rest 1 Cor. 15. 10. yet makes himself equal with others as an Earthen Vessel nay in some sense inferiour the least of Saints the last of Apostles How doth this reprehend the Eph. 3.8 Pride of the Pope who takes to him the most magnificent Titles such as no meer man without the highest blasphemy may arrogate to himself such as that Pastor of the Catholick Church which he blasphemously calleth his own Ceremon b. â— sect 2. 2 Thes 2.3 Bellarm. de Sum. Pont. l. 2. 23. Spouse nay arrogates to himself the Title of God and sets himself above Princes who are petty gods and so proves himself to be the Antichrist and though he pretends his power from Peter yet follows not his Precepts 1 Pet. 5. 3. and assimilates him in nothing except in denying his Master 3. What an excellent patern of humility have we here who are the Pastors of Christ's Flock not to lord it over 1 Pet. 5. 3. them but to allure them by love shewing Tit. 3. 2. meekness to all men and instructing those that oppose themselves to be very 2 Tim. 2. 25. tender of them and apt to compassionate them in their sorrows and sufferings since we are of the like frailty our selves This should make us say with Moses Who am I If there be any Heavenly Treasure in us it is Christs Gift he gave it and let him have the glory of it Not I but the Grace of God which is 1 Cor. 15. 10. in me The more any man beholds the Suns body the less he sees when he looks to the Earth So we beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ should ascribe the excellency of the power to God and not to our Psal 115. 1. selves Non nobis Domine non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam 4. You should not value the Gospel the less vertually but rather have it in the greater veneration because it comes to you in or through Earthen Vessels We are very apt naturally to look at the outward appearance of things or persons and accordingly to prize and prefer them For this St. James taxeth his Hearers who in their Assemblies had respect to him that had on a Gold Ring and gay cloathing So ordinarily Jam. 2. 3. men shew esteem to such things that are gorgeous and glorious in the eye of the world and to such Men such Ministers as shew forth in their Sermons much humane Learning and Eloquence and in the mean time neglect and slight the godly simplicity of the Gospel and such as preach it in the power of the Holy-Ghost This is partiality in the Apostles account Not that I speak against Learning which is an excellent Hand-maid to Divinity but the abuse of it when men darken the Truth through the mists of Philosophical speculations and preach Magis ut Col. 2. 8. St. Aug. Multi propter arborem scientiae amittunt arborem vitae placerent quam docerent to please rather than to profit If men set such a price upon Earthly Treasures digged out of the bowels of the Earth and delivered with dirty hands How much more should you value the Gospel though it come from Instruments that are Earthen Vessels Observe the Exhortation of the Apostle We beseech you Brethren know them 2 Thes 5. 13. that labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and have them in singular love for their works sake Though there be no worthiness in the person yet it is a worthy work it is high and honourable divine and heavenly the preparation to it the execution of it is so if you consider 1 Tim. 3. 1 the worth of a precious soul by the price that was payed to purchase it not Gold nor Silver but the pretious Blood of Jesus Christ and the Reward that 1 Pet. 1. 18 18. will be given to such as are Instrumental in the work the saving a soul from death and the hiding a multitude of sins and how mean soever they appear Jam. 5.20 in the Flesh yet hereafter they shall shine as the Stars in the Kingdom of their Father for evermore Dan. 12.3 5. Admire the depth of Divine Wisdom in this That the Lord should make use of our weakness and unworthiness for the manifestation of his mighty Power in bringing sinners from Satans Kingdom and their sinful courses to accept of Salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ Well may the Aâ—ostle say Who is sufficient for these 2 Cor. 2. 16. things We are not sufficient of our selves to conceive to perceive what is our Duty what is the Dignity of the 2 Cor. 3.5 Ministry much less the depth of the Mysteries of Salvation we are to dispence Our sufficiency and your proficiency is of God we are poor frail Earthen Pitchers appointed by God to bear this precious Treasure if he blow upon us How soon shall we become broken Pot-sheards Who am I saith meek Moses And who am I 1 Sam. 18. 18. and what is my life saith holy David So who am I and what is my life a breath a bubble a vapor How unworthy to bear a Pitcher a Lamp within the Pitcher To blow the Trumpet Judg. 7. 16 Isa 58 1. To say not as they for the Lord and for Gideon but for the Lord and for Jesus Christ Oh the depth Rom. 11. 33. both of the wisdom and knowledg of God! Here is a depth indeed wherein a man might dwell As Chrysostome discoursing about the Love of God in Christ saith Oh I am like a man digging in a deep Spring I stand here and the water riseth upon me and there and still it riseth upon me We are not of Gods Cabinet Counsel we have not David's Key to open this Secret and it is not safe to be prying into this Ark Mirari Rev. 3. 