to you that are now Mourning To you that are now Weeping To you that are now so full of Sadness for this great and irreparable loss and that in the words of the same Apostle in the same Chapter verse 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these words 3dly To you also of this Society my Brethren and Sisters of this Church I would next address my self on this awful Occasion And it is to beg you to have a deep sense of the Lords hand upon us in diminishing our number in Housing our little Flock apace But the last night we were in this place Solemnizing the Funeral of a precious and beloved Sister and now we are here at the Funeral of this triumphant Damsel 'T is true she was not actually a Member of ours but virtually and intentionally she was she walk'd with us sate down vvith us and really design'd if the Lord had spared her life to be dismiss'd to us and so to be wholly ours She extreamly delighted in this Society and dearly loved every one of you But we have now left her with several others of emminent use and worth which calls for no small Lamentation and therefore I may here justly make use of the Prophets words by way of Exhortation to you Jerem. 9. v. 17 18. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts Consider ye and call for the Mourning-women that they may come and send for Cunning Women that they may come And let them make haste and take up a wailing for us that our Eyes may run down with Tears and our Eye-lids gush out with Waters Why what 's the matter What is it that calls for so much Mourning verse 21. For death is come up into our Windows and is entred into our palaces to cut off the Children from without and the young Men in the Streets Oh! How many lovely Children of God have of late been cut off in this place and now this young Flourishing Branch is so suddenly and so unexpectedly cut down from amongst us and we shall never see her more Oh How then for this sad and irreparable loss should we lament with Tears how should our Eyes be gushing out with Water for the Immature fading of so sweet a Flower Oh! Therefore from the sense of Gods displeasure in taking such Unvaluable Jewels from us Be afflicted mourn and Weep let your Laughter be turned into Mourning and your Joy into heaviness Though as to this Saint her self there is no need of it death is to her an unspeakable Gain And therefore Christs words to the Bewailing Women are applicable unto you Ye daughters of Jerusalem Weep not for me but for your selves and the Miseries that are coming upon You. Oh Methinks I hear her speaking aloud to all and every one of us in Davids Language Psal 34. v. 2.3.4 My Soul shall make her Boast in the Lord The humble shall hear thereof and be glad O Magnifie the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all my Fears But for our own sakes there 's cause enough of Mourning especially from this awful consideration Accession to us does not answer the decession from us 4thly and lastly A word to all of you in this Congregation the Inhabitants of this Town and the parts adjacent And I will Preface what I have to say to you in the Words of Jotham to the Men of Shechem Judg. 9.7 Hearken I beseech you unto me that God may hearken unto you Some of you have seen all of you have heard what this deceased young Gentlewoman underwent for Heaven What Oceans of Troubles she vvas plunged in and what Fires of Soul-tribulations she was a long time burning in Now as Christ said to his Disciples Math. 18.2.3 And Jesus called a little Child unto him and set him in the midst of them And said verily I say unto you except ye be Converted and become as little Children ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven So say I to all and every one here Old and Young Rich and Poor High and Low except ye go thorough the Pangs of the New-birth as this young Damsel did I do not say in that same degree of Horror and Agony for that few do but except you be as really Converted Changed Renewed and Born again as she was you will not nay you cannot enter into the Joys of Heaven when you Die for they are our Lord 's own Words and spoke as plain as plain can be Joh. 3.3 Except a Man any Man every Man be Born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God Now this deserves your most deep and serious Consideration for there is a Kingdom of God to be enjoyed and a kingdom of darkness to be avoided And believe it Sirs Heaven is no Feigned Elizium Hell and Eternty is no dream the worm that never dies is no fond Conceit And you will shortly know what the one or the other means You will er'e long be summon'd to spend the Ages of Eternity amongst the blessed or damned and that in a very little time And so I shall close the whole alluding to the words of my Lord and Master with an earnest Exhortation to and fervent Supplication for each and every Soul of you here present Oh! That you would therefore know even you in this your day the things that belong to your everlasting peace before even before they be hid from your eyes And that for ever Two Hymns composed for her Funeral the former of which was publickly sung at the close of her Funeral I Sought the Lord and him I found He did regard my Tears When I lay prostrate on the Ground He freed me from my fears I wept with Sorrow