the Shadows of the Evening are every Minute drawing nearer and nearer to you Jer. 6.4 That which I would urge upon you is that you would so order your Course now in the time of your Youth and Manhood as that when old Age shall come it may be to you a good old Age both living and dying Indeed 't is very uncertain whether you shall ever arrive at it as I shall shew by and by but possibly it may please God to continue you here so long Oh! let it be your great Care and Endeavour to provide now if it shall be so that it may prove an happy and blessed Age to you How is this to be effected Why Eccles 12.1 Remember your Creator in the days of your Youth close with God betimes make an early Dedication of your selves to God let him have the First-Fruits of one Time now engage in serious and universal Piety fill up your greener Age with Grace and Holiness Thus do and then 't will be a good old Age in the winding up of all The way to end well is to begin well and so to hold on in what is good If the Youth and Manhood have been vain and sinful it cannot well be expected that the old Age will be holy and comfortable what God may do in the Soveraignty of his Grace who converts when he pleases I do not meddle with I only speak of what may probably and rationally be expected The Fruits which do not set well in Spring seldom come to any good Maturity in Autumn so 't is here Besides the Disingenuity of putting off Vertue and Goodness to your old Age Non tantùm minimum in imo sed pessimum remanet Sen. for what is that but in effect to say that your worst is good enough for God that Sin and the World shall have your Flower and God have only your Bran that they shall have the first Broachings of the Vessel and God only the Dregs and Lees I say besides the disingenuousness of this towards God 't is a thing that will prove highly injurious and fatal to your selves For if you be not good at the finsh twill be hard for you to be so at the last Oh! let God and Godliness have all your Time make him the Alpha and the Omega of your Days let the whole Web of Life be spun with even Thread wallo in an uniform Courso of Obedience let it be good Youth good Manhood good old Age all good This is a 〈…〉 of must not expatiate upon it I go on to a Second Observation None live solong but at lust they die Abraham here had lived 75 Years a great Age but then he died The longest Day will have its Night There will be the setting of the Sun as well as the rising of it tho sometimes 't is very late before it sets There 's none continue so long upon the Stage but they go off at last The Glass that has but the ordinary Proportion of Sand in it is soon run out suppose there should be another with a far greater Proportion yet even that too by continual running at last would be empty So some Mens Time is soon run out there 's a speedy Period put to their Lives Others hold out and hold up a longer time but yet they too fall and die at last The Ante-Diluvian Fathers lived very long yet they died of every one of them Enoch only excepted it 's said And he died Gen. 5.5 c. Not to enlarge upon a Point so plain and indubitable let me subjoyn but a word of Advice 1. To the Old Vse How does it concern such always to be expecting and prepared for Death This should be done by the Young but much more by the Aged because of their more uncertain State as to Life Oh how near are old Age and Death to each other there 's but a small distance betwixt the hoary Head and the slimy Grave that which David said of himself there is but a step between me and Death 1 Sam. 20.3 every old Man may apply to himself The Young may die the Old must die Death lies in Ambush for the Young but it openly shews it self to the Ancient Senibus in Januis Adolescentibus in insidiis Bern. There 's but a little Sand left in their Glass but a little Oil to keep their Lamps burning their Lease is now almost expired and what follows but a Writ of Ejectment It 's Folly in any to dream of long Life but this would be prodigious Folly in you to whom the Residue of Life is so small And yet the Orator tells us Nemo est tam senex qui se annum non putet posse vivere There 's none so old but he thinks he may live one Year longer It being thus how should you live in a constant Expectation of Death how should you be always ready and prepared for it What! after you have had so long a Space to prepare for your Change yet to be unprepared what to be neither fit to live nor fit to dy not fit for work because your Strength is gone nor fit for Wages because not ripe for Heaven what a dismal Case is this Oh therefore be always ready that when you come to dy you may have nothing to do but just to dy and to go to God 2. Does this Counsel concern the Aged only no it reaches to others also For do not the Young die as well as the Old Verily every Man at his best State is altogether Vanity Psal 39.5 One dieth in his full Strength being wholly at ease and quiet Job 21.23 There are in the Grave the Skulls and Bones of Infants Youths strong Men as well as of the Aged The old Asse often carries the Skin of the young one to the Market according to the Jewish Proverb * Quis est tam stultus quamvis sit Adolescens cui sit exploratum se ad vesperam esse victurum Cic. de Sen. Who can assure himself be he never so young that he shall live a Day much less that he shall live to old Age What is Life more in the Young than in the Old 't is but a Breath in both and that God can stop as soon in the one as in the other Omnes eodem cogimur we are all going the same Way and must all tread in the same Common-Path Death puts no Difference betwixt the Weak and the Strong The new-built House sometimes falls when the old one stands Wherefore it lies upon you that are young to look and prepare for Death as well as upon the Eldest Oh that you would be wise to consider your latter End Deut. 32.29 Psal 90.12 that you would so number your Days as to apply your Hearts to Wisdome Do not procrastinate and delay what you have to do presuming upon living long and old Age which is the highest Folly and the most groundless Imagination But to day whilest it is
Ministry in Publick and in Private about forty Years as that it will be superfluous for me to say much about it In short therefore he was an excellent Minister of Christ who if he be not to be rank'd amongst the first three 2 Sam. 23.23 the most famous and eminent of our Preachers in England yet he may well be look'd upon as more honourable than the Thirty His Ministerial Abilities were very considerable He was another Apollos an eloquent Man and mighty in the Scriptures a Scribe instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven in whom the Word of God dwelt richly out of which Treasure he ever brought things new and old He was as Scriptural Preacher had a singular Happiness in citing of Texts pertinent to the Matter he was upon and then in the opening and applying of them And as his Preaching was solid and judicious so it was acute too fill'd up with quick and nimble Invention He would sharpen plain practical Doctrines with considerable mixtures of Ingenuity and Fancy His great design in his Ministry was not to perplex his Hearers but to edify them not to fill them with quaint Notions and Speculations but with serious and important Truths not to please their Ears but to better their Hearts and awaken their Consciences not to advance his own Reputation but the eternal Salvation of them who heard him So long as God spared him Strength none