A FUNERAL SERNOM DELIVERED Upon the SAD OCCASION OF THE Much Lamented Death OF JOHN GOULD Late of CLAPHAM Esq Who put on Immortality Aug. 22. 1679. By P. Lamb Minister of the Gospel Be ye Followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Heb. vi 12. LONDON Printed by M. C. for John Smith at the Sign of the Hand and Bible on London-Bridge 16â—9 TO The truly Pious and Religious GENTLEVVOMAN Mrs. JVDETH GOVLD Late Wife of JOHN GOULD Esq AND To all the rest of the Inhabitants of CLAPHAM Grace Mercy Peace c. I Did not know how to pay may Respects to the Memory of so Eminent a Saint and Worthy a Person as our late too early Deceased Friend nor how to give so lively a Testimony of my entire affectionate love to your Souls nor make my serious Sentiments and Sympathy which I bear with you in this our common loss manifest to the Worlc nor answer the Call of so Stupendious awakening a Providence if I had not according to my little skill broken the bonds of Modesty and rear'd this Pillar In perpetuam hujus Rei Memoriam inscrib'd with that golden Sentence from Heaven Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright for the end of that Man is Peace You have here presented to you that from the Press which once you heard from the Pulpit wherein I follow the counsel and conduct of wiser heads than my own The Lord hath lately alarm'd us with much Sickness and many Deaths Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell are no little things yet I am afraid we are no more affected with them than the People of Israel were with Amasa's Death 2 Sam. xx 12. While he lay dead in their sight they all stood still but when he was removed and a Cloth laid over him they all went on in pursuit of Sheba the Son of Bichri So while we see our Friends dead or dying we are a little serious but when they are laid in their Graves we follow this World and are apt to forget Death and Judgment to come Though we know it is not the Riches of this World but the Righteousness of Christ not greatness but goodness that will stand us in stead when we die May this little Book lie before you to mind you of these things it will serve as King Philips Boy who saluted him every Morning with a Memento Philippe quod sis mortalis It contains nothing but seasonable plain truths concerning a Plain and Vpright man from one that had rather speak five words in plainness to Edification than ten thousand in a forc'd style or vain affectaion That which I greatly desire at this time is Elisha's wish to Elijah 2 King 2.9 that now you have sustained a very great loss in the departure of so useful a Friend A double portion of his spirit may be upon you I shall now leave you to read and transcribe in your hearts and copy out in your lives these few Characters and Rules of a Perfect and Vpright man that you may have Peace at the last which the God of peace grant both to you and to him Who is Your most entirely Affectionate Friend and Faithful Servant P. L. A FUNERAL SERMON ON PSALM xxxvii 37. Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace A Little before Israel after their long Wilderness-Pilgrimage were to pass over Jordan Moses that eminent Servant of the Lord to whom he had committed the conduct of his People died in the last Chapter of Deuteronomy and at the 8th ver the Children of Israel wept and mourned for him 30. days and rather than he should want a Funeral Sermon the Great God with reverence be it spoken became the Preacher himself Joshua 1.2 saying Moses my Servant is dead This day you all know there is a Great Man fallen among us and what Terrible waters of Jordan we must pass through who can tell He is taken away in the fullness of his strength and in the day of his usefulness and activity your bitter mourning sad countenances and weeping eyes proclaim your sad and serious Resentment and whiles we are grieving here upon Earth that we have lost the Company of so Excellent a Person and so Dear a Friend we may take an easie prospect and see how the Glorious Angels and Glorified Spirits rejoyce and sing together in Heaven at the approach of his refined Spirit to be of their Society Out of that respect and honour that I bear to his Name and Memory and from that Reverence and Holy awe that is due to such a sad and signal Providence of the Almighty that neither He nor It may be slighted or too soon forgotten I have erected this Monument with this Inscription Mark the Perfect Man behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace As men are wont to preserve the Memory of their dear Deceased Friends and Relations by drawing their Pictures as much to the life as they can that so they may have some shadows by them of their unexpressible worth So I would present you with this Character of our departed Friend wherein if my Pencil fail the Spirit of God hath done it to the life in this Text which is both a lively description of this deceased Saint and a full breast of living Counsels and Comforts for us his surviving Friends viz. Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace This whole Psalm is the Golden Key of David that opens the Cabinet of the hidden mysteries of Providence There are mysteries in the Works as well as in the Word of God The Psalmist undertakes a Vindication of those unintelligible and astonishing Dispensations of Providence when the Supream Lord and Governour of the World shall send Prosperity into the Houses of the Wicked and cause the Sun-shine of outward Mercies to rest upon their Tabernacles and crown their Families with an affluence of all temporal Comforts When his dearest Saints sit solitary their Habitations full of darkness their Nights wearisome nights their Days days of trouble and nothing but sufferings sickness and sorrows attend them to their Grave He imparts to us this Heavenly art or skill how to discern and understand aright these various workings and dealings of God and that he doth these two ways First by shewing us the use of that Spiritual Telescope Faith by which we may perceive and give a right judgment of these things and behold the purpose of God through his Providence and be able to reconcile Providences and Promises when they seem most contrary and in the Saints most cloudy and darkest day of trouble see the bright side of the Cloud and apprehend the Sun-shine of Divine favour upon their Spirits and that when he gives the Wicked their hearts desire at the same time he sends leanness into their souls Secondly By directing us to judge of men not so much by what they have of
in Psal 66.18 If I regard Iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me 2. In your civil commerce take heed to your spirit that you may be Perfect Just and Righteous in all your dealings shall Religion suffer among them that seem to love and own it Shall Piety be accounted a piece of Pageantry and Profession be esteemed no better than a Religious Cheat by the world through your unjust practices and so Religion have cause to say under all her Reproaches These be the wounds that I have received in the House of my Friends To Lie Dissemble violate Faith to break Promise and to break in Trade with design to defraud others and raise their own Families shut up Shops to shut out Creditors from their just dues is become a most prodigious practice a common and Epidemical sin both in City and Country the more is the pity if any such be concern'd that should have a better regard to the honour of Religion He that will be a compleat Christian must observe Second-table-duties as well as First-table-duties lest the World say of us that we are like Gods in our Meetings and Devils in the Market Saints at Church and Cheats in the Shop and on the Exchange These loose and unjust dealings of Professors are the things that hurry the World into Atheism this is one of those great Evils of our times that makes God angry and Men Atheists 2. Direct Principle your hearts with a true love to and fear of God 1. A true love to God and then you will serve God for God not as poor Tenants serve their Rich Landlords out of force or servile fear or as Lactantius said of the Graecians That they did worship their Gods alios ne noceant alios ut prosint their black Devils or mischievous Gods that they might not hurt them as well as their white Devils or more favourable gods that they might receive good from them 2. With a true fear of God without which we can never be true to God or Man As Constantius once tried his Courtiers when he publickly declared that those of them that would not forsake Christianity and the Worship of the true God and turn to the Idol-worship should be Banish'd his Court and when he found that many for Court-honours forsook their Religion he discarded them and entertain'd those only that did adhere to the true God saying They that will not be true to God will never be true to Man 3. Let Love and Fear go together Love will make us serve God willingly and true Fear will make us perform our duty to God and Man faithfully Let these two be as Aaron and Hur that held up Moses hands steddy to keep our hearts stedfast and upright with God Thirdly Direct Remember the Eye of the Lord is upon all your ways a Deus videt Angeli testantur God beholds and his Angels bear witness is enough to make any man cautelous and upright in his walking He sees us whose Eys are ten-thousand times brighter than the Sun in Heb. 4.13 Neither is there any Creature that is not manifest in his sight but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do Psal 11.4 The Lord is in his holy Temple i◠Lords Throne is in Heaven his eyes behold his eye-lids try the Children of men as a Judge who tries the cause and matter by the ear and observes by his eye the Malefactors countenance I have often told you and now tell you again Man may deceive Men but he cannot deceive God 1 King 22.34 Though Ahab disguis'd himself and girt on his Harness never so close yet could he not keep off the fatal 〈◊〉 So though the Hypocrite disguise himself he cannot hide from the eyes of God nor escape his Righteous hand Lastly Mind