He taketh his farewel of them and wisheth a welfare to them And now The opening of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 since I see that I who am your guide must shortly be gone and since I foresee that Wolves will arise so ravenous as to conspire and endeavour your ruine what remains but that I should commend you to God who can prevent the effects of their cruelty and supply the want of my company And now The season is observable it s the last and the greatest kindness I can do to commend you to God The occasion is considerable And now the dying Father commits his children to a faithful Guardian And now I must leave you never to see your faces more but now I shall leave you to one who will never leave you nor forsake you And now Brethren This title is an affectionate term and speaks how dear and near they were to the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It discovereth much of his humility though they were his inferiors yet he calleth them his equals Brethren stand on the same level but more of his love this even relation is accompanied with great affection Love as brethren 1 Pet. 3.8 Love like water doth not easily ascend but will run swiftly and pleasantly on even ground And now my dearly beloved whom I both love and esteem as Brethren who are both near and dear to me since providence is parting us I cannot better evidence my affection to you or care of you then by committing you to him from whom none can part you And now Brethren I commend you to God To commend one to another in our English phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 significat Patrocinio cura ac tutelae alterius aliquid commendare Beza Commendare veluti commendatur depositum servandum is either to praise him for some worth in him or to present some respects from him but in Scripture sence besides the former acceptations it sometimes signifieth to refer one to the care of another Rom. 16.1 I commend to you Phebe our sister To commend in this place signifieth to commit them as dear pledges or as precious jewels to the tender custody and keeping of the blessed God As if he had said Be not discouraged nor disconsolate at my departure as if thereby ye should be left disolate for I commit and commend you to one who will abundantly make up my absence by his Almighty Power and favourable presence though I am taken from you and constrained to forsake you yet I commend you to that God who will be careful of you and never fail you who hath infinite strength for your protection and infinite Wisdom for your direction and infinite Favour for your consolation And now brethren I commend you to God And to the word of his grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Scripture is called Gods Word because as men by their words discover their wills so God by the Scripture doth manifest his mind and pleasure But it s that part of Scripture which we call the Gospel which is emphatically termed here and in some other places The Word of his Grace because it speaketh Gods good will and good pleasure to the children of men Act. 20.24 Tit. 2.11 The Covenant of Works which God made with Adam and in him with all mankind was in some respects a Covenant of Grace for God was not bound to promise man eternal felicity upon his perfect obedience but might have required it by vertue of his Soveraignty and domion But since mans Apostacy and impossibility thereby of attaining happiness by his own works God hath been pleased to accept of the perfect obedience of Jesus Christ on the behalf of the beleiving penitent Christian which act of infinite Grace being revealed in the Gospel it is most fitly called The Word of his Grace The Law as the case stands with man now speaks nothing but fury and death but the Gospel speaks favour and life the Law wounds man with his blows the Gospel heals him with its balsom the Law condemneth man without pity to the sufferings of Hell but the Gospel alloweth him a Psalm of mercy and so saveth him from the wrath to come Now the affectionate Apostle commendeth his fainting patients to this rich Cordial the word of his grace They might think it was small comfort and a poor courtesie to be commended to a righteous and jealous God as stubble to be committed to a consuming fire therefore he tells them I commend you to God not under the notion of an angry Judge But in the relation of a gracious father and compassionate friend which if ye doubt of do but look into the Gospel which is Heavens Court rouls transcribed wherein ye may see the naked bowels of his good will and read his curious eternal contrivance of magnifying his grace in you and towards you I commend you to that word of his grace wherein every line speaks love and each expression his tender affection to you I know your poverty but that word of his grace is a mine of unsearchable riches ye are hungry but that is bread when ye are weary there ye may find rest whatsoever your conditions be there is sutable Consolation And to the word of his grace 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Which is able to build you up These words with them that follow are by Erasmus according to our Translation refered to the word of his grace but according to Beza and some others God is the antecedent to this relative who is able to build you up c. The reason of the doubt is because both are of the same gender whereby its uncertain to which of the two this latter part hath relation But there is a certain truth if we refer them to either God is able to build them up c. and also the Gospel or word of his grace is able to build them up c. God as the first cause and principal efficient the word of his grace as the second cause and subordinate instrument The Gospel cannot do it without God and God will not do it without the Gospel God ordinarily by the Gospel doth both sanctifie and save build up and give an inheritance Which is able to build you up The Foundation of godliness was already laid in their hearts but something was still wanting a greater degree of grace and holiness Paul knew that his brethren would not be contented barely to know Christ but were desirous to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ and did therefore the more lament his loss because he as a faithful Steward had furthered the welfare of their souls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by giving them their food in due season Now to allay their fears of famishing for want of his care he commends them both to the same Master and to the same meat by which they had hitherto thriven and prospered and which were able still to continue the same vertue and
