did he deal with that holy and upright Man Job read the History of his Patience and you shall see If the Devil be at any time silent the World will make an out-cry If the World with-hold its rage for a little space the Devil will invade their spirits It is said of him that when he accosted the Lord Jesus Christ himself and had spent all his Arrows against him Luk. 4.13 When the Devil had ended all the temptation he departed from him for a season If he left him but for a little while in whom he could find nothing to fasten one temptation upon as Christ says in John 14.30 The Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me Will he ever leave his Saints who have too much matter in them for his temptations to work upon He will not suffer them to be a moment quiet 1. He is continually striving against the very Being of Grace this Abaddon would utterly destroy it and maintains a War against it the Flesh lusting against the Spirit but that greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world 2. He is disturbing the exercise of Grace his posture you shall see in Zach. 3.1 And he shewed me Joshua the High Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him I have often thought in my solemn retirements of Anselms Bird fastned to a stone by a thread often striving to flie up but the weight of the stone as often pull'd him down again A true Emblem of a gratious Soul who many times endeavours to get up into the Divine Presence but as oft as he attempts it the Devil is at hand to hinder and pluck him down again Verse 2 Vse 2. If the Perfect and Upright mans end shall be Peace then the days of the Upright man shall have an end the Psalmist says Psal 39.5 6. Verily every man at his best state is altogether Vanity Surely every man walketh in a vain shew There is an Emphasis in every word Man is Vanity every man is Vanity every man at his best state is Vanity he is altogether Vanity verily it is a certain truth surely every man walks in a vain shew his life is but the shew or shadow of a life That Sentence is unto all Dust thou art and unto Dust shalt thou return and there is no exemption from that general statute-Statute-law Heb. 9.27 It is appointed to all men once to die and after death the judgment Heretofore to the Fathers of old their Lives were like a long Summers day but as sin at first brought in death so as sin multiplied it shortned mens days and now our Lives are like a Winters day in all respects cold cloudy dark and short 't is no sooner Morning but the Night approacheth Jer. 6.4 I may allude to that place The day goeth away the shadows of the Evening are stretched out Two things may be deduced from hence First Here is comfort for the Perfect and Upright man though his life be trouble yet his end will come and bring him peace the great Devourer the Grave that swallows up others shall give him meat and the strong Lion Death that feeds on others shall yield him sweetness When Abraham had fought hard till the going down of the Sun and rescued Lot that was taken Captive Melchizedeck met him with Bread and Wine for his refreshment who was King of the City of Peace So when the upright Saint hath been in his hot disputes to deliver his soul from his Spiritual Enemies our Melchizedeck the Lord Jesus Christ will refresh him with Bread and Wine for his Flesh is Meat indeed and his Blood is Drink indeed and will lead him into the City of Salem a Land of Peace as the Apostle 2 Tim. 4.7 8. I have fought a good fight I have finish'd my course I have kept the Faith henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that day and after many a terrible shock and dangerous storm the perfect and upright Saint through the wise conduct of his Pilot shall arrive safely at his desired Port of peace For there remaineth a rest to the People of God Heb. 4.9 Secondly If the Perfect and Upright man doth die then here is matter of serious consideration and lamentation for the living the life of Saints is to be desired and their death to be lamented unless we will incur that censure Isa 57.1 The Righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come 1. Consider what resentment the people of God had of old of the death of the Saints how they mourned and wept for them when they left their Society Jacob died and Israel wept Moses died and all the People mourned for him thirty days and when Stephen died Act. 8.2 Devout men carried him to his Burial and made great lamentation over him 2. Consider the great usefulness of living Saints especially in these three respects First As they are Supports Props and Pillars for so they are called Psal 75.3 The Earth and all the Inhabitants thereof are dissolved I bear up the Pillars of it They that take this to be the Psalm of Asaph do understand these words to be the words of God that he preserves and upholds his Saints which are the Pillars of the Earth They that take the Psalm to be a Psalm of David for Asaph do understand them as the words of David that