Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A30729
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A sermon preached at the funeral of Mr. James Lordel who was buried at St. Magnus Church March 27, 1694 by Lilly Butler.
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Butler, Charles, d. 1647.
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1694
(1694)
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Wing B6279; ESTC R30263
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10,864
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31
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A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF Mr JAMES LORDEL WHO WAS Buried at St MAGNUS Church March 27. 1694. By LILLY BUTLER Minister of St Mary Aldermanbury LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons over-against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1694. To my Honoured Friends Mr John Lordel Benjamin Lordel Samuel Lordel Abraham Lordel Peter Lordel and Mrs Mary Lordel Mr John Trymmer Mrs Sarah Trymmer Brothers and Sisters of the deceased Mr. James Lordel Honoured Friends MY Obligations to your Good Family are so very great that I could not deny your request for a Copy of this Sermon preached at the Funeral of your Dear Brother and my very Good Friend It must be the relation it hath to him that hath moved you to design the Printing of it And though I am very sensible how unfit it is to be thus exposed yet it is some satisfaction to me that by consenting to it I shall shew how hard it is for me to refuse you any thing that may be a testimony of my respect and gratitude I do often think with a great deal of pleasure on that exemplary Virtue and most tender Love to one another which are so remarkable in every one of you And that you may be stedfast and unmoveable always abounding in these things and long enjoy the comfortable fruits of them is the hearty Prayer of Your most obliged Friend and Servant Lilly Butler REV. XIV 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them BLessedness is that which all men naturally desire but the greatest part of them either cannot or rather will not understand when and how and where alone it can be found Most men seek no farther for it than their Senses will direct and guide them and think for certain it resides amongst the things that are seen and are but temporal One eagerly pursueth the deceitfull and uncertain riches of this World wearieth his body breaketh his rest defileth his conscience and whilst he little thinks of it selleth his soul too that he may fill his baggs and barns and increase his treasures and revenues and all this while flatters himself that if he can but accomplish his designs he shall then be a happy man and may say to his soul as the rich man in the Gospel did to his Soul take thine ease eat drink and be merry for thou hast goods laid up for many years But alas in a very little while and for the most part before he can attain to that rich-man's wealth and increase he receives his dreadfull rebuke and summons Thou fool saith God to him this day or this night thy soul shall shall be required of thee and then poor wretch all his hopes and expectations perish and the intolerable misery he is condemned to sadly discovers his mistake of happiness Another confidently perswades himself that there is no happiness like greatness and honour that if he could but attain to such a height of dignity and preferment then without all peradventure he should be a happy man But oftentimes whilst he is studying and contriving to advance himself before he can reach his affected honours Death comes and spoils all his plots Or if he do perfect his designs he injoys his honour but a very little while and then is thrown down from the height of all his glory his body into the grave and his soul as low as hell A third derides and laughs at the folly of others and very confidently presumes that he hath found the truest happiness even carnal delights and pleasures the faring sumptuously every day and spending his days and nights in rioting and drunkenness in chambring and wantonness in contriving and acting new scenes of lust and intemperance But alas this man 's fondly conceited happiness promotes and hastens his real misery distempers his body consumes his strength and shortens his life which is no sooner ended but instead of those soft delights those pleasures of sin he enjoyed for a season he is forced to lie down in unquenchable flames to weep and wail for ever in that place of torment prepared for the Devil and his Angels Indeed we are all too apt to take up our rest here and to look for too much happiness in this world Job 5.7 where we are born to trouble as the sparks fly upwards But if we hearken to the Divine Authour of my Text he will there discover our mistake in this matter he will tell us as he was taught it immediately by a voice from heaven the season and nature and subjects of true felicity I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them In these words we have First A description of those that are blessed and happy men Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Secondly The certainty of their blessedness from the testimony of the Spirit Yea saith the Spirit Thirdly The nature of their blessedness It is a Rest That they may rest from their labours and a Reward Their works do follow them I purpose to speak something to the several parts of my Text and conclude with some seasonable Application of it First Here is the Description of those that are blessed and happy men The dead which die in the Lord. First The Dead and not the Living It is a true account which Job giveth us of the Life of man c. 14. v. 1. Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble Solomon supposeth a far happier state of life than was ever yet found in this World and pronounceth of this likewise that it is but vanity Eccl. 11.28 If a man live many years and rejoyce in them all yet let him remember the days of darkness for they shall be many All that cometh is vanity And certainly we may rely upon the judgment of Solomon in this matter who if there had been any happiness in this world would undoubtedly have met with it He had experienced most and he had searched into all the admired enjoyments of this world and the conclusion he made after all his diligent and exact inquiries he telleth us himself Eccl. 1.14 I have seen all the works that are done under the Sun and behold all is vanity and vexation of spirit There are but two sorts of men the Wicked and the Righteous and neither of these can be happy here The Wicked are like a troubled Sea that cannot rest Isa 57.20 They have always something to ruffle and disturb their minds some unruly lusts disordering passions unsatisfied desires disappointed expectations or the severe rebukes of a condemning conscience Besides those pains and diseases those crosses and mischiefs and other outward evils which are the natural or moral effects of Sin the