Son and you of so good a Pastor so good a Friend so good a Man If you enquire of his Death because it seemed to us to be somewhat hasty 't is true he had but one great Paroxysm of an hour which ended his Life a sigh a groan and an expiration yet let no man think this a surprize that fetch'd him away to Heaven without much ado They dye suddenly that live wickedly such dye all at once but he that dyes daily though he be not sick every day yet dyes by degrees and is every day in expectation of it perhaps a tedious Sickness may make a man more willing to dye but not more fit unless his former life hath been a virtuous holy preparation both for a bed of Sickness and the gate of Death Elijah was a man of God 2 King 2.1 and he was snatcht to Heaven in a whirlwind Enoch walked with God every day and in an hour was taken away to Heaven in a moment as it were Let no man think that Death to an Holy man come it when or where or how soever can be a disadvantage let it come by day or by night abroad or at home if a mans habitual frame intentions and designs be just holy heavenly good this man dyes well enough Unhappy we if a man could not be saved unless he dyed aged or wasted by a tedious sickness a Consumption or an Ague Surely if a good mans Translation be from perfect health and strength he hath no wrong done him a pang of an hour that begins and ends his pain is rather a mark of favour than displeasure Tell me Oh men of sowre Censure Is it not a desirable posture to be found in when a servant of Christ is found doing the work of his Master This Servant of Christ was all that day he dyed as he was many dayes in the like fasting and praying and preparing for Preaching the next day and the next to that and as though he had a sight of the approaching closure of his life with the day blessed his Children solemnly and gave them such directions as they were capable of charging them to serve God and be pious to be obedient to their Mother c. saying withal It may be I may see you no more after this and said I wish I were now in Heaven Who would not desire to be in such a frame as this if he thought his appointed time was at hand Thus he dyed and I am perswaded and I think all good people are so too That the day of this mans death was better than that wherein he was born and his Change happy and of infinite advantage to him for he is in peace and bliss and thousands might be well contented to dye as he did were they so well prepared as he was And now if you would shew respects to his Memory and kindness to your selves Then Stand fast in the Faith he taught you waver not shift it not Remember his pious and heavenly Exhortations and Counsels and reduce them to Practice for that and so much of Religion which you practise will do you good and no more nor else And let every one that would dye happily let him endeavour every day to be prepared for it and not deferr because of health for Death may come at Sun rising as well as at the setting thereof To the High and most Glorious GOD the lover of Souls and the rewarder of his faithful Servants be all Praise and Glory for ever Amen FINIS
and make ready and be every day prepared for we know not the day wherein we shall be taken One dyeth in his non-age another at full growth one in his bed another in the field the wise and the fool the King and the Subject the Pastor and his Flock c. all must taste of Death and be layn up in the grave Now the improvement wise men and good make of these notices of the end of the World altogether at once and of the end of every particular Mans being in this World is this That every man while he hath the space and the warning should especially look after his great concernment how he may be fit and prepared for such a change such an encounter that so Death may not spoil him for ever So to order our conversation and discharge our duty and dispatch our work which our Lord hath given us to do that so we may give up our accounts with joy alwayes doing what faithful servants of our Lord and Master Christ should be doing that may expect the blessing here promised to such who are faithful and diligent and constant in the work of the Lord and finish your course so doing And for this the Text is a mighty motive when it saith Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Sirs the Affair I would at this time invite you to and engage you in is the business and exercise of those Religious duties as our Lord and Master Christ hath appointed for us in this present life in order to our eternal happiness in the other World to which this Text gives a direction and an encouragement 1. How are the parties assigned to this excellent employment under the title of Servant and in a peculiar manner the servant of the Lord in what place or condition the man be in for externals provided he be the Lords servant 2. And then how is the Blessedness designed for this servant or these servants 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which term is comprehensive including all felicity This stock spreads it self into many branches every one bearing fruit of its kind to make the man compleatly happy the favour of God the riches of the Promises the vision of God the fulness of Joy The servant that is blessed of the Lord thus shall be admitted into the joy of the Lord and the inheritance of the Saints in glory Matth. 