him I found him to be of a sweet affable and loving Temper by means whereof his Grace was the more taking being like a Diamond set in Gold He had good Natural parts which were cultivated and improved by acquired Learning He had found mercy to be faithful having been so all along to his great Lord and Master his Cause and Interest standing his ground like a Rock unshaken in the days of soarest and most violent Temptation nor would he touch tho he saw others swallow down those things which his Conscience told him would prove defiling to himself or snares and stumbling-blocks unto others yet was he a Man of peace he would study it advise it and pray for it and follow it with all men so far as ever he could go without forsaking of Truth and Holiness that he was bound to be dear over while he was true to his Principles and held on his way he was no Incendiary He was a very modest Person cloathed with Humility as his upper Garment in which he walked up and down I never saw him without it You know full well and are ready to testifie that he was an industrious painful Labourerer in God's Vineyard and as he laboured so he longed for the Life Salvation and Spiritual Progress of his Hearers traveling in birth to see Christ formed in them He was a Workman that needed not to be ashamed his Pulpit was a witness to his pains with you and his Chamber to his Prayers for you in the former he wrestled with you and in the latter with God on you behalf And as he preach'd so he walk'd commending his Doctrine by his practice was he an Angel to and in the Church he was a Saint in the street being in his Conversation a singular Ornament to the Gospel and an Excellent Pattern to them that knew him But he is gone here you shall see his Face no more and hear his Voice no more Having finished that Work which his great Lord and Master had given him to do he was by that grim Messenger Death sent for and carried to his last and everlasting Home the Presence-chamber of God the habitation of his Holiness and Glory where he hath received that Crown of Righteousness which was laid up for him It is well with him very well Eternally well so well that he would not have it better for he hath fulness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore at the right hand of God he is at rest in the Bosom of his Lord being satisfied with his likeness and taking his fill of Love Only his Body lies sleeping in its Bed of dust but rests in hope of a comfortable awaking and blessed Resurrection when it shall stand up from the dead shake off its dust arise and shine being made like unto Christs most glorious Body no longer a clog and impediment to the Soul but an Help-meet fit to accompany it in all its great and blessed Employments and Operations The loss is yours and indeed it is a great one it becomes you to be intimately sensible of it and to bewail it Weep not for him but for your selves and for your Children Secondly Learn from hence one singular piece of Wisdom and good Husbandry in Improving your faithful Ministers and others the precious Saints of God while you have them among you Blessed be God tho many are called up to a better State yet there are many left behind but they are only sojourners here for a short season the time will come when they must be gone too the Number of their dayes is with God who hath appointed and fixed those bounds which they cannot pass As for the Fathers where are they and do the Prophets live for ever No no Experience tells you that they do not and they themselves are ready to tell you that they would not And indeed it is a thousand pities that they should as matters do now stand It is pity they should alwayes carry about them a Body of death which is worse than Death it self that they should be alwayes groaning under Corruptions and conflicting with Temptations What! alwayes upon hot and hard service and never have the Victory and Triumph It is pity they should alwayes live in a dirty stinking World in an ungrateful and malicious World It shall not be no it shall not be God hath graciously provided a better Place for them and better Company and incomparably better Things than ever they could have met with here Well do you think of this feriously frequently and manage your selves accordingly Your late Pastor was snatched away from you on a fudden as if Heaven had been longing for him and in a kind of Haste to have him there and it may be quickly so with reference to others as well as to him none hath a Lease of his Life And be not offended if I propound one Question to you which is this Doth it not this day wound some of your spirits to think your Minister is gone and you have not Improved him as you might and ought to have done If a Friend lend you an excellent Book for a Week or Month will you let it lye by on a Shelf or throw it into a Corner and not read it God lends you Faithful Ministers gracious Friends and Relations that you may get good by them and be the better for them if you will not make use of them their very remembrance will be a terrible sting in your Consciences Let me commend to you the Wisdom and Practice of Elisha he had an inkling of his Masters leaving him and that more than once 2 Kings 2. The Sons of the Prophets that were at Bethel said unto him Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy Master from thy head to day And so again said the Sons of the Prophets that were at Jericho Well his Master carried as if he had a Mind