Suffer little Children to come unto me and from observing how prevalent faith and Prayer is with God for the remission of sins and salvation of others as well as our own souls Math. 9. 2. Jesus seeing their faith said Son be of good cheer thy sins be forgiven thee So 1 Joh. 5. 16. If a man see his Brother sin a sin which is not unto death he shall ask of God and he shall give him life Now I Considered that though my child had sins incident to Childhood yet it had not sinned the sin unto death and therefore I concluded that if I asked of God he would give it life Jam. 5. 15. The Prayer of faith shall save the sick and if he hath commited sins they shall be forgiven him Math. 15. 22 28. The woman of Canaan's faith and Prayer availed with Christ for the Casting the Devil out of her daughter Now God helping me to act faith for my child upon the account of his covenant and stiring me by his Spirit often to pray for my Child I was thereby encouraged to hope for its Salvation When my Child died the same day the small Pox began to appear upon my Sister I knew not what breaches God might be about to make in my family but as I was hearing the word the Ministers treating on Gods intention to glorifie himself by all afflictions that he laid upon his people from that Scripture Isa 5. 15 16. this word Satisfied me that whatever judgments God should bring upon me or my family he would exalt and glorifie his own Name by them hereupon I submitted and resigned up my self to God to do with me and mine what he pleased Yet I was then under the sense of sin which weakned my faith and made me fearful I should not bear up chearfully if I should be visited while under the sense of guilt But I was much encouraged in meditation from Mic. 7. 8 9. When I sit in darkness the Lord will be a light unto me This faith they held when their affliction was attended with the sense of sin for it followeth I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him I was also much encouraged by viewing the promises that I had collected to comfort my self with when I was in danger of contagious diseases Especially those two viz Ps 41. 12. As for me thou settest me before thy face for ever and this was when under an evil disease v. 8 which was the fruit of his sin ver 4. and Ps 38. 5 7. My wounds stink and are corrupt my loyns are filled with a loathsome disease c. though in this visitation he was afflicted with the sense of sin and of Gods displeasure v. 1 2 3 4 and was deprived of the Comfortable Society of his relations and friends v. 11. yet he kept up his hope in God v. 15. In a little time after I had the sense of guilt taken off while I was studying my Sermon to remove the fears of Death Jun. 12. As I was reading Act. 6. in my Evening course by my self I observed by comparing ver 4. 7. that upon the Apostles giving themselves Continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word the number of the disciples encreased greatly in Jerusalem and a great company of the Priests were obedient to the faith I was instructed and affected with it and saw it was necessary I should pray much as well as Preach much if I would convert many Souls and that upon giving my self to prayer and to the ministry of the word I was in the most likely way to convert many Souls to Christ The Priests were the chiefest opposers of the Gospel Act. 4. 1 2. the chiefest persecuters of Christ Math. 16. 21. and 20 18. the most active in putting Christ to death Mar. 15. 10 11. Luk. 19. 47. the multitude that came to apprehend Christ were sent by the Priests Joh. 18. 3. the false witnesses were suborned by the Priests Math 26. 59. yet by the power of prayer and the word these Priests were brought in by great numbers to the faith of Christ and the obedience of the Gosple Jun. 25. about three of the Clock in the morning being Lords day my Wife was delivered of a Daughter and that morning the Lord sent a very plentiful rain The Tuesday before we kept a day of humiliation for my Wifes safe delivery and to seek the Lord for rain and the Lord gave a gracious answer to the prayers of that day both at one time Jul. 31. I saw the plague of my heart breaking out I argued against my corruption yet it overcame me and led me captive it wounded me that I should still sin against God even while under his Correcting hand My faith was revived by that Scripture Isa 57. 17 18. I Smote him he went on frowardly in the way of his own heart I have seen his ways and will heal him I was much encouraged from that word I will heal him which imports the Subduing as well as the pardoning of sin Aug. 2. I was encouraged to write something that might be useful for my generation from Jer. 36. 1 2 3 4 5. Two things especially from that Scripture did put me forward to this 1. writing of the word of God is a means to Convert souls and to lead them to repentance 2. this Command for writing was given when Jeremiah was shut up and could not preach as usually and such was my case viz I was debarred from publick preaching hereupon I apprehended God called me to write Sept. 6. Being fast day As I came from Church I received a letter from Mr. J. which acquainted me that my Son Samuel was very ill that day I spent somewhat unprofitably I was not affected as I ought with publick judgments and the misery of others and therefore it was just with God to bring affliction into my family the next day my Wife and I went over to see our Child and after we had been with it about five or six hours it died very suddenly I was troubled that I did not pray with it before it died which was occasioned by being in anothers family and my not apprehending death to be near This stroak coming soon after my removal from Colchester I communed with my heart whether I had sinned in removing from that place and my conscience did not at that time charge me with sin in removing my habitation I was Comforted in calling to mind Gods dealing with Jacob who met with many afflictions in those removes which he made at the command of God He was pursued by his Uncle put into great fear by his Brother loseth Deborah his Mothers nurse and Rachel his beloved Wife His Sons Reuben Simeon and Levi fell into foul sins c. Hence I saw that God trieth his dear Servants with sudden and sore afflictions in those places to which they have removed at the call of God Sept. 24. I enjoyed the opportunity
disunion and Separation of the Soul from the body so our spiritual life results from the Souls Union with Christ and spiritual death is our separation from him Now I feel my self as a poor withered branch cut off from this Vine unacquainted with the actings of this Spiritual life as living by faith Serving God in Spirit Mortifying Sin by the Spirit walking in the Spirit loving God above all things and seeking his Glory in all things I have sometimes Prayed against sin resolving against it striven with it avoided occasions thereto all which a natural man may do but sin hath returned upon me and overcome me How to fetch power from Christs death to mortifie sin how to believe in God for subduing it how to do it by the Spirit these have been mysteries to me Lord When shall the day dawn and the Day-Star arise in my heart When shall the Day-spring from on high visit my Soul to give light to him that sits in darkness and in the shadow of death Come Lord Jesus thou light of life Come quickly That which kept me a long time from resolving to give up my whole heart to God in Covenant was a fear that I should break my Covenant and so double my sin But I perceive since that this was but Satans policy to keep my heart from God and the true ground of my not doing this was not conscienciousness of sin as Satan once made me believe but a loathness to part with all sin and to serve God with all my heart A Strong encouragement thou hast O my Soul to enter Covenant with God to serve him with thy whole heart from that portion of his Word which thou didst read this morning May. 11. 1654. in Jer. 30. 21 22. Who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me saith the Lord Ye shall be my people and I will be your God Since my Covenanting with God I come to see more fully the truth of that place Rom. 8. 7. The carnal mind is enmity against God is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be For I find a Loathness to walk closely with God yea under a profession of Religion my carnal heart hath been at enmity to the power and life of it and this enmity hath lyen hid under and been covered with a performance of some duties which have not been destructive to that evil principle that hath lived in me Yea I find my carnal heart is hungring after the flesh-pots of Egypt after its old delights and sinful pleasures is ready to murmur against God in the wilderness and speaks of returning into Egypt and being impatient of the cross it revolts from God many a time and seeks relief and contentment from the creature Since my Covenanting with God I see more of thee treachery and hypocrisie of my heart I found my Soul for a while more tender of Sin and my heart seemingly engaged to serve the Lord. but I soon forgot the covenant that I had made and in a short space I did not find that my Covenanting had any influence on my heart or life So that I see I did but flatter the Lord with my mouth and lyed unto him with my tongue for my heart was not right with him neither was I stedfast in his Covenant Ps 78. 36 37. My unstedfastness in my Covenant with the Lord did arise as far as I perceive from these two grounds 1. My heart was not right with God when I made it there was not that inward cordial full resolution to part with all Sin and that for ever from an antipathy to it and dislike of it neither that inward resolution of cleaving to God to have him my All in All to take all my contentment and joy in him and to seek it in nothing else which should have been 2. I neglected my watch and did not as I should renew my Covenant often and engage my heart to walk with God and while I was slothful and negligent my heart was stolen away by the Devil and the World and is now in league again with Sin Lord make me upright and clear up to me my Sincerity Search me and try me and let me know the bottom of my heart Keep me upon my watch and guard that I may keep my Covenant Jul. 23. The Lord did awaken my Consience to such a sense of my sin and lost estate in the reading and hearing of his Word that when I went to Prayer I was before him as a lost creature being under wrath and the sentence of death lying in my blood and pollution Now whereas before I found my heart carried out in begging Sanctification I did now cry to God for the blood of Christ to wash away the guilt of my sin I did not before prize Justifying Grace so as now in some weak measure I was made to doe But I soon found an accursed hard heart in a little time I did not tremble at the wrath of God I have laboured to work these convictions upon my heart but I found such a roving heart such a slighty heart so possest with vanity that nothing would abide with it Lord unless thou savest me for thy mercies sake I perish Aug. 6. being Sabbath day In meditation on 1 Joh. 3. 23. This is his commandment that we should believe on the Name of his Son Jesus Christ Considering with my self what this did imply viz. not only a relying upon God in Christ for the remission of Sin but for the pouring out of the Spirit Joh. 7. 38 39. which Spirit when it is given will shed abroad the love of God in our hearts Rom. 5. 5. and seal up the assurance of the remission of our sins and witness our addoption Rom. 8 16. will mortifie sin in us v. 13. and work all the works of God in us and for us all which I want and to which I haven been a long time convinced that I am unable And Considering further that this Spirit is the free gift of God Ps 51. 12. given not according to our works but of free mercy for the sake of Christ Tit. 3. 4. 5 6. And considering further that Jesus Christ had received Gifts of which the Gift of the Spirit is intended even for the rebellious that God might dwell among them Ps 68. 18. I found my heart encouraged to wait upon the Lord for the pouring forth of his Spirit upon me that I might have my heart renewed and sanctified and the remission of my sins sealed up to my Soul Afterwards considering further that the way whereby a poor soul that hath lost Gods image comes to be renewed in heart and mind and made partaker of the divine nature is by faith in the promises 2 Pet. 1. 4. and observing how Isaac who inherits the blessing was not born by the strength of Nature but by promise and as Isaac was born through the promise so are all believers Gal. 4. 28. not of the will of man
