The Perfect Man described in his Life and End IN A Funeral Discourse Upon Psalm XXXVII 37. Occasioned by the DEATH Of that Pattern of Uprightness Mr. EDWARD LAWRENCE By Nathanael Vincent M. A. Minister of the Gospel Whereunto are added some Passages out of Two Letters written by Two Excellent Ministers concerning Mr. Lawrence who were well acquainted with him and with the Worth of him LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1696. Mr. VINCENT's Funeral Discourse Occasioned by the DEATH of Mr. EDWARD LAWRENCE TO THAT CONGREGATION Who had Mr. EDWARD LAWRENCE For their PASTOR My much respected Friends WHen I preached this Sermon which now I present especially to you I was so far from having the least thought of Printing it that I had not written so much as one word of it and when your Desires were express'd that it might be Publish'd I discovered a great averseness because I knew how much averse my deceased and most true Friend was from a Discourse relating to Himself and much more would he have been against the Printing any thing concerning Him But your reitereated Desires prevailed being seconded by that Argument that Mr. Lawrence himself went contrary to the declared Will of an Eminent Christian in Preaching a Funeral Sermon and giving him his deserved Commendations Adding that because that Excellent Saint was against his Preaching therefore he was the more forward to do it So that I have only made bold to mete the same Measure to my Friend who is dead and gone which He did mete to his Friend that died before him This Sermon for the Substance of it was taken from my Mouth in Short-hand and brought to me written out in Long. And since you have importuned the making of it publick I desire you may give it a serious perusal A perfect Man is the most glorious and lovely of all visible Creatures How much of the Image of the invisible God does shine forth in him The Grace of God in Truth whereever t is wrought what a blessed Change does it make Out of the rubbish and ruins of corrupt Nature there is built an Holy Temple for the living God! And in this Temple how is He honoured and served The perfect Man hath an high Aim and a commendable Emulation he desires to do the will of God on earth as it 's done in heaven And Heaven is esteemed a blessed place because there he shall be able fully to do what he does desire I have heard your deceased Pastor express his longings to be in an holy and happy Eternity Tho he had many other Loads Sin was his heaviest Burthen and perfect Holiness was look'd upon as a great part of his expected Blessedness He was a powerful and a profitable Preacher and this must be added that he preached continually His serious Looks his edifying Communication which administred Grace to the Hearers his holy just and unblameable and shining Conversation were greatly instructive and by these he was ever speaking to all that observed him that it was much for their Interest to be like him And now being dead he yet speaks to you that the Counsels he gave you which are the Counsels of God should not dye with him nor be buried in Oblivion The Flock of such a Pastor should be Eminent for Contempt of the World serious Holiness and Heavenly-Mindedness else they will be far from resembling their Faithful Shephard I cannot wish you better than that the Lord would direct you to settle under a Minister most like him who is taken from you and who will naturally care for your Spiritual Estate I wish his Family may be cared for by that God whom he served in Truth and Sincerity whose mercy is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him and his righteousness unto childrens children to such as keep his covenant and remember his commandments to do them Earth is emptying apace of them who are ripe for Heaven I wish the Death of those that are gone may make both Ministers and Saints that remain and survive to be more lively and diligent in their Lord's Work The Time of Labour is short but to Eternity it will be found that labour is not in vain in the Lord. My Friends I commend you and yours to the Great Shepherd of Souls and to the Word of his Grace and wish your Perfection and Peace living dying and for ever Your Servant for Jesus sake NATHANAEL VINCENT PSALM XXXVII 37. Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace ALTHO Liberty to Preach the Gospel is justly esteemed the privilege and pleasure of my Life and tho a Regal Throne or a Triple Crown is to me contemptible in comparison of a Pulpit yet I must needs confess that I come with a sad heart to preach the Word this day and the reason of my Sorrow is the loss of that Excellent Man and Minister of Christ who dwelt in this place who is now effectually silenced by Death and must be heard to Preach no more for ever This burning and shining Light a great many Years ago was put under a Bushel which was worthy to have been set in a Golden Candlestick but now alas in a sense 't is quite extinguished He is gone into darkness and the shadow of Death where there is no order and where the light is as darkness He had in his life-time declared his Will against a Funeral