The Perfect Man described in his Life and End IN A Funeral Discourse Upon Psalm XXXVII 37. Occasioned by the DEATH Of that Pattern of Uprightness Mr. EDWARD LAWRENCE By Nathanael Vincent M. A. Minister of the Gospel Whereunto are added some Passages out of Two Letters written by Two Excellent Ministers concerning Mr. Lawrence who were well acquainted with him and with the Worth of him LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1696. Mr. VINCENT's Funeral Discourse Occasioned by the DEATH of Mr. EDWARD LAWRENCE TO THAT CONGREGATION Who had Mr. EDWARD LAWRENCE For their PASTOR My much respected Friends WHen I preached this Sermon which now I present especially to you I was so far from having the least thought of Printing it that I had not written so much as one word of it and when your Desires were express'd that it might be Publish'd I discovered a great averseness because I knew how much averse my deceased and most true Friend was from a Discourse relating to Himself and much more would he have been against the Printing any thing concerning Him But your reitereated Desires prevailed being seconded by that Argument that Mr. Lawrence himself went contrary to the declared Will of an Eminent Christian in Preaching a Funeral Sermon and giving him his deserved Commendations Adding that because that Excellent Saint was against his Preaching therefore he was the more forward to do it So that I have only made bold to mete the same Measure to my Friend who is dead and gone which He did mete to his Friend that died before him This Sermon for the Substance of it was taken from my Mouth in Short-hand and brought to me written out in Long. And since you have importuned the making of it publick I desire you may give it a serious perusal A perfect Man is the most glorious and lovely of all visible Creatures How much of the Image of the invisible God does shine forth in him The Grace of God in Truth whereever t is wrought what a blessed Change does it make Out of the rubbish and ruins of corrupt Nature there is built an Holy Temple for the living God! And in this Temple how is He honoured and served The perfect Man hath an high Aim and a commendable Emulation he desires to do the will of God on earth as it 's done in heaven And Heaven is esteemed a blessed place because there he shall be able fully to do what he does desire I have heard your deceased Pastor express his longings to be in an holy and happy Eternity Tho he had many other Loads Sin was his heaviest Burthen and perfect Holiness was look'd upon as a great part of his expected Blessedness He was a powerful and a profitable Preacher and this must be added that he preached continually His serious Looks his edifying Communication which administred Grace to the Hearers his holy just and unblameable and shining Conversation were greatly instructive and by these he was ever speaking to all that observed him that it was much for their Interest to be like him And now being dead he yet speaks to you that the Counsels he gave you which are the Counsels of God should not dye with him nor be buried in Oblivion The Flock of such a Pastor should be Eminent for Contempt of the World serious Holiness and Heavenly-Mindedness else they will be far from resembling their Faithful Shephard I cannot wish you better than that the Lord would direct you to settle under a Minister most like him who is taken from you and who will naturally care for your Spiritual Estate I wish his Family may be cared for by that God whom he served in Truth and Sincerity whose mercy is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto childrens children to such as keep his covenant and remember his commandments to do them Earth is emptying apace of them who are ripe for Heaven I wish the Death of those that are gone may make both Ministers and Saints that remain and survive to be more lively and diligent in their Lord's Work The Time of Labour is short but to Eternity it will be found that labour is not in vain in the Lord. My Friends I commend you and yours to the Great Shepherd of Souls and to the Word of his Grace and wish your Perfection and Peace living dying and for ever Your Servant for Jesus sake NATHANAEL VINCENT PSALM XXXVII 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace ALTHO Liberty to Preach the Gospel is justly esteemed the privilege and pleasure of my Life and tho a Regal Throne or a Triple Crown is to me contemptible in comparison of a Pulpit yet I must needs confess that I come with a sad heart to preach the Word this day and the reason of my Sorrow is the loss of that Excellent Man and Minister of Christ who dwelt in this place who is now effectually silenced by Death and must be heard to Preach no more for ever This burning and shining Light a great many Years ago was put under a Bushel which was worthy to have been set in a Golden Candlestick but now alas in a sense 't is quite extinguished He is gone into darkness and the shadow of Death where there is no order and where the light is as darkness He had in his life-time declared his Will against a Funeral Sermon for he was far from affecting those Praises and Commendations which are usually given in Funeral Discourses but I must say that the less he desired the more he deserved to be praised and commended having such a large share of Humility joyned with his other great Ministerial Accomplishments When the news of his Death came first to my ears I said what I thought and had good