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heaven_n church_n earth_n militant_a 5,036 5 12.4963 5 true
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ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A64228 A funeral sermon occasioned by the sudden death of the Reverend Mr. Nathanael Vincent, late minister of the gospel in Southwark by Nathanael Taylor. Taylor, Nathanael, d. 1702. 1697 (1697) Wing T542; ESTC R23457 25,051 32

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Soul from Morning unto the Evening It indisposes a Man for any Duty even that of a Delightful Communion with God in Private hinders his Activity in it and quickly diverts him from it Alass they are but a few Fragments only that we can then present our God withal a few short broken Petitions that we can offer up to him and those also with much adoe ●art up a Prayer to Heaven one Minute and fetch a longer Groan the next The Sense of our pressing Evils will be like a Clog or a Weight to hinder the flight of our Souls towards Heaven check them when they are mounting and presently pull them down again When God from Morning even to Night is breaking his Bones like a Lion Isa 38.13 14. even Hezekiah himself can but Chatter like a Crane or a Swallow or mourn like a Dove O Lord I am oppressed undertake for me When the Instrument the Body is thus out of Tune and its Strings slackned or broken the most Skilful Artist can't make that Melody before the Lord as at other times he doth Besides this is a strong Temptation to Impatience to Jealousses to hard and suspicious Thoughts of God When he thus smites us the best of us betray too much of Opposition to his good Will and too strong an Affection to our own Ease Further sharp and long Bodily Pains often prove the Occasion even to Good Men of groat inward Trouble and Distresses of Soul David's Sickness often cast him into great Doubts and Fears about his Sins that God had not for given them Indeed all his Griefs springing from other causes at last did run into this Channel as any Distemper turns to the Plague in the Time of a Raging Pestilence The troubles of my Heart saith he are enlarged Ps 25.17 18. I am desolate and afflicted But what was the Reason of this he lay under Affliction and Pa●n and that ●●us'd many desponding Thoughts about the Pardon of his Sins A sudden Dispatch to a Prepared Soul is a Favour more Eligible than to be continued a long while upon such a Rack 2. The Vneasiness of taking a Solemn and Formal Eare well of Near and Dear Relations and Friends which is very unpleasant at all times but more especially in some cases As for Instance When a Good Man considers the Difficulties and the Siorms wherein he shall leave them This was the Gose of Holy David Though he had the Covenant of God 〈…〉 choice and rich Cordial at his Heart for the Support of his Fainting and Sinking Spirits yet methinks I see how the 〈◊〉 stood in the good Man's Eyes at the Thoughts of those Calamities which he foresaw were coming upon his Children after his approaching Decease And this is very plain from the Beginning and Ending of that Verse in the 2 Sam. 23.5 Although my House be not so with God yet hath he made with me an Everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure for this is all my Desire and all my Salvation although he onake it not to grow He begins the Verse with these Words Although my Non so be not so with God that is not as the light of the Morning whon the Sun riseth even a morning without Clouds as he expresses it in the beginning of the foregoing Verse but many a sad Providence will overshadow it and darken the Glory of it And then he ends the Verse with these Words Although he make it not to grow that is not to Spring as the tender Grass out of the Earth by clear shining after the Rain as he expresseth it in the latter End of that 4th Verse but my Family will wither away like the Grass of the Field when burnt up by the Heat of the Sun Hereby he evidently shows that the Distresses that were coming upon his Family made a deep Impression upon him cut him to the quick and created some very uneasie thoughts in his Mind as he lay a Dying Another Occasion wherein this taking our solemn Farewell is so very uneasse a thing is when our Friends cannot resign us up without the Indecent Workings of a Violent and Passionate Sorrow A thing that Paul himself could not bear to whom the Weeping of his Friends was more grievous than any Death that he could endure from the Hands of his most Euraged Enemies And therefore he that was Ready not to be bound only but also to dye at Jerusalem for the Name of the Lord Jesus crys out What mean ye to weep and to break my heart Act. 21.13 As tho' he could better endure the shedding of his own Blood than the pouring out of their Tears 3. The Sore Buffetings of Satan He is very busie about the Death-Beds of good Men and more especially may we suppose him ready at such a time to fall with a greater Degree of Fury and Malice upon an Eminent Minister whose Business it has been all his Life long to batter and destroy his Kingdom When such a one retreats slowly out of the Field the Enemy hath the Fairer Opportunity and being animated with Revenge will be sure to summon up all his force and draw his Bow with his full strength to shoot his most envenomed Arrows against him 'T is a Mercy to be carried away into that Heaven into which he can never enter in so swift a manner that he shall not be able to fling one of his fiery Darts after us to wound or so much as to affright us in our Passage thither For my own part on mature Deliberation I don't think it a desirable thing for a good Man who is ready to be worn away like a Stone by a long and continual Dropping May my House and Soul be in order and then the sooner it quits this Vile Body and leaves this wretched World if in the twinkling of an Eye so much the better To which there is but one Circumstance more which I should desire may be added viz. that I may dye Preaching the Everlasting Gospel or Administring the Lord's Supper May my Taper be blown out in the Sanctuary and may I presently pass in an Instant from Serving the Church Militant here on Earth to joyn with the Church Triumphant in Heaven But we must not be our own Choosers and to be sure God will dispose all things in the best manner for them that are his 5. God orders this as a Punishment to surviving Friends and Relations When he sends long Sickness he weans our Hearts from them by degrees gives us time and leisure to get our Souls into a readiness for parting with one another though even then too it is hard work for the most of us This is like digging about the Roots of a Tree loosning and preparing of it for a more easie fall But a very Sudden-Death is like the violent blowing of it down with a Whirlwind which tears up the ground along with it and makes a gap so wide that it is not easily filled up again 6.