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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53333	The blessedness of good men after death a sermon preach'd at the funeral of the Revd. Mr. Henry Cornish, B.D., who died on Sunday, Decemb. 18th, in the eighty ninth year of his age and was interred on Thursday, Decemb. 22d, 1698, in the Church of Bisiter, in the County of Oxford : with a preface to rectifie some misrepresentations &c. in a late pamphlet, entitled Some remarks on the life, death, and burial of the said Mr. Cornish / by John Ollyffe ...	Ollyffe, John, 1647-1717.	1699 (1699)	Wing O286; ESTC R7832	31,135	36

Service of Christ our Lord that they may also Die in him and so be Blessed For we must certainly Live to him now if we will Die in him or be United to him at the last We must have Union with him in Life as our Lord and Head if we think to have Union with him and Relation to him at Death as our Everlasting Saviour We can by no means expect to Live with God hereafter if we will not Live to his Honour here We can never expect that He will receive us into his Embraces at last if we continue now in an Hatred of him and Enmity against him Neither the Work nor Enjoyments of Heaven can be suitable to an Unholy Soul that is not Transformed into the Divine Likeness For what should such an One do with God or among the Saints above that hath nothing at all of a Divine or Saint-like Nature But if we are now made like God and Live to him He will be sure then to take Care of his Own For the Foundation or Covenant of God standeth sure 2 Tim. 2.19 having this Seal the Lord knoweth them that are his And let every One that nameth the Name of Christ depart from Iniquity Let all Wicked Men see therefore the absolute Necessity and the great Advantages of Religion They are apt now to have hard Thoughts of it and to Censure it sore for a very Soure and Melancholly Thing tho' that is a very great Mistake and Misprision but how will it be at last Or what will their Thoughts be of it hereafter Then they will find that this had been the only way to Happiness and Bliss whatever they think of it now And should not Wise Men have Futurity in Account as well as the present Time Should they look only at their present Pleasures and Advantages and neglect the future which are infinitely greater Or do they think to Die the Death of the Righteous and yet will not Live his Life This cannot be But you must begin now and should not put off the Study of Piety and Holiness till hereafter neither You Young Ones must not think to Live to the Age that this Holy Man of God hath done This is a rare and peculiar Favour which very few can expect You may be called and summon'd away before you are aware However can you ever begin to be Wise too soon or Blessed too soon For this is certain that you are never Wise or Blessed but in the way of Religion And yet how apt are the most to put this off still and to cry 't is too soon yet 't is too soon yet Yet a little more Sleep and a little more Slumber and a little more folding of the Hands to Sleep A little more of the Pleasures and Vanities of Sin a little more unjust Gain and then we will take up and Repent and Return And yet when the Time is come that they have set they are as backward to it as before or worse Their Hearts are more Hardned and they are farther off from Repentance and Religion than they were some Years ago And will you always be thus deceived You that continue in Sin and the Impenitency of your Hearts what do you think to do at last Where will you appear Do you expect that Christ should take you to himself Dying in your Rebellion against him or that He should save you in your Sins How unreasonable is this Repent Oh Sinners And Return in Time And let those who have begun Well hold on still left they lose their Reward The Day of our Redemption draweth near Therefore let us cast off the Works of Darkness let us keep down Sin which Christ came to destroy Let us Renounce our own Lusts and Wills and Live as his Covenant Servants and then Blessed shall we be FINIS

not he had learned from his Great Lord and Master who was kind unto all and who by his Pattern and Precepts had made Universal Love the great Character of his Religion And by this means one would think He could not have many Enemies For who could find in their Hearts to be Enemies to one in whom there was resplendent so much Goodness And this Goodness was set off by a profound Humility and low Condescension and Respect to the Meanest the Lowest the Least By this He was apt to prefer others before himself and to set a Value upon the Parts and Performances of some Young Persons above his own Gray headed Knowledge and Experience By this Kindness and Humility his Self-distrust and Self-abasement He was preserved from the Fiery and Furious Zeal which is the Blemish of some of all Parties that differ in some Circumstantials of Religion and Worship He could not imagine why a Difference in some Circumstantials should