condemn'd by the Apostle as a blockish stupidity and may justly fall under that Censure Jer. 5.3 Thou hast smitten them but they have not grieved For certainly the death of Friends is a stroke Ezek. 24. I will take away the desire of thine eyes with a stroke saith God to Ezekiel a stroke which toucheth all of dear relation and is it fit the strokes of God should fall upon a flinty and unrelenting heart Therefore we find that Abraham mourned for Sarah Joseph for Jacob the Israelites for Moses Aaron Samuel Customary it was among the Jews to mourn seven days sometimes longer with fasting and renting of the Clothes This perhaps more of Superstition than either of Necessity or Decency Yet there ought to be a Moderation for them that are dead in Christ. As all our Affections that they may be useful in a Christian Life must be bankt up within their due Bounds and bridled with a strong hand of Grace neither misapplied in their Object nor falling over or short in their Measure And therefore some of the very Heathen have placed the top of Wisdom in the Moderation of the Affections their Ethicks or Doctrine of Moral Vertues being exercised chiefly in this Task So particularly a special care is to be had that they overflow not the Banks in mourning for the Dead Hence God did forbid to his People those Heathen Rites of cutting themselves Deut. 14.1 and shaving of the hair Our blessed Saviour in the case of Jairus his Daughter newly dead when both the Father and Mother of the Child and the Disciples there present opened the Sluce of Tears to their Affections sets Bounds and Banks to that Passion in these words Weep not she is not dead but sleepeth For this cause he disliked in their Solemn Funerals the use of the Jewish Minstrelsy the end whereof was to encrease Sorrow by sad and doleful Tunes Detestandae sunt illae lacrymae quae non habent modum Thraenodiae Affection saith One in this Case hath need of a Bridle not a Spur. St. Hierom's Caution is worthy of Observation Those Tears are to be detested which have no measure Indeed some of Gods Children have Impotently yielded to the violence of this Passion as indeed it is most easie to slip into Excess where the Matter about which our Actions are conversant is of it self confessedly Lawful Hence Rachels Weeping Mourning and great Lamentation for her Children because as to her present sense they were not And Davids Passionate Ejaculations for Absolom O Absolom c. would God I had died for thee c. But these Examples are neither commendable nor imitable and rather Documents of Humane Infirmity than Precedents of Imitation And for the last he bewail'd not so much in St. Augustines Judgment his Sons death as that fearful state wherein he seem'd to die stain'd with horrid Incest against his Fathers Bed and Vnnatural practises against his Fathers Life How much more comly and Imitable was his Demeanour in the Death of his Child born to him by Bethshabe Seeking to the Lord by Prayer and Fasting for the Child while it was yet alive 2 Sam. 12.23 but when dead Wherefore saith he should I fast I shall go to him but he shall not return to me Now for the suppressing of this Inordinate Passion take into your serious Thoughts these Considerations 1. That it is Gods doing and we must give him leave to use his own Power and Soveraignty over his Creature Isai 64.2 in whose hands we are all as Clay in the hands of the Potter He that inspired the Breath of life may justly recal it Whatsoever the Weapon be the Hand is his that wields it This one Meditation is enough to silence all Repining and Impatient Thoughts as to draw from us that humble Resignation of St. Paul Acts 21.14 The Will of the Lord be fulfilled Of Eli It is the Lord let him do what seems good in his sight Of David I held my peace and opened not my Mouth for it was thy doing This Consideration allayed Jobs Sorrow in the loss of his Children He look'd not at the Rotten House or the Four Winds that smote it but at him that bringeth the Winds out of his Treasures and therefore sets up within himself this patient Resolution The Lord giveth Job 1.21 and the Lord taketh away Blessed be the Name of the Lord. 2. Consider the Vanity and Unprofitableness of Excessive Sorrow it profiteth neither the Living nor the Dead Not the Living Prov. 12.25 Heaviness in the heart of Man bringeth it down and Worldly sorrow worketh death As Fire lightly sprinkled burns more clearly too much overwhelm'd gives neither heat nor light So moderate Sorrow advantageth the Soul in many Natural Moral and Spiritual Actions Immoderate quencheth the Vigour of the Spirits and renders us unfit for every good Duty Again It profiteth not the Dead Should we fill their Tombs with Tears and spend our Lives in Lamentation we cannot redeem them Excessive Sorrow may bring us to them no Sorrow Care or Cost can