God taketh us as he findeth us at his appearing and his coming If after all men can attain this Crown better cheap I envy not their ease onely in a case of such high concernment I would have them careful that they lose not their soul for a pleasing conceit and perish fatally whilst they think to be saved so Let the Candidates of so rich and radiant a Crown be but as perseverant in good as the Candidates of wrath and death are in evil let them take Heaven but with such violence as these take Hell and they cannot miscarry And do they expect God to deal with them upon greater disproportions I am sure they serve a better Master have nobler employments greater encouragements a crown that shall last as long as God is God and run parallel with the ages of eternity and may therefore more than recompence the services and sufferings of a short life Faithful unto death then he must be that would be crowned after it and not unto death onely but even in and into it also As he must offer up his body a living sacrifice to God so if occasion be a dying one too Act. 21.13 being ready with St. Paul not onely to be bound as the sacrifices were wont but to dye for the name of the Lord Jesus And he is most unworthy of that high and honourable name who will not take up the most painful and ignominious Cross that weareth the inscription of Jesus of Nazareth upon it Matth. 5.10 11. This name will plait his thorns into a crown turn persecution into a beatitude and the flames of Martyrdom into Bonfires of joy This will make him sing at the stake like a dying Swan suffer death with more serenity and satisfaction than the witty cruelty of his enemies inflicts it lye down in a bed of flames as if it were a bed of roses and having prayed for his murtherers to fall a sleep And if the Heathens have thought it discreetly eligible to give their life a ransom for fame or virtue well may the Christian who is an Heir of better hopes do this to eternal and never failing purposes to secure Christ's honour his own innocence and to have Gems added to his Crown Death herein shoots its sting but to lose it and though it kill him it cannot hurt him all it can do is but to kill the body i. e. to prevent a more lingring death by the feeble hand of sickness or old age and to cure it of those diseases which kill with equal certainty and greater torment And for the Soul which is the better part if not the whole of man it knocketh but off its chains and fetters and restoreth it to it self and to God that gave it Thus whilst we seem to love God better than our selves we never love our selves so well as in this very act for if in love and loyal duty to God we lay down our life for him he will give it us again and a crown of bliss and immortality together with it And here passing over from the precept to the promised reward I might if I had affections and expressions answerable to the matter in hand rap both my self and you into St. Paul's Extasie 'till we were even lost in it But these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unspeakable words 2 Cor. 12.4 as St. Paul by a pretty seeming contradiction calls them All the tongues of men and Angels are here too short or if they could speak who could hear It shall suffice to give you a transient glimpse of this Crown so far as may incourage your fidelity and constancy in God's service and not the least glimpse of it but will make all the labours and sufferings of this life vanish in the comparison A Crown then it is and what can be said or conceived more and greater Exerce ambitionem tuam set thy utmost ambition on work thou man of desires here is that which will fill all the appetites of it The most towring thought riseth no higher than a Crown or onely to set one Crown upon another and were other Crowns accumulated 'till they reached to this they would cast down themselves before this crown of life this crown of glory which fadeth not away Within the compass of this crown meets all that Religion or Reason calleth the chiefest good as so many orient jewels in this crown there is perfect knowledg perfect holiness 1 Cor. 15.27 perfect peace perfect love perfect joy and which is the Crown of this Crown here is God All in all The Woman in Revel 12.1 hath a crown of twelve Stars upon her head but were all the Stars united into one Constellation and should dishevel all the pride and glory of their beams it would not equal the glory of this Crown but be as a dark and opacous shadow to it Through the light and lustre which this crown will shed upon us all faithful Christians according to the promise of our Saviour Mat. 13.43 Dan. 12.3 and the corresponding predictions of the Prophets shall shine like the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father even as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars forever and ever Should our now deceased Brother from under this crown see what scuffling there is for Crowns and Scepters those fine gay guilded Nothings here below he would look upon it with such becoming scorn as a Philosopher upon Boys scrambling for shells of Nuts and fiercely contending for tinsel gayeties of no greater value The richest of these crowns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. de Tranquill. animi cannot keep off or cure a fit of the head-ach but within the circle of this Crown cometh neither sorrow nor pain The glory of these crowns dum nitet cadit whilst it glittereth falleth and breaketh maketh a blaze like a Meteor then shooteth and dyeth out but this crown onely burnisheth with the wearing the massy glory whereof no