word Ps 119. 165. Great peace have they that love thy Law He received the spirit which is of God and knew the things that were freely given to him of God and rejoyced therein 1 Cor. 2. 12. As to his Conversion which to some that have lived long in ignorance security sensuality prophaness and forgetfulness of God is very Sensible He being from tender years restrained and well inclined It was not so remarkable to him The most discernible part thereof was when he was a young Scollar in Cambridge Nor did he then experience very notable workings of the Spirit of bondage Which occasioned some trouble to his mind and he feared his humiliation was not deep enough but he received full satisfaction from a passage in a sermon which he heard preached by that Worthy and Excellent Servant of Jesus Christ Mr. Richard Vines then Master of Pembrooke Hall He hath sometimes said to his Friend that he was not much acquainted with those ravishing joys which some have felt but yet had that comfort and joy in the Holy Ghost which gave him satisfaction His method and manner was to derive his assurance and comfort from the written word Of the truth whereof he would say he had such a full persuasion as being the sure word of God that he did more firmly believe it than if an Angel should speak to him from Heaven according to 2 Pet. 1. 17 18 19 20 21. He could not satisfie himself with the expectation or apprehension of the immediate sole testimony of the Spirit without the word But would compare himself with the word frequently practising the duty of self examination Searching for those graces dispositions and operations in his heart which are promised in the word and to which the promises are made Which the Spirit of God enlightned him to discern and enabled him in a way of argumentation to infer thence his interest in Christ and the Covenant of God for his satisfaction and Spiritual Consolation And the Assurance which he attained in this method and by these means he thus Recordeth His Evidences 1. Evidences of true and Saving Faith After my recovery from a Sickness I set my self to examin and prove my faith to see if it were true and saving Because pardon of sin freedom from Condemnation eternal life with other great blessings are promised to Beleevers And much of our comfort in Sickness and health in life and death dependeth on the knowledge and proof of our faith and that I did believe in Christ with a true and Saving faith I was satisfied thus 1. From those expressions of Scripture wherein the nature and essential acts of faith are set forth as 1. Coming to Christ Joh. 6. 35. He that cometh he that believeth on me Coming is believing My Conscience bears me Witness that I am coming to Christ for Christ himself and all his benefits I sind my Soul drawn to Christ and upon all occasions looking and going to him 2. Receiving Joh. 1. 12. As many as received him even as many as believed on his Name Receiving is believing Now through grace I find my heart willingly receiving and thankfully accepting Jesus Christ as God offers him in the Gospel even an whole Christ Christ in all his offices to be to me Prophet Priest and King 3 Trusting Eph. 1. 13. In whom ye trusted ye beleived Trusting is believing This also I find that God hath given me an heart to rely on Christ for Righteousness grace and life 2 From the ground of my faith which is the word of God It is through my knowledge and acquaintance with the word that I have been brought to believe in Christ and through Christ in the Father that sent him And I read such as believe through the word are true believers for whom Christ maketh intercession Joh. 17. 20. and who have everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation Joh. 5. 24. 3 From this property and effect of faith viz. Prizing Christ 1 Pet. 2. 7. Unto you that believe Christ 't is precious The Apostle speaks of the faith of Gods elect ch 1. 2. and of saving faith ch 1. 9. Now I find Christ is precious to me so precious to my Soul that I value and prefer him above the whole world I account his blood precious which cleanseth me from all sin The promises exceeding great and precious which in him are yea and Amen Christ is so precious to me that I am willing to suffer for him Phil. 1. 29. yea I choose a suffering condition for Christ before the honours Riches and pleasures of the world when they cannot be enjoyed without sinning against Him Heb. 11. 24 25 26. I am willing to take up the Cross and forsake all things for him Evidences that I was one of Gods Servants Sept. 30. 1666. I considered with my self what evidence I had that I was one of Gods Servants and was satisfied from these Scriptures Rom. 6. 16. Know ye not that to whom ye yield your selves Servants to obey his Servants ye are to whom ye obey whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto Righteousness I find God hath given me an heart to yield my self to Him Nehem. 1. 11. O Lord I beseech thee Let now thine ears be attentive to the prayer of thy Servant and to the prayer of thy Servants that desire to fear thy Name Here I saw that such as desire to fear God are accounted Gods servants Which through grace I do Some doubtings arose in my heart whether I was one of Gods Servants because it is said Joh. 8. 34. Verily Verily I say unto you that whosoever Committeth sin is the Servant of sin For removing this doubt I considered 1. That the meaning of this Scripture is not that no man that hath sin in his heart or doth sin in his life can be Gods Servant but is a Servant of sin for then God should have no Servants upon the face of the Earth Eccl. 7. 20. There is not a just man upon Earth that doth good and sinneth not Joh. 1. 8. If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 2. It is said that the Servants of Sin are free from righteousness Rom. 6. 20. Now through mercy I follow after righteousness and find something of it whence I concluded I was not the servant of Sin 3. I saw that David held this conclusion that he was one of Gods Servants though he was compassed about with infirmities yea even at such time as he was under a sense of his sinful infirmities Ps 116. 11 16. O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant yet he had said in his haste unbelievingly All men are liars David after he had committed the great sin of Numbering the people against the Counsel and Advice of his friends Confessed that he had sinned greatly and done very foolishly yet calleth himself a Servant of the Lord 2 Sam. 24. 10. 4. As I was Considering
cure of the fear of Death All which he well understood not only by Speculation but by Experience He who had gained the best Interest and could upon good ground say My Beloved is mine and I am his He who aimed at the best End and industriously pursued it viz. the Glory of God was doubtless so fortified with the grace Consolation and Covenant of God as to triumph over the King of Terrors Having the testimony of his Conscience that in Integrity and Sincerity of heart he had fulfilled his general and particular calling and served his generation by the will of God and having the assurance of Gods Holy Word for his reward in a better World It was no difficulty to him to die He was so far above the fear of Death that he seemed altogether unconcerned at it as to the terror of it or danger after it both in sickness and in health In his perfect health Considering the evil of the day he lived in he would often say It is a good time to die I am content to live and willing to die To me to live is Christ I have no other design of life then to serve Christ He breathed out with Greg Turon Domine siad huc Populo tuo sim necessarius fiat Voluntas tua Desidero quietem non recuso laborem If God hath further Service for me to do I am content to live else I rather choose to die Such clear apprehensions he had of the Glory of Heaven and such full assurance of hope thereof that as he expressed himself to his Friend he looked upon all that this world can afford as dross and dung compared with it As death was not terrible so neither was it unexpected to him He presaged it long before it came He told his Friend conversing with him more than a year before he died that he had apprehensions that he should not long live and that for some time past God had inclined his heart to study how a Christian might get above the fear of death And what he found to be his strength and Consolation against that last enemy he had digested into method and for his own and others use Committed it to writing and had almost finished it and did then lay an obligation upon his friend in case he did Survive him to perform the last office for him and commended to him for his Subject 1 Cor. 15. 57. as the testimony of his affectionate and hearty thanksgiving unto God who gave him the Victory over the fear of Death through Jesus Christ our Lord. This was no vain presage though yet he had a Strong constitution of body which he had used with all temporance and Sobriety and was then in his full strength and the maturity of his age Scarce declining from his state of Consistency His natural temper did somewhat incline him to feaverish diseases A feaver having Commission from God seised on him Aug. 31. This Visitation of God as all former he accepted with all Patience and Submission Casting himself on the care and resigning himself up to the will of his Heavenly Father His disease encreasing and strength declining he told some about him that he had some apprehensions he should and desires also if God pleased to have died a Martyr but now he thought he should not Adding withal God is wiser than I and knoweth my weakness Discharging his dying office by grave exhortations and encouragement to Serious Religion and Suffering for it which he especially applied to his only Child Owning and professing his Nonconformity to the last as judging himself obliged thereto in Conscience towards God Blessing God for his invaluable Gift of Jesus Christ to the children of men Blessing God who had called him to the honourable employment of the Ministry of the Gospel and had enabled him to be faithful therein and encouraged him with his presence and blessing under all the difficulties thereof Blessing God who had lifted him up above the fear of Death Rejoycing in the peace and testimony of a good Conscience and hope of the Glory of God after 10 or 11 days conflict with his disease which after some hope of recovery very suddenly and unexpectedly seised his head He quietly slept in the Lord Sept. 10. 1680. in the one and fiftieth year of his age This being the blessed exit of this Eminent Saint methinks I hear him say to those he left behind as his dying Saviour to the daughters of Jerusalem Weep not for me I have died in peace am entred into peace am at rest in my bed have passed through Jordan and am come to Canaan I am beyond sin and sorrow and trouble and labour am come to the Heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels and the spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant to that Eternal Sabbath that remains the people of God Weep not for me And doth he not also add weep for your selves You shall see my face no more you shall enjoy communion with me no more you shall hear my voice no more I shall despense the Gospel to you no more Ye shall come to me but I shall return to you no more O what is the meaning of this dark providence that in such a day as this God should call from his work one so fully instructed so willingly zealous to serve him and his Church in the Gospel of his Son Whether God hath done this in his just displeasure for the unprofitableness unthankfulness and itching ears of those that enjoyed so precious a blessing Or whether to warn us of some approaching dreadful judgment from which he hath hid this and other his holy Servants in their graves or whether both it concerns us seriously to consider and upon either account he may say to us Weep for your selves We read 2 King 13. 20 21. Elisha died and they buried him and the bands of the Moabites invaded the land at the Coming in of the year And it came to pass as they were burying a man that behold they Spied a band of men and they cast the man into the Sepulchre of Elisha and when the man was let down and touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood upon his feet and Judg. 16. 30. The dead which Sampson slew at his death were more than them which he slew in his life In allusion to which I conclude with this wish God avert the bands of the Moabites but would to God the dead in sin would apply their dead hearts to the Sepulchre of this dead Prophet that at the touching of his bones they might live and that the providence of his death may be more effectual to the mortifying of sin in Survivers than all the labours of his life Mors Triumphata OR THE SAINTS VICTORY OVER DEATH Opened in a FUNERAL SERMON Preached upon the occasion of the Death of that Eminent Servant and Minister of Jesus Christ Mr. Owen Stockton M. A. Sometimes Fellow
