least to make them neither afraid nor unwilling to die And 3. Lastly I add That whatsoever we know concerning this matter is principally if not wholly owing to Revelation and therefore it becomes none of us to pretend to be wise above what is written We should not exercise our selves with curious perplex'd and useless inquiries but rest contented with what we find plainly deliver'd in Holy Scripture striving always so to order our whole Conversations as that we may be found worthy to be receiv'd when we depart hence into those Mansions our Blessed Lord is gone before to prepare for us These things being thus premis'd let us proceed to consider wherein the Text has plac'd the Blessedness of departed Holy Spirits Now this it tells us lies in these two things They are Blessed 1. Because they rest from their Labours 2. Because their works follow or accompany them into their future State 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The meaning and importance of which things must be the subject of the following Discourse 1. They are Blessed in that they rest from their Labours i. e. They are compleatly deliver'd from all the Troubles and Sorrows all the Evils and Calamities Infirmities and Miseries of this frail Mortal State I say all which either have their Foundation in the very texture and constitution of the Human Body or proceed from the Folly and Frenzie the Envy or Malice of Others In this Vale of Tears and Misery Good Men as well as others are liable to Pain and Sickness to Difficulties and Dangers to Poverty Reproach and Persecution and all the sad effects of their own infirm crazie Bodies and the inordinate Appetites and Passions of others Nay the Sons of Violence too often make them the Marks of their Displeasure and Vengeance for no other reason but because their Works are Righteous And is it not a blessed thing to be deliver'd from such a deplorable and wretched State Why this is the happy state of such who die in the Lord. They are safe out of the reach of all these their Enemies No Smart or Anguish can afflict them No Wrath or Malice overtake them To allude to that of Moses concerning the Egyptians Exod. 14.13 when good Men shall have once past through this Red-Sea they may stand still upon the Shore and look back with Pleasure and Triumph upon all these their Enemies saying we shall see them again no more for ever As Job has it Chap. 3. v. 18.19 In the grave the Wicked cease from troubling and there the weary are at rest There the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor the small and great are there upon the same level none greater than other and the servant is free from his master So that the words of Solomon if understood with reference to departed Saints are strictly true That the day of a mans death is better than the day of his birth Eccles 7.1 The day of his Birth being the beginning of a life attended with continual Care and Sorrow the day of his Death being his Birth-day into a Blessed Immortal Life of uninterrupted Peace and Pleasure This for the First 2. The Second thing wherein the Text places the Blessedness of those who die in the Lord is this They are blessed because their Works accompany or follow them By which we are to understand these Two things I. The Grateful and Pleasant Remembrance II. The Glorious and happy Fruits and Effects or the Reward of their Good Works follows them 1. The Grateful Remembrance of their good Works follows them Now that this is a real Foundation and Ground of Peace and Blessedness to Holy Spirits in their state of separation from their Bodies may be reasonably inferr'd from the Consideration of our selves how it is with us here in our state of Discipline and Trial. For if good Men reflecting upon the course of their past Lives and finding that they have behav'd themselves piously with regard to God and Inoffensively and Charitably towards Men do from this Testimony of their Consciences receive a very sensible and inward Pleasure a Pleasure greater than the World can give which none can comprehend but such as have felt it What an Unspeakable Transporting Inconceiveable Pleasure may we reasonably suppose will spring up in departed Holy Souls when all the good Works of their whole Lives shall be had in remembrance and set in order before them and represented at one view with greater force and advantage than we can suppose they are in this Earthly State How will such Blessed Spirits upon such recollection even melt away and be dissolv'd and swallow'd up in the greatest Transports and highest Extasies of Complacency and Delight 2. The Fruits and Effects or Reward of their good Works accompanies or follows them into their future State But Blessed God! What Tongue can describe what Heart conceive the good things which thou hast prepared for all those who Die in thy Fear and Favour 'T is impossible for us fully to