Widdow in their affliction c. Ja. 1. 27. This righteous this mercifull Man is said to perish to be taken away which must not be understood of the perishing of his Soul or his being finally lost for God gave his Son to the end that who so ever believes should not perish Jo. 3. 16. and the Son hath layd downe his life to seek and save that which was lost and hath past his word that his sheep who heare his voyce and follow him shall not perish Jo. 10. 28. But the meaning is they are took away by a temporal Death and the Prophet finds fault with the carelesse and obstinate Jews for taking no notice of it The Death of all Men in generall although it be a common thing and meets us every day yet oâ—ght not to be past over with a transient and regardlesse eye Eccl. 7. 2. It is better to go to the house of Mourning then to the House of Rejoycing for that is the end of all Men and the Living will lay it to heart As if he should say in the House of mourning so the places are called where funeralls are celebrated or friends are departed a Man is minded of the common lot and end of all men Man sees his own end in the end of others and is thereby admonished of his own frailty and Mortality which it highly concerns him to remember and to be throughly affected with Here we see the greatness and power of God who takes away Mans Breath He dyes and returns to his dust Psa 104 29. We see our own vileness and vanity that dust we are and to dust we returne and at our best estate altogether vanity Ps 9. 5 But it much more concerns us to be deeply affected with the Death of good men Ps 116. 15. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the Death of all his Saints And surely what 's pretious in Gods eyes ought not to be common and contemptible in ours The reasons why the death of good Men ought more especially to be laid to heart are 1. Because of the paucity and scantness of such The Souldiers would not permit David to hazzard himselfe because hee was worth ten thousand of them 2 Sam. 18. 3. There were multitudes of common persons few Kings especially such as David was Wicked Men are as the common stones of the brooke and of the high-way but Righteous men are jewells Maâ— 3. 17. The losse of Jewels is the more lamented because they are pretious and rare This made Ezekiel take on so much for the Death of Pelatiah because there were but few such as he and a few out of a remnant would be quickly mist Ezek 11. 13. It came to passe that when I prophecyed Pelatiah the Son of Benaiah dyed and I cryed with a lowde voyce and said O Lord God wilt thou make a full end of the Remnant of Israel The latter times are foretold to be perilous because the generality of men shall be lovers of their owne selves c. Christs flock a little flock and his people a remnant but then more especially too when iniquity abounds and love and piety grow cold When therefore God shall gleane out of this remnant and take away at the head of this flock it 's time to bethink our selves what God is doing and say with the Psalmist Ps 12. 1. Help Lord for the godly Man ceaseth c. 2. Because of that Heavenly relation that is between all Christians and that Spiritual sympathy and fellow-feeling that ought to be between them Such as is between the Members of the natural Body that when one Member suffers all suffer and if one be cut of the rest not that which is cut off retaine the sense and smart of the losse It is true death doth not cut of a Christian either from Christ the Head or from his mystical Body these relations hold when all natural and civil ones cease Death which untwists all others tyes this the faster Yet it cutts off from the society of the Militant Church the ranke is broken his place is void his presence missing and his service wanting till God fill it up by a new supply The visible Communion which we had with such an one in joint prayers both publick and private in mutual exhortations incouragements instructions and consolations is interrupted and they to whom such Communion of Saints such intercourse of Christian and brotherly love was pleasant and desierable cannot but lay to heart the want of it The cracking or failing of one string in an instrument disturbs the harmony so do's the losse of one member abate the wonted pleasure and solemnity of our Christian society and Communion 3. When we lay to heart the Death of good Men we testify to the world what love we bare to their Persons and what value and esteem we have of their Vertue and goodness When Jesus wept at the grave of Lezarus then said the Jewes behold how he Loved him Jo. 11. 36. This made the Saints and Widdowes to weep so vehemently at the Death of Tabitha hereby testifing to Peter the Church and all the world how high an esteeme they had of her goodness For shee was full of good workes and almes-deed which shee did Acts. 9. 36. These and the like reasons do especially perswade good Men to lay to heart the Death of good Men. But the following ones will shew cause to all Men good and bad to regard and lament over the fall of a Righteous Person 4. Because of the usefulnesse of such and the losse that all sustaine by the removal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good Men are a generall a common good They are the props and supports of a place The Earth and the inhabitants thereof are dissolv'd I beare up the pillars of it Psa 75. 3. A Building stands by the strength of the pillars so the World stands by the support of the godly which else would fall downe upon the heads of wicked Men as the just punishment of their iniquity The frame of the world is kept up for the sake of the Church It had long ere this been Buryed in ' its owne Sins and ruines were it not that God waited for the conversion and coming in of some and the perfection and consummation of the rest that belong to the election of his grace Particular places had sunk under their owne guilt and their confusion cover'd them if good Men did not support them If the Lord had not left us a very small remnant we had been as Sodome and made like unto Gomorrah Is 1. 9. and CH. 6. 13. As Oakes whose substance is in them when they cast their leaves so the Holy seed shall be the substance thereof As if he should say look as in the winter the sap and vertue that is in the roote keeps the tree alive so is the Holy seed the substance of the remnant that preserves them from being wasted with a total and utter destruction Wicked and ungodly