to shake him off three times he would have had him staid behind Tarry here I pray thee for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel v. 2. and so again v. 4. and yet again v. 6. but all would not prevail still Elisha answered As the Lord liveth and as thy Soul liveth I will not leave thee But he kept with him and his Eye fixed upon him and by that means obtained a double portion of his Spirit We need not a Spirit of Prophecy to let us understand that we shall be taken from one another The Scripture assures us that it is appointed for all Men once to to dye and there is never a pore in our Body but what may serve as a door little indeed but wide enough to let Life out and Death in therefore while you have those with you by whom you may get good for your Souls make all the advantage of them that you can Do thus with your Fellow-Christians your Godly Neighbours and Acquaintance those with whom you walk in an holy Communion and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers You are all of
when Godly Ministers and Christians are taken away but there is a senselesness upon the Spirits of those which are left behind Isaiah 57.1 The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful Men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come They neither mind who is gone nor what is to come Here is an excellent Person gone a Man of whom the World was not worthy and there are doubtless many to be found among us that do not lay such a Providence to Heart He is dead but what of that no body shall live always He is gone e'en farewell He we could spare more of them They did never Value the Life and Labours of such a Man nor are they Concerned at his Death But I do advise every one of you and others also to beware of such a Spirit as this We find in the Scriptures that ordinarily when the Saints dyed there was great Lamentation because thereof When good old Jacob dyed the very Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten dayes Gen. 50.3 When Moses dyed the Children of Israel wept for him in the Plains of Moab thirty dayes Deut. 34.8 When Stephen had been Stoned to Death Devout Men carried him to his Burial and made great Lamentation Acts 8.2 But though Joshua had been an excellent Man true to his trust and resolved for God and his Service and Honour though he had gone before them as their Prince and Leader and given them the Possession of the Land of Canaan yet when he dyed we do not read of one Tear that was shed over him nor of one Groan nor Sigh that was poured out upon him And if you do but Consult the History you will see that not long after the Wrath of God brake in upon that People We are not Ignorant that there are those among us that are glad at Heart when such Men as He are taken away He was a Dissenter say they and a Schismatick which is more than they can prove and such as he they look upon as the troublers of Israel and disturbers of the Peace the Burdens and Pests of the places in which they live These are the Men that stand in their light and would stop them in their full career of Profaneness and they hate them because they cannot away with that Reformation which these men preach up and would fain promote and perfect and upon this account these wretches when such men dye will ring a Peal instead of a Knell and when they are buried could sind in their Hearts to leap and dance upon their Graves Well since it is so God will take these men away and give unto those Enemies their desire they shall be troubled with them no longer He knows of another place and better where these his Servants will be welcome There are myriads of Angels and Saints in Heaven that will rejoyce in their Company but what will follow hereupon These mens departure from hence is no other than a making of way for some tremendous Judgment to come in their room The Inhabitants of Sodom were as much vexed with Righteous Lot for his preciseness as he was with them for their profaneness and detestable abominations and they had a great mind to be rid of him Well saith God you shall see two Angels come from Heaven to send him out of Sodom He linger'd a while but at length he goes and now they hoped a good Wind would blow after him and they should have fair Weather too and they had it but it did not last long the Sun rose gloriously upon them but it soon sate in a dark Cloud in a Bed of Sorrow Gen. 19.24 25. When Lot entred into Zoar the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven And he overthrew those Cities and all the plain and all the Inhabitants of those Cities and that which grew upon the ground I will add but one Instance more which single and alone will be sufficient evidence Our Lord and Saviour came to his own but his own received him not seeing in him no jorm nor comeliness for which he should be desired They looked on him as the only Person that stood between them and their prosperity and would if tolerated bring a storm upon them if they should suffer him to live and go on the Romans would come and destroy their City whereupon they would have Barabbas a Thief released and Jesus crucified well what followed their fear did not indeed enter at that door but it came in at another when the Messiah was cut off the Romans came their Temple was burnt their City turned into a ruinous heap and the Inhabitants were destroyed with a most dreadful destruction Know my Friends the Saints and Servants of God are the Pillars of the Earth the