represent the Happiness and Glory of the Saints in their future State yet to excite our Love to God and to quicken our desires after the Enjoyment of Him it can neither be useless nor unseasonable to point at some few things which are the happy Effects and Reward of the Good Works of Holy Men in the other Life And therefore 1. Good Men are compleatly deliver'd from Sin as well as Sorrow and Trouble They are no longer liable to Temptation or Danger from any of the Enemies of God's Glory and their own Salvation Whil'st they are here upon Earth the Devil and his Agents lie in wait to Ensnare them and even their own Flesh which encompasses them about sollicits them to a multitude of Sins and Follies They daily find a Law in their Members warring against the Law of their Minds the Flesh lusting against the Spirit the Animal and Carnal strugling with the Rational and Spiritual Powers which Conflict is the ground and occasion of much Dejection and Disquietness of Soul filling even good Men with many Misgivings and Fears and Perplexities concerning their present Sincerity and future Happiness How in the bitterness of their Souls do they lament their evil Propensities and Inclinations their Slips and Failings their Mistakes and sometimes more notorious Transgressions They find no rest by reason of their Spiritual Enemies and their Hearts too often fail them But it is not thus with the Dead with them who Die in the Lord. He that is once entred into his Rest Heb. 4.10 Rom. 6.7 ceases from his own Works the works of Sin and the Flesh He that is dead is freed from Sin from the fear and danger and possibility of offending God No subtile malicious Serpent can insinuate himself into the Paradise of Holy Souls this Earth is the Scene of Satans Temptation and the place of Tryal Or if we may suppose that the Evil Spirit should creep in amongst them yet he will find nothing
several passages of the Apostle St. Paul the Parable of Lazarus and the example of the Penitent Theif upon the Cross But this leads me to the last thing I propos'd viz. 3. To touch at the time from whence the Blessedness of good Men commences and in this I have already in great measure prevented my self and therefore shall be very short upon it I doubt not therefore in a word to affirm that it begins immediately after the dissolution of Soul and Body Which whether it may be justly infer'd from the particular force of the Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we translate henceforth I shall not now dispute For however that be the thing it self is sufficiently clear from many other places of Scripture The whole Scope of the Parable of Dives and Lazarus is a convincing and undeniable Testimony Luke 16.19 c. 1 Phil. 2.23 2 Cor. 5.6 8. The Apostle St. Paul has assur'd us that to depart out of this Life is to be with Christ and that to be at home in the Body is to be absent from the Lord and to be absent from the Body is to be present with the Lord. Which Places are so clear and full to the purpose that more need not be added And therefore I shall now proceed to the Application of what I have said so as to influence our general Belief and Practice and in particular to temper and allay our Grief which this Melancholy Solemnity is so apt to excite in us And 1. From what has been said I might take occasion to shew the gross absurdity and falshood of that conceit which some have entertain'd concerning the Sleep of the Soul as they call it supposing it in its separate State intirely bereft and strip'd of all Vital Energy or Operation Which how it can be reconcil'd with those Scriptures which assert the immediate Blessedness of the Saints departed I cannot see unless a state of perfect inactivity and stupid senslessness either is or may be accounted a Blessed State 2. I might likewise represent what a direct contradiction the Doctrin of Purgatory as it is taught in the Church of Rome is to the words of the Text. Says the Text Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord No says the Church of Rome they are consign'd for many Years no body knows how many to Purgatory i. e. as they explain themselves to a place whose Torments are very exquisite little less than the pains of Hell to suffer as they speak the Temporal Punishment of those Sins for which they have not compleatly satisfi'd in this Life Can an immediate rest from their Labors and suffering very exquisite Pains and Torments consist together And then 3. From hence also I might shew how vain and useless it is to pray for the Saints who are departed this Life Their Sins and Sorrows are at an end They rest from their Labours They are Blessed and wherein can our Prayers Profit them Is it not absurd to pray for what they already enjoy Tho' the Words give just occasion to discourse upon all these things yet I shall choose rather to insist upon what is plainer and more