Grief and Woe 'T is God that Mercy gives God made me cry out Oh! I know That my Redeemer Lives And lives to comfort my poor Heart Who did my State condole As finding such an horrid smart Within my wounded Soul But now I 'm eas'd I feel no pain Oh! then rejoyce with me That have found Death so sweet a Gain My Saviour now I see When I through Weakness pin'd away And fetch'd my latest Groan Christ sent his Angels to convey My Soul unto his Throne Oh! Halelujah Lord I am Ravish'd with Joy and Love In Bosome of blest Abraham With all the Saints above The other A Person young late dwelt among Vs Militants below Oppress'd with Fears immerg'd in Tears Which from her Eyes did flow Her Spirit sad with Sable clad To think upon her Soul The Storm was great the Billows beat And Deeps did on her roul So fierce the Stroke her Heart was broke Her inward Man deprest Both Night and Day she pin'd away And had not any Rest. Till God did please t' afford her ease 'T is he that Comfort gives Then in her Woe she cry'd I know My dear Redeemer Lives With this sweet Breath in view of Death She did her Life resign Now wrapt in Love with those above She gloriously does shine Rest holy Saint where no complaint Shall vex thee any more Possess that Peace which ne'er will cease On Canaan's blessed shore Oh! Halelu-Jah he is true At length he 'll surely come He 'll come away without delay And take his Mourners home FINIS
musing on this matchless Saint I cry'd Thou being so wholly dreined from all Pride As one not fit here longer to abide Go to thy Bridegroom go thou true coelestial Bride Eighthly As after Conviction she was Mortify'd to all Pride so she did in a wonderful manner beyond any President I ever saw shine forth in the contrary Grace Humility She had learned of her Saviour to be meek and lowly in heart Mat. 11.29 And so excellent well she learned that none tabernacled in a Body of Flesh could have a more Debasing thought of Self than she had She sate with Job in the Ashes and with Hezekiah counted all her Prayers and the best of her Performances but as the chattering of a Crane or Swallow Isa 38.14 The Vilest of Creatures was her constant Motto That no body was Worse that every body was better than she was the undissembled Thought of her Heart When she was most Lovely in the Eyes of others she was even then most Mean in her own she could not bear to be in the least praised nor endure that any should speak well of her though she was enabled to Sing the Lord's Song on the Borders of Canaan after her return from a long Captivity Indeed in her languishing Condition she was made Humble by God's Providence but when she was Healed she was kept Humble by his blessed Spirit This Saint beholding great Jehovah's Face Her self as low as Hell she did debase Hence 't was she flourish'd so and grew apace She was the humble one replenish'd with all Grace Ninthly After Conviction she was in a Gospel Frame wholly moulded into the Spirit of the Gospel These Two eminent Servants of the Lord Jesus Mr. Robins and Mr. Hammond led her into the Paths of Gospel Light and Truth in which she was extreamly delighted so that the extolled and muâ—h magnified Mountain of Man's Righteousness and Legal Performances became 〈◊〉 a Plain and by their Ministry the Heâ—â—â—â—stone the Lord Jesus Christ was presented to her and she was inabled by the Spirit 's Breathing in her to cry out Grace Grace unto it Zech. 4.7 Hence though Interest and Relation with some other Obligations had intangled her with another sort of Men yet after her Acquaintance with those ' foresaid great Gospel Luminaries they were very little in her Eye for She was convinced not Doing but Believing was the way of the Gospel and that not by any Works of Righteousness she had done or could do but by the Free Grace of God in Christ she was made what she was And therefore the breathing of her Soul was to be found in him not having her own Righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the Faith of Christ the Righteousness which is of God by Faith That thereby she might know Christ and the Power of his Resurrection and the Fellowship of his Sufferings being made conformable to his death Phil. 3.9.10 Oh! how her very Soul rejoyced in the glad Tidings of the Gospel This glorious Saint admiring Gospel Light Whose most corruscant Beams did shine so Bright Whereby her Darkness was expelled quite The Gospel brought a Day a Day that had no Night Tenthly After Conviction she was inflamed with Love to her dearest Jesus yea with the Spouse she was Sick of Love Cant. 5.8 As she had a Sense of the Forgiveness of Sins as Mary had she verily Loved much as Mary did Luke 7.47 She had a large Share of Gospel Grace as the choice Blessing of Heaven for she loved the Lord Jesus Christ in Sincerity Ephes 6.24 Tho she saw not Jesus with her Bodily Eyes yet she dearly Loved him and that Love has brought her to him so that now She sees Him and is Glorifyed with him Rejoycing with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory for she has now received the end of her Faith even the Salvation of her Soul 1 Pet. 1.8 9. What things were formerly her Gain those she counted Loss for Christ yea doubtless she counted all things but Loss for the excellency of the Knowledge of Christ Jesus her Lord for whom she suffered the Loss of all things and did count them but Dung or Dog's-meat that she might win Christ. 