secur'd his Lot in Zoar Sodoms faire and Sunshine morning ends in a black and dismal storme If then we consider the paucity of good men if we remember they are our Brethren our fellow-Members if we owe any respect to the memory of them if we consider their usefulness while they are here and the ill presages that their removal carryes in it he must have an understanding of lead and an Heart of brasse that lets the Righteous perish without regarding or merciful Men be tooke away without laying it to Heart All which I have spoken not to adde affliction to the afflicted or to mix Vinegar with their Gall nor to grieve the Hearts of those who are too much overwhelm'd with Sorrow already I have another word to them before we part But to awaken the careless and secure world who regard not the Workes of God nor consider the operation of his Hand who take no notice what desolations God makes on the Earth what breachcs in particular places and families that regard not the afflictions of Joseph nor the Death of him that Dyeth Where are your natural affections where are your Bowels of Spiritual Love and compassion sympathetically feeling a common losse and bearing one anothers burdens Nay where are your eyes and understandings to enquire and discern the reason hereof and what God meanes by snatching his own out of the World so the Text. None considering that the Righteous are took away from the evil to come The word to come is not in the Original No more is there read but are took away from the face of the evill Which may only note their freeing and delivering from Sin and suffering which are the evils they have felt in this present life Having from henceforth all Sin washt from their Soules and all teares wiped from their Eyes So as for the time to come they shall neither offend nor be offended shall neither commit evill nor be capable of the impression of any evill from without But I shall take the words as we Translate them and as they are most commonly understood and applyed Hence collect 2. That God sometimes in much Mercy takes away his dearest Children from the evill to come When God is about to bring some publick calamity or some common scourage upon a People or place he removes his owne that they shall not see them nor feel the smart or burden of them Among the many wayes of mercy that God hath to secure his People from general evills this is one to call them forth to himselfe to hide them in the grave where malice and wrong can do them no further mischiefe Is 26. 20. Come my People enter into thy Closet shut the doore after thee Hide thy selfe for a littel moment till the Indignation be overpast And what if one sort of these Chambers be the Chambers of a natural Death and these doores be the sides of the pit and the Leaves of the Grave As God made an Arke for Noah to save him from the Flood so he can make the Grave an Arke wherein to secure his People till the indignation be past So sayes God to Josiah 2 Kings 22. 19. 20. Because thine heart was tender and thou humbledst thyselfe and weptst before me I have heard thee behold I will gather thee to thy Fathers and thou shalt be gatherd to thy Grave in peace and thine Eyes shall not see all the evill that I will do unto this Place Thus it is observed that Methuselah and Lamech probably many more of the good Parriarchs were gathered 10 their Grave the Yeare before the Flood Luther Dyed a little before the commotion and sad desolations that were made by the Boores in Germany and Saint Austin Dyed while his City was Besieged by the Barbarous and Pagan Vandals and good Paraeus but a few Dayes before the taking and sacking of Heidelberge by the little lesse barbarous and Bloudy Spaniards and Imperialists This then should teach us yet more seriously to lay to heart the Death of good Men least perhaps it should portend any future evill to us that are left behind When a Prince calls forth his friends and allyes out of a forrainers Country it is an argument he hath a controversy with that Country When Saul called the Kenites from among the Amalekites it was a forerunner of a Warre with Amalck 1 Sam 15. 16. When God calls his Servants and friends out of a place let them that are left consider their wayes amend their lives If these things be done to the greene Tree what shall be done to the dry and if God take away that which is the substance the sap and the juice what 's the rest but dry Wood fit onely to be bundled up and burnt Learne we then to turne our natural passions into Christian affections our bootlesse sorrow for the Dead into useful and pious love for the Living Weep for the Sins for the sufferings of the living for what 's present for what may be future what they feel what further they may feare Jer 22. 10. Weep not for the Dead neither bemoane him but weep sore for him that goes away That is whose troubles are but now a beginning being to endure the miseryes of a sore and long Captivity which will make them of Solomons Mind Eccl 4. 