practical And therefore 1. Are they who die in the Lord Blessed from hence you see the great Necessity the Reasonableness and Advantages of Christian Faith and Practice What greater Motive and Incouragement to live well than to be assur'd that if we do so we shall be happy by an abundant entrance into the joy of our Lord. Blessed are the Dead says the Text but then it is with this Restriction who die in the Lord. Which plainly shews that Blessedness appertains to them to them alone exclusively of all others Unless we live the Life of the Righteous it will be impossible for us to die the Death of the Righteous Unless we live to the Lord resigning our Selves Soul Body and Spirit intirely to his Will and Pleasure we can never die in the Lord never die in his Favour nor partake with him in his Glory The constant exercise of Faith and good Works will give us courage and confidence at the time of our dissolution and after death also If these go before or accompany us they will assure our Hearts and plead our Cause and through the Merits of Christ procure a full approbation and an ample reward But without Holiness no man shall see the Lord. Tribulation Anguish and Horror and black invincible Despair will be the portion of the Ungodly after their Dissolution The end of this life will be to them the beginning of a life of eternal Misery and Torment Impure wicked Souls will be so far from the end of their Labours that they will just then enter upon Labours infinitely more vexatious and insupportable than any they groan'd under in this Life Their Works as well as the Works of the Righteous will follow them into their future State But for this reason to enhance and aggravate their Shame and Misery For then the unreasonableness the folly and turpitude and horrid baseness of their behaviour will be represented to their guilty Minds with such Force and Efficacy and the impossibility of undoing their Evil Deeds or making any Satisfaction for them be so clearly imprest upon them that they will lie down in everlasting Confusion Astonishment and Despair expecting the Resurrection of Damnation Joh. 5.29 and cursing their own obstinate Folly as the only cause of their ruine And since it is thus we plainly see how much it is our Duty and our Interest to live in the sincere Belief and Practice of our Holy Religion that so at the time of our Dissolution we may receive the exceeding great and glorious rewards of it 2. From hence we may draw a very powerful Argument to lessen our Opinion of this World and to animate and fortifie us against the fear of Death What is there in this World that we should be over fond of it What is there in Death that should make us either afraid or unwilling to die Is not this World a place of Injustice and Violence of Subtiltiy and Deceit full of noise and brawling of Strife and Contention Are we not daily expos'd to Detraction and Reproach The Peevishness of some the Stubbornness of others the Treachery and Ingratitude of Friends the Hatred and Injuries of Enemies the contempt of Superiors the jealousie of Equals the envy of the Meaner sort the different Humours the divided and contrary Interests of those we converse with do perplex and almost distract and confound us Are not our best Counsels too often rejected our faithfulest Reproof scorn'd our well-lay'd Designs defeated Is not every thing subject to mutability and a ground of Care and Vexation And since it is thus since this is the State the Guise and manner of this World Why do we admire and dote upon it Why so unwilling to leave it Especially since Death will put an everlasting end to all this Labour and Sorrow and vexation of Spirit
Can a good Man readily go to a worse place Can he lose by the change of his Habitation No certiainly He will be an infinite gainer by it Death removes him far above from the wrath of Man and the strife of Tongues above the Waves and Winds the Storms and Tempests the Tossings and Instabilities of these Lower Regions out of the reach either of Envy or Malice Force or Subtilty It delivers from all the tumult disorder and fury and evil effects either of our own or other Mens Unreasonable Appetites or Passions Or if it should be said That Death do's deprive us of some things which it must be confest in a qualifi'd sense and in their due place are valuable Blessings things truly amiable and pleasant Yet at the same time it puts us into the Possession of greater Good Things Pleasures more Manly and Substantial Pure Unmixt Durable Satisfying Pleasures suitable to our Natures and commensurate to the Capacities of our Souls It transmits us to the Society of Saints and Angels God and Christ who are Friends indeed Faithful and never failing Friends fills us with clear and constant Impressions of God's Love to us and our Love to God which is the highest pitch of Felicity Why then do we fear Death which puts