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR The true Dignity of St. Paul's ELDER Exemplified in the LIFE Of that Reverend Holy Zealous and Faithful Servant and Minister of Jesus Christ Mr. Owen Stockton M. A. Sometimes Fellow of Gonvile and Caius Colledge in Cambridge and afterward Preacher of Gods Word at Colchester in Essex WITH A Collection of his Observations Experiences and Evidences Recorded by his own hand To which is added his FUNERAL SERMON By John Fairfax M. A. Sometimes Fellow of C. C. C. in C. and afterward Rector of Barking in Suffolk Heb. 11. 4. He being dead yet speaketh London Printed by H. H. for Tho. Parkhurst at the Sign of the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside 1681. To the Worthily Honoured and Eminently Religious the Lady Brook of Cockfield-Hall in Suffolk MADAM HAving no Foundation whereon to raise an Ambition of publick Notice my Pen was never touched with the Itch of Writing That this once I venture abroad is to shew another not my self I am under more than a common obligation to this pious Office to pay due Honour to the dead to build a Prophets Tomb or erect a Pillar upon his Grave that he may not be Buried in utter oblivion with men who hath the promise of everlasting remembrance with God When worthy and desirable persons are removed out of oursight it is some satisfaction to have their Pictures before our eyes This is the design of these sheets And had the Pencils Art born proportion to the Subjects worth I had almost said here had been expressed as rare a piece in Grace as was Absalom in Nature But the defects to be complained of in the Face and pardoned are abundantly recompensed with the true Portraicture of the inward Vitals the very heart and Soul drawn to the Life by his own hand that only could Wherein if some shall say they see nothing excellent and shall despise others I doubt not will be able to reply as he in a like Case If you saw with my eyes you would commend That this Dead is here proposed to publick view is to gratifie the desire and to contribute to the instruction that I say not the reproof of the Living Happy are many Souls who have enjoyed the Priviledge of the lively voice of this great Instrument of God He is not to be numbred among those of whom it is said Let them be silent in the Grave Who then knoweth but that being dead he may yet speak effectually whose Living Tongue was as choice Silver and whose Lips fed many The Spiritual workings of his heart and Converse of his Soul with God was a secret between God and himself wherewith a stranger did not intermeddle which he no more than others in like Case had the freedom generally to Communicate That God put it into his heart to Record it is no improbable Argument that God as well as himself intended its usefulness not only to himself but others also when once Death should give a liberty to the Secrets of his heart to be made manifest Madam The great Respect and Honour which your Ladyship hath always Cordially had and freely expressed to the Faithful Ministers of Christ hath at once both obliged and encouraged me to prefix your worthy Name to the Memorial of this deceased Prophet Of whom I am not at all suspicious lest your Ladyship should be ashamed He who hath been a more than ordinary burning and shining Light amidst his Generation and is now a Star of the greater Magnitude amidst the Spirits of just men made perfect can cast no dark Reflections upon that true Honour your Ladyship obtains with all that know you which in your own great Judgment is valued as it is of God and not of men I shall not wonder if those who are strangers to the Holy Spirit shall find no delightful satisfaction in reading these Spiritual exercises and experiences or who are Enemies shall censure them as Phanatick fancies which indeed can never be well understood without some measure of that Diviner Learning whose method is Tast and see I have therefore chosen humbly to offer this to your Ladyship who is of full Age and by reason of use have senses exercised to discern both Good and Evil in whose hands it will be secure and fear no Contempt I have reason to believe that in reading the practice of the Life and workings of the heart of this now Glorified Saint your Ladyship reflecting on your self will find cause to say Face answereth to Face and Heart to Heart Which I hope may contribute somewhat to your joy and Confidence before him who fashioneth his Childrens hearts alike in stamping the same his Image upon them all It hath pleased God in his holy and wise Providence to make your Ladyship an instance of many and sharp Trials yet withal of much Grace by the power whereof you have endured with most Christian and Exemplary Faith and Patience The last Enemy is yet before you to be expected and Encountred which considering your Ladyships years seemeth to be approaching But behold it is here presented as Disarmed and Conquered and so less formidable And I doubt not but your Ladyship liveth in the Comfortable prospect of that Blessed day when all your Conflicts shall be Crowned with Victory and Triumph over Death in Communion with the Prince of Life Madam I have yet to add that I have gladly taken this occasion to make my publick acknowledgments of the inviolable obligations which your Ladyship hath laid upon me by your singular Bounty exercised as well to my Honoured Father now with God as to my self in our state of Deprivation And here I must joyn with your Ladyship your only surviving Daughter of the many hopeful Children which God had graciously given your Ladyship Madam Mary Brook the true Heiress of your Ladyships great Vertue and Grace As my Pen cannot be silent lest ungrateful so it dares not be fluent lest offensive to that Liberality which would not have the left hand know what the right hand doth I am bound to say Blessed be ye of the Lord who have not left off your kindness to the Living and to the Dead That this may be fruit abounding to your account an Odor of a sweet smell a Sacrifice acceptable and well pleasing to God recompensed at the Resurrection of the Just That your days may yet be multiplied and the Consolations of God be the support and strength of your Age That the Blessings of the Everlasting Covenant may descend and remain to your Posterity from Generation to Generation is and shall be the Prayer of Madam Barking Jun. 1681. Your Ladyships most Humble and bounden Servant and Orator John Fairfax The true Dignity of St. Pauls Elder Exemplified In the Life of Mr. Owen Stockton The Preface IT hath been the vain-glorious practice of some men for the perpetuating of their memories beyond Death and Time to the farthest posterity to engrave their Names in Brass or Marble
or to write them upon their Houses and Lands which yet Death and Time have wholly obliterated But it is the Honour of many saints to be recorded in sacred Scripture beyond all danger of Oblivion as great examples of Piety and Holiness towards God and of service to the Church of God in their generation And God hath since by his providence in all ages secured to his more eminent saints and servants the like Honour stirring up some survivors to embalm their precious Name and memory by recording and reporting the dead to posterity in more lasting monuments as great Instances of the Grace of God special matter of his praise and approved patterns as well for the encouragement as the imitation of the Living How dispised soever this excellent servant of Jesus Christ the subject we have to write of hath been in the eyes of some of his Generation yet I am persuaded none of the worthies in the Church of God that are gone before him will count it any disparagement to their Honour that he be added to their number whose precious Names survive their death The Records which have been made and published of the Lives of many Excellent and holy persons consist for the most part only of Such passages as have fallen under the observation of those who have more intimately and frequently conversed with them many hands have Contributed to the collecting of some more remarkable words and actions which an Ingenious pen in just honour to the Subject improveth as Indices of those singular accomplishments of mind and heart which are beyond the reach of the most observant Eye And were there nothing else to be recovered Concerning the subject before us but what might be so collected from the hands of those who had the happy advantage to know fully his Doctrine manner of Life Purpose Faith long Suffering Charity patience c. I doubt not but if managed by a skillful pen it would justly amount to such a character of him as might worthily render him a more than Ordinary example of Faith and Holiness of Scripturall knowledge and practice as well to the preachers as professors of the Gospel of Christ to the praise of the Glory of the Grace of God But their is less need of this in reference to our subject Himself having not only in great measure prevented and saved his friends that labour and service but moreover discovered the inmost secrets of his heart towards God beyond all that could be known of him by the Strictest observation of others What hath been the advantagious practice sometimes though very rare of some eminent Servants of God who have made Religion their business viz. to write Curriculum vita the manner and course of their own life appears to have been his He not only kept a strict Eye upon himself and took special notice of his own heart and wayes and the manner of his spiritual living unto God but lest he should forget and render it useless committed the same to paper recording the dealings of God towards him the workings of corruption and grace his Conflicts and Temptations the secret Intercourse and Communion between God and his Soul the approaches and withdrawings of the Holy Spirit his liftings up and castings down the actings of Faith and Love Divine assistance in Duty return of prayers the clearness of his evidences and rejoycings of his hopes c. Wherein the life and power of true Religion doth more consist than in all open and visibel acts Out of this Treasury which is enough to Supply a far larger volume hath been fetched the greatest part of that furniture which filleth these pages and that mostly in his own words You that read may therefore imagine you hear this holy Prophet bespeaking you in the words of another Prophet Come and read all ye that fear God and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul My own experience assureth me that to those who are engaged in the Spiritual War and running the Christian race and have set their faces towards God It will be useful encouraging delightful and satisfactory to read so much of the sense and feeling of their own hearts in the experiences of this Blessed Saint The greatest part of whom yet I believe will find cause to be ashamed before God seeing themselves so far cast behind and may be provoked to mend their pace in pressing forward towards the mark to which he hath attained As for such as rest in their negative goodness and commendable moralls their form of Godliness and bodily exercise in religion without the life and power thereof who knows but they may be convinced of the vanity of their hopes and the sandy foundation whereon they have built them and that yet they lack something while they read the thoughts affections and workings of his holy heart his understanding improvement of the Holy Scriptures and his Spiritual communion with the Holy God to which themselves are altogether strangers But such is the enmity and contradiction of the carnal mind to the spirit and grace of God that I cannot be without jealousie that much of what is true written will be matter of scorn and derision to the profane Generation However as the word of God delivered in the Scriptures and dispensed in the Ministry thereof hath its divers and contrary effects upon diverse contrary subjects whereon yet God knows how to raise his own Glory so shall the same word Exemplified in the life of this now glorified saint have the like effects on them that read it To the humble and teachable it shall be in adjutorium but to the scorners and despisers in Testimonium THE RELATION MR. Owen Stockton was born in the City of Chichester in the County of Sussex the last week of May 1630. was the fourth Son of his Father Mr. Owen Stockton a worthy Prebendary of that Cathedral who was a younger brother of that ancient family of the Stocktons of Kiddington Green in Cheshire About the seventh year of his age his Father dyed and left the care of him and his other Children to their Mother a pious Gentlewoman of the family of the Tilees in Cambridgeshire She being a Widdow and stranger in Chichester soon after the death of her Husband returned to her native Country and setled her self at Ely where was a very good Grammar School under the Government of Mr. William Hitches to whose care she committed this her Son for his education From a Child he was of great hopes while yet a little Grammar Schollar his inclination was such as presaged more than ordinary improvement Looking once accidentally into Mr. Fox his Acts and Monuments Ecclesiastical in one of the parish Churches of that Town and reading some little part thereof he was so affected with the knowledge of that History that he never ceased to supplicate his friends till he had obtained one part of them for his use Wherein declining the puerile recreations to which his
