Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A59884
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A sermon preached at the funeral of the Reverend Richard Meggot D.D. and late Dean of Winchester, Decemb. 10th, 1692 at Twickenham by William Sherlock ...
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Sherlock, William, 1641?-1707.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing S3355; ESTC R11116
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9,300
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33
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A SERMON PREACHED At the Funeral of the Reverend RICHARD MEGGOT D. D. AND LATE Dean of WINCHESTER Decemb. 10 th 1692. AT TWICKENHAM By WILLIAM SHERLOCK D. D. Dean of St. Pauls Master of the Temple and Chaplain in Ordinary to their Majesties IMPRIMATUR Geo. Royse R. R mo in Christo Patri ac Dom. Dom. Johanni Archiep. Cantuar. Ã Sacris Domest Decemb. 18. 1692. London Printed for W. Rogers at the Sun over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetsteet 1693. A SERMON Preached at the Funeral of Dr. Meggot Decemb. 10. 1692. I PHIL. 23 24. For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you ST Paul wrote this Epistle to Philippi from Rome where he was in Bonds for the Gospel but though his Body was confined to a Prison his Soul his great Divine Soul was at Liberty to visit the Churches he had planted to advise and counsel and comfort them to encrease their Knowledge and to confirm their Faith to inflame their Zeal and to spur them forward to more perfect Attainments in all Piety and Vertue The Philippians seem greatly concerned least the Progress of the Gospel should be hindred by St. Paul's Imprisonment and least they and the whole Church should be deprived of the Labours and Ministry of so great an Apostle should this Persecution extend to Life as they had reason to fear it would As for the first St. Paul assures them That his Bonds were for the furtherance of the Gospel for his Imprisonment was taken notice of both in the Court and City which made Men curious to know what that Doctrine was which he preached and for which he suffered Bonds and this published the Gospel more effectually than his Preaching could have done v. 12 13 c. As for the second he tells them He was no farther concerned either about Life or Death but that Christ might be magnified in his Body If he lived his Life was wholly devoted to the Service of Christ and of his Church if he died it would be for his own great Advantage To me to live is Christ and to die is gain vers 20 21. and this made it a hard choice to him whether he should desire to live or die whether he should get rid of his Bonds and make his Escape out of a troublesom World into the Regions of Ease and Rest to reap the Fruit of his Labours here in the eternal Enjoyment of his Lord whom he had so faithfully served or whether he should live to Encounter with a thousand Difficulties and Deaths in the Service of Christ and of the Souls of Men. What I should chose I wot not for I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better nevertheless to abide in the Flesh is more needful for you Was there ever such a Dispute as this before That a Man who was as certain to go to Heaven as he was to die who had himself been snatch'd up into the third Heavens and had his Mind possest with strong and vigorous and lively Idea's of the Glories of that place who had seen and heard such things as could not be expressed who saw a Crown a glorious immarcessible Crown prepared for him I say that such a Man should make any question what he should chose whether immediately to take possession of this Crown and Kingdom or to live longer in this World to suffer Bonds and Imprisonments Hunger and Cold and Stripes and all the ill usage which he had so often met with for no other reason but still to preach the Gospel and to enlarge the Borders of Christ's Church What a Contempt is this not only of the little Pleasures and Satisfactions but even of all the Miseries of Life what a Triumph is this over the World over all the Frowns and Terrours of it what a Triumph is this over Self such a degree of Self-denial as the Gospel it self does not command which is in some sence to deny Heaven to deny all the Joys of Christ's Presence for the sake of doing good for it is to delay to put off Heaven to adjourn his own Happiness that he may live the longer to serve his great Master though with great Difficulties and Labours What Love was this to his Lord what Love was this to the Souls of Men it is certainly the most perfect imitation of the Love of Christ that is possible to Man Christ so loved us as to come down from Heaven to live a laborious Life and to die an accursed Death for us this great Apostle so loved his Lord and so loved the Souls of Men that he made it his choice to stay some time out of Heaven and to encounter all the Miseries and Terrours of this Life to serve Christ and his Church Where is this Divine Spirit now to be found Let us my beloved Brethren who are entrusted also with the Care of Souls by the great Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls blush to think how far short we fall of this Example let this inspire us with a flaming Love and Zeal for the Souls of Men for whom Christ died and make us at least contented to deny our selves some of the Ease and Security and Pleasures of Life to serve the Church of Christ which he hath purchased with his own blood But to keep my self within some Bounds I shall briefly Discourse on these two Heads which are very proper for this Occasion and very proper to my Text. First The great Rewards of faithful Pastors and Ministers of Christ and how much it is for their advantage to be removed out of this World St. Paul was very sensible of this which made him desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Secondly How necessary the Lives of such Men are to the Church and what a great loss it is when God removes them out of it Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you 1. Let us then consider in the first place the great Rewards of the faithful Ministers of Christ and how much it is for their advantage to depart and to be with Christ. Now I do not here intend a comparison between Heaven and Earth Good God! what different things are these and what Christian doubts whether Heaven be a happier Place than this World Heaven whither no Troubles or Sorrows can follow us no persecuting Sword no persecuting Tongue where we shall be delivered from all the Wants Necessities and Infirmities of the Body from Hunger and Cold and Nakedness from wracking Pains and languishing Sicknesses where there is eternal Ease and Rest and Joy without labour without discontents without quarrels where our Souls shall be perfected in knowledge and in love where we shall dwell in the Presence of God see him as he is and know him even as we are known where