he would countenance and encourage the people of God who were the Pillars to uphold a shaking Kingdom If a Moses be removed out of the gap what should hinder why the Judgment should not break in upon the people Isa 1.9 The Prophet tells us that the people acknowledge Except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small Remnant we should have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah If God gather up his Jewels and takes them away he seems to be removing Himself that is a great truth Isa 57.1 Merciful men are taken away from the evil to come and an old saying many times true That they are taken away that evil may come Thus the Lord is said in Psal 78.50 He made a way to his anger When he had secured Lot he let down the fire upon Sodom and when he had Hous'd Noah in the Ark what could the wicked World expect but an over-whelming Deluge Thus they observed of old that the death of eminent Saints was the forerunner of some great Calamity as that long-liv'd Methuselah whose name doth signifie a Messenger of death died the year before the Flood came upon the whole World Augustine the year before Hippo was Sack'd Pareus a little before Heidleberg was taken Luther a little time before the Wars in Germany Ambrose a little before the Ruin of Italy What
A FUNERAL SERNOM DELIVERED Upon the SAD OCCASION OF THE Much Lamented Death OF JOHN GOULD Late of CLAPHAM Esq Who put on Immortality Aug. 22. 1679. By P. Lamb Minister of the Gospel Be ye Followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Heb. vi 12. LONDON Printed by M. C. for John Smith at the Sign of the Hand and Bible on London-Bridge 16â—9 TO The truly Pious and Religious GENTLEVVOMAN Mrs. JVDETH GOVLD Late Wife of JOHN GOULD Esq AND To all the rest of the Inhabitants of CLAPHAM Grace Mercy Peace c. I Did not know how to pay may Respects to the Memory of so Eminent a Saint and Worthy a Person as our late too early Deceased Friend nor how to give so lively a Testimony of my entire affectionate love to your Souls nor make my serious Sentiments and Sympathy which I bear with you in this our common loss manifest to the Worlc nor answer the Call of so Stupendious awakening a Providence if I had not according to my little skill broken the bonds of Modesty and rear'd this Pillar In perpetuam hujus Rei Memoriam inscrib'd with that golden Sentence from Heaven Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright for the end of that Man is Peace You have here presented to you that from the Press which once you heard from the Pulpit wherein I follow the counsel and conduct of wiser heads than my own The Lord hath lately alarm'd us with much Sickness and many Deaths Death and Judgment Heaven and Hell are no little things yet I am afraid we are no more affected with them than the People of Israel were with Amasa's Death 2 Sam. xx 12. While he lay dead in their sight they all stood still but when he was removed and a Cloth laid over him they all went on in pursuit of Sheba the Son of Bichri So while we see our Friends dead or dying we are a little serious but when they are laid in their Graves we follow this World and are apt to forget Death and Judgment to come Though we know it is not the Riches of this World but the Righteousness of Christ not greatness but goodness that will stand us in stead when we die May this little Book lie before you to mind you of these things it will serve as King Philips Boy who saluted him every Morning with a Memento Philippe quod sis mortalis It contains nothing but seasonable plain truths concerning a Plain and Vpright man from one that had rather speak five words in plainness to Edification than ten thousand in a forc'd style or vain affectaion That which I greatly desire at this time is Elisha's wish to Elijah 2 King 2.9 that now you have sustained a very great loss in the departure of so useful a Friend A double portion of his spirit may be upon you I shall now leave you to read and transcribe in your hearts and copy out in your lives these few Characters and Rules of a Perfect and Vpright man that you may have Peace at the last which the God of peace grant both to you and to him Who is Your most entirely Affectionate Friend and Faithful Servant P. L. A FUNERAL SERMON ON PSALM xxxvii 37. Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace A Little before Israel after their long Wilderness-Pilgrimage were to pass over Jordan Moses that eminent Servant of the Lord to whom he had committed the conduct of his People died in the last Chapter of Deuteronomy and at the 8th ver the Children of Israel wept and mourned for him 30. days and rather than he should want a Funeral Sermon the Great God with reverence be it spoken became the Preacher himself Joshua 1.2 saying Moses my Servant is dead This day you all know there is a Great Man fallen among us and what Terrible waters of Jordan we must pass through who can tell He is taken away in the fullness of his strength and in the day of his usefulness and activity your bitter mourning sad countenances and weeping eyes proclaim your sad and serious Resentment and whiles we are grieving here upon Earth that we have lost the Company of so Excellent a Person and so Dear a Friend we may take an easie prospect and see how the Glorious Angels and Glorified Spirits rejoyce and sing together in Heaven at the approach of his refined Spirit to be of their Society Out of that respect and honour that I bear to his Name and Memory and from that Reverence and Holy awe that is due to such a sad and signal Providence of the Almighty that neither He nor It may be slighted or too soon forgotten I have erected this Monument with this Inscription Mark the Perfect Man behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace As men are wont to preserve the Memory of their dear Deceased Friends and Relations by drawing their Pictures as much to the life as they can that so they may have some shadows by them of their unexpressible worth So I would present you with this Character of our departed Friend wherein if my Pencil fail the Spirit of God hath done it to the life in this Text which is both a lively description of this deceased Saint and a full breast of living Counsels and Comforts for us his surviving Friends viz. Mark the Perfect man and behold the Upright for the end of that man is Peace This whole Psalm is the Golden Key of David that opens the Cabinet of the hidden mysteries of Providence There are mysteries in the Works as well as in the Word of God The Psalmist undertakes a Vindication of those unintelligible and astonishing Dispensations of Providence when the Supream Lord and Governour of the World shall send Prosperity into the Houses of the Wicked and cause the Sun-shine of outward Mercies to rest upon their Tabernacles and crown their Families with an affluence of all temporal Comforts When his dearest Saints sit solitary their Habitations full of darkness their Nights wearisome nights their Days days of trouble and nothing but sufferings sickness and sorrows attend them to their Grave He imparts to us this Heavenly art or skill how to discern and understand aright these various workings and dealings of God and that he doth these two ways First by shewing us the use of that Spiritual Telescope Faith by which we may perceive and give a right judgment of these things and behold the purpose of God through his Providence and be able to reconcile Providences and Promises when they seem most contrary and in the Saints most cloudy and darkest day of trouble see the bright side of the Cloud and apprehend the Sun-shine of Divine favour upon their Spirits and that when he gives the Wicked their hearts desire at the same time he sends leanness into their souls Secondly By directing us to judge of men not so much by what they have of
comfortably say Surely the bitterness of death is past while others say of Death and the Grave as Jacob said of Luz at first How terrible is this place He may say of them This is none other than the House of God Thirdly 3. Cons Consider the wicked ungodly and unprepared Sinner can have no hopes in his death Isa 57.2 There is no peace saith my God to the Wicked every pain and sickness that befals him is like the ratling of the wheels of the fiery Chariots and the prancing of the horses of the terrible ones that come to fetch away his soul and now he hath no hope nor life left in him Job 8.13 The Hypocrites hope shall perish he can expect no other but that his soul and body must shortly be pluck'd asunder never to meet together but in Hell That we be habitually prepar'd 2. Direct First Let us get an interest in Christ without him there is no peace with God and without peace with God there can be no peace in the latter end Job 22.21 Acquaint now thy self with God and be at peace Whence once we have got an interest in Christ we may die in peace As Simeon when he had got Christ in his arms could say Now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace O be perswaded to receive and embrace Christ to believe in him and resign up your selves to him as you desire to die in peace and to be happy for ever If you were now upon your Death-beds and your Physician should turn Preacher and your Doctor become a Divine and tell you your Sickness is incurable there is no more hopes of your life you are not like to be men of this world you must prepare for another world you had best make your peace with God and get an interest in Christ I can do no more for you and so the Lord have mercy upon your souls Oh! what would the Blood of Christ be worth in such a day how welcome would he be in such an hour Secondly Be sure that ye be in a Regenerate and Converted state Except a man be born again he shall never see the Kingdom of Heaven And lastly Repent of all your sins Sin like Jonahs Gourd will eat up the comforts of life and devour your peace in death therefore said the Heathen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A good