A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL Of the Reverend Mr. John Culme Vicar of Knowstone and Molland in Devon December 2. 1691. By LEWIS SOVTHCOMB Rector of Rose-Ash Imprimatur Ra. Barker Dec. 28. 1691. LONDON Printed for H. Bonwicke at the Red Lyon in St. Pauls Church-yard 1692. To the Worshipful Philip Shapcote Esq of Shapcote one of Their Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of Devon SIR I Have sometimes wondred how the Dedication of a Book or a Pamphlet to a worthy Person could be called or thought an Instance of paying Respect or doing Honour to the Patron where the Discourse has but little worth in 't Upon which Principle or Opinion Sir the prefixing your Name to this Discourse would rather look like an Affront than a Dedication and make me as much inclin'd to beg your Pardon as I should be to think I needed it did I not know that as you would have all you converse with to be truly Wise truly Happy and truly Good so you may Countenance the meanest Endeavours that with clear Intuition undisguised Sincerity and Purity of Intention have such Aims and Intendments which is all that can and I am afraid more than ought to be said for this Sermon 'T is usual to tell the World that the Publishing of a Sermon was desired by some of the Hearers Now tho I might say so too yet should I mention who they were it would derive as little Honour upon their Judgment for desiring it as can accrue to my own for consenting Sir if you find as you will two or three Pages more-here than what was delivered I am to assure you that 't is what was prepared to have been spoken if the shortness of the Day and some other Reasons had not made me think fit to wave it The great Respect Sir you have alway shewn to our whole Order and particularly to the Person whose Obsequies we lately celebrated your Countenancing and Encouraging your Excellent Lady's late pious Action of Building of a Tower not intentionally to her own but to the divine Glory for I am confident if it had been possible she would have conceal'd it till the Resurrection That Prudence and Zeal with which she began that Act of Piety and has conducted it all the way makes me among many others desirous to be thought by both and by all that know me to be SIR Your Faithful Affectionate Humble Servant Lewis Southcomb A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL Of the Reverend Mr. John Culme Vicar of Knowstone and Molland December 2. 1691. Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end THE great business of our present state in this lower VVorld is our Preparation for a better and by one short but holy Life to train up and discipline and trim the Soul for its safe and holy Passage to the state of Separation for its blest Admittance to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect to a new and unknown and glorious Society in a new and lovely world among the beatified Spirits of all the VVise and all the Good Men of all Ages That by such an Admittance there we may supply the Vacancies of fallen Angels enjoy the beatific Vision or the felicity of the presence of God the Holiness and Happiness and Peace and Joy and Clarity of understanding the upper world for all futurity Every man methinks that believes any thing of this and has these Hopes and Expectations beyond the Grave should easily be perswaded to be so wise as to understand this to be the most important business of our present state of probation here and consequently consider his latter end The words of the Text will need but little Opening or Explication Only I must observe this That I do not think the words consider their latter end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are in this place primarily and directly meant of Death or our Dissolution nor does the Context at all seem to warrant it But they are a kind of Wish of God by Moses that the Jews would consider Gods dealings with them and compare them with what would befall them in the end for their Stubbornness and Rebellion So Menochius and Vatablus both say upon the place if the Synopsis have quoted them right Vtinam intellexissent quis finis eos maneat reputassent eadem sibi eventura propter peccata sua i. e. That they would understand and consider and observe how God would deal with them in the end for their Rebellion Disobedience and Ingratitude But I shall for the present follow the common Road and as most suitable to our present occasion suppose them to be meant of Death or the State of Separation and the parting of the two old Friends Soul and Body till their Re-union at the Resurrection I shall spend no one minute of my time in so fruitless a Thought as to shew the Certainty of our Removal or the uncertainty of the time when which every Body believes whatever they do as to the Consideration of it But I shall rather choose from the words to raise this Doctrinal Head That as a seasonable Provision for our change of Worlds our removal hence or our state of Separation is an Act of the highest Reason and the truest Wisdom so the contrary neglect is infinitely irrational and unaccountable This I shall a little further confirm and make evident from holy Scripture And then from eight rational Considerations endeavour to demonstrate its most infallible Truth and