A LEARNED AND GODLY SERMON Preached on the XIX day of December Anno Dom. MDCXXXI at the Funerall of Mr. ROBERT BOLTON Batchelour in Divinity and Minister of Broughton in Northampton-Shire By Mr. NICOLAS ESTVVICK Batchelour in Divinity and sometimes fellow of Christs Colledge in Cambridge and now Minister of Warkton in Northampton-Shire LONDON Printed by GEORGE MILLER dwelling in Black-Friers 1639. flock of sheep without a particular shepheard and if thou hadst leave to name his successour thou mightest seeke from one end of the land to another in thy choice and yet not find in all points a man matchable to him he was a bright and a shining lamp if any of thy inhabitants doe sit in darknesse their ignorance is altogether inexcusable hee lifted up his voice in this place many yeares together like a trumpet if any of thy inhabitants are not awakened out of the sleepe of sinne they may now goe on more securely in this dead sleep but wo to them it will be easier for Sodome and Gomorrah at the day of judgement than for them I pitie your case good friends and bewaile your losse but why do J name your losse It is my losse and a common losse we are all of us sharers though not all alike in this judgement LORD that thou shouldest suffer such a wretched sinner and an unprofitable servant of thine as I am yet to live and deprive the visible Church of so worthy an instrument of thy glorie as M. Bolton Holy Father we may think had it stood it with thy holy pleasure that it had been good for thy Church if his life had been spared with the losse of many of ours he was a deep channell in whose justly deserved commendations the streames of eloquence which in former ages flowed from those great and godly Orators the two Gregories both of Nazianzum and Nyssa from great Basil and golden-mouth'd Chrysostome from S. Ambrose and S. Austin might have emptied themselves and yet not over-flowed the banks and what do I then come hither with my distracted thoughts and trembling heart which if ever I had any gift in encomiasticall and laudative Orations have many years since willingly neglected it and so lost it As Gregory Nazianzen spoke of his Basil I have for my part as great reason to speake of our sometimes deare and now blessed M. Bolton J admired him while he lived and honoured him in my heart to speak of his excellencies wherwith the LORD had plentifully inriched him is a burden too heavy for my shoulders and a very hard task for those who doe nothing els but study Oratory all that I can speak in the praises of this godly man falls short by many degrees of his worth whose memory is precious and shall be kept greene and flourishing as the rod of Aaron laid up in the Tabernacle THE TEXT PHIL. 1. 23 24. I desire to be dissolved THe Apostle S. Paul was in a strait or divided betwixt two affections carried to different objects and they were in a sort contrary one way he was drawne with a desire to be with CHRIST farre from the Philippians even as farre as Heaven is from earth another way he was drawne with a desire to continue with his beloved brethren warring on earth and to bee for a time farre remooved from CHRIST the necessity of his brethren did move him to desire the latter his great love to CHRIST did incite him to long for the former betwixt these two affections the Apostle had a conflict and he was so perplexed that he knew not whither to turne him he knew not what to chuse He was as iron betwixt two load-stones drawne this way first and then that way We read that David was on a time in a great strait but apparent were the differences betwixt the present perplexity of this our Apostle and that of David Davids was in regard of evills proposed this was for the enjoying of good his necessity was touching evill which could not be avoided but the Apostles was free and voluntary his perplexity somwhat concerned himself the shunning of his own evill but the Apostles was for the good of others which was joyned with his own hurt Behold here as in a perspective a heart truly Apostolicall wherein he shewed at once both great love to CHRIST desiring to be with him and withall great love to his brethren desiring to abide with them for their profit I begin with the first of these Pauls desire in respect of himselfe wherein are observable three particulars 1. The desire it selfe and that was to depart or die 2. A reason implied of this his desire for then hee should be with CHRIST 3. His censure or judgement of that estate to bee with CHRIST it 's best of all Let us open the words first and then raise Observations out of them for our edification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is word for word having a desire and this is somewhat more than simply to desire for it noteth a vehement earnest and continued desire a desire which is in action and working till wee have our desire accomplished wheras to desire simply may be a sudden motion or momentany passion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Some translate the word passively Tertullian renders it recipi l. de patientia pa. 8. others to be dissolved or loosed and it is done when things mixt and compounded are resolved into their parts and principles now because the soule is as it were included in the body and cannot enjoy CHRIST fully till that composition by the body be resolved by death therfore doth S. Paul earnestly desire this resolution 2. Or it may signifie to return as the word is taken elsewhere the LORD will returne from the wedding which sense is not dissonant from the scope of this place for the spirit being freed from the body returneth to GOD that gave it and what els doth the Apostle now desire but to returne unto CHRIST by whom he was sent to preach the Gospell 3. It signifieth to loose anchor or as Chrysostome renders it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to flit or to change our place and so it 's a metaphor from marriners importing a flitting or sailing from the state of this present life by the ship of death to another port to saile as it were from one bank to another It is not much materiall which reading we follow they all of them doe agree in the maine point and substance and doe affoord an observation which might be enlarged and set foorth with variety of colours and strengthened with long discourses but as they which have a long journey to goe and but a short time allowed them must make but a short stay in any one place and as Painters many times use only to draw out the heads and superiour parts of men leaving all the other parts lineaments to be proportionably supplied by the wise beholders even so must J at this time propound