7. Mallem ignorare sine crimine quam scire cum discrimine Euclidis potius quà m rimari sapientia nostra Let us admire what we cannot understand only this What cannot God do that is not sinful if it please him who makes his Power appear in our weakness and gives you this Treasure in Earthen Vessels Vse 6. Endeavour to do all the good you can by and to receive all the good that is tendered you in the dispensation of the Gospel since your Ministers are frail mortal Creatures Earthen Vessels that will soon be broken It will not be long before a period be put to my preaching your hearing to all our prayers repentance and preparations for death and for judgment there will be no longer pardon tendered or graces to be attained no knowledg no wisdom in the grave whither we Eccl. 9.7 10. are going There will be no Accounts cast up no Counsel given or taken no doing of work but a receiving of wages according to our work done Work John 9. 4. therefore while it is day whiles you have
tasted the bitterness of death No saith she nor never shall For Christ bath promised that they that keep his sayings shall never see death A Believer may feel the stroke but not the sting of death Ignatius going to suffer Martyrdom triumphed in this that his blood should be found among the mighty Worthies and that the Lord when he maketh inquisition for blood will recount from the blood of righteous Abel not only to the blood of Zacharias but also to the blood of mean Ignatius It was a sweet saying of holy Mr. Hall in time of his health That the sweet rescent of a well-spent life would be matter of singular comfort at a dying day He would have his Hearers learn to know and know to do do to die and die to live In his sickness he said I am now going where I shall have rest from Sin Satan and from all fear weariness watching and from all the evils and errours of a wicked world for I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at Job 19. 26. the last day upon the earth c. Oh let my life be nothing but prayer and praises since God had dealt bountifully with me and even whiles he was breathing out his last breath he spake thus All the joys of this life are nothing nothing to the joys that are in Jesus Christ Come Lord Jesus And though he be now dead yet he speaks to you not by his Words but by his Works by Precept and by President Oh labour to lead his life that you may die his death for if you tread in the footsteps of his Faith though death bring your body to Corruption yet shall it never bring your souls to Condemnation I am now closing up the second year of my Ministry among you And Lord what have I been doing here all this while that so few of this Congregation have been brought from death to life to embrace Christ by Faith and to lead a holy life and to live to him Shall I say with the Prophet I have spent my strength in vain and laboured for a thing of nought I hope better things of you and I am perswaded better of some of you and that I may the better prevail with you to live by Faith Remember who it is that speaketh to you viz. one that is esteemed as dead And will you not credit such a Witness It was the request of Dives to Abraham Luk. 16. 30 31. that dead Lazarus might be sent unto his five Brethren he thought that if one came to them from the dead they would believe and repent Such a sight or report indeed might work upon the fancy but it is the Gospel preached that must work upon the affections For my own part I do believe the Truth of the Gospel upon surer Grounds and upon better Authority than if I had received it from one raised from the dead For such a Testimony if it be only Humane can beget but a humane Faith and should it be more than this we might see cause to question whether it were Divine or Diabolical for even Satan can transform himself into an Angel of Light Therefore be building up your selves daily in your holy Faith by Arguments drawn from the Doctrine of your Salvation that more sure Word of Prophesie and so your Faith will stand not on the Wisdom of Men but on the Power of GOD. 1 Cor. 2. 5 The Life and Death of Mr. Thomas Hall who died April 13. Anno Dom. 1665. THomas Hall was born in St. Andrews in the City of Worcester about July 22. An. Dom. 1610. His Father was Mr. Richard Hall a Cloathier in that City of a competent Estate his Mother was Mrs. Elizabeth Bonner descended of an antient Family but that which truly ennobled her was with the Bereans she Acts 17. 11. diligently searched the Scriptures These two lived together many years God giving them a plentiful Progeny of Sons and Daughters three of which Sons were brought up Scholars and afterwards proved godly Preachers The Mother being to them as an Eunice to Timothy or Monica to Augustine 1 Tim. 2.5 a careful Instructer in their Youth and lived to reap the Fruit of her endeavours in her old age Magnum est Dei beneficium pios nancisci Parentes ac praesertim Matrem qua pene tota filiorum A lapide educatio dependet like another Bathsheba she did bathe them with her Tears and Instructions and with her Prov. 31. 