A SERMON Preached May 16. 1680. AT THE FUNERAL OF M r Tho. Gilson Late Minister of the Gospel By SAMUEL SLATER Minister of the Gospel Isa. 57. 1. The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come LONDON Printed for Tho. Cockeril at the Three Legs in 〈◊〉 Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market 1680 To my worthy Friends that Society of Christians who were lately under the Pastoral care of Mr. Tho. Gilson IT was a smart and startling Providence which in a short time took away first the Wife and then the Husband making the Children Orphans and you sheep without a Shepherd His worth was very great and therefore so was your loss God hath been pleased to deprive us of many eminent and useful men of late and those not only among the hoarheads whose thred of life had been drawn out to a considerable length but also among the young and strong and middle aged who according to the course of nature might have lived much longer and laboured and done good It is not for any to quarrel for God may do with his own as he pleaseth Let us make a right interpretation of the dispensation and a wise improvement None of us know how soon we may be called hence may every one of us therefore live to the best purpose we can Oh that we might all mind our work and get that done and then the sooner we go to bed the better it will be for us though possibly not for the world Your deceased Pastor said upon his Death-bed When others live sixty or seventy years before they have done what they were sent for if I can dispatch mine in fifty I have no cause to complain his Sun being set when he was not much past the meridian of his age I did entertain you with the following Discourse which I have here at the importunate desire of his Relations and others unwillingly published The Lord accompany it with his blessing and if any get good by it for their souls I shall rejoice I beg that this loss may be sanctified to your gain that you may have a Pastor set over you according to Gods own heart And I beseech you to live in love follow those things which make for peace walk so as that you may adorn the Gospel and so the blessings of the everlasting Covenant be your portion I am May 21. 1680. Yours in our dear Lord Jesus SAMUEL SLATER JOH XII 26. If any man serve me let him follow me and where I am there shall also my servant be You find in the 20th verse of this Chapter mention made of certain Greeks who as we may probably conjecture through their converse with the Jews and reading the Old Testament translated into their own language had attained to some knowledg of the God of Israel and upon the Jews great Solemnities came to worship him together with them at Jerusalem Where being informed of those great things which the Lord Jesus had done and in particular of his raising up Lazarus out of the Grave they applied themselves to Philip and acquainted him with their desire to see Jesus Philip told this to Andrew and both of them told Jesus whereupon our Saviour graciously admitted them into his presence But they as it is likely having heard of his being looked upon by many as the promised Messiah and dreaming with others of a Temporal Kingdom which he should have in this world were willing to come under his Government and to list themselves in the number of his Subjects by that means hoping for Earthly preferment and advantages Our Lord Jesus therefore knowing what is in man makes it his business to correct their mistake and to set them right in their apprehensions concerning him assuring them that the hour was come in which he should be glorified yet withal intimating to them that he must first be rejected condemn'd and â—…rucified He was to fall like a corn of wheat into the ground and die but after that he should spring up again and bring forth much fruit unto the world not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles Giving them withal to understand that if they would be his Disciples they must write after the copy which he sets them and carry their comforts yea their very lives in their hands ready to lay them down whensoever they should be called thereunto This he doth in the Text and the verse preceding it In the words which I have read there are two things observable First Christs command or direction If any man serve me let him follow me Here saith Grotius he doth tacitly insinuate his being a King who hath under him Officers or Ministers of State for the management and administration of the affairs of his Kingdom and whosoever will be one of these my servants he must follow me through swords and daggers through thick and thin by the way of the Cross through self-denial and contempt of the world they must imitate his example both in his holiness and in his sufferings Secondly Here is Christs most gracious and encouraging promise Where I am that is where I am now as God and where e're long I shall be as Man in the place of highest felicity and glory there shall my servant also be as he follows me in the way so he shall be with me in the end I will not leave him nor lose him he shall not come short home Non divelletur in laetis qui adfuit in tristibus If we be joined in the troubles we will not be separated in the comforts He that did partake with me in the sorrow shall certainly share with me in the reward So the Apostle Paul likewise assures us Rom. 8. 