2. Wherefore I Praised them which are already Dead more then the Living which are yet alive yea better is he then both they who hath not yet been who hath not seen the evil that is under the Sun When a great company of people followed our Saviour to his crucifixion and the Women bewayled and Lamented him Luc. 23. 28. Jesus turned to them and sayd Oh Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but for your selves and for your Children for the Day is coming in which it shall be said Blessed are the barren and the Womb that never bare c. Convert your mourning and teares into fervent prayers and supplications for the pardon of our Sins who remaine and preventing the further progresse of Gods Judgments When Moses had took a full prospect of that grievous mortality that was in his time in the Camp of Israel and had had sad reflexions upon it he concludes-all with prayers fiâ—t for our imitation in such a time as this that the living might lay it to heart and learne to prepare for Death that God would put a stop to his displeasure and revive the hearts of his people with some tokens of favour and mercy for the time to come Ps 90. 12. Teach us to number our daies c. Returne O Lord how long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants make us glad according to the dayes wherein thou hast afflicted us c. so David Ps 39. Contemplating the shortness and uncertainty of humane life improves that consideration into such petitions as these v. 4. Lord make me to know mine end c. v. 8. Deliver me from my transgressions v. 10. Remove thy stroke
this is the portion of the heirs of salvation and of them only Nor do I meane that good Men so soone as they Dye are possest of all the Happiness that ever they shall be no the utmost consummation of their Bliss both in Body and Soul is reserved to the generall Resurrection But I meane that the Soules of good Men are no sooner separated from the Body by naturall Death but they are presented before Christ and admitted to the beginnings of glory and happiness The Apostle makes nothing to intervene between these two being absent from the Body and present with the Lord. No third region wherein to lodge and purge departed Soules before they come to the presence of their Redeemer No middle State betwixt the Death of the Godly and their Reception into the Armes of Christ and the mansions that he hath prepared for them This grounded the Prayer of Stephen when he was about to Dye Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Act 7. 59. and the promise of our Saviour to the penitent Thiefe Lu 23. 43. This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise In the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus Lu 16. the poor Man is immediately carryed into Abrahams Bosome where he enjoys his good things as the other is Tormented and saith St. John Revel 14. 13. I heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write Blessed are the Dead that dye in the Lord from henceforth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the moment of their Death and dissolution they rest from their labours c. The sense and substance of all which places I can not give you better then in the very words of our Church in her office for the Burial of the Dead viz. The soules of the faithful being delivered from the Burden of the flesh are with Christ in joy and felicity 4. Proposition Holy Men have attaind may attaine to this high and excellent pitch to be willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. The Apostle speakes here of more then his single selfe We in the plural Number and he sayes it not once and in a passion but deliberately once and againe Phil 1. 23 Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is farre better Observe here 1. The desireable estate of a Christian namely to be with Christ together with the Apostles willingnesse to it I desire it I long for it And the sooner the better 2. The way to come to this happy State that 's by departing hence by putting off this Earthly Tabernacle by being absent from the Body 3. The judgment he passeth upon a comparison of the two estates of Life and Death this later is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much very much farre and exceeding better and more desirable So that he is not onely willing to submit to the common necessity of dying but is desirous to Dye Not willing only to depart hereafter but to weigh anchor and away presently He stood indifferent to any kind of Death Violent or natural so he might Dye he had his wish Nor was he of this mind onely upon some sudden pang or some extaticall passion or upon a sullen and discontented fi◠being rather weary of life then desirous of Death or by reason of the hard pressure of some present affliction as Jonah Job and Elias wisht for Death but out of a more deliberate choyce a sincere affection to Christ and a pious and earnest desire of a fuller enjoyment of him and out of strong and invincible apprehensions of the blessednes of a Future state after Death And if you ask by what meanes and degrees he attained and consequently we may attaine to this willingnes the context will give you the grounds of his choyce and will teach us how we may arrive at the same pitch 1. He had a strong apprehension and perswasion of the great Happines of the life to come compared with the condition of this Mortal Life The vast difference of which two states he setts forth by sundry metaphors v. 1. the Body is called an Earthly House a Mud-wall easily crusht by a sudden casualty or battered with the shock of a more lingring