death where is thy sting they may take this all-devouring serpent without any hurt at all into their bosomes they that have their debts paid dare go out of doores and are not afraid to meet the Sergeant they dare looke on death and welcome him as the King of heavens officer to give them possession of an everlasting-inheritance wee feare our friends when they have a vizour on their faces but put it off and we rejoyce in them Excellent was the speech of S. Ambrose to the Nobles of his city which with threats and flatteries were sent to him by the Count Stilico to perswade him to pray unto GOD for the continuance of his life which when the holy Bishop heard he answered divinely J have not so lived amongst you that I am ashamed to live longer nor am J afraid to die because we have a good Lord. Doubtlesse had we beloved brethren as much faith on earth as there is joy in heaven we would not be afraid of death this is the narrow passage betwixt this life and our countrie on this side the bridge we have many troubles many sins many feares many temptations of the Divel which should make us think the worse of our lives and very willing to leave them but on the other side we shall be freed from all trouble from all sin from al molestation of the divel and shall be filled with all the joy our hearts can possibly desire So that hitherto we may apply Sampsons riddle Out of the enter came forth meat and out of the strong came forth sweetnesse Secondly this may serve to moderate our excessive mourning for our friends which die we hope in the LORD David exceeded in his sorrow for Absalon and was there not a cause He did not so at the death of the infant Let us rejoyce Saint Chrysostome saith for the just both living and dead because they are happy let us not in an unseemely manner bewaile them by pulling off our haires baring our armes tearing our faces or putting on mourning garments so saith the father and I say happy are they which have exchanged a base earthly tabernacle for a princely Pallace sorrowes for joy and earth for heaven and me thinkes our blessed brother now deceased if he had intercourse with us mortall creatures would say to his deare wife lying in her teares children and friends as our Saviour did to those pious women that followed him Daughters of Ierusalem weepe not for me but weepe for your sâ—lves you know my fastings my meditations my watchings and know you brethren that godly Ministers do purposely watch and meditate for you when you are or would be a sleep You know my griefe for my owne calamities and for the calamities of GODS Church and by your owne experience you may know what sharpe combats I have had with that raging enemie the Divell and what wounds I have received in the conflict now do I feare no perils on the land or sea no perils in the house or in the field now am J victorious over Satan and have trampled him under my feet and now he hath nothing at all in mee and now am J crowned with glorie and would you my deare friends be so unkind to me to wish me alive againe and to run the former hazards Kings and Queenes are willing to marrie their daughters to forraine Princes and never looke to set their eyes onthem againe and should we mourne too much for his absence and not rather rejoyce with him for his happier estate then this earth can afford When Iacob heard that his beloved Ioseph was alive and governour over all the Land of Aegypt his fainting heart revived no lesse ought the consideration of the glorie of departed servants of GOD cheere up our drooping and sad hearts for them and excite us to desire the fruition of the same glorie And this is my next point to be handled I desire saith S. Paul to be dissolved and to be with CHRIST It 's the fore-sight of heavenly glory and being with CHRIST that makes a man desire to die Some men indeed would die because there is nothing in this world for them to expect but miserie and shame and these do little lesse sometimes then call for the rocks to fall upon them that they might end their wretched daies as Iob saith they long for death and dig for it more then for hid treasure which rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they can finde the grave this motive swaied not Saint Paul but onely this that he might be with CHRIST I grant to desire death simply as death is against the Law of GOD and the law of nature death is our enemie and is not from GOD creationes by creation though it be truly from him ultione to revenge the sins of man saith Florus de praedest or as others say it is from him ordinatione because in justice he ordained death corporall as one part of the punishment which was due for the sinne of man and hence our Saviour CHRIST himselfe who knew no sin at all viewing death as it is in it selfe considered declined it let this cup passe and so did Saint Paul too we will not saith he be uncloathed the parting of these good friends body and soule without some further end is a grievous separation this harmelesse innocent nature teacheth and as death is further a meanes to cut off all possibility to profit others and to helpe the poore Church of CHRIST with our labours â—â—…us piety and grace may move them to pray with David LORD let my soule live These cautions are premised to prevent mistaking in the point but now which is to my purpose Consider death as it is a way meanes to bring us to the presence of CHRIST so it may be holily desired our Saviour CHRIST who said let this cup passe said also as his death was our life I have a Baptisme to be baptized withall and how am I pained till it be accomplished and nót only I Paul but we that are faithfull that are in this tabernacle do groane earnestly ver 2. not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life and after we are willing rather to be absent from the body and present with the LORD It s the love that a child should be borne into the world not the love of paine that makes the mother desire the travell in child-birth excellently saith Saint Basil properanti ad coebestem paetriam c. to him that makes hast to the countrey which is above the stay in the body is more grievous then any paine or any prison and it is said that Peter and Andrew welcomed their crosses as they were wont to doe their dearest friends and imbraced them in their armes and saluted them with kisses of peace Ignatius encouraged wild beasts to devoure him that he might be
