in the Text You see that Lazarus was a good Man a declared Friend of Christ yet neither his goodness before Christ nor his relation to Christ could priviledg from Death We read of Abraham the friend of God we read of Isaac Jacob Moses Samuel David Solomon Hezekiah Josiah all eminent men for parts and piety yet nothing of all this would secure them from the stroke of death The Prophets where are they do they live for ever In a word saith David Psalm 49. 7 8. No man by any means can redeeem his brother nor give God a ransome for him For the redemption of their souls is precious and it ceaseth for ever For saith Paul It is appointed unto all men once to dye and after that to judgment 2. WE next come to shew you what Death is Death is the dissolving of the Union that 's betwixt two Beings or it is the separation of the Soul and Body each from other Two near Friends that were knit together in the Womb but now divided asunder under the Tomb. THERE is a threefold Death A death spiritual a death eternal and a death temporal or corporal FIRST of all There is a death spiritual or a spiritual death which is the dissolving of that blessed Union that was betwixt God and Man in Paradice for as the soul is united to the body of a Man so was God united to the soul and body of a Man tho not in so corporal but in a mystical mannner And as the body dies when the soul which maintains the life of it is gone in like manner did our souls dye to all spiritual life when God was gone Mark the Apostle's words in Ephes 2. 1. You hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins We ceased to live the Life of God ever since that happy union was broken betwixt us and God Psalm 49. 12. 2. THERE is an Eternal death which is that state every graceless man and woman living and dying so is appointed unto after this Life of Nature is at an end And what that state is you may read in these following Scriptures Matt. 8. 11 12. I say unto you that many shall come from the east and from the west and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into utter darkness where shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth Psal 9. 17. The wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. Psalm 11. 6. Vpon the wicked shall God rain snares and fire and brimstone and an horrible tempest this shall be the portion of their cup. 2 Thess 1. 7 8 9. When he shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power so Rev. 14. 9 10 11. 3. THERE is this natural death which unties the Soul from the Body which a good Lazarus as well as a wicked Dives must partake of from which stroke saith David no Man can keep alive his own Soul. Solomon's Wisdom Abraham's Faith Sampson's Strength David's Zeal Hezekiah's Godliness Josiah's Uprightness Job's Patience Absolom's Beauty Hammon's Honour Dives his Riches could not prevent this stroke of death Saith Solomon As dyeth the fool so dyeth the wise man and all this as the fruit of sin For the wages of sin is death Rom. 6. 23. 2. WE now come to the Reasons of the Point Why good men must die as well as bad men Reas 1. BECAUSE of Gods determination he hath decreed and appointed it to be so Heb. 9. 27. It is appointed once for all men to dye Now there is no withstanding of a decree of God Numb 23. 19. God is not a man that he should lye nor the son of a man that he should repent Hath he said it and shall he not do it or hath he spoken it and shall he not make it good You may as well turn the Winds out of their points the Tide out of its course the Moon out of her place or stop the Sun in its race as to hinder the execution of the least decree of God therefore none ever yet could stop or prevent his own departure hence THO Christ himself as God could have prevented his own death John 10. 18. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again But yet as Christ was Man he could not avoid it HENCE saith the Apostles Acts 4. 27 28. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles with the people of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done Now if the determination of God brings Christ to the Grave much more will it bring other good men to the Grave also Reas 2. IT 's so Because good Men have sinned and thereby deserved this stroke of Death as well as bad Men Rom. 3. 23. with Rom. 6. 23. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God the wages of Sin is Death Only there is this difference betwixt the bad Man and the good Man's death the bad Man dies as it 's said our Lord Jesus died when all the Sins of the Elect were upon him he dyes a cursed Death Gal. 3. 13. So do the wicked they dye a cursed Death because they dye with all their Sins upon them 1 Joh. 8. 