time no eternity impaireth These crowns at best are more honourable than happy sit heavy upon the head which they seem to adorn and whilst they sparkle with Diamonds are stuffed with thorns But the joys of this Crown equal the glories of it with their crowns the Saints have harps and free from all inward and outward distractions do nothing but in consort with the Angels sing soft requiem's to themselves and triumphant songs of joy and praise to God and to the Lamb who is blessed for evermore Thus is Christianity certamen sed bonum a fight but a good one whilst Kings have usually their Crowns crossed the faithful Christian hath his Cross crowned and that weight of glory which this Crown hath in it may make all the labour of duty and pressure of the Cross mere ease and delight Let Atheists and Epicures look upon the Divine life but as a zealous frenzy such as hath no real object nor solid fruits and scorn or pity the strict Professours of it as men soberly and gravely beside
unto death hath shrin'd his Ashes in an immortal Urn. But I am affraid I have tired you too much already with this tedious Epistle and therefore do humbly crave your pardon which I have but little reason to doubt of considering your excellent temper disposition which I understand so well that I verily believe I can do nothing to displease you And though the strength of my affections hath carrried me out into a short Panegyrick of our deceased Friend yet for this I hope I shall not meet with any rigid censure seeing it is but a just return of civility to him who both living and dying did always abound in all imaginable expressions of love and kindness unto me And now Sir J dare assure you I have but very few things to add before J kiss your hands and bid you Farewell One thing J desire to acquaint you withall before you come so far as to take notice of it that in all this Discourse there is no mention made of our Friends Pedegree and Extraction Neither was the Reverend Author when he Preach'd the Sermon desir'd by me to enlarge upon that subject For though he was descended of worthy Ancestors who for several years liv'd in good credit and repute at a Countrey-Village called Boughton in Nottingham-shire yet methinks all that honour and glory which we derive from our Progenitors is not so much to be priz'd and valued as personal worth and acquired eminency The Spaniards have a Saying amongst them which comes now into my mind Al hombre bueno no busques abolengo i. e. Never trouble thy self to enquire after the Pedegree of a virtuous man His own excellency is enough to make him esteem'd in the world and a good name purchased by virtuous actions shall far out shine all those great and glorious Titles which an ancient House and a renowned Family can convey unto us And thus it was with this worthy Person His own wisdom and prudence made his countenance to shine and whilst he liv'd advanced his fame and reputation in the world and having serv'd his generation for several years conducted at last his gray bairs with honour to the grave He did not so much receive a lustre from his House and Kindred as added of himself a remarkable light and brightness to it Not unlike the Sun which makes both the Heavens and Earth to glister and shine not with any borrowed Rays and reflected Beams but with his own naked Splendor I shall not trouble you here with a Catalogue of his charitable works at his decease because they have long since been publickly divulg'd and the persons concern'd already in actual possession of them Not that I would conceal any thing out of any by respect or reservation to my self but because I look upon it as an unnecessary performance For as for my self I have been so far from falling short of a most punctual execution of his will and pleasure that in sundry particulars especially where love and kindness and charity were concern'd I I have far outdone it And so conscious to my self I am of my own faithfulness and integrity that I dare publickly bid the world defiance to tax me with any one particular action that may in the least bespeak me either Vncharitable or Vnjust That which I can tax my self withall and which doth still afflict my spirit is principally this that the great care diligence and circumspection which I used in the management of these secular affairs did eat up so much of my precious time and unavoidably drew me from the exercise of my Function in which I always took so much contentment and satisfaction But now having discharg'd that trust which Gods providence hath laid upon me I am ready to return to my Masters service to which I doubt not in the least but that his goodness will speedily restore me as his wisdom thought fit for a season to draw me from it But Sir I forget my self and much more you That I may not beyond all measure abuse your patience I will choose rather to break off abruptly with this short though duplicate Petition First That the world may daily abound with such worthy persons as your self and our deceased Friend men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 clothed about with abundance of wisdom understanding justice and integrity that by this means virtue and true goodness may be encourag'd and vice and wickedness may be discountenanc'd though it bear it self out with a brazen brow and a conscience many times of as course a metal Secondly and to conclude That for all your respect and kindness to me God may reward you abundantly and return it a hundred and a hundred fold into your bosom That peace and plenty and length of days may be your portion here in this world and glory and honour and immortality in the world to come Which is the earnest prayer and hearty desire of Sir Your very humble Very much obliged Servant James Cade Morefields August 2. 