cold Bed but really ever since Christ lodged in it it is so perfumed that we need not be afraid to lie down and sleep each one walking in his uprightness But saith he The righteous perish it is Dying Lord we perish saith the Disciples and no man lays it to heart It is the Complaint of God that we are not duly affected when he causeth a righteous Man to perish Now the dying of a Prophet is more than the perishing of a righteous Man He that gives to a Righteous Man a Cup of Water in the Name of a Righteous Man shall have a Righteous Mans reward And he that receiveth a Prophet in the Name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophets reward Shall a Prophet dye and shall not we put our heart to it O! to think such a one is removed who use to give us such Instruction such Reproof such Consolation to give Milk to Babes and strong Meat to Men that had the Tongue of the Learned to speak a word in Season to them that are weary but now we shall hear him no more nothing will drop from his Lips any more He is gone into his Bed and as to any use he can be of is perished Let us lay our hearts to it 2. If the Prophets dye and do not live you that have enjoyed their Ministry Oh! how highly doth it concern you to follow their Faith observing the end of their Conversation Hebr. 13.7 Remember them that have the rule over you who have spoken to you the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation He speaks of them that had been guides to them and had spoken the word of God but they were dead and gone the Lord had removed them and gathered them up to himself they have spoken to you the Word of God Now saith he whose Faith follow That glorious Gospel of the Blessed God that they preached to you that Faith follow and imitate it that your hearts may be established in the true Grace of the Gospel And remember bear in mind how they used to live by Faith and vigorously to act it upon the Son of God do you imitate it follow the steps of their Faith observing the end of their Conversation Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The end of their Conversation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Signifies an end accompanied with deliverance from and Conquest over Difficulties and Dangers what God hath brought them to what issue and period God hath put to them and their days observing the end of their Conversation 1 Cor. 10.13 God makes a way of escape out of temptation God delivers them from all their Sins and Sufferings wipes all Tears from their Eyes makes a good End with them Mark the perfect Man and observe the Upright the end of that Man is Peace This is your Duty And there is one thing more and that is When the Prophets dye do you take care that when the Prophets of God are admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven that you be not shut out It will be a very great Aggravation it will aggrandize your Misery to enjoy such Prophesy such Preaching and then the Prophets dye and go to Heaven when you come to dye to go to another place Luke 13.28 There shall be weeping and gnashing of Teeth when you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of heaven and you your selves thrust out O think with your selves what will be the anguish of those that perish from under such a Ministry What shall I perish now from under such a Ministry That 's one Use Have a care you be not thrust out The Prophets come and Preach the Kingdom of God to you and having the Key of Knowledge they open the Door Come say they enter the kingdom take it by violence And it may be many will neither go in themselves nor suffer others to enter in When the prophets go to heaven have a care lest you should be shut out Vse 2. Tho the Prophets dye yet the Word of God lives Remember that God will make you to remember it And your Business is to enquire what hath been the quickning and enlivening Verture and Power of the word upon your Souls We Preach the Gospel and we are not ashamed of it for it is the Power of God unto Salvation to every one that believes Hath it been productive of such a thing as Faith in your Souls that purifies the heart apprehends Christ and all that is in Christ Hath the word come with Life and Power to you and caused Life in your Souls 1 Thess 1.5 Our Gospel saith he came not in word only but in power c. Pray inquire into that And if the word of God lives tho the Minister dye then really it will be of some effect or other to you all either a savour of life unto life 2 Cor. 2.14 15 16. or of death unto death Thanks be to God that makes us to triumph The Gospel will be of some use when we are gone either a savour of life unto life or of death unto death Nay let me say this Because the Word lives tho the Prophets dye the Word of God will follow you to Judgment and there will meet you when you come up from the dead and it may be God's Prophets will be a Cloud of Witnesses against you John 12.48 He that rejecteth me and receives not my words there 's one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day The word lives till you come to Judgment and then will decide your Condition Christ will do it according to the word Vse 3. One thing more The Prophets dye I will speak one thing for your Comfort and that is Christ lives Ministers dye but Christ lives He was once dead but he is alive and lives for evermore And he lives as the great Prophet raised up by God As one said of the Prophets Who is their Father He that is the Father of Eternity Isaiah 9. He is alive Hebr. 7.23 They were not suffered to continue by reason of death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But this Man because he hath an unchangeable Priesthood lives for ever He hath an Office that doth not pass from him to another The Prophets dye Ministers dye that that is the Spring of Consolation is Christ lives He lives to reward your Faith and Perseverance You that have believed upon hearing the word of Truth the Gospel of Salvation he lives to reward that Faith and your persevering in that Faith Come hold on in Faith in Holiness in the Order and Fellowship of the Gospel that which this Servant of Christ so much desired in his going off Christ lives to reward your Constancy Receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls 1 Peter 1.9 And then that he lives too it is to give us more Prophets to raise up more Prophets for us and to make