more constant and frequent in Preaching than he and when God laid him aside that he could preach no more what an Affliction was that to him And his Frequency in it did not lessen his Pains in due preparing for it his Sermons were well weighed and studied he not daring to offer to the Lord that which cost him nothing What a great Man he was in Prayer all they can testify who ever joyned with him therein Indeed God had endowed him with an admirable Gift as to this I firmly hope it was something more than a bare Gift He was severely Orthodox sound in the Faith to a degree of Rigor a thorough pac'd Calvinist a firm Adherer to and Assertor of the Doctrine of our Church though he differed as to some Rites and Ceremonies imposed in it And herein he stood stedfast and unmovable to his last Breath God blessed his Labours where-ever he came with considerable Success In all Places whither the Providence of God carried him he had the Seals of his Ministry in the Conversion of many Souls There are many now in Heaven many yet remaining here on Earth who with Comfort can call him their Spiritual Father He has not published much of his Labours but what he has * His Pisgah Corrections Instructions Sermons upon particular Occasions published shows him to be an able Practical Divine 4. I come to the fourth and last thing to consider him in his Relative Capacity In which he was as praise-worthy and does as much deserve Imitation as in any of the foregoing Considerations of him God blest him with a pious and prudent Consort I must say no more of her because she is yet living And what an high degree of Love was there betwixt them Indeed they may be Patterns and Examples of Conjugal Affection and Concord to all who knew them They lived together near 45 Years and how often have I heard him say In all that time there had been no Contention betwixt them except in this who should love one another most He had no Children of his own but his Wives Children he was as tender over and as affectionate unto as if they had been his own His Love to them and Care of them was scarce to be parallell'd sure not to be exceeded And how he pray'd for them instructed them us'd all means for their Spiritual Good I hope they will never forget He had other Relations of his own some of which by Providence were cast upon him for his Care and Relief And he was a Father to them at once caring for their Bodies and Souls too And as to his whole Family he was ever careful of the Souls of all that came under his Roof in instructing them in the Principles of Religion in helping them to understand the Scriptures which were read in his Family Morning and Evening And his Method was to cause every Child and Servant to remember something that had been read which he would then in a plain and familiar way open to them and so proceed to Prayer He had many Servants who lived with him that bless God that ever they came into his House I have parallell'd him with Abraham in his Death I might with a salvâ distantiâ also parallel him with Abraham in his Life as they died alike so they lived alike I 'll go no further than the thing last mentioned Abraham is famous for his Zeal about his Family God himself has put an high Character upon him for this Gen. 18.19 For I know him that he will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do Justice and Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him And just thus it was with our Reverend Father allowing the Disparity betwixt Person and Person Well I have shewn you what a Man he was who died in a good old Age an old Man full of Years and is now gathered to his People Nothing now remains but a word of Exhortation 1. To Christians to you who move in a private Orb. Many things might be suggested to you upon the death of this aged and faithful Servant of God but I shall commend this only to you Prize good Ministers while you have them and be afflicted when you lose them How many Mercies do you deprive your selves of by your undervaluing them And particularly how many good Ministers are removed from you because you do not put such a value upon them as you ought When God takes them away then you see the worth of them but not till then Did not some of you sit under the Minstry of him who is now dead and gone Pray was his Person Ministry Labours prized and estimated according to what they deserved True he lived to a great Age but I fear the Lives of many others are shortened by that slighting of them which they meet with from their People Wherefore I beseech you to know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them highly in Love for their Work 's sake And further so prize them as to improve them so as to thrive and profit by them Do the Prophets live for ever your faithful Guides and Teachers do they not die Now you have them in a few days they are taken from you does it not then concern you to make the best of their Labours whilst you partake of them How many Ministers have you worn out and spent and are you not at all the better for them The better the Minister is under whom you are placed the worser it will be with you if you be barren and unprofitable under him And then Be afflicted for bewail and lament the loss of good Ministers Indeed this is a great loss whether ye consider the Benefits ye percieve by them or the Evils that this does presage and boad and therefore should it not be laid to Heart Indeed as to our deceased Brother his great Age and Circumstances being considered you have more reason to rejoyce for that he lived so long than to mourn that he died at last Ah! but how many eminent Instruments are cut off when they are young in their * Mr. Charnock Mr. Stockton c. best State or when they are but just †As lately that useful Minister and faithful Servant of God Mr. Richard Fairclough entred upon a considerable Age Oh when such die with what grief of Soul should that be resented by all serious Christians 2. To Ministers My Brethren you see how your number is lessened day by day the ancient Oaks and Cedars are almost all cut down and what is the Duty now of you who survive Surely to double and treble your Diligence in your Lord's Work the fewer Hands are left the more laborious those must be that are left when other Pillars are removed the more Weight does lie upon those which stand the fewer there are to preach the everlasting Gospel the more industrious they must be in this who are yet spared The Antient die where are the Young Ones to succeed them to stand in their stead and to fill up the Vacancies made by their Death Blessed be God for it some such there are and they too Persons of excellent Accomplishments for the Work of the Ministry God increase their Number and double the Spirit of his old Elijah's upon them that still there may be a Succession of faithful Labourers in the Lord's Harvest 3. To Relations the near and dear Relations of the Deceased What shall I say to you shall I press Patience and Submission upon you under this loss Certainly his Condition being considered even his nearest Relation though she has the greatest share in it needs no Excitation to Patience Had he been taken away when he was in the Prime of his Days then the Affliction would have been very great then all Motives to quiet Submission to God's Will had been little enough but when it was otherwise I hope there 's not the least rising of Impatience in you Your Duty is Thankfulness and Imitation Thankfulness that ever you had him and that you enjoyed him so long Imitation so as to tread in his Steps and to write after that excellent Copy that he has set you And you that are Young pray remember the Tears he shed for you the holy Counsel and Admonition he gave you that great Love that he expressed to you and let all prevail with you to love God the People of God and to engage with your whole Heart in serious and universal Godliness And then if you be Followers of him as he is gathered to his People to his God and Saviour so whenever your Dying time shall come as God alone knows how soon it will come you shall be made Partakers with him of the fame Felicity FINIS