3 Phil. 7.8 Oh Love was the ruling Star in the Firmament of her Soul Though Satan for a while did cast a Mist Over this Saint at length she saw the Christ And seeing lov'd him as her precious Priest Now with his glorious Mouth her precious Soul is Kist. Eleventhly As after Conviction she Loved Christ so she lov'd the Ways of Christ the Ordinances of Christ the Members of Christ the Ministers of Christ and that with a pure Heart fervently If our Saviour's Character of a true Disciple holds good John 13.35 By this shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if ye have Love one to another And if John's Evidence of the new Birth be any thing valid 1 Epist 3.14 We know that we are passed from Death unto Life because we love the Brethren She was as visible a Disciple as real a Regenerate Person and that to the apparent view of all as 't was possible for any Creature to be For I sincerely think never any especially in these last days possest more of the Grace of Love than she did Her very Soul was wrapt up in the Saints Society with them was her greatest yea her only Delight She had David's Spirit and therefore could say with him Psalm 26.8 Lord I have loved the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth I the least and most unworthy of Saints may say of her as David did of Jonathan Her love to me was wonderful passing the love of Women This Saint who Heaven ward so fast did move That She a Saint in every thing might prove As actuated from a Spirit above Most gloriously did shine within the Sphere of Love Twelfthly After her Conviction that she had tasted of the Love of Christ she was extraordinarily Solicitous even with a burning Zeal for the Conversion of Sinners especially of her own carnal Relations Her warm Discourses on this Subject put me in mind of our Lord's Charge to Peter Luke 22.32 When thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren She was wholly of Paul's Spirit when he spoke so affectionately of the Jews Rom. 10.1 Brethren my Hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be Saved Her Soul pittied such as were running head-long to Hell her Bowels yearned towards those that had no Sense of their own Condition She could not speak of any of her near Acquaintance in an Unconverted State without Weeping for them as our Saviour did for Jerusalem and with the same Pathetical Wish Oh! that they did truly know in this their day the things that belong unto their peace The Night before She Dyed or rather Translated she express'd her self to a Godly Woman passionately Concern'd for the Soul of her only Surviving Sister with these and more
A Burning yet Unconsumed Bush Exemplified IN THE Dolorous Life and Glorious Death Of that Young Convert And Most Excellent SAINT Mrs. MARY HARRISON Who Departed this Life June the 21st in the 23d Year of her Age. OR A Brief and Faithful Narrative Of the Effectualness of her Conviction The Painfulness of her Conversion The Dreadfulness of her Temptation The Deplorableness of her Condition And the Triumphant Joyfulness of her Dissolution Together with the Author's Speech to the Inhabitants of Havant at the close of her Funeral Sermon Published in General for Common Good but particularly at the Request of some of the New gather'd Church at Chichester of which she was a Member And especially to satisfie a Worthy Friend far off who by Letters importun'd the Author thereunto By C. NICHOLETTS Minister of the Gospel in HAVANT LONDON Printed and Sold by B. Harris at the Golden Boars-Head in Grace-Church-street 1700. To the Reverend Mr. Richard Robins Pastor of a Congregation in London My very Dear and much Esteemed Brother WHEN I Reflect on the blessed Providence that opened so wide a Door for the Occupation of your Talent the last Winter at Chichester and the strange and amazing Success that attended your Labours there I cannot but hope the Glorious Day which Zion's Converts have so long Mourned Prayed and Waited for is nigh at Hand even a plentiful Effusion of the Spirit upon all the Followers of the Lamb of which more than a Taste was given in the mighty Portion that rested upon you whilst you were delivering your Masters Errand in that Place Your Face like Moses did eminently Shine during your Commemoration on that Mount of Vision to the Observation and Admiration of all the Beholders none but your self was ignorant of it so that the Multitude was ready to Hosanna you as they did your Master before you and in the same Language too Never Man spake like this Man And so strange a Consternation was there in the Minds of all and so wonderful a Conviction in the Hearts of many as quite confounded the Opposers of Gospel Light and Truth and made them even gnash their Teeth for Madness Oh! how did the Dukes of Palestina tremble and the Inhabitants of Canaan melt away How did the Formal and Legal Rabbies Vex and Fume that a Nehemiah so suddenly so unexpectedly stood on the Wall with undaunted Courage and they could not pluck him down That there appear'd a Man whom with all their Machinations they could not hinder to seek in good Earnest the Welfare of Immortal Souls by Preaching the Truth fully and clearly