1671. THE TRUE CHRISTIANS CHARACTER and CROWN REVEL 2.10 Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of life I Have no sooner read my Text but I know you have accommodated it to the occasion of this time the Funerals of our deceased Brother whom I may fitly call the Transcript of it Whilst he lived he was the Transcript of the former part even faithful unto death and he is now become the Transcript of the latter part God no doubt having given him as the reward of his faithfulness a crown of life There you might behold him in his spiritual 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pressing towards the mark now enjoying the price of his high calling There running with patience the race that was set before him now entred into his rest There in short conquering now triumphing there winning now wearing the crown In the former he went before us as our example in the latter he is gone before us as our encouragement And it will be our honour and happiness to follow him in both The words are part of an Epistle to the Angel i.e. the Bishop of the Church of Smyrna Polycarpus was the Angel or Bishop of this Church as Ecclesiastical History hath inform'd us See Euseb li. 4. cap. 14 15. There is extant an Epistle of Ignatius to this Polycarpus and another of his to the Church of Smyrna of which Polycarp was Bishop By which it appears of how great antiquity Episcopacy is being as ancient as the Apostles themselves whose immediate successors the Bishops most certainly were Polycarpus non solùm ab Apostolis eruditus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb loco citat f. 127. but it cometh open to us and it will not be rudeness but our wisdom and duty to look into it and take out the Lesson I mean not here to reveal the Revelation or to unclasp the sealed book to cast the water of the seven Vials or to make the Trumpets give a certain sound The mystical part
faithful Monitor He may hear this as a voice behind him Is 30.21 saying This is the way walk in it when he turneth to the right hand and when he turneth to the left One man cannot be as enlarged in his piety as diffusive in his charity as useful in his place as another of greater abilities and opportunities but he may and must be as faithful in his measure Some other duties have their peculiar objects and appropriations to times persons places with the like but faithfulness is an ingredient to all and gives them acceptance Our Saviour putteth wise and faithful servant together Matth. 24.45 good and faithful servant together Mat. 25.21 and as he is not a wise who is not a good so he is neither wise nor good who is not a faithful servant also St. Paul recounts this as a special mercy from God to be found faithful 1 Cor. 7.25 and it is the Crown of Antipas his Cross that he was Christs faithful Martyr Revel 2.13 He that without this giveth his body to the fire only taketh Hell by violence and the first death consigneth him only to the sencond We call Christ Lord and Master and we say well for so he is but it is not enough to treat him with this easie formality and to pass such cheap complements upon him unless we pay him that fidelity which is due from servants to their Master and that humble and loyal alliegeance which is due from subjects to their sovereign Lord. God is faithful for his part 1 Thes 5.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faithful is he that hath called you who also will do it The Gospel is faithful for its part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 2.11 12. This is a faithful saying that if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him Christ is faithful for his part 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The faithful and true witness Rev. 3.14 or as he is also stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he that saith Amen to both And accordingly those that are Rev. 17.14 or expect to be with Christ must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 called and chosen and faithful not called and chosen only for this every one will arrogate and assume and in the want of other evidence vote himself so but faithful also and herein they approve themselves called and chosen because they have obtained mercy to be Faithful Yet men are not with more ease called and chosen than admitting their own conceits they are faithful too And in their sense of it they are faithful more than enough So faithful that they can at once provoke Gods justice and trust in his mercy and rely upon Christs merits without doing any thing that he commands So faithful that they can at once sin and saint themselves and securely expect to be saved by him whom they daily crucifie So faithful that their faith removeth mountains Mount Sinai and Mount Zion at once the Law both of Moses and Christ So faithful in short that they can reconcile the most unchristian practices with the faith and affiance of a Christian the confutation and contradiction of the whole Gospel with hopes and comforts of it i. e. faithfulness with the greatest unfaithfulness in the world and whilst they take Hell by violence of endeavour take Heaven by violence of usurpation Such faithful ones as these the world is full of who have such a plerophory or fulness of faith that none of the other virtues or duties of Christianity can find room with them so faithful that they do onely believe But this is