bring them back to us As David I shall go to him but he shall not return to me 3. Consider the Necessity of Dying Ever since that necessitating Law Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return Man is by the Chain of Gods irrevocable Decree tied unto Death It is appointed to all Men once to die and who shall disappoint his Appointment Whatsoever parts have been acted upon this Stage of Mortality Death is the Catastrophe and the Grave the place of Retyring The Wisdom of the Wise cannot prevent it the Tongue of the Eloquent cannot charm it the Strength of the Mighty cannot resist it It Reverenceth neither the Gray hairs of the Aged nor the Green locks of the Young No swiftness can over-run it no Prowess over-match it No gifts of Nature priviledges of Place endowments of Grace can free us from the stroke of it Where are those Millions of Generations that have hitherto Peopled the Earth Have they not made their Beds in the Dark And when they have serv'd their time have they not seen Corruption And shall We think to have our Friends Fathers Mothers Husbands Wives Children exempted from the Universal Law of Humane Nature 4. But that which is yet more effectual to moderate Sorrow for the Dead is that Death is indeed a Portal and passage unto Life If indeed they were utterly extinct shut up in Eternal Darkness some reason had we with Rachel to Mourn for them supposing that they are not But we know that they are and believe that they are happy and that when this Earthly house of our tabernacle is dissolved we have a building not made with hands eternal in the Heavens When the Soul taking her flight into a state of Bliss and leaving behind her this Clog of Mortality shall be removed an incomputable distance from this Vale of Sin and Misery And are we sorry for this
Grief allayed Death sweetned Hope raised A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF THE HONOURABLE CHRYSTOPHER SHERARD Esq Eldest Son to the RIGHT HONOURABLE BENNET Lord SHERARD February the 28 th 1681. By T. L. M.A. LONDON Printed by S. Roycroft for Robert Clavell at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-yard 1682. To the Right Honourable the Lady Elizabeth Sherard Fulness of true Consolation in Christ Madam HAD not your Ladiship desired a Sight of this plain Sermon I should scarce have assumed the Confidence to have presented it to your perusal but as I receive your desire as a Command so your favourable Acceptance will add weight and worth to it If the witty Censurer shall say That I tell him nothing but what he knew lefore I shall be contented with it and rejoyce that he was so well Instructed and wish also that he needed not a Remembrancer howsoever no man ought to be offended that Sermons are not like curious Inquiries after New-nothings but pursuances of Old Truths I am very sensible your Ladiship is furnished from much more Learned Physicians than I am with very proper Receipts against the late cause of your Sorrow yet I hope Madam that this which I here present unto you may somewhat heighten and improve their efficacy And in so doing I shall esteem it amongst those Blessings with which God useth to reward those good Intentions which himself first puts into our hearts and then recompences upon our heads All Sermons are but Arguments against us unless they make us quit our Mistakes and suffer them in some instance and degree to do the work of God upon our Souls And the special design of this here present dedicated to your honourable Patronage and Protection is to describe the greater Lines of our Duty when our Faces are bedew'd with Tears and our Backs cloathed with Mourning And whatsoever rellish your Ladiship may find in the Comment yet I am sure the Text being carefully laid up in your Religious Breast will be sound wholesom and consolatory though what I have in much weakness perform'd is only in Duty expressing the many and great Obligations you daily renew upon Your Ladiships Most obliged Servant and devoted Chaplain Tho. Laxton 1 Thess 4.13 But I would not have you to be ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope THE weeping Eyes and bleeding Hearts which are so plentifully discovered in this Assembly tell you the sum of my Errand our present Business the Work in hand a Funeral The Party deceased a most accomplisht ingenious pious well-natur'd well-nurtur'd Person The first Son and hopeful Heir to the Great and Generous Heroick and Ancient Family of the Sherards The Mourners not only all present but absent in numbers as great and considerable as our loss and tears are great and wonderful The Place of Burial the Sepulcher of his Progenitors When Samuel died 1 Sam. 25. all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him and buried him in his House at Ramah To be buried is an honour buried in one's own Country much in