before this Enemy This like Jonah will raise a Storm if not cast out Guilt that one word spoke by the Mouth of Conscience will be like a clap of Thunder in thy Bosom it will make a dreadful convulsion in thy inner when Death comes to attack thy outward Man therefore keep thy Garments clean and be often washing them in the Blood of the Lamb. Though thou art a Child of God yet remember thou hast that fuel still in thee that is very apt to catch the Devils Fire Can a Traveller hold on his way rejoycing with a Thorn in his Foot No more can the believer with comfort march into Eternity with guilt lying upon his Conscience Wherefore beloved seeing that 2 Pet. 3. 14. ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless Walk circumspectly not as Fools but as Wise uncloathing your Souls as to the Old Man and his deeds which are Eph. 4. 22. 24. corrupt and putting on the New Man in Righteousness and true Holiness and this is the way with joy to meet thy God 4thly And lastly be faithful to Christ in thy particular and proper station Christ is the great Master and appointer of every Man's Work and Post in the World Be thou faithful unto the Death and then Rev. 2. 10. comes the Crown of Life John's hearers were not sollicitous about changing their imployments but how they might serve God in them How shall he that loyters with the sluggard in his day for service in the Evening rest from his Labours Some Men are always busie but doing nothing in the great work of their Salvation Why stand you here Matt. 20. 6. all the day idle He that hath least hath one Talent and if thou art not a wicked Servant that will be improved for thy Lord. Does Solomon send the sluggard to an insect to be his Teacher And may not many Christians be sent to the inanimate part of the Creation to learn to serve God in their particular relations The stars in their courses fought for God against Sisera He is the most excellent Christian that Honours God in his particular relations in which he hath placed him In short true Grace is no Friend to Idleness Parents and Children Masters and Servants Magistrates and Ministers have their work appointed them in the World and it s our Business to be diligent in it Would you then stand actualy ready Follow the example of your Lord Redeemer who when about to leave the World could say I have finished the work which thou John 17. 4. gavest me to do Lose not your present opportunities but do the Work of him that sent thee into this World while it is day that thou mayest say with the Apostle I have finished my course I have fought 2 Tim. 4. 7. the good fight of Faith I am now putting off my Sword and have no more to do but to receive the Crown And Blessed is that Servant whom when his Lord comes he shall find thus standing and thus doing He hath no more to do but to Die and enter into the joy of his Lord. The Second thing I proposed was to show That to lay Death to Heart when we see it removing the best of Men and Ministers is but highly reasonable The Living will de jure he ought to do it and if a Wise Man de facto he will lay it to Heart as hath been shown And that First Because it 's the end of all Men. No sooner Man brought in Sin but Death passed upon all Men. It 's an innocent mistake when in the House of Mourning where an end is come to another to imagine it our own It is but to antidate that which must certainly and it may be shortly come What if in the succession of many Ages God hath made two and but two Men's time run into eternity without interruption Can we tell what change past upon them in their translation For this I say that 1 Cor. 15. 50. Flesh and Blood as now fram'd and fashioned can't inherit the Kingdom of God And those that remain alive at our Lord 's appearing tho they shall not Die as it is a dissolution of the frame of Man or separation of the Soul and Body yet they shall be changed to a fitness or capacity for the Glory 51 52. of that illustrious Day Tho' the Life of Man admits of many maybes and peradventures yet his Dying admits of none It is appointed for all Men once to die The rich and Heb. 9. 27. poor are there The Beggar Dyed and so did the Rich Man all pass through this Gate tho' the ways immediately part upon it like a Princes Palace that hath but one common Gate at which Criminals and Children enter The one goes up to his Fathers Mansions the other down to his Dungeon Thus it is with good and bad The Rose of Sharon and Lillie of the Valley tho' they are more Pleasant and Beautiful while Living yet they are not less Mortal than the common Grass The sweet Singer of Israel must come to his last words and the most charming Preacher to his last Sermon Among the many Rules and Directions written for the preserving of Health none was ever so mad as to pretend a Medicine that would turn away Death for it 's the end of all Men. Secondly The weighty but unseen circumstances that may attend our Dying God hath as much appointed the limits of our Lives as the bounds of our habitations The whole of our Days make up but a few Years and they are full of Evil. The time at longest is but short But there are two circumstances which should most of all affect us one is we know not the critical moment when our Lord will come whether while weare young and tender or whether he will stay till Luke 12. 