Certainty And then see what Uses are to be made of the whole or what Influence it ought to have upon our Thoughts and Actions 1. From Scripture a word or two Holy Job thought it so much the truest Wisdom that he tells us it should be the great business of all the days of this his Pilgrimage to wait for his Dissolution and accordingly lay up no doubt for his safe admittance to the beatified Spirits of the Patriarchs and other Just men made perfect who were gone before him Thus in that known place Job 14.14 He resolves that all the days of his appointed time he would wait till his change came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the days of my warfare will I wait or as the Verb there also signifies will I Hope or Trust till my Change come Till I change a tumultuous and uncertain World for a World of Happiness and Peace and Joy for all Ages In either of which Senses whether of Expectation Trusting or Hoping he sufficiently intimates and supposes not only a due Consideration of but a seasonable Provision and Laying up for his safe and holy Passage out of this World to a new Scene of things and for the Dis-union of his Soul and Body and for his unknown State and Condition Thus the same Moses who is the Author of my Text has given it as the Character of the Truest Wisdom in the Psalm for this Occasion Psal 90.12 So teach us to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom And the five holy Virgins who with oil in their Lamps very carefully and watchfully expected the uncertain coming of the Bridegroom in the noted Parable of St. Math. 25. are called wise by him who is Wisdom it self the Holy Jesus And are a sufficient Proof of the Infinite Prudence and Discretion of an early and a seasonable Preparation for the approaching of the Bridegroom of our Souls whether by Death or the last great Day of Rewards and Punishments when he shall come once for all to dispose of the Palms and the Crowns of Eternity I might stay to produce many other instances of Holy Writ that do abundantly confirm the Doctrin by fair Inference or necessary Consequence But I pass from Holy Scripture to the endeavours of its demonstration by eight several Reasons 1. Every man methinks should allow it to be Wisdom to prefer Eternity before Moments and for one short life to act accordingly Say Christian is there any thing in which thou rejoycest here any thing that delights thee If so oh what shall the perpetual Delights and Rejoycings be of Eternal Ages where there shall be no such damp struck upon them as there constantly is on every thing thou rejoycest in here that it shall be of no long duration None of thy Complacencies and Joys and little Satisfactions here shall stay long with thee Still some Disappointment or Affliction or Uneasiness shall step in and damp and cool them And a cloud of darkness shall quickly be drawn over thy present Sun-shine But how blest shall that state be where our Rejoycings shall be without Mixture without Allay and for Perpetuity too Where our Love of Jesus shall be without Interruption Cessation or Abatement for all Futurity And our Obedience shall be uninterrupted clear and active and without Mixture of the just Fear of his Disfavour for all Ages To this Head I might subjoyn this Consideration That whatever is uneasie here or troublesome or afflictive if we dread it so much while its duration can be but as it were a Span long how truly how justly how wisely should we dread the long Affliction and unsupportable Uneasiness of an eternal Separation from the Lord of Glory An eternal Separation from the happy Spirits of the upper World from the Spirits of the Martyrs the Confessors the Virgins and the Doctors of the Primitive Church a perpetual Exclusion from the Religious Hermits or Holy Anchorites from our Fathers in Christianity from those Worthies of whom the World was not worthy from Noah Daniel and Job from St. Peter and St. Paul from the Prophets Apostles and Evangelists but above all an Exclusion from the Glorious Face of the Lord that bought us If we dread a Temporal Momentany Affliction or Uneasiness so much that we naturally start at the Approach or Apprehension of it how much dread does the unsupportable and long Uneasiness of an eternal Separation from the Presence of our God and his holy Angels and his menial Servants those lovely Inhabitants of a lovely World deserve at our hands See here a little of the Wisdom of preferring Eternity before Moments 2. Every Man methinks should allow it to be a thing truly rational and truly wise to prefer a perpetual Tranquility and Peace before the disappointments and uncertainties of this lower World and for one short life to act accordingly If I should ask any Person here present how many and great his Disappointments have been how many and great the secret Fears and Dangers the inward Tumults and Hurries and Disorders and Discomposures of his Soul have been since he came to be able to feel and find and reflect on them He 'l presently answer they were more and greater than the World thinks of Little do even those who stand near him think what he has felt within Well tell me then Christian is it Wisdom or is it not by your own Account to provide seasonably for a happy Removal from them for all Ages Do you complain