and holy life prepares for an happy death Deal with sin as the Lords of the Philistines advis'd concerning David 1 Sam. 29.4 Who though he had liv'd peaceably amongst them yet when they went down to fight against Israel would not suffer him to go down to the battel along with them lest he should turn his hand against them So though sin hath been a pleasant Companion with us all our life yet when we go down to encounter death we must take heed that sin don't go along with us for it will certainly turn its hand against us and put a sting into Death and deadly teeth into that Lion Secondly That you may be actually prepar'd First 1 Direct Let every day be well fill'd Days well fill'd with the works of Righteousness will make souls well fill'd with the fruits of Righteousness which are Peace and Joy Let every days work be well done examine your selves every night whether your work be done and what is done amiss and ask your souls every night upon doing this whether it can willingly pass from this day into Eternity Job 5.26 it is said concerning that upright man Thou shalt come to thy Grave in thy full Age Diu vixit qui bene vixit like as a Shock of Corn cometh in his season which implies two things First That he shall come willingly to his grave as a man that hath done his work goes willingly to his rest so is he a Volunteer to Death that his soul need not be forc'd out of his body as Lot was out of Sodom nor need he be drag'd out of the World as the rich Fool in the Gospel Secondly That when the Upright man dies he goes as one ready and prepar'd as a Shock of Wheat in its season this Saint goes like the Ox in the Emblem that that stands betwixt the Altar and the Plough with this Motto Ad utrumque paratus as ready for the Sacrifice as for the Yoke and thus Paul saith of himself Phil. 1.23 I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better betwixt two i. e. betwixt Life and Death In a Strait that is as a City that is Besieged and straiten'd or as Iron between two Loadstones loth to leave the Philippians and loth to stay any longer from Christ and therefore after he had stood a while in Aequilibrio at last he inclines rather to be with Christ who is altogether desirable 1. His Common Presence is the preservation of the World 2. His Spiritual Presence is the very joy and life of Saints 3. His Glorious Presence the Eternal happiness of Believers and Oh! how did the heart of our deceased Friend breath after this highest of enjoyments Secondly 2 Direct Let your accounts be always ready The careless Steward can't bear the news of his Lords coming before his Accounts be ready and adjusted There is a secret fearfulness in all persons negligent of their Accounts to hear of Christs coming Every one of us must give account of himself to God and the sleepy soul fears to hear this Voice Give an account of thy Stewardship for thou maist be no longer Steward and having so many Debts and Talents to account for he knows not how to set upon that work yet he that will be always ready must keep his accounts even and must often ask how the case stands between God and his soul and he need not be afraid though he hath never so many Talents Debts and Arrears to account for beyond his ability having the Blood and Righteousness of Jesus Christ to ballance the account Thirdly 3 Direct take your solemn leave every day of all the World that if God should call you the World may not be found hanging on your hearts to make you unwilling to go at his call Every night say to your Friends and to your Estates farewell as being willing to leave them This is to die daily and by this means you will die comfortably and willingly Fourthly Let your Graces be all in a readiness active vigorous and abounding that when Christ comes these Graces being in you 2 Pet. 1.11 An entrance may be abundantly ministred unto you into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Faith Hope and Love must stand always expecting the Lords coming and be renewing Acquaintance with God and making a fresh application of the Blood of Christ that the soul may have a clear sight of his interest in the Righteousness of Christ and his right to Divine favour Lastly 5 Direct Familiarize Death to your souls we are afraid of Death and remain unprepar'd for Death because we and Death are strangers When you lie down let Death lie down with you when you awake let Death talk with you when you walk let Death be your Companion Make a more serious improvement of your spectacles of Mortality Funeral occasions than you are wont to do that if God bid you die as Num. 27.12 He bad Moses go up to Mount Abarim and die there You may be as ready to go and die as to go to your Beds Only let Faith give you always the fair Prospect of Christ of Heaven and Glory that your hearts may be possest with this assurance 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle be dissolved we have a building of God not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens FINIS