us into the Possession of so many so great and inestimable Priviledges Why do we not rather with submission aspire after this Happy State A natural fear of Death 't is true there will be this is hardly ever totally extirpated in the best But I am sure the Consideration of that great Blessedness which the Saints enjoy in their future State immediately upon the Dissolution of Soul and Body is sufficient to arm and fortifie good Men against the unreasonable and immoderate fears of it and that is the thing I aim at 3. Lastly What has been said is of great force and singular use to temper and mitigate our Sorrow upon the Death of our Christian Friends To have little or no concern upon us upon such sad Occasions is Unatural and more than Bruitish Stupidity But to be over concern'd and excessive in our Grief is indecent a thing unbecoming true Christians It becomes us it is our Duty to Mourn but then we must Mourn as those which have Hope Hope that our Friends are gone to their Rest and that we our selves when our appointed time comes shall rest together with them in a full assurance of a Glorious Resurrection to an Immortal Crown at the Last Day Which brings me to the particular Application of what has been said to allay and mitigate the Sorrow which this grave and mournful Solemnity excites in us 'T is true we have reason to weep for our selves in that we are depriv'd of so bright and noble a Pattern of unaffect'd Piety and true Goodness which our Deceas'd Sister set before us But our Loss is her Gain There 's no reason to weep upon her account She is enter'd into her Rest Her Sorrows are at an end and her Joys begun Joys which are satisfying and will be Eternal This I say we have great reason to believe as will appear when I have laid something of her true Character before you It pleas'd Almighty God the Wise Author of our Beings to bless her with an admirable Sagacity and quickness of Apprehension a discerning Mind and a strong Memory which together with a serious and composed frame and temper of Spirit made her capable of receiving and retaining the wisest and best Instructions and fitted Her for an unaffected and rational Devotion and those great Excellencies and Perfections our Holy Religion was design'd to Inspire and Work in us Which advantages of nature were very early and happily improv'd by the pious Care of her tender Mother a Lady of singular I had almost said inimitable Vertues and the joint endeavours of those Incomparable Ladies the Lady Nottingham and her Sister the Lady Mary whose Memory is Honourable and Precious amongst all those who had the Honour and Happiness to be acquainted with them These Excellent Ladies from her Childhood Train'd her up in the Way she should go and in her riper years she did not depart from it Their First and Principal Care as it ought to be was to sow in her Heart the Seeds of an early and sincere Piety and Devotion towards God to teach her the true knowledge of God through Jesus Christ and her Duty to Him to Inspire her with an Awful Regard to her Great Creator and Merciful Redeemer and her Infinite Obligations to them both and this before she could receive or imbibe any Prejudices which might occasion any aversness or dislike to Religious Meditations and Exercise Which being done no Care was wanting to let her soon into the Art of Civility and all the Decencies of a Graceful and Genteel Behaviour without any mixture of those Impertinencies and Follies which too often disguise and shelter themselves under that Amiable Name The good Effects of which Pious Care and Pains appear'd in her whole Conversation As for her Devotion towards God nothing could be more Regular Uniform and Constant both as to her Closet Retirements and Publick Worship Neither Pleasure nor Business could hinder it because to Serve God was always her Chief Pleasure and Greatest Business Of her due Attendance upon the Publick Worship this is a Remarkable Instance that she was never known to omit any fit opportunity of receiving the Holy Sacrament from the sixteenth Year of her Age and would not go out of the World without this Viaticum or as the Ancients sometimes stile it her 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Medicine of Immortality which she received from the Hands of her truly Honourable Brother with all becoming Seriousness Devotion and Thankfulness Her Devotion was not made up of sudden Heats and Raptures Intermissions and Pauses but was Steady Judicious and Rational and Well Govern'd free from Ostentation Superstition and any affected Singularities Which as it shew'd the Soundness of her Judgment so it contribut'd to the Ease and Comfort of her Life by delivering her from those Vexatious Doubts and Fears and Scruples which so often disquiet and torment weaker Minds None who knew her but must be sensible of the Native Sincerity great Openness and Honest Plainness of her Heart which made her always speak as she thought which taught her to despise the Dissimulation and Flatteries of others and to abhor the thoughts of Dissembling with or Flattering any with whom she Convers'd Her Gratitude was Great and Exemplary towards all who had shewn any kindness to her Especially towards those who had charg'd themselves with the Care of her Education She was so sensible of the great Advantages she had receiv'd by it that whenever she mention'd their Names which she often did she did it in such Terms and Expressions as imply'd the highest Respect Honour and Love to their Memory What an Admirable Instance was she of a Self-denying Temper There was no present