of them that have enjoyed their Ministry You had need fear and tremble before him lest he do so by you When the Vineyard is barren God will either take away the hedge and fling it up to be a prey to the beasts of the wood else he will take away the dresser he shall no more dig and prune it no more labour shall be spent upon it no more cost and pains shall be taken with it Saith God the rain came oft upon it and it brought forth briars and thorns such are nigh unto cursing and their end is to be burnt The Prophets live not for ever God will teach you by it that your season will not always last Know your time as Christ said Job 12.35 Yet a little while is the light with you Walk while ye have the light lest darkness come upon you For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth The next step may be Hell While ye have the light believe in the light that ye may be the children of light But I will go off that and give a little account of the second and so come to the Use 2. Though the Prophets live not for ever yet the Word of God lives Do but consider a little 1. The Prophets of God use to come with their Menaces the threatning part of God's Word and though the threatning you think is always Conditional and leaves space for Repentance this made the Prophet Jonah refuse to go on his Errand I knew saith he that thou art a gracious God and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and wouldst repent thee of the evil and so I should have my Reputation stained Go and preach to Niniveh and say Yet forty days and Niniveh shall be destroyed and then God repent They will say There 's a lying Prophet Yet let me tell you when God denounceth his Judgments sometimes he puts his Oath to the Threatening swears to the matter and then it is irreversible As I live saith the Lord my heart cannot be towards this people And as the Ministry of the Prophets had a Minatory part so truly the Gospel hath Threatnings most severe ones Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is haptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Words that came out of the gracious mouth of the Son of God Hebr. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation There 's no escaping Damnation The Word of God lives The very Threatning lives Though the prophets die God will take care to make good his threatning be sure he will do it when he swears in wrath we shall never enter into his rest 2. The Word of God abides too as it comprizeth the Promises which are a declaration of God's Grace and good will towards men This was part of the Prophets Office to publish the Promise Luk. 1.69 He hath raised up an Horn of Salvation for us as he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets since the world began to perform the mercy promised to our Fathers c. So the Apostle Peter saith he The spirit of God spake by the Prophets concerning Christ his Sufferings and the Glory that should follow So the Ministers of the New Testament O how they love to Preach the New Covenant and all the Promises for the relief of distressed sinners It is the most pleasing part of their work 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the Promises of God in him in Christ are yea and in him Amen to the Glory of God by us God glorifies himself by us God glorifies his faithfulness in performing his Promises by our Ministry The Promise lives for God lives whose the Promise is He cannot lye nor cannot change He shews by it the Immutability of his Counsel that the heirs of Salvation may have strong consolation God's Prophets and Ministers they die but the Word dispensed by them that lives it hath its fulfillment Our work is to declare the whole counsel of God to you that concerns your Salvation and God doth cause his Prophets to stand in his Covenant and the secrets of God are with them Saith the Apostle Acts 20. I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God and have kept back nothing that was profitable for you Preaching Repentance towards God and Faith towards the Lord Jesus His Counsel shall stand You shall see my face no more saith he to them verse 38. But this whole Counsel of God which I have declared shall be fulfilled and there is no Person no Churches that do reject the Counsel of God but it is against themselves i. e. to their own ruin Luke 7.30 The Word of God lives the Prophets dye but the Word of God lives The Word of God dispensed by us is as seed sown though it seem to dye under the Clods yet it will live again the Lord gives it a Body or rather a Spirit And so l Peter 1.23 Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever In all Productions there is some Seed out of which the Creature is brought forth so it is in the new Creature Born of the incorruptible seed the word which we Preach to you and this Word lives and abides for ever and if it be turned into a vital Principle in your Souls that will abide too it will be the Seed of God that remains And though in our sowing we go forth with precious Seed we wish it might alike prosper but we do not always meet with good Ground that which falls into good Ground by the blessing of God brings forth Fruit some more and some less The Word of God lives the Prophets dye the Ministers of Christ dye but their Word lives and will take place Now I would make some Application The Prophets do they live for ever No they do not live for ever they are Mortal and Frail they dye sooner than other Men their Labours are great and that they do not live for ever I would have you make these two or three Uses of it 1. Think with your selves God's Prophets and Ministers dye It becomes us to have our hearts affected with it to put our hearts to this matter Isaiah 57.1 The righteous perish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to perish here is to dye he is taken away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In unum collegere He is gathered to his Fathers and no Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ponens super Cor. 1. qui caret Schindler and no man lays it to heart The Lord will take notice how you are affected this day for this Prophet The righteous perish 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 he shall enter into peace Blessed be God for that Admission into Peace God hath given his Servant He shall enter into peace they shall rest in there beds the Grave is a