seriously Death 4 Direct and Judgment to come Jeroms Sive edo c. Semper vox illa terribilis sonat in auribus meis Surgite mortui venite ad judicium Rise ye Dead and come to Judgment would be a dreadful and awaking peal in the Ears of all sleepy and careless Sinners 2 Cor. 5.10 For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad and in Eccles 12.14 For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil When Death comes it draws aside the Curtain then all your false and vain pretences will be exposed to publick view Death plucks off the Sinners Vizor and unmasks the Hypocrit and then though he lived in honour and esteem in the world comes off the Stage like a Fool and dies with shame The second Use of Exhortation is to prepare for the Perfect and Upright mans end 2 Vse of Exhort there must be an habitual and actual preparation First consider 1 Consid no man knows how soon he may die Death is a slie and impartial Messenger who is deaf to all intreaties and arguments and cannot be bribed 't is not greatness nor goodness nor youth nor age nor riches nor interest can supersede it wherefore as Christ saith Luk. 12.35 36. Let your loins be girded about you and your lights burning and ye your selves like unto men that wait for their Lord. If Death delay its coming it is the Bridegrooms favour that the Bride may make her self ready But when God cuts down the sound and fruitful Trees that are all spine 't is a wonder he spares the rotten unsound and barren Trees that cumber the ground There be three things one of which we shall never escape First There be sudden unseen Occurrences or Providences of God by which men are taken off and of these they say Casus nunciat mortem latentem these accidental strokes of providence do shew us that death lies in ambush Some men die at Land sometimes at Sea sometimes they go forth well in the Morning and in a moment are dead Secondly There be Sicknesses and Diseases of which they say Morbus nunciat mortem appropinquantem every pain and distemper in the body is a real warning of deaths approach if we should escape both these there is Thirdly That which will certainly take men off Old age of which 't is said Senectus nuncia◠mortem praesentem Decrepit infirm Old age is Death begun in the body so that Nil habet quod speret senectus Old age can hope for nothing but Death Secondly Consider 2 Cons He that is prepared for Death before it comes shall not be afraid of the King of Terrors when he comes Though Death be in it self terrible yet I may allude to that in Isa 11.8 The prepared Saint shall play on the hole of this Asp and put his hand on the Cockatrice-den and not be afraid What Agag proudly and presumptuously said he may truly and
Visibles or things seen as what they have of Invisibles or things not seen nor by what they have of this World in their present possession as by what they have of another World in futurition nor by what they are but what they shall be not according to the occurrences of Life but their happiness in Death which he thus demonstrates from his own observation and experience in the Text and context In the 35. v. of this Psalm he shews us the Wicked in all their pomp and grandeur I have seen the Wicked in great power and spreading himself as a green Bay tree or as in the Margin a green Tree that groweth in his own Soil And what is this goodly shew in the 36. verse he saith Yet he passeth away and loe he was not yea I sought him but he could not be found And why could he see no more of him He gives a reason in the 38. verse The Transgressors shall be destroyed together the end of the Wicked shall be cut off But is it so with the Saints No Though they be like a dry Tree yet mark the Perfect man trace him through all the troubles of life Behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace The Text is a description of the Life and Death of a Pious man First his Life that is Perfect and Upright Secondly his Death and that is Peace The conclusion arises out of the Premises Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright c. From the doubling of the terms we may learn these three things as intended thereby First to mark him with a curious eye of observation and serious consideration to mark how he carries it toward God towards man how he is at home and abroad how he deports himself in every condition of Life mark him exactly in all his Natural Civil and Spiritual actions observe him Inside and Outside the more you know him the better you will love him and the better you love him the more you will look upon him Behold his Life and if there be no comliness in the outward appearance yet there is comfort enough in his Death The end of that Man is Peace Even Balaam did wish Oh that I might die the death of the Righteous that my latter end may be like his Secondly Mark him and behold him with an eye of imitation let the Upright man be the Copy after which you write Though we cannot safely follow Man in all things because the best Lights out of Heaven are but Moon-lights at