make Men Hate and Curse one another among whom there was a good Accord in the Main and Substantial Points of Christian Doctrine Therefore He could bear a Kind and Friendly Respect to other Good Men of other Perswasions besides his own as He would hope for the like from them He had a great Calmness in his own Temper but He was Forward and Fervent in Spirit in the Service of his God as appeared in his Devotions in a Private but much Honoured Family where I have heard him And his long and continu'd Labour in the Service of God in that Way wherein He thought He might Glorifie God even to extreme Old Age is a great Instance of his Delight therein of his Pious Zeal for the promoting of Religion and of his Earnest Desire of the Eternal Welfare of Men. He always appeared to me to be one of Eminent Piety of Exact Walking of an Healing Spirit and to be full of Love to God and Good Men of different Denominations He was not for a Wrangling or Disputative Divinity which tends to Gender Strife but for Plain Practical Godliness in its Life and Power which hath always indeed most Sweetness in it and so will especially appear to have at the last His Afflictions I hear in many Respects have been many but that his Faith and Patience also have been as Eminent Wherein He deserves as in many other Things your Pious Imitation In a Word He Lived long in the Exercise of Piety towards God and of Good Will to Men and how He Died you know I could gladly have enlarged much more upon his Character but these few Things I could not but mention being always bound to have his Memory in Honour For I must ever acknowledge I have had him of Old in many Respects my Friend in some Respects as my Father and Patron and in some others a Guide and Director when I first entred my self upon this Sacred Function This Acknowledgment I cannot but take this Opportunity to express nor do I know any just Reflections that any can make upon it I shall now only make an Inference or two from what I have said on the foregoing Subject and then Conclude First To Comfort and Prepare Good Men for the Expectation of their Death that they may not be Frighted at the Approach of it as such a Dreadful Thing it being most certain that when they remove out of this Tabernacle they enter into an Estate of present Bliss in the presence of their Lord. If the Soul indeed were to lye in a stupid Lethargy in the Grave and have no more Sense or Reflection or Enjoyment after the time of Dissolution they should desire to continue here as long as they can that they may bring more Honour to God in the World and so might further their Reward hereafter thereby And they might have just Cause to take Death for their Enemy whensoever it comes that should deprive them of so great Advantages here and bring them none in the room But there is no fear of all this The Soul is an Active Spark the Breath of the Almighty which whilst it is in the Body by the Laws of Union that were fix'd in the Original Creation by the great Creator must sympathize with it But when the Body is no longer a tolerable Habitation for it it will then Dislodge and take its Flight and the Holy Angels wait to carry it aloft through all the Airy Armies of invisible Fiends to place it above out of the reach of all their Malice For the Soul is a Thinking Substance which hath no Relation to Matter but is of another Nature from it and hath quite other Properties in its Idea And being Immaterial it is not subject to Putrifaction or Dissolution of Parts because it hath no Parts and therefore none to be dissolved but must in its own Nature Subsist and Live still But whatever the Philosophy of the Soul may be we have full assurance from Divine Revelation of its continued Life and greater Perfection and Enjoyment after Death than before Mat. 10.28 Our Saviour told his Disciples That Men tho' they might kill the Body yet were not able to kill the Soul and therefore bid them not be affraid of them Rom. 8. The Body indeed must Die because of Sin but the Spirit the better part is Life because of Righteousness So that Good Men have no Cause to be mightily Affrighted at the Approach of Death For tho' it be the King of Terrors to outward appearance yet they may look upon it as a Routed or Conquered Enemy as a Serpent that hath lost its Sting and Strength which howsoever it may Hiss and show its Rage and Fury yet cannot hurt So that Good Men may Triumph over it and over all Things else besides because neither Death Rom. 8.38 nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor Things present nor Things to come nor Height nor Depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate them from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But in and over all these Things they are more than Conquerors through him that Loved them Death is now rather a Friend to them the Messenger of the great King to invite them to his Supper which he hath prepared for them The same Comfort there is at the Departure of Others Friends and Relations that Die in the Lord. For now they are past from all their Labours and Troubles from all their Fears and Dangers their Pains and Sufferings whatsoever and are gone but to take Possession of the Promised Crown It is a Loss to us indeed that they are gone and Self-Love makes us to Mourn and Complain at it But what do They lose in leaving us or the World and the little Accommodations of this Life that are now entered upon the Possession of the Inheritance Tho' we lose by them because they are gone yet we ought not sure to Grudge at their Happiness Secondly To Exhort all to the Faith and