Sermon for he was far from affecting those Praises and Commendations which are usually given in Funeral Discourses but I must say that the less he desired the more he deserved to be praised and commended having such a large share of Humility joyned with his other great Ministerial Accomplishments When the news of his Death came first to my ears I said what I thought and had good ground to be perswaded of Now there is a Man gone out of the World that was one of the best Men in it Good Men may truly be called Pillars of the Earth and when a very strong Pillar is thrown down there should be great Lamentation and the Earth may tremble at the fall of it But tho he is gone down to the Dust where his Face is bound in secret and must be seen no more till this World be no more yet methinks I have a view of him plainly in the Text I have chosen here we have his Character both Living and Dying Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace In which words I shall offer these particulars to your Observation First Here is a remarkable Man and he is the perfect Man Secondly Wherein the perfection of this Man lies it lies in his being upright Thirdly What the perfect and upright Man is worthy of he is worthy to be marked he is worthy to be beheld Fourthly What of this perfect and upright Man our eye in a special manner should be upon
and that is his end Fifthly His end is remarkable as well as himself for his end is peace An upright Life and a peaceful Death how truly desirable are they and the former is the way to the latter whereas there is no peace saith the Lord to the wicked while he lives and when he dies and his Soul is required at his hands he will perceive how foolish he was in crying peace and safety to himself These Particulars I shall insist on and then conclude with the Application In the first place I am to speak of the remarkable Man in the Text and he is the perfect Man It is a wonder considering the general Corruption and Depravation of Humane Nature and how full of Snares and Temptations this World is that there should be ever a perfect Man upon Earth But see what the powerful Grace of God can do It can renew and alter Nature it self and change it from contrary to contrary from wickedness and deceitfulness to holiness of truth That the perfect Man may be the better understood you must know that there is a threefold Perfection spoken of in Scripture Legal Coelestial Evangelical 1. There is a Legal Perfection This was in Adam before the Fall he was made perfect and upright but being made mutable he quickly sought out many inventions Eccles 7. 29. and made himself quite and clean another Creature from what he was at first created When other things were made God's bare word of command that they should be gave them a Being but when Man was to be formed it was not done without some kind of Solemnity and Consultation Gen. 1. 26. And God said Let us make man in our image after our likeness And how did Man shine with this Image upon him when he came first out of his Maker's hands If all things were very good in their kind how perfect was Man's Goodness in his kind not the least moral Evil was to be found in him What a clear light was there in his mind How exactly conformed was his Will to the Divine Will How regular were his Affections Not the least Evil was in him either in Action Thought or Inclination He had a Power to keep the whole Law of God in every Part and Point of it and a Will most free and forward in it He could and for a while did come up to the terms of the first Covenant Do this and live And thus perfect he did remain till through the Temptations of the evil One he let go his primitive Righteousness and Integrity 2. There is a Coelestial Perfection and that is the Perfection of glorified Saints in Heaven we cannot aspire unto or desire any thing for our selves higher than or so high as this This the Apostle speaks of 1 Cor. 13. 9 10. For we know in part and we prophecy in part but when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall he done away This Perfection is preached of and heard of at present and they who attain to the greatest measure of Grace and Holiness can best give a guess at it Our Brother who is lately taken away from us now understands and experiences to his Joy what Heavens perfection is We read Heb. 12. 23. of the general Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in Heaven and the spirits of just Men made perfect How clear is that light in which God who is light is seen How perfect is that Purity which is consequent upon this Vision of him how have they all been transformed into the Image of him whom they do behold fully resembling him in Righteousness and true Holiness 1 John 3. 2. We know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is The separated Spirits of Saints having left their Earthly House and Tabernacle have put off their sinful Infirmities nothing that makes them in the least unlike to God or that he dislikes remains in them The great Physician began the Cure of those blessed Souls in this World and now in the other World 't is perfected that Scripture is applicable to every one of them Cant. 4. 