only some generall heads of severall points without any large amplifications and leave them and the rest to your private devotions Death will unavoidably surprise us Which is a resolution or dissolution of this exquisite frame of man it is the dissociation of parts united together it is the taking away the structure and the fashion of this house of clay We must needs die and then we are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up againe as the wise woman of Tekoah spoke to the King No man hath power over the spirit in the day of death neither is there any discharge in that warre all must fight with death and death will conquer all our soules and bodies now met together in this neare conjunction though deare friends must be separated each from other untill the day of the generall resurrection and keep them now as charily from dangers as we can yet will these earthen brittle vessells be broken asunder which all sorts and ranks of men are bound to looke for at all times Surely men of low degree are vanity and men of high degree are a lie to bee laid in the ballance they are altogether lighter then vanity a marvellous debasing of all men Let men be put in one end of the ballance and vanity in the other and the Psalmist doth assure us that vanity will weigh downe man and man is lighter than vanity it selfe Iob sets out his life by comparing his daies to a swift ship and to an Eagle that hasteth to the prey yea and hee further saith they are swifter than a post then the birds in the ayre the ships on the sea the swift post on the land all these do proclaime and preach a Sermon to us of our mortality and that this lamp many waies may be extinguished experience sheweth us that death puts no difference the young do die as wel as the old the strong as well as the weake the Kings and Counsellours of the earth as well as beggars the Physitians themselves as well as their patients and death is hastned by infinite diseases whereunto all the living are subject and these are within us and a thousand accidents to further death without us and which is the foundation of all our evils by our own sins whereby we do provoke the LORD of our lives to anger and do walk every day over a mine as it were of gun-powder subject every moment to be blowne up by the LORDS displeasure and S. Cyprian excellently sheweth the declining state of the world how the strength of the husband-man in the field of the marriner on the sea and the souldier in the camp is weakened canos videmus in puer is and it is well for us that our lives are shortned and that our daies do not ordinarily attaine to the tenth part of those that lived before the floud and that both in regard of the wicked and the godly First touching the wicked to represse their outrage and impudencie in sinning this very thought that they may die ere long and cannot live very long in reason should abate their violent and exorbitant courses if they are transcendently wicked now when death is at hand what Nimrods would they be if they had in the ordinary course of nature eight or nine hundred yeares before them to live in If their damnation now shall be most dreadfull how much more intollerable would it then be the number of their sins adding fuell as it were to the fire of hell and the LORD in justice measuring out to them a proportionable degree of vengeance to their sins hence will their accounts be so much the easier and their stripes so much the fewer And this makes likewise very much for the exceeding comfort and good of distressed Christians infirmities temptations poverty reproaches griefe of passion for their owne and of compassion for their brethrens miseries are a great burthen to them how much heavier would it be if this burthen was to presse them down many hundred yeares together this much allaies their sorrow that all these evills are but as clouds which soone ride away or as a tempest though violent yet not permanent a sharpe yet but a short winter here is our Scripture comfort the time to beare them is but short This consideration of our mortality should in reason move us to seek to Heaven for helpe that we may effectually remember our condition the holy servants of GOD our presidents herein have prayed to the LORD for this purpose thus did Moses teach me to number my daies thus did David make me LORD to know mine end in their blessed steps let us tread and their example let us follow it is a wonder that we should need to be remembred hereof that we should be such strangers in the world but there is need of that proclamation still to sound in our eares all flesh is grasse and the beauty of it as the flower of the field were we indeed as Adam was at the beginning of the world who saw no spectacle of death before his eyes wee might have som probable excuse if we thought not of our departure but what can we alledge for our selves when we have had the experience of all ages Go into any part of the world and aske them in the Prophets words your fathers where are they and doe they live for ever Even this place and this meeting doe preach unto us our mortality Where are those Epicures in Esay which promise to themselves continuance in their desperate waies To morrow shall be as this day and much more aboundant nay and which is more abominable doe take occasion by the shortnesse of their lives to eate and drinke because to morrow they must die Come on therfore say they let us fill our selves with costly wine and ointments and let no flower of the spring passe by us let us crowne our selves with rose-buds before they be withered let none of us go without part of our jollity let us leave tokens of our joyfullnesse in every place for this is our portion These sinners are likely to see the daies when they shall wish themselves toads serpents or any loathsome creatures rather then men and women and yet as desirous as they shall be of that exchange of their estate they shall not have it but shall remaine wofull men and women for ever This Doctrine serveth likewise for the reproofe of those who neglecting principally to depend on the immortall GOD do sinfully relie on others which are mortall like themselves thus the Subject relieth on the Soveraigne the servant on his Lord and Master the wife relieth on her husband and the children on their parents and all this is done contrary to our duty Trust not in Princes nor in the sons of man and why so There is no helpe in them their breath goeth forth and they