another And that he often chose to make as it were some Apology for keeping up a separate Meeting in opposition to the Church and would say he was brought thither by the invitation and importunity of such as were good People And that it was not his Intention to keep them altogether from the Church but should sometimes set them an Example of going thither himself And that he did at first resolve to begin and end his Publick Exercises at such Hours as should not interfere wirh the Solemn Service of the Church but dismiss them from one place to attend at the other And that he seemed to desire no better Character than what had been freely given to his Predecessor Mr. Troughton by one who as this Reflector saith had not the Custom to flatter that Party who was very moderate c. And that he seemed to value himself on this Happiness that he had received Holy Orders from a Bishop of the Church of England That he Married one of his Daughters to a Conforming Divine and used his Interest to possess him of a better Benefice under the Condition of Subscription and Declaration which the Law required Concerning which Relations and others which he adds I know nothing except that barely of the Marriage of his Daughter and therefore could say nothing of them But I think even from this Reflector's account of him I have Reason also to conclude That this Good Man's Pains and Zeal were intended by him not for the promoting of Divisions and Disorders but of the Service of God and of true Piety and Holiness which was what I aimed at in that which I said of him in that part of his Character Therefore to conclude this I cannot yet be perswaded but that what I said of this Worthy Man was downright Justice to his Memory and not Fawning or Flattery as this Reflector would insinuate But there is another Thing it seems that raised the Indignation of this Reflector viz. That in all my Discourse there was not a word of Exhortation to Unity and Peace nor so much as wishing those People to come more frequently to that Holy Place where they were now Assembled and where their Beloved Teacher chose to lie at Rest That there was nothing he saith but an Applause of the Person and then a silent Consent to the Merits of the Cause And thereupon he insinuates as if I made Conformity and Separation indifferent Things as if I was an Advocate for Indifference in Communion and had cowardly betrayed that Altar to the Service whereof I had been legally Ordained For my part I cannot but wonder at this Reflector's Discourse and by what Logick he could ever infer That the Applause and Commendation of a Person for his Goodness and Zeal for the promoting of Piety which was all that I designed and my omitting of that which did not concern me at that time could be a silent Consent to the Merits of a Cause or that it was to be an Advocate for indifference in Communion to say nothing at all about it But a little Wit and a great deal of ill Nature by the help of spightful Innuendo's will be able to infer any thing from any thing But I must tell this Reflector That that was no part of my Business at that time which he expected of me My Business was to Preach a Funeral Sermon at the Interment of an Old and Good Friend from whom I had received formerly many Obligations to which I was called by the Friends of the Deceased and for the doing of which they had obtained leave of the Minister of the Town In this Sermon I did endeavour plainly and familiarly which it seems was a Fault with some to represent some Things which might be for the Consolation of Good People against the fears of Death and to exhort and encourage others to espouse Religion which had so great Advantages attending upon it And this I think by this Reflector's leave was a proper Subject for such an Occasion And this Subject I having chosen this I was to pursue But yet could not omit saying something tho' it was but a little and I think if I committed any Fault it was in saying too little out of Gratitude and hearty Respect to the Memory of my Reverend and good Friend Departed But I could not think it any part of my Business upon that Occasion to insist upon the Points of Unity and Schism Let my Thoughts or Opinion about them have been what they would or tho' they were never so much such as this Reflector would have them therefore I think the Reflector blames me without Cause as guilty of a grand Omission of that which