Insidelis fiducia an Infidel faith faith without fidelity Which kind of unfaithful unfruitful faith hath damned more than a true faith in Christ his name hath saved and the more any man believeth with it the more he may tremble This faith when Christ cometh he shall find upon the earth and scarce then be able to beat men out of it Many shall say to him even in that day Domine Domine Lord Lord we are they that have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou hast taught in our streets and if such as we find not admittance and acceptance with thee who shall But in all this true faith will be hard to be found and it is neither slander nor solaecism to say that the greater part of the Christian world in this sense is Infidel True faith is that which maketh a man faithful to Christ Lib. 3. de Gubern Dei p. 70. l. 4. p. 100. and to keep all his commands faithfully as Salvian defined it long since which maketh us Christi fideles Christ his liege-men in the same sense that they are called Regis fideles the Kings liege-subjects and servants who yield that homage and fealty to him which they owe. This was Abraham's faith Heb. 11.17 24 26. by which he offered up his onely son Isaac and himself a whole burnt-offering with him This was Moses his faith which made him esteem the very reproach of Christ greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt This was the faith of the glorious company of the Apostles of the goodly fellowship of the Prophets of the noble army of Martyrs and Confessours which exerted it self in the sanctimony of their lives their strict observation of the divine laws their persevering in holy actions with patience and hope their despising earthly their prizing and pressing after heavenly things their contempt of death their courage for Christ and all the other instanees of an excellent piety and virtue From this active faith faith commensurate to fidelity they and all good Christians are not onely called but constituted faithful not from that unactive easie faith which maketh men rest wholly upon what Christ hath done for them without doing any thing either for him or for themselves which leaneth hard upon his Cross but doth not take it up and believeth in not obeyeth him This maketh faith a very accountable thing and well worthy of that wisdom and holiness which hath attributed so much to it in the Gospel as that by faith we are justified by faith we live by faith we are saved i. e. by a faith which so believeth in Christ as by believing to love him by loving to adhere to him and by adhering to him to live and dye in his embraces which sacrificeth a man's whole honour and interest to the service of Christ and his own salvation and thinketh nothing too much that he can do or suffer for Christ who hath wrought such wonders of mercy for him To be faithful then in the notion of my Text consists not in giving a naked assent to the Doctrins of Christianity not in arrogating and appropriating to our selves the promises of the Gospel or rather promising to our selves that which the Gospel promiseth us not nor yet in the most stedfast recumbency upon Christ or the strongest application of his merits to our souls But it consists 1. In praestandis promissis in
themselves and erect in their own fancies a kind of Spiritual Bedlam for them Yet these fools for Christ will be found the onely wise and happy men when Hell shall be no longer a painted Fire nor Heaven a fools Paradise but weeping and wailing shall put scoffing out of countenance and the scorner's chair become more uneasie than Phalaris his Bull they that sate in it shall gnash their teeth and become their own Tormentors to see those religious sneaks crowned with majesty and glory whom they had so much derided and despised Why then Opus deterret mercedem vide Doth the work affright you consider the reward If the way seemeth irksome and unpleasant the end is blissful and happy Look not upon what you are called to do and suffer but beyond both to the glorious reward and faint if you can 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pro. 10.7 Sept. ANd now what have I been doing all this time but presenting our deceased Brother before you In shewing what you should be I have only shewed what he was and in shewing what you shall be I have shewed what he is And by a meet application of generals to particulars you may read it over in him We live in an age wherein we may too truly complain with the Psalmist Ps 12.1 The faithful are perished from the children of men and out of that small remnant which was left we have now lost one that might have stood for a great many A faithful man and a faithful Christian One that according to the impress of that Company to which he was a good benefactor weaved truth with trust and in so close a web that nothing could divide betwixt them He was faithful to God and to the interests of Religion A man of a sober piety and well tempered zeal One that affected Religion for it self leaving the empty pomp to those that blaze more but burn less and was content to be what they desire to seem That talkative Religion which spendeth it self in hearing much speaking more and doing nothing he was not emulous of but of the active and operative and instead of speaking great things did live them Whilst others were carried about with every wind of Doctrin he held fast the Profession of his Faith and died in the Communion of that Church in which he was born and did the publick Worship reputation by his constant and regular attendance upon it He was faithful to the King as every man