death viz. sin and that entwisted even with his very Nature As by one man sin entered into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all c. The holiest may cry out as those Sons of the Prophets O thou man of God death is in the pot death is in the body Bodies of Sin will become bodies of Death because sin is in the Soul as a Canker at the root that will kill the Tree as the Worm that smote Jonahs Gourd that made it wither away this drew out that Emphatical Quere What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul himself from the hand of the grave A question that carries a Negative answer in the bowels of it q. d. no man even the most eminent beleeving or holiest for living can free himself from the tasting of death Vse Look not you now that are Beleevers to be freed from the common fare of all real Christians viz. Death count upon this Dye I must I know not how soon Q. But if my faith exempt me not from death what avails me to be a Beleever Sol. Much every way chiefly because by Beleeving though thou be not freed from the stroke yet sure thou art to be protected from the sting of death so that even in the very jaws of death a Beleever may 1. holily exult O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God that gives us victory through Christ Jesus our Lord 2. yea sure thou art to be delivered from the Second Death thy faith interesting of thee in the first Resurrection and implanting thee into Christ it frees thee from Condemnation He that beleeveth on the Son hath everlasting life viz. even here someway in possession as well as hereafter fully in reversion Besides thou maist be certain the condition of death is altered to thee it being not now formally the wages of sin but turned into a part of those advantagious chattles that do belong unto thee 1 Cor. 3.23 All is thine even Death as well as other things Death to thee is only the final period to all thy miseries and the ready inlet to thy full and eternal happiness Now God permits his Decree to take hold upon thee for divers gracious ends and purposes viz. 1 To cast out perfectly the remainders of sin that even after our Conversion do still abide within us When the Priest under the Law had been to view the house infected with the Plague of the fretting Leprosie the house was to be broken down stones the timber and all the mortar of it Jesus Christ sees the fretting Leprosie of Sin to be in thee that will not be outed of its Habitation till that earthly Tabernacle of thine be pulled down 2 To put an end to all the perplexing miseries that do befall thee here Whilst Israel was in the Wilderness they were infested with fiery Serpents never totally freed from them till they came to Canaan so whilst thou art in the wilderness of the World thou art lyable to the stingings of many fiery Serpents the fiery Serpents of Sin and Misery Absolute immunity will be obtained by Death from them and not before 3 To be a gate for thy Admission or entrance into Heaven Death indeed to on unbeleever is the door of Hel but to a Beleever it is the entrance of Heaven this in eagered Paul with so much panting to be dissolved and to be with Christ what Jacob spake in another case is true here of the death of a Beleever this is the gate of heaven Vse 2. Yet know this for thy comfort though death be unavoydable dye thou must yet thou maist assure thy self thou shalt dye in peace which leads me to the manner how Abraham shall be gathered unto his Fathers which is the Elixir of the Promise He shall go in peace whence we may observe Doct. That it is a Beleevers transcendent Priviledge to go unto his Fathers or to dye in peace For the profitable handling of this truth 1 I le endeavour to shew you what is meant by going to his Fathers or dying in peace 2 I le study clearly to make it out 1 That it is a priviledge to dye in peace 2 A transcendent priviledge belonging to Beleevers 3 I le cast in something by way of improvement Q. 1. What is meant by going to his Fathers or dying in peace Sol. The Phrase is of different construction in different places of Scripture I finde it sometimes opposed to a violent immature or forcible kind of end Thus to Zedekiah as bad as he was it was promised Thou shalt not dye by the Sword viz. a violent but thou shalt dye in peace i. e. come unto a Natural death Jer. 34.4 5. so David advising Solomon to cut off Joab by a forcible death he useth almost a parallel expression not in a promissory but minatory way Let not his hoary head go down to the grave in peace i. e. let him dye a violent death and be rolled to his grave in bloud But sometimes I finde it opposed to an uncomfortable end and then to dye in peace is to dye in the sense of inward peace or in an estate of reconciliation and this I look upon as the common priviledge of all beleevers Josiah had this in promise though hee dyed of his Wounds yet he dyed in a reconciled condition with God and this is the main of the Promise to Abraham here compared with vers 6. Abraham beleeved in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness being now justified through faith he had peace with God And when he comes to dye he shall dye in peace being sensible of his standing in the grace and favour of God and resting on the invaluable merits of Jesus Christ whose day he saw and upon that account with a placid spirit he resigned up his Soul unto him Q. 2 How it may be made out that to dye in peace is a priviledge belonging to beleevers 1 We call that a Priviledge which is an Immunity granted to some of favour and denied to others of justice Wee all deserve as to dye so to dye with fear terrour and amazement but our God in mercy exempts Beleevers from the common Law of death as it is the King of Terrours and vouchsafeth them this favour to depart in peace when others depart with horror 2 This we say is the Beleevers priviledge for as for 1 Unbeleevers and all wicked men whatsoever there is no peace to the wicked saith my God they are as the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast out in reâ—aâ—d dirt an elegant Similitude whereby the Prophet setteth forth to the life the restlesness of wicked men though the Sea hath no Winds nor Tempests from without to infest it yet it is restless of its
