as being such as may very easily be accommodated to our present business and may help us to meditations proper for this occasion For what is the death of Saints but their entrance into glory Every good man at his death ascends as really tho' not as visibly as Elijah and is made as certainly happy as he Their bodies indeed go down to the Grave and mingle again with the dust from whence they were taken so to remain till the happy hour of an indissoluble reunion to their souls shall consummate the bliss of which that better part had taken possession immediately after it was dislodged from the body the spirit springs upwards as soon as ever it feels it self free from the clog and weight that press'd it down the soul of every Saint mounts as swiftly towards Heaven as Elijah himself tho' carried up in a flaming Chariot with Horses of fire Therefore well and wisely has the Church chosen to celebrate the day of their death as the happiest and most memorable of their lives and such as better deserv'd to be accounted as it was stil'd their birth-day then that on which they were born into the world For then they truly begin to live when to us they die Whenas that which we commonly call our Birth is indeed but the first step we take in our advance to death There is a short passage between the womb and immortality call'd life but indeed it lies all along in the region of Death to which we are inrol'd subjects as soon as we enter on that path of mortality and are not a moment free from the malignant influences of his dominion till we are got to the end of it and have shelter'd our bodies in the Grave and our souls in the hands of him that gave them Then and not before are we freed from the imperfections and incumbrances of flesh and blood from all the hidden snares the silent and secret incroachments of Death who begins its approaches as soon as we begin to live for then he first finds us on his own ground and within his reach and instantly quarries upon his prey As soon as we were born we began to draw to our end And there is no standing still in this walk of Death for man that is born of a woman never continueth in one stay He that lives most healthfully dies daily In the midst of life we are in death and every moment ripens us for the Grave to which we are still posting as fast as the wings of time can carry us Our very health is a kind of sickness and whilst we seem to gather strength and lay up plenty of provision to prevent the ruine or decay of our frail nature we are really all that while but making further advances towards our latter end Death is at work as well as we In vain do we endeavour to intrench and fortifie against the assaults of that obstinate and unrelenting enemy An enemy it is that cannot fail of victory either by undermining or by storm by lingring consumptions or more acute and violent distempers Death will certainly demolish our strongest hold and easily reduce the tottering tabernacle which we possess and would still gladly defend to ruine and rubbish dust and ashes out of which it was first rear'd and to which according to its Makers doom it must return by an unavoidable dissolution But when we are once arriv'd at that period and have received the last blow of Death and happily pass'd the common Gate of Mortality we are no longer in its power For what is said of the Head is true of the members That being once dead they die no more Rom. 6. 9. death hath no more dominion over them That then is the blessed hour that compleatly delivers the sons of men who through fear of death were all their life time subject unto bondage It is at that fatal moment as it is call'd which seems to reduce us to the lowest most lamentable and helpless condition that the Righteous man first feels his shackles fall off and himself set free far out of the reach of the malice of Men or Devils For by dying he has overcome his last enemy which is death Strange victory But yet certain such almighty efficacy in it self and such a quickning influence on his members has the Death of our Head the Lord Christ who having first himself overcome it teaches and enables us to triumph in Death over Death it self 'T is true the victory is not in all respects compleat till we have destroy'd and spoil'd as well as vanquish'd this King of Terrors But that last Enemy cannot be so absolutely subdued till the last day when Death shall be swallowed up in victory that is finally and for ever so slain as never to revive for after that it shall be no more Then likewise shall the little victory of the grave be blasted and the poor remains we left behind us wrested out of the jaws of Death and restored to us But how Not worsted and worn as they were by course lodging in the dust and long captivity in the dark dungeons of the Earth but all fresh and new and wonderfully changed for the better That which was swon in corruption will be rais'd in incorruption It s dishonour will be turn'd into glory and its weakness into power of a natural body as we left it it will be rais'd and presented to us all over spiritual and heavenly The same indeed we had before For tho' it be most true 1 Cor. 15. 