good and healing all that were oppressed of the Devil for God was with him Acts 10.38 Brethren to have all our Sermons smell of the Lamp and that Lamp supplyed from the Spirit of Grace certainly 't was not without great cause that the Apostle puts an additional Petition into his prayer for Timothy and Titus beyond all the Petitions for all the Churches he wrote unto 1 Tim. 1.2 2 Tim. 1. Titus 1.4 'T was only grace and peace for others 't was Grace MERCY and Peace for Ministers plainly shewing that they want Mercy more than any others in the world 3. Let 's industriously live up to what is by all expected from us God Angels and men and those both good and bad do all expect great things from us 1 Cor. 4.9 God hath made us a spectacle to the world We are in a more special manner than others under the jealous eye of God Good Angels that observe us one of them told John the Divine I am thy fellow-servant and of thy Brethren the Prophets and therefore do not any thing unbecoming thee Rev. 22.9 And when ever we stand before the Lord bad Angels are ready at our right hand to resist us and to accuse us for any corruptions he sees in us Zech. 3.1 3. Good men they are commanded to observe us as Copies to write after Heb. 13.7 Remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose faith follow c. And we are commanded so to walk 1 Pet. 2.12 that they which speak against us as evil doers may by our good works that they shall behold glorifie God in the day of visitation Brethren some may speak more good of you than you dare owne Look upon it as Gods gracious Stratagem to provoke you to live up to it Some speak more ill of you than you deserve Look upon it as the necessary and only way to confute them by an heavenly conversation Do nothing through strife or vain glory Phil. 2.3 4 5. but with an universal conformity unto Jesus Christ Pardon me dear Brethren I have trangressed my bounds in thus speaking to you but 't is only to set your own thoughts and graces on work to do more than I can press you to 5. A word to all that this day hear me It is but a few minutes ere death will stop our mouths that we shall speak to you no more Methinks if those that lived above twice so many hundred years as men do now scores counted their life by dayes Gen. 5.27 the time we live should be counted by hours and then of the hour of our life how few minutes are remaining and therefore this is my advice to all 1. Make that use of Ministers while they live that you will wish you had made of them when they are dead We read Luke 17.20 the Pharisces demanded of Christ when the Kingdom of God should come they expected the Messiah but would not owne Christ to be He they reckoned he would come in more stately manner Christ was in their eye contemptible but Christ saith Verse 22. The dayes will come when ye shall desire to see one of the dayes of the Son of man and ye shall not see it q. d. As much as you overlook me now you would be glad I would make the same offer hereafter Luke 19.42 Oh that thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes How many are ready to fancy could they have the scattered excellencies of all Ministers meet in one that the same man were a Moses for Prayer a Paul for Preaching a John Baptist for frighting sinners to repentance a Barnabas for comforting drooping Converts an Apollos for convincing gainsayers a Jeremy for weeping over the incorrigible in short could you have such a one as there 's never a one in the world then you would attend his Ministry love his converse take his counsell follow his example be glad of his help towards Heaven though by the way you are miserably mistaken in all this for you have Moses and the Prophets Christ and his Apestles and faithful Ministers that watch for your souls as those that must give an account if you benefit not by these Christ tells you plainly neither would you be perswaded though a Saint from Heaven or a damned Person from Hell should tell you what may be enjoyed or what must be suffered in those places Luke 16.31 Christians the Lord hath told us that the wisdom of God sends us those faithful Ministers who deserve the best but receive the worst entertainment Luke 11.49 Be not so proud as to think your wisdom could contrive a better method of salvation or fitter persons to publish it make use of the helps God affords you while they live that you may not be ready to go to the Devil to speak with that Samuel when dead whom you slighted while alive 2. Make that use of Ministers while you are well that you will wish you had made of them when you are sick Oh what alteration doth one hours heart-sickness make in mens thoughts Then those that scarce ever spake of a Minister unless with scorn that scarce ever spake to a Minister unless at best in complement yet when they apprehend they shall dye then send for a Minister then they will do any thing when the truth is they are fit for nothing then they will hear you speak of salvation could you but tell them how they might be saved by miracle to have a happy death out of a wicked life then they will tell you how holy they will be if they live though nothing more ordinary than for those who repent only when they are sick to repent of their repentance so soon as they are well Now therefore in time of health and strength make use of your Ministers that you may not fruitlesly mourn at the last When your flesh and your body are consumed and say how have I hated instruction and my heart despised reproof and have not obeyed the voyce of my Teachers nor enclined mine ear to them that instructed me Prov. 5.11 12. Christians we are Ambassadors for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we now pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled to God 2 Cor. 5.20 We would give you all the help we can that you may not receive the Gospel of Christ in vain delay not to set about the things that accompany salvation one moment longer for behold now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation 2 Cor. 6.2 Now live as those that heartily believe it is not long that either we shall Preach or you shall hear the Word of Salvation Hearken therefore while it is called to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin THE END