24. Except you believe in me you shall dye in your sins But the godly Man hath all his Sins done away in Christ and where Sin is pardoned there Death is disarmed Death may gape but it cannot bite it may hiss but it cannot sting a believer because both its Teeth and Sting are broken and pluckt out by Christ in the behalf of every true Christian Reas 3. WHY good Men must dye as well as bad Men is Because they might actually possess that glorious Inheritance which Christ hath purchased for them above Eph. 1. 14. Which is the earnest of our Inheritance until the Redemption of the purchased Possession unto the praise of his Glory So that it appears that Jesus Christ hath not only purchased a Redemption for his People by his precious Blood from Sin Satan the Curse and Condemnation of the Law and Wrath to come but by the price of the same Blood hath he purchased an Inheritance in Glory for them saith Peter 1 Pet. 1. 4. An inheritance uncorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for you But most certain it is while the Godly are in this Life they are at a great distance from this purchased Inheritance of Glory 2 Cor. 5. 6. Therefore we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. So
ver 1. For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens So that you see here is but an old tottering Tabernacle which stands up betwixt the People of God and this purchased glorious Inheritance reserved in Heaven for them and Christ will have it down he will have his Mansion-places filled above which must be with the fall of his Saints Bodies here below This made Peter to look upon his Dissolution as most necessary 2 Pet. 1. 14. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me He knew that his Dissolution was very necessary to his glorious Possession and so it is to every believer else Lastly WE are now come to improve the whole 1. Vse IS this a truth That good Men must dye as well as bad Men Learn hence then to know what an exceeding evil Sin is it is Sin that hath drawn and drag'd us into the Valley of the Shadows of so many Deaths that we are become dead to God spiritually and do dye out of the World corporally and that some do dye and perish eternally it is Sin which hath been the cause of all this Oh Sinner Sinner didst thou ever seriously lay this to thy heart If so how canst thou nourish such a Viper in thy Bosom which hath procured so many Deaths for thee DID Sampson desire to take revenge upon the Philistines for their plucking out of his two Eyes Alas what a small Injury was that compared with the mischief which Sin hath done to thee And yet thou art so far from taking Vengeance on thy Sins that all the World cannot perswade thee to break thy cursed League with it but still thou holdest fast thy Iniquity and refusest to return as if nothing could make thee more happy than Sin an evil which hath made thee so miserable here and will make thee a thousandfold more miserable hereafter I SHALL conclude this Use with presenting two Scriptures to thy Consideration with this Request to thee poor hardned blinded Sinner that if thou hast any value for thy invaluable Soul slight not the Consideration of them Ezek. 18. 31. Cast away from you all your Transgressions whereby you have transgressed and make you a new Heart and a new Spirit for why will ye dye O house of Israel Ezek. 11. 21. But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their Abominations I will recompence their way upon their own heads saith the Lord God. 2. Vse MVST the good Man dye as well as the bad Man Let the thoughts of it teach us all to wean our selves from this World and from each other in it betimes Let us all learn the Lesson given us by Paul 1 Cor. 7. 29 30 31. But this I say Brethren the time is short it remaineth that both they that have Wives be as tho they have none and they that weep as tho they wept not and they that rejoice as tho they rejoyced not and they that buy as tho they possessed not and they that use this World as not abusing it for the fashion of this World passeth away The meaning is that we should hold every thing with a loose hand that it may the easier drop from us when either we must drop from them or them from us when we foolishly espouse our Friends and Relations too near our Affections it comes to pass too often that when God rips them from us he thereby many a time rips away our Hearts with them and leaves us so empty as we can neither enjoy our selves nor any of our Friends enjoy us for some years after therefore in as much as a ripping time will come let us labour what we can to unglue our selves from every heart-endearment below God. Oh remember your Husbands will dye your Wives must dye Parents and Children must dye and you must dye therefore labour to dye to them all first and let it be your great care to live to God and then when you shall cease to live with Men you shall live with God which is best of all 3. Use MVST good Men dye as well as bad Men Let us learn then to prepare for Death it will be the saddest hour that ever came upon you should Death seize on you before you are prepared for it therefore in order to your Preparation for Death take these Rules 1. Rule GET your selves well hous'd and harboured in Jesus Christ the true Ark indeed before this Flood of Death comes upon you Oh how sweetly did Noah sing in his Ark when the Flood of Destruction was upon the face of the whole Earth Oh so will it only be with those who only are in Christ when the Flood of Death draws nigh to their Souls Oh how sweetly will they sing then 1 Cor. 15. 