50. that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God that is as the Apostle immediately explains himself Corruption cannot inherit incorruption yet we know that this mortal must be quickned and have learn'd to believe the resurrection of the flesh Job 19. 26 27. and are assur'd that we our selves and not another for us in our flesh shall see God Even after worms have destroy'd our bodies It will therefore be the same I say and yet not that vile thing which once it was but chang'd and fashioned like unto his glorious body who was the first fruits of them that slept and who is the resurrection and the life Prudent therefore and pious is the Churches choice in celebrating the death under the notion of the nativity of such to whom the day of their death must needs be better then the day of their birth according to the observation of the Royal Preacher Eccles 7. 1. For then it is that they are born members of the Church Triumphant not only heirs but possessours of Eternal life For they shall not come into condemnation but are actually and properly pass'd from death unto life Their Saviour hath wip'd away all tears from their eyes Revel 21. 4. and to them there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain This alone is life properly so called in comparison of which that of this world which hath usurp'd the
Name is a very Death only that it continues longer is more vexatious and tormenting then Death it self Born indeed we are but unto trouble Job 5. 7. as the sparks fly upward Cares and fears tears and temptations doubts and disappointments distract the mind whilst the body which partakes in those agonies of the soul is also miserably subjected to racks and tortures of its own to pains and diseases that would be desperate and insupportable were they not as it were the earnest and Harbingers of Death which puts an end to all those tragical miseries of life And is not this a goodly thing for men to be so fond of as generally they are that is it self so great a disease that nothing but death can cure That therefore is often call'd for even by those who yet are much unprepar'd for such a remedy But how welcome then are or ought to be the approaches of Death stingless Such it is to those that die the death of the righteous as they all do to be sure that have liv'd their life which was well known and consider'd by the Holy Prelate whom I now commemorate Conscious to himself of a race happily run of talents well improv'd and a fight well fought with a clear conscience and an undisturb'd mind in a well grounded reliance on the Mercies and Merits of his Redeemer the Holy Man like just and devout Simeon or this very Elias in the Text humbly pray'd for his departure in my hearing as I kneeled by him tho' as I have reason to believe against his will as well as without his knowledge For He seem'd to mind nothing but his God his eyes then shut and his words whisper'd tho' both before and after he spoke strongly and aloud It was the only Prayer I ever heard him make to which I could not heartily say Amen I could have wished that He should still have walked before the Lord in the Land of the Living and therefore must confess was afraid He would be heard and that God would not deny him the request of his lips but would bestow Death upon him so pressing and importunate was his Prayer for He seemed to groan earnestly like St Paul 2 Cor. 5. 2. to have that his earthly Tabernacle dissolv'd and to be cloth'd upon with his house from heaven And yet were those breathings of his soul sent up to Heaven with that same Christian resignation and submission to the Divine will which so qualifies and recommends a Good mans Prayers that they cannot fail of a favourable audience and success Thus He whose Conversation had been so much in Heaven even whilst Himself was on Earth did in heart and mind thither ascend even before his soul could get loose from the troublesome embraces of the body And thus like Elijah He was not only carried but went up to Heaven That Holy Prophet gladly mounted up into his Heavenly Chariot leaving most willingly Elisha and the world below The whirlwind it self was not in more haste then He the Chariot and Horses and Fire could not move quicker and fly swifter then did his own ardent desires toward his everlasting bliss So did our dying Bishop joyfully part with all that He valued here on Earth and in a chariot of fire mounted unto the Heavens if I may be allowed so to stile the Feavour that snatch'd him from us But if that may seem too remote a Metaphor I know I can truly say that his soul still soared higher and higher in raptures of fervent and devout desires of being dissolv'd and being with God his exceeding great Reward This indeed was most like the fire in which Elijah ascended unto Heaven A fire that needed no fewel but the devout mind that kindled it A fire that burn't but consumed not Such a fire as warms and heats the Holy Angels themselves and kindles those Divine Ministers into a flaming fire And perhaps They were the Chariot and the Horses in the Text. Prompt and ready they are to execute all the commands of their great Maker and most cheerfully do those Triumphant spirits of Heaven fly down to succour and assist Holy men on Earth and promote the happiness of Militant Saints But Angels or clouds or whatever it was fiery it did appear a fit embleme of that Heroick Zeal that did so illustriously discover it self and shine forth in the life of that great Prophet A zeal for the honour of him that sent him like that which afterwards in a more Divine manner appear'd in our blessed Saviour of whom Elias himself was a type and in some sence a forerunner as well as the Baptist who came in his Spirit and Power A zeal it was that even consum'd him stuck nearer and closer to him then any earthly concern of his own A zeal that He durst own and stand to before the Searcher and Judge of hearts 1 Kings 19. 