Satisfaction so great which she would not fore-goe when to do it would serve any Wise and better Purpose Tho' she long'd for nothing so much as the Enjoyment of her Husband and Children in the privacies of her own House yet this she declin'd when she was sensible she could not gratifie her own Inclinations without being wanting to an Excellent Young Lady who was left to her more immediate Care and who I doubt not retains very Grateful Impressions of her Love and owes much to the Pious and Prudent Example and Instructions which she always laid before her What an Illustrious and Noble Pattern did she set us of a great and generous Contempt of the Vain Pleasures and Useless Divertisements Foolish Mirth and Impertinent Recreations with which Youth is especially Ensnar'd which have a tendency to corrupt the Mind and bewitch and steal away the Heart and often prove of very Fatal Consequence And this when Youth and Opportunity conspir'd to gratifie her in a high Degree She was always above them they were either Insipid or Distastful She aspir'd chiefly after the Pleasures of Religion and Vertue and a good Conscience which is a continual Feast These were more charming sensible and transporting Pleasures Not that she was Cynical or Morose or an Enemy to the Innocent Pleasures of Conversation or Censorious of others who took a greater liberty than she indulg'd to her self 'T is true she was not fond of these things but yet made all reasonable and fit allowances for others she sometimes gave way but when she did she kept the Reins in her Hands and would not be prevail'd with to exceed the bounds of Modesty and Sobriety If we consider her in her conjugal Relation I had almost apply'd the words of the Wise Man in the Close of that Chapter which she so often made the Subject of her delightful Meditation and daily Practice Many Daughters have done vertuously Prov. 31.29 but thou excellest them all Never was any Wife more tenderly Affectionate towards her Husband and more obsequiously Observant of him and rejoyc'd more in him than she did She always suited her Carriage with the greatest Ease and Chearfulness to the gravity of his Character and Sacred Function Nay she has been often heard to speak of it as one of the greatest Blessings of her Life that God in his wise and good Providence had so order'd it that she should be a Clergy-man's Wife And this she did for that very reason for which too many are so forward now a-days to despise not only our Persons but our Function because it might be a check upon her from that outward adorning as St. Peter calls it of plaiting the hair and wearing of gold and putting on of apparel and might be a more particular engagement to put on that Modesty and Gravity and Sobriety and Meekness and Spiritual Ornaments with which the Apostle requires the Wives of such who Minister in that Sacred Office should in a more particular manner Adorn themselves As to her Conversation among her Neighbours they must and I am perswaded will do her that right as to testifie that it was very Kind and Courteous towards all Compassionate and Tender-hearted towards them in their distress She was faithful in her Friendship unwearied in her Diligence and prudent in her Conduct her Speech was Savoury and Behaviour Graceful she was an Ornament and a Crown to her Husband a Blessing to her Family and whole Neighbourhood and a Pattern to her Sex If we take a view of her in her last lingring tedious and oftentimes painful Sickness we have an illustrious example of the due Exercise of all those Graces and Vertues which are peculiar and proper to such a Condion an invincible patience and fortitude of Mind attended with a profound and intire Resignation to the Will of God She was never heard to complain or murmur Was easie in her self and to those about her and thankful for the assistance they gave her Never exprest any great desire of Life I once heard her say with great modesty and temper she should have been glad if it would have pleas'd God to have entrusted her with the Education of her dear and hopeful Children that she might have taken the same Pious Care of them which her Relations and Friends