Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A96940
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The servant doing, and the Lord blessing. A sermon preached at the funeral of the right honorable Richard Pepys, Lord Chief Justice of the upper bench in Ireland. Who deceased 2. Ianuary anno 1658. By Edward Worth D.D.
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Worth, Edward.
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1659
(1659)
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Wing W3619; Thomason E974_3; ESTC R207667
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15,516
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39
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The Servant doing AND THE Lord Blessing A SERMON preached at the Funeral of the Right honorable Richard Pepys Lord Chief Justice of the upper Bench in IRELAND Who deceased 2. Ianuary Anno 1658. By Edward Worth D. D. Psalm 82. 6 7. I have said Ye are Gods But ye shall dy like Men c. Dublin Printed by William Bladen Anno Dom. 1659. To the Right Honorable JOHN THVRLOE Esq Principal Secretary of State to his Highness the Lord Protector of England Scotland Ireland and the Dominions thereto belonging May it please your Honor CVstom hath made it usual if not necessary on the new year to offer some signal of duty Nothing of mine is worthy acceptance but the engagement of Christ to reward wise and faithfull service is though transcrib'd by a hand not onely vveak but defective On this account as an acknovvledgment of many debts vvherein I stand bound to your Honor I presume on this Dedication or rather Oblation Sir This Sermon vvas a child of obedience to his Excellency's and the Council's Order at its first birth entertain'd like children vvith regard or not as love is borne or not borne to the parents and novv layd open to publick vievv because the face gives clearer evidence than the voice and the eye a faithfuller verdict than the ear Though its subject matter needs not to seek a Patron for Magna est Veritas vvho can do ought eventually against the Truth yet the author having tasted the bitterness of persecution by both the extreams and observing the same Spirit though in new cloaths attempting to act still presumes to publish it which is now charged as his great crime and to present it to your Honor whom the World knovvs too just to acquit the nocent and too charitable to condemn the innocent and whom the Author confesseth his no less good than great friend pardon the expression and therefore is glad of any occasion solemnly to profess himself Right Honorable Your Honors in the best duty as obliged so devoted servant Edw. Worth JVstitia manet in aeternum quidni Justitiae vindex Tanta etenim fuit Pepys probitas eaque apud bonos aestimatio ut vix opus erat acrioris eloquentiae myrrhâ famam ejus condire Worthius tamen alter Arimathaeus non solùm purioris eloquii sindone beatum Antistitem volvebat sed vel è suggesto detonans spirabat balsamum aromata Quae ut difflentur latiùs sciaturque quà m amabilis fuerat Pepys quà m amavit eum Worthius Imprimatur Funebris Oratio ad exequias Clarissimi defuncti habita utpote quae nihil Fidei Orthodoxae bonis moribus aut Imperio nunc florenti adversum teneat Guil. Petty Cler. Concilii Datum ex Camerâ Concilii Febr. 21. 1658. Matth. 24. 46. Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing CHAP. I. The Coherence THe Text and the Gloss the Word and the Work of God § 1 in this instance sounds a Parade v. 44 Be ye ready Calls to the Watch v. 42. VVatch. This Watch consists in the exercised act of Christian Wisdom over our selves to our work and for our end The first is the Main-Guard the other two By-Guards 1. we must watch over our selves First Look to our Cinque Ports at every sense set a Centinel Secondly Give the Allarm when the Enemy appears even at a distance Thirdly Open freely to our friends the motions of the good Spirit Fourthly Examine all comers whence they are from God or the Devil whether they go to Heaven or Hell and what is their business Sin or Grace 2. We must watch to our work take heed how we hear fast give alms watch unto prayer with all perseverance This duty like bloud should run through every vein 3. We must watch for our end for the day of the Lord 's coming In the Orders here given this last watch seems most especially concerned VVatch. But drowsie Man will not easily be brought § 2 to this watch or kept on it by sense of duty Christ therefore allarms us with expresses of danger That day of the