25.34 Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you and Rev. 22.14 Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the City 3. The persons for whom this Blessedness is designed such servants as are doing servants but well doing actively obedient to the Commandments of our Lord faithful and diligent constant to the end the servant doing so shall be blessed in so doing when the servant shall have finished his course and called home to the blessed pay and to receive from his Lord whom he hath served that bountiful reward and full blessing of Eternal felicities Well done thou good and faithful servant enter thou into the joy of thy Lord Matth. 25.21 There is such a connexion between the duties of Christianity performed aright and in obedience to our Lord and the blessings promised to such that nothing can cut asunder or disjoyn them yea there is such a blessing that waits upon the faithful constant diligent service of Christ that 't is reward enough in its performance to encourage any man to the service and employment And when these things are seriously considered this Position will be easily granted That 't is a blessed thing Doct. to spend and to end our dayes in doing the will of our Lord in his service Blessed he when found so doing This needs no more proof than the probation our Lord hath said it in the Text and those who have done so have found it by experience and have given in their Testimony to it S. Paul 2 Tim. 4.6 7 8. I have finished my course I have kept the Faith I am now ready the time of my departure is at hand Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day c. And the Exhortation he gives to such of the believing Galatians Gal. 6.9 for encouragement is to this purpose also Let us not be weary of well doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not And Rom. 2.7 To them who by patient continuing in well doing seek for glory and honour eternal life and lastly observe what you find 1 Cor. 15.58 Wherefore my beloved brethren be stedfast and unmoveable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as your labour is not in vain in the Lord. The man who renounceth ungodliness and worldly lusts and lives soberly righteously and piously in this present World may look for that blessed Hope i. e. may hope for that Blessing promised at the appearing of our Lord Tit. 2.12 13. and shall never be disappointed of his hope Thus you see what assurance the Gospel gives and how fully it confirms by frequent repetitions That 't is a blessed thing to do the will of God to spend and end our days in so doing 2. There is another account to be given why it will prove so to the faithful servants of our Lord. 1. For besides the dignity worth and content which waits on a constant course of Godliness that were there nothing else did follow after yet 't were enough to encourage any man of reason that understood the nature of true honour and pleasure to become Religious and to continue in that service How can it but be esteemed a blessed thing to be employed in the appointed affairs of the Lord of glory in his Court the Church about such things which conduce to the attainment of the highest advancement any man is capable of which the faithful servant may be sure of without disappointment The attendance on the greatest King that ever was or ever shall be on the earth is not once to be named with this The happiness of Solomon's servants was extoll'd by the Queen of Sheba with reference to them and their employments Happy are thy men 1 King 10.8 happy those thy servants which stand continually before thee and that hear thy wisdom Yet this was but a trivial complement in comparison of the servants of the King of glory who stand before him as every faithful obedient servant of his doth and employed by our Lord in service infinitely more gainful more honourable and more grateful And David though a King himself accounted it his greatest honour to be the servant of God and admires the blessed state and happy condition of such who are so Psal 84.4 Blessed are they which dwell in thy house and a little after vers 10. he professeth That he had rather be a door-keeper in
wherein all our deeds are recorded and 't is but a very little time e're we must all appear at the Judgement seat of Christ that every one may be judged 2 Cor. 5.10 and receive according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad and then happy the man only that shall be found well doing Within a few dayes perhaps hours it will infallibly be every ones lot to exchange this Life for another a better or a worse as this our excellent Brother hath shewn us and 't will be our wisdom to prepare for it as he did that though it come in the day or in the night slowly or swiftly in our working or in our waiting we may be ready for it that our change may be for the better and not for the worse That the day of death may be better than the day wherein we were born Eccles 7.1 3. Thirdly To which Preparation I would in the last place invite and exhort you 1. And first If thou wouldâ—st be fit to dye and prepared for thy death and ready for the coming of our Lord and desirest to be blessed then be perswaded to a serious constant course and exercise of Religion as our Lord hath taught and commanded for let no man think to be Blessed that is not found in that state to which the Promise is made Let him therefore give up himself to an holy life according to the will of God And let him for ever cast off the works of darkness and cease from doing evil let him give over sinning wilfully Isa 1.16 Job 11.11 12. 