some able Ministers of the New Testament And truely they are only of Christ's making We have no sufficiency of our selves for this Work He gives Pastors and Teachers for the Work of the Ministry He is ascended for it And I would all that meddle with that Work were of his giving Amos 2.11 I raised up of your sons for Prophets I raised them up He is alive He can raise up Prophets for you he can raise up your Sons to be Prophets I have now but a little more to say As for our Honoured and Beloved Brother fallen asleep in Jesus A great man is fallen in our Israel a Prophet yea more than a Prophet an able Minister of the New Testament 2 Cor. 4.4 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Consider him as to his knowledg in the Mystery of Christ and it was rich and great God had so divinely irradiated his Mind and Heart by giving him the knowledg of his Glory in the Face of Christ that he was well able to Preach the unsearchable Riches of Christ to the Gentiles and to make all Men see what is the Fellowship of this Mystery You that knew him understood his knowledg in that Mystery As to his way of Preaching though it seemed less methodical yet truely when I have sometimes considered it it hath appeared to me at least Apostolical Primitive and Divine He knew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So to speak as Acts 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That a great multitude believed and his words being mostly those of the Holy Ghost they had a quick and penetrating Power and Efficacy with them So that in his Ministry he was wont to commend himself to the conscience of every one before God His Bow abode in strength 2 Cor. 4.2 and his Hands were made strong by the Hands of the Mighty God of Jacob. His Arrows sharp in the hearts of the Kings Enemies whereby the People fell under Christ As to the discharge of his Ministry he was much in Labours and Indefatigable If it might not be an Offence I think I might almost say He laboured more than us all He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 5.17 and therefore hath Honour double honour and that from above He did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 labour much and in many things and not in vain He did not labour in vain nor spend his strength for nought for he had great success Christ had chosen him to be a Vessel to bear his Name and he brought forth Fruit that remained which shall be his Joy and Crown of rejoycing in the day of Christ In the House of God he knew how to behave himself and was faithful to him that appointed him and therefore had Honour And though sometimes he might seem to have too much of the Spirit and Power of Elias with him yet it was tempered with the sweetness and gentleness of the Gospel His Affection to the House of God was such that the Zeal of it eat him up And there was no greater rejoycing to him than to see Persons walk according to the Constitution Frame and Order of Christ in the New Testament Nothing more afflicting than to see any turn aside to crooked Paths As for his Conversation it was holy it was heavenly His 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Citizenship was in Heaven Phil. 3.20 from whence he looked for a Saviour So that the Character that is proper to a Bishop of the New Testament was found with him 1 Tim. 3. He was blameless vigilant sober of good behaviour given to hospitality apt to teach His Conversation was a continual teaching Pray do you observe the end of it And as for his Sufferings they did nothing move him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Apostle Acts 20.24 I make not a word of these things Bonds and afflictions abide me in every place but none of these things move me I do not make a word of them He was set for the Apology and Defence of the Gospel And as in the Course of his Ministry I speak as one intimately acquainted with him as in the Course of his Ministry he had the spirit of Power Love and a sound Mind so in his Afflictions and Persecutions the spirit of God and Glory did rest upon him To sum up all You that were inwardly acquainted with him you fully knew his Doctrine a Tim. 3.10 11. You have fully known his Doctrine manner of life purpose faith long-suffering charity patience persecution afflictions But out of them all the Lord hath delivered him But you will say What was the reason of God's dark and severe dispensation towards him in his latter days Truly I am not in God's stead to give you an account of his matters the Lord doth save men upon the point of Soveraign Grace and God doth exercise the same dominion in his Providence and sometimes will laugh at the very trial of the Innocent His ways and judgments even towards his own are unsearchable and past finding out Let us sanctifie the Lord God of Hosts in our hearts and fear before him Phil. 3.10 That I may know the fellowship of his sufferings The Apostle discerned that the sufferings of Christ were attended with desertion and darkness My God my God why hast thou forsaken me And for a time that Man so dear to his Father being his Eternal Son yet he had lost that joy and delectation which the fruition of God and the fulness of Grace was wont to afford him It may be thus with his Ministers and if it be they have but a fellowship with him in his sufferings But now blessed be God that the Sun brake out of the Cloud God did not let him die in the dark but brought his soul to peace and rest and to a rejoycing in God's Eternal love to him The Sun of Righteousness did arise before he gave up the Ghost The Sun of Righteousness did arise upon him with healing under his wings that gave him an abundant entrance into the Heavenly Kingdom Christ hath shewed all his dealings with him for several years not all springing from a Divine hand but natural causes as Hypocondria c. yet he hath shewed that they were such as were consistent with the Eternal Love of God to make him partaker of his Holiness and Christ having loved him as his own and loved him to the end to Perfection has loved him into Glory There we leave him till the Blessed Glorious Resurrection VERSES upon the Death of the Reverend Brother Mr. FRANCIS HOLCROFT Pastor of the Church in Cambridgeshire Who Died at Triplow in Cambridgeshire on January 1691 2. HE none of the Minor Prophets was he 's dead This Age saw not a better hearted-head Prophet die must Zech. 1.5 his Preaching that takes hold Of thousand hearts the fruit's a hundred fold Round all the Coasts of Cambridge where ye come Rom. 15.19 You 'l hear of'sTrophies to Illyricum Satan in 's seat sang with his Antick Chore