17. If children then heirs heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ if so be that we suffer with him that we may be also glorified together It is this Promise upon which I shall raise my following Discourse The Doctrine is this Doct. Herein lies the happiness of the servants of Christ that in the same place where he is they one day shall also be Those that do now cleave to him by unfeigned Faith and embrace him by sincere love and follow him by cheerful obedience and desire him with ardent longings shall at last be with him in perfect happiness You read in 2 Cor. 5. 6. Whilest they are present in the body they are absent from the Lord. But when they are once absent from the body when their souls have got out of this crazie tottering Tabernacle when they have once put off this thred-bare worn-out garment of flesh they shall immediately be conveyed with all possible speed by the holy Angels into those blissful mansions where they shall be present with the Lord. In the handling of this most precious and comfortable Truth these things are to be done First I shall enquire what or who this Jesus Christ is
this and stick at that but comply with all my wills and do whatever I bid This David knew full well and therefore said Psal 119. 6. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respecâ—… to all thy commandments Whereas half-obedience wilâ—… certainly cause blushing and confusion at the last To follow the Lord fully was Caleb's commendation 2. Those that are Christs servants have chosen him for their Lord and Master There are a great many in the world who do some of Christs work after a fashion and would be upon that score reckoned among Christians and of the houshold of Faith who yet never made Christ their choice Nay they rise up in most desperate opposition to him and to his government both in their hearts and in the world We reaâ—… Luk. 19. 14. of some that say We will not have thiâ—… man reign over us No no any one rather than him But now every true servant of Christ chuseth him anâ—… doth most freely give up himself to him and is noâ—… only willing but also earnestly desirous that Chrisâ—… should bore his ear in token of his everlasting Dominion over him Alas poor soul he finds a comfortable alteration he hath served others and knowâ—… what a vast difference there is between Christ anâ—… them he hath now better work and kinder usage and greater hopes and more noble expectations anâ—… so is fully of the Churches mind Isa. 26. 13. O Lorâ—… our God other Lords beside thee have had dominioâ—… over us but by thee only will we make mention of thâ—… name We will own no other none to Christ none to Christ. Thirdly Those that are the servants of Christ have their hearts engaged in his work and not only their hands or their outward man Such indeed are spoken of Isa. 29. 13. Who drew near unto God with their mouths and with their lips did honour him but they had removed their hearts far from him and their fear toward him was taught by the precepts of men Those mens services God doth not accept and their persons he will not own Though they claim a relation to him and cry Lord Lord and can tell stories of their prophecying in his name and casting out Devils and doing many wondrous works yet he will profess unto them that he never knew them and command them to depart and be gone from him And what is the reason of this because he knew them to be a company of base hypocrites who were a meer complement and gave him no more than the shell and outside If you be Christs servants you rest in nothing external you will not take up in any thing unto which an hypocrite can attain Your hearts are sound in Gods statutes and do accompany all your acts of duty When you profess his name and keep his Sabbaths and seek his face and hear his Word and sit down at his Table and plead his cause your hearts are in all when you confess sin it is with a mourning heart when you beg his grace it is with a longing heart when you speak his praise it is with an enlarged heart Psal. 84. 2. My soul longeth yea even fainteth for the courts of the Lord my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God Lastly Those that are Christs servants do in all their work and duties sincerely aim at the honour and glory of Christ as the word and will of Christ is their only rule so the honour of Christ is their great and principal design and so that be accomplished they are well pleased however other things go The Apostle Paul in Rom. 16. 17 18. speaks of those which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine of the Gospel He doth not there speak against all that are offended and do divide for in some cases that is a duty and according to the Doctrine which we have received Our Reformers did no more than what they ought to do when they were offended at the Idolatries and Superstitions of Rome and divided from them And though they make a great clamour and noise about Schisms they themselves are the greatest and most notorious Schismaticks but he speaks there against those that cause divisions and offences and he commands the Romans and in them all Christians to mark them and avoid them And he gives this reason for it they serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly that which they aimed at was their private gain and advantage that they might grow rich and live splendidly and fare deliciously Now these men do not serve Christ if the belly be a mans end Christ is not his Master the same holy Apostle assures us Phil. 3. 