40. the Years come in which we shall say we have no pleasure Another is the manner in which he will send for us whether the thread of our Lives shall be snapt of a sudden or worn out by a lingering Consumption This Messenger Death will come but can we tell where he will meet us in the Street or in the Closet on Bed or at Board Can you tell in what Livery he will appear Tho' Death be to the believer the Messenger of a Father yet thy Father may send for thee in a Chariot of Fire May it not blow a Storm when thou art to launch out into the eternal ocean Whereas a more gentle gale may waft another over In a word all Pet. 1. 24. flesh is grass and the glory thereof as the flower of the grass the grass withereth c. Can you tell what Hand God will use to cut it down It may be the Hand of an Infant the Teeth of an Insect or a blast of Wind and if it stands long of it self it 's fading and withering Surely then
A Funeral Sermon Preached at the Merchants Lecture AT Pinner's-Hall Broadstreet UPON THE DEATH of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Gouge Who Deceased Jan. 8. 1699 1700. By JOHN NESBITT LONDON Printed for John Marshall at the Bible in Grace-Church-Street 1700. TO THE Relations and Friends Of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Gouge DECEASED THE more Useful your Relation or Friend was to the World and Delightful to you the more Conspicuous will your Graces appear in a becoming Submission to the Will of Him who hath now remov'd him to a Better Place We can't part with such in whom we have Pleasure without Pain nor can such as have been united in Affection part without a Sigh and a Groan To have no Sense of what we suffer or to part with our Friends as if we sustained no Loss is Stupidity and not Submission but while you feelingly complain to God to show your Affection beware of complaining of him or censuring his Dispensations for he is accountable for None of his Ways as he can't deny us that Mercy which we have Merited so he can't take that from us which we have not Forfeited therefore it becomes you to say with David I was Dumb I opened not my Mouth because thou didst it Psal 39. 9. What I have said of him will appear to the Impartial his Circumstances being considered to be a due Debt If any of you think I have said too little blame your selves for not making Choice of a more Skilful Hand to represent him in his full Lustre If any blame me for saying so much that 's owing to the Living who made it needful and not to my Inclination If to think and speak Ill of others is as a Great Man hath Asserted not only a bad thing but a sign of a bad Man sure I am it 's a very difficult thing to find a good Man in Conversation when speaking Ill of others is so much in fashion It is a pity when so many of all Parties seem to be bent for Division that such should appear agreed and united only in this to think the way to do Christ Service and promote their own Opinions is by endeavouring to blast the Reputation of each other I wish rather all Parties could learn to be Conscientiously strict to their own Principles and Perswasions in Practice and at the same time do all the Offices of Love and Kindness to each other notwithstanding our Differences as becomes the Disciples of a Meek Jesus As for this Discourse it is a Theme that is so often Preach'd and Published and Calculated chiefly for Practice that I must not expect it will suite the Gust and Relish of such Airy Christians as despise all Practical Discourses but if it may be Blest of God to assist and excite any of you or others so to number their Days that they may apply their Hearts to Wisdom my Design is obtained which that it may is the Earnest Prayer of Your Sincere Friend and Servant in the Ministry of Christ Jesus John Nesbitt Books Printed for and Sold by John Marshall at the Bible in Grace-Church-Street AN Elegiack Essay Humbly Offered to the Pious Memory of the Late Reverend and Learned Mr. Matthew Mead Minister of the Gospel at Stepney c. Also most of his Works The Effigies of Mr. Matth. Mead newly Engraved to the Life by an Ingenious Hand far Excelling any before A Sermon on the Death of the Reverend and Learned Mr. Stephen Lobb By Thomas Goodwin A Declaration of the Congregational Ministers in and about London against Antinomian Errors c. The Second Edition To which is added The Testimony of some of the Ministers in Behalf of the rest The Divine Institution of Congregational Churches Ministry and Ordinances By Isaac Chauncy Variety without Vanity or a Compact Number of Copies with most Sorts of Copy-books c. with Copies on the top to learn by Also most Sorts of Books whereby to learn Short-hand Rich's Short-hand Testament and Psalms A Funeral-Sermon ECCLES vii Verse 2. The last clause The Living will lay it to his Heart IT is generally granted that Life is the most inestimable Jewel of the Creation the Father of Lyes in this spake Truth That Skin for Skin Job 2. 