that is faithful to God must and will be for Christianity hath adopted Alliegeance into the Family of Religion twisted piety with loyalty and owneth no man as a good Christian who is not a good Subject also and such therefore was he One that submitted himself to every ordinance of man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Lords sake and served the King with as much earnestness and diligence as others oppose him He was also faithful to his neighbour One that did affirm truth perform promises keep contracts that was humble peaceable just merciful that obliged all injured or offended none and if all were like to him the word of a Christian might be as of old it was the greatest solemnity of stipulation in the world He was none of those half-faced Christians that clash the two Tables one against another and break the second with the first who set up the duties of piety for a blind that they may violate those of justice and charity more secretly and securely He was none of those that make long prayers the preface to devouring of Widows houses and fasting twice a week the cover for their dishes full of extortion and excess None of those in short that sue out a divorce betwixt piety and probity and when they are less than Heathens will be more than Christians Though he could not make our Saviour's challenge Which of you convinceth me of sin yet good old Samuel's he boldly might Whose oxe have I taken whose ass have I taken or whom have I defranded or oppressed and all that knew him would be his compurgatours Trace him through all relations and conditions and there are few which he passed not through amongst you and you will scarce find a stain much less a blemish upon his memory And as God who to encourage virtue oft-times giveth it the earnest of its reward in this life had raised him to a considerable height so he did not look from that height with scorn on those below him but only shed the influences of it with more advantage upon his friends and relations to whom he was a common store-house And if it be a piece of gross infidelity not to provide for a mans own it must be a piece of exemplary Christianity to provide so well for other mens for which cause I doubt not but God hath given him a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters Is 56.5 And for those that have sustained so great a loss in him God for his sake will be ready to supply it out of his own Fulness and they have one friend more in heaven though they have one fewer upon earth But though his goodness was thus diffusive to his friends and relations yet it was not confined to them As the bowels of many poor blessed him whilst he lived so he hath besprinkled all places to which he related with some dews of charity at his death And as he did wisely and faithfully employ that Talent of wealth which God had entrusted him withall so likewise did he employ all his other Talents of parts and power and practical prudence whereof he was a great Master to their proper ends and intents whereby he became singularly useful in his place yea 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a common good And as the whole City did partake the influences of his industry authority and fidelity so this parish above all whereof he might justly be called the Publick Parent And now nothing was left but that he should be faithful to himself and his own soul and knowing this to be his interest as well as his duty herein he exercised himself to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man He regulated his affections moderated his passions restrained his members from being weapons of unrighteousness and kept himself unspotted from the world In fine so had he governed the whole course of his conversation that as nothing infamous or scandalous appeared to others so his own conscience did not accuse or upbraid him but humbly acknowledging his other defaults and defects he blessed that Grace which had preserved him from the gross pollutions of sin and though he had as all have more than enough to speak him frail man yet nothing in the least to debauch him either into Beast or Devil But because it is the last Act which crowneth all the rest As living so dying he retained his integrity and his Graces shined most when he was about to set and his light increased not his shadow Then you might behold conspicuous in him a patient submission under Gods mighty hand an humble resignation to the Divine Will and a truly Christian deportment in all You might behold much pious devotion ardent zeal heavenly delight stâ—â—dfast hope in Gods mercy discover themselves and make him shine through the Cloud In token that heaven was his center the nearer he came he moved the faster towards it And therefore he was frequent in communicating the Holy Eucharist as the antepast of it and the Viaticum of eternal life When scarce able to speak he would yet spend his dying breath in exhortations and admonitions to those about him and was willing therein to give up the Ghost that he might be indeed faithful unto death Thus lived thus dyed our faithful friend and brother And now no man will make question but God hath given him the crown of life who is not either an Infidel himself or believeth God to be worse than one If God be faithful i. e. if God be God so good and faithful a servant as he was must be entered into his Masters joy I leave him therefore to the enjoyment of it and leave you to the imitation of so excellent virtue till God in his own due time shall crown you with him and both you and he shall be forever with the Lord. FINIS