18 19. They are enemies to the cross of Christ and if to his Cross then to his Crown whose god is their belly and who mind earthly things A real servant of Christ then is one that makes Christ his end He serves the interest of Christ and he seeks the glory of Christ and makes it his great desire study and endeavour to exalt the name and enlarge the Kingdom of Christ in the world this spirit acted Paul this was it he aimed at Phil. 1. 21. To me to live is Christ. He had his life from him and he improved and laid out his life for him And the same we find in John Baptist witness those passages of his Joh. 3. 29 30. He that hath the bride is the bridegroom but the friend of the bridegroom which standeâ—…h and heareth him rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegrooms voice This my joy therefore is fulfilled he must increase but I must decrease Now let us put all these things together He is a true servant of our dear Lord Jesus who hath chosen him for his Lord and Master doth make Christs work the business of his life and applieth to it with his whole heart sincerely aiming at his glory Having thus seen who is the Servant our next work will be to enquire concerning his preferment and in order to our better understanding of that we must consider what place that is where Christ doth reside I shall tell you in a word it is Heaven the habitation of Gods Holiness the place where his Honour dwelleth thither he took his joyful flight when he left this world which lieth in wickedness Act. 1. 11. This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven And there he now is in Glory and Majesty 1 Pet. 3. 22. Who is gone into heaven and is on the right hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him And there he is to continue Act. 3. 21. Whom the Heavens must receive until the times of the restitution of all things And it is from thence his people do joyfully expect him Phil. 3. 20. Our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that
Secondly Who are his Servants Thirdly What is that place where Christ is and what the Excellencies of it Fourthly What this being where Christ is doth import Fifthly Give you some reasons why Christs Servants shall be where he is Lastly Improve the Doctrine in a way of Application First then What or who is this Jesus Christ One might justly wonder that any in such a Congregation as this is any in such a City as London is where the Everlasting Gospel is so plentifully and powerfully preached should be grosly ignorant of Christ unless it be children lately weaned from the breast fools and mad-men or such as turn their backs on all Ordinances and live altogether as beasts in the world because without the practices of Religion But alas not withstanding those glorious beams of light and means of knowledg which God in his goodness hath so liberally vouchsafed I am afraid many among us are without the knowledg of the only true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent Though to know them as we ought to know them be of great and everlasting concernment no less than life eternal Joh. 17. 3. whom therefore some of you do ignorantly talk of him do I thus declare unto you Jesus Christ is the second Person in the Sacred Trinity the only begotten and eternal Son of God who did in the fulness of time humble himself so far as to become man being conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary having a true body and a reasonable soul and so continueth to be very God and very man in one Person for ever He is Gods most beloved Son and mans most intire friend In a ready compliance with his Fathers will and out of the abundance of his love to those his poor people whom his Father had given him he to the wonder and astonishment both of Heaven and earth was pleased to assume our nature and so to become our Brother in order to his being our Redeemer And thereupon having not only an heart but likewise a right to the work he did engage thereunto notwithstanding all foreseen difficulties cost and sorrows and so gave himself a sacrifice and his life a ransome for them The chastisement of our peace was upon him that by his stripes we might be healed Isa. 53. 5. He was made of a woman made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that we might receive the adoption of sons Gal. 4. 4 5. He died that we might live he knew no sin and yet was he made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him Upon him was the curse that upon us might be the blessing This Jesus hath taken upon himself all relations which speak affection in him and encourage confidence in his He hath undertaken all Offices that make for their advantage He is our Prophet to teach us our Priest to save us our King to rule and defend us Having humbled himself and become obedient unto death even the death of the Cross therefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name Phil. 2. 