met with in my course of private reading Ps 19. 13. Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins let them not have dominion over me Where I considered 1. That David found in his heart a proness to presumptuous sins which made him cry out Keep back thy servant c. 2. He was not without fear or danger lest presumptuous sins should get the dominion over him for he Prays Let them not have dominion 3. When he found it thus with himself he calls himself Gods Servant Keep back thy servant This word coming when my heart had been upon the borders of a presumptuous sin did much affect me Febr. 6. Being a day of Humiliation I was much indisposed to the duties of the day I found my heart unfit to Pray in private and to perform Family exercise The sense of guilt had clouded and bowed down my Soul In the Evening God revived my Soul with Isa 64. 6 7 8. They complained they were all as an unclean thing their righteousness as filthy rags there was a flagging of the Spirit of prayer and this in a time of great Judgments as v. 10 11. Yet they say But now thou O Lord art our Father This suited my condition and encouraged me to believe my relation to God and his to me as my Father though I found my self under the foresaid Distempers I was also supported against my sins with 1 Joh. 2. 24. Let that abide in you which you have heard from the beginning if that which you have heard from the beginning shall remain in you ye shall continue in the Father and the Son By which I was encouraged to hold fast what Instructions Comforts and Supports I had formerly received from God That which ye have heard viz. from the teachings of the Spirit Joh. 6. 45. from the beginning viz. from the time they began to believe in Christ Heb. 3. 14. Nov. 28. 1669. Being Saturday I was visited with a Feaver When I was under the Visitation I looked over my Evidences for Heaven had comfortable hopes of my Salvation from several promises whereby the fear of Death was removed My Life was in hazard many Prayers were put up for me God directed to the timely use of proper means and gave his blessing and restored me to my work on the fourth Lords day as a return to Prayers In my sickness before the danger was probably past in the night season I had very clear and awful apprehensions of the Majesty of God as though I had heard God speaking to me out of Isa 57. 15. I who am the high and lofty one that inhabit Eternity c. and then methought it was said to me Surgite Ministri servi praedicate Evangelium ad Conversionem peccatorum Arise ye Ministers and Servants of God and Preach the Gospel for the Conversion of sinners And afterwards it was said to me You shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. Fear thou not thou hast born witness to my Name in this place thou shalt bear witness also to my Name where I shall call thee To which my Soul bowed down and I replied Lord I am willing to follow thee if thou shalt satisfie me that thou callest me I could not certainly tell whether I was awake or sleeping or slumbring but the matter being so affecting coherent and coming with some power I laid it up in my heart not knowing but it might be useful to me Jan. 30. 1671. My Treatise of Family Instruction being finished and Published I resolved after several times seeking God and Consulting with my own Soul to set upon composing a Treatise of glorifying God The grounds or reasons inducing me hereunto were 1. The Command given to all persons in all Nations to declare the glory of God 1 Chron. 16. 23 24. I saw here I might lawfully yea it was my duty to do what I could to set forth the glory of God And seeing I was taken off from my publick Preaching I might do it more beneficially by Writing and Printing 2. My Spirit hath been for several years put upon and stirred up to write on this Subject I made a little beginning in the year 1664. but laid it aside and in times of sickness I have found a lothness to die till that work were done and have met with many cross Providences as if sent with a tacit reproof for neglecting this work Now the stirring up the Spirit to a good work is of God and part of Gods call to the work Exod. 36. 2. Ezr. 1. 5. Hagg. 1. 14. 3. I was under many Engagements to glorifie God as 1 st The many and great mercies I have received for my Soul by the Teachings and Consolations of his Spirit and many outward mercies above my other Relations which are engagements to glorifie God Ps 86. 12 13. 2 ly The eminent deliverances I have had from sickness the Pestilence and other troubles Psal 50. 15. 3 ly The wonderful preservation I have had from mine Enemies notwithstanding all the hazards I have run of falling into their hands by Preaching the Gospel at home and abroad which should engage me to extol and glorifie God Psal 30. 1. 4. I did hope for benefit to my own Soul both by being further enlightened into the knowledge and excited to the practice of glorifying God while I was studying to instruct and excite others thereto July 17. 1672. God having opened a door for the free exercise of my Ministry by his Majesties most Gracious Declaration I was desired both at Ipswich and Colchester to Minister to them I had discouragements as from the uncertainty of the times not knowing whether this liberty would continue or a time of trouble and persecution arise the differences and animosities that are among Professors and the enmity that is on the part of the Adversaries I considered of it and had encouragement from the Word thereto as 1 Pet. 5. 2. 4. with vers 7. as also from Josh 1. 9. Joshua had difficult work before him potent Enemies that dwelt in fenced Cities the people with whom he had to do had so exasperated Moses his Spirit by their frequent murmurings that once he cried out to God to be killed out of hand that he might not see his own wretchedness Numb 11. 15. another time he spake so unadvisedly with his lips that he angred God and was shut out of Canaan Joshua might well fear when he was to enter on this work Therefore God speaks four times to him to encourage him Be strong be of good courage c. and gives him two Arguments to encourage him 1 st His Call Have not I Commanded thee 2 ly A promise of his Presence as his God Whence I Obs 1. God will be with his people in all places whithersoever they go 2. The promise of Gods presence may take off all fears arising either from the temper of the people with whom we shall have to do or the difficulty of our work or
relieth on God for Salvation notwithstanding his miscarriages by vertue of the Covenant Although my house be not so with God he includeth himself as the chief part of his house although he had not so walked in his house with God as God required yet this is my Salvation God hath made with me an everlasting Covenant 3 ly Though he did not see the growth or accomplishment of several promises in the Covenant yet he is not dismayed or beaten off from hoping for Salvation but saith this is all my Salvation although he make it not to grow Enquiring with my self what ground I had to hope that this Covenant was made with me I was satisfied from Isa 55. 3. Where I find those that come unto Christ are taken into Covenant and enjoy the same promises and mercies that God gave to David 3. Joh. 17. 2. Thou hast given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him Enquiring what ground I had to believe that I was given to Christ I was satisfied from Joh. 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me Our coming to Christ is an Argument that we are given to Christ by the Father because all such and none but such come to Christ v. 37. 44. 65. I was further Confirmed from Joh. 17. 9 10. Where Christ gives this Character of such as are given to him that he is glorified in them and I find through mercy that the Lord hath inclined my heart to glorifie him 4. Joh. 10. 27 28 29. My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me and I give to them eternal Life and they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my Fathers hand Here I observed 1 st That the Lord Jesus hath promised to give unto his sheep Eternal life 2 ly He undertaketh for them for the time to come that they shall never perish They shall not perish by their own sins as unbelievers and unregenerate men do Joh. 8. 24. 2 Pet. 2. 12. neither shall any person or temptation from without draw them off from Christ 3 ly The Lord Jesus gives his sheep a two-fold Argument to assure them that they shall not perish either by their own corruption or by any force or allurement from without 1 st He holds them in his hand i. e he keeps and preserves them by his power 2 ly His Father who is greater than all keeps them by his power also The Comfort of this depending on the qualification of the persons to whom this promise is made namely the sheep of Christ I considered what evidence I had that I was one of Christs sheep And I saw 1 st That Christs sheep are such as hear his voice and follow him Now I found that my heart had Answered the Call of Christ in the Gospel when he hath called Look unto me and be ye Saved Come unto me all ye that labour are heavy laden and moreover that I do endeavour to follow his example and to walk as he walked when he was in this world 2 ly I saw that by his sheep he meaneth such as do believe on him because he proveth the Jews were not his sheep because they did not believe on him ver 26. 3 ly I found those evidences of the Lords being my Shepherd which David mentioneth Ps 23. viz. his often restoring my Soul when I have fallen His leading me in paths of Righteousness for his Names sake If the Lord be my sheepherd then I am one of his sheep 4 ly my returning to Christ through grace is an argument that he is the sheepherd of my Soul 1 Pet. 2. 25. 5 ly Visiting the sick and feeding the hungry are the marks of Christs sheep Math. 25. 33 35 36. 5. Ps 84. 11. God promiseth glory to them that walk uprightly and I find God hath given me an heart to walk uprightly In a sickness not knowing but death might be approaching I considered what promises I could rest on for salvation and among others God enabled me to stay on Isa 57. 2. He shall enter into Peace they shall rest in their beds Each one walking in his uprightness These are my Evidences of etarnal life God having given me good hope through grace of eternal life I set my self to consider what duties this called for and God put into my mind which I resolve by the help of his grace to practise 1. To bless and praise God for this mercy 1 Pet. 1. 3 4. Col. 1. 12 13. 2. To mortifie daily uncleanness inordinate affections evil Concupisence Covetousness and all other sins Col. 3. 4 5. 3. To carry my self towards all men especially towards my near relations as an Heir of eternal life and glory 1 Pet. 3. 7. 4. To walk worthy of the Lord. 1 Thes 2. 12. How that is to be done is expressed Eph. 4. 1 2 3. Col. 1. 10. 5. To purifie my self as God is pure 1 Joh. 3. 3. which implies purity of heart Math. 5. 8. purity of words in discourse for every word of God is pure Prov. 30. 5. and so must ours be also Eph. 4. 29. Zeph. 3. 9. purity of life 1 Pet. 2. 22. 6. To Serve God and to serve him in a gracious and Godly manner Heb. 12. 28. 7. Not to fear them that can kill the body Luk. 12. 4 32. Nor fear the want of outward things ver 31 32. 8. To rejoyce in hope of this Glory in the midst of worldly troubles Rom. 5. 2 3. 1 Pet. 1. 3 6. 9. To keep the full assurance of hope to the end of my days by Continuing diligent in Ministring to the Saints Heb. 6. 10. 11. Thus have we given the Reader some account of this Eminent Saint and Servant of Jesus Christ such was his holy and heavenly life Thus walked he both in the fear of God and in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost Thus laboured he to approve himself to God to others and to his own Conscience Thus answered he his profession ran his race and pressed forward to the mark Upon the equal and impartial view whereof though the design of these pages be only Ostendere and not Ostentare virum yet I can scarce forbear to say He hath left such a Name and character behind him as may worthily commend him both as a Christian and a Minister to the observation Honour and Imitation of most if not All that read him What remains is only to apply him to the following funeral Text as a more than ordinary Instance of the truth thereof And whoso considers the manner of his life may with little doubt conclude his Victory over death It was before mentioned that he hath left behind him some Manuscripts worthy of the press some of which he entitles The best Interest A Treatise of Glorifying God The
