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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A62392	The faithful souldier's reward, or, A glimpse of the saints happiness discovered in two sermons, occasioned by the death of that truly vertuous and religious gentle woman, Mrs. Katherine Disney : the former preached at Kirkstead, the place of her last abode here upon the earth, on the 18th day of May, 1690, being the Lord's Day, and the latter at Swinderly, near Lincoln, where she was interr'd the Tuesday following / by William Scoffin.	Scoffin, William, 1655?-1732.	1692 (1692)	Wing S933; ESTC R11432	41,514	126

THE Faithful Souldier's Reward Or a Glimpse of the SAINTS HAPPINESS Discovered in two SERMONS occasioned by the Death of that truly Vertuous and Religious Gentlewoman Mrs. Katherine Disney The former Preached at Kirkstead the Place of her last abode here upon Earth on the 18th Day of May 1690 being the Lord's Day And the latter at Swinderby near Lincoln where she was Interr'd the Tuesday following By William Scoffin Rev. 21.7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son Rev. 2.10 Be thou faithful unto Death and I will give thee a Crown of Life LONDON Printed for J. Robinson at the Golden Lion in S. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCII 2 TIM 4.7 8. I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that Day and not to me only but unto all them also that love his Appearing THE deceased Gentlewoman and our honoured Friend whose Death hath occasioned our present Meeting did some Years ago make choice of this Scripture to be preached upon at her Funeral and therefore it was recommended to me by her most affectionate and now sorrowful surviving Husband And had I been left unto my own choice I could not have pitched upon a more suitable Subject considering the Temptations and Conflicts she had more than many other Christians do ever meet with The Life of every sincere Christian is a continual Warfare yet some are exercis'd with sharper Combates than many others ever are amongst whom may be reckoned our deceased Friend being one that was assaulted with many Temptations yet through the Captain of her Salvation she did conquer and overcome So that well might she apply this Scripture to her self and in Humility say with the Apostle St. Paul I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness c. In which Scripture the holy Apostle asserteth these two Particulars 1. His Faithfulness in his Duty 2. The Reward of his Faithfulness The First for Timothy's Imitation the Second for his Encouragement I shall speak chiefly to the Latter of these but will first consider the Context and the Meaning of the Words and then come to that Point of Doctrine which I purpose to build my present Discourse upon In the three first Chapters of this Epistle the Apostle directs Timothy to several Duties and excites him to the faithful Discharge of the same giving him also to understand what perillous Times there should come and how that Troubles and Persecutions were to be expected and hereupon he further exhorteth him to Constancy in his Duty chap. 3.1 14. Minding him also of his early Knowledg in the holy Scriptures and shewing the Excellency and Profitableness of them ver 15 17. And lest Timothy should be discouraged and grow remiss in his Duty from the Opposition and Persecutions he should meet with from Men the Apostle most earnestly chargeth him as in the Presence of the All-seeing God and as he will answer it to Christ at the great Day of Judgment that he be faithful serious and diligent in the great Work and Duties of the Ministry chap. 4.1 2. And for the further pressing this Charge upon him he lays before him the necessity of it with respect to the Church's Welfare For the time will come saith he when they will not endure sound Doctrine but after their own Lust shall they heap to themselves Teachers having itching Ears And they shall turn away their Ears from the Truth and shall be turned unto Fables ver 3 4. And seeing it shall be so therefore preach the Word be instant in Season and out of Season i. e. Lay hold of all Opportunities for the bringing Persons to the Truth and establishing them in it Reprove rebuke and exhort with all long-Suffering and Doctrine q. d. Suit thy self and Discourse to every one's Case and Condition reprove such as are faulty rebuke gross Sinners and exhort all Men with unwearied Long-suffering and sound Doctrine bearing with their Peevishness Stubbornness c. And in ver 5. he renews his Charge or Exhortation to Timothy saying Watch thou in all things c. q. d. Seeing there will be such a sad Defection as I have shewed thee there shall certainly be therefore be thou the more vigilant and watchful both over thy Self and Flock and endure Affliction and Hardness as a good Souldier of Christ Do the Work of an Evangelist Chap. 2.3 in gathering and confirming Churches make full proof of thy Ministry i. e. perform it thorowly in all the parts of it so as fully to approve thy self to be a faithful Minister of Christ And then he backs his Exhortation with a second Reason and that is the Nearness of his own Dissolution Ver. 6. For I am now ready to be offer'd and the time of my Departure is at hand q. d. Within a while I shall suffer Martyrdom and seal the Truths which I have preach'd with my own Blood Psal 116.15 and shall thereby become an acceptable Sacrifice to God Whether Paul came to know the Nearness of his Death by the Carriage of Nero the Roman Emperor under whom he suffered or whether he had it by Revelation from God is uncertain to us but certain it is that he did know it And thereupon lays it before Timothy as an Argument to enforce his Exhortation upon him q. d. Forasmuch as within a while the Church will be deprived of my Help therefore it will need thy greater Care and Diligence And as to thy self while I am with thee thou hast the help of my Instructions and Exhortations and the Benefit of my Example but seeing I shall shortly be taken from thee therefore thou oughtest to give the more earnest Heed to what I now write unto thee So much as to the Context And now I come to my Text wherein the Apostle doth further excite and encourage Timothy to his Duty 1. By declaring unto him what his own Practice had been I have fought a good Fight c. Shewing hereby that there was no Duty which he had been exhorting Timothy unto but what he had constantly practis'd himself and that with the greatest Diligence and Faithfulness 2. By his shewing the Reward of his great Faithfulness and Diligence Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness c. q. d. Consider well what my Practice hath been and that I have not fought in vain run in vain nor laboured in vain but shall have an eternal and inconceivable Reward conferr'd upon me And let the Consideration of this encourage thee to the greater Faithfulness and Diligence in Duty The Apostle seems to allude unto the Grecian Games when he speaks of his fighting running and his being crowned I have fought a good Fight q. d.