Jeremy his book of the Lamentations penned upon that dolefull occasion may abundantly declare The death of Jacob and Joseph before the oppressions came on and strange cruelties of the Egyptians made seisure upon their off-spring savoured of mercy and it was a great blessing for Augustine to bee taken away by a naturall death when Genserik had besieged Hippo that hee might not see the cruelties of the Vandalls that were breaking in upon the Church of God and for Pareus that hee should die at Heidelberg before the enemy was Master of it a place that hee so intirely loved Thirdly Is it not a great mercy to bee taken away from the tasting of evills in their own persons that they may not feel the smart of grievous and direfull Judgements he that is omniscient foresees calamities and judgements a coming which we cannot see He took notice of the deluge in his own decree before the Cataracts of Heaven were opened hee therefore snatches away those that he was minded to secure lest they should be in wrapt in the common calamity Our God rich in mercy deals as a prudent rich man when hee sees the fire come near his own habitation hee removes his Jewells or his treasures into another place where they may bee secured from danger or as a carefull Husbandman in catching weather in Harvest when hee sees the Heavens be clouded or a storm up hee will do his utmost to get his Corn into his barn if possible before it bee wet Wee read of the Egyptians when they heard that God would cause it to rain a grievous hail such as had not been in Egypt since the foundation of it to that present hee that feared the word of the Lord amongst the Servants of Pharaoh made his Servants and his Cattel flie into their houses so dealeth our God when hee sees a storm a comming hee driveth in his that as they shared not with others in their sins so neither shall they partake with them in their sufferings yea even that Heathen observed that when God brings on any remarkable destruction or Alteration in a Nation hee first takes away them that are good in it Vse I shall dismiss this Relative observation with this word of improvement Lay to heart the Lords taking away of any godly professors at any time for albeit the dispensation savours of mercy to them yet many times it proves ominous to them that are left behind when Swallows flie away winter is then approaching Their death indeed is a blessing unto themselves for blessed are they that dye in the Lord and not only they that die for him yet mostly it portends evill to survivers however it shall bee well with themselves as is here promised unto Abraham which leadeth mee to the second The Absolute consideration of the words which affords two soul cheering Cordialls 1 Thou shalt go to thy Fathers in Peace 2 And be buried in a good old age A couple of Promises or a couple of Branches of the same Promise that would require a couple of hours for the unfolding of them to view them exactly I must deal as a Travailer that is on his way who may glance his eye here or there but makes no stay till hee comes to his Journyes end no more shall I till through help from my God I shall have spoken something of both these as they lie before you And for the opening of the first we shall inquire Quest. 1 What is meant by his going to his Fathers Was hee to go back to Haran or Ur of the Chaldees in his life or bee carried thither to be interred after death or was hee to go to that place whither their soules went upon the dissolution of their bodies Sol. 1. Abraham was not to go to his Fathers first In Body the place of his locall Interment was to be Macpelah in Canaan and not any other place secondly Nor in Soul that removed to the immediate fruition of God in glory whereas many of his Ancestors were Idolators serving other Gods and doubtlesse many of them died in their Paganish condition 2 But the sense of this expression is Abraham shall die that 's the meaning of the Hebraism thou shalt go to thy Fathers that is corporall death shall arrest thee as well as it did do them Now if you compare these words with verse the sixt where wee read that Abraham beleeved in the Lord and it was counted to him for Righteousness though hee were a beleever in Christ yet hee must go to his Fathers that is hee must die as well as they this may inform us Doct. That albeit faith in Christ doth exempt Beleevers from the second yet it will not free any from the strak of the first death Abraham though a Beleever yea the highest in the forme of Beleevers being the Father of the faithfull yet hee must die and it is no wonder since the Decree is gone forth from God which is farre more irrevocable than the laws of the Medes and Persians It is appointed unto all men Beleevers as well as unbeleevers once to die When the Scripture saith all none is exempted some indeed have had a writ of Privilege from some kinds of death yet none from death in the main Moses was freed from the bitings of fiery Serpents as Magistrates sometimes through mercy are privileg'd from death in times of common mortality yet death surprized them in the end for Moses the servant of the Lord died in the land of Moab Daniel was secured from being devoured by those hungry Lions yet his body became a prey to Death as well as the bodies of other Prophets Elisha was spared from being torn in peeces by the Shee-bears out of the Wood yet Death took him away in the end 2 This Decree hath made seisure in all Ages even where faith hath been in an eminent way as in Moses witness his undertaking that difficult Embassage to Pharaoh to deliver Israel out of Aegypt Faith in the end did eat up all his fears and engaged him in that difficult work yet Death at last did arrest him as was hinted before so in Job a great Practitioner in the life of faith that made him draw up this Resolution Though he slay me yet will I trust in him David a Beleever a man after Gods own heart and yet Death overtook him and Paul who professed I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God c. yet did not death surprise him I might be endless here to shew you how Death attached Beleevers both before as well as under the Law yea even in the time of the Gospel had the debt of Sin been taken off and the Decree rescinded that Pursevant of Death would not go on daily to Arrest Beleevrrs at Gods Sute Thirdly The holiest Beleever hath in his body the Principle of