snared by death in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them Every one may say as Isaac Gen. 27. 2. I know not the day of my death At an hour when ye think not saith Christ the Son of man cometh Luk. 12. 40. The man we mentioned even now was confident of many years before him and promised himself a merry long life Luk. 12. 19. yet ver 20. He that knew said to him Hac Nocte This night thou must die Who knoweth what shall be on the morrow or what a day may bring forth Nemo tam Divos habuit faventes Crastinum ut posset sibi polliceri Was not Nabal in his plenty Jobs Children in their feasting Nadab and Abihu in their offering Herod in his pride Belshazzar in his cups Zimri and Cozbi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. surprised by this Enemie 3. It is a destructive Enemy Destruction and Death are joyned together Job 28 22. yea this is the very name of Death Ps 88. 11. shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in Destruction Ps 103. 4. who redeemeth thy life from Destruction i. e. death A dead man is reduced to his first principle the Earth The body returns to the dust from whence it came and this is turning man to Destruction Ps 90. 3. If a man were Surprised and spoiled of all that he had without him and should yet escape with his life though naked it were a sore evil yet such as might be endured a great loss but such as might be repaired But Death spoils a man of himself taketh down the goodly frame and Constitution of Nature Cuts a man asunder and divideth Soul from body God taketh away his Soul Job 27. 8. Her Soul was in departing for she died Gen. 35. 18. Thy Soul shall be required Luk. 12. 20. So as no ground of hope is left to a dying man Life is a fundamental Being Take away that and ye take away all The dead are not Joseph is not Gen. 42. Lo he was not Ps 37. 36. Job 14. 7 8 9 10. There is hope of a tree if it be cut down that it will Sprout again and that the tender branch thereof will not cease Though the root thereof wax old in the Earth and the Stock thereof die in the ground Yet through the sent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant But man dieth and wasteth away Yea man giveth up the Ghost and where is he and ver 14. If a man die shall he live again 4. It is a certain unavoidable Enemy There is no defence to be made against it no humane power can withstand it no fortification of the body by utmost art can prevent its entrance either by some violent storming or Successive batteries or longer seige it wil prevail against the Stoutest defendants Psal 89. 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his Soul from the hand of the grave The young the strong the healthful the wise the rich the honourable All have fallen and shall fall under the power of this irresistible enemy The experience of five thousand years and upwards which the world hath had is enough to Convince all the Living that they shall as certainly die as that they have been born 5. It is an abhorred Enemy Against which Nature relucts with the greatest passion and from which it fleeth with greatest aversation It will never be reconciled to that which dissolveth the nearest and most intimate union between Soul and body which taketh in pieces the curious Workmanship defiles the Glory and stains the beauty of the goodliest body which turns the lovely body into a loathsome Carkass resolves it into corruption and putrefaction and gives it to the worms for meat No Antipathy greater than between Nature and Death Skin for Skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life Job 2. 4. 6. It is a formidable enemy that affects a man with fear and terror We read Ps 91. 5. the terrour by night that is Death Job 24. 17. the terrours of the shadow of Death Psal 55. 4. the terrours of Death and Job 18. 14. It is called the King of Terrors i. e. The chief of Terrours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saith the Judgment of Nature of all terribles the most terrible This is Consequent upon the former It being a Spoiling surprising destroying irresistible abhorred enemy It must needs be very terrible What a terror possesseds the Egyptians when Death entred in at their doors and slew their first born Exod. 12. 30 33. They were so affrighted that even Pharoah rose up in the night he and all his Servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not an house where there was not one dead They said we be all dead men It is a threatning denounced by God Deut. 28. 65 66 67. The Lord shall give thee a trembling heart Why Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee And thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have no assurance of thy life In the morning thou shalt say Would God it were Even and at even thou shalt say Would God it were morning for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear The apprehension of this affrighted Gideon a mighty man of valour till the Lord encouraged him and said to him Fear not thou shalt not die Judg. 6. 23. At this the King Belshazzars Countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joynts of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another Dan. 5. 6. And who that is but a natural man doth not experience trembling and astonishment at the approach and sight of Death yea many times at the very thoughts of it The world of men doth generally bear witness to that which is written Heb. 2. 15. that through fear of Death they are all their life time Subject to bondage There are two things both in the context which make Death so terrible 1 st Sin which the Apostle calleth the Sting of Death It was by sin that death entred in the world and it is by Sin that death reigneth in the world The poison of the Serpent is in his sting and the power of the Serpent is in his sting So the poyson of Death is in sin and the power of Death lieth in sin without which though it killeth it cannot hurt This is the only weapon wherewith Death is Armed against the Children of men but it is a deadly one That is a dreadful threatning indeed which our Saviour denounceth against the Jews Joh. 8. 21. Ye shall die in your sins According to what the Lord had before spoken by his Prophet Ezek. 18. 24. In his trespass that he hath trespassed and in the sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die It is our sad case that we are born in sin and worse that we live in sin but Oh! how dreadful
and delusions that are in the hearts of sinners such instances would not be rare but it would be a wonder how any sinner could die in his sin and in his wits too from such a fear as this Believers are delivered Though they may and do experience some measure of fears yet God doth always support with some degree of hope that they let not go all their hold of the Covenant of God In a word Believers are so far victorious over the fear of death that if they understand their case aright they have no cause to be afraid of death when they are they are more afraid than hurt The Hornet having lost its sting may threaten with its humming noise but cannot prick the flesh so death where sin is pardoned which is itssting may afright with its horrid aspect but cannot hurt 3. Death is overcome to Believers in that it cannot hold them by its power It is indeed the unalterable Law of Heaven that all must die And accordingly Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Patriarchs Moses and Samuel and Isaiah and all the Prophets Peter and James and John and all the Apostles yea all the Saints from Adam to this generation are fallen asleep and shut up in their Graves But shall the Grave always contain them Are they there kept in an everlasting Prison under locks and bars that cannot be opened Did making the Sepulchre sure Sealing the stone and setting a Watch forbid Christs Resurrection No surely I went down saith Jonah a Type of the Resurrection to the bottoms of the Mountains the Earth with her bars was about me for ever yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God Jon. 2. 6. And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me saith Job ch 19. 26 27. Though the Saints be descended to the depths of the sea and hid in the bowels of the Earth and their bodies resolved into the farthest dust and that dust dispersed to the four Winds yet shall they be recovered and rise again The Sea shall not contain the dead that are in it nor the Graves the dead that are in them Their scattered atoms shall be recollected and reared up again to a goodly body Behold there shall be a shaking and their dry bones shall come together bone to his bone and lo the sinews and the flesh shall come up upon them and the skin shall cover them above And thus shall the Lord God say Come from the four Winds O breath and breath upon these slain that they may live and the breath shall come into them and they shall live and stand up upon their feet Ezek. 37. 7 8 10. This is it which the Apostle asserts here throughout the Chapter concluding that then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory Object But what more victory is this than what unbelievers shall have for they also shall rise again Answ Yes it is more beyond all comparison Joh. 5. 28 29. All that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation The wicked shall rise but from death Temporal to death Eternal to die the second death This is Death's Victory over them The Godly shall rise from Death temporal to Life eternal to die no more This is the Saints Victory over Death 4. Death is so overcome to Believers as to be made serviceable and advantageous to them And this is the fulness and perfection of Victory when the Enemy is brought in Subjection to serve the Conquerour The Apostle in this Epistle reckons Death to be part of the Saints Inventory ch 3. 21 22. All things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Life or Death And elsewhere he calleth it gain Phil. 1. 21. to die is gain What gain Answ 1. In reference to the present state Death is 1 st The end of Sin With the body of Flesh the body of Sin is also put off from which St. Paul longed to be delivered Rom. 7. 24. Here the best of Saints have their corruptions infirmities imperfections but at Death the Spirits of just men are made perfect Heb. 12. 23. 2 ly The end of all Sorrows There are no Pains or Diseases or Griefs or Losses or Crosses or Persecutions in the Grave Job 3. 17 18 19. There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest There the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor The small and great are there and the Servant is free from his Master 3. Rest from Labours It is no light burden of works that is upon a Christians hand no small labour to discharge the duties of his general and particular Calling What saith the Scripture Labour work watch run strive wrastle fight give diligence endure hardness press forward c. But blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours Rev. 14. 13. The day of the Saints Death is his happy Jubilee when he is set at liberty and goeth out free from his Service Thus is Death gain in reference to the presence state 2. In reference to the future state for 1 st As for the Soul it being released from the body is admitted into the Heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to the Spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant Heb. 12. This day saith Christ to a dying Saint shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luk. 23. 43. St. Paul desires to depart that he might be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1. 23. 2 ly As for the body Death serves to refine it for 1 Cor. 15. 50. This I say that Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption These bodies which we now carry are so gross and corruptible they are not meet for an heavenly state They die that they may be changed Phil. 3. 21. They are sown in corruption to be raised in incorruption sown in dishonour to be raised in Glory sown in weakness to be raised in power sown Natural bodies to be raised Spiritual The old decayed house is taken down to be built anew and these weak crasie bodies are laid in the Earth to rise afresh This corruptible is corrupted that it may put on incorruption and this Mortal dieth that it may put on Immortality Thus is this Enemy overcome and made to serve as a mean and advantage to the Believers happiness This indeed is a glorious Victory over a very mighty and formidable Enemy So great and wonderful that it far exceeds the hope of Nature Flesh and Blood cannot believe the report thereof Paul's discourse of the Resurrection