disease and though it be let alone from external Violence yet stoopes to Time and Age moulders downe of its owne accord Againe the body is call'd a tent or Tabernacle suddenly clapt up and as easily took downe againe a moveable habitation fit for a sojourners and pilgrims state But our estate hereafter is a building of God an house not made with hands Say then that we are not weary of our Bodies yet we may be weary of the present state and condition of them which is a state of corruption and infirmity not comparable to that of glory and immortality that lyes before us Here we are in continual peril to have our Earthly house dissolved our fraile temporal lives swallowed up of Death But here after this mortal shall have put on immortality and Death shall be swallowed up in victory 2. He had a sure and certaine hope of enjoying a share in that happinesse which by faith he foresaw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We know it we are confident of it we are satisfyed and cheareful under the forethoughts and expectation of it Without this hope how shall any be ever brought to a willingnes to depart when he knows not whither I wonder not to see the Atheist and prophane person shrink and tremble at the approach of Death to leave a certaine and present enjoyment of this Worlds good things upon the proposal of a future blisse which the one believes not that there is any such thing the other cannot upon any comfortable grounds conclude that he shall have any part in it Who can be willing to lanch into an Eternity which he knows not whether it will be of bliss or misery This made the Emperour Adrians Heart ake and his Soul loath to leave its former habitation Animul◠nudula blandula c. quae nunc descendis in loca ah sweet naked Soule into what dark uncouth and dismal places art thou now a going But on the contrary a Christians desire of dissolution proceeds from an evidence of his interest in Christ assurance of the remission of Sins and an undoubted title to those exceeding great and pretious promises made to godliness of the good things of this Life and the better which is to come 3. Ground in his being in some measure fitted and prepared for the presence of the Lord. He that hath wrought us to this selfe-same thing is God v. 5. which some understand thus It 's God that hath brought us to this purpose resolution and choyce that we had rather be absent from the Body c. the frame of Spirit is beyond the attainment of nature and proceeds from higher then humane principles Others understand it thus He that hath wrought us fitted and framed us for this State of happiness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Metaphor
TWO SERMONS The first Preacht at Steeple-Aston in Oxfordshire at the Funerall of Mr. Francis Croke of that Place Aug. 2. 1672. The other at the Funerall of Alexander Croke of Studley Esq Buryed at Chilton in Buckinghamshire Octob. 24. 1672. By DANIEL GREENWOOD M. A. and late Rector of Steeple-Aston in Oxfordshire OXFORD Printed Anno Dom. 1680. Isai LVII 1 2. The Righteous perisheth and no Man layeth it to heart and mercifull Men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evill to come He shall enter into peace they rest in their Beds each one walking in his uprightness THE Prophet Isaiah as all the Ministers of Christ was set to be a Watchman to give warning of Judgment approaching and also to be a Judge to Judge the House of Israel and to shew them all their abominations the causes and procurers of these Judgments To be also the voyce of a Cryer or a Trumpet to alarme and rouse them to a readiness that being God would do this to them they should prepare to meet the Lord by a thorough humiliation hearty repentance and effectuall reformation and amendment of such things as are amisse In the dispatch and delivery of this his message and errand he meets with various effects and his word different entertainment from two sorts of Men. 1. some were stubborne and disobedient going on impenitently in their rebellion adding Sin to Sin and securely promising themselves prosperity many happy daies with a plentiful and flourishing State notwithstanding all the menaces of the Prophet like those Deut. 29. 19. That say they shall have peace though they walk after the imagination of their own Heart adding drunkennesse to thirst so these secure desperate Jews slighting the threatnings of God by his Prophet cry in the verse before my Text Come I will fetch Wine and we will fill our selves with strong Drink and to morrow shall be as this Day and much more abundant like Babylon that said Is 47. 7 8. c. I shall be a Lady for ever so that they did not lay those things to Heart nor consider the latter end of it like those Amos. 6. 1. That are at ease put far from them the evill day and regard not the afflictions of Joseph But secondly there was another sort whose Hearts like Josiahs were tender trembled at Gods word were affraid of his Judgments prepared their Hearts to seeke the Lord and Mourned in secret for common abominations who mended what they could mourn'd for what they could not Now so it came to pass that while God was thus threatning these degenerate Jews by slow but secret paths making way for his wrath and bringing on the Judgments which he had denounced many of those Holy Men fore spoken of dropt away some it may be cut off by a suddain and violent stroak who had their Lives threatn'd by the cruel usage of mercyless persecutors others called aside by the wife dispose of him whose we are and whose our time and Life is So that good Men seemed to be very thin strewed scant one of a family and two of a tribe that he might complaine as the Psalmist Ps 12. 