10 14. I have been very jealous saith He more then once for the Lord God of Hosts It vex'd his righteous soul to see the Apostacy of a whole nation as He reckon'd from God and all goodness The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant thrown down thine Altars and slain thy Prophets with the sword the desolation of the Church lay heavy on the Good man's heart For Ahab walked in the sins of Jeroboam 1 Kings 12. 28 c. who for fear the heart of the people should turn again to their Lord the king of Judah that he might secure his usurpation and establish himself thought it necessary to invade the Religion as well as the Government of the Nation And so he sets up Gods of his own and made Priests of the lowest of the people such as were not of the sons of Levi and therefore having no lawfull Ordination uncapable to succeed in the holy Function Verse 33. and he ordained Feasts and made Sacrifices according to his own fancy even as he had devised in his own heart Ecclus 48. 1. Then stood up Elias the prophet as fire and his word burnt like a lamp as it is express'd by the son of Sirach Even then when there was not a man on Earth to second him did he couragiously keep his ground assert the Church and its cause and made stout and vehement protestations against the Schism and all their unreasonable and irreligious Innovations Full of God and the Commission that He had from Him He put himself in the gap withstood the torrent of Apostacy that had overrun the land boldly rebuk'd vice and called often and aloud both to Prince and People to return to God and his Holy Church The haughty and bloody Jezebel with all her cruel instruments and the many hundred Prophets of Baal and of the groves that did eat at her table could not persuade or fright him from his integrity still the holy fire was kept alive in his religious breast and flam'd brightly out on all occasions into acts of devotion and zealous undertakings for the
London But thus as I was saying did this Apostolical man endure hardship as a good Souldier of Jesus Christ God having not given him the Spirit of Fear but of Power of Love and of a Sound mind Like his Lord and Master He went about doing good in meekness instructing those that oppos'd themselves and was instant in season and out of season reproving rebuking exhorting with all long-suffering and Doctrine Thus spent he his days of mourning either privately wrestling with his God in Prayer for the remnant of Israel that He would turn the Captivity of his people and be favourable and gracious unto Sion and build up the walls of Jerusalem or in publick contending with the enemies of the Church disputing both in publick and private with the most Powerfull and skilfull of the Adversaries of both kinds Romanists and others with equal zeal and knowledge convincing or confounding the gainsayers For He was a Workman that needed not be ashamed God had given him many talents and grace to improve them so that as none could be more desirous neither was there any more able to serve the Church then Himself Once He was seiz'd whilst He was in these Holy Exercises and by special Order carried before the Usurper himself who expostulated with him as Ahab did with Elijah as a troubler of Israel But then so affectionately and solidly did the Apostolical man like St Paul before Felix reason of those things for which He was call'd in question that whether the wretch that heard him had sence enough left to make him tremble or no certainly he was not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake but having vouchsaf'd to bestow some few good words on the Church-Prayers sent away the Good man without using any further violence at the present But thus far have I been carried by the Consideration of that Holy Fire of Zeal which flam'd in Elijah's breast to speak of that which was so plainly discernable in our late Prelate But leave we now that blessed Prophet to the happy rewards of his Love and Labours and leave gazing too at his wondrous ascent the Whirlwind the Fire and Flames the Chariot and Horses that conveyed him strangely and safely to some of the many mansions in the Fathers house And let us look down a while and observe and listen to the behaviour and lamentation of the forsaken and desolate Elisha Elisha was the humble Friend both the companion and servant of Elijah He was Prophet-elect being by Divine direction and designation to succeed his Master But why should he lament then Why this outcry when his Master was taken from him Was there any thing so sad and grievous to either of the two in this translation that might justly provoke Elisha to such