PEACE and REST FOR The Upright BEING A SERMON PREACHED At the FUNERAL of the REVEREND D r. Iohn Bryan sometime Minister of Trinity in Coventry By that Worthy Preacher of Gods Word Mr. NATH WANLEY Master of Arts Deceased and Successor to the said Doctor in the aforesaid Parish LONDON Printed for Iohn Smith Bookseller in Coventry 1681. Peace and Rest for the Upright Esaiah 57. Verse 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness THE Life of Man is compared in Scripture unto sundry things upon different and various accounts in respect of the brevity and shortness of it St. Iames tells us it is a vapour that appears for a little while and soon vanisheth away And in this respect it may be said of every one of us as Virgil once did of his Marcellus God shews him to the World only and so recalls him God presents us here a while upon the Theatre of the World for to act our parts and then sends us into the retiring Room the Grave the place appointed for all that are living So short is Mans stay in the World that Iob allows him none at all Naked came I into the World and naked shall I return saith he Here is coming and returning out but not a word of tarrying here The time of life is so inconsiderable that Solomon the wisest of men would grant him none at all There is a time saith he for every thing under the Sun a time to be born and a time to dye As if he would have us to understand that the middle time betwixt our birth and our death that is the time of life was not to be reckoned upon at all So that you see not onely every mans life is a Vapour but less in respect of its shortness But the good and holy man hath his Life compared to other things upon other Considerations Upon the account of his hardship and perpetual fighting and watching his frequent encounter with enemies and his continual obligation to duty A good mans life is called a warfare 2 Cor. 10. 4. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds And upon the account of his toyl and trouble weariness and continual travel upon the account of his absence from the Lord and his daily tendency to Heaven which is his proper home So the Life of a good man is called a Pilgrimage saith the Patriarch Iacob Few and evil have been the dayes of the years of the life of my pilgrimage But as the Warriour fights not without a prospect of Peace Pax quaeritur bello Peace is the end of War And as the weary Pilgrim doth not Travel but in hopes of an after-rest So God almighty for the encouragement of his Soldiers in the Fight and his Pilgrim in the Journey he hath set before him as in the glass of the Promse these two most suitable things for him Peace and Rest for so saith the Text He shall enter into peace c. Where we have 1. A Promise or Priuiledg they shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds like Issachar the Son of Iacob here they do couch under the double burdens of Warr and Weariness of Want and Weakness but peace and rest these will ease them of all they suffer supply all they want recruit them with new additions of strengths They shall enter into peace c. And now I have but named that word Peace methinks I may say as Leah concerning her Son Gad Behold a Troop cometh For under this name are couched all those Favours and Blessings of God which have the Sweetest Significations All the Joyes and Beatitudes that are so numerous and full bloomed here but ripe in Heaven They shall enter into peace Some read it and so your margin Go in peace depart the World with Serenity and Satisfaction with inward Quiet and Repose But 2. Others read it He shall go into peace that is shall be received into Heaven where the God of Peace is the righteous man shall be there he shall enter into peace that is to note it is the priviledg of the Soul especially First for this is the man the He the Soul is the Jewel the Body is but the Caskinet the Soul the principal the other bnt the appurtenance and they shall rest in their beds that is the priviledg of the Body not Soul it shall be laid down to repose it self in the Grave which Jesus Christ hath perfumed as in a bed till such time the Morning of the Resurrection begin to dawn and the Trump of the Arch-Angel to sound then it shall rise from thence and enter into the Souls Peace 2. Here is a description of the Persons to whom these priviledges appertain We need not say as the Eunuch of Queen Candace when he read a passage out of this Prophet Of whom spake the Prophet this of himself or some other man For the Prophet hath told us Each one walking in his uprightness Whosoever he is that doth deal justly with Man and walks equally that is Conscientiously with God he shall have this priviledg of Rest and Peace He shall enter into peace and rest in his bed 3. When this Priviledg and Promise shall be imparted to them When shall they be instated and put into the actual possession and injoyment of this priviledge It is true that this is not expressed in the Text but strongly implyed and is fairly to be taken notice of as the words of the Text have relation to the words going before The righteous perishing that is dying and merciful men taken away that is by death out of the World Then it is told what Death takes them from They are taken from the Evil to come And here followes in the Text what death brings them to They shall enter into peace So the intent is this That as death comes to a good man with a Dart in one hand to kill him and a Spade in the other to bury him So he brings him Flowers that shall be able to keep him sweet Peace for his Soul and Rest for his Body and this is the time he shall be put in injoyment of it From all the Point is this That when a Righteous man dyes he enters upon the estate of Peace and Rest. I will only give you two Scriptures for this which two Scriptures may be instead of a Thousand Psalm 37. Verse 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace His end is as his death is at that time he hath peace It may be not at the beginning not in the middle of his life but at the end It 's possible that his morning may be cloudy and over-cast his Sun may suffer an Eclipse at Noon-day a darkness may come upon his Meridian glory but his Night his End this shall be Clear and Fair Still and Quiet Pleasant and