2 warm and melting Supplications This Thomas was first set to the Grammar-School under Mr. Bright and thence sent to the University of Oxford and admitted into Bayliole Colledg whence through the neglect of his Tutor he removed to Pembroke and became Pupil to Dr. Lushington a good Scholar but whose Principles As Plato saith of him were so poysonous that he might have boasted with Protagoras that he had spent many years in corrupting of youth Having taken his Degrees he returned into the Country and for a while preached and taught a private School at the Chappels belonging to Kings-Norton But as yet he was a Foe and no Friend to Gods Truth and People whom he opposed under the notion oâ— Puritans But as it was with St. Augustine who before was vitious in manners and erronious in judgment going to hear the Eloquence of Ambrose was reduced from his Errours so it fared with him being about that time a diligent frequenter of the learned Lectures of sundry Orthodox Divines at Burmingham he had here a sure and safe foundation laid of the true Religion and from that time he favoured the sincere Milk of the Word of God and intirely loved those that were born and begotten unto God thereby Not long after he was called to supply the Cure at Kings-norton under his Brother Mr. John Hall who had it annexed to the Vicarage of Bromsgrove and a while after gave it franckly to him the Free-School was also added to it for his further encouragement for though it were a large Parish yet the great Tyths being impropriate he had but a small Sallary and could scarcely have subsisted had he not embraced a single life for this cause chiefly as he said Yet after God had set a seal to his Ministry this great people were much upon his heart who ever sought Work rather than Wages that he would never be perswaded to leave them though solicited with a promise of far greater preferment and was in the time of War often accused cursed threatned with death plundred many times and five times imprisoned at the least He was a very hard Student though of a cold rheumatick Constitution he would impallescere Chartis even hazard his life to get Learning and the choice Observations he met with in good Authors he inserted into his Common-place Book and by his great industry he acquired a good measure of knowledg in Arts and Sciences especially in Divinity of God and his Word and Works of
Hall away Our reverend Pastor to a bed of Clay Tell me blest Saint in sooth how couldst So great a Master in Divinity Could not at least our sighs our pray'rs thou die Prevail that thou might'st live old Nestors and tears Injurious Fate because thou couldst not get years The Pearl Would'st therefore spoil the Cabinet What wilt thou put no diff'rence 'twixt faces Not spare th' Saints for their transcendent graces Sure thou art neither blear'd nor brib'd nor blind Thou tak'st the best and leav'st the worst behind T' should seem from Death ther 's no prescription then The Preacher dies as well as other men Had I but tears to spare that are not spent Upon my sins I would give Sorrow vent I 'd drench the earth wherein his body lies And fill the air with Lamentable cries I 'd wet his Coffin and would wash his Tomb Till I another Niobe become But stay my Muse what means this Lamentation Sure his was not a Death but a translation H'walk'd with God and he hath took him hence Not to his loss but to his recompence And yet he lives methinks I see him still In 's doing good eschewing what is ill ' Specially in th' works he hath left behind The pious product of 's Prophetick mind London look to 't he foretold thy burning Thy Plague and poverty for not returning If Gods House be not built within th' Nation Yours and ours will be desolation Seeing those City-Comets that God sent As in fiery Chariot t' Heaven he went Were 't not Ambition I could wish that he Had lay'd the lap of 's Mantle on me Richard Moore An Epitaph upon Mr. Thomas Hall WIthin the period of Davids Span Behold the Sepulture of this Grave man Who whiles he liv'd fear'd not th' face of any Good counsel living dying gave t' many And though he chastly led a single life Held his School's Children and his Church his Wife To which he did impart most liberally His Books in 's life unto her Library The residue almost of what he had He gave the poor to make their faces glade Th' heaven born Jewel's gone the Grave contains Within her womb only those few remains Which though entombed now abide they may Unto the last resurrection day The Soul will then again resume this dust To the habitation of the Just R. M. Vpon the Death of that dear Servant of Jesus Christ Mr. Thomas Hall THou need'st no Trophees to adorn thy Herse Thy virtues serve t' imbalm thy Name in Verse And this I 'll say since death hath stopt thy breath Thy life was Priest-like Prince-like was thy Death In Truths defence thou wast a brazen wall ' Gainst execrable heresies a Mawl Witness thy Guards which still unrouted stand ' Gainst Tom Collier and that sooty band What Guard the Font the Schools and Pulpit too Which of your Mothers Sons have done like you But yet thy Comments writ on sacred story Most justly may deserve the greater Glory On th' Prophets those thy Lucubrations And those on Paul Doctor of th' Nations Live and thy other works of Charity Now thou art dead with God follow thee Those thou hast begot cry out my Father Which by Sage advice to God did'st gather Some of all sorts of these it doth them ease To trail a tear at thy sad Obsequies With blubred cheeks and countenance wan They sit and sing this Epicedium Let sad April cease her wonted showers And mornful May forbear t'yield its flowers Since this fair Flower 's cropt and with dry eye So many do slight this sad Destiny Richard Moore Vpon the much-lamented Death of Mr. John Ley who was Chair-man of the Assembly of Divines and late Rector of Solyhull His Character THe grace of God which in thy name did shine Was a Divine Spark like generous Wine Which was infus'd in thee without asswage Into thy heart and parts even in old age Which shews to all impartial Judges how That thou hast kept the good wine until now How many Learned within the Nation Like Conduits run wine at th' Coronation Whose parts soon flag grow flat and faint and wast Whil'st thine like wine on th' LEE when old do last Like Mâ—ason an old Disciple's rather Like Moses was this Reverend Father For in old age he had a Sp'rit like him His strength did not abate nor 's eyes wax dim His Pentateuch in th' tipes was partly seal'd Till by this Pen unvail'd the truth reveal'd The Christian Sabbath was by him maintain'd Against all sorts who would have it prophan'd A learned Schoolman much for moderation One able to give Laws for disputation He was skill'd in th' Tongues curious at his Pen A most just Censor both of Books Men He was a Load-stone in 's lovely Carri'ge An Adamant for unconquer'd courage He 'd speak the truth where ere he had bin And lov'd the person but reprov'd the sin More than most are from passion h' was free More mov'd to pity than most are was he He weekly made provision for th' Poor That constantly attended at his Door He 'd sympathize with such as were in bonds And had great skill in setting broken bones A rare Casuist and hath been sent for far Toth'sick to see what their distemperswere And how to heal them by his heav'nly Art H' hath powred balm to many a broken heart And that which crowns the rest is yet behind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 H' was high in parts and lowly in his mind Like God he had respect to men After the Good he saw in them This was the chief ingredient for which He prized any person poor or rich And such as these if they had need of them Should have his heart his horse his purse his pen. I wish no worse to 's Successor than he Just such another Rector there may be Richard Moore Vpon the much-lamented Death of Mr. Burdal Minister of the Gospel at Walshall in Stafford-shire WHat art thou dead too another Burgess a healing Barnabas and Bo'nerges Who could'st convert thy self to every form Of sp'rit and speech thy flock to reform When Rhet'rick and Metaphysicks would not do 't Thou sought'st by sound words to woo them to it Thy Speech was above Books or humane Art Thou melt'st the stone in many frozen heart More hard than that thou fear'dst would thee torment Till thy last sand was run and breath was spent These pains did not prevent thy powr'ful Preaching Or travel of thy mind in th' constant teaching And as thou trad'st with God in pray'rs and tears He gave thee a return above thy fears Thou dy'd'st in th' fiftieth year with little pain And an eternal Life in Heaven did'st gain Richard Moore Vpon the Death of that humble and holy Servant of Jesus Christ Mr. Henry Field born at Kings-norton bred up under Mr. Thomas Hall and sent to Pembroke-Colledg in Oxford and from thence removed to Christs-Colledg in Cambridg where he was Fellow and so preferred by the
life and light and health and strength and time and talents before dim eyes and sailing hands and feeble feet and sainting hearts through the infirmities of old age come upon you You are called Labourers and must not loyter Souldiers and must fight sea-faring Men and must hoise up Sails whiles the wind sits Husbandmen and must plow up your fallow ground Stewards and must give an account You have your task set and have played the truants too long already and if you do not hasten you will hardly have done your work before the Lord comes Therefore while it is called to day barden not your hearts Be not like little children that consume their Candle in play and Psal 95.8 Heb. 3.8 sport and are forced to go to bed the dark 7. Now since both the Text and the Time leads me to it I cannot but take notice of two Occurences of Divine Providence that have hapned to the Inhabitants of this Parish and to my self as concerned herein this present Month of April 1. The first was the Lords gracious goodness and the Kings Royal Indulgence in restoring me to my Ministry at this place who wâ—â— before civilly dead and here I have continued a year compleat with the love good liking of my Heâ—â—ers not without the opposition and contradiction of some who are envious at my preaching and cast contumelies upon my person but none of Acts 20. 