4. and all a Man hath he will give for his Life Life tho' but in an Infect is more Glorious than the Sun that gave it both Breath and Being A Living Dog is better than Eccl. 9. 4. a Dead Lyon Yet this Royal Preacher when he weighs the Godly Man's Death with the Day of his Natural Birth he prefers the former before the latter The one is attended with a numerous train of Miseries whereas the other is the Believers deciding Stroak and final Conquest over all his Enemies Hence he perswades us to allay the Sorrow and Toyl of a miserable Life by making preparation for a comfortable Death and the method proposed is to frequent Funerals rather than Feasts It is better to go to the House of Mourning than to the House of Feasting and that for two Reasons First Because while we are Lamenting anothers Death we may learn the Frailty of our own Life For it is the end of all Men. Secondly The Influence it will have upon our Hearts and Practice The Living will lay it to his Heart Which passage I hope will not be thought unsuitable to the late Providence which gave me the sad occasion to make choice of it First Here 's a Duty mentioned Laying Death to Heart Secondly You have the equity or reasonableness of it The Living will lay it to his Heart As he Merits the Character of a Fool nay of a Devil that can make a mock of his own or anothers Sins so he is Prov. 14. 9. justly esteemed Dead while Living that with an unconcerned Eye can see Death's Conquest over others which is the Fruit of Sin and the example of his own The Doctrine I purpose to prosecute from these Words is this When we hear or see Death removing the best of Men and Ministers it is highly reasonable to expect that the Living will lay Death to Heart In managing this point I shall I. Show what it is to lay Death to Heart II. The reasonableness of it III. apply it First What it is to lay Death to Heart First To fix the Mind upon Dying to make it the Subject of our Mente attendet serious Meditation He that is a Wise Man will consider his latter end when he sees an end is come to others before him Some like the Prodigal lavish out their Thoughts wholly about this World and Death that will shortly snatch them from it is quite forgotten they like Archimedes are drawing their Projects in the Dust Take no Alarum by the warnings that are given them till the Enemy smite them down at once Others think it too Melancholy a Theme and why should they torment themselves before the time to think that this Body carefully kept and delicately fed must
it 's but reasonable to be affected with our Death before it come Thirdly Because it is not the end of your being but your entering upon an unchangeable condition You don't cease to be but cease to be Mortal Now you fall into Sin and there is a may be of your Recovering but then as the Tree falls so it lies Now many that are caught in the Snare of the Devil may be Rescued by their Redeemer but if you fall a Captive to Satan in this Rancounter there 's no Ransom for ever There 's no mistaking twice in this Warfare nor is there any room to correct an Error For there 's no Work nor Device Eccl. 9. 10. nor Wisdom in the Grave whither thou art going For you that are Believers it 's your going to meet your Head and Husband and shall not the Lambs Wife make her self ready You are Wise Virgins and is it not a reproach that the Wise should sleep with the Foolish as this enters you upon a state where there 's no mixture all pure Joy or unmixt Misery so it puts you beyond all changing the Believer shall never more put to Sea or be in a Storm again And for you that are Unbelievers there shall no more be a Messenger of Peace to knock at your Doors that which is now your desire shall be your Doom Now you desire the Almighty to depart from you and he will leave you to all Eternity O Sirs this one Word Eternity if duly Weighed by us either as it respects happiness or Torments we could not look upon the Death of others without laying it to Heart by Preparing for our own Thus I have done with my Doctrine which I may rather call an Application I am afraid the Age we Live in needs more to be urged to Practice than entertained with the Explication of what is more abstruse many know much and know that they do know but few Practise what they know What I have further to say is to apply this Doctrine with respect unto the present occasion I might draw several Inferences from hence As First That the Christian Religion does not forbid but commend our sympathising with those that mourn for deceased Friends Religion is not a rigid Sowerness true Grace regulates but does not destroy natural Affections Tears came in by the first Adam and they were Legitimated by the second Jesus wept If we are not only to go to the House of mourning but to lay it to heart sure I am we are to be affected with those that are afflicted in it Secondly I might collect how difficult it is to make right Improvement even of those things that are most obvious We live among the Monuments of the Dead and it 's of the Lord's Mercy that we are spared The Living know they must die Some have the Harbingers of this King of Terrours already