was nothing to the purpose of what I was then about but it seems to me would have been a downright Solecism at a Funeral Solemnity And I have never observed That Excursions of this Nature have ever had any good Effect but directly the contrary Yet I can assure this Reflector and do profess to him That I have as much desired and longed for the Peace of the Church its Security and Establishment and the Union of Dissenters to it that all our Animosities might be composed our Breaches healed and our Differences happily brought to an end as ever any hungry Man did long for his Meat and Drink and would be glad to promote it by all proper Means I am sure it is for the interest of Religion for the advancement of the Name and Honour of our great Lord and Master to have the Church of God at Unity within it self It is that which would make the Church it self Glorious and Venerable and formidable to all its Enemies or rather it will be the way to have no Enemies at all when they shall see the happy Effects of the Christian Doctrine upon the Lives and Spirits of Men and Love Charity and good Will planted and fructifying in the Christian World I am very sure from the Apostle That the whole Body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every Joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the Measure of every part maketh encrease of the Body unto the edifying of it self in Love Eph. 4.16 And therefore all that could be done should be done towards the procuring of this mutual Love and the settling of Concord among all the Members of this Body All proper Means should be made use of all Methods taken any way any expedient tried that can be unnecessary occasions of Contention should be removed Concessions made and yielding on all sides and if one Thing will not do then another and another should be tried like Physick in a difficult Case And it would be all worth the while for the promoting of Christian Love and Charity which is so great a part of Religion and which is so helpful to all the rest And 't is Religion that we must aim at and which all Things whatsoever should subserve to Order Government Discipline Ordinances Ministers and Ministry

are all but to promote Religion Faith Purity and Charity among Men. And 't is Pride Interest Passion Stiffness and Revenge that spoil and hinder all But whosoever they are that do not prefer Religion and Peace above every Thing else all violent Incendiaries all Self-seekers all Carnal Politicians that to gratifie an Humour to serve an Interest or to keep up a Ballance make it their Business to foment Discord and to keep Divisions a-foot I will be bold to say they know not what manner of Spirit they are of they seek not Christ but themselves their God is their Belly and their Glory is in their Shame And let them be Dissenters or Church-Men or of what Denomination they will they are not true Christians This Wisdom descendeth not from above but is Earthly Sensual Devilish For where Envying and Strife is there is Confusion and every Evil Work But the Wisdom that is from above is first pure then peacable gentle and easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without Partiality and without Hypocrisie And the fruit of Righteousness is sown in Peace of them that make Peace Jam. 3.15 This Peace I am for I love neither Faction nor Fury Obstinacy nor Revenge but could be glad to do any thing in the World to convince heal or reconcile And so I hope would many others But I can see but little success of Attempts that have been made this way and can have but little hopes till God is pleased to take the Matter into his own Hands to bring the Spirits of Men to a certain Temper on all sides which yet the most do not seem to be inclined to which hath been no small Trouble to me to observe so that I have been almost tired out with vain Expectation in this Matter But if I can do no good towards a Composure or Accommodation of these our Uncharitable and Unchristian Differences I am resolved however I will not irritate or inflame what I would be glad to heal as I dare say I should have done if I had taken this Reflector's Measures But now we are upon it let us consider what Methods He would have had me used to bring those People to Church more frequently at other times First he saith I should have taken the opportunity to Commemorate the great Charity of the Church of England which like a Natural and Indulgent Mother hath always open Arms to receive even her Froward and Rebellious Sons and alloweth her Offices of Christian Burial to those who despise her other Ordinances that she patiently waits their Submission while they live and affords them the last Offices of Piety when they come to Die which sure might win upon all Ingenious Spirits to oblige her with Conformity and Obedience in all reasonable Service But I am apt to be of Opinion after all that they would hardly have thought this Argument to have any great Weight in it Charity is a very good and obliging Thing But