34.32 and doing foolishly and do no more such things let him deny and renounce with great resolution all ungodliness and worldly lusts and resolve upon a Sober Righteous and Godly Life as we are taught Tit. 2.12 And let every man be careful Tit. 2.12 as much as he can so to order his Conversation that he be not found either over-charged with the cares of the World or with surfetting and drunkenness or wronging our fellow-servants as our Lord hath warned Luke 21.34 Luke 21.34 and so that Day come upon you unawares And think this with thy self Would I be found at any time doing that which is sinful in it self or that may prove of evil example to others when I am gone 2. And then secondly for Practicals that thou mayst be at all times prepared And let no man think that the business of Religion the service of our Lord can be acceptably done by the bye or when we have nothing else to do or to be put off to such a time when we can do nothing but groan under pains and dye But if we mean to be prepared let us do what we have in duty let us do it now in health and with our strength as we are counselled Ecclus. 9.10 That which thy hand findeth to do Ecclus. 9.10 do it with thy might for there is no work nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest and our Duty is told us Ecclus. 12.13 To fear God and to keep his Commandments this is the whole duty of man Now this Consideration invites us all to be doing such Duties which are necessary 1. First in respect of God To perform constantly those acts of true and devout Worship Obedience and Love to him freely willingly and with all chearfulness 2. Secondly in respect of our selves necessary for us to do To subdue our own evil dispositions to mortifie our own corruptions to Repent to amendment of life to rectifie the disorders and irregularities of our Passions and to be fruitful in Good works 3. Thirdly in respect of others To do good to as many as we can to their Souls by instructing them and perswading to Piety and a Religious conversation by Precept and Example and to their Bodies by relieving them in their necessities visiting them in their sickness by delivering them as we are able out of bondage and oppressions and praying to God for them in every condition And to conclude let every Christian be doing such things as are True Phil. 4.8 Whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely and whatsoever things are of good report let every one resolve upon such things and be doing accordingly all virtuous acts that when-ever Death comes either hastily or gradually it may find thee in such a frame and disposition or in some good action or soon after it And then how comfortably might Christians live in expectation of Christs speedy coming and how happy might they be in their End with such preparation and as Tertullian observed in the Primitive Christians that they were expeditum morti genus a people alwayes prepared for Death so is every Holy man Of which sort was this Excellent person deceased this once shining Light now extinguished who both as a Divine and a Christian hath given ample Testimony and left a good Example who faithfully served his Master and was found so doing Concerning whom you may justly expect very Excellent things might be spoken I may not therefore dismiss this great Convention in this House of great mourning without some Remarques about the subject of this Occasion and indeed when we have to speak of Doctor BRETON no man need rack his Invention for things Worthy to be said and if a Tongue like His once had this employment words would flow apt charming But we must do as we can 1. This Excellent person was Born in London the great and splendid Metropolis of England Anno Dom. 1628. and 't is no diminution to its Grandeur when it is said That this Man was Born there 2. The University of Cambridge had the good luck to nurse him to which he carried a prompt Wit and pregnant Parts improved with what inferiour Schools could furnish him From thence he came with a stock of Humane Learning and Sacred Knowledge an excellent Scholar and Learned to make an able Divine His Honorary Degrees were not above his Merits he was as much a grace to his Title as Doctor to him When he was called to the Sacred Function he engaged in this Ministry and the Duty too he had a Commission to Preach the Gospel and he laboured abundantly and instantly not of force but of Choice he did it willingly not so much by any other constraint as that of love to his Master Christ and the Souls of men and yet he remembred also Wo unto me if I preach not the Gospel He was rarely qualified for an excellent Divine Gifts from above good and perfect pure and peaceable sober just holy temperate and apt to Teach He alwayes held fast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the model and express form of Sound words in Faith and Charity 2 Tim. 1.3 in opposition to all growing Heresies and Arts of men of corrupt minds and evil manners and kept the Depositum as a faithful Steward and wise Master-Builder without wavering or shifting a Workman
the house of his God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness and he gives the reason of it v. 11. For the Lord God is a sun and a shield i. e. Light and Defence The Lord will give grace and glory and will with-hold no good thing from them that walk uprightly 2. And then secondly There is another Consideration which will mightily encourage well doing because in so doing that servant lays a foundation for a spring of Comfort when he is drawing near his end when all those evanid Apocryphal Pleasures and Riches of the World are vanishing and then nothing but the conscience of so doing will stand with me for my refreshment and my testimony When shortly I must appear before my Lord to give up my account of the service I was employed in if I am able to say I have made it my chiefest business and aim to please God and to do what