Bail to the World that shall continue no longer than till God hath finished his Number called his Elect and prepared his called Ones for Glory The World is no more than a Stage upon which he acts his great and gracious design concerning those whom he hath chosen from among the rest of Mankind and set apart for himself and when that is throughly accomplished the stage shall be taken down A Criminal Woman for some Villany committed by her is condemned to dye but being found with Child she is reprieved till she hath brought forth and then sent to the Gallows and Executed So this World which lies in Wickedness is condemned to the Fire once it was drown'd by a Deluge but not washed from its filth therefore its end is to be burned only it is continued till all the Children of God be brought forth Hereupon my Counsel is that all who have a Kindness for England or a love for themselves would take notice of such dispensations and lay them to their Hearts And in particular as to this Providence which hath been ordered out to you who are the Members of this Congregation I do heartily commend to you a serious reflection upon it together with a deep and afflicting sense of the hand of God therein God hath been pleased to take away from you your Excellent Pastor that Good Shepherd who led you into green Pastures and by the Waters of stillness and who as it is said of David in the 78 Psalm 72. fed you according to the integrity of his heart and guided you by the skilfulness of his hands I need not perfume his Name which is a precious Oyntment nor spend any of the little time which is left in commending to you him who was so well known and so exceeding dear therefore I will only say this in short He was a very gracious and holy Man I doubt not to say an Israelite indeed greatly set for the Interest and Honour of God and much in Communion with him He had received a plentiful Unction from the Holy One and was rich in Spirituals and indeed in all my Converses with
try what you can do and beg of God beg earnestly that he would be graciously pleased to set up a burning and shineing Light in this Candlestick and to provide for you such a Workman as is both-skilfull and faithfull that needeth not to be ashamed and that will build proper Materials not Wood and Hay and Stubble but Gold and Silver and precious Stones upon that good Foundation which this holy Man of God now with God hath laid among you And let special Care be taken that there be no unbrotherly and unbecoming Divisions among you but avoid them delight not in Breaches lest the Devil enter in by them but keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace and be of one mind of one accord that so the precious Gospel may not suffer by your means for if it doth verily you shall pay for it Advise together and manage all your Meetings and Consultations calmly with Wisdom and Meekness and Brotherly Love And if you shall see Occasion of doing so Advise also with others who will be cheerfully willing to afford you all the Assistance that they can But above all be sure to Advise with God and Wrestle mightily with him who is the best Counsellor and holds all the Stars in his right hand Go go to Heaven for a Pastor and beg of the Lord who knovveth the Abilities and the Hearts of all Men that He would Choose for you and send One that will be indeed a Blessing Let me tell you this when a godly able Minister dyeth the People who have lost him have very little Reason to expect that God will send them another 'till they have been earnest and importunate in seeking One that is 'till they have Prayed him in and Sighed him in and Wept him in And I beseech you look to it that you be not misguided by any bad Counsellor and that no fordid sinister End no petty private particular Interest do betray you into the Hands of an unfit Person one that is Corrupt in Judgment tainted with Erroneous Principles who will endeavour to Poison you or one that is of a Factious Spirit who will foment and keep up and help to increase those differences the laying and composing of which doth deserve and call for the utmost Endeavours of those that fear God and bear good Will to Sion That which was the Prayer of Moses for Israel is and shall be mine for you Numbers 22.16 17. Let the Lord the God of the Spirits of all Flesh set a Man over this Congregation that may go out before you and that may go in before you that may lead you out and that may bring you in that this Congregation of the Lord may not be as Sheep without a Shepherd The good Lord give you a Man after his own Heart You will think it now high time for me to shut up this Discourse and I think so too You I suppose will not sure I am you have no reason to judge me uncharitable if I look upon this Congregation as being no better than mine own and others Surely there are some here in whom to this day Satan hath his Seat while in others of you Christ hath Erected his Throne Surely this is not a Floor in which there is nothing but Wheat For mine own part I do desire to be a Pastor to such a Church as all the Members of it are Saints for as I greatly love pure Ordinances so an Holy Communion but I would not desire to be a Preacher to such a Congregation in which there are none but Saints because though Edifying Work be very good and great and excellent and accordingly to be attended to yet Converting Work is the main and principal Work of the Gospel Ministry Thus our Lord Jesus spake to Paul Acts 