unless they can have Satisfaction given them about the Reasonableness and Unexceptionableness of the Service it self which they Dissent from which this Reflector doth not proceed to nor doth advise me to it tho' that was the chief Thing and would have been most to the purpose I doubt the Churches Charity alone in the respect which he mentions would hardly bring them to Conformity and Obedience to it But to give Him his due He doth not insist upon this as the chief Thing being apprehensive 't is likely of the weakness of it taken by it self It was something else he had principally in his Thoughts as appears by his long Harangue about it which I cannot but wonder at viz. That it was an Holy Place where they were now Assembled and where their Beloved Teacher chose to lie at Rest which He had hinted before And that I might have inferred That they do not Die so much out of Charity with the Church as is commonly imputed to them For they like well enough to be Buried there in the Church Ground And when they come to depart out of this World they leave their Bodies as a Legacy to it And to leave a Legacy to one is justly thought a Sign and Seal of Reconciliation and perfect Love I never heard indeed that they were much out of conceit with the Earth of the Church-Floor And if that be a sign of their Reconciliation to the Church I find they are contented to give a Testimony of it at any time when there is the like Occasion And tho' these Brethren chuse to serve God in a Common and Unhallowed Barn rather than in a Place Solemnly Devoted to be God's House of Prayer yet on Death-Bed Thoughts they cannot Will their Bodies to be committed to the Threshing-Floor but make it their last Option to be Buried with their Forefathers as it is Natural or Customary for all to desire and let their Sepulchres at least be on the good old Consecrated Ground tho' I dare say they never think of the Consecration when they do so And who knoweth but the Better Sort of Dissenters may have such Scruples on them as these That if they should be too soon admitted into the Bosom of the Church they could by no means live up to the Rules and Orders of it whereas delaying their Admission to the last when their Bodies are brought to Church They may possibly suppose that such a final Action may determine their Salvation and to be Buried in the Church be a sufficient Atonement for their long Absence from it And then upon this he saith I might have took occasion to perswade the Brethren there present that they would be as well affected in their Life and Health as they generally come to be in their last Sickness and point of Death that is to bring their Bodies to the Chuich whilst their Souls are yet in them which would be a more acceptable Sacrifice than the bare Carcase and Refuse of Mortality And why should they desire to be Interred within the Precincts of the Church unless they think it their own last Home and proper Place Would any of us request that our Dead Bodies should be carried into an Enemies Country rather than be laid up in our Native Land It must argue some good Affection sure to the Spot of Earth where we resolve to lay down our Mortal Man and to mix our common Dust And moreover therefore I should have encouraged these Brethren not to forsake the Assembling of themselves together in that Holy Place where the Mournful Occasion had now brought them The Ground was not Polluted with Idolatrous Worship if it had their Reverend Teacher would not have desired to have found there an Ark of Rest for his Earthly Tabernacle By these extraordinary Arguments and Motives I should very powerfully have Exhorted the Brethren there present to come to Church every Sunday in the Year And if any of them should have an Humour more Obstinate than ordinary such rare and

follow them IN these Words we have Three Things considerable which we have an account of from the Voice and Spirit of God First That they who Die in the Lord are Blessed Secondly The Reason or Parts of this Blessedness They rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Thirdly The time of the Beginning or Commencement of this Blessedness From henceforth First They that Die in the Lord are Blessed But here the Question is who they are that may be said to Die in the Lord Or what it is that is intended in that Expression or Description of those to whom the Blessing here doth belong I make no doubt as it is also generally understood that these Words were especially and principally intended for the comfort of such Christians who were then like to suffer in those Days of Persecution of the Church of God whereby the Patience of the Saints of which he speaks ver 12. was so much Exercised The outward State of the Church was then very dismal and sad in those dark and afflictive Times And therefore it was but need to give a Word of Comfort and Support to such as were like to bear the Burden of those direful Calamities that were about to fall upon them This seems to be mainly intended here in