7. Thou art all fair my love there is no spot in thee And as the Spirits of just Men in Heaven are perfect so their vile bodies will be changed and made like unto Christ's glorious body Heb. 3. 21. this corruptible will put on incorruption this mortal immortality Adam's Body before the Fall was of an admirable Make and Constitution not the least peccant Humour in it And if he had stood the Tree of Life the Sacrament of the first Covenant was to assure him of Immortality yet that Body was much inferior to a Spiritual Body at the Resurrection Oh how illustriously perfect as to their whole Man will all Saints be when Christ their life shall appear and they appear with him in glory Col. 3 4. The perfection of Heaven which Christ is the Purchaser of will be found by many degrees to be beyond that Perfection which was in the first Paradice 3. There is an Evangelical Perfection and the Man spoken of in the Text is in this Sense perfect Legal Rigour is abated in the Gospel the Gospel does not curse every one that continues not in all things required in the Law Legal exactness is not expected from Believers God does not mark iniquities nor enter into judgment with them A sincere Saint is evangelically a perfect Man tho in strictness of Law there is some Imperfection in his Holiness The Apostle without Self-contradiction affirms himself to be perfect and not perfect almost in the same breath Phil. 3. 12. Not as tho I had already attained or were already perfect and yet he says ver 15. Let us therefore as many as be perfect be thus indeed He had a perfection of sincerity but unto a sinless perfection he had not attained The Evangelically perfect Man I am now to describe The perfect Man is renewed in all his Parts and Powers The whole Man is corrupted by Nature and the whole Man is renewed by Grace This the Apostle expresses by Sanctification throughout in body soul and spirit 1 Thes 5. 23. Tho in degree Sanctification be put in part yet every part is truly and really sanctified When the Lord makes a perfect Man he works a change in the whole Man Nothing in the Soul but has some gracious Alteration wrought in it No one Power or Faculty is let alone to be altogether as it was The Mind is enlightned the Conscience awakened the Will and Affections have a new byass and the Memory retains things necessary and worthy to be remembred and the heart being purified the members are yielded as Instruments of Righteousness unto Holiness The new Creature lacks not any parts and degrees of Grace are still to be added In this Sense all things are become new 2 Cor. 5. 17. and yet the inward man is further to be renewed day by day 2
Life Tho his Life on Earth is far from being a noxious and hurtful Vapour yet 't is a vapour which appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away Jam. 4. 14. The Bodies of the Just must be brought down into the Grave as well as the Bodies of others that mankind and best of men may have a sensible Document how hateful Sin is to God upon all that have sinned death passes Rom. 5. 12. Tho the Bodies of the Saints are Members of Christ and Instruments of Righteousness to Holiness and the Temples of the Holy Ghost himself yet these Temples must be demolished and cast to the ground and for a while turned under it and after they have been so long imprisoned in the Grave how glorious will be the strength and love of Christ their Lord and Head in rescuing his Members all of them from under Death's Dominion and in totally abolishing Death it self and how will the power of the Spirit be manifested in rearing up his Temples out of the Dust and in making them so transcendently glorious and likewise so firm and durable that they shall stand and abide unto eternity Rom. 8. 11. If the spirit of him that raised up Christ from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you 5. Death puts an end to all that Corruption which remains in the upright Man Sin was the Parent of Death and at Death sin it self is totally destroyed The mortal and corruptible Body of the Saint shall at length put on Incorruption and Immortality but the body of Sin is annihilated and shall be no more he shall never complain of any evil present with him nor be troubled with any the least lustings of the flesh against the Spirit How contrary and offensive to the new Nature were the remainders of the old Man which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts But at Death the upright man when he puts off his earthly Tabernacle does quite put off the old Man not the least Member of that Body can remain unmortified and in what glorious perfection does he put on the Lord Jesus Christ He is perfecting Holiness while he lives 2 Cor. 7. 1. which intimates that at Death his Work and Labour to cleanse himself will be at an end and Holiness will be perfected And how beautiful and glorious will his separate Soul be in it s perfected and unspotted Purity In the fifth place The end of the perfect and upright man is remarkable as well as himself for his end is Peace The Scripture is true concerning him Eccl. 7. 