1. Help Lord for the Godly man ceaseth the faithfull fail or as Mich. 7. 1. Woe is me for I am as when they have gathered the Summer fruits as the Grape gleanings of the Vintage All this was little regarded or minded by wicked worldly and voluptuous Men but it could not chuse but be an hearts griefe a sore rock of offence and occasion of trouble of mind to serious and considerate persons Therefore the Prophet amidst dreadfull denunciations of Judgment against the maine Body of State inserts some words of comfort to the sincere hearted who could not but lament to see but few good and those few made every day fewer by Death And therefore in these two verses God by his Prophet tells the People 1. How greatly he resents that neglect which his People met with complaining that their Death was not regarded nor their losse valued as it ought 2. Tells them what gracious end he had in cutting the thread of their temporall Lives which was to deliver them from the evill to come 3. What care God had of them after this life and what amends he made them for snatching them sooner then ordinary out of the World They enter into peace c. These afford us sundry points of Instruction 1. That God would have the Death of his Servants minded and layd to Heart 2. God sometimes in much Mercy takes away his Children by Death from the evill to come 3. That the Death of the Righteous is the beginning and inlett of their happiness 1. That God would have the Death of his Servants minded and laid to Heart The righteous perisheth and no Man c. by Righteous understand in a large sense the Holy the good Man that hath respect to all Gods Commandments that is carefull to order his Conversation aright or as the 2. verse expresseth it He that walketh in his uprightnesse By the mercifull Man understand the same good and holy man expressing his Piety to God by his Charity to his Brother and mercifull is added to just because it is not enough to give every one his owne and do no body any wrong unless he be a doing good likewise shewing mercy and extending bowells of compassion towards them that are in want Ps 37. 26. The Righteous is ever mercifull and Lendeth v. 21. he sheweth mercy and giveth Ps 112. v. 4. He is gracious full of compassion and righteous v. 5. A good man sheweth favour and lendeth v. 9. He hath disperst he hath given to the poor c. In all which places we see Righteousnesse and mercifulnesse are joyn'd together as in the Text and a Man is not a righteous except he be a mercifull Man That Summum jus which some Men stand so much upon and expect so much to be justified by whereby they give every one their owne and accordingly exact their owne of every one without difference or distinction when it is weighed in Gods balance will be found Summa injuria extreme wrong far from what he expects from a Christian whose profession is Charity You are my Disciples if you Love one another Jo. 15. 12. and who have these precepts from the Apostle of their profession Be mercifull as your Hâ—avenly Father is mercifull Lu. 6. 36 and in a word Piety Justice and Mercy are so nearly linkt together that where all are not none is in truth He that hath this worlds goods and seeth his Brother have need and shutteth up the Bowells of Compassion from him how dwells the Love of God in him 1. Jo. 3. 17. He hath shew'd thee O Man what is good and what the Lord requires of thee that thou do Justice Love Mercy and walk humbly with thy God Mic. 6. 8. Pure Religion before God and the Father is this to visit the Fatherlesse and
away from me v. 12. I am a stranger as all my fathers were Oh spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence c. Go we and pray like wise 3. The Death of the Righteous is the beginning and inlet of their happiness from henceforth they cease to be miserable and enter into bliss This is assured us by a double expression in the Text. 1. He shall enter into peace that is the Righteous Man departs here with inward peace in his Soul and Conscience Lu. 2. 29. Now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace this peace begins here being supported by that hope which at length will not make ashamed Rom. 5. 1. Being justified by faith we have peace with God and rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God Or he departs hence into Rest and Peace Glory Honour and Peace on every Soul that doth well Rom 2. 10. This is that peace which the world neither gives nor takes away A Peace whiâ—h the world is not acquainted with and therefore considers not that when the Righteous is taken away he enters into peace For a Christians spirituall Life is a riddle and mystery to a worldly man much more is eternal Life Our life is hid with Christ in God Col 3. 3. but shall be reveal'd seen and confest by all at the generall resurrection v. 4. When Christ who is our life shall appear we shall appear with him in glory This is a peace that passeth our present understanding For Eye hath not seen nor Eare heard nor hath it enterd into the Heart of Man to conceive what God hath layd up for those that Love him We are now saith the Apostle 1 Iohn 3 2. the Sons of God but it doth not appeare what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 2. They shall rest in their Beds As their soules pass to a place of rest and blessedness so their Bodyes are layd down at rest in the Grave as in a Bed or Bed-Chamber there to sleep quietly till the generall Resurrection Hence it is familiar with the Scripture to express Death by sleep the Grave by an House a Chamber a Bed and the Resurrection by waking and rising as Men do in the Morning out of their Beds after the sleep and repose of the Night Both phrases put together import the felicity both of Soul and Body perfect peace and satisfaction of mind with an undisturb'd rest and ease of Body whereby the whole man being freed from Sin and all the evill effects of it Ghostly and Bodily is admitted to see God and enjoy him in a fuller measure then ever he was seen or enjoy'd in this Life or it can enter into the Heart of Man at present to conceive Rev. 14 13. I heard a voyce from Heaven saying Write Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works follow them 1. This should Stanch our sorrow and stop all immoderate griefe for good and Holy Men departed this life For besides the unprofitableness of this griefe neither benefiting nor recalling those that are deceased which consideration put a stop to Davids mourning for his Child 2 Sam 12. 