John La Motte Esq Cittizen of London borne j. May 1577 and Deceased July 13 1655. Abrahams Interment OR The good Old-mans Buriall in a good Old Age. Opened in a Sermon At Bartholomews Exchange July 24. 1655. at the Funerall of the Worshipfull John Lamotte Esq Sometimes Alderman of the City of London By FULK BELLERS M.A. Preacher of the Gospell Unto which is added a short Narrative of his Life and Death 2 KIN. 20.1 Set thy house in order for thou shall dye and not live JOB 21.22 Acquaint thy self now with God and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee LONDON Printed by R. I. for Tho. Newberry and are to be sold at his Shop at the sign of the three Golden Lyons in Corn-hill 1656. TO THE Right VVorshipfull the truely Religious THE Lady Hester Honywood AND To her most hopefull Nephew Mr. Maurice Abbot of the Inner Temple Daughter Grand-son Co-heires of John Lamotte Esq c. Much honoured THe sweetnesse of Communion with God whereby Saints taste and see how good the Lord is is more clearly discerned by their own personall experience than can be declared by any verball expressions This was the highest pitch of Adams happinesse during his estate of concreated integrity that hee was admitted to the enjoyment of this grand priviledge what is it then for any of his fallen Off-spring to be restored to this great exaltation And yet we know that Beleevers by faith in Christ are reinstated in this advancement and are many times inabled to say and that feelingly truly our fellowshp or our Communion is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. This is the Heaven of Heavens to Saints Triumphant and Heaven here on this side Heaven to Saints Militant Expectants of Heaven hereafter Vnutterable is the Contentment that man finds sometimes in his Cordiall acquaintance with an Antient Fast and Religious Friend to whom he may freely and fully unbosome himself and from whom he may receive suitable and seasonable advice with all candor and faithfullnesse upon all occasions Now if words cannot to the life hold out that satisfaction that man findeth in his converse with man like unto himself is it any wonder if I am not able fully to display that heart-ravishing delight which the renewed soul meeteth withall whilest it nourisheth humble and holy Communion with God the high and lofty one that inhabiteth Eternity It is agreed on by all that holy familiarity with him is full of spirituall solace though all my language be too short compleatly to describe before you how satisfactory and contentfull it is How sweet are those holy Parlies with God in praier and how pleasant their returns far pleasanter to a gracious than the returns of ships richly laden with rarest Commodities to a Carnall heart how delightfull are the droppings of the Sanctuary whereby the souls of Saints become as watered Gardens as so many Edens and whereby they come to hear of joy and gladnesse so that the bones which God at any time hath broken begin to rejoice How ensuring are the Incomes of the Spirit in that sealing Ordinance of the Lords Supper wherein the truely penitent and beleeving Soul looking up to Christ by the Eye of Faith whom hee hath peirced and being in heavinesse for him c. receives the pledge of the Remission of his sins and of all other Covenant-Mercies which more exhilerates him with heart reviving joy then the sight of a Pardon doth a condemned Malefactor It was upon this account that the heart of David was filled with such Pantings as the Hart after the water-brooks to come and appear before God in soul-reviving Ordinances and that Marquesse of Vico Galeatius that eminent Confessor when offered Golden Mountains of Honours and Riches how resolutely did he reply their mony perish with them that think all the honours of Italy c. to be worth one hours Communion with God at Geneva a place wherein Religion flourished Now how abundant that worthy and experimentall Christian was to whom you owe your extraction as branches to their root in nourishing communion with God and how sweet hee found it both in his life and at his death I need not relate to you in speciall who were full well acquainted with the manner of his holy Conversation in his Life and of his comfortable departure at his end My sute to you is Honoured Lady Who have made such Eminent progresse in Grace Labor yet more and more to imitate your deceased Father in walking in all the waies of holiest Communion with God treading dayly in his steps of Soul resignation Faith Patience Charity Zeal and all other Christian graces whereof he left an exemplary Copy to you and your hopefull Issue to write after I need not suggest that it is constancy which is the Crowning grace Honoured Sir Though you have attained as yet to a little more than a fourth of the days that your Indulgent Grand-Father arrived at yet hee hath left you as a Coheir of his Estate so I hope of his graces also strive therefore that hee may in all his soul-adorning endowments live in you that as hee and many others looked upon you with a hopefull eye whilest hee lived so the world may see you more and more to answer all those blooming hopes now he is removed from you To conclude my humble addresse to you both is that you would be mindfull of all the holy Counsells and savory advertisements wherein he abounded towards you and among others those that he communicated to you frequently by his letters and forget not that Letter added unto his life whereby being dead he yet speaketh to you and then doubt not but there will bee a full return into your bosomes of all the prayers which he so fervently and frequently darted up to Heaven in your behalfs which is the perswasion Of your Worships much Obliged in the Lord. FULK BELLERS Decemb. 24. 1655. ABRAHAMS Interment OR The good Old mans Burial in a good old Age. GEN 15.15 And thou shalt go unto thy Fathers in peace and bee buried in a good old age SOlomon tells us It is better to go into the house of Mourning than to go to the house of Feasting for that is the end of all men and the living the godly living will lay it to heart The Lord hath turned his own House into a House of Mourning unto us upon this sad account viz. the interment of him who as he was much esteemed of by the Citizens of this Renowned City in general so in special of this place whereof he hath been an ancient and worthy Parishioner and peculiarly by that great Congregation â—hereof he hath been a vigilant Elder near thirty years toâ—â—ther one aged in grace as well as years unto whom â—his personal Promise to the Father of the Faithful was made good though not for the number of years that Abraham lived up unto yet for that time that Moses reckons up as