labour and diligence in this it would be a delightful work were our Labours always blessed with success could we rescue the Souls of Men from the Dominion of their Lusts and from the Power of the Devil could we turn them from Darkness to Light and from the power of Satan unto God but we must often expect to labour all might and catch nothing we must contend with the Lusts and Vices of Men must bear their Folly their Frowardness their Reproaches and Censures and injuries be thought Troublesome Pragmatical and Busie-bodies for our charitable Exhortations and Reproofs and watchfulness over their Souls And when the Church is at ease and rest from without how often is it rent and torn in Pieces with Schisms and Heresies as St. Paul fore-warned Timothy the time will come when they will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves Teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and be turned unto fables 3 4. ver and what infinite Labours and Difficulties does this create to the Ministers of the Gospel to heal the Breaches of the Church to confute Heresies Atheism Infidelity and to be scorned and persecuted for it with a bitter Rage and Zeal That St. Paul might well add But watch thou in all things endure afflictions do the work of an Evangelist make full proof of thy ministry 5 verse We ought not indeed to be discouraged by such difficulties as these because our Reward will be great in Heaven but it will be a happy Day when Our warfare shall be accomplished when we shall cease from our labours and our works shall follow us when we can say with St. Paul I have fought a good fight I finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness 2. Thus to die is their gain Nevertheless it is more needful for the Church that they should abide in the flesh And a great loss it is to the Church when they die I need not use many words about this for the case is plain The Death of every good Man who is very useful to the World in what way soever he be useful is a very great loss for Death puts an end to his doing any more good in this World but as to take care of the Souls of Men is to do the greatest good to Mankind because the Happiness of our Souls is of the greatest concernment to us so to lose a faithful and a prudent Guide must be the greatest loss We indeed of this Church have great reason to bless God that he has sent forth so many able and painful Labourers into his Harvest that it is not the loss of every good Man that can much affect us at ordinary times For there are great numbers of wise and good Men to perpetuate a Succession of able and faithful Guides but a St. Paul is at any time and in any Age of the Church a great loss Nay Men who are much Inferiour to St. Paul but yet fitted with peculiar Abilities to serve the Church at some certain Seasons and in some difficult Circumstances are a very sensible loss at such a time when their service is most needful A Man of Council and Conduct who is fit to sit at the Helm and knows how to steer in a Storm is a great loss in times of Difficulty and Trouble when the Church is assaulted on all hands and it is hard to avoid one Mischief or Inconvenience without running into another A Man of Goodness and Temper who knows how to govern his own Passions and how to soften and manage the Passions of other Men is a very sensible loss when the Passions of Men are broke loose and disturb the Peace of the Church and even threaten the ruine of it A Man of Learning and sound Judgment who can distinguish between Truth and Errour in all its most artificial and flattering Disguises is a great loss when old Errours are revived and new ones broached when we must dispute over again the very Being of a God the truth of the Scriptures and Articles of the Christian Faith A Man of great Diligence and Industry Courage and Resolution to defend the Truth to oppose Heresies and Schisms to preserve the Unity of the Church and the Integrity of the Christian Faith is a very great loss when the Church is encompassed and assaulted with busie and restless Enemies A Man of an exemplary Life and untainted Vertue who shines like a Light in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation who maintains the declining Honour and Repuration of Religion and true Vertue is a mighty loss in a profligate Age when men are grown such Strangers to the sincere Practice of Vertue and Religion that they begin to think there is no such thing But I can go on no farther the very mentioning of these things brings the fresh Idea of our deceased Brother to mind and the afflicting Sense of that great loss which we suffer by his Death It becomes us to Reverence and Adore the Wisdom of the divine Providence even when we cannot understand the Reasons of it We are certain God is never wanting in his Care of his Church and yet had we been made Judges of this Case we should have thought it a very ill time to have spared him He was abundantly furnished with all good Learning both for Use and Ornament he was an accomplished Scholar and a well studied Divine he knew Books and read them and judged of them He was a Scribe instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven who like a Housholder could bring forth out of his treasure things New and Old 13 Matth. 52. He had carefully perus'd the ancient Philosophers Orators and Poets to discover what Nature taught which gave him a truer Knowledge and greater Value for the Excellency and Perfection of the Gospel-Revelation He had true and clear Notions of Religion and he was Master of them he knew why he believed any thing and was neither prejudiced nor imposed on by popular Opinions he was a hearty and zealously Assertor of the Doctrine Worship Government and Discipline of the Church of England he saw nothing material which could be changed for the better which made him jealous of Innovations as not knowing where they would end He was a Friend to all sincere Christians pittied their Mistakes and bore with their Frowardness but did not think that Christian Charity required him to sacrifice Truth or good Order and Government to the pretences of Peace and Unity He was for several Years a very diligent and constant Preacher to a numerous Auditory till his own Diocesan who knew his Worth and the weakness of his Constitution and was desirous to preserve him for the Service of the Church provided this place where we now are for his Ease and Health and Retirement where he lived many Years a constant Preacher though his Labours were then divided