best and have their blemishes yet we may safely follow them in their Uprightness and 't is our duty to follow them as they are followers of Christ Jesus especially in these three Specimens of their Uprightness First the Purity and Singleness of their heart having the testimony of a good Conscience that there is no way of Wickedness in them but they are like the followers of the Lamb in Rev. 14.5 In whose mouth was found no Guile for they are without fault before the Throne of God Secondly in the Beauty and Purity of a spotless life whose Conversation as well as Conscience is without spot and blame abstaining from all appearance of evil according to that Exhortation in Phil. 2.15 That ye may be blameless and harmless the Sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom ye shine as lights in the World Thirdly In a faithful perseverance in the ways of God to the end as in Prov. 4.25 26 27. Let thine eyes look right on and let thine eye-lids look straight before thee Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established Turn not to the right hand nor to the left which implies these two things especially First That there must be no decays nor faintings in the way and work of Holiness but a continual increase as in Prov. 4.18 The path of the Just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day lest it be with us as it was charged upon Ephesus as in Rev. 2.4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee because thou hast left thy first love As some understand she had left Christ who was the Object of her love or as others She left that degree and measure of love wherewith she at first loved him We must not only keep up the same heat of love and heighth of affections to Christ but love to Christ being a Divine fire must increase more and more till the Soul ascend in a holy flame into his Bosom Secondly There must be no diversion or turning from the ways of God neither to the right hand nor to the left i. e. either to avoid the frowns on the one hand or to enjoy the smiles of the world on the other hand Or else First Not turn to the right hand by any excesses or doing more than God hath commanded for God will say to men â—hat do so Who hath required these things at your hands Or charge us as he did the People Jer. 7.81 That they did that which came not into his heart Their hearts can never be right with God that is only right in their own eyes Secondly Turn not to the left hand by any defects or neglect of what God hath commanded but go straight on as the Kine that carried the Ark 1 Sam. 6.12 They went straight on and turned not as they went Let it be your aim to be thorow-pac'd in Religion throughout with God that though you cannot do all the good and shun all the evil you would yet you may be able to say as in Psal 18.21 I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God and in the shutting up oâ— our days appeal with good Hezekiah Isa 38.3 Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart Thirdly It implies To behold the Upright man till he comes to the Grave Mark the Perfect man observe his Life behold him till ye see his latter end till ye see how he comes off the Stage the end of that man is to be considered as well as his beginning see him in Life see him in Death Death is said to be a mans End in several respects 1. As it puts an end to all the actions of his life when death appears it shuts the Windows binds up or breaks the Working-instruments Eccles 9.10 Solomon tells us Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest 2. 'T is the end of man because it brings man to the end of his Journey therefore when man dyeth he is said to go to his Long home Eccles 12.5 the Grave is said to be his Long home not his last home for the body must not lodge there for ever nor is it said to be his long home because he is long
going thither for many times we step from the Womb into the Tomb or in the midst of our days drop into the Grave but 't is called our Long home because of our long stay there 3. Death is called the end of man because it puts an end to all the troubles temptations fears and pains of life it is the Out-let of all Misery and the In-let to all Happiness When Death cometh to put an end to the days of the Upright he then begins his Triumphs and may go away with Colours flying and Trumpets sounding O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory From the whole Observ I shall give you this Doctrinal point That He that is Perfect and Upright in his Life shall certainly have Peace in his Death When the Question is asked Who shall be admitted into the Mount Zion below or enter into the new Jerusalem above the Answer from Heaven is Psal 15.1 2. as you may see Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle Who shall dwell in thy holy Hill He that walketh Uprightly and worketh Righteousness and speaketh the Truth in his heart That great Gospel-promise Isa 26.2 3. Open ye the Gates that the Righteous Nation which keepeth the Truth may enter in Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee It is also promised in Isa 57.1 2. The Righteous perisheth and no man laies it to heart and Merciful men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their Beds each one walking in his Uprightness In opening and confirming this Doctrine I shall shew you three things First What is meant by these terms Perfect and Upright as they are understood sometimes in the same and sometimes in a different sense sometimes they are taken Conjunctim and as Synonymous signifying one and the same thing and sometimes divisim severally First As they are taken divisim so the word Perfect here seems to relate to the Upright mans Inside and to the pure frame of his heart especially and the regular motions of all the faculties of the soul In this sense it is taken chiefly in that command of God to Abraham Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect And in that holy Profession of David Psal 101.2 I will walk in the mid'st of my House with a perfect heart There are two other respects also in which men are said to be perfect First In respect of their Justification by the compleat Righteousness of Christ every true Believer in this respect may be said to be Perfect having all his imperfections covered and done away by him whose Name is the Lord our Righteousness As in Heb. 10.14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Secondly Men may be said to be Perfect with respect unto their Sanctification though the work it self be yet Imperfect First In respect of the Spirit of God the Author of that Glorious work who will certainly perfect what he hath begun according to that Prayer of the Apostle 1 Thes 5.23 And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly In respect of the work it self which is a tendency unto perfection a direct tendency to the future perfect state of Saints in Glory Where ever it is begun the gracious heart is always breathing longing and working in continual motion towards that perfection and content with no state measures or degrees short of it As we may see in that Blessed Apostle Paul Phil. 3.13 14 15. Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Let us therefore as many as be Perfect be thus minded Secondly When these terms are severally understood this word Upright seems more specially to relate to the regularity of a mans outward deportment in a just exact and holy Conversation according to the rules of Righteousness prescribed in that Royal Law the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ when he is holy in all manner of Conversation without Deceit and Guile in all his commerce and dealing with men both in Commutative and Distributive Justice in his private and publick capacity They that Defraud and Cheat and deal Unjustly with their Brother are strangers to Uprightness the Shame and Reproach of their Holy profession Thirdly Here in this place I conceive both Perfect and Upright signifie the same thing and are exegetical as if one Epithete had been too little to express the worth of such an excellent and incomparable Person That you may see the excellency of that perfect Man First we will hear what the Scripture saith of him not to say any thing of Noah Lot Job and others who were perfect and upright in their Generation who were the glory of the places and days in which they lived Gen. 25.27 there is a description of the Righteous and the Wicked the Perfect and the Profane as Learned Authors observe Esau was a cunning Hunter a Man of the Field and Jacob was a plain Man dwelling in Tents Esau was like Nimrod a mighty Hunter before the Lord like the Hectors of our times a man of a rugged ranting spirit But Jacob was Ish Tam a plain Man sine fuco fallaciâ without Welt or Guard as we are wont to say non acutus ad fallendum not cunning to deceive though once he did supplant his Brother which was more his Mothers contrivance than his own and another time which was more his Brothers folly than his own fraud There is so much excellency in a Perfect and Upright man that the Lord commands Moses Exod. 28.30 Thou shalt put on the Breast-plate of Judgment the Urim and the Thummim and they shall be upon Aarons heart when he goeth in before the Lord And Aaron shall bear the Judgment of the Children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually That the words Urim and Thummim were ingraven on the pretious Stones of the Breast-plate is agreed upon by the most and some are of opinion that they were done by the Finger of God himself Urim signifieth Lights Thummim which comes from the same root with that word by which Jacob was expressed is rendered Perfections both in the Plural number to imply that abundance of Knowledge and Holiness that should be in the Priests of the Lord. Uprightness i. e. upright towards God and upright towards Man and to teach the Spiritual Priests of God if they will enter into the Holy of Holies and ask Counsel of God they must have this Urim and Thummim this light of Knowledge and Perfection Uprightness is called Perfection because