8 9. Him he hath set up as King upon his holy hill of Zion where his Throne is so sure that though the Heathen rage and the people imagine and the Kings of the earth set themselves and the Rulers take counsel together yet they cannot overturn it Psal. 45. 6. Thy throne O God is for ever and ever the scepter of thy Kingdom is a right scepter His undoubted right it is to reign in every one of our hearts He doth reign in his Church and he shall continue so to do in spite of Rome and Hell Pope and Devil with all their abettors until all his enemies be made his footstool and then cometh the end when he shall deliver up the Kingdom to God even the Father 1 Cor. 15. 24. In short Jesus Christ is Emanuel God with us God in our nature I will report of him to you as the enamoured Spouse did to the inquisitive Daughters of Jerusalem Cant. 5. when they asked her what her beloved was more than another beloved she answered He is white and ruddy the chiefest of ten thousand his mouth is most sweet yea he is altogether lovely Totus totus desiderabilis all amiable all desirable there is nothing amiss in him nothing wanting in him This my Brethren this is our Beloved this is our Friend In the next place I am to shew who are his servants those I mean unto whom he doth here promise that they shall be where he is And here I might tell you that all true believers are Christs servants who having their chains knockt of their Prison-doors opened and being delivered from the bondage of Satan and corruption do serve the Lord in righteousness and holiness Again some are Christs servants as being appointed and called to act for 〈◊〉 and his interest in some particular place or function thus Paul calleth himself a servant of Christ Gal. 1. 10. and he calls Epaphras and Tychicus his fellow-servants in the Lord Col. 1. 7. and Col. 4. 7. because they did together with him serve Christ in Preaching the Gospel and so every faithful Minister of the Word is called a servant of the Lord 2 Tim. 2. 24. The servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient But I shall speak of Christs servants in general as comprehending all holy and gracious ones and shall give you a fourfold character of them by which they may be known 1. Those that are the servants of Christ are employed and taken up about the work of Christ. If we would know whose servant any man is we may observe and consider whose work it is that he doth He that doth the work of sin is the servant of sin Rom. 6. 16. His servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness He is the servant of the Devil that doth the work of the Devil tempting men to sin or accusing and troubling the Saints in and for that which is good 1 Joh. 3. 8. He that committeth sin is of the Devil And our Saviour told the wicked Jews Joh. 8. 44. That they were of their Father the Devil and he proved it by this because the works of their Father they would do in contemning the truth and opposing Christ this is the Devils work and it is dirty work and all those who are busie in it you may easily know to whom they do belong If you see the Devil in a mans life you may safely conclude him in his heart On the other side the servants of Christ will be employed about the work of Christ they will study his mind obey his commandments follow his orders and apply to that duty which he requires of them Ye are my friends saith he Job 15. 14. If ye do what soever I commanâ—… you Not pick and chuse quarrel
mercâ—… hath raised us up together and made us sit together iâ—… heavenly places in Christ Jesus If now after all this you ask me when that blesseâ—… day shall come in which the Servants of Christ shalâ—… be with him I answer in a few words when they havâ—… finished their course and compleated that work whicâ—… God hath given them to do according to what our Saviour said Joh. 17. 4 5. I have glorified thee on thâ—… Earth and finished the work which thou gavest me to do and now O Father glorifie thou me with thine own selfâ—… And so that of Paul 2 Tim. 4. 7 8. I have fought a gooâ—… fight I have finished my course I have kept the faithâ—… henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judg shall give me at that day When Death gives its fatal stroak and breaks that union which had been between their souls and their bodies then do their enlarged and nimble souls post immediatly to Heaven making no stay by the way in â—…ome imaginary Paradise or feigned Purgatory nor do they forget themselves and continue in an idle and unprofitable sleep till the Arch-Angel's Trump awaken them but they take their direct and speedy flight â—…o the Mansions above the Palace of the Great King And then at the last day when the morning the joyâ—…ul morning of the Resurrection shall dawn their sleepâ—…ng bodies having been calcin'd and purified in the grave as in a refining-pot shall be awakened and raised out of their beds of dust and being fitted to accompany their souls in their most sublime and noble imployments shall be reunited to them and