22. for he sayd while the Child was yet alive I fasted and Wept for I sayd who can tell whether God will be gracious unto mee that the chid may live But now he is Dead wherefore should I fast can I bring him back againe I shall go to him but he shall not returne to me Besides the unpleasingness of it to God who as he hath taught us to Pray that his will may be done so he requires us to be contented and satisfyed when we see it done so is it unreasonable in it selfe the day of a good Mans Death being better then the day of his Birth Eccl 4. 2. He is borne to toyle and labour to misery trouble But at Death he enters into peace he rests in his Bed Who ever grieved to see his friend take his natural rest quietly Who was ever discontented with an happy peace after a troublesome a tedious War or a safe harbour after a dangerous and a Stormy passage or an easy Bed after an hard Dayes labour Nay it savours of some unkindnes to our deceased friends to be immoderately sorrowful for their departure as if we more valued the comfort and benefit we receive by thir bodily presence then their seeing the face of god and enjoying the pleasures that run at his right hand for ever more Do but recollect concerning our friends departed how many cares and troubles they were encumbred with in this World what fears within what terrors without what anxious sollicitous cares for Soules for Bodyes for themselves their familyes their friends and relations and for ihe Church of God how deep their sighes how many their teares how fervent their prayers and wrestlings with God both alone and with others in private and in publick and then consider againe can we be sorry that these troubles are at an end that these cares are off that these tears are wiped from their eyes that their prayers are heard and their petitions longings and hopes are swallowed up in fruition and Enjoyment that their fight is fought their warfare accomplisht and that they have receiv'd at the Hands of the Lord not double but a thousand fold reparation and recompense for all their service of Faith and labour of Love and patience of hope which they have exprest in this day of their pilgrimage To me saith the Apostle Phil. 1. 21. To Dye is gaine Oppose we not our loss to their gaine our temporal to their Eternal Non moeremus c. saith Hierome We grieve not that we have lost such an one but we give God thankes that we had him nay we have him for to God all are alive and who ever is returned to the Lord is yet accompted of the Family that is still a member of the Body of Christ and therefore not lost but shall come againe when he shall be revealed from Heaven with all his Saints 1. Thes 4. 13. I would not have you ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that yee sorrow not as others which have no hope for if you believe that Jesus Dyed and Rose againe even so them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 2. This should reach us to give all diligence to be of the number of these Blessed ones that when we Dye we may enter into peace we may rest in our Beds that our Soules may be admitted to the beatifical vision of God and Christ and our Bodies may rest in hope even such hope as Job professeth Job 19. 25. I know that my redeemer Liveth and shall stand at the latter day on the Earth and though after my skin wormes destroy this Body yet in my flesh I shall see God
infinite excluded out of no place included in none This is called Gods immensity ubiquity and omni presence which the scripture often asserts Jer 22 23 24. Am I a God at hand saith the Lord and not a God afarre off Can any hide himselfe in secret places that I cannot see him saith the Lord. Do not I fill Heaven and Earth so Ps 139. 6. c. Whether shall I flye from thy presence If I ascend into Heaven thou art there If I make my Bed in Hell be hold thou art there c. Act. 17. 27. He is not far from any of us c. 2 His providential presence whereby he is in every busines and nothing comes to passe without him This followes from the former For the essence of God being every where and that essence being a pure Act is no where idle but alwayes operative in all Creatures and in all their actions Now thus nothing no person is ever absent from the Lord. All are subject to his eye and government He sees all his Creatures he manageth and over-rules all their wayes and actions 3. There is a Spiritual or gracious presence of God Whereby he is said to be in and with his Church and every faithful Member thereof Hee s sayd to be the God of his People and to dwel in the midst of them Psa 46. 7. The Lord of Hoasts is with us c. So every Child of God hath God graciously present with him in this life and every one of them have him so much the nearer to them as they have more special need of his assisting helping and encouraging presence Job 5. 