his own Place more with solemn Lamentations most of all the Saints Honour For he that spends his days though few as this most excellent Branch of Vertue did upon God and Man shall at the last have all the Honour Heaven and Earth can cast upon him A holy and a vertuous Life ends in an happy and honourable Death Josiah having received his Death abroad is brought home in his Chariot and much Honour attends him to his Grave he is buried amongst his Fathers all Jerusalem nay all Judah and the Neighbouring Towns are Mourners God and Man concurred in this that Josiah's Name should never dye Good men never go to the Grave unlamented but generally are attended with Mourning as the Mourning of Hadradrimmon in the Valley of Megiddon And here lies the mistake of weak and frail man that too often performs actions in themselves lawfully good after an unlawful and immoderate manner The words therefore that I have chosen for our present Subject are a choice portion of Scripture teaching us to stere our Course and keep up our Heads that we neither sink nor drown in these Waters of Affliction And though I have before now treated on the same Text yet at this time and upon this occasion I have renew'd my Meditations and adapted them not only for Matter but also in such Order and Method as may be most proper for the end I propose even the allaying our Griefs and raising our Hopes I would not have you to be ignorant c. The Scope of the Apostle in these words is to regulate immoderate Sorrow for them that sleep in the Lord. For the Thessalonians ' though well instructed an confirm'd in the Faith and particularly of the Resurrection which Faith if it had its full working would necessarily infer and inforce a mean in Mourning for deceased Christians yet it seems overborn sometimes with immoderate Passion for their deceased Brethren they gave way to excess of Sorrow Against this Infirmity the Apostle gives this Exhortation as a seasonable and wholesom Remedy I would c. 1. Where observe The Substance of the Precept to keep a Mean in Mourning not to pour out our selves into excessive Sorrow for the Dead 2. Reasons to enforce it interwoven with the Precept From 1. The Nature of Death a Sleep 2. The Issue of Death a hopeful Resurrection Withal secretly taxing and reprehending this immoderate Sorrow as arguing too little knowledge practical knowledge of future Blessedness and too much savouring of Gentilism whose hopes were terminated with this present Life and of the blessed state to come were altogether hopeless The first in the first words I would not have you ignorant and the other in the last even as the Gentiles c. The first general Oservation is That Christians ought to moderate their Sorrow for the Dead To banish indeed all Affections out of the Nature of Man may be a part of Stoical but not Christian Philosophy Religion as it doth not abolish Reason but sanctifie and guide it nor deprive us of Sense but teacheth us a right use of the Senses so it destroys not the Affections but orders and husbands them aright as Joshuah did dot kill the Gibeonites but subjected them to the use and service of the Tabernacle They therefore are to be blamed that stupifie Nature and quench those Affections that are implanted in us by the Finger of God in our first Creation as that rigid Sect the Stoicks who would have their Wise-man or Philosophical Saint so mortified as in no Accident to Joy or Grieve or change a Countenance or in any Loss even of dearest Friends to suffer any relenting Such pains they took to cease to be Men that they subjected themselves below the degree of Beasts Patience they may count it insuperable Fortitude which is indeed rather the want of natural affection Rom. 1.
end is more certain so the Assurance more full A full Assurance of Hope and so of far greater virtue to support the Soul It hath made the glorious Martyrs to suffer the loss of all things of Life it self not accepting deliverance that is upon base terms and with loss and prejudice of their Faith that they might obtain a better Resurrection The Natural Hope carries us but to our Lives end that 's the utmost Verge of it While I live I hope to live Dum spiro spero cnm expiro spero But the Grace of Hope carries us further When dead I hope to live and therefore let Health The Righteous hath hope in his death Prov. 14.32 Wealth Liberty Friends yea Life and Breath and all go yet I will hold fast the hope of Joy that is set before me Though therefore we dwell here as Lot in Sodom our Souls vexed tortured with the sinful Vanities of Men there is hope of a Day when every thing that offends shall be cast out Though our sincere endeavours to please God be derided by the Profane World there is hope of a Time coming when our Judgment shall break forth as the light and our Righteousness as the Noon day when we