Enemies can do us here Mat. 10.28 is only to kill the Body and this they cannot do neither without the permission of God and when God permits them to injure our Bodies Rom. 8.28 he thereby designs us good to our Souls So that our Enemies are very unskilful whatsoever Evil they design unto us for when they impair the outward Man they thereby better the inward Man 2 Cor. 4.16 And if they root us out of the Earth they do but send us the sooner to Heaven Yea Mat. 5.10 11 12. and the greater our Sufferings are here in the World the greater will be our Happiness hereafter 'T was a Saying of one of the Antient Fathers when vilified by his Enemies He that willingly takes from my good Name unwillingly adds to my Reward Surely then the Hopes of Heaven should chear our Hearts under all our Trials 3. It administers Comfort to Believers even against Death it self These Earthly Tabernacles must be dissolved 2 Cor. 5.1 but what then We have a Building of God an House not made with Hands Eternal in the Heavens We shall but leave a poor tottering Cottage to live in a Princely Palace and forsake an unquiet and troublesome World for a place of everlasting Repose Isa 57.2 Rev. 14.13.1 Thess 4.13 14 15. Death to Believers is but a sweet Sleep and the Grave but a Chamber of Rest where the Body doth quietly repose it self till the general Resurrection And then it shall certainly awake from its Sleep and be raised again a most Glorious Body Phil. 3.21 And while the Body doth thus quietly rest in the Grave the Soul is in actual Joy and Felicity It doth not sleep in the Grave with the Body 2 Cor. 5.8 Phil. 1.23 as some do foolishly imagine but is present with the Lord and in a State of Activity Death is to the Soul of every Believer an immediate Passage into Glory Believers may therefore look Death in the Face with a great deal of Joy and Comfort 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. for its Sting is taken away by Christ and it is unto them a Translation Their Life is not taken away but changed 't is changed from a miserable and corruptible Life to that which is Blessed and Eternal There 's a Glorious State provided for Believers in the World to come and Death is the ready Passage into it Wherefore comfort one another with these Words 1 Thess 4.18 saith the Apostle With what Words Why that Jesus Christ shall come in the Clouds Ver. 16 17. and take Believers unto himself and so shall we for ever be with the Lord. Lastly The Doctrine affords matter of Comfort to the Dear Relations of our Deceased Friend who hath fought a good Fight and hath finished her Course and is now gone to receive the Crown which the Lord hath prepared for her She was one that was assaulted with many Temptations but through the Captain of her Salvation she did conquer and overcome Jam. 1.12 Rev. 2.10 and is now enjoying as we have ground to hope the Reward of a Faithful Souldier of Christ even an immortal Crown of Life and Glory yea the highest Felicity she is capable of receiving till her Body and Soul be again reunited and then will her Happiness be full and compleat Ever since I knew her I look'd upon her to be one that desired to make Religion her Business or the chief concern of her Life She had very low and mean Thoughts of her self and was greatly afraid of being mistaken and of thinking her Condition to be better than it was She has oft in my hearing lamented and bewail'd her Distractions of Mind in Duty and would tell me she found it a very difficult thing to keep her Heart close unto God And where is there a Christian indeed that doth not experience this It was her practice every Day to read a considerable Portion of the Holy Scriptures and to meditate and pray in secret besides her constant joyning in Family-Duties She would say that she found those two Soul-enriching Duties of Meditation and Self-examination very hard and difficult to perform them aright She had a very hearty Love I believe to all God's Faithful People 1 Joh. 3.14 not only those that were of the same Judgment with her but also to those that differed from her in some Circumstantials of Religion She was far from that factious and narrow Spirit which too many have discovered in these our Days that has no hearty Love for any but those that are of their own Perswasion No wheresoever she saw any thing of the Image of God Psal 15.4 Psal 16.2 3. in Rich or Poor or any Person that differed from her in Judgment such Persons were always welcome to her and she ever expressed an high esteem of them Psal 119.63 She delighted most in the Society of those who truly feared the Lord. She would speak her Mind freely and with very great Zeal in vindicating God's Faithful Servants when she heard any of them spoken against or reflected on by others Her Humility was very conspicuous and apparent to all that conversed much with her And you of her Neighbours who knew her well can give your Attestation to what I say How free was she always in her Converse with you And how familiar would she be with the poorest of you The Poor was as welcome to her as the Rich and more especially such as feared the Lord. She would visit the poorest of her Neighbours with delight when she could have any hopes of doing them good or of administring any Relief to them She went very modestly in her Apparel ever since I knew her chusing rather to go below her Quality than in the least to exceed She could not endure those ridiculous Fashions which are now so much followed by many those foolish and fantastical Dresses which abundance do please themselves with And for my part I verily believe that a great many Persons amongst us do please but a very few with their Dress besides the Devil and themselves And I wish the Lord may not bring upon these what he brought upon the haughty Daughters of Zion Isa 3.16 26. Jer. 15.9 chap. 14.1 18. and 52.1 27. Many there are which seem not to approve of these foolish fantastical Fashions and yet forsooth they must follow the same lest they make themselves ridiculous But our honoured Friend the deceased Gentlewoman was not of their Mind for she rather chose to be accounted ridiculous by proud and foolish Sinners than to make her self so indeed in the Sight of the All-seeing God She spent little time in dressing her self and as little she spent in Idleness She would constantly be employed in one honest Business or other as knowing it sinful either in Poor or in Rich to trifle and idle away precious Time She had indeed her Infirmities and Weaknesses which none are free from while here in the World but