Abraham's Death THE MANNER TIME and CONSEQUENT of it Opened and Applied IN A FUNERAL SERMON Preached upon the Death Of the Reverend Mr. THOMAS CASE Minister of the Gospel June 14th 1682. With a Narrative of his LIFE and DEATH By THOMAS JACOMB D. D. LONDON Printed for Brabrazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1682. To Mrs. Anne Case Wife to the Reverend Mr. THOMAS CASE Minister of the Gospel lately deceased Much Honoured Friend IT was the reiterated Request of your Dear Husband and my worthy Friend that I would perform the last Office of Respect to him in the preaching of his Funeral Sermon when-ever it should please God to take him hence And this Request of him whilst living your self was pleased to back after his Death I have again and again publickly testified my Averseness from engaging in Services of this Nature and possibly as to engaging in this there were some special Reasons and Considerations to heighten my Averseness Yet considering how I was pressed to it by the Desires both of the Dead and of the Living I thought I should be disingenuous and defective in the Obligations of Friendship if I did not comply with them which therefore accordingly I did Having discharg'd the Preaching Part you further desired me to publish what I had preached To gratify you in that I was the more inclinable because I had left things in the Sermon so imperfect and unfinish'd for I had not time to go through a considerable part of what I had to say both upon the Text and also upon the Occasion The Truth is while I graspt at too much I did nothing to purpose and therefore was willing to do what you desired that I might have an Opportunity of filling up what then was wanting I am very sensible what a Captious and Litigious Age we live in how Divisions and Animosities do abound amongst us how hard a matter it is for One to commend One of his Party especially if he be of any considerable Eminency therein but some or other of a differing Party will be finding fault and picking out something to be the matter and ground of severe Censures If this shall be my lot I must submit but I have done whatever I could to prevent it For I have so commended the Person discoursed of as not in the least to reflect upon any others of a different Perswasion And as to the commanding of him too I have not done is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but all along to the best of my Knowledg 〈◊〉 haâ—â— kept with in the strict Bounds of Truth and Justice Yea to avoid Partiality and Flattery the too common Attendants of Funeral Sermons I have with all due Modesty taken notice of his Infirmities as well as of his Excellencies If all this will not 〈…〉 I hope I shall bear them with Patience if not with Contempt How many Funeral Sermons did your dear Husband live to preach for others here is now one preached for himself and God knows how soon some may do that for me which I have now done for him We live in a fluid State and have no Abiding hare No sooner had I dispatch'd what I had to do upon the Death of this Friend but God threatens me with the Death of Another a most Eminent Person of another Profession Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity The Lord bless you and yours and grant you all to reap the Benefit of those many many fervent Prayers which he who is gone sent up to the Throne of Grace daily for you All that I shall further say it but to assure you that now you are deprived of the Prayers of the Dead you shall ever have the hearty Prayers of him who whilst he lives shall be ready upon all occasions to shew himself Your Servant and Friend in Christ Tho. Jacomb July 21 1682. Abraham's Death GEN. 25.8 Then Abraham gave up the Ghost and died in a good old Age an old Man and full of Years and was gathered to his People THE Words give us a brief Historical Account of the Death of the Patriarch Abraham A large Description we have of his Genealogy Birth and Life from the close of the 11th Chapter to the beginning of this 25th Chapter But as to his Age Death and Burial the History of them is contracted within the short Bounds of three Verses here the 7th 8th and 9th Verses 'T is the Death only of Abraham that I shall discourse of Concerning which here 's as much said in a little as could well be expected or desired upon such an Argument The Occasion of our present assembling is That we may pay our last Respects to the Reverend and Worthy Mr. Thomas Case Minister of the Gospel lately deceased With whom the Text does so well suit as that mutato Nomine we may read it thus Then CASE gave up the Ghost and died in a good old Age an old Man and full of Years and was gathered to his People In the managing of the Work in hand I will first speak to the Instance here mentioned and to the Matter asserted of him and then bring that down to our precious Friend upon whose account we are come together this Day As to the first observe 1. The Person spoken of ABRAHAM 2. What is spoken of him here he Died. 3. The Amplifications about his Death 1. From the Manner of it He gave up the Ghost 2. From the Time of it In a good old Age an Old Man and full of Years 3. From the Consequent of it And was gathered to his People 'T is the Third Head that I design to stay upon the Two First I 'll put together and briefly dismiss Then ABRAHAM Died. This Abraham was a great Man a great Saint who in the whole Catalogue of Saints bears a greater Name than He He was a Prophet Gen. 20.7 the Friend of God Jam. 2.23 The Father of the Faithful Rom. 4.16 One who was and for ever will be renown'd for those two unparallell'd Acts of Obedience and Love to God his forsaking of his own Country and his readiness to offer up his dear and only Son Well! what became of this eminent Person Surely his extraordinary Grace and Holiness that high Rank of Faith and Obedience wherein he stood exempted him from that Death which we poor Striplings are exposed unto No 't was not so he Died went the way of all Flesh under-went the Stroke of Death just as we do Saints themselves the highest and choicest of them Observ the Servants of God they who are most eminently useful and faithful even They are subject to Dying as well as others 'T would be tedious and unnecessary in so plain a Case to heap up parallel Instances That great Servant of God Moses he died that great Prophet Samuel Deut. 34.5 1 Sam. 25.1 Zech. 1.5 he died all the Prophets of the Old Testament all the Apostles of the New all died as we have
