Mankind shall be cursed and commanded to depart from God The same Lord Jesus who is here said to take holy Men to be for ever with himself in the next Epistle to these Thessalonians has his coming described in other terms The Lord Jesus 2 Thess 1. 7 8. shall be revealed from Heaven with his mighty Angels in flaming Fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ There is everlasting Death as well as everlasting Life and they who trifle away their time in this World without performing the Conditions upon which eternal Happiness is promised will find it to their astonishment true when though they call Rev. 6. 16. for the Rocks and Mountains to hide them yet the great Day of God's Wrath will come and they shall not be able to stand Wherefore happy they of whom these words speak who when they are called to meet the Lord in the Air shall never depart from him Which according to the tenor of the Scripture cannot be the Portion of all Men therefore there can be no difficulty or doubt in restraining my Third Observation to holy Men. Thirdly After Death all the holy People of God shall for ever be with the Lord. I confess these words do not assure us that immediately after Death our Souls shall be translated to Glory and Happiness but only tell what shall befal us after the Resurrection It is now 1600 Years and upwards since this Epistle was written and yet the end of the World is not come And when it will come none of us knows How long soever it may be it is but a small space of Time in comparison of Eternity and therefore it being otherwise certain that our Souls do not sleep in the interval between the Death and the Resurrection of the Body I consider it now without any distinction and express it indefinitely of the future State Then holy Men shall ever be with the Lord. So has our Blessed Saviour assured us If any John 12. 26. Man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my Servant be Again In John 14. 2 3. my Father's house are many Mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a Place for you And if I go and prepare a Place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also And the same assurance we have from other Texts in other Phrases Now what it is to be with the Lord is not easy for us in this present State fully to say But sure we are it describes a very great and happy State And we may in the consideration of it join some other Texts compared together with those I have named out of the Gospel of St. John We are willing rather to 2 Cor. 5. 8. be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. Now we see through a Glass darkly 1 Cor. 13. 12. but then Face to Face His Servants shall serve Rev. 23. 3 4. Psal 16. 11. him and they shall see his Face In thy presence is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for evermore And one place more particularly describes the Glory of our Bodies Who shall Phil. 3. 21. change our vile Body that it may be fashioned like to his glorious Body So then to be with the Lord is not to be advanced only to a proximity of Place but there is an Affinity a nearness of State a resemblance and a participation also of that Glory and Happiness in which our Lord is Now let us consider a little Holy Men shall ever be with the Lord that is they shall be exalted to Honour and Glory as our Lord is Not in the same degree for of that we are not capable but in our Measures and according to our Capacities This it is to be where Christ our Lord is To be honoured of his Father and our Father If any Man serve me him will my Father honour John 12. 26. The honour that our Lord Jesus did to our Nature in becoming Man shall then redound to our Persons we shall be taken up to be with God He who is set down in the Throne of his Glory will ennoble and raise us so that even our Bodies that are sown and laid in the Grave in dishonour shall be raised in Glory The difference 1 Cor. 15. between Beauty and Deformity is esteemed considerable in this Life but the reflections that will beam upon us in that glorious State shall beyond what we can now conceive dignify our Persons That which now turns to Dust and Ashes shall be transfigured and the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Mat. 13. 43. Kingdom of their Father God has now honoured Man by making him an excellent Creature fit to govern the rest of the Creation if he could but govern himself but we are now in a very low form of excellence in comparison of the Honour and Dignity which our Lord Jesus will put upon us when he calls us as the Blessed of his Father to inherit a Kingdom prepared Mat. 25. 34. for us Therefore is that which we shall be possessed of called Glory a Crown of Glory a Kingdom an Eternal weight of Glory In comparison of which all the Sceptres and Crowns of this lower World are Trifles and Toys and not worth looking after But again To be with the Lord is to be delivered from all the Encumbrances and Necessities and Perplexities of this present Life to be raised to fulness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore To be secured from all Wants and Weaknesses from Sins and Sorrows and Fears from the Devil and Hell and Death from whatsoever would disturb and dissatisfy To be with the Lord is to have the Lord for our God and to dwell with us and the consequence of God's dwelling with us is as is descrbed God shall wipe Rev. 21. 4. away all Tears from our Eyes and there shall be nor more Death neither Sorrow nor Crying neither shall there be any more Pain for the former things are past away The Imperfections of this State shall pass away and the Necessities of it too We shall no more hunger nor thirst no more be sollicitous what will become of us no more amused and frighted with Wars or rumours of Wars no more in danger of Plots and Conspiracies under no discontent for decay of Trade or loss of Friends under no pains of Body nor trouble of Mind beyond the reach of Sickness and Diseases and effectually secured from all distrubing Accidents Yea and beyond all this which is but the absence of Misery to be with the Lord is to be in our Father's house in those pleasant Mansions where Peace and Joy dwell and triumph where the Eyes of our Understanding shall be inlightned and inabled to take a full view of the