come and feel Death already invading them The Records of the Grave tell us it 's the House of all Living and yet how difficult is it to be affected with it Some possibly will say they have been hearing a very common Theme this Morning but canst thou say by all the Funerals thou hast frequented or Sermons thou hast heard that thou hast laid thy Death to Heart by making ready both as to thy state and frame as hath now been shown Thirdly How irrationally do they act who instead of laying Death to Heart put it far from them and lay Sin next their Heart and in their Affection They hug the Serpent that will Sting them the Worm that will gnaw in their Bosoms to all eternity God hath not given them the seeing Eye nor the understanding Heart unto this Day Some there are that carry it towards Death as if they were able to Hector it to stay their leasure or else were resolved as one says to try what Musick there is in Weeping and Wailing joyned in consort with Gnashing of Teeth Such may truly be said to be Dead while Living for the living c Second use by way of Exhortation Shall not we that are Living lay this to Heart that Death hath bereft us of one that used to be a Messenger of Peace from God to us in this Place One did I say I might have said many Or must I take up the Prophets complaint The rightous Is 57. 1. Nemo Hemo reponi◠in animo Junius Perish and no man layeth it to heart Possibly you 'll ask when such an one Died What was his Distemper Who succeeds him And in what condition is his Family left And when this is done your concern is over and gone Is this to lay what is come to pass to Heart No! this doès evidence that there was little Love to them while Living when we can so easily forget them when Dead Is the Staff and the Stay the Ancient and the Prophet taken away and will the Living not be affected I know Funeral Sermons have been much abused by daubing flattery whence some have condemn'd them in gross and think their ought to be no more notice taken of the precious than of the vile I grant that my work is not to praise the Dead but to instruct the Living and if I should attempt a panigyrick in this case it would be to put Paint upon pure Gold However oppressed Innoence ought to be vindicated and shameless Sinners ought to be reproved whether they will or will not regard it I shall therefore mention Three things which if well considered will show what just reason there is to be deeply affected 1st The Person 2dly The Season 3dly The hand the Living had in it First For the Person not that I pretend to tell you his worth for that would suppose I knew all he was Only give me leave to speak of him under a double capacity 1st As a gracious Man 2dly As a Minister of Jesus Christ First As a gracious Man True Grace is the lasting Foundation of Honour and Greatness Let Hell and Earth unite their Malice to contradict it the Oracles of Heaven will maintain Ps 112. 6. it That the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance In him Heaven gave an early confutation of that opprobrious but too common reflection That Ministers Children of all others seldom mind Religion He could say and that truly too as Obadiah did Thy servant feared the Lord from my youth 1 Kings 18. 12. He was early Planted in the Beams of the Sun of Righteousness and thereby quickly ripened to do his Master eminent Service He not only from a Child knew the Scriptures but through them was made 2 Tim. 3. 15. wise unto Salvation Nor was his goodness like the Morning Cloud and the early Dew but like the shining light which shineth more and Prov. 4. 18. more unto the perfect day Tho through constant labour in his Masters Vineyard and other afflictive providences he contracted an early weakness in his outward Man so that his Strength was weakned in the
but in their Minority and the greatest Men are not Job 32. 9. always Wise I allow also that God never does any thing toward his Children in a way of harsh Providence but he sees cause enough in them for his procedure in such a way with them God tells Moses that he should not pass over Jordan into the Earthly Canaan because of Compare Deut. 32 51. with 1. 37. and 4. 21. his own Transgression and yet Moses by the Spirit of God lays it at the Peoples Door as the Cause why it went thus ill with him Tho' every Mans time is appointed and the Instruments by which his Death is brought about are under the Orders of a wise Providence yet the Instruments are not the less guilty that have been voluntary Agents Offences must come but woe to them by whom they come Christ's Death was in every part of it according to the Counsel of God yet the Instruments and their Children to this day lie under his anger for it I must speak it on the behalf of him whose Death gave me this sad Occasion Was he not wounded in the House of his professed Friends or did he not suffer more by divided Friends as they pretended to be than united Enemies They that are guilty will possibly say like the whorish Woman who when she hath eaten wipeth her Mouth and says I Prov. 30. 