as it is in Jesus so that the People which before sat in Darkness saw great Light and to those who were and a long time had been in the Regions of the Shadow of Death Light sprung up But though the Enemies of Free-Grace were grieved exceedingly by your so powerful and spiritual Preaching the Children of the Bride-Chamber were as much Comforted Enlivened Refreshed and many poor Dead Sinners Awakened Convinced and Perswaded to Embrace the Everlasting Gospel which was Sounded in their Ears in such a Strain that many though Old Hearers to my Knowledge did Profess they never heard the Gospel before And Oh! What an Astonishing Change was visibly Observ'd in the Faces of the Inhabitants of Chichester Such Crowding and Thronging to hear the Word dropping as sweet smelling Myrrh from your Lips the Oldest Man Alive never saw the like The Walls of the Meeting-house though in the coldest Season of the Winter Sweated with Heat a true Emblem of the Warmth many Frozen Hearth felt by the reflective Rays of Zion's Glory and the Spirits of the most Ignorant were strangely Reviv'd with the fragrant odoriferous Savor of Aaron's sweet Perfume so Plentifully and in a Theop-must Manner disfus'd amongst them Concerning this Perfume which I take to be an eminent Type of the Riches of Free-Grace there was a Law Enacted in the Court of Heaven Whoever made any Thing like it should be put to Death If that Statute was still in Force few Preachers in our Day would be in danger of its Penalty Alas they don't come near it their Preaching is far enough wide from it They are either bellowing Bulls of Sinai thundering out the Terrors of the Law and belching forth the Flames of Hell to affrighten and distract poor Creatures and make them run Mad or else they are for putting them to Earn their expected Happiness as Adam was doom'd to Eat his Bread with the Sweat of their Brow This they must do and that they must do to get an Interest in Christ And then we have a Learned Receipt so many Pints of Repentance that must be extracted from the Limbeck of their moist Brains so many Pounds of Duties that must be weighed at the Beam of their own Intellects to make them capable of God's Acceptance and they must be sure to come full Loaded with a Bundle of Qualifications at their Backs if they would have Christ to be their Saviour Oh! What pitiful Trash is this how far from that Gospel which the Lord Jesus sends his Ambassadors whom he anoints with the Unction of the Holy One to Preach and Hold forth to poor Sinners That sounds forth a free Offer and Tender of Mercy to all that Look to and Believe in a Crucify'd Jesus of which Ambassadors Sir you apparently and beyond Contradiction manifested your self to be One and a chief One too when you first lifted up your Voice as a Trumpet in the Audience of the Inhabitants of Chichester Oh! how Beautiful were your Feet shod with the Preparation of the Glorious Gospel for that you brought good Tidings to them that were ready to Perish you Published Peace even that Peace which the World cannot give and which the Devil cannot take away you brought good Tidings of Good the Goodness of Free-Grace the Immense Ocean of Divine Love You Published Salvation and that with a Gospel Spirit and in a Gospel Dialect as it was Published by the Lord Jesus himself and all his Apostles You said unto Zion thy God Reigneth on the Throne of Mercy dispencing Grace and Favour to the worst of Sinners For this were your Labours Accepted for this was your Person Honoured for this was your Ministry in very high Esteem among all sorts of Persons How many will have cause to Bless God to all Eternity they ever saw your Face Oh! How many visible Seals of your Apostleship did you leave behind you when you left the Place You never Preached a Sermon there in Vain but many Eyes were Opened many Hearts Affected and deeply Touched many Consciences Awakened whenever you opened your Mouth which made a worthy Person well Vers'd in Gospel Affairs Write me Word then at London he verily Believ'd you did more Good Two or Three Sabbath-days in Chichester than any Minister yea than all the Ministers in Sussex had done Seven Years before This was very refreshing News to my Soul it made my Heart
Knowledge in a dying Hour I was so long in opening those Two Heads that I had no time for Application only address'd my self to the Auditory which was then the most Numerous I ever before or since saw in Havant and I will because I can give you some brief Account of that for I took some Notes of it which are as followeth I shall instead of the several Uses that might be made of this Doctrine I have been discoursing of apply my self in a few Words 1st To Young Ones 2dly To the Relations of this deceased Person 3dly To this Society 4thly To all and every one of this great Congregation 1st To you that are Young You are come this Evening to the Funeral of a young Gentlewoman who was called away by Death in the Flower of her time She was fit to die and therefore she died to live But how is it with you I beseech you consider you may die even now in your youth as well as she Ay! But are you as well prepared for it as she was Oh! Dreadful dying without an Interest in the Lord Jesus Christ You had better never have been Born then die to go to Hell for