of them and yet would you rather live in them for ever than prepare for a blest and a perpetual Freedom Is it better still to live in the Wilderness than to be translated to a Canaan a Land of Peace and Plenty Where every thing shall answer your Expectations and every thing shall be calm and easie and sedate and peaceful both within and without for all Futurity Let your own silent Answer to this Question be the second Confirmation of the Doctrin 3. Every man should methinks allow it to be an Act of substantial Reason and Wisdom to prefer a lasting Rest and Ease to the Succession of constant Labours And for a Life that is but as a Span long to act accordingly Why is Rest at night so gratefull to the weary Traveller Why is Leisure and Ease so pleasant so refreshing to the Labourer but because his Toils and Travels are a Violence to his Frame and Constitution a weariness and pain to the Flesh and a Dissolution and Dissipation of his Spirits And who that has felt the Uneasiness of either can with any Reason quarrel with that hand that only comes to undress him and put him away to Rest The froward Child indeed may do so may be displeased at that Person that carries him away to uncloath him and to lye him down to Rest But has the weary Labourer the painful Traveller any cause to do so Why that Death for which thou hast made a seasonable and careful Provision only does this for thee uncloaths thy Soul pulls off and lays aside this heavy Garment of Flesh unfetters unlocks unchains thy better part frees that and lays down thy wearied Body to rest in the easie Bed of Dust till the Resurrection Tell me now Christian whether a safe and holy and happy putting thee away to rest be not in Wisdom to be preferr'd to the toilsom Labours of the day the day of this Life 4. Every Man methinks should allow it to be Wisdom to prefer a perpetual Health and Beauty before the Pains and Sicknesses and Deformities of a decaying Body And for one short Life to act accordingly Do we believe the Resurrection of the Body Is this any part of our Creed Do we believe that this our House of Clay shall be better built at the Resurrection Do we believe that the Holy Ghost has said Phil. 3.21 That our vile bodies shall then be fashioned like to our Saviovr's Glorious Body If we do not we are Infidels and have but little business here But if we do why should we then wonder at the holy Life of the good Man At the mortify'd life of the devout Christian that only has a fixt a constant and a steddy eye to such a Resurrection Where he wisely foresees he shall alone find a perpetual Freedom Health and ease from the Pains the Aches the Deformities of a ruinous House of Clay Even then when it shall be built more Glorious fitted for nobler
Paludibus Lacunis that is The holy Spirit dwells in dry and clean Souls not in Boggs and Fenns and Ditches and Plashes that are over-charged with Gluttony and Intemperance we may then justly suppose the holy Dove that sacred Spirit dwelt much in such a Temple I might instance in more particulars and consider him as a Friend Firm Faithful and Affectionate As a Master Just and Equal As a Husband Faithful Tender and Affectionate But this I will decline lest I draw more Tears from those eyes that have paid over and above the full Debt already Such as this was the discharge of his Duties to himself and Neighbour And now we may be sure 't is not likely that he should come short in those to his God whom he loved infinitely beyond both To whom he is now gone to exchange his Faith for Vision his Hope for Fruition his Devotions to be turn'd into Hallelujahs where he will alway love him without Abatement Cessation Diminution and Interruption and never more fear to offend him His immediate Duties I say to his God I have reasons to believe took up a considerable part of each day of his Life Thirdly I might consider him next as a Priest of the Holy Catholick Church as a Dispenser of all the Parts and Instances of Ministration to the Divine Glory Love and Obedience How Faithful how Constant how Able how Assiduous in his Preaching the Gospel in his Administration of the Sacraments and the other parts of his holy Function these lately of his Charge are his best Witnesses And his Master when he call'd for his Accounts and bid him lay aside his business here and come up to him Carne and found him so doing And blessed is That Servant says our Great Master St. Matth. 24.46 And thus much though too briefly as to his Life 2. As to his Death If the separation of the Soul and Body shall be call'd so For not Christians only but what 's much more remarkable and strange even the Heathens and particularly the Greek Tragedian would not allow the unfettering and unchaining of the Soul to be call'd a death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is who knows who can tell but that that Life which we live here is but a death and that to dye only is truly to live And 't is as strange what is said by another Hi vivunt qui ex corporum vinculis tanquam e carcere evolaverunt vestra vero quae dicitur vita mors est i. e. They truly live who have made their escape out of this prison of the Body but that which men commonly call Life that 's Death And a third speaks higher yet The Gods as they speak conceal from Men