ground to be perswaded of Now there is a Man gone out of the World that was one of the best Men in it Good Men may truly be called Pillars of the Earth and when a very strong Pillar is thrown down there should be great Lamentation and the Earth may tremble at the fall of it But tho he is gone down to the Dust where his Face is bound in secret and must be seen no more till this World be no more yet methinks I have a view of him plainly in the Text I have chosen here we have his Character both Living and Dying Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace In which words I shall offer these particulars to your Observation First Here is a remarkable Man and he is the perfect Man Secondly Wherein the perfection of this Man lies it lies in his being upright Thirdly What the perfect and upright Man is worthy of he is worthy to be marked he is worthy to be beheld Fourthly What of this perfect and upright Man our eye in a special manner should be upon
him When the world which lives in wickedness and grows more and more wicked is hastening its own Judgment and Condemnation for the sake of the Upright ones that are therein 't is spared Though there was such an abominable Crew of Wicked men in Sodom which were sinners before the Lord exceedingly yet Sodom had stood undestroyed by Fire and Brimstone if ten righteous persons had been found therein Gen. 18. 32. when Abraham said Oh let not my Lord be angry and I will speak but this once peradventure ten righteous ones shall be found there and he said I will not destroy it for ten sake Nay One Moses stood in the Breach when the Sins of Israel had opened a wide Gap for the Wrath of God to break in upon them Psalm 106. 23. Therefore he said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them However Infidels and ungodl ones may prate maliciously the Puritans of a Nation are very much the security of it Job 22. 30. He shall deliver the Island of the innocent or it may be translated The Innocent shall deliver the Island and it is delivered by the pureness of thy hands 2. Behold the Grace of God in the upright Man which makes him thus useful Both the esse and the operati of the new Creature is from Divine Grace by Grace the upright man is what he is and by the same Grace he does what he does Who ever laboured so abundantly as the Apostle Paul Whose Labours were more succeeded to the Glory of God to the Church's and the World's benefit than his were Yet he ascribes nothing to himself but gives unto Grace all the Glory 1 Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me When you behold the upright man you must see God in him and with him of a truth Men are not to glory or to be gloried in but he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1. 31. 3. Behold the upright man so as to desire and hope that the same Grace which made him upright may make you so Upright ones were not such by their first Birth but by their second The Apostle readily makes this acknowledgment Eph. 2. 3. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others Therefore concerning sincere Saints it must be said That they are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God John 1. 13. And that God who of his own will begat them with the word of truth can easily also regenerate you by the the same means and by his own powerful Grace make more vessels of honour all upright ones are such out of the Mass of corrupted Nature In the fourth place I am to shew What of this perfect and upright Man our eye in a special manner should be upon and that is his end To look to the end of Persons and Things and likewise those things that are endless is a great piece of Wisdom By the upright man's End we are to understand his Dissolution and Death whereby he ceases to be any longer in this World Not that Death does make an end of him the Soul is redeemed from the power of the grave for God doth receives it Psalm 49. 15. and the Body shall not always be the Graves prisoner but the Union between these two constituent parts by Death is dissolved Now there are several things of the perfect and upright man which Death does put an end unto 1. Death puts an end to the upright man's Labour Labour in the Lord and for the Lord is the upright man's business in this World He has no time to waste neither is he allowed to be idle Working hard and living must run parallel Nay with allusion to what Caesar once said we may affirm Necesse est laborare non est necesse vivere Labouring is more necessary than living While the upright man lives he must be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the doing of good But when Death comes it signifies to him that his Work is at an end Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them 2. Death puts an end to the upright man's Sorrows here in this World he is in his Minority and is under the Discipline of the Rod after Death he will not need it His gracious Father in great faithfulness consults the upright man's necessity and if need be he is in heaviness through manifold temptations 1 Pet. 1. 6. and yet still there is a mixture of mercy with the greatest severity the Son of God is with the sincere Saint in every Furnace and his Presence makes the Furnace both tolerable and purifying Under the heaviest Burthens everlasting Arms shall sustain him and well may he be comforted with the thoughts of everlasting Love But the end of his days puts a full period to his Troubles and Sorrows his Heart shall ake his Tongue complain his Eyes shall weep no more Rev. 7. 