the God of peace sanctifie you throughout to whom God speaks peace he is always a Sanctifier a purifier of the heart and life from sin Q. It may be some may say how may we get into such an estate that we may be sure to dye in peace S. If thy heart be toucht with what thou sayest 1 Presently fall upon the duty of repentance bewailing sins of Nature of Practice against the light of the Law and Gospel crying mightily for pardon this ushered in true peace to Davids Soul and brought him in ease in the setting of his bones and making him to rejoyce after their breaking So that heart-smitten Publican crys out Lord be merciful to me a sinner and then goes away in a justified condition Till Sin be removed by Repentance what peace can there be What peace so long as the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezabel and her Witchcrafts are so many What peace so long as iniquities remain unrepented of So long as Wind remains shut up in the bowels of the earth that can get no vent an Earthquake daily is to be feared so here an Heart quake is to be expected until you have repented 2 Labour by faith to take hold of Jesus Christ whose Bloud alone is able to cleanse our Consciences from dead works i. e. from sin when wee look up to him with the eye of faith whom we have peirced and be in heaviness for him as a man is in heaviness for the death of his first born this brings peace Faith devolves all our guilt upon our Suerty Christ and then takes hold of his Meritorious Righteousness which becoming ours by application we are justified in Gods sight and thereby acquitted from sin 3 Walk up unto the Gospel the promise of peace is made alone to them that walk according to this rule not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit this brings peace Mark the perfect man and behold the upright in heart and life for the end of that man is peace 4 Keep a good Conscience this is as a continual Feast not only in Life but when Death stares thee in the face as we see in Hezekiah Remember O Lord now I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight And upon this account Paul was so careful to exercise himself in keeping a good Conscience free from offence both towards God and man A polluted corrupt Conscience will sting a man in the end as we see in Spyra and many Apostates whereas an undefiled Conscience will chear us in the worst of times 5 Dye daily to sin make it thy work every day to drag thy corruptions to the Cross of Jesus Christ never leaving till thou hast fastned them there and gotten them Crucified even thy beloved sins mortified within thee and dye daily unto the World get into Christ by whom the World may bee crucified unto thee and thou unto the World and carry thy self as a Crucified man in respect of it not heeding minding or regarding of it and if thou doest thus thou mayest expect an interest in this common Mercy among all Saints to dye in peace whether ever thou share in the later part of the Promise or no to be buried in a good old age Which leads me now to the second Branch in this Promise Thou shalt be buried in a good old age Whence we may take notice of this last observation Doct. That burial in a good old age is afforded unto some Saints by Gods special indulgence For the prosecution of this truth I shall labour to shew 1 What is meant by Burial 2 What by a good old Age. 3 How it may be made out that for a Saint to bee buried in a good old age is an evidence of Gods indulgence Q. 1. What is meant by Burial Sol. Burial speaks nothing but the covering of the dead body of man with earth or the interring of it Now touching Burial I have nothing to say for any thing that savours of the least of Superstition in it I neither look upon it if denied by cruel men as any badge of Gods Curse to Beleevers though sometimes he gives way to some such stupendious dispensations which was the ground of that sad complaint of old The dead bodies of thy Servants have they given to be meat unto the Fowls of the Heaven and the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the earth their bloud have they shed like water round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them Men indeed have discovered much inhumanity this way especially Papists against Protestants by prohibiting their Burial or digging up their bones again as they did of Bucer Fagius c. such acts savour of wrath in men but none in God towards them that were in Covenant with him So neither do I construe it if afforded or permitted as any help to heaven because upon the dissolution of the body the Spirit returns to God that gave it the Soul is admitted immediatly into the embraces of God though the body be kept above ground divers daies together yet this I may say upon a Scripture account concerning Burial that the decent interment of the bodies of Saints when death hath divorced those old companions the Soul and Body speaks 1 Mercy in the Interrers which David acknowledged in burying the body the trunck of Saul though we know he was a bad man yet he so farre resented this act of the men of Bethshemesh that he sends unto them this Message and with it this benediction Blessed are yee of the Lord that have shewed this kindness to Saul and have buried him and he adds this prayer for them The Lord shew kindness and truth to you and passed this Promise unto them I also will requite this kindness because yee have done this thing 2 Justice in them that discharge this office when the Soul is returned to God that gave it it is a part of justice that the Body should return to the earth whence it was taken the Earth indeed is the common Mother of all who receives all that came from her as the Mother the Childe into her lap God I know laid this in justice upon man for sin at the first Thou shalt return to the earth for dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return 3 It speaks hope that the interrers have of the happy Resurrection of those bodies which now they commit to the ground they having been Instruments of Righteousness Members of Christ and being still united to him shall certainly be raised by him unto glory and upon these accounts I deem the care of Saints to have been to see their friends decently interr'd as Isaac Abram Joseph his Father Jacob and those devout men that stoned Massacred Martyrd Body of that Proto-martyr Stephen as knowing