and will not let them know the sweetness of dying to make them patient and content to live But we need not the Testimony or Opinion of the Wisest Heathens who have the Revelation of the Son of God That Death only lets us in to that State which alone deserves the name of Life And how holy how Christian how truly devout his Passage was might be too long to mention at large For certainly all that stood near him have reason to wish in the words of Balaam Let my last end be like his Numb 23.10 Having given him several Visits in his Sickness which were voluntary and uncall'd for I found at last by his continual Languishments reason to believe the time of his Removal could be at no great distance With which Thoughts I faithfully acquainted him in a Letter As knowing 't was best to take all the Securities which our Lord has given us to make our Passage safe and holy And it being infinite Pity that a Regular a Holy and Exemplary Life should want any of the Advantages of a happy Death Accordingly the day before his Death he was pleased to send for me and call upon me to assist him in his Trimming of his Lamp for the coming of his Bridegroom whom he now apprehended to be near at hand and to help him to Dress and Adorn himself for his Funeral 'T will be a great Mistake for any Man or all Men living to expect a minute and particular Account of every word that might pass between us But when I came to him he told me he was going hence that he was very apprehensive that in a little time he should be call'd to change Worlds and desired I would assist him in his last Agonies How willing I was to undertake so welcome a Duty in which I could at once serve my Master and my Friend a Master above and a Friend below in the same Instance and in an Instance too in which I was never like to do it more is no part of my present Business to say At first he desired the Prayers of the Church in which he joyned with all possible Demonstrations of a lively Faith an unfeign'd Repentance a Seraphic Fervency and Zeal a holy Hope and religious Affections Which being ended he told me he designed the next day which proved to be that in which he Dyed for the receiving his Viaticum for his approaching Journy I mean the Blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper I told him I thought it might be very convenient and most safe to do it to day To which He after some Thoughts and Considerations most readily and willingly consented He complained I remember of his Unwillingness to receive his Saviour as he lay and could have wish'd if his Weakness would have permitted it might have been upon his Knees and in a more humble Posture of External Devotion But his great Weakness of Body considered this could be no Dispute and 't is pity that ever it should have been one in the Christian Church Which having devoutly Received he then seem'd more full of a Holy Joy and Pious Satisfaction and a Religious Peace And he express'd his Rejoycings in some chearful Ejaculations Thus in the mid'st of Blessing and Prayers and Eucharist he stands about a day longer upon the Threshold of the new World And then he is called to come in and he bows the Head and enters And Willingly and Chearfully Yields and Resigns up his Soul you may be sure not without the Peace of the Church into the Hands of the Great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls the Holy Jesus And now I 'le stay to ask one Question once more in the words before mentioned who of us here is there but must be inclin'd to say Let my last end be like his Thus he has left Mortality And tho he has left his Partner Disconsolate his Relatives Mourning his Friends Sighing yet above all he has left his People without a Pastor an Assistant and a Guide And tho all that knew him may possibly Lament his Removal yet certainly none have more cause than you that were the People of his Charge to whom I now speak And if the taking away so faithful a Conductor of you
not be safe without them In a late Sickness which you thought would have been unto Death Nothing was so welcome to you then as a Prayer-Book no Company like that of a Guide of Souls no Imployment like Devotion Tho it may be all these Thoughts vanished and disbanded again upon thy return to Health and Vigour But however if this have been thy Case or like it methinks you should now in Health be easily persuaded to argue thus Come my Soul we can easily remember that such religious Thoughts and Actions and Wishes and Intentions pleased us above all things in a late Sickness And I am very confident they will please us again above all things when we come to dye And why they should not please us now when we can best perform them is strange and unaccountable which brings me to the Third and last Use or Instance of Application If these things must be granted to be Wisdom then let us be prevailed upon to apply our selves to all these Instances of Divine Love and Obedience in a vigorous and a flourishing Age which we constantly find the Learnedst the Wisest and the Best of dying Men are infinitely in Love with But before I come to this last Use I shall remember that I have another subject of Discourse yet to be spoke to The Person I mean whose Vacancy I at present fill our Friend and our Brother here before us who after