Years but in regard of the great Progress he had made in Faith and Holiness A more satisfactory Answer is this That Abraham's Age absolutely considered especially at that Time wherein he lived when God shortened the Lives of Men very much was a good old Age although it was not so if taken comparatively with those that lived before him And in a comparative Notion too it was so Auctor Cat. in Lipem if we compare it with the Age of them who did succeed him 'T is true Isaac lived some-what longer than he for his days were an 180 Years Gen. 35.28 But as to the rest of his Issue and as to the Body of succeeding Mankind few if any ever did attain to his Age. The Days of our Years are threescore Years and ten Psal 90.10 and not one of a thousand now live to this Abraham much exceeded this Proportion and so it may be well affirmed of him that he died in a good old Age an old Man full of Years From this Head I 'll raise three Observations 1. That to live to and to die in a good old Age Observ 1. is a great Blessing It may be said to be a good old Age either Upon a Natural and Physical or a Moral and Spiritual Account According to the first Consideration 't is either a great and long Age or a strong and healthful Age either sera or sana Senectus 1. A great and long Age Namely when a Man's Days and Years are many when the Number of them rises very high when he has full measure of them measure press'd down and running over Some divide Old Age into three Periods according to which they distinguish it into First Second and Last the First they make to commence from the 60th Year of Man the Second from his 70th and the Last from his 80th 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 V. Drusâ—an loc Now when a Man's Life is prolong'd not only to the First and Second but also to the Third of these Stages surely his is a good old Age. Now this is a great Blessing So the Scripture represents a long Life and a late Death God himself makes use of it as a Motive to Obedience the Apostle turns it into a Promise Eph. 6.2 Honour thy Father c. that thy days may be long upon the Land which the Lord thy God giveth thee Exod. 20.12 It s Promised Thou shalt come to thy Grave in a full Age like as a Shock of Corn cometh in in his Season Job 5.26 The number of thy days I will fulfil Exod. 23.26 You see this good old Age is promised as a Mercy The opposite to it is threatened as a Punishment So in the Case of Eli and his Posterity 1 Sam. 2.31 Behold the days come that I will cut off thine Arm and the Arm of thy Father's House that there shall not be an old Man in thine House Psal 55.23 Bloody and deceitful Men shall not live out half their days Job 15.32 33. It shall be accomplished before his time and his Branch shall not be green He shall shake off his unripe Grape as the Vine and cast off his Flower as the Olive David therefore deprecates this O my God take me not away in the midst of my days Psal 102.24 It 's observable when God would set forth the glorious State of the Church in the latter days he doth it by this Allusion Isa 65.20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days nor an old Man that hath not filled his days for the Child shall die an hundred Years old but the Sinner being an hundred Years old shall be accursed To prove it to be a Mercy it appears to be so 1. In regard of Others 2. With respect to the Aged themselves 1. In regard of Others It 's a great Mercy to be serviceable and instrumental in the promoting of the Good of Others 't is that which we are all born for have all our Graces and Gifts for that which all stand obliged unto by many Bonds that which is the highest Expression of true Love and Charity that which will much conduce to the securing and heightning of our own Future Happiness This Life now being the only time for this Service must it not be a great Mercy if God will lengthen it out and spare a Person to a good old Age In this respect and upon this account the Life of Christians here is preferable before the glorified Life of the Saints in Heaven inasmuch as here they may be serviceable to others which there they cannot be Oh the longer thy Life is continued the more Good thou mayst do the more thou mayst bring in to God the more thou mayst instruct exhort comfort and the like and is not this Mercy He that goes not to bed till nine or ten at night may certainly do more Work than one who enters upon his Repose early in the Morning or at Mid-day And besides this Old Age does both qualify Persons for Service and also make their Service most successful 'T is to be presum'd that the Aged have a greater Stock of * Mens Ratio Consilium in Senibus est Temeritas est slorentis Aetatis Prudentia Senectutis Tull. de Sen. Wisdom Experience than the Younger and so are more able to advise convince reprove and every way to further the Good of others And then upon that Reverence and Veneration which all but profligate Persons have for these what they say and do comes with great †Apex Senectutis Authoritas Tull. de Sen. Authority That Admonition Counsel and Reproof which is slighted as it comes from the Young is received with awe when it comes from the Aged An eminent ‖ Mr. Gattaker Abraham's Decease â— 282. Divine treating of this Subject cites this Speech of one A few gray Hairs may be of more worth than many Locks and a few gray Beards do more than many green Heads Old Age where 't is not decrepit and superannuated is not the unuseful and unserviceable part of Man's Life as to others but quite the contrary 2. With respect to the Aged themselves The longer they are continued here the more time they have to set their House in order to prepare for their everlasting State Isa 38.1 Phil. 2.12 1 Tim. 6.19 to work out their Salvation to lay a good Foundation for Eternal Life to get clear Evidences for Heaven The longer the Fruit hangs upon the Tree the riper it grows 't would be sad if they who live long should not be full ripe for Glory when they die Upon this twofold Consideration it s a great Blessing to live to a good old Age. 2. Let 's consider it as it speaks a strong and healthful old Age. Abraham dyed in a * i. e. Prospetâ valetudine haouit faciâ—em Senectam P Martyr Vid. Oleast Piscat Semectute bona i. e. quae aliena a â—â—dlis incommodis Senectutis Vatabl. good old Age though he
was old yet he was hail vegete and vigorous not bowed down with those Infirmities that usually attend old Age. Some are Old when Young others Young when Old their Senses Parts are as vivid and fresh as ever We have two famous Instances of this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Holy Writ That of Moses Deut. 34.7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty Years old when he died his Eye was not dim nor his natural Force abated And that of Caleb Josh 14.10 11. And now behold the Lord hath kept me alive and he said these fourty and five Years even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses while the Children of Israel wandered in the Wilderness and now lo I am this day fourscore and five Years old As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day 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 Profane †Val Max. l. 8. c. 13 Cie de Sen. Diusius says of himself Col Senectus melior quam ipsa Juventus History abounds in variety of Examples of it but I 'll make no Citation of them Now that this is a great Blessing needs no Proof To be full of Years and yet free from the Diseases Pains Weaknesses which are the common Retinue of old Age it admits not of the least Doubt but that this is an eminent Mercy Some bring the fore-cited Promise Job 5.26 unto this Mr. Caryl 〈…〉 Thou shalt come to thy Grave in a full Age i. e. full of Strength and Health thine old Age shall not be a troublesome Age thou shalt not be weak and crazy distempered and sick a Burthen to thy Self and Friends but shalt die in a lusty old Age It 's promised