Selected quad for the lemma: hand_n
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A88118
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The character of a true Christian: described in a sermon at the parish church of St. Botolph Bishopsgate. At the funeral of Mr. William Cade, deputy of that ward. By John Lake, D. D. late rector of that parish; and now Lord Bishop of Chichister
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Lake, John, 1624-1689.
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1690
(1690)
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Wing L195A; ESTC R227280
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20,673
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64
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God taketh us as he findeth us at his appearing and his coming If after all men can attain this Crown better cheap I envy not their ease onely in a case of such high concernment I would have them careful that they lose not their soul for a pleasing conceit and perish fatally whilst they think to be saved so Let the Candidates of so rich and radiant a Crown be but as perseverant in good as the Candidates of wrath and death are in evil let them take Heaven but with such violence as these take Hell and they cannot miscarry And do they expect God to deal with them upon greater disproportions I am sure they serve a better Master have nobler employments greater encouragements a crown that shall last as long as God is God and run parallel with the ages of eternity and may therefore more than recompence the services and sufferings of a short life Faithful unto death then he must be that would be crowned after it and not unto death onely but even in and into it also As he must offer up his body a living sacrifice to God so if occasion be a dying one too Act. 21.13 being ready with St. Paul not onely to be bound as the sacrifices were wont but to dye for the name of the Lord Jesus And he is most unworthy of that high and honourable name who will not take up the most painful and ignominious Cross that weareth the inscription of Jesus of Nazareth upon it Matth. 5.10 11. This name will plait his thorns into a crown turn persecution into a beatitude and the flames of Martyrdom into Bonfires of joy This will make him sing at the stake like a dying Swan suffer death with more serenity and satisfaction than the witty cruelty of his enemies inflicts it lye down in a bed of flames as if it were a bed of roses and having prayed for his murtherers to fall a sleep And if the Heathens have thought it discreetly eligible to give their life a ransom for fame or virtue well may the Christian who is an Heir of better hopes do this to eternal and never failing purposes to secure Christ's honour his own innocence and to have Gems added to his Crown Death herein shoots its sting but to lose it and though it kill him it cannot hurt him all it can do is but to kill the body i. e. to prevent a more lingring death by the feeble hand of sickness or old age and to cure it of those diseases which kill with equal certainty and greater torment And for the Soul which is the better part if not the whole of man it knocketh but off its chains and fetters and restoreth it to it self and to God that gave it Thus whilst we seem to love God better than our selves we never love our selves so well as in this very act for if in love and loyal duty to God we lay down our life for him he will give it us again and a crown of bliss and immortality together with it And here passing over from the precept to the promised reward I might if I had affections and expressions answerable to the matter in hand rap both my self and you into St. Paul's Extasie 'till we were even lost in it But these are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unspeakable words 2 Cor. 12.4 as St. Paul by a pretty seeming contradiction calls them All the tongues of men and Angels are here too short or if they could speak who could hear It shall suffice to give you a transient glimpse of this Crown so far as may incourage your fidelity and constancy in God's service and not the least glimpse of it but will make all the labours and sufferings of this life vanish in the comparison A Crown then it is and what can be said or conceived more and greater Exerce ambitionem tuam set thy utmost ambition on work thou man of desires here is that which will fill all the appetites of it The most towring thought riseth no higher than a Crown or onely to set one Crown upon another and were other Crowns accumulated 'till they reached to this they would cast down themselves before this crown of life this crown of glory which fadeth not away Within the compass of this crown meets all that Religion or Reason calleth the chiefest good as so many orient jewels in this crown there is perfect knowledg perfect holiness 1 Cor. 15.27 perfect peace perfect love perfect joy and which is the Crown of this Crown here is God All in all The Woman in Revel 12.1 hath a crown of twelve Stars upon her head but were all the Stars united into one Constellation and should dishevel all the pride and glory of their beams it would not equal the glory of this Crown but be as a dark and opacous shadow to it Through the light and lustre which this crown will shed upon us all faithful Christians according to the promise of our Saviour Mat. 13.43 Dan. 12.3 and the corresponding predictions of the Prophets shall shine like the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father even as the brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars forever and ever Should our now deceased Brother from under this crown see what scuffling there is for Crowns and Scepters those fine gay guilded Nothings here below he would look upon it with such becoming scorn as a Philosopher upon Boys scrambling for shells of Nuts and fiercely contending for tinsel gayeties of no greater value The richest of these crowns 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Plut. de Tranquill. animi cannot keep off or cure a fit of the head-ach but within the circle of this Crown cometh neither sorrow nor pain The glory of these crowns dum nitet cadit whilst it glittereth falleth and breaketh maketh a blaze like a Meteor then shooteth and dyeth out but this crown onely burnisheth with the wearing the massy glory whereof no time no eternity impaireth These crowns at best are more honourable than happy sit heavy upon the head which they seem to adorn and whilst they sparkle with Diamonds are stuffed with thorns But the joys of this Crown equal the glories of it with their crowns the Saints have harps and free from all inward and outward distractions do nothing but in consort with the Angels sing soft requiem's to themselves and triumphant songs of joy and praise to God and to the Lamb who is blessed for evermore Thus is Christianity certamen sed bonum a fight but a good one whilst Kings have usually their Crowns crossed the faithful Christian hath his Cross crowned and that weight of glory which this Crown hath in it may make all the labour of duty and pressure of the Cross mere ease and delight Let Atheists and Epicures look upon the Divine life but as a zealous frenzy such as hath no real object nor solid fruits and scorn or pity the strict Professours of it as men soberly and gravely beside