there was power and they had no Comforter Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive As much as to say These have escaped these are sensible of no such matter but are Quiet they are at Peace and Rest. 5. At peace and rest from inward Troubles which a man is liable unto upon sundry occasions in this Life such as the death and departure of ones best Friends chiefest Relations Here you see a great King in the bitterness of his grief crying out O Absolon my Son my Son would God I had dyed for thee O Absolon my Son my Son In Ramah you hear a lamentation and voyce of weeping Rachel weeping for her Children and would not be comforted because they are not Here you have Mary bewailing Lazarus her Brother And the Sons of Iacob mourning over their Father But in Heaven there is Peace and Rest once there we shall lose them no more For then saith the Apostle we shall ever be with the Lord. Earth only and Hell is the Territory of death but Heaven is the Land of the Living and there we shall find them again And this is something of the nature of that Peace which Righteous men shall by death be instated in and made Possessors of I hasten to the improvement of this Point wherein I shall be short Use. If Peace and Rest is to be our Priviledg hereafter Then 1. It should be our desire here So the Apostle commandeth Follow peace with all men Such Salamanders as delight to live in the fire of Contention these of all other men are most unfit for Heaven for that is a Place of Peace 2. Let the Priviiedges of good men allure us to a resemblance of their Persons and their Graces All men like Balaam are ready to cry out Let me dye the death of the Righteous and let my latter end be like his Would fain dye like them with the same Hope Peace Serenity and Quiet of Conscience Let my latter end be like his as Balaam said But such as will dye as they must also live as they 3. If death is the time of Peace and Rest with Righteous men then it is to be understood that the time of Life is to be a time of Labour and Warfare If so be Death is our Night to repose in then sure Life should be our Day to work in The best of men have business enough to do before them head-strong Passions to quell Corruptions to mortifie grace to grow a race to run a battle to fight therefore let us up and be doing and set about that that is our work and that the rather because 1. They rest best that have laboured most When a man hath ordered his business and disposed of his affairs as he intended then he hath charmed and subdued his Care and hath no disquieting thoughts to disturb his repose The sleep of a labouring man is sweet saith Solomon So he that busied himself in the Work and Service of God while he was alive goes to his rest with the greatest calmness and serenity of Soul that may be 2. We know not how soon we may be called off the Stage For Man knowes not his time Eccles. 9. 12. I am old saith Isaac and know not the day of my death And as he said when he was old so may every one say that is youngest Though I am younger or middle-aged yet I know not the day of my death The reason is because it is Gods peculiar reservation My times saith David are in thy hand Then 3. Our Natures are brittle exceeding brittle the Word of God tells us we are shadows vapours and flowers that wither of a sudden Then considering the variety of accidents we are subject to Ioseph had his Tomb in his Garden to mind him that Death might possibly meet him in that place of Pleasure A Tile from the house a Worm a Hair a little Spittle hath been as fatal to some persons as if so be a Mountain had fallen on their heads Therefore considering these things it is but reason we set our selves to work to labour in the time of health in the time of life 4. If Rest and Peace be the Priviledg of a Righteous man at his death It shews us That the death of Righteous men they are not to be lamented by us upon their own account They may seem to call to us from Heaven as Christ Jesus once did to the Women of Iudea upon the Cross Ye Daughters of Ierusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves They are not to be lamented upon their own accounts They are gone to Salem the City of Peace and why should we mourn for them as they without hope Death is no Enemy of theirs but as Noah's Dove returned with an Olive branch the Emblem of Peace so Death brings a good man not an Olive branch but the reality it self which is far more desireable As the Ark carried the whole Church of God to the Mountain Ararat the name of which signifieth Take away fear so Death shall waft us to Heaven there where no fear is It is true in respect of our selves we ought to follow them with tears and to have our hearts deeply affected with their removal from us and God himself doth blame the stupidity of our hearts and insensibleness of this People and such men that can part with such Jewels as these with indifferency without Concern in the Verse before the Text The righteous man perisheth and no man layeth it to heart This is the great fault As if he had said For as to us they are dear losses For 1. We loose the benefit of their Example for our Guide When a good man is gone one of the Lights of Israel is Quenched As David's Soldiers reckoned of him Thou shalt go no more with us to Battel lest thou quench the Light of Israel Of these the Apostle saith Amongst whom you shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation 2. We loose the benefit of their good Works for our Comfort A good man is a useful man where he liveth The Poor have the benefit of his Alms and all that converse with him have the benefit of his Counsel For he of all others will not suffer Sin to rest upon the Soul of his Brother if he know it so that we loose the benefit of their good works for our Comfort 3. And we loose the benefit of their presence too for our Safety which is not a thing inconsiderable neither When Elijab was ascended into Heaven in a Chariot of fire the Prophet below cryed My Father the Chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof As much as to say His Presence was as great a Security as an Army of Chariots and Horsemen These are they that stand in the breach when the Judgments of God like a mighty Torrent are ready to rush upon us These are they that like so many Aarons hasten with their