23 24. these things move me Homo sum nihil haec à me aliena puto Only the fruits of the affliction and the success of my service Oh that I could see more of this that I might not complain of running in vain nor you of dry brests or a miscarrying womb My preaching I well know hath been in much weakness and in fear and trembling 1 Cor. 2.3 For as that grave Father told Libanius the Rhetorician Non Oratorum filii sumus sed Piscatorum we are not the sons of Orators but of Fishermen It is a sufficient excuse to say what you have heard came to you through an Earthen Vessel and therefore pray unto God who made mans mouth the dumb to speak and the blind to see that he would cause this light to shine out of darkness into your hearts that so the excellency of the power may appear to be of God and not of Man 2. The second Occurrence this Month is likewise memorable for the Death of Reverend Mr. Hall some-time a Preacher in this Place but a faithful Pastor in the Parish where he served as he said a double Apprenticeship of whom though I have said something heretofore yet I can never say enough His Life was a Transcript of his Teaching and his Soul was stored with a Treasure of many Divine Graces and Gifts which he hid not in a Napkin or put under a Bushel but expended for the publick good Yet having this Treasure in an Earthen Vessel the Lamp of his Life went out by enlightening others yet without waste for the savour of this Ointment hath yielded a sweet perfume in the CHURCH of GOD. The End of the Second Sermon His CHARACTER HE was a man of middle Stature his Hair blackish which he wore very short scarce to cover his ears his Face pale and somewhat long his Spirit brisk and lively active and able to bear the brunt of business and was seldom or never known to be cast down with discouragements though often menaced and imprisoned by Souldiers and pestered with Sectaries of all sorts His Eyes were sparkling especially when he was intent upon the delivery of matters of worth and weight The cloaths he wore were rather coarse than costly his carriage and behaviour courteous â—nd attractive his temper and constiâ—ution inclined him to choler and he would break out sometimes into passion â—ut would soon recal himself and that â—or the future he might not sin in his â—nger he would resolve to be angry â—or nothing but Sin One thing hath been observed in him he would be over-credulous say some in receiving Reports upon trust without examining the Truth of what was told him especially when it came from such as he had a good opinion of for Godliness which I impute not so much to his weakness as to the sincerity and simple plainness of his own heart his own words being the issues of his upright heart he judged so of other men For his judgment however it was in the matters of the world yet doubtless it was deep in the search and discovery of the Mysteries of the Gospel and of Godliness which he got by frequent Communion with God and walking in his fear all the day long and the secret of the Lord is with such as Psal 25. 14 fear him He could see more in these sacred Riddles by Prayer than by his Learning and much labour in Reading For his Judgment about Discipline he was of the Presbyterian Perswasion and happily he was held too rigid by his Brethren that dissented from him in this and though more more mildness and moderation was desirable especially towards Dissenters who serve the same God and seek jointly to advance the Interest of Jesus Christ in the power and purity of his Ordinances yet doubtless what he did was out of a zeal for the Truth which he took this to be And to my knowledg he I can witness that he gave a Legacy at his death to one who was of a contrary judgment to him in Discipline and Church-Order had a Catholick Charity for all such in whose hearts he perceived the Seed of true Grace to be sown though they differed far from him in Judgment for his love to the Saints was not grounded upon an identity of Opinion but on a sweet suitableness and harmoniousness in Grace and whoever he found to have in him aliquid Christi was the Object of his Love and though he had a hatred towards the sins of all were they never so great in place yet not to their persons which he would pity and pray for and reprove And as he was jealous over this houshold of God with godly jealousie so Prov. 4.23 in particular over his own heart which he kept above all other keepings with much Christian caution well knowing that if the Spring were clear the streams would soon clear themselves and lest the flesh should wax wanton and kick he would keep it down by severe mortification and abstinence giving himself much to private prayer and fasting Indeed he was at all times temperate in the use of the Creature even at Feasts he would feed very sparingly upon a few Dishes and would commonly rise from the Table before others had half-dined But of all other things he was most spare of his time which he esteemed a choice Treasure and the loss of it irreparable and what shreds of it he could scrape together from a double publick imployment he had he spent in writing Books In composing of which he studied very hard