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A52250
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A sermon preached at the funeral of Mr. Joseph Aleine by George Newton ...
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Newton, George, 1602-1681.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing N1047; ESTC R16860
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20,159
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39
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us and make us capable of good impressions When there is nothing else but mirth we have light and frothy spirits our fancies rove our thoughts and our imaginations wander But when the Lord presenteth nothing else before our eyes but tears and lamentations this calleth home our thoughts it renders us unto our selves and makes us fit for holy motions We see it by experierience that the very men who when they are upon a merry pin are sensless and incapable of any good they have such vain and foolish hearts when they are brought into a melting frame then they are mild and tame as lambs then they are pliable and flexible and tractable so that a little child may lead them If you visit them if you counsel and advise them for their good then you shall have their ears and hearts too 2. And as the times of grief and tears prepare for grace so they increase and further grace Grace will spring and grow the more for such showers as these are It prospers better in a moist and watred then in a dry and barren soyl And if you search the sacred Story you will find the greatest Weepers to have been the greatest Saints As David Peter yea our Saviour Christ himself Indeed this precious Seed delights to have such dews as these the Seed of Prayer of Repentance yea that Immortal Seed the Word of God doth best when it is sown in tears When we repent in tears our hearts relent and melt most When we preach and pray in tears we move our selves and others most Si vis me flere dolendum Est prius ipse tibi This Seed when it is watred thus springs up the faster and bringeth forth the more plentiful increase 2. These times of grief and tears will end at last and end in joy You shall weep saith Christ to his Apostles but your sorrow shall be turned into joy They that sow in tears shall reap in joy and he that goes forth weeping bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him There is no doubt no question to be made of that and therefore it is bound with an Asseveration which takes away all scruple from it he shall doubtless come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him It is the custome every where to have good chear and to be merry when they reap So it was among the Jews as you may see Deut. 16. 13 14. And therefore this is used in Scripture to express the greatest joy Isa. 9. 3. They shall rejoyce before thee according to the joy of harvest So though the Christian sows in rainy weather in a weeping time all shall be sweet and calm and fair when the reaping time comes He shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven feeding on the hidden Manna and drinking of the pure and chrystal River of Water of Life proceeding from the Throne of God and of the Lamb and there they shall be merry altogether When once he comes to Gods immediate presence he shall have joy full joy yea the fulness of joy Psal. 16. last In his presence is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore 3. The joy that is to come will pay for all It will be such so plentiful and overflowing that it will make a full amends for all your present tears and sorrow It will quite overcome the sense and the remembrance of them Alas our trouble here is nothing in comparison it is a light and easie Burthen Our affliction is but short it continues but a moment but the time is drawing nigh when this little light sorrow shall be wholly swallowed up in endless and unutterable joy This short affliction which lasteth but a moment shall end in everlasting and unmixed pleasures 2 Cor. 4. 17. It worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory Oh what transporting comfort is there many times in reaping the first fruits of the Spirit that we are ready to cry out if the first fruits be so sweet what will the Harvest be If the earnest be so great what will the Possession be When we shall be filled and satisfied with the delights that heaven yields to all eternity I could say as Peter once It is good to be here let us build Tabernacles here But I must hasten to another Observation Doct. That we are very subject to misplace our grief and to mistake the Ground and Object of our sorrow So did these Daughters of Jerusalem you see they wept where they should not and they wept not where they should And therefore Christ corrects their sorrow in the Text Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your children A great part of the sin and corruption that hath invaded humane nature consists in the disorder and distemper of our passions and affections and lies especially in two things either when we miss the right object or transgress the just measure when they are either ill placed or ill proportioned When we mistake in either of them When we are troubled where we should not or too much troubled where we should we are much to be condemned And both of these we are very subject to The first is pertinent to our purpose we are extreamly apt to grieve and to be troubled where we should not It is no wonder that we find Esau faulty here mistaking in the object of his sorrow He sought Repentance and sought it carefully with tears as you may see Heb. 12. 17. But what Repentance did he seek with tears Alas he missed his mark he sought not his own but his Fathers Repentance feign he would have his Father to Repent of his pouring out the blessing on his younger brother Jacob and consequently to revoke it and to call it back again But when he saw that was not to be done and heard his Father say I have blessed him and he shall be blessed he lifted up his voice and wept Gen. 27. 38 Yea the Apostles and Disciples of our Saviour Christ himself mistook in this that they misapplyed their sorrow They were extreamly grieved and troubled that Christ was ready to depart and to withdraw his fleshly presence from them whereas he tells them plainly It is expedient for you that I go away John 16. 7. It is not only expedient for me but it is expedient for you so that here was no real cause of grief and sorrow And hence our Saviour puts a stop upon it John 14. 1. Let not your hearts be troubled q. d. I see that you misplace your grief Come it must not be so I will not have it to be so let not your hearts be troubled Poor Mary was greatly at a loss in this particular she stood beside the sepulcher of Christ weeping John 20. 11. Why what 's the matter The Body of the Lord is gone Had she found him dead there it seems she had been very well content So that her