A SERMON AT THE FUNERAL OF Mr. CHRISTOPHER GLASCOCK The late Eminent School-master Of Felsted in Essex Preached there Jan. 22. 1689 90. By WILLIAM SHELTON Rector of St. James in Colchester LONDON Printed for N. Renew at the King's Arms and I. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Pauls Church-yard MDCXC To the Right honble DANIEL Earl of NOTTINGHAM Lord Finch of Daventry Principal Secretary of State and one of his Majesties most Honourable Privy-Council MY LORD THAT good Man whose Memory these Papers endeavour to preserve was so well known and so much in your Lordship's Favour that were not the Character they give him so disproportionate to his Merit I should not doubt of a candid acceptance of them Perhaps it was one Instance of his Modesty in his valnation of himself that he would design me to this Service who he knew would rather under-rate than flatter him I humbly present what I have done to you Lordship's Patronage who finding leisure amidst those Public Cares whereby you serve their Majesties and oblige our Church and Nation to consult the future flourishing Condition of that long famous School by taking care for a fit Successor that may deliver Posterity from suffering loss by the death of Mr. Glascock will also vouchsafe to be a Patron as of the Concerns of the succeeding so of the Concerns of the succeeding so also of the Name and Memory of the dead Schoolmaster And for his sake will pardon this presumptious Address of his Friend May it please your Lordship Colchester April 4. 1690. Your Lordship 's most Humble and most Obedient Servant WILLIAM SHELTON A SERMON At the FUNERAL of Mr. CHRISTOPHER GLASCOCK 1 THESS iv 17. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. WHEN Friends take leave of each other their parting is more or less solemn as they apprehend the length of Time before they shall meet and embrace again Therefore is the separation which Death makes between Friends of greater consideration because there will be no return of those that are departed and gone before us We shall to them but they 2 Sam. 12. 23. shall not return to us Yet even this parting is not altogether hopeless and they who think so do not well understand the Doctrine of the Christian Religion Such there were amongst the Thessalonians Men not sufficiently instructed in the Doctrine of the Resurrection To whom therefore St. Paul applies himself in the 13th verse of this Chapter 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 It seems there were some in that Chruch not well informed about the State of the Dead and what was to follow after Death Therefore in the next Verses he establishes the Doctrine of the Resurrection Ver. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Ver. 15. For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep Ver. 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 The World will last to a certain period of Time and then the End of all things will be at Hand when all the Negotiations and Correspondencies of this Life shall cease The Son of Man will come from Heaven in Power and great Glory when they who shall be then alive shall be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an 1. Cor. 15. 52. Eye They shall not go so leisurely through a long stage of Death as they whose Bodies are committed to the Grave and resolved into their first Dust but they shall be as effectually changed from a mortal and corruptible State as they who after a long corruption are raised out of the Grave Yet shall they not prevent or get the start of them who have been long dead For then shall the Trump of God sound then shall the Voice of the Archangel alarm and put Life and Motion into dry bones and summon together all that have been dead from the beginning of the World and all that shall be then found alive to attend the Lord Jesus who shall come to judg the Quick and the Dead And when all are together caught up in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air as the beginning of this Verse speaks then shall every Man be judged according to his Works They who have done Evil shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the 2 Thess 1. 9. Lord and from the Glory of his Power And when workers of iniquity are so commanded to Luke 13. 27. depart from him then they who have done good shall have the Reward of their Labours in his presence where there is fullness of Joy And this is the account given of their Happiness and Glory in these words And so shall we ever be with the Lord. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I do not love nor use to be nice or curious in making particular Observations from particular Words But because according to the number of the Greek words four things are here plainly either supposed or expressed I determine my self to that number We shall be We shall ever be We shall ever be with the Lord. And with relation to the former words of the Verse We shall so ever be with the Lord. So that these Four Heads of Discourse shall comprehend what I have to say to these words 1. It is here manifestly supposed There is a future State We shall be after death 2. The duration of this State is Eternal We shall ever be 3. The state in which we shall thus for ever continue is described so far as concerns holy Men by being with the Lord and elsewhere by being present with the Lord. 4. This shall be after the Quick and Dead are united in one Body to meet our Lord Jesus at his second coming so as we then meet so shall we ever be with the Lord. First We do not perish when we die We remain in being when the Union of Soul and Body is dissolved the Soul remains and the Body shall in due time be reunited We die that we may live again There is a Future State a Being and a Life after Death Though it be no sufficient excuse for Ignorance yet it may suggest this pious Meditation to us to bewail the wanton abuse of Knowledg or the means of Knowledg if we consider that in this Age of Light and Improvement there are Men who to outward appearance seem to profess Atheism with greater and more avowed confidence than other Men dared to do in former Ages of Ignorance and Superstition There was one or two suspected of old among the Athenians but they were scorned and reproached as unworthy
