seen near our doors we are not much solicitous when we see it But a stranger that comes from a far Countrey is curious and very carefull presently to see it So do we in this City especially I have had experience of it by being here many yeares strangers that come out of the Countrey many times get that good by a Minister that his own people do not because they think their Minister is continually with them But a stranger knows he is there but for a day and he hears so that he carries Christ home with him and a great deal of consolation also Beloved this is a great fault I beseech you remember the righteous must be gathered let us therefore do with them as we do with Books that are borrowed if a man borrows a Book he knows he must keep it but for a day or two and therefore he will be sure to read it over whereas if the Book be a mans own he layes it aside because he knows he can read it at any time Remember your Ministers are but lent you they are not your own and you know not but God may take your Elijahs from you this night Therefore make what use you can of them while you have them 2dly Must the righteous be taken away Then let the righteous make conscience of doing what good they can before they are taken away Beloved if it were possible for the godly to grieve in Heaven this would be their greatest sorrow that they have done God no more service here upon Earth Be wise for God O ye righteous do as old men do that have rich places and offices they labour to buy the reversion of their places for their children so must you to whom God hath given great gifts and graces labour to propagate your gifts and graces that there may be no loss by your death Observe the care of St. Paul the aged in his exhortations to Timothy 2 Tim. 4.5 6. Watch thou in all things endure afflictions do the