1. The day of his death is better than the day of his birth He was born into a wicked and a wretched World but Death sends him to an everlasting Habitation of Bliss and Life and Glory His dying day may well be the joyfullest day that ever he lived because the last moment of his time is his entrance into a blessed Eternity He is indeed a Son of Peace and Death should not disturb it 1. The perfect and upright man dies in peace with God He is reconciled to God by the death of his Son How sure is Salvation upon such a Reconciliation The Enmity between God and him being slain by the Cross of Christ Eph. 2. 16. the Value and Virtue of Christ's Crucifixion must needs make Peace that is lasting The middle Wall of Partition that is thrown down shall never be reared up again The upright man's Sins are all removed from him as far as the East is from the West Psalm 103. 12. and he may as well imagine the two Poles that are so far distant should meet together as fear that any of his Sins which are not imputed to him should again be laid unto his charge Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect it is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth it is Christ that died Neither at Death nor Judgment shall any of their Sins be found against them that are upright A Covenant of Peace is made with them more firm than the strongest Hills and Mountains Isaiah 54. 10. The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed but my kindness shall not depart from thee nor the covenant of my peace be removed saith the Lord that hath mercy upon thee 2 The perfect and upright man dieth in peace with others If all things are to be done with charity 1 Cor. 16. 14 then dying must be in Charity likewise How can he dye in the love of God whose heart is full of malice and hatred to his Brother I remember what that blessed Martyr Bradford said at his Death I ask all the World forgiveness and I forgive all the World there was a great deal of Judgment and Grace in this Expression The World had dealt very hardly with him and was so furious as to burn him with Fire yet he forgave the Injury Thus the Protomartyr Stephen of old from his heart forgave his Persecutors and his last Prayer was for them that God would not lay their Sin and blood-guiltiness to their charge Acts 7. 60. When the heart is emptied of Wrath and Bitterness and desire of Revenge whatever Injuries have been received when peace has been pursued and there has been an universal Love to all Saints and in Obedience to Christ's Command it has been extended even to despightful Enemies here is a comfortable evidence of Peace with God and of an interest in his Love Forgive says Christ and you your selves shall be forgiven 3. The perfect and upright Man when he comes to dye has reason and good ground to have peace within himself I dare not affirm That every good Man concludes his Days with this Peace The Letters of Mr. Paul Bains discover a great measure of Grace and Holiness and an excellent Spirit in him yet he professes himself a great Stranger to the Sweetness of Religion and the Joys of the Holy Ghost that disconsolate humour of Melancholly possibly might be one reason of it Nay when he came to dye his Death-bed was uncomfortable and sadness remained upon his Spirit till he entred into the Joy of his Lord. Yet I am sure there is sufficient ground for peace within the perfect Man For Christ died that Death might be unstung and that Believers might not be terrified at it but triumph over it Through Death he destroyed the Devil as he had the Power of Death that is to make Death terrible and consequently deliver them who through the fear of death were all their life-time subject to bondage Heb. 2. 14 15. What a most desirable way of dying is this when Conscience has great Peace being purged and healed by the Blood of Christ When the God of Love and Peace speaks Peace to the departing Soul by his comforting Spirit And a Saint can say with righteous Simeon of old Luke 1. 29 30. Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart
him When the world which lives in wickedness and grows more and more wicked is hastening its own Judgment and Condemnation for the sake of the Upright ones that are therein 't is spared Though there was such an abominable Crew of Wicked men in Sodom which were sinners before the Lord exceedingly yet Sodom had stood undestroyed by Fire and Brimstone if ten righteous persons had been found therein Gen. 18. 32. when Abraham said Oh let not my Lord be angry and I will speak but this once peradventure ten righteous ones shall be found there and he said I will not destroy it for ten sake Nay One Moses stood in the Breach when the Sins of Israel had opened a wide Gap for the Wrath of God to break in upon them Psalm 106. 23. Therefore he said he would destroy them had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach to turn away his wrath lest he should destroy them However Infidels and ungodl ones may prate maliciously the Puritans of a Nation are very much the security of it Job 22. 