us as a Mercy you see and it must be own'd to be so This for the Natural and Physical Notion of a good old Age But then 2. There is the Moral and Spiritual Notion of it And so it may be said to be good either in respect of Grace or of Peace and Comfort when 't is a vertuous religious pious old Age or a peaceable and comfortable old Age the Soul having the Peace of God and Divine Joy in it this is truly * Tenen dum est praecipuam partem bonae senectutis in bonâ conscâ—entiâ animo sereno tranquillo consistere Vnde soquitur nonnisi in verâ—s justâ—â—ia cultores competere quod Deus Abrahae promitit Calv. eminently a good old Age and that which is peculiar to Good Men. In both respects Abraham's old Age was good First as it succeeded an holy and well-spent Life and then as it self was filled up with ‖ Discedens in Cratia Lyra. Grace and Holiness for according to the Promise Psal 92.14 He brought forth Fruit in his old Age. And Secondly †Expirare mori in Senectute bonâ est placide mori excessiâ— dâ—lcissimo hanc vitam finire River as in it he enjoyed much inward Serenity of Mind and Peace of Conscience This he had this he died with so he died in a good old Age. If we state it thus Does it not carry much Mercy in it In a full Age when Death is making its near Approaches for any then to be able to reflect upon a good and gracious Life to appeal to God as Hezekiah did Isa 38.3 Remember now O Lord 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 Lord I have not lived a vain and wicked Life thou knowest I have not spent my best Age in Folly and Vanity all my days I have endeavoured to live in thy Fear it has been my great Design all along to glorify thee in my Conversation to do Good to Men to serve my Generation And now I am old yet still I keep my Integrity still I love thee and fear to sin against thee still to the utmost of my Strength I am for Prayer Meditation hearing the Word all Religious Exercises Oh good and blessed old Age Is not the end of this Man Peace Conscientia benè acta vita multorumque bene factorum recordatio jucâ—â—dissima est Tull. de Sen. does he not leave the World and go off the Stage full of Comfort as well as full of Days Does he not now find the sweet of his Sincerity past and present To die in such an old Age is Mercy indeed Long Life and old Age simply and abstractly considered are not so great a Blessing as to make a Person blessed For the Sinner of an hundred Years old shall be accursed Isa 65.20 Take them thus they do but aggravate Men's Guilt here and Condemnation hereafter Ah but when they are attended with serious Piety and Goodness then there is a great Blessedness in them and a greater Resulting from them As the Wise Man states it as to the Honour of old Age An hoary Head is a Crown of Glory if it be found in the way of Righteousness Prov. 16.31 So we must state it as to the thing in hand Long Life Old Age is a Mercy if it be found in the way of Righteousness if not what ever it may be in it self as consider'd Absolutely to the Person Eventually it will have more of Judgment than of Mercy in it VSE Let me a little apply this Point 1. To the Aged Have any here liv'd to this good old Age You can number 70 80 some may be more Years you have had a long Lease of Life and 't is not yet expired Pray look upon this as a great Blessing and own it to be so Let it not be burdensome to you be not querulous and impatient under it but thankful blessing God that he has spared you so long Old Age all desire all would live long and yet the most when they have it Senectutâ—m â—t adipiscantur omnes optant candem accufant adepti Cic. de Sen. ure discontented and disturb'd at it this is not ingenuous let it not be so therefore with you You are apt to judg of it by the outward Inconveniences and Hardships that attend it and these render it afflictive to you Whereas you should judg rather by this Oh what a large space of Time have I had for the honouring of God doing good to Men and saving my own Soul Oh when thousands and thousands about me have been cut off in the first blossomings of their Age or as soon as they were grown up to Maturity and so hurried into their Everlasting Estate I am yet spared to make further and better Preparation for Eternity I say would you but judg by such Considerations as these they would prevent Impatience and promote Thankfulness in you to God for lengthening out your Lives so long It was the Saying of one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he whom God loves Men and. in Plutarch dies when he is young I
cannot assent to this Assertion without some stating and qualifying of it 'T is true when God is bringing great Evils upon a Family or a Kingdom then to be taken away young in order to being preserved from such Evils does carry the Love and Mercy of God in it as we see in the Instance of Jeroboam's Son 1 Kings 14.12 13. and of good Josiah 2 Kings 22.20 But to make this Proposition general and universal that we have no ground for He that promises long Life as a Mercy must be look'd upon as loving the Persons to whom he vouchsafes it That which makes old Age to be so generally burdensome and which causes Inquietude of Mind in Persons under it is the muny Afflictive Evils that accompany it Within there 's a sad Decay in the several Faculties of the Soul the Vnderstanding darkened the Reason clouded the Memory blunted the Affections dead and flat Without there are various Infirmities in the Body the Eyes dim the Ears deaf the Feet lame the Joynts benum'd the Hands tremble the Bones full of Aches the whole Body a Mass of Diseases what an Accumulation of Evils is here Hence old Age is commonly called Aetas mala the evil Age And Solomon speaks of it as such Eccles 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy Youth while the evil days come not nor the Years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them He first in general calls it the evil Days and then particularly in the following Verses he most elegantly sets it forth in the Decay of the several Parts of the Body O quam continuis quantis plena Senectus Longa malis Juv. Multa senem circumveniunt incommoda Hor. Now can any be patient under the Conflux of such Evils much more can any be thankful to God for extending their Lives to an Age which exposes them to such Discomforts Answ They may and they ought to be so You that feel all these reflect upon what is past How many Years did you live in Health and Strength how long was it before it was thus bad with you And should not the weighing of past Mercy quiet you under present Afflictions When all the Day has been fair can you not bear a showre at the Evening When your Way has been good in your whole Journy can you not submit to a little spot of bad Way when you are just at the end of your Journey This calls for Patience and Thankfulness from you And besides you are to consider the present Good as well as the present Evils that attend your old Age. Ye are not yet wholly unserviceable something yet you can do for the Good of others and for the saving of your own Souls All these Calamities do but set you nearer to Heaven every Wave drives your nearer to the Shore every Wind is but for the throwing down of the Earthly Tabernacle 2 Cor. 5.1 that you may ascend to that House that Building of God which is eternal in the Heavens So that upon a spiritual account you have no reason to be impatient or to find fault with your old Age but to carry it like that * Georgias Leontinus in