had done of her however she was content knowing they were safe in the Hands of God and committed them to his Good Providence under the pious affectionate and prudent Care of her dearest Husband of which she was intirely satisfy'd When she had the quickest and most sensible Apprehensions of Death she said she was neither afraid nor unwilling to Die having nothing upon her Mind to trouble her How great an argument of Integrity and Innocence Guilt if there be any usually manifesting itself at such a time in Persons of Pious Principles and Education But she could not charge her self And it pleas'd our Wise and Good God to reward her Innocence with a calm and comfortable Death It pleas'd him to release her out of the Troubles and Miseries of this World the last Lord's Day with great hopes of keeping an Everlasting Sabbath with Him in that Glory which he has prepar'd for all those who Love Him in Sincerity and Truth And thus have I very imperfectly given you something of the Character and Conversation of that Excellent Person whose Remains are here before us I have not been sollicitious of any Method or used any Art to deceive and am perswaded that nothing but meer Malice can accuse me of Insincerity or Flattery And the sum of all is this That our Deceas'd Sister was Blest with as many truly Noble and Great Accomplishments and had as few defects and imperfections as any of her Sex and must be reckon'd amongst the best and brightest Patterns of a Refin'd and Exalted Virtue And now should not the Consideration of so Early and Exemplary a Piety and true Goodness which made her too good for this World and qualified her for a better incline us to wipe our Eyes at least not to Mourn immoderately at this our Loss which is her unspeakable Gain If Natural Affection must and will have a vent yet we must govern it by Reason and Religion We must remember what great and just Grounds we have to believe she died in the Lord and is Blessed in a rest from her Labours and that the happy Fruits Effects and Reward of her Works follow Her and must comfort our selves with such Considerations Above all since in the establish'd Method of the Divine Wisdom and Goodness there 's an impossibility she should return to us again let us strive so to order our Conversation that when our appointed time comes we may go to her and all our Christian Friends to the General Assembly of Saints and Spirits of just Men made perfect without any future possibility of ever parting with them again and give me leave to say that the best and kindest thing we can do to the Memory of our departed Friends is to Copy after them to Transcribe their Piety and Goodness into our own Practice To imitate their Virtues is most Honourable to them and Profitable to our selves this shews a true Love and Value for them and will at length Transmit us to them again where we shall partake with them in their Blessedness If amongst them there be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any sense or knowledge of our Affairs we can do nothing so Grateful and Delightful to them By so doing we stand up in their Room and supply their Places and present and future Generations will call Us as well as Them Blessed and we shall enter into our Rest as they have entr'd into theirs and be for ever with the Lord. Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for and Sold by Thomas Speed at the Three Crowns near the Royal-Exchange in Corn-hill THE Duties of the Closet being an earnest Exhortation to private Devotion 120. Price 1 s. 6 d. A Sermon Preach'd before the King at White-Hall Nov. 5th 96. By Sir William Dawes Baronet D. D. and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty Publish'd by his Majesty's special Command The Second Edition Quarto Price 6 d. A Sermon Preach'd before the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor and Aldermen at Guild-Hall Chappel on Sunday April the 11th By Sir William Dawes Baronet D. D. and Chaplain in Ordinary to his Majesty Quarto Price 6 d. A Sermon at the Funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Fisher Sister to the Honourable Sir William Dawes Baronet D. D. And Wife to the Reverend Dr. Peter Fisher Preach'd at Bennington in Hertfordshire June 2d 1698. By William Milner Vicar of Shiphall in Hertfordshire Quarto Price 6 d. Of the Happiness of the Saints in Heaven A Sermon Preach'd before the Queen at White-Hall October the 12th 90. By William Beveridge D. D. Rector of St. Peters Cornhill The Third Edition Quarto Price 6 d. A Sermon at the Funeral of the Reverend Mr. Thomas Grey Late Vicar of Dedham in Essex Preach'd in the Parish Church of Dedham Feb. 2d 92. With a short Account of his Life By Joseph Powel M. A. Rector of St. Mary on the Wall in Colchester Quarto Price Six-Pence The Death of Good Josiah Lamented A Sermon occasion'd by the Death of our late most Gracious Soveraign