29. He is with you in six troubles and in seven Matth 28. last I am with you to the end of the World Of all these several sorts of divine presence the Apostle speaks Eph 4. 6. There is one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Above all by his power and Soveraignty through all by his common providence and in all his Children by the presence of his grace and Spirit The life of faith then excludes none of these Divine presences but supposeth them all and every Christian even in this life is in all these respects present with the Lord. But 4ly there is a Celestial or a glorious presence which the Scripture calls a beholding God face to face and seeing him as he is God vouchsafeth to Moses to see his back parts but saith he Exod. 33. 20. no Man can see my face and Live as if be should say this sinfull and fraile State of Mortality is not capable of nor can be admitted to the full and â—mmediate vision of the Divine glory and Excellency While we are in the Body we are absent from the beatificall vision and fruition of him That State of compleat blisse and happiness is reserved for hereafter Toward this the Apostle having not yet attain'd did breath and strive Phil. 3. 12. I follow after if I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Christ. I reach forward to the things that are before I presse toward the mark for the price of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Now as to these Glorious attainments of perfect blessedness which the Apostle elsewhere calls seeing God as we are seen and seeing him clearly as he is the best of Men in this State of Mortality are absent from the Lord nay we are not only as yet unpossest of but in a great measure strangers to and unacquainted with that fulness of joy that is in this Glorious presence of God Eye hath not seen nor Eare heard neither have entred into the Heart of Man the things which God hath prepared for them that Love him 1 Cor 2. 9. Now are we the Sons of God and it doth not appear what we shall be but we know that when be shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 Joh 3. 2. 1. Then if this be the state of the Godly in this Life to be absent from the Lord what 's the condition of wickâ—d Men and where shall the ungodly and Sinners appear they are at a much greater distance from God said to be without God in the World Strangers and Enemies to him by evill workes of whom the Scripture hath pronounc't Ps 73. 27. Lo all they that are far from thee shall perish thou wilt destroy all those that go a Whoring from thee They say to the Almighty Depart from us Job 21. 14. and he to them depart from me Out of the presence of his grace here and hereafter shall be punisht with everlasting perdition from his presence and glory of his power 2 Thes 1. 9. 2. See what little reason good Men have to be fond of this State of mortality wherein they are absent from the Lord. It 's true Life and Death are in the power of the Lord and both of them are to be thankfully accepted at his Hands and meekly submitted to his pleasure Man may not quitt his centinell till he be orderly discharged he may not break out of Life though he account it a prison but must expect a legall delivery Yet hath no reason to be fond of his imprisonment or be unwilling to be delivered While hee 's in this Life hee 's present with the Body hee 's absent from the Lord utraque justa mora est neither consideration gives ground of 100 passionate a Love of this Life or an immoderate desire of a long abode therein Hee 's at home in the Body and what is the Body but a lump of refined Clay a case not valuable were it not for the jewell that is therein It is of the Earth Earthly a Body of the same Mold and Metall with those of the Beasts that perish a fraile and weak carcase subject to a thousand casualties and infirmities and which is worst of all inseperably link't to a Body of Sin and Death which made the Apostle cry our wretched man that I am who shall deliver me c. Rom 7. 24. Againe as hee 's present with the Body so hee 's absent from the Lord. He sees not the face of his Redeemer he see 's not God save as in a Glass darkly In the state of Mortality we are absent from our Head from our Husband from our Masters nay from our Fathers House from our Life our Happiness and that fulness of joy that remains for us in his Celestial presence This makes holy and Heavenly Soules cry with David Ps 42. 1 2. As the Hart panteth c. my Soul thirsteth for God for the Living God when shall I come and appear before God and conclude with St. Paul I desire to depart and to be with Christ which is farre better Phil. 1. 23. 3. Proposition To be absent from the Body is to be present with the Lord. I do not meane that all men so soone as they are Dead are in a State of Happiness and Bliss no
from Carpenters squaring and plaining their Timber or Masons hewing and polishing their Stones or Goldsmiths scouring and burnishing their Metall for look as in the building in the Temple at Hierusalem the Wood and Stones were framed and fitted in the Mountaines that no Axe or Hammer might be heard in the Temple so Christians are fitted in this Life for glory no scouring purging or polishing hereafter the title to inheritance is sett forth here the possession is delivered hereafter Exercis'd Educated and train'd up we are in these inferiour Schooles of grace the degrees and dignities are confer'd in the generall Convocation and Consistory of glory Now as no piece of Timber can promise it self an honourable place in the building save that which is fitted and carved before it be layd nor any hope for a Crowne that hath neither breeding nor title to it So nor can any promise to themselves glory whom God hath not polished and fitted by sanctification and Grace The Apostle Col 1. 