Val. Max. l. 8. c. 13. Aged Person that we read of who being an 107 Years old and being asked Why he would be willing to live so long answered Quia nihil habeo propter quod Senectutem meam accusem I undergo nothing for which I have cause to blame my old Age. Do but you consider the whole matter and you 'll have more reason to say the same Tull. de Sen. The Orator objects Four Evils in old Age 1. It disables for Business and Work 2. It renders the Body infirm and sickly 3. It deprives of all Pleasures 4. It brings near to Death The Vanity and Weakness of all these Imputations upon old Age he particularly makes out with great clearness and strength of Reason When Heathens have such sound Notions of this shall we Christians entertain false Notions of it Oh where God has blessed any of you with it do not murmur at it and give way to Discontent but heartily bless him for it 2. Is it a good old Age not only for the length of it but also for the Strength and Healthfulness of it where 't is so surely there must be great Thankfulness To live so long and yet to be strong and vigorous free from those Infirmities of Age that have been instanced in Nature yet keeps up its youthful Vigor there 's nothing in the Senses Organs Limbs Faculties of the Mind to shew that old Age is upon Persons nothing but only the hoary Head Oh what Mercy is this Whether we consider the Paucity of them that have it or the Advantage resulting from it for Service This is very good not only because it 's delightful and comfortable to him who has it but because it renders him serviceable to God and Man Alas the old decrepit decay'd Man here lives and that 's all his time of Service is over in a great measure he 's laid by like the Ship that 's worn out unfit to go to Sea any more Ah! but he that is old and yet hail and lusty that retains his former Vivacity of Body and Soul he 's as fit for Service as ever as useful in his Station as ever a wonderful Mercy What would some zealous Christians give for it If you have it I beseech you prize it improve it and be very thankful for it 3. But thirdly Is it a good old Age in the moral Notion of it Here is the highest Obligation to Praise and Thankfulness Can you take a view of your selves in the former Stages of your Lives that in all of them you have feared God and walk'd with him that all along you have been good and done Good that Holiness and Obedience have run through your whole Conversation And that now in the last Period of your Days yet you hold on in the good ways of God yet you are acting Grace yet bringing forth Fruit unto Holiness Rom. 6 2â— Rev. 3.2 yet your Works are good nay your last Works are your best better filled up than formerly Oh where 't is thus with any of you rejoyce rejoyce call upon your Souls and all within you to bless God for his rich Grace displaid towards you Here 's good old Age indeed Oh that thee was more of it in the World Well here 's living to and in a good old Age 't will not be long before it will be dying in this good old Age And how safe how sweet will that Dying be unto you whenever it shall come so much to the Aged 2. Something I would say to the Young Psal 39.5 Job 21.24 To you who are in your best State in the prime of your Days whose Bones are full of Marrow and whose Candle burns very bright Old Age has not as yet seiz'd upon you but you are hastening to it
another shall be opened He was therefore called to preach as Lecturer at Alderman-bury and at St. Giles Cripplegate In which Congregations he continued preaching Christ and the Gospel till he was sent Prisoner to the Tower where he was confined about six Months The Grounds of this Imprisonment wherein several others of Name and Worth were Companions with him to Two of which it ended in more than bare Imprisonment in Death it self I say the Grounds of this are well known to all that know any thing of the Transactions of the late Times We then thought they suffered for their Loyalty and Fidelity to their Soveraign if the present unkind Age have other Notions of it we must submit After his Release he was invited to be Lecturer at St. Giles in the Fields Mr. Moline then Rector there dying he was chose in his Stead And so continued till upon his Majesty's Restauration the ancient Incumbent was readmitted In the Year 1660 he was one of the Ministers deputed by his Brethren in this City to wait upon his Majesty at the Hague to congratulate his Restauration With respect to which I may confidently say as none in his Sphere did more cordially endeavour to promote it before it was accomplished so none did more cordially rejoice in it when it was accomplish'd When that black and fatal Day Aug. 24. 1662. came he fared as the rest of his Brethren did who were not satified to conform Here his Ministry in Publick was at an end yet as God gave Opportunity he ceased not in Private to be doing all the good he could And in this Diligence he held on till the Infirmities of his great Age wholly disabled him for any further Ministerial Work One remarkable Passage of his Life must not be omitted I hope the Recital of bare Matter of Fact will give no Offence He was a Member of that Assembly which in the Year 1643 was called by the Parliament as then sitting to advise in Matters of Religion And I think he liv'd to survive all of that Body one only excepted I have gone over the several Turns and Motions of his Life and led you from one Stage to another of it 't is the last only that remains yet to be spoken unto It pleased God the great Arbiter vitae necis to lengthen out his Life to a very old Age He lived to * Tully's Age. Quartum annum ago octogesimum Lib. de Sen. 84 Years and then died On May 30th last past he finished his Course and on June 14th was decently interr'd in Christ Church in this City And now how is my Text exemplified in him as well as in Abraham He gave up the Ghost and died how willingly did he resign up his Soul to God! Death found no Resistance from him alas he had been long desiring and waiting for it he quietly and readily yielded to it And what an easy Death did God bless him with The Oil was spent so the Lamp went out There was no Sickness no Pain no Groans or Agonies at the last he just breathed out his last Breath and that was all It 's said of Jacob when he had made an end of commanding his Sons he gathered up his Feet into the Bed and yielded up the Ghost Gen. 49.33 Just thus it was with our deceased Father for rising from Dinner he desired some repose upon his Bed where as soon as ever he was laid he gathered up his Feet and so yielded up the Ghost This facil Death he had much desired and often prayed for and he had it Sortitus est facilem exitum qualem semper optaverat as the Historian of Augustus And he died in a good old Age. Good as to the Greatness of it Good as to the Health and Strength of it a few Years indeed before his Death his Limbs were much enfeebled his Memory much impair'd but till then he had as much Vegetenes and Vigor every way as could be expected in one of his Years Good in the best Sence as it succeeded a well-spent Life and as it was fill'd up with gracious and holy Actings to the Last He began with God betimes and he kept close to God to the End And now he is gathered to his People translated into the blessed State gone to the general Assembly and Church of the First-born to the Spirits of just Men made perfect Taken up to his People to those now in Glory who by his Ministry were converted and oh what rejoicing is there