Lord is like the Basilisk slain if prevented slaying if it unseen surprize us VVatch therefore watch This conclusive particle therefore referrs § 3 to the premisses wherein we find a large description of the VVorlds Funeral Those of the highest rank are first in Mourning v. 29. The Sun shall be darkened the Moon shall not give her light the stars shall fall and the powers of Heaven shall be shaken The Sun shall be darkened That eye of the world as one says shall as it were weep it self blind The Moon shall not give its light A new Moon and a strange Change not recovering but losing light The stars shall fall God shall as it were cast those spent candles out of their sockets In a word the Ecclipse shall be universal even sky-color dy'd sable and therefore all things covered with blacks The sadness of which covering will be so much the more sad and dreadfull by how much the day of that change and time of that day is more uncertain more sudden and less expected The uncertainty is declared v. 36. Of that day and hour knoweth no man no not the Angels of heaven but my Father onely The suddeness and inexpectancie v. 37 38 c. As it was in the days of Noah so shall the coming of the Son of Man be And those aggravations which thus lead the Van to this VVatch do in like manner bring up the Rear The day of the Lord and the time of that day is uncertain v. 42. Sudden and unexpected v. 44. First the time of that day is uncertain v. § 4 42. Ye know not the hour when your Lord cometh The Apostles were the Lord's Embassadours 2 Cor. 1. 20. extraordinary on Earth The Angels are the Lord's Officers of State in Heaven Christ is the Lord's Lievtenant in Heaven and Earth all power is committed to him yet the Apostles Matt. 28. 18. the Angels Christ himself as man knew not the time of that day And is it not the highest presumption to arrogate to our selves the knowledge of that which the Apostles the Angels Christ as man knew not is not this next to that of the old Serpent to our first Parents Ye shall be as Gods knowing God 3. Gen. 5. hath made us his Steward 's not his Secretaries he therefore that pries into his Cabinet will prove more bold then welcome What the good God hath not made known the wise God knows is not good for us to know So in this instance knew men that day afarr off 't would make them delay the work of Repentance knew they it nigh at hand 't would make them distrust the truth of Repentance least arising from fear not love Knew they it afar off 't would tempt to presumption knew they it nigh at hand 't would tempt to dejectedness both wayes tend to destroy Society and hinder
a Command that thou mayest eat thou must sweat which way soever we consider it these two are inseparably joyned sweating or working and eating Cain and Abel were Heirs apparant to the whole Earth yet the one a tiller of the ground the other a feeder of Cattle And Christ himself was Lord both of Heaven and Earth yet is he called not onely the Carpenters Son but the Carpenter It seems before he entered into Mark 6. 5. his publick Ministery he wrought at that Trade Though all Gentlemen are not bound to be Tradesmen yet all are the Lord's Servants and therefore bound in one kind or other in Church or State to do the Lord Service First Nothing is next to evil therefore the § 2 next way to do evil is to do nothing When the Devil finds the House empty swept and garnished 12. Mat. 44. he enters with seven worse Devils an House emptied by Idleness and garnished by Pride is as it were swept for the Devil It is therefore good advice to be still so emptyed that when the Devil tempts us to Sin we may be able to answer that we are not at leasure we have somewhat else to do Davids Idleness made way for Adultery Murther Blasphemy Secondly Even not doing provoketh God's § 3 wrath The evil Servant in the Gospell did 19. Luk. 20. not riotously mispend his Talent but wrapt it up and for that reason was rejected the Tree cut down as cumbring the ground not for 13. Luk. 7. bringing forth evil fruit but for not bringing forth good And that dreadful sentence depart ye cursed c. is grounded on Sins of omission 25. Mat. 4. not feeding not cloathing not visiting not doing Thirdly Our time of doing service for God § 4 is one of our moveables yea bonum periturum But by well-doing we shall make that fix'd which is fluide and settle that in effect with us which in it self flyeth from us Fourthly the Time of our doing is but short § 5 measured by a day an hour part of a day a moment part of an hour I cannot but weep sayes one when my Hour-Glass stands by me and I consider how slowly my work goeth on and how fast my time goes as fast as one grain of sand followeth another Subduct the time of Infancy Dotage and Sleep which are times of not doing the time spent in Sin which is ill doing and the time requisite for supply of the necessityes of Nature which is besides our main business that we are to do and how little time remains for us to do service for God Fifthly A great part of our short time is already § 6 mispent It may be we have lived 20. 