a transport of grief as he seemed to express when he cried out and took hold of his own clothes and rent them in two pieces He himself well knew and had been reminded by other sons of the Prophets often enough of what would happen and he expected it at that time and was come thither resolv'd to be present at it Elias himself could not perswade him to stay behind so that there could be no great surprize in the case Besides it was a very glorious Exit for his Master whom he saw in State and Triumph ascending up towards Heaven Here was no room one would think for sorrow no reason for lamentation No sick bed nor dying groans Nothing of agony or pain nor ought of that ghastly pomp of Death that commonly renders the passage to the other state terrible and uneasie even to the best of men and very uncomfortable and grievous to their friends Or was it for himself that Elisha thus laments because now he had lost his Master who was taken from his head and therefore could no longer assist him by his presence and advice But what loss could that be to him who had the Spirit of God for his assistance was a Prophet himself and now that Elijah was gone the Principal and Father of them all But well might He grieve for all this Not indeed on the account of his Master in whose case there was nothing at all dismal or deplorable but for himself and for the publick there was much matter of sorrow And those considerations of a just grief seem to be expressed in the Phrases of his lamentation My father my father The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof The first speaks as we have observed already his own private interest in the Prophet He had lost a Guide and Governour a faithfull and able Teacher and Director And such are very frequently and deservedly stil'd Fathers in Holy Writ and accordingly they that are so taught and govern'd are call'd Sons as several times in this very Chapter as well as in other places The Spirit of God indeed could and would and did abundantly supply Elisha with all things necessary for his Prophetick Office But still he had lost a sure Friend a pious Companion and wise Guide of his life and that 's enough to make his mourning appear decent and to justifie all the expressions of his sorrow But Elisha stops not at this reflexion on his own loss That consideration was presently swallowed up by greater The Church and Kingdom had in Elijah lost a main ornament and support and that is it which is express'd in the following very elegant and significant Phrases The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof The appearance which Elisha then had before his eyes of a chariot and horses of fire made the comparison the more seasonable and might be sufficient to prompt him to it But that was not the only reason if it were at all any occasion of that figurative allusion It is like he would have us'd the same expression tho' he had seen the Prophet expiring on a bed instead of mounting towards Heaven in a chariot as it was by King Joash applied to him himself 2 Kings 13. 14. when fal'n sick of his sickness whereof he died The whole world is a looser by the death of a good man more especially then was that Kingdom and people so by the loss of so excelling a person as was Elijah This truly was a becoming argument for the lamentation of a Prophet For when the righteous man perisheth or is taken away tho' others do not yet they that are like himself will consider it and lay it to heart He indeed hath hope in his death and enters into peace and is refresh'd and comforted in Abraham's bosom but they that are left behind they particularly that liv'd near him within the direct influence of his good deeds and holy example are really damnified by his death as will soon appear by weighing the expressions in which Elisha here bemoaneth the publick loss in the person of the great Elijah The chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof A Metaphor taken from war and so very aptly bestowed upon a
Champion of the Church Militant Chariots anciently were and Horsemen still are a main strength and protection to a people to defend them from and prevent as also to repell and suppress the insults and invasions of their enemies Formidable was the force of Chariots of war in the land of Canaan when the Israelites came to dispossess the former inhabitants and to plant themselves in that fruitfull countrey Insomuch that the house of Joseph Josh 17. 16. Verse 17. tho' a great people and of great power excepted against the portion allotted to them by Joshua because the enemy that was in possession had chariots of Iron and so all along we find the power of those Princes express'd by the number of their Chariots and Horsemen both before and after the conquest of the Countrey by the Israelites Accordingly it is particularly observed in the description of King Solomon's strength 2 Chron. 1. 14. that he gathered Chariots and Horsemen and had a thousand and four hundred Chariots and twelve thousand Horsemen which he plac'd in the Chariot-cities and with the King at Jerusalem Nay the invincible force of the armies of the Lord of Hosts is express'd by the inspired Psalmist with an allusion to this powerfull provision for war where he sings that the chariots of God are twenty thousands even thousands of Angels Psalm 68. 