54 55 56 57. O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. It will be the saddest Providence that ever thou mettest with in all thy life should thy body be laid into the grave before thy Soul by Faith is well incorporated into Christ He that hath no Union with Christ is dead while he lives and to see a Man dying before he began to live this is one of the saddest objects under Heaven Rule 2. IF you would prepare for Death see to it that the work of regeneration be wrought upon your Souls while you are alive which work lieth in a work of Grace supernaturally infused into your hearts Tit. 3. 5. Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost The necessariness of this Work you may perceive by our Saviours words to Nicodemus 1 John 3. 3. And Jesus answered and said unto him Verily verily I say unto thee except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God. There be some that will tell you a fine Story of Regeneration that it lies in an assent of Faith given to the truths of the Gospel with an obedient walking to the Rules of the same What is this Notion but a mere Cheat put upon your Souls for this differs as far from Regeneration as Lead differs from Silver or Brass differs from Gold. For this strange Notion of Regeneration supposeth three things 1. THAT man by Nature can discern the things of God or else to what purpose do these men talk of revealing Gospel-truths to the minds of men but this is expresly against the word 1 Cor. 2. 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can be know them because they are spiritually discerned 2. IT supposeth That every
AN ACCOUNT Of some of the Dying-Sayings OF SUSANNAH YEATS Late Wife of SAMVEL YEATS of the Parish of Minching-Hampton in Glocester-shire WITH A SERMON Preached at her Funeral By THOMAS WORDEN Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for William Marshall at the Bible in Newgate-street 1688. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER IT is storied of Latimer the Bishop that on a time when he was to Preach before King Edward the 6th his Theme was Take heed and beware of Covetousness and so kept on the Repetition of it five or six times together as if he intended that his Sermon should consist of no more words than his bare Theme viz. Take heed and beware of Covetousness BVT if the Bishop were now alive he would see cause to alter his Subject in turning of it from Covetousness to Death FOR as he made use of after Arguments to dehort his Auditors from that Sin so now would he see need to make as often a Repetition of the word Death as the Prophet did of the word Earth O Earth Earth hear the word of the Lord and all would be too little to affright this Age from more gross Sins IT is our unhappy Lot to live in an Age wherein our most sharp Brains are more enclined to exercise the Vanity of Wit than to labour after true Wisdom which would render the ensuing Subject the less pleasant to them For how is it possible that Men should read a Subject of Death with pleasure who so much abound in Sin while they live with so much pleasure IT was the saying once of Queen Elizabeth That of all the Books which she had read she prized mostly these two viz. Senica and the Bible and it would be no small mercy to the most of our Age if they could say That of all things in the World they mostly love these two viz. to live to Christ and to dye to Sin because to such a man Death will not appear as a Lyon but as a Lamb. For those whose bleeding Wounds by Sin are not healed by the Blood of Christ their Death will make the greatest Wound at last IF the Preaching of Death to mens Ears would be the Death of Sin in their Hearts the ensuing Subject then might be as Solomon speaks of seasonable Words viz. like Appels of Gold in Pictures of Silver But instead of any hope this way may we not sit down with the Prophets complaint and cry out as he did Isa 28. 