that the bodies of Saints sown in corruption shall be raised in incorruption sown in dishonour shall be raised in glory sown in weakness shall be raised in power And hence the Burial-place among the Greek Fathers is called the sleeping place or the Dormitory of Saints they only sleep and therefore they will awake again they still though in the dust are united unto Jesus Christ and shall be reunited with their Souls that ascending to Heaven they may be ever with the Lord. Q. 2. What is meant by a good old age S. 1. The Notion here rendred Old Age properly imports gray hairs and by a Metonymy of the Adjunct Old Age gray hairs being the ordinary discoverers of it for that observation of that Rabbine that gray hairs is more than old Age because as he saith a man at sixty is come to old Age and one at seventy to gray hairs after which a man becomes decrepit This is but his meer Phansie for how many even with us come to gray hairs before fifty years some before forty years of age But to wave this it is sufficient for us to know that in the Old Testament they are used as Synonimaes i. e. words signifying the same thing and that by old age we understand the winter of mans life the evening or Sun-set of his days the utmost period of his time on earth Other Ages have still another Age to succeed them as Childe hood is succeeded by Youth Youth by Man-hood Manhood by Old Age but old Age hath no other Successor but Death it being the last declension or degree of the longest life 2 By a good Old Age we mean not barely a great age though I confess old Age is an Embleme some way of Gods Eternity whence he is stiled the Ancient of days and therefore so described his raiment was as white as snow and the hair of his head as white as wool a Periphrasis of old age and besides old age hath been honoured by God in choosing men of age for weighty imployments as God chose Moses and Aaron when they were stricken in years to lead Israel out of Aegypt and when he would establish a standing Judicatory in Israel he would have seventy men of the Elders of Israel gathered unto him Moreover their Judges were old men that sate in the Gate to hear and determine the Causes of the people that were brought before them nay I acknowledge that old age is some way venerable in it self which was the ground of that Command Rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man those of Gadera built a Temple to old age because of the reverence and respect they bore unto it 2 Much less do we mean by a good old age the turning over of many years in a way of sin old age cannot be good where old men are naught sin being a reproach to any people or persons whether they be old or young to see men stricken with age and over-run with covetousness when all the Limbs of their bodies grow old only covetousness grows young which makes them afraid sometimes to use what God hath cast in upon them and the less of the way they have yet to travel the more they are a coveting provision for the way or to see an old man over-run with pettishness frowardness crosness that no man can speak to him no more than to Nabal or to see the fruits of the old man old corruptions to remain in strength a man abiding in old age an old Swearer an old Drunkard an old Cheater an old Athiest contemning the Word or Ministry c. In brief when a man remains an old weather-beaten sinner though his age be continued to a hundred years it can never be a good old age unto him for a sinner of an hundred years old shall be accursed 3 Nor yet do I mean that old age is therefore good because only attended with Corporal or outward good things such as are Health and Strength though I deny not to be lively in old age and to injoy a good measure of them to be a great blessing when a man is able to say with Caleb who professed I am this day fourscore and five years old and yet I am as strong this day as in the days that Moses sent me as my strength was then even so is my strength now for war both to go out and to come in it is a great mercy but yet common with Christians and Pagans as with Masinissa in Tully Neither do I look upon old age as only good when attended with Riches and Honour though these make old age sometimes the more pleasant when Grace is present for the managing of them yea I acknowledge old age to be uncomfortable where a competency of Creature-comforts are wanting however if Grace be absent though Riches be present old age cannot be good 4 But old age is then good 1 When men are good in old age I do not look that any man is or can be good of himself for there is none good but God but men are then good when they are made good by the sanctifying Spirit of God or plainer thus Then old age is good when crowned with Grace the best of good things hear Solomons determination A gray head is a crown of glory if it be found in a way of righteousness When a man hath put off the Old Man and put on the New which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness when he hath the Image of God repaired in him which makes him renew his youth like the Eagle I shall not dispute the manner of it how the Eagle doth renew her youth whether it be by soaring aloft into the Element of Fire and there leaving her Feathers and casting her self speedily into the Sea whereby she grows young again yet there is this Morally in it when the Soul soars aloft to injoy communion with God who is as a consuming Fire out of Christ the Soul casts it self into the sea of Mercy into that Fountain opened for Sin and for uncleanness whereby it doth renew its Spiritual youth or whether it be by knocking off her beak the upper part of her bill by beating it against the Rock which Morally we may thus apply when the Soul findes corruption in it self it gets to the Rock Jesus Christ and there repenting and beleeving yea by the highest actings of Faith indeavouring to knock off its beak its inordinate desires to the World a Saint becomes clad with the Sun of Righteousness and presently the Moon is under his feet which makes him to use the world as though he used it not a renewed old man is as a renewed Eagle inabled to mount up in duties with wings as Eagles to run in the ways of Gods Commandements and yet is not weary of well-doing to walk and yet is not faint