in Them to see their Spiritual Father in Him to see the Children that God has given him He has now a view of all the glorified Saints and is one of them Yea he has now the Vision of God himself and of his dear Redeemer What he wrote in his Pisgah about Heaven he has now the experimental Knowledg of He that died in Abraham's good old Age now lies in Abraham's Bosom He that was a decay'd and decrepit Man here on Earth with what Strength and Vigour is he loving praising adoring God in Heaven Holy was his Life and happy was his Death He is with God and so shall be for ever Thus I have given you a short Narrative of his Life and Death but a more particular and distinct Account of him as to what he was must be further added And in order to this I will consider him in a fourfold Capacity I. As a Man II. As a Christian III. As a Minister IV. As standing in such and such Relations In the Characterising of him under these Heads I will keep close to the Truth and say nothing but what I apprehend to be truly so And as I would not diminish his Merit and any way lessen his real Worth which would be disingenuous towards him so neither will I advance it above its just Pitch and Measure for that would be injurious to my self I. Let 's consider him as a Man So he was one whom God had endowed with excellent Parts Natural and Acquir'd some I know are not of my Opinion in this be it so they have their Liberty of judging and I have mine He was very happy in a good and quick Invention which first furnish'd him with smart Notions upon all Occasions and then with apt Expressions to utter them and this too was attended in a good Proportion with a solid Judgment It 's very rare for one and the same Person to be eminent in all the Accomplishments that are proper to the several Faculties Strength of Reason Depth of Iudgment Quickness of Fancy Retentiveness of Memory seldom concur in the same Subject we value him who is eminent in any One of these though he be not so in the Rest too I speak very modestly of our deceased Friend when I make this to be his Case but of the two I chuse rather to go too low than too high Towards the Close of his Life when the Infirmities of a great Age were upon him there was a sensible Decay
it in Scripture-Record All the Exemption from Death that the Best can claim or hope for is to be exempted from Eternal but not from Natural Death Grace does free Believers from the former Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die Joh. 11.26 Verily verily I say unto you If a Man keep my Sayings he shall never see Death Joh. 8.51 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the Second Death hath no Power Rev. 20.6 but it does not free from the latter It may indeed and does as to this Death exempt from the Curse and Sting of it O Death 1 Cor. 15.55 where is thy Sting but not from the Stroke of it not from the thing it self Naturally considered as it consists in the dissolving of the Vnion 'twixt Soul and Body Christ has unstung Death for every Believer the Serpent now may hisse but it cannot hurt yet it may sting so far as to put a Period to the present Life Doe Abrahams die must they die Oh happy Necessity blessed be God for it This is grounded not only upon their Natural Frame and Constitution as they are Flesh and Blood as well as others and made of the same brittle Materials Nor only upon their having Sin as well as others and where that is Death must follow upon it Nor only upon that Vniversal Statute It is appointed unto Men once to die Heb. 9.27 But also upon the special Love and Grace of God to his People He has prepared an Heaven for them they are designed to a future State of Blessedness shall be rewarded above for their Service below Now that they may be put into the actual Possession of all this they must die Death to the Saints is but their Transition into their everlasting Blessedness and so 't is not their Misery but their Felicity that they die This to the Wicked is in Judgment but to the Godly in Mercy The former die because God will glorify his Punitive Justice upon them in another World but the Other die because God will glorify his free Grace and Mercy upon them in another World Death shall come to an Abraham but it comes to him as a Friend not as an Enemy Whilst he is paying the indispensible Tribute due to Nature God is carrying on the glorious Designs of his Grace towards him But this I pass over I proceed to the threefold Amplification or to the three Specialties observable in the Death of Abraham The first of which points to the Order and to the Manner of his Death in this Branch Then Abraham gave up the Ghost and died In the Syriac Version 't is infirmatus est he was debilitated and weakened so he died In the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he fainted and so he died thus also the Chaldee Paraphrast the Vulgar Oleaster and divers others * Malè in 70 Interpretibus additum est deficiens Abraham mortuus est quia non convenit Abrahae deficere imminui Qâ—ast Heb. in Gen. Hierome objects against this Rendring the Words as if it did reflect upon such a Person as Abraham to faint But what Disparagement could it be to him at such an Age to lie under bodily Fainting so long as he was not weak in Faith but strong in Faith giving Glory to God Rom. 4.19 20. meer Natural Weakness could not at all reflect upon him or be unbecoming to him The Samaritan Version renders it by Expiravit he expired breathed out his last Breath or his Soul and Spirit his Breath and Soul went out of him so he died This Reddition is most generally followed by Expositors The giving up of the Ghost is the usual Expression to set forth Death by so it s used as to Isaac Gen. 35.29 as to Jacob Gen. 49.33 as to our Saviour Joh. 19.30 passim We 'll consider it as 't is expressive not only of Abraham's simple Dying but also of some Adjuncts and Circumstances about his dying It notes 1. The Order of his Dying and what was the Antecedent to it Abraham first gave up the Ghost then he died First the Soul departs and then we die and when that is once gone out of the Body Death immediately follows That being the living vital quickning Principle in Man when that is once separated from the Body this must necessarily be turned into a dead Carcase a dead lump of Clay So long as that stays with us we live but when it takes its Flight from us into its higher Mansion forthwith we die The dissolving of the Union 'twixt Soul and Body as it necessarily antecedes Death so Death necessarily succeeds upon it This is the Order of Nature as to what goes before and what follows after in that which I am speaking of By the way let such who believe and who thereupon are united unto Christ rejoyce in this spiritual and mystical Vnion inasmuch as it does secure to them the Perpetuity of their Spiritual Life The Natural Vnion of the two Constitutive Parts of Man is dissoluble and so the Natural Life that results from it may cease But the Spiritual Vnion between Christ and the Believer being indissoluble consequently the Spiritual Life resulting from it is and shall be Abiding and Everlasting The Soul may leave the Body therefore that may die but Christ and the Animating Spirit will never leave the Soul therefore that shall never die How may Believers comfort themselves from this 2. It holds forth the Manner of Abraham's Death 1. As to the Speediness and Easiness of it 2. As to his ready and willing Submission to it 1. His Death was quick and easy He was not long in Dying did not stand out any long Siege Death did but summon him and he presently surrendred up himself he breathed out his last Breath and the Work was done Neither did he grapple with those sharp Pains those grievous Agonies and Conflicts which many feel in a dying-hour no he just expired just gave up the Ghost and that was all The Hebrew Word used in the Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the * Dictio expiravit egressionem Spiritus è Corpote significat quae sit subitò sine Dolore Morâ Aben-Ezra Putant Rabbini 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse mortem quae Homini accidit absque ullo praevio morbo dolote Munster Expirando mortuus est mortis quadam facilitate usus quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vatab. Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Hebiaeos dicitur de Morte sine Dolore Grot. so Oleaster quamplurimi alii Calvine rejects this Exposition Rabbinical Doctors and many Interpreters after them make to import a quick speedy and easy Death But others observe Vid Fagium in Loc. that we can lay no great Stress upon the Word as importing and easy Death to belong to good Men at least not so as to be appropriated and limited to them because else-where we find it applied to wicked
called to day repent believe make sure of Christ get your Peace made with God and the like And then let Death come as soon as it will 't will be an happy Death to you And full V. Ainsworth in loc In the Original there is no more 'T is an usual Ellipsis in the Hebrew Psal 73.10 Waters of a ful are wrung out to them i. e. of a full Cup And so here Satur accumulatus omnibus bonis divitiis P. Mart. Some fill it up Abraham died full of Riches Wealth Honour and all earthly Prosperity As it 's said of David He died in a good old Age full of Days Riches and Honour 1 Chron. 29.28 Others thus Full of Grace of Faith of good Work a much better Fulness than the former But the most fill it up as here we do full of Years or Days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sept. and so in divers other Versions The same is affirm'd of Isaac Gen. 35.29 of David 1 Chron. 23.1 29.28 of Jehojada 2 Chron. 24.15 of Job chap. 42.17 The Prophet uses this Expression Ier. 6.11 The Aged with him that is full of Days But this according to Expositors is said of Abraham not only as expressive of the many Days and Years that he had lived with respect to which it falls in with what precedes and is but a repeating of the same Matter he died in a good old Age an old Man and full of Years But it also intimates what was the Temper of his Mind the inward Frame and Working of his Soul as to Life and so it carries distinct Matter in it He was full of Years i. e. he was * Saturatus diebus suis V. Syr. Saturatus aetate V. Arab. Ut non appeteret vitae prorogationem Calv. Oleast Pertaesum est eum vitae mortem optavit Zwingl Noluisset ulterius dies suos pertrah P. Mart. Hebraismus est pro Saturata erat anima ejus non cupiebat diutius vivere nâ—ec dies suos innovari Fagius satiated with Life satisfied with the Time he had lived he had lived long and now he desired to live no longer he had his Fill of the natural Life as one has of Meat and Drink when he has been at a Feast he was very willing to have a Period now put to it Hence note that A gracious Man a true Child of Abraham Obj. after he has been here his appointed Time and done the Work allotted to him has enough of Life so as not to desire to live any longer Jacob when he had seen Joseph thought he had lived long enough Now let me die says he since I have seen thy Face because thou art yet alive Gen. 46.30 Simeon having had a Sight of Christ was very willing to die Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in Peace for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation Thus it is thus to be sure it ought to be with every true Christian I put in when his appointed Time is come and his Work done for the better stating of the Point Till these be accomplished Life can never be too long when these are accomplish'd Life can never be too short When a good Man is convinced 't is God's Will to translate him into another World and that his Work is done in this Oh says he let me die I have enough of Life Here 's one great Difference betwixt the People of God and other Men. The wicked are always desiring Continuation of Life as knowing whenever that shall end all their Pleasures of Sin are over and everlasting Punishments shall succeed in their room The worldly too are upon the same lock as knowing here is their Portion that they have their good things here Luke 16.25 And therefore as they have insatiable Desires after the having more of earthly Things so also after the protracting of that Life in which those earthly things are to be enjoyed If these might have their Will they would never die but live on in infinitum They may indeed sometimes be impatient of Life but they never are upon good Grounds and in a right manner satiated with Life Ah! but such who are sincere with God this is their Frame and Temper Does God say you shall live no longer they answer Lord we have enough of Life let us die Some Heathens have gone very far in this I have lived says * Vixi quantum satis erat mortem plenus expecto Sen. one as long as suffices I am all for Death And †Si quis Deus mihi largiatur ut ex hâc aetate repuerascam incunis vagiam valde recusem nec velim quasâ— decurso spatio a calce ad carceres revocari Cato in Tull. de Sen. another If some God would grant me to grow young again I would by no means accept of it I would be loth having run my Race to begin all again If these by the improvement of Reason and natural Light went thus far surely they who have an higher Light do not come short of them and what I fear in them was but Words by the Saints is really put in Practice And in these the Grounds of their Satiety of Life are to be considered This does not result meerly from the Troubles Losses Crosses that here they meet with but from something of an higher Nature They are convinc'd of the Vanity of things below that there 's an Emptiness in what this World affords that there 's nothing here justly to make them fond of Life That so long as Life continues Sin will continue That there is an higher and better Life to succeed which cannot be enjoyed till this expire That 't is first Dying and then being with God Upon these Grounds gracious Souls are even glutted with this Life and care not how soon they are depriv'd of it Well Vse let us shew our selves to be Abraham's Seed in this in our being satiated with Life He is an excellent Christian who is so but there are but few who are so Rarus qui exacto contentus tempore vitae Cedat uti conviva satur Hor. Should God measure out but a short Duration of Life to us yet that should satisfy us as being long enough But much more should he grant a liberal Proportion of it we have no reason to desire more True in respect of Work and Service we should think Life never to be long enough Vixi satis Naturae satis Gloriae non satis Patriae He said well who said I have lived enough to Nature enough to my own Reputation but not enough to my Country He speaks much better who says I have lived enough to Nature enough to my Self but not enough to my God But when we have good Grounds to conclude our Work is finish'd God has no more for us to do it becomes us to say Non aceâ—bum jam judicant vivere sed supersluum Sen. Ep. 24. We have our sill of Life we would not live a day