10 12. Tho line upon line be brought to this People and precept upon precept here a little and there a little yet they will not hear As to the following Subject treated upon it was preached at the Funeral of one of my Congregation But if any shall expect quaintness of Words or elegancy of Phrase he will find but little which would suit that humour THEREFORE those that usually read Books to please their Fancies more than to encrease their Faith and love to have their Ears tickled with fine Words rather than their Hearts toucht with real Truths will little applaud the Discourse IF thou readest rather to acquaint thy self with flourishing Sentences than to affect thy Heart with real Substances thou must leave the School of Christ and betake thy self to a Heathenish Academy THE greatest care taken about the following Discourse hath been to trim it up in a Jacob-like Dress plain and pious It s Garment is like to the Israelites Robes for their Humiliation not Silk but Sackcloth Therefore what Beauty lieth in it resembles the stile given of the Church Psal 45. 13. It 's only glorious within It s beauty appears not so much in the Letter without as it doth in the Spirit within AND if thou contemn it only for want of an external Beauty that will but bespeak to thy face thy want of Spirituality I DO declare I never had any further intent in the Study of the ensuing Discourse than to content my self with the bare Preaching of it For to say all I never deem'd it worthy of so publick a view as it 's now arrived unto only strong Importunity hath drag'd it out of my Hand and that it 's now published it 's rather to humour my Friend than to please my self any further than it may be serviceable to some poor Soul. But that God that can make dry Bones to live if he shall make this dry Bone of any quickning-use to thee give God the Praise and me thy Prayer That God would make me in his hand A means that some may understand What slavery their Souls are in Who wilfully do live in Sin That so they may be brought to see The captiv'd State and Misery That Satan have them in beyond all doubt Unless the Lord of Life do work them out And then when they to Christ by Faith do run As Persons that are quite undone And so by Faith on him do clinch Their fiery heat of guilt to quench Which will make Sin the greatest pain And Godliness the greatest gain And by believing rest upon The Lord of Life when this is done Do live to him in Righteousness Its wages being Blessedness Which alters Death from being a foe Which will also free them from woe And land them in their Haven of Rest Where they shall ever be and blest The good of which will make my Crown So heavy that it will weigh down All the discouragements which attend My painful labours to the end Yet do but me thy Prayers give And that will always me relieve Until my painful work be done And I at rest to Joy am come Thine and the Churches Servant THOMAS WORDEN The Dying-Sayings of Susannah Yeats the Wife of Samuel Yeats an Inhabitant in the Parish of Minching Hampton c. ON the Monday night after she fell sick was a night of great temptation to her who lay under the violent assaulting hand of Satan for four hours together the next morning she related her Condition to a Friend which came to see her When after her Friend had asked her how it was with her She replied in these words I remember what my Pastor said once That when Satan is busy with his Tempations to a Person in a Sick-bed it is a sign of Death But said she he hath been busy with me this Night After she had thus said she related what her temptations had been the Night before First she had a sight of Satans appearance to her claiming a propriety in her and that all her endeavour would be but lost labour at last Unto whom she replied O thou Coward that knowest I am a weak Woman weak in Body and weak in Faith if thou hast any thing to lay to my Charge get thee gone go to the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah he will plead my Cause for me if there be not Mercy enough in God if there be not Merit enough in the Blood of Jesus Christ if there be not worth enough in his Righteousness nor Grace enough in his Sanctification
man hath true Faith in some degree or other or else to what purpose do these men talk of mens giving an assent of Faith to the Divine Truths of the Gospel but this is as gross as the other if Paul may be believed 2 Thes 3. 2. That we may be delivered from unreasonable men for all men have not faith 3. IT supposeth that all men by nature have Power to obey the Gospel if they please or else why do the men of this Notion talk as they do of mens living in obedience to the Rules of the Gospel but this is as foreign and wide from the Scripture as any of the former if Paul may be believed by an Arminian Rom. 8. 7. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be So that unless a man have new Eyes put into his Head and a new Faith put into his heart and a new Will put into his Soul it is wholly Impossible that men should either see believe or obey the Gospel to the Salvation of their Souls but Regeneration which is right is another thing than these men dream of it is supernatural work carried on by the Holy Ghost in the Heart where and when he pleaseth it is called a new creation Eph. 2. 