a long Conflict with Mortality has now paid his last Debt to Nature and to whom we are paying our last Offices of Friendship and Charity and Kindness The Truth is if Custom had not warranted and called for a short Discourse of this sort yet 't were infinite Pity so good an Example of Piety and Charity Sobriety and Purity of Life should have nothing said of it The Person whom scarce any ever knew and knew well but paid him and that justly too an equal portion of Love and Estimation It would take up too much time for the present Season to give a full Account of all the Accomplishments whether Natural or Acquired of this our Brother I shall therefore be sure to speak but to two briefly 1. As to his Life 2. As to his Death 'T is true indeed his Life may be as well known to most here present as to my self but I am sure his Death is not However First As to his Life And here I shall consider him and reflect on him in a threefold Capacity 1. As a Man 2. As a Christian 3. As a Priest That is I shall a little remark his Excellencies and Abilities Natural and Acquir'd Moral and Divine and in all of them shall find him well qualified for the Station which he held and perhaps for a higher than That from which he left Mortality 1. As a Man And here I need not stay to mention that for a considerable number of years he enjoyed the advantage of raising and improving his Natural Parts by a happy and successful Abode at one of the Fountains of Learning there to fit himself for his greater Usefulness in the Church And to how good Purposes is well known to those who were competent Judges of his Abilities and Learning And 't was his Lot to be removed hence before any Decays of Age had obliterated or ruffled any part of his Excellencies and Accomplishments Happy in this that he liv'd not to out-live himself as is often the Case of very great and excellent Persons This being the Infelicity of Human Nature that if either our Natural or Acquir'd Abilities are not sullied by the Vanities and Follies of Youth or the Iniquities of our growing years and a maturer Age yet they are sure to be clouded or razed out again and made searce legible by the decays of Old Age and the Weakness of our Intellectuals at the Evening of our Life Thus a little before we leave Mortality Age begins to make us useless here A little before our Sun sets Nature begins to draw the Curtain and to cast a Veil over us and to unfit us for this World for some time before we are removed to the other But this was not the Case of our Brother here before us who tho he lived to be long serviceable and useful in his Masters Vineyard yet as I said out-lived not himself and his Abilities And here indeed whether we reflect on the sufficiency of his Learning the goodness of his Judgment the readiness of his Invention the clearness of his Apprehension and his Notions the obliging Sweetness and Candour and Endearingness of his Deportment in all his Addresses and his Conversation If we consider all these in Conjunction we shall find he exceeded very many and equalled most of his Age. Upon each of which his Natural and Acquired Accomplishments I might stay to make larger Reflections but I hasten Secondly To consider him as a Christian Christianity being design'd by the great Authour of it to raise us above the pitch of Nature to defaecate and refine and spiritualize Mortality and to fit us for beatified Spirits and separate Intelligences and the bright and lovely Regions of a new World I begin first with his Hospitality and Charity His Hospitality was alway equal to his Estate but his Charity I suppose even beyond it The former of them had this Apostolical Qualification too 't was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Reter says it ought 1 Pet. 4.9 without Grudging without Murmuring without Repining Free and Generous Dis-interested and Undesigning 2. His Charity By this he made his poor Neighbourhood become his Bills of Exchange by whom he has return'd a great part of his Income into the other World before he himself was translated thither and before he was called to enter upon some enjoyment of the Treasure which he laid up like a good Husband for himself there where neither moth nor rust do corrupt or Thieves break through and steal Certainly if we consider the naked that he clothed and the Hungry that he frequently fed we may say to the poor Neighbourhood as our Saviour did St. Luke 23.28 when he was going to Mount Calvary to his Crucifixion Weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children And not inseriour to his Charity was his strictest Justice and Integrity by which he might I doubt not with his expiring Breath have askt the same question the Prophet Samuel did of old 1 Sam. 12.3 Whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed Thus did he by the constant discharge of this Vertue train up and trim the Soul for an admission to just Zacheus to the Spirits of Just men made perfect and above all to that righteous Lord that loveth Righteousness Psal 11.7 I might consider next his Temperance and Abstemiousness his Purity and Sobriety of Life Insomuch that if what Lessius in his Hygiasticon says I think from the Rabbins be true That Spiritus sanctus amat sicca corda and that Sapientia in sicco residet non in