Delightful that 's the first place The other is in Revelat. 14. 13. And I heard a voyce from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them They have at death both Peace and Rest. And now this Point will require these things to be spoken to 1. Who or what the Righteous is 2. What Peace they shall have and be priviledged with at the time of their death First Who is the Righteous man The Text saith he that walks in uprightness Alas where is he to be found A man must have very good Eyes to find him out Especially if we consider what is said Psal. 53. 1 2. There is none that doth good God looked down from Heaven upon the Children of men and saw none righteous no not one Then farewell Priviledge for where is the Person To answer this There is indeed none that are strictly legally Righteous but there is in a larger Evangelical sence None that are righteous in themselves but in another We have the Righteousness of Justification from Christ and of Sanctification from Christ And they are the men that shall enter into peace and rest Those men I say that are men of Sincerity though not in Perfection Those men that are righteous in the aim and desire of their hearts And in comparison of others Righteous by Gods acceptation and by imputation of the Righteousness of Christ These are the Persons that shall partake of this priviledg He shall enter into Peace they shall rest in their beds c. But then 2. What Peace and Rest shall these men be priviledged with at the time of their death There are Singular Properties of this Peace For 1. It 's a Peace that is unconceiveable Man's Eye hath bored the Sphears and hath penetrated into the very depth of the Ocean it hath searched into the very Bowels of the Earth and into the wild Bellies of the Clouds above it hath travelled through all the expanded Firmament in all places of the World and hath rifled the Cabinet of Nature below but it could never grasp the nature of this true Peace and Rest here spoken of for as to this Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard nor hath it entred into the Heart of Man to conceive the Peace of God The Apostle tells us it passeth knowledg The Beatitudes of Heaven are only known to us as Solomon's Wisdome was to the Queen of Sheba of which she said Behold I have not heard the tenth part The glorious Inhabitants of Heaven the Angels and Souls of Just Men made perfect these indeed understand more the nature of it than we because they live in it Yet so as the Apostle discoursing of Gods Counsel was forced to cry out Rom. 11. 33. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his Iudgments and his wayes past finding out So do these bright Spirits ravish and loose themselves in the depth of Contemplation The Provision he hath made for them in Heaven doth excell even their own admiration 2. It is a most Perfect and a most Compleat Peace Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them saith David And saith the Prophet Esay Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose Mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee Both these are in this Life that which the Psalmist and Prophet spake of Oh that great Peace and perfect Peace And if the gleanings of Abiezer be such what will be the Vintage of Ephraim If this is the Righteous man's Priviledge here upon Earth much more in Heaven For it must needs be a perfect Peace there seeing no enemy shall appear in the face of them all shall be conquered and subdued overcome escaped from for there there will be a Peace from Sin Whilst we are alive the best of men are pulled and pained by Sin they are under the continual Solicitations of the corruption of their own Nature There is a body of death that by the noysome stench of it we are miserably molested and disquieted and to that height that each of them is ready to cry out Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death While they are here there is a Law in the members rebells against the Law of the mind What willingness soever there is in the spirit they find the flesh is weak A treacherous Party dwells in their very bowels and is continually undermining those Fortifications they vour to raise and set open and to widen the Portals and to let in our worst enemies These Sons of Zerviah are too hard for us but when once a holy man cometh to dye no more shall Corruption sollicit no more have they depraved Natures to struggle with No weights of Sin to weigh us down no more shall they complain of the hardness of their hearts their indisposition to holy duties of the weakness of the flesh the power of Corruption No more complaining of the usurping power of sin upon the Soul Then 3. It is a peace and rest from the Temptations of Sathan Here it is that we are in Arena We wrestle not only with flesh and blood but with Principalities and Powers and spiritual wickednesses in high places Here it is that Satan doth desire to have us that he may sift us as Wheat as it was said of the Apostle Peter It is not David alone that Satan stands up to provoke to that that is evil but his fiery darts fly fast and thick his messengers are not only sent to buffet Paul but all the rest of Gods People but being once in this rest they are out of the reach of the roaring Lion And they may say of Heaven as Lamech of his Son Noah Gen. 5. 29. This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toyl of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath Cursed So this Peace shall save us and keep us in freedom from the Temptations of Satan 4. Death giveth them peace and rest from the violence of men Read that of Heb. 11. 36 37. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn asunder and what not Here you find the footsteps of the world's usage of the Saints But as when Ionah was asleep and at rest in the bottom of the Ship the blustring storms and death-threatning Tempests were as nothing to him So it is with these Iob 3. 17. That holy man speaking of the Grave There the wicked saith he cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest In this Life it is as Solomon observeth Eccles. 4. 1 2. So I returned and considered all the oppressions under the Sun and behold the tears of such as were oppressed and they had no Comforter and on the side of their oppressors