30 or 40. years and what have we done for God all this time it concernes us now to make the best improvement of our Old Lease and to do much in that little time which remains Sixthly On this short time of doing hangs Eternity § 7 What time is Lost now will be Lost for ever doth it not then concern us to do that well which being once well-done will make us Men more then Men Angels more then Angels for ever doth it not corcern us so to imploy our time that we may eternally rejoyce so to have imployed it doth it not concern us to be doing and so doing that when the Lord cometh he may find us so doing CHAP. IIII. The manner of Our Work So run So fight So do One blemish in the § 1 face is enough to make it deformed One flaw in the grant invalid Malum ex quolibet defectu If the manner of doing be defective a great part yea the better part is wanting and therefore a deed done is in Gods account a deed not done where the manner of the doing answers not the matter of the deed 1. Cor. 11. 20. This is not to eat the Lord's-Supper Alas how many of these few good deeds which we score up to our selves to have done how many will shrink like Gideons Army at the great day of reckoning and prove good deeds not done Sermons not heard prayers not made Sacraments not received Almes not given in a word good deeds not done because not done in a right manner because not so done So referrs to the verse precedent and thence § 2 borrows light to discover its emphasis So i. e. faithfully wisely justly 1. The Lords servants must be faithfull in doing faithfull in Divinity and faithfull in morality faithfull in head and in heart as faithfulness is opposed to unsoundness in principles or heresie and as opposed to unsoundnes in practice or hypocrisie First as faithfulness is opposed to heresie All sin is damnable yet we find not this epithete in such sort affixed to any as heresie damnable heresie The leprosie 2 Peter 2. 1. of the head was under the Law reputed the worst Errors of judgment are not under the Gospel the least They are works of the flesh Galat. 5. 20 and shut out of heaven and if this be no little punishment neither are heresies peccadilloes or little sins The Lords faithfull servants hold fast the form of sound words in faith and contend 2 Tim. 1. 13. earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Jude 3. Saints Once delivered as Christ once died A new Creed supposes a new God and new Gods prove Old Devils New faiths old heresies The Lords servants must be faithfull as faithfulness is opposed to heresie And 2. As faithfulness is opposed to hypocrisy Hypocrites § 3 are the Devils first born Heirs to hell as their portion the portion of Hypocrites But sincerity is Christian perfection VValk before me and be thou perfect Compleatness is required in the Law sincerenefs accepted in the Gospell Gen. 17. 1. And where this is seen in Gods Servant even gross sins are past by unseen as in Asa 2. The Lords servants must be wise in doing § 4 service Wisdom is usually defined Scientia operandorum distributed into Ecclesiastical and Civil But the wisdom here spoken of is of another nature or rather Wisdom above nature VVisdom from above Not onely that Jam. 3. 17. auriga virtutum without which virtue is not virtue but sin even zeal without knowledg is but like fire in the thatch like swift horses without a skilfull wagoner But that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that complex of all virtue discovering to our cost the right mark happiness and directing the right ground and byas holiness This is Summa Summarum in one word Religion Be Psa 2. 10 11. 12. Eph. 3. 15. wise Serve the Lord. Kiss the Son Let us walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise Though this faithfulness and wisdom be § 5 necessarily required in all the Lords Servants yet more especially in them whom he hath made Stewards or Rulers over his houshold Many things are here considerable 1. Rule and Religion are not inconsistent Though Lazarus had been a begger yet Abraham in whose