shall have Beauty for our Ashes and Glory for our Shame Do we groan under the burthen of Sin the rebellion of Nature against Grace of the Flesh against the Spirit there is hope of an exchange of Weakness for Power Imperfection for Perfection Necessity of sinning for a Confirmed state of obeying Thus Hope supports the Spirits and keeps us from Sowning It seems St. Paul was sometime a little dispirited and out of heart but revives presently and what was his Cordial Hope of the Resurrection and the consequent Glory That this light affliction which is but for a moment worketh to us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory If our Hopes were terminated within the narrow bounds of this Life Christianity were at a poor stay and Christians of all Men most miserable so cold entertainment doth it find in the World but being Anchored within the Vail we are of all Men most happy 3. To Conclude as I began This should moderate our Sorrow for them that are Dead in the Lord That they breathed out their Souls in hope that their flesh rests in hope and their Bodies in Graves are but Prisoners of Hope and their Re-union with us in a glorious and Triumphant Fellowship In quo non potest subesse fulsum is the matter also of our Hope And though a Fiducial and Infallible assurance of anothers final Happiness while they are yet in the state of Travellers none can have without special Revelation 'T is well if we can attain this Assurance to our selves with all diligence and much difficulty by many degrees working out our salvation with fear and trembling yet for them that have fought a good fight and finished their course in the true Faith and fear of God well may we have an erected Hope of a glorious and eternal Association and that together with them we shall for ever be with the Lord 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 7. wherefore comfort one another with these words Indeed a solid ground of Christian Consolation in this short Temporal privation of our dearest Friends and such as the Gentiles who were without Christ the ground of Hope without the Church the Sanctuary of Hope without the Covenant of Grace the Reason of our Hope could not afford Those Cordials that are fetch'd out of Natures Boxes That Death is the common end of All Mors exitus communis ea lege nascimus that it is the Law and Condition of our Birth are but cold Comforts in comparison of that which Christian Hope holds forth unto us And therefore Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Christ from the dead to an inheritance immortal incorruptible undefiled that fadeth not away reserved for us in Heaven Amen And now my Discourse like a Circle is return'd to the Point where I began viz. This truly Vertuous Noble Courteous Dearly beloved Gentleman A great Treasury though exhausted a shining Light quenched a burning glorious Lamp extinguished a sweet delicious comly fragrant Flower cropt and fading a bright Star of a distinguished magnitude removed from our Horizon and well may Darkness cover this Hemisphere Here I could willingly sit down a while in silence and only by the language of our Tears speak our sense of this heavy Loss but as I have newly Discours'd all Passions especially that of Grief need rather a Bridle than a Spur. Let therefore the Thoughts of his Superlative Merits while living and the Inexpressible Glories he is now in possession of bring down the Sluce a while and dam up the streaming Fountain of our Tears and Sorrow whilst to his most deservedly Worth and Memory and our abundant Delight and Comfort we pay that Tribute of Praise that is due to Gods Servants and Children advancing thereby his Glory and adding Spurs to the Pious Endeavours of those who Survive And that I may the more both suitably and succinctly delineate those Graces which though they are gone with him for his Comfort yet stay behind him for his Honour and our Imitation Be pleased to veiw him in the Method of these following Particulars First In his Birth There we may see great Excellencies descended to him by his Progenitors To be born of a good Family and to be well Descended is a Mercy not to be neglected Nec imbellem progenerant aquilae columbam saith Horace You have read of Mr. Philpots zealous Martyrdom V. 2. Examin of Mr. Philpot. Acts and Mon. Vol. 3. Dr. Wilk H. gl being a Knights Son told his Persecutors He was a Gentleman Anabaptistical parity and Levelling designs are ever to be abhord and look'd upon as the ready way to Rapine Confusion and Violence To be born of Noble Parents from a Family that is not stain'd nor sullied with the foul spots of Faction and Rebellion nor tainted with the Seeds of Error Schism and Division nor basely dirted with the black filth of Debauchery Atheism Prophaness and Irreligion all which is eminently true without Flattery in this Gentlemans Escutcheon questionless is one of Gods choice Blessings And to a Mind inclining to Vertue it availeth much to be born well Est aliquid clarus magnorum splendor avorum The glorious Deserts of Honourable Parents is no small Patrimony sed vix ea nostra a voco Secondly Therefore consider him in his own Person And in that first his Outward and then secondly his Inward Ornaments Grace and Perfections His Body of exact symmetry and proportion where we might behold a great share of Comliness and Beauty which God our Creator the Fountain of all Beauty had imparted to this lovely Creature and in such a measure as if Mother-Nature had called