in the days of thy youth remember to acquaint thy self with him and to make peace that so good may come unto thee in time of age get grace in youth and become obedient unto thy Parents which probably may prepare a way for thy Burial in a good old age 2 If Youth be elapsed or run out in vanity yet 1 Now presently repent repent of sins of Youth and set upon the ways of Holiness Paul had been in his youth a Persecutor injurious a Blasphemer yet after repentance what a foundation did hee lay of a good old age labouring more abundantly than others he had been zealous to draw others to Hell so now he was as forward to win others to Heaven for Augustine how vain vilde vicious sinful was his youth wallowing himself in all Licentiousness as his confessions speak where how doth he bewail himself yet after repentance what an useful Instrument was he in the Church of Christ many admire and that deservedly Chrysostoms golden Rollings Cyprians Martyr-like spirit running through all his Works but we may behold these nay more than these in Augustine after his repentance 2 Rest not till thou be implanted into Jesus Christ our ingrafting into him intitles us to dye in peace and to live not only long here but even to eternity hereafter as freeing us from Condemnation and ensuring us of admission into Heaven The Science ingrafted into the tree liveth as long as the tree and we ingrafted in Christ as long as Christ and that will be to eternity if our implantation qualifie us for eternity it cannot but qualifie us for the longest date of life here below 3 Live piously being implanted Piety not only hath the promises of this life but of that that is to come impiety cuts asunder the thread of our lives but Piety prolongs our days as Solomon witnesseth My Son let thine heart keep my Commandements for length of days and long life and peace shall they adde to thee 4 Live temperately lest thou diggest thy Grave with thine own teeth sobriety being the best natural means for the prolongation of life as is obvious to experience 3 If thou art a verging or inclining towards old age and art implanted into Christ. 1 Shew thy self to be a tree of Gods planting in all those fruits of the Spirit mentioned by the Apostle as God hath made thee good by Grace so be thou abundant in all gracious actings in all Christian duties Fruit-bearing trees are seldom cut down till they become fruitless 2 Let thy life be a life of Prayer and wrastling with God among other things that God would not cast thee off in the time of age nor forsake thee when thy strength faileth yea let thy life be a perpetual meditation of death and all the days of thy appointed time do thou wait upon God until thy change shall come 3 Get old Simeons light or his clear sight of Christ by faith when thou hast once obtained this thou wilt then be panting with him and crying Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace old Abraham was then happy when he saw the future day of Christ by the Prospective-glass of faith through the interval of two thousand years distance and no wonder that he rejoyced men go to Hell with their eyes shut but to Heaven with their eyes open 4 Wait then for old Pauls Crown if in sincerity thou art able to say The time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith thou maist then conclude henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give unto me at that day and to all that love his appearing if constantly thou perseverest and goest on in the ways of faith and love and holiness thou maist expect the accomplishment of this Promise unto thee to go to thy Fathers in peace and to be buried in a good old age if the Lord see it meet for thee A Short Narrative of the Life and Death OF JOHN LAMOTTE Esq JOhn Lamotte Esq sometimes Alderman of the City of London was born at Colchester in Essex May 1. 1577. his Father was Francis Lamotte Son of Baldwin Lamotte of Ypres in Flanders who in the time of the great Persecution in the Low Countries under Duke D' Alva was driven out of his Native Country and came together with his Wife Mary to shelter themselves and to enjoy the free profession of the true Religion for which they had abandoned all their Temporal very considerable goods and enjoyments under the protection of that famous Nursing-mother of Gods afflicted Children in those bloudy times Queen Elizabeth here in England in the fourth year of her Reign taking up their residence at Colchester where he lived many years in very good esteem and was very forward and industrious for the setting up and promoting of the great Manufacture there for the Publick good and God blessed him in the same and in a hopeful Issue untill he dyed in a good age at London Now as both these Parents had made Piety their greatest interest and the Freedome of Religion their best Purchase so they were ever exceeding sollicitous and diligent to season their Children and this their Son especially from the very Cradle with the fear and nurture of the Lord and that with such blessed success on him that having Piety instilled into him by their means and publick Ordinances through Gods Grace he never departed from it to his dying day but proved most exemplary therein through all the course and relations of his life so that even in his younger years he never was given to nor delighted with those vain and sinful Sports and Pastimes to which youth is ordinarily so prone to and so hard to be weaned from His Recreation was commonly to turn from one honest or pious employment unto another as from that of his Calling being brought up timely to Trade and Merchandize and in which he was always very careful and industrious to the reading of the Bible and other good Books Meditation and learning of Languages acquainting himself with several of the best Histories especially such as treated of the Persecutions and Deliverances of the Church of God and the Propagation of the Gospel all which he made in a manner his own such delight he took both in the perusal and rehearsal of the same on all occasions and yet omitting no publick opportunities whereby he might nourish communion with God at any time He would often bless God that according to his earnest prayers when he came first up to London hee had kept him from bad company and from all allurements and engaging occasions of haunting Taverns and the like places whereby so many hopeful young men come to be undone Being grown up to some greater maturity of years and Grace and acquaintance with God and beginning to Trade