17. The Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes 3. Death puts an end to the upright man's Conflicts His Life is a warfare he fights every step of his way to Heaven his Enemies are much stronger than he called Principalities and Powers whom he wrrstles with but he is furnished with the whole Armour of God and his strength lies in Christ the Captain of his Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ has encountred these Enemies in his own Person tried their force and triumphed over them and as he has his Followers at command so he can command Salvation for them Satan is a troublesome and unwearied Adversary and when the upright man is just going this Enemy may give him a blow at parting He usually endeavours to make a Saint's Death-bed uneasy and uncomfortable and sometimes he strives to lift up the perfect man with Spiritual Pride As the famous Knox of Scotland was tempted to an high Opinion of himself when he was near expiring because he had been so faithful in his ministry but he ascribed all that he was and did unto the Grace of God and Satan was quite soiled But when Death comes it removes the upright man out of Satan's reach He is made more than a conqueror through Christ who has loved him having overcome he sits down in that throne with his blessed Lord himself where he shall never be molested more with any of the Enemies of his Salvation 4. Death puts end to the upright man's natural
Life Tho his Life on Earth is far from being a noxious and hurtful Vapour yet 't is a vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4. 14. The Bodies of the Just must be brought down into the Grave as well as the Bodies of others that mankind and best of men may have a sensible Document how hateful Sin is to God upon all that have sinned death passes Rom. 5. 12. Tho the Bodies of the Saints are Members of Christ and Instruments of Righteousness to Holiness and the Temples of the Holy Ghost himself yet these Temples must be demolished and cast to the ground and for a while turned under it and after they have been so long imprisoned in the Grave how glorious will be the strength and love of Christ their Lord and Head in rescuing his Members all of them from under Death's Dominion and in totally abolishing Death it self and how will the power of the Spirit be manifested in rearing up his Temples out of the Dust and in making them so transcendently glorious and likewise so firm and durable that they shall stand and abide unto eternity Rom. 8. 11. If the spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you 5. Death puts an end to all that Corruption which remains in the upright Man Sin was the Parent of Death and at Death sin it self is totally destroyed The mortal and corruptible Body of the Saint shall at length put on Incorruption and Immortality but the body of Sin is annihilated and shall be no more he shall never complain of any evil present with him nor be troubled with any the least lustings of the flesh against the Spirit How contrary and offensive to the new Nature were the remainders of the old Man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts But at Death the upright man when he puts off his earthly Tabernacle does quite put off the old Man not the least Member of that Body can remain unmortified and in what glorious perfection does he put on the Lord Jesus Christ He is perfecting Holiness while he lives 2 Cor. 7. 1. which intimates that at Death his Work and Labour to cleanse himself will be at an end and Holiness will be perfected And how beautiful and glorious will his separate Soul be in it s perfected and unspotted Purity In the fifth place The end of the perfect and upright man is remarkable as well as himself for his end is Peace The Scripture is true concerning him Eccl. 7. 1. The day of his death is better than the day of his birth He was born into a wicked and a wretched World but Death sends him to an everlasting Habitation of Bliss and Life and Glory His dying day may well be the joyfullest day that ever he lived because the last moment of his time is his entrance into a blessed Eternity He is indeed a Son of Peace and Death should not disturb it 1. The perfect and upright man dies in peace with God He is reconciled to God by the death of his Son How sure is Salvation upon such a Reconciliation The Enmity between God and him being slain by the Cross of Christ Eph. 2. 16. the Value and Virtue of Christ's Crucifixion must needs make Peace that is lasting The middle Wall of Partition that is thrown down shall never be reared up again The upright man's Sins are all removed from him as far as the East is from the West Psalm 103. 12. and he may as well imagine the two Poles that are so far distant should meet together as fear that any of his Sins which are not imputed to him should again be laid unto his charge Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died Neither at Death nor Judgment shall any of their Sins be found against them that are upright A Covenant of Peace is made with them more firm than the strongest Hills and Mountains Isaiah 54. 10. The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee nor the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy upon thee 2 The perfect and upright man dieth in peace with others If all things are to be done with charity 1 Cor. 16. 