a Councel and took a more than ordinary care and cost in its first draught and lineaments But when it became polish'd by an ingenious and liberal Education every step and motion in his Deportment was a prevailing Argument to beget both Love and Admiration Thirdly And all this is as far Inferior to his Inward Perfections as the shining of the Gold-Ring in comparison of that lustre and splendid Excellency which the Artificially Cut and well-set Diamond affords the Spectator When first Judgment and the use of Reason began to open and perform its Acts how industrious was he to impress good Habits That that Season might be improved to Vertue which in many Children is too prone to Liberty accustoming himself to good Manners before he was fully comprehensive of a greater Knowledge and Understanding And when at any time whilst under my Tuition any thing seem'd difficult to his obtaining in that very particular the goodness of a sweet Disposition so eminently appeared That did not Court and Complement an Indulgence from me but subdue by Conquest And ever as His days and years increased so did also a most Accomplish'd model of his Duty toward God and Man How often have I when expecting to have interrupted his Innocent Divertisements by a sudden surprisal found to my great Comfort this hopeful and pious Blossom in a Saint-like posture on his knees to God with two or three gathered together tendring his Morning Sacrifice Nor was it done by fits and extorted by Fear or a severe Discipline but a constant and Free-will Offering Had you seen that pithy and suitable Form of Prayer annexed in his first Grammar slubber'd and defac'd by his tender hands with his daily perusal it would be no great wonder that God should so soon remove him to sing Allelujahs in the Choire of Heaven that had so early and so well perform'd it on Earth He that had so soon vers'd himself in the Principles of Religion contain'd in the Church-Catechism to the delight of his Earthly Parents could not long be detain'd from being made perfect with Gods Children to the glory and honour of his Heavenly Father He in whom there was such a fruitful Spring of all imaginable good hopes of doing good in his Generation among Men is now glorifying God amongst Angels as the one in deep Sighs and sad Accents of Lamentations bewails our great loss so the other as a most strong Cordial should revive our drooping Souls Many excellent things might be communicated unto you not only for Imitation but Admiration St. Paul 2 Tim. 2.20 tells us In a great house there are vessels of Gold some to honour some to dishonour Give me leave to borrow his Metaphor In this Noble house this great Family He was a choice Vessel What Eusebius calls his Beloved Friend I may well apply unto him he was Vas Virtutum admirabile A Vessel adorn'd with an admirable variety of Natural Abilities Moral Vertues and Spiritual Graces every way suitable to his Birth Quality and Education O that all the Sons of Honour of this Kingdom and Off-spring of good Blood had the like Pious and early Inclinations to good Literature and Education Such Ambitious Thoughts to be eminent in Knowledge and Piety Such Sentiments of the Vniversities Such Revere to the Members thereof Such value and esteem to their Parts and Merits Then I should be in greater Hopes of seeing a flourishing State and Kingdom Then would there be more Amicable Overtures between the Church and State I dare be bold to say it That there is nothing sooner likely to weaken and prevent if not expose and ruine the flourishing State of this or any Kingdom than the want of sound Learning and Exemplary Lives in the Nobility and Gentry thereof I cannot omit the imparting one thing observable in this young Hero at his first entrance to make his own Conceptions into Latin in order thereunto I gave him this Subject Ignorantia est sola inimica Doctrinae i.e. Ignorance is the alone Enemy to Learning which made such impressions upon his tender Thoughts that in his most free Conversation with those that the Hospitable House-keeping of his Honourable Parents gave many and frequent Opportunities for He daily observed those Persons to have the meanest Thoughts not