he hath commanded and given me to do without wilful neglects or unfaithfulness How may such a ferious sincere holy devout Soul look back with Comfort and forward with Joy in expectation of Acceptation with God his Lord and Saviour Methinks S. Paul speaks to this purpose 2 Cor. 1.12 Our rejoycing is this the testimony of our conscience that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in this world 3. Then thirdly Let it be considered when he that servant who hath been faithful and constant in well doing abiding therein so doing to his end what a blessed state is he in when his Lord shall call him thence to enter into the joy of his Lord Mat. 25.21 What an happiness it is that at the same instant he gives out his last breath he is separated from all his trouble and temptations and the same Death which puts a period to his life and labour gives a quick passage to his rest and joy his Faith ends in vision his Hope in fruition his Love removed to a fuller comprehension his Labour to Rest his Sorrow changed into Joy the hire of a Servant into the inheritance of a Son the service on Earth to the pay in Heaven What a Blessed thing it is to be designed to and employed in the service of our Lord to be about the work he hath given us to do to make Religion ones business to follow Christ fully to do his Commands chearfully and to be found so doing to the end Death temporal which way soever it comes or at what time soever it comes Ecclus. 7.1 2 cannot be hurtful The day of such a mans death is better than the day wherein he was born Rev. 14.13 for 't is but a going off from trouble where is little rest to that rest where there is no trouble 't is but a ceasing from being with men and sin Heb. 12.22 23. to be with Christ Angels and Saints in Heaven and that which is best of all 1 Thessal 4.17 to be for ever with the Lord. Oh happy and blessed is that servant whom the Lord finds so doing who gives him an inlett to immortal immixed Joyes and eternal never expiring Felicities The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and there shall no torment touch them Wisd 3.1 2 3 4 5. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to dye and their departure is taken for misery and their going from us to be utter destruction but they are in peace and their hope is full of immortality for God proved them and found them prepared for himself Thus shall every faithful servant of our Lord be Blessed whom the Lord when he cometh shall find so doing The Application I shall dispatch what I have further to speak of this matter when you shall receive I. Instruction II. The Warning III. The Invitation which this whole affair affords for our serious Consideration I. Instruction 1. First of all let every one know and take notice That he is a Servant that Christ is our Lord he hath given us our Work to do he expects we should be doing The Work we have to do in reference to the Blessing promised is not Worldly but Heavenly the affairs of our Souls in order to Eternity they must be done in their season as the Lord hath appointed and we must be doing them while we live Our Lord is coming though we think he delays he will be with us quickly and every one of us shall be called to account in particular What hast thou done What art thou doing If he find thee idle slothful negligent he will cast thee off as Unprofitable if he find thee working evil doing iniquity thy portion will be the Rebuke and Destruction of evil doers and Punishments threatned to the workers of iniquity But if thy doings be good thy dispositions right thy intentions holy thy Faith active thy Repentance sincere thy Piety great thy Duties frequent thy Lamp furnished thy Light shining in Good works thy chief and constant employment be Religion in those instances where Religion is concern'd and this be the babitual frame of thy Soul to be always ready to every good work of Piety Justice Charity and every Christian duty where our Lord calls for Obedience in any instance of Service Then when ever our Lord comes the Blessing comes with him and that Servant so doing shall be blessed and made happy But alas What have we for the most part been doing since first we were admitted to and engaged in our Lords service hath there a day past wherein we have not done some service to Satan World or Flesh And how many days have past over our heads wherein we have scarce had a good thought of God or of our duty and did nothing at all worthy the name of a servant of Christ Do not most men live as though they were priviledg'd persons exempt from Duty and Service and as if they were never to give account of their Talents and improvement of them What abundance of industrious Labour do most men lay out themselves in about the affairs of this World and take more pains to gratisie sensualities and beastly appetites to their undoing so working out their own Damnation than in doing the will of God and working out their Salvation But with what face can such Servants expect an Enge from their Lord that either neglect the service or do things contrary to the Injunctions of their Lord And how shall such be able to look our Master in the face at the evening of our Life who have been loytering or ryoting all the day 2. Secondly Let this then be for a Warning and an awakening to us all lest Death should surprize us e're our work be done or while we are trifling speedily to set our selves to practise good things while every mans opportunity lasteth and no man can tell how long it will last It may be very shortly our Lord may send for us by Death to meet him the Lord is at hand and the Books are opening