14 then dying must be in Charity likewise How can he dye in the love of God whose heart is full of malice and hatred to his Brother I remember what that blessed Martyr Bradford said at his Death I ask all the World forgiveness and I forgive all the World there was a great deal of Judgment and Grace in this Expression The World had dealt very hardly with him and was so furious as to burn him with Fire yet he forgave the Injury Thus the Protomartyr Stephen of old from his heart forgave his Persecutors and his last Prayer was for them that God would not lay their Sin and blood-guiltiness to their charge Acts 7. 60. When the heart is emptied of Wrath and Bitterness and desire of Revenge whatever Injuries have been received when peace has been pursued and there has been an universal Love to all Saints and in Obedience to Christ's Command it has been extended even to despightful Enemies here is a comfortable evidence of Peace with God and of an interest in his Love Forgive says Christ and you your selves shall be forgiven 3. The perfect and upright Man when he comes to dye has reason and good ground to have peace within himself I dare not affirm That every good Man concludes his Days with this Peace The Letters of Mr. Paul Bains discover a great measure of Grace and Holiness and an excellent Spirit in him yet he professes himself a great Stranger to the Sweetness of Religion and the Joys of the Holy Ghost that disconsolate humour of Melancholly possibly might be one reason of it Nay when he came to dye his Death-bed was uncomfortable and sadness remained upon his Spirit till he entred into the Joy of his Lord. Yet I am sure there is sufficient ground for peace within the perfect Man For Christ died that Death might be unstung and that Believers might not be terrified at it but triumph over it Through Death he destroyed the Devil as he had the Power of Death that is to make Death terrible and consequently deliver them who through the fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 14 15. What a most desirable way of dying is this when Conscience has great Peace being purged and healed by the Blood of Christ When the God of Love and Peace speaks Peace to the departing Soul by his comforting Spirit And a Saint can say with righteous Simeon of old Luke 1. 29 30. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart
World can witness when he saw occasion he used various Ways and Methods that his great end your Happiness might be attained 2. Be sure to follow his very good Example What kind of Children should the Children of such a Father be there would be a kind of monstrousness in being very grosly unlike to him As to his youngest Son who is a Minister of the Gospel I heartily wish tho it be an hard thing which I wish that a double portion of his Fathers Spirit may be vouchsafed to him 3. Be encouraged by this That your deceased Father has treasured up a stock of Prayers for you and you may expect a gracious return If you give your selves to Prayers God may answer his Supplications after his death in bestowing Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Benefits upon you To others that hear me this day I shall only give two words of Counsel Think much of your later end Let it be your great care that your end may be peace 1. Be all of you wise to consider your later end Death did set out against you as soon as you were born and it makes still nearer and nearer approaches to you every day and hour and moment of your lives Every step you take is a step towards the Grave Every moment of your time which passes away brings you nearer to Eternity God wishes you wise to consider your later end he will be much pleased to see you very earnest with him to make you so he is ready to teach you so to number your days that you may apply your hearts unto wisdom Psal 90. 12. The serious thoughts of death will quicken you in your Duties and break the force of Temptations Think of the time when you must leave the World that eagerness after the World may be abated To how good purpose will you live if with the Apostle you dye daily 1 Cor. 15. 31. 2. Let it be your care that your end may be peace Believe in Jesus the great Peace-maker between God and Man that you may joy in him because by him you have received the atonement Rom. 5. 11. Let your Faith be accompanied with Obedience and Love to the Laws of God Psal 119. 165. Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them Value the inestimable Jewel of a good Conscience and take heed of every thing that may defile and wound it When the Apostle had the sentence of death in himself the testimony of his Conscience that by the grace of God he had had his Conversation in the World in simplicity and godly sincerity did fill him with Peace and Joy 2 Cor. 1. 