even as to them he hath abolished Death and brought life and immortality to light 2 Tim. 1. 10. Saith Christ Rev. 1. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keyes of Hell and Death The keyes are the Ensign of power Christ by his resurrection hath obtained authority over Death to quicken whom he pleaseth to shut and open the grave And his promise is to exercise this power for his people Joh. 6. 44. I will raise him up at the last day Hos 13. 14. I will ransome them from the power of the grave I will redeem them from death Notwithstanding all the improbabilities yea impossibilities in Nature yet he saith to them as to Cyrus Isa 54. 2. I will go before thee and break in pieces the Gates of Brass and cut in sunder the barrs of Iron On which account St. Peter begins his Epistle v. 3. with thanksgiving Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope i. e. hope of eternal life as v. 4. by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead It is observable what the Apostle saith here he hath begotten us by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ The Resurrection of Jesus Christ hath a secret generating influence upon the Resurrection of the Saints who are therefore called by our Saviour Luke 20. 36. The Children of the Resurrection which leadeth to 3. This Victory becomes the believers by participation and Communion with Him They communicate with him in the value of his satisfaction and they communicate with him in the vertue of his Resurrection 1. They communicate with him in the value of his Satisfaction whereby the sting of Death is taken out as to them to wit the guilt of sin done away By the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and Christ it was eternally agreed that Christ should be their Surrogate Substitute and Surety to undertake for them in their nature Joh. 10. 18. No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self there is Christs Consent This Commandment have I received of my Father there 's the Fathers Consent So Hebr. 10. 7. Then said I Lo I come to do thy will O God Accordingly he became man and our surety and thereby one with us in the Sense of the Law as the principal debtor and Surety are looked upon as one person in Law Thus our debt became his debt he was bound for us and saith to his Father on our behalf as Judah to Joseph on the behalf of Benjamin Gen. 44. 32. 33. Thy Servant became Surety for the lad unto my Father Now therefore I pray thee let thy Servant abide in stead of the lad a bondman to my Lord And the punishment due to us became his Isa 53. 4 5. Surely he hath born our greifs and carried our Sorrows He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities c. And thus by vertue of the same Suretyship when he had undergone the punishment and Satisfied the Law and taken his discharge which was testified by his Resurrection His Satisfaction becomes our Satisfaction and his discharge our discharge Jer. 23. 6. He is the Lord our Righteousness Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Rom. 8. 33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect Who is he that Condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again No Law doth demand both of the principal and the Surety too They are bound to pay disjunctively one or the other Therefore when Christ was apprehended he said to the Officers that took him Joh. 18. 8. If ye seek me let these my disciples go their way 2. They communicate with him in the vertue of his Resurrection Christ rose from the dead not only as a surety discharged from prison when he had paid the debt and thereby cancelling the obligation of the principal but also as a vital head to quicken and raise all his body the Church For the same Spirit of life which is in Christ and quickened his dead body is also in the church and in every particular member thereof and will certainly quicken their dead bodies Rom. 8. 11. If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by or because of his Spirit that dwelleth in you He saith not your dead bodies but your mortal bodies to denote this quickening to be not only from death to life but from mortality to immortality as was the resurrection of Christ He that eateth me saith Christ Joh. 6. 5 7. that is by faith there is union with Christ even he shall live by me there is communion with Christ as necessarily consequent And what that life is he expresseth four times in that chap. ver 39 40 44 54. I will raise him up at the last day Hence Christ is said to be our life Col. 3. 4. and we are said to be quickened with Christ Col. 2. 13. and risen with Christ Eph. 2. 6. It is from the vertue of Christs Resurrection that Job argueth to his own Job 19. 25 26. I know that my Redeemer liveth c. And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God And this is the argument which the Apostles so industriously improves throughout this Chapter assuring the Resurrection of believers by the Resurrection of Christ Christ rose as the first-fruits of them that sleep which sanctifieth and assureth the whole harvest ver 20. If the first Adam dying derived Death to all his natural seed much more shall the second Adam rising communicate life to all his Spiritual seed ver 22. yea such intimate and necessary connexion is there between the Resurrection of Christ and the Resurrection of believers that the Apostle argueth both forward and backward from the one to the other ver 12 13 16. The Saints then shall one day feel the quickening influences of their vital head upon their dead bodies and experimentally know the power of his Resurrection Recovering them from the power of the grave to rise and live with him for ever Which is so certain that the Apostle speakes of it as already done Eph. 2 6. He hath raised us up Applicat 1. How sad and woful is the Case of unbelievers who have no share in this Glorious and Blessed Victory no interest in the satisfaction and Resurrection of this Prince of life but are left to shift for themselves alone all forlornly exposed to the invincible Assaults of the King of Terrors Do they not tremble at a distance at the fore-thoughts of that dark and dismal hour when this spoiling destroying abhorred and dreadful Enemy shall surprize them and peremptorily require their precious life beyond all denial
or resistance But how much greater will their horror and amazement be at the near approach and present appearance of this deadly Foe when their eyes shall be awakened and enlightned more clearly and convincingly to see its power and Terror and their heart more tender and sensible to feel the pain and poyson of its Mortal Sting Can thine heart endure or can thy hands be strong in the day when thy Flesh shall wast thy Spirits faint thy Strength fail the Sorrows of Death compass thee about the pains of Hell take hold on thee and Almighty wrath be renting thee in pieces like a Lion and there is none to deliver thee Surely a guilty Conscience a cursing Law an avenging Justice and present Death are a weight more insupportable than Talents of Lead than Rocks and Mountains enough to break the stoutest heart and will certainly damp the Courage of the most daring Sinner Where ever dwelt the man and what was his Name who was so hardy and confident as not to be moved yea not to be struck to the very heart at the sight of the Pale Horse coming amain upon him the Name of whose Rider is Death with Hell at his heels What thinkest thou O guilty Sinner Is thy state of sin so little dangerous that thou mayest securely rest in it Is Death so weakly Armed and art thou so strongly fortified that thou mayest bid defiance to its Assaults Wilt thou sin and laugh and sleep and drive away the Melancholy thoughts of thy approaching Terror by diverting to the Mirth and Follies and Vanities and Pleasures of a present Transitory and helpless World Reflect upon thy heart and ways review the number and Nature of thy multiplied and aggravated Transgressions throughout a long life have patience to hear the Charge of thy veracious and faithful Conscience and seriously consider with what a sharp and poisonous sting thou hast Armed Death against thine own Soul Run not the desperate hazard of being killed with Death Who ever hardened himself against this Terror of the Lord and fell not under it The stoutest hearted are spoiled they have slept their sleep and none of the men of Might have found their hands Wert thou Behemoth or Leviathan for strength and Courage were thy bones as strong pieces of Brass or like Bars of Iron were thy heart as firm as a stone yea as heart as a piece of the nether Milstone and thou a King among all the Children of pride yet shall this sword of the Lord approach thee and break thy bones and this arrow of the Almighty pierce thy heart and the poyson thereof shall Drink up thy spirit Flatter not thy self with vain hopes founded upon presumption or infidelity Think not the Lion to be painted fiercer then he is When thou hearest the menaces of Death the words of the Curse bless not thy self saying I shall have peace Make no Covenant with Death nor be at agreement with Hell Lest thou make lies thy refuge and under falshood hide thy self for thy Covenant with Death shall be disannulled and thy agreement with Hell shall not stand Thou hast but one method of safety one course to take Venture not alone in thy own strength to meet and encounter with thy mortal foe But Turn thee Turn thee to the tents of the Conquerour make hast to list thy self under the standard of the Prince of life Thou hast been told what is the sting of Death and where its strength lieth Do to it as the Philistines did to Sampson Cut off its locks Pluck out its sting Break off thy sins by repentance and work away thy guilt by faith in the blood of the Lamb that God may give thee Victory through Jesus Christ 2. How blessed and comfortable is the case of all true believers There are but two evils can make a man miserable Sin and Death The believer is freed from the Law of both It is indeed the irreversible Law and ordination of God that Believers die as well as others but withal It is their unspeakable distinguishing priviledge that their Death hath no sting no Curse no Victory over them Their Lord Jesus the Captain of their Salvation who died for them hath overcome Death disarmed Death Sanctified Death Sweetened Death Subjected Death to them and turned it to their advantage Death indeed cometh after the same visible manner upon the body of the Saint and of the sinner by Sword or Famine or Pestilence Consumption and burning Feaver with aches and pains whereby the earthly house of their tabernacle is dissolved Saul and Jonathan were not divided in their Death Ahab and Josiah fall alike in the battle by the hand of the Archers Stephen and Achan are both stoned The good and bad thief give up the Ghost together