20. have done no Wickedness There is a levelling Spirit yet in our World and that among some who bear their Heads high above others for Religion my meaning is that those who never had any Reputation of their own are prodigal in murdering and wasting the Reputation of other Men that none may seem better or above themselves That which the Apostle foretold seems to be now fulfilled a spreading Leprofie of vile 2 Tim. 3. 3 4 5. Sins prevailing and that which makes it both more odious and dangerous is they cover it under a Form of Godliness they intitle Heaven to the Eruptions of Hell and lay their own Brats at God's Door If any should ask me what have they done in this Matter I shall only return that Answer which Plato did when Dionisius the Tyrant wrote to him desiring he would not report his evil Practices Diog. Laert in vit Plat. non sibitantum super esse otti c. to whom Plato made this Return He had not so much Leisure as to think or speak of him Meaning he had better things to employ his thoughts and time about than to relate the noted Barbarities and unparaleil'd Cruelties of a Person who was so very notorious that their needed no Historian to inform the World of him or them But when I have said this I must be just to many of them where for a time he stood in a pastoral Relation Such there were who truly Lov'd him and now lament the loss of him they were reall Mourners for tho' they could not be healers of their breaches of whom I dare not doubt but their Achans being gone and the troublers of their Israel departed they will remain a peacable Habitation and may yet revive and flourish under the Blessing of Heaven upon this I would leave these two or three cautious First Let not this prejudice any at Church order Will any Wise Man speak against Liberty because some by it grow licentious Or will any affect an absolute Tyranny to live in a slavish Subjection because a well constituted Government is now and then afflicted with a popular commotion It were easy to make it appear both from Scripture and History that the best constituted Churches have not been exempted from such disturbances Weeds will spring up in the most regular Gardens Vermin will crawl amongst the sweetest Roses Think not worse of Churches because now and then in them there appears a Diotrephes to disturb their peace and cause divisions 2dly Let Church Members beware how they begin contention beware of drawing at either end of that Saw a little spark may not only burn down your own but your Neighbours dwelling It 's easy giving vent to Passion but it s like the breaking out of Water not easily reclam'd again and an offended Prov. 18. 19. brother is harder to won than a strong Tower 3dly Let Churches be prudent and careful whom they admit to their Fellowship It s easier letting in than it is to cast out Thus I have finished the first Exhortation to lay this our loss to heart from the consideration of the Person the Season and the hand the living had in it The second Exhortation I would a little prosecute is to those who are setting their Heart and Hand to Christ's Plow Those who are ingaged at least in their studies and purposes for the Ministry or but entered upon it I hope they will not think me too assuming in what I say to them nor would I have others think I flatter because I am not ashamed to say I sincerely Love them Your work is great and difficulties many yet in the very work there is a reward The meanest Station about a King is Honourable What is it then to stand next the King of Kings I know several I wish I knew more of whom I dare not doubt but that they are Plants of God's own Planting and under his Blessing shall stand up in his Work and Service in the room of those who now rest from their Labours To such I would recommend these things First Labour to have your heart established with Grace as well as your Heads with knowledge without the Oil of Grace you will never make lasting Lights burning and shining for the Reputation and Honour of your Lord and Master and without Knowledge you 'll hand out Poyson in stead of spiritual Food God complains of some that handled Jer. 2. 8. the Law they knew him not that is God and they had no spiritual acquaintance they were void of Grace The Apostle speaks of others that 1 Tim. 1. 7. were desirous to be teachers of the law understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm Such seek what they can get but not to be fit for what they undertake it hath been observ'd That Hereticks are always fond of ignorant Upstarts because such are most apt to be taken with Popular Applause but when Head and Heart are thus qualified then like a well-built and ballac'd Ship you will be able to steer a steady Course thro all the Storms of this World Secondly Joyn much Prayer and Meditation to your studying Study is to make you useful to others but Prayer and Meditation brings it home to your own Souls He that is the most earnest Solicitor at the Throne of Grace is like to be the most powerful Perswader in delivering his Message storm Heaven If you would prevail with Men get your own Heart warm'd with the Love of God in Private and then you 'll be earnest with others in the Pulpit Thirdly Let the Ministry be your Work