9 12. Never be weary of well-doing that your Lord when he comes may find you so doing 'T is labour best bestowed when you are diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless Several Passages concerning Mr. Lawrence out of Two Letters which were sent by Two Ministers Eminent for Learning and Godliness and both of them intimately acquainted with Him The First LETTER concerning Mr. Edward Lawrence MR. Lawrence was admitted into Magdalene Colledge in Cambridge in the Year 1645 and was Studious a Promoter of serious Godliness among the young Scholars and was so noted also for his Parts and Learning that we would have made him a Fellow But when he had taken his Degree of Batchellor of Arts some Years after he took the Degree of Master of Arts he being some ways engaged went into the Countrey and began to preach having been of a good Age when admitted about 18 as I remember and with much Acceptance He took up with Baschurch a Vicaridge of about 60 l. a Year where though if he had sought great things he might have been removed to a greater Place considering the Love and Esteem he had he continued till Bartholomew 1662 and then left his Station and Subsistence though he had a Wife and seven or eight Children and no Estate and oft used to say He lived upon the sixth of Matthew About the Year 79 the Quakers rising thereabout he Disputed with one of their Chief Ring-leaders and shamefully baffled him in the Judgment of the Multitudes of the Hearers and as appears by the Relation of it put out by the Quaker He was dangerously ill and upon his recovery put out his useful Book Of Christ's Power over bodily Diseases which though very good I then told him was below most of his Sermons he usually preached of which I had heard many How he was driven from Whitchurch Mr. H. who was then in those parts will I suppose punctually inform you and for these last four or five and twenty Years his Brethren in the City can give a good account of Him The Second LETTER AFter Mr. Lawrence his remove by the Bartholomew Act from Baschurch where he had been many Years a Faithful Minister of the Gospel of Christ he sojourn'd while with his Wife and Children at a Neighbouring Gentleman's House within the Parish who had a great Respect for him and was very Kind to him and he accounted it a great Mercy that though the Law had silenced him that he must not preach to his beloved Flock yet he had his Abode amongst them and might be many ways useful to them But when the Five Mile Act so called was to be put in Execution in March 66. he went to Tilstock a Village in Whitchurch Parish in the same County to sojourn there and there the Power of the Lord was with him greatly and made him Instrumental of much Good both to the Town and in the Neighbourhood the remembrance whereof is still sweet to many who are yet living As he had opportunity he preach'd to them both in Season and out of Season and which was more his Prudent Pious Conversation was a continual Sermon He had many Children and all with him and no visible Income wherewithal to buy them Bread yet the Lord was graciously pleased to make Provision both for him and them so that they did not want The sixth of Matthew as he was used to say did maintain him During his Abode there he buried a dearly beloved Daughter named Sarah which was a great Grief to him for she was grown up and began to be useful but it Comforted him that she finished Well and God gave him two Sons instead of her which repair'd the loss Another remove he had to Whitchurch Town and while he was there in May 1670 when the severe Act against Conventicles commenc'd in the same Month upon a Sabbath-day in the Afternoon he preach'd in a private House only to four and the Family where they were disturbed by the Minister himself Dr. M. F. in his own Person with others attending him and the Week following Convicted and Fined the Minister 10 l. because Poor the Master of the House 20 l. and two other of the Town 5 l. a piece and one Woman 5 s. Upon each of which Distress was made shortly after with the greatest Rigor They judging themselves wrong'd made their Appeal according to Law and in March following had a Tryal at Salop before Judge Twisden The Pretence against them was That a Daughter of the Family who was sixteen Years of Age but a few Days before coming home from Chester from an Uncle the had there was one present and being none of the Family of her Father made a fifth The Case was argu'd by Council and the Prosecutors made no other account but that the Jury would give their Verdict for the Justices who were the Defendants and lay treble Damages upon the Plantiffs which were intended to be made very great to their utter undoing But it pleased God in whose Hands are the Hearts of all Men without any Motion or Procurement of theirs to incline one of the Jurors to differ in the Verdict from the rest saying He would rather dye than say the Girl was none of her Father's Family This occasioned their stay together all Night and in the Morning being accused of some words spoken by him in their heat of Arguing to one of his Fellow-Jurors he was severely Rebuked and Fined 10 l. and the Cause referred to two Lawyers who never made any Decision of it so that each side sat down with his own Loss and not long after such of their Goods as were taken from them they had again but much demnified 'T was observed That one of the Prosecuting Justices dying during the Prosecution his Houshold-Goods were Proclaimed in the Town to be Sold and were Sold before Chapmen could be found that would buy the Distrained Goods The Informer that told he saw the Persons going into the House did afterwards beg his Bread from Door to Door This Event occasioned the remove of this Excellent Person out of his own Native Countrey where he dwelt among his own People to seek a Habitation elsewhere among Strangers and to London he went where God gave him Favour in the sight of many who sat down under his Ministry and with whom he ended his Days FINIS Lately Printed THe Cure of Distractions in attending upon God In several Sermons from 1 Cor. 7. 35. That we may attend upon the Lord without distraction The Love of the World cured In several Sermons preached upon 1 John 2. 15. Love not the world c. Both by Nathanael Vincent