12. thankes the Father that hath made us fitt or meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light not that hath put us into a condition to merit Heaven but hath adopted us undeserving and fitted us that were unfit This God doth by making us partakers of the Divine nature turning our hearts from Sin to Holiness so making us new Creatures Which happy thing and alteration who so ever finds truly though but weakly wrought in him he longs to be in possession of that which God of his mercy in Christ hath in some degree fitted and prepared him for 4. The last ground is Gods having given to them the earnest of the spirit v. 5. By which we may understand the fruits of the Spirit namely joy and peace in believing which are the fruits of the Spirit and the gifts of God not in a way of duty only as to believe repent Love the Father and the Brethren and the like are fruits of the Spirit but in a way of reward or recompense of Grace These prediscoveries of Gods good will and manifestation of his Love to Men are the hansells and fore-tasts of Glory This the Apostle calls Joy unspeakable full of Glory obtain'd here in a way of believing the sure earnests of better enjoyments in the time to come 1 Pet 1. 8. Now as the sight of the glory of Christ in his transfiguration made the Disciples loath to foregoe that pleasant rapture Master 't is good for us to be here Matt 17. 4. so such fore-tasts of the Divine Love and praesentiments of the happiness of a future state as no doubt the Apostles and holy Men sometimes had makes them long for the full enjoyment and desire to be with Christ which is best of all But least while I speak of the high attainements of strong Christians I should discourage the Hearts of Babes in Christ who are as dear to him and he as tender of them as they that are of greater strongth and fuller growth though from these he expects more service and greater obedience take these Cautions 1. What hath been said is not to be taken as if none were to be accounted or might account themselves good Christians who find not in themselves such a perfect and a constant willingness to Dye This character is for strong grown and experienc'â— Christians and that not alwaies but at some seasons such as have strong apprehensions of the glory of the other World and the happiness of that eternall rest which remaines for the People of God that have good assurance through grace of their interest therein and can rejoyce in the hope of the glory of God others may be weaker and yet true Christians too they are pronounced blessed that hunger after Righteousness as well as they that long and thirst for glory 2. Nor must it be so taken as if even strong Christians were without a naturall abhorrence of Death and a declining from it the Disciples in a Tempest and Peter when he began to sink city out upon the apprehension of approaching Death and yet were Christs Disciples for all that The Apostle intimates that he and other Christians could have been glad to have escaped Death if Gods will were so and if they could have arrived at what they aimed at and looked for without passing through the jawes thereof v. 4. not that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon c. Our blessed Saviour did by this Testifie the truth of his humane nature in that he was affraid of Death Father if it be possible let this Cuppe pass from me yet withall sets a Copy and leaves us a patterne of most free resignation and patient submission to the Fathers will yet not my will but thy will be done 3. As a Child of God is not without a natural abhornence of Death so nor without a due Care to preserve his Life so long as God sees it fitt and a willingness to beare those troubles and inconvenienoies of life which God sees good to exercise him under God hath sett his Children in this World as souldiers on their guard not to runne away at their pleasure but to wait till they are releast and called off We may go out of Life when God opens a doore but we may not break prison We may depart asking Gods leave Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart Lu 2. 29. but must be willing to stay his leizure and expect his dismission Thus notwithstanding the Apostle Paul was desirous to depart yet he sits down contented when he saw God would have him worke and suffer longer Phil. 1. 24. Neverthelesse to abide in the flesh is more needfull for you and having this confidence I know I shall abide c. However Christ shall be magnified in my Body whether it be by Life or by Death for to me to Live is Christ to Dye is gaine v. 20 21. From what hath been said gather we courage to encounter Death and to look the King of terrour in the face which is so farre from being now a terrour to the Children of God that it 's become the object of their desires and wishes The frightfull Serpent before which all Mankind fled is in the Hand of Moses become a Rod and a Staffe of support and comfort I meane Death which is an enemy to nature and the wages of Sin is by the power of Christ turn'd to a friend and a Servant of all the heires of salvation an end of a Sinful troublesome and uncertaine Life and a passage to a Blessed and Glorious immortality Make then a vertue of necessity and being its appointed for us all to Dye Heb 9. 27. learne we to dye daylie 1 Cor 15. 31. so setting our hearts and Houses in order that we may rather meet Death then flye from it rather wish and welcome it then be affraid of it And seeing all these things shall be dissolved what manner of Persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and