26.17 18. I send thee to the Gentiles to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God Therefore before we part I would leave something among you and with those of you who are as yet in an unregenerate state that through the Blessing of God accompanying it it may do them good You that have sate under the Ministry of this Holy Man and have not had your Hearts pierced with it nor your Consciences awakened but have all this while been in a profound yea dead Sleep Or it may be you have been awakened and sometimes scar'd and frighted as I doubt not but you will own him to have been a spiritual and lively Preacher and for a while you have been greatly concerned and started up but the Pang went over and you e'en laid your Head down again upon the Pillow of Carnal Security and at this day are as fast asleep in your Sins as He is in his Grave I know you not but if you know your selves I will say this to you Fall down upon your Knees and humble your selves greatly before God and admire his Patience and Goodness giving to him the Glory of it O what a Mercy is it that your Minister is gone who was fit for Heaven and that you are yet here who have been all your dayes industriously fitting your selves for Hell Do you Bless God with your Souls and all that is within you that you are yet alive in that very place where you have squandred away so many precious Seasons golden Opportunities withstood so many loud and earnest Calls where you have despised and slighted so many free Offers of Grace and been altogether barren and unfruitful under such Beams of Gospel-light and Dews of Heavenly Doctrine And when you are at home retire into your Chamber or some private place and beg of God yea most heartily beg that the Death of this holy Man may go near to you and that it may make that deep impression upon you and prosper to the doing of that good Work in your Souls which was not done by all the Sermons which you heard from him Oh that he might prove another Samson triumphing over the Enemies of God and Souls killing more Sins among you and in you by his Death than he did by his Preaching all his Life Know it will be a most blessed Day I mean the last and great Day that of the Resurrection and it will be at that Day a most Comfortable Meeting that He and you will have if then he shall find those Gracious whom he left Wicked and Profane if he shall find them in Christ and alive unto God whom he left dead in Trespasses and Sins if at the Resurrection He shall find them to have been renewed in the spirits of their minds whom when he went out of the World he left Carnal and sold under sin But if at that Day he shall find you the very same that at his Death he left you in a Christless and Graceless State know and tremble at the Thoughts of it that Prophet that Man of God will stand forth as a Witness against you Truly it would prove some piece of Happiness to lost and ruined Sinners in Hell some alleviation of their Sorrow and abatement of their Torment there if they could but quite forget there had ever been a Prophet among them upon that account they wou'd lye at more ease than they are like now to do Every reflection you make every time that you shall think what a Minister you had what Preaching you sate under what Means you enjoy'd it will be as a Sword in your Bones and as Oyl to your Flames Let me but add this one thing more and with that I will put a Period to this Discourse If you will not be reclaimed and reformed but go on in the frowardness of your Hearts and in crooked ways with the Workers of Iniquity He that Prayed for your Conversion and Salvation and Preached to you the great things of the Law and the precious things of the Gospel in a word He that Mourned for you and Wept over you because you had sinned and had not repented must at the last day and will look cheerfully and be perfectly pleased when he shall with Christ the Judge Vote your Damnation Be perswaded to read over and seriously think upon that place 2 Corinth 2.14 c. Now thanks be unto God which always causeth us to triumph in Christ for we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish to the one we are the savour of death unto death to the other the savour of life unto life For Ministers to be unto their Hearers the savour of Life unto Life is very sweet and highly desirable but it is exceeding dreadful for them to be unto any of them the savour of Death unto Death however they must be both and the Apostle saith in this we triumph But how O holy Paul canst thou find in thy Heart to do this Where are the Soundings of thy Bowels What! triumph at the sight of poor Creatures going down to Hell Any one will conclude that Parent hath no Natural Affection doth not love his Child who goeth leaping and dancing while he follows it to the Grave or to the Gallows But if you do observe that which followeth in the 17th Verse you will be easily reconciled to the Apostle For we are not as many which corrupt or deal deceitfully with the Word of God but as of sincerity but as of God in the sight of God speak we in Christ When Paul and other godly Ministers triumph over their lost and damned Hearers they do it not so much because they see them miserable as because they have the Testimony of their own Consciences these poor Creatures are lost but not through any Fault of mine they go to Hell but God knoweth I did not send them thither I Preached to them and God is my Witness I did it in Sincerity FINIS