together with them made partakers of all that happiness and invested with all that beauty glory and perfection which they are capable of I have finished the Doctrinal part and shall now make some improvement of it in a way of Use. Use 1. From what hath been said wicked men may â—…ee cause to fear and tremble if the rule of contraries hold true they may from hence learn what will become of them and where their lines will fall you that have to this day lived in a state of estrangement from Christ and emnity to him you that do grieve and alway resist the Holy Ghost you that slight and reject the â—…enders of Christ that despise his grace that refuse to â—…ake his yoke upon you and submit to his government but break his bands asunder and cast away his cords â—…rom you you that hate his image instamped upon his Saints and cannot endure the power of godliness buâ—… are the servants of Sin that delight to drudg for the Devil and gratifie your base lusts whither are you going what will be the end of these things where shall you take up your everlasting abode unless you face about and steer another course doubtless with the Master whom you have chosen the Devil you will serve and to the Devil you shall go read your doom pronounced by the mouth of a despised Saviour and righteous Judg Mat. 25. 41. Depart from me ye cursed intâ—… everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels And this I will confidently tell you whatever pleasure and delight you do now find in the Devils work you shall find none in his company nor condition at the last Some of you are Desperado's stark mad and wish God to damn you know you do more than a Devil daâ—…e do and you need not do it for your damnation sleepeth not Use 2. I would exhort you all one and other to enter into Christâ—… Family and become his faithful Servants Now Now O Sinners change your Master Why should you slave for a lust why should you take pains to ruine and undo your selves what profit caâ—… you have of those things which will cause shame and sorrow and death Look to the issue of things and judge them by that He is a wise man that is so at his latter end and he is an happy man that will be so to all eternity Not he that swears and curses drinks and whores is merry and mad while he lives but he thâ—… hath hope a well-grounded hope in his death My Friends If Baal be God follow him if Sin and Satan can bestow you holding lasting everlasting happpiness cleave to them but if they cheat you and will ruine you forsake them and for certain they will do it for the wages of sin is death And I beseech you act like wise and considerate men what satisfactory reason can you give why you should not give up your selves to Christ His government is sweet his yoke is easie and his burden light His Law is the Royal Law of Liberty and his Commandments holy just and good he hath indeed a Rod of Iron but that is only for his obstinate and implacable enemies whom he will dash in pieces like a Potters Vessel as for his Subjects he rules them with a golden Scepter of righteousness and grace Come come put your hand to his plow my Soul for yours you will never repent of it he will help you at your work and comfort you in it and crown you after it Be you wise therefore before it be too late chuse him for your Prince who will be your Saviour the strength and comfort of your hearts here and your portion for ever Use 3. But I shall now direct my discourse to you that are the Servants of Christ and have given up your names and your hearts to him some things I have to desire of you and oh that I may prevail with you I am perswaded that I shall Suffer then a four-fold word of exhortation 1. While you are upon earth be industrious do as much as you can lose no time bury no talent always abound in the work of the Lord remembring that you shall not be always here nay you shall be but a little while here you must go to the place where Christ is 2. Pet. I. the Apostle tells the Saints to whom he wrote That he would not be negligent to put them in remembrance but as long as he was in this Tabernacle he would stir them up by putting them in remembrance i. e. he would be exceeding industrious And why so He gives the Reason vers 14. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle How soon you may have your Summons and remove none of you can tell your breath is in your Nostrils and may be stopt in a moment you see God doth sometimes give very short and makes a quick dispatch Oh! therefore gird up the loins of your minds ply your business and follow it close let no duty be neglected no day lost no golden season and opportunity slipt or trifled away fill up your time places and relations that so your works may be found perfect before God and when you go hence you may neither mourn nor blush but hear your Master telling you That you have been faithful in your little 2.