ever which will most certainly be your Portion if you die in a Christless State Oh that you would take example by this blessed Virgin to Fly youthful Lusts To remember your Creatour in the days of your Youth And now Oh! now in the Morning of your Age to look Heaven-ward I may say of the deceased as Simeon said of the Lord Jesus in his Infant-state Luke 2.24 Behold this Child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a Sign which shall he spoken against Oh! So verily this young Saint as a glorious Star was shining in this Horizon for the fall and rising of many that is both in Judgment and in Mercy to many in these parts In Judgment to be a greater and more Terrible Condemnation to those Obstinate young ones that will still keep on in their Lusts still continue in their Sins still slight and Contemn the Tenderness of Grace in the Gospel after so great and amazing an instance of the Riches of free Grace the fulness of divine Love extended unto her In Mercy to you who will be affected with what God did abundantly for her in a way of special Grace and therefore will be looking unto Christ as Believing there is the same Free-grace the same rich Love the same bottomless Ocean of Pardoning Healing and Soul-saving Mercy for you as she found as she tasted as she Ravishingly Experienc'd in the day of her Distress Oh! hear this dead Saint speaking to you in David's words Psal 66.16 17. Come and hear all ye that fear God and I will declare what he hath done for my Soul I Cryed unto him with my Mouth and he was Extolled with my Tongue Oh! hear her thus speaking to every Soul of you You young Men and Maids that are yet in the Gall of Bitterness and in the Bond of Iniquity that are minding nothing but the satisfying your Lusts that have no sense of Heaven and Eternity or what will become of your Immortal Souls for ever I was once in the same condition and running on in the same excess of Riot I was once as dead as Carnal as Vain as Frothy as you are But God broke my heart and Melted my Soul with Trembling and Affrightning Shakings under the vvoful Apprehension of a lost Condition and a Flaming Hell that I look'd every Moment to be plung'd into And then he comforted and Reviv'd me with a Sensible Manifestation of redeeming Love then he made knovvn to me the Wonders of Soveraign Grace in fully Revealing and discovering Christ with the avail of his Pretensions Death and Sufferings to my Soul I Cryed to him in the day of Distress and he Graciously Vouchsaf'd his Ear He brought me up out of the Horrible Pit out of the Miry Clay and set my Feet upon a Rock even the Rock of Ages with whom I am now in Glory and shall be so for ever Oh! Therefore you my former Carnal Companions be intreated to seek the Lord whilst he may be found and to call upon him while he is yet near Do not let a Dalilah's Lap deprive you of an Abraham's Bosom Do not for the fading Pleasures of a Transitory Life Subject your precious Souls to eternal Ruin Oh! Let my Case the unexpressible Sorrows I have gone through for Sin and the true pleasures I have found in the ways of Grace and Holiness have a powerful convincing and perswading Effect upon you The good Lord help all you young ones to hear this dead Saint thus speaking to you 2dly My next word is to you that are the Relations of this blessed Person and 't is what our Saviour said to the Mourners about the Damsel we read of Matt. 9.24 The Maid is not dead but Sleepeth So your Daughter your Sister your Relation for vvhom you are in so much Bitterness and because of vvhom your hearts are ready to break vvith sorrovv Oh! She is not dead but Sleepeth Indeed as to you she is dead and you will see her no more with a mortal Eye but unto God she is alive and with him wâ—ll live for evermore Oh! Therefore Assuage your Grief dry up your Tears make no Bevvailing for her for she is better and in a far better State than you Oh! therefore turn your Lamentation for her into Imitation of her think not of her Immature death but of her holy and examplary Life and be ye followers of her who through the abundant increase of Faith and exercise of Patience was fitted for the Kingdom above and is now with the triumphant inheriting the Promises being in Possession of that Inheritance which is Incorruptible Vndefiled which fadeth not away And as to her outward Man she is but fallen asleep and will be awakened again at the joyful Morning of the Resurrection Though she be now with Job saying to Corruption thou art my Father and to the Worm thou art my Mother and my Sister though after her Skin Worms will destroy her Body yet in her Flesh shall she see God I will therefore commend the Apostle's Words to your serious Consideration which I hope may afford you some matter of Consolation at least be a rational Ground for the alleviation of your present Sorrow on this sad Occasion 1 Thes 4.13.14 But I would not have you to be Ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye Sorrow not even as others which have no hope for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Again v. 16. For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the Voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first On which sweet Conclusion and most comfortable truth I would ground my pressing Exhortation