only of Clergy-men but of all others whatsoever under any Coat or Garb if Learned whose Education and Scholarship could carry them very little further than to Write and Read I have a large field to turn me in where I might expatiate in his just and due Character being gone out like a Taper that hath left a sweet Savour behind him in the Nostrils of all that knew him But I am willing to contract my self knowing I am contain'd in the prescrib'd limits of such Time as may be most suitable to the Offices of this Nature And what should I say more for the Time would fail me to tell of his Humility Meekness Modesty Courtesie Condescending to those of low Estate the great Aims and Ambition to express Duty to his Parents Love to his Friends Familiarity with his Neighbour Vnmoveable affection to his Servants Lowliness to his Inferiours Respect to his Superiours Kindness to his Equals and Insuperable Goodness to his dearest and nearest Relatives Thus he left the World having obtain'd a good report through Faith Heb. 11.39 in the flower and first budding of his days upon the confines and borders of the 16th year of his Age at the Feet of Gamallel newly placed in a station of good Literature in a Constellation of Arts and Sciences in that Ancient Foundation of Exeter-Colledge long since Laid by the Learned and Charitable Walter Stapleton Bishop of Exeter amongst the young Glories of our present state universally Lamented universally Beloved in his Virgin-purity unstain'd and unspotted nowly Espoused with the joyful Approbation of Parents on both sides to a Lady whose promising Excellencies not only of a considerable Fortune but of Vertue Youth Beauty good Nature good Parentage and all such commendable Qualifications as might have in all appearing probabilities rendred them both as happy as our Desires and Wishes could have expected and their Worths merited and deserved O! But that God that rules and governs all things by his Wisdom and Providence the reasons and causes of the various effects whereof are Subjects to employ the eyes of our Faith and Hope but not to be discover'd in Prospectives of Human Reason sent an Host of Heavenly Spirits to attend and recal that Spirit he himself first breathed to the celebration of Nuptials of an higher Nature with Jesus Christ the great Bridegroom of departed Saints in the Beatifical Vision of the all glorious Trinity the Father of an Infinite Majesty the true and only Son the Holy Ghost the Comforting and Sanctifying Spirit And shall we now either irrationally complain or religiously murmure and repine at or uncharitably envy at his glorious Translation He is inlarg'd from the Prison of this Life and shall we bemoan his Liberty He has quickly weathered through the disturb'd Waves in the unquiet Sea of this World and shall we in a mistaken Zeal debar him the quiet Haven Unwise Mortals that we are Is there any Earthly Inheritances Crowns or Dignities that could court him into a Return or an Exchange for those Mansions of Eternal Glory he is in possession of No no his Gains in his removal are of such a Nature both for Body Soul Estate Place and Company as can neither be sufficiently expressed or conceived by Human Wit and Invention For his Body that is stript of all sinful and natural Defects the Abortions of Sin and fill'd with all heavenly Contemplations at its reunion with the Soul of Mortal it becomes Immortal of Corruptible Incorruptible of Natural Spiritual i. e. not needing natural helps There is no use of Meats Apparel Physick Sleep Beds of weak and infirm glorious And for his Soul that is first eas'd of all the Rags and Reliques of Sin delivered of Igno rance and Self-love delivered of all the Consequences of Sin Griefs Fears Guilts Accusations And then it is filled with the Image of Jesus then all the Powers and Faculties are advanced above the ordinary strain of Nature and his Soul furnished with all the Attendances of Christ's Image everlasting Joy perpetual Peace a constant Correspondence and Communion with God and his Holy Angels And here we leave him But it is but for a short time the Division betwixt him and us is of a small continuance we must suddenly cut over the same Ferry and meet him on the other side of the Shore Death's Boat was not appointed to carry all at once the Ferry not made to land all at one Tide stay the return of Water for our turn In the mean time praying for a prosperous Gail and giving God thanks for all his Servants departed this Life in his Faith and Fear beseeching him to give us Grace to follow their good Example that with them we may be partakers of his heavenly Kingdom through Jesus Christ our Mediatour and Advocate To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost three Persons and one God be ascrib'd all Honour Adoration and Thanksgiving now and for ever Amen FINIS