his death hath conquer'd it and pull'd out its sting and by the purchase of this blessed priviledg hath put sweetness into it So that though it hath a pale ghastly and frightful countenance yet it comes upon a good errand to believers and doth them a most remarkable kindness It is a dark passage to a glorious palace It closeth the eye that it may see no more trouble and when that eye is again opened it shall behold matchless glory It separates between nearest and dearest relations the Husband and Wife Parents and Children Pastor and People Soul and Body it breaks up families and turns the Body into putrefaction and a stink but it sends the Soul to Heaven Snatcheth it from friends on earth that it may go to a God above turns it out of a crazie cottage that it may dwell in a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5. 1. In a word it strips it of flesh that it may be clothed with Immortality And then in the last place 4. This may comfort us under the departure I do not call it loss of our dearest Friends and Relations and in particular under this late dispensation which hath so much of wormwood and gall in it upon the account thereof many of you are pained and grieved at the very heart There is indeed a great and dismal breach made upon you and give me leave to say he that is not affected and afflicted is too too stupid and I would wish him when he is at home seriously to consider and examine what kind of spirit he is of But as for you whose hearts do even bleed within you my advice is that you would set your Pastors gain against your own loss And let this set just bounds to your sorrow that where Christ is there is his Servant also fully satisfied with his love and likeness IT may now be rationally expected that I should expatiate in the Commendations of your deceased Pastor but I shall be short and sparing not because there is want of matter for the subject is copious but because of my Relation to him which will render me in the thoughts of some an incompetent Judge and his Encomiums in my mouth suspected And the truth is I am no great friend to Panegyricks or Funeral Orations They do not deserve to have flowers strowed upon them whose names will stink and rot when their friends havâ—… done their best and they do not need them whosâ—… Works praise them in the Gate and will do so when their Adversaries have done their worst What therefore I shall say you may take thus in short He was as I am verily perswaded a truly godly man I do not say a perfect man omnibus numeris absolutus one free from spot mistake or failing Light up candles walk thorough the world search narrowly and find me out such a person if you can But after Thirty-five years knowledge of him I dare say he was an Israelite indeed He did not mock God nor in his profession cheat man he did not personate the Saint but was one He was excellently furnished for the work of the Ministry having choice natural parts and great acquired abilities God had given him both the head and tongue of the learned He was well stored and having a door of utterance could readily bring out of his treasury good things both new and old He was a Workman that needed not to be ashamed Wheresoever he came and laboured solid and judicious Christians rejoyced in his light He was industrious and diligent in his Masters business not a loiterer but a labourer in the Vineyard one that would dig for knowledge and then sweat in scattering spiritual riches He did not think much to spend and be spent for God and his People He had so large a soul that he once craz'd his head and if he had had two bodies it would have worn them out through an earnest desire of getting and doing good He was really set for the spiritual advantage and eternal salvation of precious souls He sought the advancement of Gods Honour the enlargment of Christs Kingdom the deliverance of captivated Sinners out of the Devils clutches it was his joy to see any subjected to the Truth and walking in it His work is now finished and his race run He will Pray for you no more Preach to you no more Administer Sacraments among you no more he will advise instruct exhort reprove you no more he will mourn over you be troubled for you and grieved by you no more he will delight and rejoyce in you no more unless it be at the last day when those that were wrought upon by his Ministry shall be his joy and glory and crown of rejoycing He is now at perfect rest where Christ iâ—… and where he finds his labour was not in và in Whatever unkindnesses he met with in this world he meets with nothing but love and loveliness in that world I shall have done when I have made three Requests to you whom he hath left behind 1. Live the Sermons he preached among you let not what he preached be lost now he is dead he hath sown precious seed Oh let it root in your hearts and bring forth much fruit in your conversations It is not the Gospel heard but the Gospel believ'd and liv'd that will save you 2. Beware of all unbrotherly breaches and divisions let this breach which God hath made upon you prosper to the healing of all other breaches Keep together and walk in love and manage all things according to Scripture-rule 3. Look out for a supply Seek earnestly to God and advise with good men Labour for one sound in the faith of a gracious prudent spirit and of an exemplary life one that may happily build upon the foundation already laid and be an instrument in the hand of God to make you meet for an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Christ. FINIS