THE Pastors Farevvell AND VVish of VVelfare TO HIS PEOPLE OR A Valedictory Sermon By GEORGE SWINNOCK M. A. Preacher of the Gospel late at Great-Kimbel in the County of Bucks Oportet ut praedicatores sint fortes in praeceptis compatientes infirmis in exhortationibus blandi Greg. in Job Mor. 30. Finally Brethren farewel Be perfect be of good comfort be of one minde live in peace and the God of love and peace shall be with you 2 Cor. 13.11 LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Three Crowns in the lower end of Cheap-side over against the great Conduit 1662. TO His Honoured and Courteous Friend Mistris Mary Beresford VVife of the VVorshipful Iohn Beresford Esq THere are two things which I have always judged chiefly requisite in a Pastor as he standeth related to his people viz. Labour and Love The former is a work of the Head the latter of the Heart faithful labour will speak his love and sincere love will sweeten his labour Labour without love is unacceptable to God as a sweet perfume without fire it cannot send forth its pleasant fragrant savour Love without labour is unprofitable to men like Rachel its beautiful but barren both together as soul and body are the essential parts of a man are the whole of a Minister Whether to my power I discharged my trust or no in these partitulars whilest the Divine providence continued me in your Parish I must leave to his judgement whose eyes behold and whose eye-lid try the Children of men nay whether I did not many times so labour as to prejudice my own body that I might serve and profit others souls but sure I am when I left you I could not better manifest my love to you then by commending you to him who will never leave nor forsake his people It s the saying of Euripides That a faithful friend in adversity is better then a calm Sea to a weather beaten Mariner Indeed the world is full of false lovers who use their friends as we do candles burn them to the snuff and when all their substance is wasted trample them under their feet and light others but God to his chosen is as the Ivy clasping about a wall which will as soon dye as desert it Extreamity doth but fasten a trusty friend whilst he as a well wrought Vault is the stronger by how much more weight he beareth Though many men are as ponds dry in the heat of Summer when there is most need of them yet the blessed God dealeth not so with his Saints but his help is nearest when their hardships are greatest When they walk in the valley of the shadow of death he is with them How great a happiness it is to be under the favour and influence of this God can never be fully known on this side Heaven The Prince of Orange had a mirror say some which perfectly represented the beauty of the naturat Sun But this Sun of Righteousness is ever in a great degree Eclipsed to us who dwell in this lower World Here we know but in part Pompey who presumed to enter the holiest of all when he came out was asked what he saw he answered that the house was fall of a cloud Indeed He maketh darkness his secret place and yet is pleased to let so much of his glory and goodness be seen in the glass of his word as may cause us to admire and affect him and also assure us that he is the chiefest good Somwhat of that felicity which floweth from his favour you will find in some measure discovered in the ensuing discourse which I present to you as a small acknowledgement of my great ingagements to you Lycurgus the Lacedemonian Law-giver made no Law against ingratitude as thinking it impossible for any man to degenerate so much as to be unthankful I esteem it my duty to retain the former favours in memory which I and mine have received from your self and my Honoured friend your Husband and I know not better how to testifie my gratitude then by endeavouring to my power your everlasting welfare and that you may come to your graves in a full age as a shock of corn in its season It s a mercy to be full of days a far greater mercy to be full of grace but to be full of days and full of grace is one of the most blessed beautiful sights in this World I hope you are passed from death to life because you love the brethren but your Age calleth upon you to ensure your effectual calling The truth is death borders upon our births and our Coffins hang over our Cradles but though according to the saying of Epaminondas we may salute young persons with Good-morrow or welcome into the World yet we must salute old persons with Good-night for they are leaving the world The nearer it is tonight the harder we should work when we know if our work be not done in this day of life we are undone for ever Natural motions are swiftest at last The stream of grace must run with greatest speed when its emptying it self into the Ocean of glory The good Lord enable you to be more and more upright and abundant in well doing and so bless your whole Family with his fear and favour that when Death shall break it up ye may be preferred from his lower house of prayer to his upper house of praise where is fulness of joy and where are pleasures for evermore Which is the desire of Your Servant in the blessed Saviour George Swinnock There is extant of this Reverend Authors these six other Treatises all sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the lower end of Cheapside The Christian-mans Calling or a Treatise of making Religion ones Business wherein the Nature and Necessity of it is discovered as also the Christian directed how he may perform it in Religious Duties Natural Actions his particular Vocation his Family Directions and his own Recreation to be read in Families for their Instruction and Edification The first Part. The Door of Salvation opened by the Key of Regeneration or a Treatise containing the Nature Necessity Marks and means of Regeneration as also the duty of the Regenerate Heaven and Hell Epitomized or the true Christian characterized The beauty of Magistracy in an Exposition of the 82 Psalm where is set forth the necessity Utility Dignity Duty and Morality of Magistrates The fading of the flesh and the flourishing of faith or one cast for eternity with the only way to throw it well There is in the press the Second Part of that practical Piece of Divinity entituled The Christian-mans Calling Containing Directions for our dealings with all men carriage in all conditions whether in prosperity or adversity in all companies good or bad in solitariness on the week day from morning to night in visiting the sick upon a dying bed ACTS 20.32 And now Brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and