in them that he show'd towards them he had been more succesful in that kind But though his Temper would not allow him to be fierce yet he had not such a tameness of Spirit as not to manifest his Zeal in respect to the Substantials of Religion a regular Conversation and good Life He did often use deeply to lament the Debaucheries and Immoralities of the Age in which we live and could not endure to see Morality justled out of Religion And this being one Instance of his being a good Man as well as a good Divine it leads me to the last thing I promised to observe in him which is indeed much more worth than all the rest so far as they can be separated from this He was 6. A good Man One that did value Religion beyond Learning or any other Accomplishments of this Life How little he valued Riches appears by the no great Accessions he has made to his Paternal Estate notwithstanding the many and the long Advantages he had to heap up Wealth if he had thought himself born especially for that purpose How little he was concerned to advance himself in the World was manifest some Years ago by his slowness to use his Interest for a School of great Eminence in the City of London In which probably he might have succeeded if he could have perswaded himself to have quickened his Pace in pursuing after it But he was contented in the Sphere in which he had so long moved And as he was not Covetous or Ambitious so did he give many Instances of his Charity and Meekness and Humility and other commendable Vertues He found many Occasions for the Exercise of his Charity yea he sought them that he might find them So ready to help his Neighbours in a streight that often when he observed them under troubled Thoughts he would ask them if they wanted Mony and would freely lend it to serve their Necessities And much good in other kinds he did But there are two Instances of a liberal Mind not to be omitted He was very ready in contributing to the Maintenance of poor Scholars at the University And so kind to Clergy-men as to be contented with half pay for the Education of their Sons and oftentimes with none at all His Meekness and Gentleness bore proportion to his Charity But if I should give particular Instances of it I must thereby reflect upon the Provocations that have been given him let it therefore be enough to say That as no Man can live long in the World but he shall meet with frequent exercises of his Meekness and Patience so especially School-masters who are so often in danger of being rufled and disordered by the Rashnesses and Extravagancies of their young Scholars have need of a good Guard upon themselves upon this account But whatever Mr. Glascock might meet with in this or any other kind he had a great command of his Passions and governed them with a like Felicity as he did his Scholars His Humility also which is a necessary disposition for meekness was very conspicuous That esteem which he generally had in the World did not puff him up to a lofty conceit of himself but he was very condescending to his Inferiors in Worth as well as in Age. And I think few Men are more ready than he was in lowliness of Mind to esteem others better than Phil. 2. 3. himself In this Place where all believe it the mention of it is enough But because it is a necessary Qualification of a good Man let me add a word of his Faithfulness to the Relations wherein he was more peculiarly engaged A very loving Husband A very tender Father A very kind Master who was willing to give to all that which was just and equal as knowing that he also had a Master in Heaven He that was thus careful among Men to render to all their Dues did not forget his Religion towards God A sincere unaffected Religion wherein he did not by any means neglect that which is outward and decent but lamented the Ignorance of those who upon that account dissented from us But he did much more value the substantial Parts of true and undissembled Piety Thus he lived to a great Age. The greatest part of his time being spent in the view of the World he behaved himself so as he needed not be ashamed of himself or the manner of his Life And as he had for a long time practised the Vertues that were proper to Health and Conversation so when it pleased God to change his State and bring him by someleisurely Approaches towards Death he was not at a loss for that Patience and Resignation that was proper for a time of Sickness and Death Of which I can say nothing of my own knowledg not having been with him or seen him since his last sickness But I am very well confirmed by those who were often with him that his Behaviour then was according to the Tenor of his forepast Life He did not covet to live for he had long ago seen through all the Vanities of this World and did not think it worth the while to live for their sakes Nor was he afraid to die And when it came upon him God was merciful to him and gave him an easy and painless Death and made it a comfortable Passage for him into a better World Where he is as we with very good Grounds confidently hope admitted among those that are for ever with the Lord. You that are grown up will know how to apply these things to your selves and will understand it your Duty to endeavour so to live that you may also when you die have hopes of being translated into the Presence of God Suffer me to make but one Reflection upon all that I have said for the sake of those who have now lost the Guide of their Youth and I conclude You young Gentlemen who have now lost your Master let me exhort you in these words Remember him who has had the Rule over you Remember his good Counsels and his good Example I doubt not but it will be of use to you in your Passage through the World when you shall be tempted to any vicious course of Life to any ungentile to any unscholarlike to any Unchristian Practices to say to your selves This Advice I remember my Master Glascock gave me and by the Grace of God I resolve to follow it Your Memories are now tenacious you will remember what you now hear much better than many other things that may occur afterwards I do not tempt you to suspect that you shall find reason to bewail the want of him in his Successor That Person of great Honour who is concerned in it will take all due care to provide you one that shall well build upon the Foundation that is already laid Yet together with the Instructions which you shall hereafter receive remember how you have been already taught And as you loved your Master so follow his good Counsel And if we all use our best diligence to follow this and other-like good Examples then may we hope that we shall in God's due Time find the same Reward of our present Holiness and we with all the Holy Servants of God that are gone before us shall be taken up together to be for ever with the Lord. Which God of his Infinite Mercy grant through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Amen FINIS