himself by discourses but retired himself and unbosomed his heart and spread his condition before the Lord in prayer When but three weeks before his decease he was sore afflicted with extremity of head-ake and Colick that he began to find some impatience to seize on him he soon recollected and chekt himself saying How often and fervently have I besought the Lord that he would be pleased to fit and prepare mee for himself and his everlasting Kingdome and why then should I find fault and repine now when he thus really and effectually doth prepare me making mee by these very pains and torments loathe this wretched World so much the more and long for my happy change and dissolution and to be with my Redeemer and thus he continued for the most part even to his last hour which was July 13. 1655. in the seventy ninth year of his age looking death cheerfully in the face as of whom he was not afraid being implanted into Christ and thereby freed from the imbondaging fear of death alwaies almost speaking of the same and setting the remembrance of our latter end both before himself and others upon all occasions knowing there was no such effectuall means to make us apply our hearts to wisdome that is to say to the fear of God the only Antidote against all other fear And as in Troubles and Affliction hee shewed a great deal of filial submission and resignation to God so it was a comfort to all that conversed with him to see and observe his continuall thankfull remembrances of and chearfull rejoycing in Gods mercies and goodnesse both to the Church in generall and particular and to the Land and Nation wherein he lived as also to any of his dear friends and relations as well as to his own person loving both to hear and speak much of that Argument and ever and anon most feelingly exclaiming O what cause have wee to praise our good and mercifull God that yet preserveth yet affecteth yet delivers and favours us and passeth by and forgiveth our manifold infirmities transgressions and provocations aggravated with so much unthankfullness if yet we would love him and beleeve in him and yet walk in his fear obediently before him to our everlasting happinesse On Queen Elizabeths anniversarie Coronation day he would usually bid some friends and put them in mind of the great Mercy of God shewed to England on that day by quenching the fires in Smith field and continuing the Gospel ever since for so many years among us even beyond the number of years recorded in Scripture of an uninterrupted prosperous estate of the Church and then as also on his Birth-day and other joyfull occasions of friends meeting at his house he would often say he had desired their company to eat bread with him before the Lord as Jethro and Moses did in remembrance of such and such signal Mercies and Deliverances whereof his memory was a living Chronicle especially of those grand Deliverances both before and since the Reformation from under the great sufferings and bloody Persecutions in France and the low-Countries whereof he would often discourse in so punctuall and feeling a manner as if he had been an eye-witness yea a sharer in them taking many arguments thence of encouraging both himself and others to be still mindfull of them in bonds and miseries as being themselves in the body saying why their case might have been ours or may be yet who knows And instancing often in this particular with holy admiration and thankfullnesse that when his own Father for Religion sake being fain to flee for his life stood doubtfull whether like as many others did he should repair for shelter to the Palatinate and Frankendale or to England that yet God inclined his heart to chuse England for his place of refuge whereupon he would frequently inferre hee had great cause especially since their late sad condition in that place and Country in acknowledgement of that preserving mercie to have a fellow feeling of their Miseries wherein himself and his might have been involved together with them since God had not only kept and safeguarded him and his from the same but likewise abundantly blessed and protected him and them hitherto And therefore he was very mindfull to send relief to many of them from time to time Together with all these eminent graces God had likewise endued him with a large portion of Wisdome Judgement and Understanding in many things of moment and importance grounded on much experience observation and practise of his own for which he was deservedly much esteemed by men of no small place and account Hee brought still forth out of his Treasure old and new and knew so pertinently to produce compare and apply the same that it was great pleasure and no lesse profit and instruction to hear him The pious and indefatigable care and pains hee took in bringing up of his Children and governing his family in the fear and admonition of the Lord is hinted partly already His perpetual indeavour was to bring them into acquaintance and communion with God and to make them stand in filial awe and fear of him to read and meditate and take delight in the Word of God to be well grounded and setled in Religion and not shaken by every wind of Doctrin to avoid and flee all vain and idle courses companies and dalliances to be painfull carefull and diligent every one in his peculiar calling and imployment orderly and exact in all their affaires sober and frugal in the use of Gods good creatures full of bowels of compassion to the afflicted and distressed Members of Christ and to all that