for a Scripture-demonstration That though Ministers dye their message is immortal It is your profit I aim at in treating of this Doctrine that I may therefore be more distinct and particular I will parcell it out into these following Propositions And now Christians I do in the name of my Supream Lord and Master solemnly require such attention as becomes those that shall feel this truth in both worlds Proposition 1. Those that live in contempt of the Word cannot out-live the power of it Many persons live and dye in a self-flattery that the threatnings against their sins the sins that they are resolved to live in shall never overtake them How many are there that study to be Infidels and strive to be Atheists they would fain perswade themselves that a Scripture faith is but a fancy and that God will never be so severe as we report him but yet a little while and they shall feel the contrary Others hear the Word and are at present startled but their convictions wear off and their sense of duty dyes before them Alas Sirs our obligations to duty do not ebb and flow according to our apprehensions of it The evil and danger of sin doth not abate as we would have it Ezek. 2.4 5. They are impudent children and stiff-hearted I do send thee unto them and thou shalt say unto them thus saith the Lord God And they whether they will hear or whether they will forbear for they are a rebellious house yet shall know that there hath been a Prophet among them Beloved Christians I pray you consider it The way of sin is the way of the greatest folly in the world for men will industriously live in sin and as industriously avoid taking notice of Gods indignation against it and because they take no notice they are willing to perswade themselves God takes no notice of them Yet these very persons when they are under any qualms of conscience and any tendency towards repentance then they as industriously perswade themselves God must needs take notice of them and that a few gripes of conscience must needs be mortification sufficient Why Sirs what do you make of God all this while But what need I ask this question seeing the Word of God hath so plainly resolved it Psal 50.21 Thou thoughtst saith God that I was altogether such an one as thy self The sinner thinks while he hath a kindness for sin God must needs indulge it and when he is never so little uneasie under it God must needs pardon it while he winks at sin God must not see it and when he never so slightly looks up for mercy God must not deny it Oh how do poor Ministers find this by experience Those that while they are well all we can say will not move them If they send for us when sick we must say nothing to discourage them we are harsh and uncharitable yea uncivil and not fit to visit a dying person if we disturb them with any close questioning of their repentance Oh 't is a piece of cruelty to thrust the probe of the Word into their festered consciences we must take sins forsaking of them when they can no longer commit it to be their forsaking of sin and though we with never so much tenderness suspect their estate and beg of them to take heed of dying in a mistake that will then cease to be cureable yet such language is not to be endured we must at least be dismist with Felix his complement Acts 24 25. Go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call for thee But that season never comes one while such melancholy for so must all seriousness be called will hinder the working of his Physick another while 't will break his rest and so he must rather be let alone to go to Hell than be troubled with directions how to get to Heaven Well in short think what you will of us and of our errand both in health and in sickness though you carry it as if 't were alwayes too soon or too late for you to be serious in Religion the warning we give you will have its efficacy one way or other Isa 55.10 11. if your hearts be not melted they will be hardned by the shining of the Sun of Righteousness if you make it not your business to lay hold on eternal life you cannot avoid it but eternal death will lay hold on you Proposition 2. Though Ministers dye their message shall survive them The authority and certainty of our message doth not depend upon our usage in the world nor our going out of it It is an easie matter to quarrel with the messenger but it is impossible to evade the message We are as subject to death as other men and what if I should say I speak it by way of enquiry not positively 't is worth while to consider Whether there be not fewer eminently faithful Ministers live to old age than persons of any other Calling whatsoever They live more time time worth the name of living in one year than others do in twenty The keener the Knife the sooner it cuts the Sheath Those that run hard are soonest at the end of their race But doth their message dye with them No sure What is said of young Samuel that lived to see his words verified may be said of those that dye before they see any effect of them 1 Sam. 3.19 The Lord was with him and did let none of his words fall to the ground Though men let them fall to the ground God will not 2 Tim. 2.9 I saith the Apostle suffer trouble as an evil doer even unto bonds but the word of God is not bound I know not why we should restrain this to the liberty the Apostle had while in prison to preach to those that were present and to write Epistles to those that were absent but it may also refer to the power and efficacy of the Word that it never returns in vain to him that sent it those to whom it is sent shall most certainly be the captives of his love or of his wrath And let me here put in one word for the comfort of believers As God in justice fulfills threatnings after the Ministers that publish them are dead so God graciously fulfills Promises after the Ministers that declare them are dead How many troubled souls are ready to conclude upon the death of their spiritual Physitian to whom to their comfort they have opened their grief Oh now they have none to speak to now those refreshments they were wont to have shall cease No. Dear Christians fear it not the Promises they have helpt you to apply shall abide by you and God will bring you into a profitable acquaintance with others that shall through grace help you to experiment that spiritual Physick will not lose its efficacy by the death of the Physitian Christ encourageth his Apostles with this that they should reap what the Prophets only lived to