this Blessing that they might be encouraged thereby to hold out in their Faith and Profession notwithstanding all that should fall upon them In this Sense then by those that Die in the Lord the Holy Martyrs must first be intended who laid down their Lives for the Lord that is for his sake or for their Adherence to his Faith and Gospel This being a very grievous Case God was pleased often in the Scriptures to provide for their Encouragement 2 Tim. 2.11 It is a faithful saying saith the Apostle if we be Dead with him we shall also Live with him If we Suffer we shall also Reign with him Rom. 8.16 17. And that we shall be also glorified together and that the Sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the Glory 2 Cor. 4.17 that shall be revealed in us For saith he our light Affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory 2 Thes 1.6 Seeing it is a Righteous Thing with God to recompence Tribulation to them that trouble you and to you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe And a great many more such Promises and Encouragements there are to Suffering Christians who Die in the Lord. But then it must be likewise supposed That those who Die thus in or for the Lord and for their Adherence to the Faith of Christ do Die in or under the sanctifying Power of that Faith also the great Design of which was to Purifie the Heart and Work by Love Without which Effect obtained Martyrdom it self if it could be supposed would not at all profit them as we have the Apostle's own Resolution in the Case 1 Cor. 13.3 For saith He Tho' I give my Body to be burnt and have not Charity which is the great Christian Vertue and comprehensive of all the rest it profiteth me nothing For the great End of the Faith of Christ and of the belief of the Gospel is to make Men Holy to recover the Image of God in Men that they may Live to his Glory So that there is no Salvation without this let Men's Sufferings for the Faith seem to have been never so great But then on the other side they who Live and Die in the Power of that Faith having felt the transforming and sanctifying Vertue thereof and so have attain'd to the great End of it tho' they have not undergone the Sufferings of Martyrdom surely may be said to Die in the Lord also They Die United to him adhering to his Interest and Cause Yea they Die for him fighting under his Banner and in his Quarrel against all his Enemies the World the Flesh and the Devil And these are also Martyres Animo in the Disposition of their Minds and they would by his Grace maintain the Field for his Sake to the very Death And the sufferings of Mortification which they have endured already are a kind of Martyrdom in cutting off their Right Hands and plucking out their Right Eyes in bringing down the Old Man and crucifying the whole Body of Sin Therefore there is no doubt but that to these also the Blessing here mentioned doth belong For these the Apostle tells us being made free from Sin and become Servants to God have their Fruit unto Holiness and the end everlasting Life Rom. 6.22 And all these shall partake of the Inheritance which are sanctified by Faith that is in Christ Acts 26.18 In which Sense 't is a very comfortable Consideration to all truly Penitent and Sound Believers and Good Christians For the evidencing of which these few Things may be farther considered to perswade us that it shall be so First Because the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ is in them so that they are led by the Spirit and live in the Spirit by the Dictates and according to the Rules of the Holy Spirit of God Now there is no Condemnation saith the Apostle to them that are in Christ Jesus that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit For the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made them free from the Law of Sin and Death Rom. 8.1 Rom. 8.11 And if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Ver. 14. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the Sons of God and if Children then Heirs Heirs of God and Joint Heirs with Christ These Men are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and God will no more destroy those Temples than he will allow others to do so But the Spirit of God with the Blessed Fruits of it which is in them when they Die is a sure Pledge and Earnest of more Blessings to be received afterwards Secondly From hence it will follow That the Image of God is upon them and that in a more eminent manner than it is upon any others They being renewed after the Image of him that Created them in Righteousness and true Holiness So that they have not only the Natural Image of God as it may be called for distinction sake in the Spirituality Powers and Immortality of their Spirits but they have the Moral Image of God also which is the Glory of the Divine Nature which is wrought in them by the transforming Power of the Holy Ghost to whose Holy Dictates and Motions they have been brought to submit themselves And by this Means they are