upon their Cross But as to their Souls how vastly different are their Deaths in the dispensation of God! The one is Cursed the other blessed in his Death On dieth in his Sin the other in the Lord One departs under wrath the other in peace The Spirit of one is delivered to Satan the Spirit of the other committed into the hands of God The Soul of one carried by Devils into the place of torment The Soul of the other carried by Angels into Abrahams bosome The one passeth from death to death The other passeth though death to Life This is the blessedness of the dead which die in the Lord. This is the happy Victory of the Saint over Death even in dying Of which difference of the death of Saint and sinner the sinner is sometimes so convinced that he cannot but wish with Balaam Let me die the Death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his It is the Saints happiness here both living and dying to have the Victory over death by faith which is to them the evidence and presenting of the future Resurrection not yet seen But it will be much more their happiness to have this Victory by sense as they shall in their glorious Resurrection Two things commend it 1. It is the Victory over the last enemy ver 26. and so implieth Victory over all enemies For if any remained this were not the last Sin and world and Devil are all conquered when Death is conquered Hold out then O believing Soul in thy Spiritual conflict Be thou faithful unto Death maintain thy Christian Courage against Death take hold of the strength of Christ and overcome it Thou shalt fight no mor but there remains thee Everlasting rest 2. It is the Victory of Christ which the Saints have in communion with him and so it is a Sure Victory He that got it by his Almighty power will by the same power keep it that it shall never be lost Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more and till Death can prevail over Christ it shall not prevail over the Christian Joh. 14. 19. Because I live saith Christ ye shall live also 3. Let Believers live and die as becomes those that
have the Victory even above and beyond the fears of Death If we have the same precious faith which this Apostle had let us put on also the same confidence and courage and in assurance of the Victory that Christ hath gotten for us bid an holy defiance to this enemy O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory Was it not the end of Christs conquest to deliver his Saints not only from the hurt but from the fear of Death Would it not then be either a denial or a disparagement of Christs Victory for a Saint to live in bondage to the fear of Death That Souldier must either be very ignorant or very much a Coward who is afraid to meet his disarmed and conquered Enemy Such is the weakness and Cowardise and ought to be the shame of too many professing Christians How far do we desire to remove death from us How sad and damping are the very thoughts thereof to us What reluctance have we against the very Name of Death What trembling at the approach thereof How do we say as they Jer. 41. 8. Slay us not for we have treasures in the field of wheat and of barley and of Oil and of Honey And with Hezekiah turn to the wall and weep sore But whence is all this Is it not because we look upon death only with an eye of nature and not with the eye of faith and that we look at our dissolution more than at our resurrection Is it not because of the darkness of our Evidence and carelessness of gaining better assurance of life eternal Is it not from our inordinate affection to our worldly interest our Carnal enjoyments and relations Or is it not from the Conscience of some indulged sin which we have not effectually mortified Surely our Consciences will tell the guilty that some or all of these are the cause of our averseness lothness and fears to die But are these becoming professing Christians and worthy of the faith of the Resurrection Oh for the honour of Christs Victory for the commendation of Religion for the Conviction of Sinners for the comfort of our own souls let us shake of these clogs lay aside these weights and get above these slavish fears Improve and encourage faith against sense and carnal reason Mortifie thy inordinate affections hold a good Conscience Clear up thy interest in Christ and in the Covenant of God Have thy conversation in Heaven and from thence look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change thy vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body and fear not Art thou to encounter death hast thou apprehensions of its approaches towards thee And doth thy heart fail for fear hereof Hear Christ rebuking thee as sometimes he rebuked his disciples Why art thou fearful thou of little faith Let me say to thee for thy encouragement if thou beest a Christian indeed as Deborah to Barak when he was to Encounter Sisera Judg. 4. 14. Up Is not the Lord gone out before thee Hath not Christ disarmed thy Enemy and taken out its sting Hath not he overcome death and opened the doors of the grave and given thee the Victory yea Doth not the Lord go out with thee and stand by thee in this thy last conflict And is not the presence and assistance of Christ enough to encourage thee against fear Isa 43. 1. 2. saith God to Jacob Fear not when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and v. 5. Fear not for I am with thee In the strength of which promise say with David Ds 23. 4. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear none evill for thou art with me Verily there is a power in faith It is a Victorious grace It engaged the strength of him that raised up Jesus from the dead Live then by faith and thou shalt die by faith and overcome death by faith Many witnesses can set their seal to this as a certain truth that a Christian by the improvement of grace may if not triumphanter yet at least patienter mori may be content if not rejoyce to die 4. Add for a conclusion the Apostles application in the text Thanks be to God The Victory being gotten being given the triumph is to be made We read whether they be the words of God to the Church or of the Church to God the sense is the same Isa 26. 19. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise for thy dew is as the dew of herbs which revives them in the spring after a Killing winter and the Earth shall cast out the Dead There 's the Victory What then awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust There is the triumph Thus Ps 30. 3. O Lord thou hast brought up my Soul from the grave then ver 12. To the end that my glory may sing prise to thee and not be silent O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Thus again the Psalmists sings Ps 118. 14 15 17. The The Lord is my strength and Song And is become my Salvation The voice of rejoycing and Salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly c. Why I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. Victory is always matter of rejoycing and should reflect honour upon the Conquerour We read 1 Sam. 17. Goliah of Gath that monstrous and terrible Giant cometh forth before his camp of Philistins and defieth the armies of Israel who fled from him and were sore afraid when behold David goeth out to meet him and encounters him all alone and with the Giants own sword cuts off his head and discomfits all his host Did they not then come out of all cities of Israel Chap. 18. 6 7. singing and dancing with Tabrets and joy and instruments of musick answering one another as they played and saying Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands What is it that we see Is it the Vision Rev. 6. 8. Behold a pale horse and the Name of him that sits on him is Death and Hell followeth with him and power is given unto him to kill And at this are we sore afraid Why Look again Rev. 19. 11. c. I saw Heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sate upon him doth judge and make war in righteousness and he is clothed with a Vesture dipt in blood and his Name is called The Word of God He goeth forth Conquering and to Conquer He takes Death and Hell and casteth them into the lake of fire Come then let us Sing the Song of Moses Exod. 15. 1 2 3. The Lord is my strength and Song He is my God I will exalt him The Lord is a man of war The Lord is his Name I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the Horse and his Rider hath he cast into the
fire This Victory was won by Christ t is worn by us It was dear to Christ t is cheap to us It cost him labour and pain and sorrow and sweat and blood but it is given to us we overcome not by expence of our own blood but by the blood of the Lamb. What then shall we render to the Lord Shall we give him less than a Song a Song of thanksgiving especially when we can give no more O ye that are the redeemed of the Lord whom he hath ransomed from the power of the grave send out your thoughts a while into the Land of Darkness and take a more exact view of the triumphs and trophies of Death which it hath erected over the Vanquished Sons and Daughters of men that have fallen under its power Look into the prison of the Grave where the bodies of the slain are holden under Chains of Darkness reserved to the execution of the Great day Consider the poyson venom sharpness and power of the deadly sting that is entred into their Souls strengthened with all the plagues and Curses that are writtten in the book of the Law of a righteous avenging and Almighty Judge the worm of Conscience gnawing the Soul as well as the worm of Corruption feeding on the body Hark what are the hideous Cryes and woes and wailings the roarings and yellings the gnashing of teeth and bitter lamentations of the wretched prisoners captivated under the insulting Enemy and then recall your thoughts to the solemn meditation of this happy word the glad tidings of the Glorious conquest and Resurrection of Jesus Christ in fellowship with whom you are rescued from the cursed power of this Death and Hell and made heirs of the grace of life of life eternal And if you have any sense of the Infinite love of God and his compassions towards you of the incomparable labours and sufferings of Jesus Christ for you of the unspeakable misery from whence you are redeemed and the glorious Immortality to which you are intituled and whereof you shall be possessed Your meditations methinks cannot but issue with the Apostle's in this greatful pathetick and triumphant doxologie Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesu Christ FINIS ERRATA Pref. read Curriculum vitae page 7. l. 9. r. affect and. l. 19. r. shining p. 18. l. 28. r. Dr. Tuckney p. 27. l. 18. r. may p. 28. l. 18. r. means and l. 2. r. on the week day p. 32. l. 3. r. Jesus Christ p. 34. l. 9. r. the strongest p. 44. l. 21. r. worthy of p. 45. l. 4. r. being p. 57. l. 19. r. visit p. 59. l. 1. r. look to Christ p. 61. l. 5. r. moderation p. 69. l. 27. r. send p. 73. l. 24. r. hear p. 75. l. 15. r. separated p. 63. l. 20. r. hides p. 99. l. 2. r. if A Catalogue of Books Printed for and Sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside 1. A Word to Sinners and A word to Saints the former to awaken the latter to direct and perswade 2. Christian directions to walk with God all the day long 3. Principles of Christian Religion Explained to the Capacity of the meanest with Practical Applications to each Head whereby family Catechising may be with much ease performed 4. The young mans Guide through the Wilderness of this World to the Heavenly Canaan 5. The surest and safest way of Thriving which is in being Charitable to the Poor all five Written by Tho. Gouge Minister of the Gospel Ars Sciendi sive Logica nova methodo disposita novis preceptis aucta Self Employment in secret containing Evidences upon self examination Thoughts upon painful afflictions Memorials for practice Parents Groans for their wicked Children by Edward Lawrence M. A. Troughtons apology for the Nonconformists preaching Of thoughtfulness for the future by J. Howe M. A. Barretts reply to the Dean St. Pauls late Book No Evidence for Diocesan Bishops by Mr. Clarkson The Life of that reverend Divine Mr. Owen Stockton late of Colchester There is now a Printing an Exposition on the Prophecy of Isaia by that reverend divine Mr. Arthur-Jackson The Little Book for little Children is lately Reprinted Corbetts self Imployment in secret