were in need and chearfully ready to communicate unto such loving and helpfull one to another obedient to all good orders submissive to the Magistrate respectfull to the Ministry Civil and upright towards all and watchful at all times to be in readiness when the Lord should call them hence to give an account of their Stewardship c. in all which he would say and exhort them to no more than himself continually endeavoured to practise before their eyes and that this his tender care towards them might yet extend beyond his life and he still speak to them and minde them of these sayings he left for them in writing by abundance of Letters to his nearest and dearest Relations from time to time especially in one of his last Papers written as it seems when he had set his House in order to be ready for the Lord a Copy whereof followeth after this Narrative such excellent instructions and admonitions as sheweth plainly as he took pains and care to leave them a comfortable Temporal estate so their Spiritual good estate was that he mainly wished their whole hearts possest of as his was for to enjoy communion with God and the abiding comfort thereof both in this life and that to come together with him A Letter of John Lamotte Esq to his Daughter and Grand-children written not long before
his death BEloved Daughter Dame Hester Honywood and beloved Grand-children Maurice Abbot and Elizabeth Thomas John Honywood I do wish you all the blessing and peace of God the Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ his dear Son our Saviour and Redeemer and that his fear and love may be so rooted and grounded in you that it may knit and bind your hearts together in love and amity as my heart has been to every one of you ever praying for you all that God of his mercy would bless you all and plant his fear in your hearts and unfeigned faith in Christ Jesus in your souls I desire that no strife nor envie nor grudging arise about the dividing of the Estate which the Lord of his mercy hath lent me for I setled the Land after Prayer by the best counsels and advice I could and my personal estate I have by Will after Prayer to the best of my skill in all good Conscience as equally drawn it as I could so I would after I am dead have you receive it from God with a thankful and contented mind and pray to the Lord to bless it to you and every one of you to his own posterity I having been by Trade a Merchant and what by Gods blessing I have advanced I have endeavoured and laboured to gain it honestly and to keep faith a good Conscience always ever acknowledging that these following Parties had a share in my estate as in all other mens The Common-wealth the Service of God the Ministers and the poor Members of Christ of whom as I have endeavoured to be careful so would I have every one of you to be zealous for the Service of God heartily affectionate to the poor members of Christ and to give with the releef a comfortable word when occasion permits John Lamotte Errataes marring the sense PAge 3. l. 10 r. peece p. 4. in the margin r. excindi p. 7. l. last but one r. him p. 10. l. 10 r. an p. 11. l. 36. r. mire p. 14. l. v 9 r. the heart p. 15. l. 30. r. thou p. 25. l. 34. r. our p. 19. l. 36. r. naught p. 27. l. 1. r. through Omissions p. 4. l. 1. r. or adversitively but c. p. 25. l. 33. r. like as a shock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 1.3 Eccles. 7.2 Ubi lugetur mortuus Mercer Psal. 90. Josh. 1.5 Heb. 13. Id quidem Joshuae dicitur subesse vero generalem consolationem piorum Apostolus hâ—c allegatione docet Paraeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zehneâ—i Simil. p. 18. Q. Pezel Pareus in loc Leo Judae Junius Pareus 2 Chro. 34.28 Caesus fuit Josias 31. anno Regni aetatis 39. quoties ei moriendum fuisset si diutius vivendo vidisset veram religionem everti filios Captivos abduci regnum exscendi Lavat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2.8 Psal. 189.136 Ezek. 9.4 â—ucholcer Chronol Gen. 19.28 Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Possidonius O Heidelberga Heidelberga In vita Parei Ex. 9.20 Plato Rev 14.13 (a) Gen. 25.7 Josh. 24.2 Dan. Heb. 9.27 Deut. 34.5 Joh. 8.52 2 King 13.2 Rom 5.12 Psal 89 49 1 Cor. 15 Rev. 20.6 Rom. 8.2 Joh. 3.36 Lev. 14.43 44 45 Gen. 28.17 1 King 2 6 2 Chro. 84.28 Rom. 5.1 Joh. 8. Gen. 25.8 Privilegium est privata lex Privarum seu singulare jus contra jus commune indultum Hostien Reginald praxis â—ori praenit vol. prioris p. 547. * Job 18.14 Es. 57.20 21 Es. 57.1 2 Luke 2. Scheibler Meâ—aph lib. 2. c. 1 â— 15. transendunt praedicamenta Communitate effendi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praesidio custodieâ— Beza Col. 3.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 14 2â— Es. 9.6 Rom. 5. â— Psal. 85.9 Prov. 16.7 Job 5.23 1 Joh. 3 Maul 118 12â— Joh. 16.7 8 Act. 16.30 31 Luke 11.12 Mar. 4.39 Psal. 85.9 Deut. 29.19 Es. 28.15.18 Heb. 10.22 1 Thes 5.23 Psal. 51 Luke 18.13 Heb. 9.14 Zech. 1â— Rom. 5.1 Gal. 6.16 Psal. 37 37 Prov 15.15 Es. 38 1 2 3 Acts 24.16 1 Cor. 15.31 Gal. 6.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 operuit terra humavit Psal. 79.2 Acts Mon. 2 Sam. 2.5 6 Eccles. 12.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 3.19 (a) Gen. 25.9 (b) Gen. 50. (c) Acts 8.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes. 4. Buxâ—orâ— Dan. 7.9 Numb 11 1â— Deut. 22 15 Levit. 19.22 Aelian Prov. 14.34 Quo minus restaâ— viae eo plus quaerunt viatici Cicero de senectute 1 Sam. 25.17 Es. 65.20 Josh. 14.10 11 Lib. de Senect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laert. Mat. 19.17 Prov. 16.31 Psal. 103.5 Zenor adag Rev. 12.1 Es. 40.31 2 King 5.14 2 Pet. 1.4 Eccles. 6.3.6 Psal 91. Gal. 5.22 Psal. 92.13 â—â— 15. 1 Chro. 29.14 Gal. 6.10 Prov. 3.9 Prov. 3.5 Acts 21.16 Rom. 16.7 Tit. 2. â— Euseb. l. 4. c. 15. Psal. 35.25 Gen 48.15 16. Phil. 2. 2 Pet. 1.10 Joh. 9.4 Joh. 17. 2 Tim. 4. 1 Pet. 1.14 Mat. 27.60 2 Sam. 19.25.37 De morte magis quam de delitiis aulieis eogitat Lavater Luke 2 2â—.37 Erasmus de contemp mundi Job 5.26 Rev. 22.20 Luke 21.28 1 Thes. 4. Joh. 6.66.68 Es. 22.4 Jer. 9.1 Josh. 24. Prov. 22.6 Eccles 12. Exod. 20.12 1 Tim. 1 15 1 Cor. 5.10 Rom. 8.1 Prov. 3.1.2 Gal. 5.22 Psal. 71.5 6.17 18 Job 14.14 Luk. 2.26 Joh. â— 56 Acts 7.55 2 Tim. 4 8.9