17. of which perhaps as I noted before a party were commanded out to fetch Elijah and were the same that convoy'd that great Prophet in his ascension unto Heaven For they are sent forth to minister for them Heb. 1. 14. who shall be heirs of salvation But there were many more of them appointed afterwards for a Guard to his successour Elisha against the Horses and Chariots of the Syrian King when at the Prayer of that Prophet 2 Kings 6. 17. the Lord opened the eyes of the young man his servant and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha And perhaps there were two armies of them incamp'd about Jacob to keep and conduct him and his in safety in his return to his own Countrey Gen. 32. 1 2. for it is said the Angels of God met him and he call'd the name of that place Mahanaim which dual word may imply that there were two Camps or Companies of that Heavenly Host So that this bright Militia of Heaven is always ready to execute the orders of their Soveraign Lord whether they be to honour and protect his Loyal Subjects or confound his Enemies And we know what dreadfull havock and slaughter has been made by a destroying Angel in the space of three days nay even in a night The Fire and Chariots and Whirlwind had orders as we find in the Text to attend assist and adorn the Triumphant ascension of Elias But in another case the very same are to be dispatch'd as messengers of Gods wrath the Instruments and Executioners of his vengeance Isa 66. 15. For behold the Lord will come with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire From what hath been said it is evident enough that when Elisha stil'd Elijah the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof he intended thereby to express him to be the great Strength Defence and Support of the Kingdom And so he was in a most eminent manner being extraordinarily commission'd and impower'd by God to protest against the abominations and Apostacy of that people and to endeavour the restitution of Religion the Reformation of manners and Establishment of Affairs in the whole Kingdom In this Office and Administration Elisha succeeded him and was accordingly when he lay on his death bed saluted and acknowledged as the chariot and horsemen of Israel by the King himself as I observed before But not these two extraordinary Prophets only but all the sons of the Prophets all that are sent by God and set apart to be Guides and Pastours of a people I say all and every of these as far as they are true to their trust and worthily discharge their duty are strengths and defences to the places where they live and so in some preportion the chariot and horsemen thereof Nay so is every virtuous and good man in some degree Sodom it self had escaped its so much merited and long provok'd destruction if ten righteous persons could have been found in the whole City And one single Just man might have been sufficient to have indemnifi'd all Jerusalem Jer. 5. 1. as appears from the Prophet Jeremiah Every good man is a publick good He helps to stave off Judgements and bring down blessings upon a people Just Lot saved Zoar and the prayers of Nehemiah rais'd up again and repair'd the ruines of Jerusalem They have an interest and favour in the Court of Heaven Psal 34. 17. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their cry They who make most conscience of their own duty make the best Solicitours for others John 9. 31. If any man be a worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth And therefore the Church hath always given thanks for them as Publick blessings praising Almighty God for the good Examples of all Holy men and women in general as well as for Bishops Priests and Deacons But such as by their very Function and office are Holy to the Lord such whose very business it is to bless and mediate for the people and to guide and teach them these I say are in a more especial manner Protection and Defence the Chariot and Horsemen unto the Church and Nation unto which they do belong And this they are chiefly on the account of their Prayers their Precepts and their Practice GOD is most likely to hear the Intercessions of those whom He Himself has appointed to intercede Abimelech King of Gerar was not presently to be pardoned on the account of the Integrity of his heart and the Innocency of his hands which he pleaded and was by God in some sort allowed but by the prayers of Abraham God would have his mercy and blessings descend in a regular way and what he might have given out directly and immediately from himself was not to be bestowed till the Prophet had prayed Gen. 20. 7. Restore the man his wife for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt live When God had denounced heavy Judgements by his Prophet Joel he prescribes it as one means to avert those impending evils that Prayers be made by the Priest Joel 2. 17. Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the Altar Nor did St James think it sufficient to advise the sick man to pray for himself but remits him to Gods officers appointed for that purpose the publick Mediatours and Intercessours for the people James 5. 14. Let him call saith he for