sins with all their bloody aggravations what think you of the horrible Abominations and woful desolations of the Land and of all the wrath of God that hath been lately manifested and reveal'd from Heaven against us more wayes then I am able to express I might be very large in shewing you particularly and distinctly both what you should and what you should not grieve for and giving you directions from the word of God about it But because the time spends and I would not be prevented of that which I have principally in my eye I shall pass over many other things that so I may apply my self to the occasion Methinks I see the clouds gather and return after the Rain And out of question many of you are come hither with a sufficient stock of sorrow your hearts are full of grief and your souls full of trouble and your bottles full of tears brim full You have drawn water and are ready to pour it out before the Lord this day My work shall be to guide you and direct you with our Saviour in the Text how to bestow these tears and how to spend this sorrow that you may not weep in vain I say to you as Christ doth to the Daughters of Jerusalem with a little alteration weeep not for him whom the Lord hath taken from you but weep for your selves and for your children 1. Weep not for him I know the loss of such an Able Faithful Painful Zealous Minister of Christ as he was ought to be very much bewailed Men of such hidden worth as he had in him and of such publick use and service in the Church should not be raked up in their Graves without tears and lamentations Joash a wicked King wept for a good Prophet and that with very great affection 2 Kings 13. 14. He wept over his face and said My Father my Father the Chariots of Israel the Horsmen thereof And if you mark the carriage of the Saints when such as he I mean our dear and worthy Brother have been taken from them it would warrant all the tears you have to spend on this occasion In the first of Kings 13. 30. you find a Prophet burying a Prophet and melting over him when he Inter'd him He laid his Carcase in the Grave and mourned over him and said Alas my Brother How solemnly did Israel lament the death of Samuel made their grief as remarkable publick as their loss 1 Sam. 25. 1. It is observed of Stephen that he was carried by devout men to his burial with great lamentatiou Acts. 8. 2. And God forbid that such an one as we have lost should die away as if he were not desired that he should steal into his Grave as if there were no notice taken of his Death No my Beloved weep and weep on sit down and weep till you can weep no more yet still I say weep not for him Your loss is unaccomptable indeed and time perhaps will shew it to be greater then as yet you see But tell me my Beloved is he a loser any way Nay is he not an infinite gainer Is not this best of all for him Indeed to have continued in the flesh was better for you as the Apostle states the case when he was straightened Phil. 1. 24. But for him it was far better to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Now he enjoys a full deliverance from all Corruptions all Temptations all Afflictions A full return of all his prayers and breathings after God and Christ in which he was transported when he was drawing near his glory A full reward of all his tiring and incessant labours Oh blessed soul you know a voice from heav'n hath said Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Therefore I say weep not for him There is one thing I must confess that makes this providence the sadder to us You know it is the Prophet Davids Prayer Psalm 102. 24. O my God take me not away in the midst of my daies The Lord indeed hath taken him away in the midst of his daies and in the midst of his Ministry But is he gone to heaven too soon too soon indeed for you but not for him Is he got home to his Fathers house too soon Is he with God and Christ and Angels and glorified Saints too soon What doth he wish that he were back again with you Hath he his everlasting Rest too soon His glorious recompence too soon Brethren he wrought apace you know while he had strength and finished the work that God had given him to do betime So that it is no wonder though he hath his wages early sooner then such dull heavy slugs as we are His life was short indeed though filled up with grace and duty and God hath made but an exchange of an eternal one for it He was a burning and a shining light burning with enflam'd affections till the oil was spent and shining in an exemplary conversation But this lamp is not extinguished but only lighted up to flame and shine in a more glorious place And there he shall shine forth as the Sun for ever and ever So that I must say still weep not for him 2. But you will ask me for whom shall we weep then I answer for your selves and for your children 1. Weep for your selves The Lord you see hath made a woful breach upon you as it is said of Uzzah 1 Sam. 6. 8. And that your hearts remain unbroken they are unsutable to this heavy dispensation God hath remov'd his holy faithfull servant not into a blind corner but into a dark pit The grave hath newly shut her mouth upon him he is gone hence to be no more in this world You shall behold him now no more in the Land of the living Your eyes shall see your teacher here no more for ever You shall now be no more enlightned with his clear instructions No more enliven'd with his zealous exhortations No more quickned with his fervent prayers No more warm'd with his heavenly discourses No more ehear'd with his sweet consolations No more guided by his holy Example The Lord hath made him up among his Jewels because indeed we were not worthy of such a precious Gemme as he was He hath in anger and displeasure pluckt away one of our Pillars as if he meant the house should fall And shall we be insensible of such a stroke Shall we have tears enough to wast upon our petty losses not have a tear to spend on this inestimable irreparable one Brethren you are allow'd to weep here though not for him yet for your selves And that especially in two respects 1. For the sins that you have done for they have made this sad work They are the true and real cause of all your losses They are your sins that hinder good things that they come not to you or take them quite away when they