utterly impossible There 's no way of getting off the guilt of sin without repentance in grown persons I mean the blood of Christ will not do it without actual repentance Christ himself tells you that unless you will take warning by others your selves may be made an example to others Luke 13.1 5. Those against whom God seems most severe in this world are not greater sinners than others But except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish Proposition 5. The death of some Ministers should provoke us to make better use of all Ministers living and dying And the speaking to this may serve for Application of all the rest 1. The death of bad Ministers should at least startle us I begin with these because some take my Text to speak of false Prophets which though I think they mistake yet we may gather instruction from it ere we reject it Wicked Ministers are Master-builders of the Synagogue of Satan instead of attempting to break the heart with piercing convictions they daub it over with untempered morter Scripture they wrack 2 Pet. 3.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speak what the Holy Ghost never intended and they will put pillows under their elbows that they may sin at ease God chargeth them with hunting of souls Ezek. 13.18 but 't is not to save the souls alive that come to them 't is to destroy them not to save them whereas Christ employes his faithful Ministers to be fishers of men Luke 5.10 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to catch them alive that they may live and that with God unto eternity Now for those that strengthen the hands of the wicked by promising them salvation though they turn not from their evil way Ezek. 13.22 Those spiritually blind Guides and those hood-winkt sinners that are guided by them shall both fall remedilesly into Hell You that love your sins love such Ministers as will least disturb you in the prosecution of them but how long can you or any for you hush your consciences asleep How long will these pleasing dreams last Those that help them to cast off the thoughts of death cannot secure themselves from the stroke of it Methinks 't is considerable God made that Prophet who seduced another to be the very Herald of Gods displeasure for his being seduced by him 1 Kings 13.18 22. And Zedekiah that encouraged Ahab against the warning of Micaiah must himself upon the issue of his false Prophecy seek to hide himself from Ahahs children and friends who would seek to be revenged on him for the death of the King and the overthrow of the Army 1 Kings 22.25 And Hananiah that flattered the Jews with an end of their Babylonian Captivity in two years shall not himself live full two months Jer. 28.3 4 16 17. I will commend to your consideration the Prophet Jeremy's complaint to God and Gods answer to the Prophet Jer. 14.13 Ah Lord God Behold the Prophets say unto them ye shall not see the sword neither shall ye have famine but I will give you assured peace in this place 15. Therefore thus saith the Lord concerning the Prophets that prophesie in my name and I sent them not yet they say sword and famine shall not be in this Land by sword and famine shall those Prophets be consumed 16. And the people to whom they prophesie shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword and they shall have none to bury them their wives nor their sons nor their daughters for I will pour their wickedness upon them God will not perform the deceitful promises of the Ministers of Satan but he will certainly execute his threatnings against them that their end shall be according to their works 2 Cor. 11.15 In a word when Hell swallowed up quick some wicked Ministers for flattering the people that they were holy enough and for charging those that were more strict that they took too much upon them the Text sayes All Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them for they said lest the earth swallow us up also Numb 16.3.32 33 34. 2. Much more should we make it our business to improve the death of good Ministers We read 1 Sam. 25.1 When Samuel dyed all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him Some suppose Saul himself was a Mourner at the Funeral But if that be a mistake I am sure this is not 2 Kings 13.14 When Elisha was fallen sick of his sickness whereof he dyed Joash one of the wicked Kings of Israel for they were none of them good came down unto him and wept over his face and said Oh my Father my Father the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof Christians 'T is not enough to breathe out a sigh or to squeez out a tear 't is not enough to come fee a faithful Minister buried as those went to see Christ crucified Luke 23.48 And all the people that came together to that sight smote their breasts and returned Christians I must crave leave to be a little more plain and particular with you for your improvement of this present stroke in the Lords taking from us this precious man of God The fence of Gods Vineyard as to men is but a tottering hedge and God hath pull'd up one of the best stakes of it The Wall of Christs Garden is at present as to men but a bowing Wall and God hath taken down one of the best Butteresses of it But why should I speak thus to you I can tell you nothing but what you know better than I and what I shall say 't is in order to the pressing of what I hope you will do better than I. The truth is I must needs break out into that of Nehemiah Neh. 13.22 O my God spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy I fall short of what I shall mention of him and yet more short of what I shall press upon you I have something particularly to charge-upon all sorts of hearers and Oh that it may take impression and have an abiding upon your hearts 1 Chron. 29.18 O Lord God keep this for ever in the imagination of the thoughts of the heart of thy people and prepare their heart unto thee 1. You that were the dear Relations of this eminent Saint that have the first smart of the stroke I would give you the first of my poor counsel Was he such a Husband that what ever is desirable in that relation may be truly affirmed to have been found in him Was his love to your person and his love to your soul so exceeding great that it makes your loss very hard to be born I shall say no more but this Let your eminently gracious carriage through the remainder of your life be an exemplary demonstration that you had such a help about twenty six years and then I dare assure you that you will have the comfortable sense of that suitable Promise Isa 54.5 Thy Maker is thine Husband the