in such good hands as Gods and that the publique faith of Heaven is ingaged for the payment of all your bonds For be confident he who will not suffer a Lyer to enter Heaven will much less suffer a lye to enter his own heart faithful is he that hath promised and also will do it 1 Thes 5.24 Thus my dearly Beloved I commend you to the favour and affection power and protection care and benediction of this God who is so able so loving and so faithful a friend But as I desire and shall endeavour by faith and prayer to commend you to God so I cannot but hope and I beg it of all amongst you that have any interest at the throne of grace that ye would commend me to God I beseech you for the Lord Jesus Christs sake that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me Rom. 15.30 Before I conclude as I have commended you to God so let me commend you to and commend to you the Word of his grace Julius Cesar being forced to swim for his life held his Commentary in one hand above water and swam to land with the other Without question you have more cause to value the word of Gods grace The law breatheth forth a cold blast a northwind of threatning but the Gospel sendeth forth a warm gale a Southwind of promises grace of all Gods attributes must not be neglected love can least endure to be slighted O let me beseech you for the Lords sake for your souls sake to value the Gospel Alas what are ye without it but condemned Malefactors every moment liable to be called forth and hung up as monuments of Gods fury in Hell If ever poor creature in fear every moment of being fetcht out of the Prison and carried to the Gallows did esteem a pardon sure I am ye have cause to prize the Gospel O sirs how had all of us at this day been shut up under the Laws curse in the Dungeon of endless wrath and misery had not the Gospel opened the prison doors knockt off our shackles and set our souls at liberty I commend the word of his grace to you under a fourfold consideration First To purifie your affections I know ye want grace now the word of grace can beget grace and increase grace It s the usual pipe through which grace may be conveyed into the vessels of your hearts The Laws of men may reform your actions but t is the Gospel of God which can renew your affections Some Poets speak of Musicians that by the force of their musick can make stones leap into Walls and tame beasts be they never so savage The word of Gods grace will do much more t will turn stones into Children of Abraham t will change an heart of stone into an heart of flesh t will tame Lyons and turn them into Lambs Isa 11.4 5 6. It hath made the very hearts of them to bleed whose hands were imbrued in the blood of the Redeemer Let your endeavour be that this word of grace may come with power to your souls that you may not onely hear it but savour it and not onely read it but rellish it O my friends the lack of this is the undoing of thousands What is the reason that some who seemed very fair for Heaven fall away fouly and as some Marriners boast can sail with all winds to what Haven soever they blow truely this the Gospel though sometimes it conquered their outworks never surprised the royal Fort of their hearts though it darted in some light yet it was never received in the love of it O therefore let me beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain 2 Cor. 6.1 Ah how sad will it be for you if your hearts be like rocks on which the dews of grace falling make no impression as the Apricock Tree leaneth on the wall but is rooted in the earth so many seem to lean on Christ but are rooted in their lusts the word of grace abused is the condemnation If grace be your enemy ye have no friend in Heaven or Earth The fruits of no Trees ripen so fast the sins of no men grow so great as of them that stand constantly in the sunshine of the Gospel If the Gospel be not a morning star to you a forerunner of an eternal day by ushering in the Sun of righteousness upon you it will be an evening star to you bringing on you an everlasting night of death and darkness As the Ocean landeth some vessels safely at their happy ports when it sinketh others so the word of Gods grace will either be a savour of life unto life or a savour of death unto death 2. To be the rule of your conversations Your whole race must be regular and there is no such rule to walk or work by as the word of his grace As many as walk according to this rule Gal. 6.16 that is according to the Gospel It containeth not onely promises for your consolation but also precepts for your conversations therefore it s called a royal Law Jam. 2.8 A Law because it is to be the canon of our lives the Law delivered on Mount Sinai is by Christ adopted into the Family of the Gospel A royal Law because given us by God the King of the World who hath Soveraignty and Dominion over all and therefore power to command what he pleaseth The word of his grace is a royal Law because the Kings high-way out of which road none may wander under the penalty of Rebellion Indeed the Gospel is a Law of liberty but not a Law of licentiousness Jam. 1.25 It freeth us from the curse but not from the commands of the law A true Christian is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without law but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 under the law to Christ 1 Cor. 9.21 Look therefore to this Royal law Expound it and comment on it in your lives Let it be your rule for faith The Gospel is the onely Creed he that beleiveth this is a true beleiver As the Word Christ is the personal foundation so the Word of Christ is the Doctrinal foundation for every Christian to build on Ephes 2.19 20. This we beleive saith Tertullian when we first beleive that we ought to beleive nothing beyond the Scriptures Paul proves himself a true beleiver because he beleived all things written in the Law and Prophets Act. 24.14 Make it your rule for worship To serve God according to your own inventions or mens prescriptions is Rebellion and dis-service As the Moth eats out the Garment and the Rust the Iron so doth an Apochryphal worship in time eat out an Evangelical worship Mat 15.7 All worship of God without warrant is like private coyning mony high Treason against the King of Heaven God though men durst not charged Jeroboam with this crime He offered upon the Altar which he had made in the moneth which he had devised of his own heart 1 King 12.33