10. Is this supernatural or is it not it's called a being born again 1 Pet. 1. 23. Now who is there which can contribute to his own Birth It 's called a Resurrection Rom. 6. 5. Rev. 20. 6. And who is it that can contribute to his own Resurrection all as able is a poor Sinner to convert himself from sin to God or believe and obey the Gospel if Christ himself may be believed Joh. 15. 5. Without me ye can do nothing therefore see that this work be done upon your Souls before you dye or else your corporal death will lanch you into an eternal death for ever 3. Rule LAY in a good stock of Prayer against a dying hour comes it is Paul's Exhortation Lay up a good foundation for the time to come Oh let it be your Prayer night and day to God that he would prepare your Souls for Death Undoubtedly those who pray mostly for this mercy in time of life have mostly the joyful comfort of it in an hour of death they that live prayingly will dye prayingly 4. Rule IF you would prepare for Death make your selves as familiar with it as you can in a time of Life then will it be the less dreadful to you when it comes it is in the case of death as it is with a Lyon death is called the King of terrors to men as the Lyon is to the rest of the Beasts of the Forest and little less a terror to men also But if you take a Lyon when it is but a whelp you may train it up to so tame a rate that you may lead it up and down by a Chain in your Hand when others would tremble to look on it so if you would but make Death so familiar with your thoughts you might find it to smile upon you when it looks grim upon others Last Use MUST good men dye as well as bad men Yet here comes meat out of this eater and honey out of this strong one to a believer Oh what sweet and pleasant thoughts should every believer have of Death when they dye and never till they dye shall they be fully brought home to God. Death to the Saints is the door by which they enter into the enjoyment of God. The dying Christian is almost at home yet a few Pangs and Agonies more and then he is come to God in whose presence is fulness of Joy. I desire saith Paul to depart and to be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1. 23. It should not scare us to be brought to Death the King of Terrors so long as it is the office of Death to bring us to God. That dreaming Opinion of the Souls sleeping after Death is as ungrounded as it is uncomfortable the same day we loose from this shore we shall be landed upon the blessed shore where we shall see and enjoy God for ever Oh if the Friends of deceased Believers did but understand where ond with whom their Souls are while they are mourning over their Bodies here certainly a few believing thoughts of this would quickly dry up their Tears I SHALL conclude with that word in Psal 37. 37. Mark perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace FINIS
been a Report cast abroad That she should say in the time of her Sickness That none should go to Heaven but such as was of her Judgment and Perswasion in the matters of Religion but of all or amongst all the Passages which she uttered in her dying Condition none that were most conversent with her can in the least remember that she uttered such a Passage I WAS desired to Conclude her Sayings with this Verse which a Friend of hers delivered to me Now as to She or any other that shall be ready at his call Shall ever live and rest with Christ and that is best of all The Funeral Sermon Preached at the Interment of the Body of Susannah Yeats of the Parish of Minching-Hampton in Glocester-shire THE Text was from the Gospel of St. John Chapter the Eleventh part of the Eleventh Verse Our friend Lazarus sleepeth The occasion of these words arose from the Divine Intelligence which the Godhead of Christ gave to his Manhood of the death of Lazarus Brother to Mary Magdellen who deceased in the Town of Bethany verse the first WHICH Intelligence our Saviour communicated to his Disciples in the words of the Text but in a dark and ambiguous manner Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Which doubtful expression occasioned from his Disciples this reply Verse 12. Then said his Disciples Lord if he sleep he shall do well For so indeed natural sleep is a great mercy to a labouring or travelling Man or to one under the visiting hand of God in Feverish or Consumptive distempers now it 's most probable that in this sense the Disciples understood the words of their Master as verse 13. sheweth Howbeit Jesus spake of his death but they thought that he had spoken of taking rest in sleep BUT our Saviour not being willing to leave them in the dark plainly tells them that Lazarus was dead Verse 14. Then said Jesus unto them plainly Lazarus is dead FROM hence we may observe this Note by the way Doct. THAT tho Christ may suffer his People to lye in the Dark as to some things and some Truths for a while yet in his time he will reveal it more plainly to them The Disciples of Christ were as ignorant of most of the Truths of the Gospel and Mysteries of Salvation as they were of what our Saviour meant about the sleep of Lazarus But in his good time he as plainly unfolds the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God to them as he did the mystery of Lazarus sleep Acts 1. 