30. He shall deliver the Island of the innocent or it may be translated The Innocent shall deliver the Island and it is delivered by the pureness of thy hands 2. Behold the Grace of God in the upright Man which makes him thus useful Both the esse and the operati of the new Creature is from Divine Grace by Grace the upright man is what he is and by the same Grace he does what he does Who ever laboured so abundantly as the Apostle Paul Whose Labours were more succeeded to the Glory of God to the Church's and the World's benefit than his were Yet he ascribes nothing to himself but gives unto Grace all the Glory 1 Cor. 15. 10. I laboured more abundantly than they all yet not I but the grace of God which was with me When you behold the upright man you must see God in him and with him of a truth Men are not to glory or to be gloried in but he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord 1 Cor. 1. 31. 3. Behold the upright man so as to desire and hope that the same Grace which made him upright may make you so Upright ones were not such by their first Birth but by their second The Apostle readily makes this acknowledgment Eph. 2. 3. Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind and were by nature the children of wrath even as others Therefore concerning sincere Saints it must be said That they are born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God John 1. 13. And that God who of his own will begat them with the word of truth can easily also regenerate you by the the same means and by his own powerful Grace make more vessels of honour all upright ones are such out of the Mass of corrupted Nature In the fourth place I am to shew What of this perfect and upright Man our eye in a special manner should be upon and that is his end To look to the end of Persons and Things and likewise those things that are endless is a great piece of Wisdom By the upright man's End we are to understand his Dissolution and Death whereby he ceases to be any longer in this World Not that Death does make an end of him the Soul is redeemed from the power of the grave for God doth receives it Psalm 49. 15. and the Body shall not always be the Graves prisoner but the Union between these two constituent parts by Death is dissolved Now there are several things of the perfect and upright man which Death does put an end unto 1. Death puts an end to the upright man's Labour Labour in the Lord and for the Lord is the upright man's business in this World He has no time to waste neither is he allowed to be idle Working hard and living must run parallel Nay with allusion to what Caesar once said we may affirm Necesse est laborare non est necesse vivere Labouring is more necessary than living While the upright man lives he must be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the doing of good But when Death comes it signifies to him that his Work is at an end Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them 2. Death puts an end to the upright man's Sorrows here in this World he is in his Minority and is under the Discipline of the Rod after Death he will not need it His gracious Father in great faithfulness consults the upright man's necessity and if need be he is in heaviness through manifold temptations 1 Pet. 1. 6. and yet still there is a mixture of mercy with the greatest severity the Son of God is with the sincere Saint in every Furnace and his Presence makes the Furnace both tolerable and purifying Under the heaviest Burthens everlasting Arms shall sustain him and well may he be comforted with the thoughts of everlasting Love But the end of his days puts a full period to his Troubles and Sorrows his Heart shall ake his Tongue complain his Eyes shall weep no more Rev. 7. 17. The Lamb which is in the midst of the Throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes 3. Death puts an end to the upright man's Conflicts His Life is a warfare he fights every step of his way to Heaven his Enemies are much stronger than he called Principalities and Powers whom he wrrstles with but he is furnished with the whole Armour of God and his strength lies in Christ the Captain of his Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Christ has encountred these Enemies in his own Person tried their force and triumphed over them and as he has his Followers at command so he can command Salvation for them Satan is a troublesome and unwearied Adversary and when the upright man is just going this Enemy may give him a blow at parting He usually endeavours to make a Saint's Death-bed uneasy and uncomfortable and sometimes he strives to lift up the perfect man with Spiritual Pride As the famous Knox of Scotland was tempted to an high Opinion of himself when he was near expiring because he had been so faithful in his ministry but he ascribed all that he was and did unto the Grace of God and Satan was quite soiled But when Death comes it removes the upright man out of Satan's reach He is made more than a conqueror through Christ who has loved him having overcome he sits down in that throne with his blessed Lord himself where he shall never be molested more with any of the Enemies of his Salvation 4. Death puts end to the upright man's natural