what great need I have and that it is of singular use to watch over my Soul in all its ways both in reference to sin that I fall not into it and when fallen what the Carriage and Actings of my Soul are at such a time Whether I flee for relief to God in Christ or to my own works And in reference to my duties to take heed lest those means which God hath appointed to be the conveyances of himself his Son and Spirit and all Spiritual blessings should prove to me a mean of Death and Separation from God by my formal use of them and resting in them For as Satan keeps some alienated from God by the gross pollutions of the world So others from Christ by their Establishing a Righteousness of their own O Lord break thou this snare for me and let my Soul escape as a bird from the Net that I may flee to thee and be at rest I have observed in my self that when God at any time is pleased to work any thing in my Soul I soon lose it if he quicken me I soon grow dead hearted again if he enliven my affections they soon grow cold and flat and my old hardness returns upon me Hence I come to see that it is infinite Wisdom and Goodness in God that he hath not put the stock of grace into our own hands but hath treasured it up in Christ that our life is now hid with Christ in God for so it becomes sure Rom. 4. 16. hereby also I come to see that I have need of continual recourse to Jesus Christ for new supplies of grace and strength The Lord God in his wisdom was pleased when he delivered his people out of Egypt before he brought them to Canaan to lead them 40 years in the wilderness when as he could have led them a nearer way to Canaan Exod. 13. 17. He chose rather to lead them through the great and terrible Wilderness Jer. 2. 6. where were fiery Serpents and Scorpions and drought where there was no water where he brought them forth water out of the Rock of Flint and fed them with Manna for this end that he might humble them prove them and do them good in the latter end Deut. 8. 15 16. Doest thou find it so O my Soul in thy travail towards the Heavenly Canaan Doest thou walk through much Spiritual drought a land of deserts and of the shadow of death Dost meet with a flinty heart and fiery temptations Know that the Lord doth this to humble thee which through his grace thou hast sometimes found and to prove thee i. e to discover thee to thy self for he himself knows thy thoughts afar off and this way of God through grace hath been a means of discovering much of thy corrupt heart to thee and that he may doe thee good in the latter end Therefore take heed O my Soul of Israel's sins of murmuring against God under thy wants of unbeleif and tempting God c. Read oft and weight well the 78th Psalm May 6. being Sabbath day The Lord was pleased in the hearing of his word to convince me of my sin and lost condition But Lord How unfaithful was I then and have I been since to the Convictions of thy Spirit How soon have I healed up the wound that was given by the word How soon hath an hard heart a secure careless Spirit taken possession of me Lord If ever thy word be effectual in me thou must not only speak it to my heart but write and engraff it there also Henceforth I desire to wait on thee as for the teachings of thy Spirit so for the writing of thy Law in my heart by thy Spirit I found a lothness in my Spirit to go to here this Sermon whereby I perceive Satan would have hindred me Be encouraged hence O my Soul to break through all difficulties thou meetest with in doing thy duty When thou findest any secret unwillingness to ordinances or duties then stir up thy self to wait upon God expecting that he hath some special mercy for thee which Satan would hinder thee off Jun. 1. This day the Lord did in the hearing of his word revive some convictions which have formerly been upon my Spirit though in a very languid manner I stood convinced before the Lord of unbelief and that I was a lost creature because thereof from the words of our Saviour Joh. 3. 18. He that believeth not is Condemned already Conscience tells me that I am yet in unbelief that I want that faith which is accompanied with the new birth Joh. 1. 12 13. that faith which should purge me from Atheism formality and resting in duties from hypocrisie and deadness from unclean affections and inordinate Love of the world from a vain mind and a light Spirit that faith which should purifie my heart from these and the like evils Act. 15. 9. that faith which should make Christ a greater Reality and more precious to me than any thing in the world 1 Pet. 2. 7. that faith which brings peace with God and joy in the Holy Ghost unspeakable and full of Glory Rom. 5. 1. 1 Pet. 1. 8. I find I have had a dead faith Jam. 2. 17 20. and presumed upon Gods Mercy in Christ although I have been estranged from God in my heart and Nature my Resting in duties and trusting in my own Righteousness as far as I can see hath been the deceit of my heart Lord lay this conviction upon my Conscience for I find my heart would put it off yea it hath already desperately hardned it self against thee I fear I shall out-grow this Conviction of thy word as at other times I feel a careless Spirit that would make light of Eternity and of Jesus Christ Lord break my heart under thy word for my unbelief and neglect of Christ Let me not heal my self but wait till thou shalt heal me Thou didst help the unbelief of thy Servant Thomas Oh that thou wouldest help mine also The Lord hath shewn me that I am dead in sin not only from the testimony of his word Eph. 2. 1. Col. 2. 13. but by inward experience For I feel my self alienated from the life of God cut off from communion with the Lord Jesus separate from God and his blessed Spirit My deceitful heart hath often gone about to repel this conviction and hath caused me sometimes to mistake a life of morality for Spiritual life and at other times a life of formality But now I find the Scripture speaks of dead works and calls for repentance from them Heb. 6. 1. and purging our consciences from them Heb. 9. 14. By dead works I understand not only the gross pollutions of the World but all works whatever that are done by a man void of the quickning Spirit of God Without Union to Christ there is no Spiritual life for as the natural life results from the Union of the Soul with the body and the State of death is nothing but the
from the dead seemed no other than babling to the Learned Philosophers at Athens Act. 17. 18. And was thought incredible by Festus and Agrippa and the Captains and Principal men of Caesarea Act. 26. 8. Yea the Resurrection seemed as an idle Tale at first to the very Apostles Luk. 24. 11. and they believed it not So great is the Glory of this victory over Death that even Angels come down from Heaven to make report of it and to Celebrate the Triumph Mar. 16. Luk. 24. Tell no more then of the mighty Acts of Nimrod or Chedorlaomer of Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar of Cyrus or Alexander or of all the Caesars or the rest of those great Names that have filled the world with their Fame who have subdued Kingdoms and led Nations Captive and made many glorious Triumphs Yea let no mention be made of the Victories of Joshua or Baruk or Gideon or Jephtha or Samson or Saul or Jonathan or David or of all his worthies who have Victoriously fought the Battles of the Lord against the Arms of flesh and whose Sword returned not empty from the blood of the slain Behold the greater Glory of this Victory in the Text which darkneth the lustre of all their Triumphs Their Acts were mira but this miraculum Their Victories were wonders but this a Miracle The Gates of Hell the power of Darkness the King of Terrors before whom all these Triumphing Victors at last fell fallen at the feet of the Saints Quest But if Believers be thus victorious and their Victory be so great and Glorious which you tell us as indeed it is How do they obtain it Where lieth the great strength of these Samsons Are they not all Clay of the same lump with other men Are they not the Sons of men Do we not know their generation Their Parents Brethren and Sisters are they not with us Whence then have these men these mighty Works Answ Truly they are so They are of the same Nature with other men promise no more than other nay less as to sense and reason for they are not many wise after the flesh not many mighty not many noble 1 Cor. 1. 26. and therefore we may well ask the question How they overcome The remaining Text will resolve this They get not the Victory by their own Sword neither do their own Arm save them But 3. The Victory is given them by God through our Lord Jesus Christ We will express this in three particulars 1. Jesus Christ disarmeth Death by his satisfaction 2. He destroyeth Death by his Resurrection 3. This Victory becomes the Believers by participation and communion with him 1. Jesus Christ disarms Death by his Satisfaction The sting of Death is sin saith the context and the strength of sin is the Law Sin being the Transgression of a Righteous Law hath in it a fundamentall demerit and natural obligation to punishment which is moreover Confirmed by the Laws threatning Thou shalt die the Death This is the sting of Death wherewith it is armed from the poyson power and pain whereof none can be delivered unless the obligation be voided by making satisfaction This being impossible to meer man Jesus Christ undertook it To which purpose our sins were translated on him by imputation Isa 53. 6. All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every on to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all He was made a Priest that he might offer Sacrifice to expiate this guilt and to Satisfie the Law Heb. 5. 4 5 6. And no man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and again Thou art a Priest for ever c. The Sacrifice to be offered up by this Priest for this purpose must be an humane Soul and body for the Subjection of mans Soul and body to the curse of the Law was the punishment which the Law exacted for mans sin and wherewith only it would be satisfied This Soul and body did Christ assume Joâ— 1. 14. The word was made flesh Hebs 10. 5. When he cometh into the World he saieth Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me For the Sanctification of this Sacrifice to be offered up to God there must be an Altar Math. 23. 19. The Altar Sanctifieth the gift which Altar was his divine nature Heb. 9. 14. Througth the eternal Spirit he offered himself And Joh. 17. 19. I sanctifie my self I as God sanctifie my self as man And being thus instructed he actually offered up himself to God Eph. 5. 2. Christ hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God He humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the cross Phil. 2. 8. and so was made a Curse for us as it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree Gal. 3. 13. By this did Christ satisfie the Law expiate guilt cancelled the hand writing the obligation to punishment appeased the wrath of God and obtained remission of sins Eph. 1. 7. Thus did he finish transgression make an end of sins thus he made reconciliation for iniquity brought in Everlasting Righteousness Thus he disarmed death by making satisfaction 2. He destroyeth Death by his resurrection By his satisfaction he took away the power and efficacy of Death but by his resurrection he destroyed the very Being of death actually as to himself virtually as to believers Rom. 6. 9. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more Death hath no more dominion over him and v. 10. For in that he died he died unto sin once Ad delendum peccatum ut semel in nihilum redigat peccatum in nobis saith Beza he died once for all utterly to blot out sin in us but in that he liveth he liveth unto God Apud Deum or secundum Deum vita caelesti et immortali a life worthy of God an heavenly and immortal life We read Joh. 11. 44. concerning Lazarus that he that was dead came forth There the power of Death was suspended at present that it could not hold him but the Being of Death remained for he rose to die again and therefore he came forth bound hand and foot with Grave-Clothes and his face was bound about with a Napkin But when Christ rose both the Power and the Being of Death ceased as to him and therefore he left his Grave-Clothes behind him and carryed nothing belonging to Death with him Joh. 20. 6. 7. The rising body of Christ was not only not dead but not mortal His body rose a glorious body a spiritual body an heavenly body Not only Death but mortality is swallowed up by the resurrection of Christ And as by the resurrection of Christ the Being of Death was destroyed actually as to himself so vertually to believers for