3. Light is sown for the righteous and gladness for the upright in heart Not only the light of Prosperity but the light of Knowledg and as it hath its seeding so in Christ's time it shall have its springing season The path of the just shineth more and more unto the perfect day Col. 2. 3. It 's true that in Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledg and it 's in Christ for believers John 1. 16. but he will give it down to them as he sees his time Christ had many things to say to his Disciples but they could not bear them at that time But let this be the comfort of every sincere Christian That first or last Christ will open the treasures of light and knowledg to thee only be often putting up that Prayer for thy self which Paul put up for the Ephesians Ephes 1. 16 17 18 19. and doubt not of a good Issue AND so we come to the words themselves in which you have these three things 1. The Person speaking 2. The Person spoken of 3. The Words spoken 1. YOU have the Person speaking and that was Jesus Christ 2. You have the Person spoken of and that was Lazarus 3. You you have the Words spoken which are these Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Which words have these two things in them first A manifestation of the relation that there was betwixt Christ the Disciples and Lazarus mark he doth not say Lazarus my Friend but Lazarus our friend sleepeth FROM hence we may observe by the way Doct. THAT those who are friends to Christ are friends also to his People Lazarus was Christ's Friend therefore Christ tells his Disciples that he was their Friend Lazarus our friend sleepeth And then if only those which are friends to Christ are friends to his people then those which are not friends to the people of Christ will never prove themselves friends to Jesus Christ There is a reciprocal respect in the relation To love Christ is to love his people and to love the people of Christ is to love Christ because Christ and his people are one 2. THE second thing contained in the words of the Text is this namely the qualification of the person spoken of That is understood tho not exprest namely That he was a good Man for he was the Friend of Christ Lazarus our friend is dead From hence also we may observe by the way Doct. THAT none but godly gracious men are indeed the friends of Christ Christ hath many pretended Friends in the World but for his real Friends we may say of them in our day as Solomon spake of a vertuous Woman in his day One of a thousand of such can we not find Many that will serve Christ so long as they may serve themselves in serving of him but when an impoverished Christ comes to live upon them they will quickly give him cause to say That such friends were never true to them that trusted them And as for ungodly men they are not friends but enemies to Jesus Christ they are enemies to his Person to his Offices to his Laws to his Gospel to his Ministers to his People Col. 1. 21. You that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works IT 's only the Godly and Gracious which are the real Friends of Christ where there is no reconciliation there can be no friendship Now it 's only Grace which can reconcile the heart to Christ and none but godly men have true Grace Therefore none but such can be real Friends to Christ Abraham was a godly man therefore called the Friend of God and Moses was a godly man and it 's said that God talked with him face to face as a man talketh with his friend LASTLY You have the final end of Lazarus as to this Life spoken of 1. Which is delivered figuratively 2. More plainly 1. HIS end is spoken of in a figure Our friend Lazarus sleepeth 2. IT is delivered more plainly Our friend Lazarus is dead FROM hence we shall observe these two points of Doctrine Doct. 1. THAT good men must dye as well as bad men Doct. 2. THAT to the Friends of Christ Death is but a sleep IT is the first Observation which we shall handle at this time which we shall 1. Prove to you 2. Shew you what death is 3. Give you the grounds of the point 4. Apply the whole Doct. THAT good men must dye as well as bad men This you have