a Calling dealing with and for Heaven now when Tradesmen meet together what do they discourse of but their Calling Merchants of their Ships Shop keepers of the price of their Commodities Oh that you would do the same as to your excellent and holy Calling Oh that Discourses that tend to edification may be more frequent and familiar at your Tables and all your meetings this would not hinder and obstruct your worldly Affairs but sanctifie and sweeten them Our great and gracious Lord hath set us a Pattern After his Resurrection he continued with his Apostles forty days of which he spent none in idleness and froth but all in speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God Acts 1.3 and so likewise do the same with your faithful Ministers attend their Ministry hearken to their Doctrine follow their holy Counsels walk in their light and do not grieve their Hearts by your slights neglects and divisions but obey them that have the Rule over you knowing they watch for your Souls and shew your Respect and Kindness to them now if ever you would do it yet a little while and you shall not have the Priviledge of doing it In Heaven they will not need your Countenance and your Prayers and they will be above your Purses Do what you can now knowing it is the best and most fruitful Soil you can find to sow upon Puul turned over to God that debt which he owed to Onesiphorus 2 Tim. 1.16 The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my Chain And Ver. 18. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day And without peradventure God did most readily accept the Bill and will be sure to pay it with a very great increase Thirdly Instead of murmuring that God hath taken him from you be you thankful and with your Hearts bless his Name that ever he brought him to you For certain God had some Work for him to do in the City and therefore he fetched him hither 'Till then he liv'd at a distance and this place was quite out of his Road And Oh! what a singular Mercy was it that God should raise a Storm in the Countrey and thereby drive him to this place that so he might find thee out and deliver a Message from the great God to thee and from the Prince and Fountain of Life speak a Word of Life to thy Soul who to that very day wast a poor ignorant lost filthy vile Creature altogether dead in trespasses and sins Prithee go thy way admiring rich and free Grace and shew the tender Bowels of a Christian in pittying and bewailing those poor Creatures thy ignorant and graceless Neighbours who came to the same Congregation with thee sate in the same feat with thee and had the same Means with thee but got no good at all remaining in the same Condition in which they were before Vassals of Sin and Satan in the gall of bitterness and bond of iniquity Thou hast been savingly enlightned when others are still unacquainted with God and the things of God thou hast turned thy back upon thy wicked Associates and Courses of Debauchery but others are the Companions of Fools still and march on to Hell as if they were in Post-haste Swearing and Cursing being Drunk and Unclean still Do thou I say Bless God for it and be exceeding thankful that his Servant liv'd 'till he had wrought savingly upon thy Soul and must not himself go to Heaven before he had brought thee to God Fourthly Remember the precious Truths which be Preached to you and often call to mind those holy Counsels that He gave you This is a great Duty bound upon you by Scripture-precept Heb. 13.7 Remember them which have the Rule over you who have Preached to you the word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their Conversation Where the Apostle did not speak only of those that were present but also of them that were gone Now pray do so Remember him and the gracious Speeches you have heard from him and the wholsom Advice you have received from him and the blessed Truths that have been deliver'd by him and hold them fast and if any shall now come and bring with him another Gospel than that ye have received entertain him not listen not to him let him be accursed Galat. 1. There are many falle Prophets gone forth into the World and into this Nation and City yea there are many Antichrists whereby we know this is the last time and it is like there will be some plucking and tugging at your Faith When an Orthodox Gracious and Peaceable Minister is dead then is the Devil busie thinking it a fit Opportunity for him and his Servants to sow his Seed and put off his Wares that is a time for Men of dividing Principles to infuse and spread their wretched Notions and disturb the Peace of Churches If you love your selves and as you will Answer it another day do you avoid them and take heed you do not drink in any unsound Opinions any rotten and exploded Errors an Old Falshood under the Notion of a New Light and to this end bear upon your thoughts the Text last mention'd which in my Judgment furnisheth us with a Reason why so many are Fly-blown in their Heads and led into Error in these seducing times viz. They do not remember them that have the Rule over them they do not Observe their Faith nor the End of their Conversation For many tho' Convinc'd of the Truth of those Doctrines which they Preached and Eye-witnesses of their Conversations that they were Holy Exemplary and according to the Rule of the Gospel yet they will most absurdly question what such Pastors did deliver and believe a Stranger and follow him Whereas whom should you Credit whom have you Reason and Encouragement to follow but him who made it his Business to get to Heaven himself and to shew you the right way that He might meet you there and have you for his Crown and Joy You have found him faithful to God and to You why then should you not continue stedfast in and immovable from those holy Truths which he hath deliver'd to you rather than give an Ear to them whom you know not from whence they came nor what Spirit they are of Fifthly Stand in the gap doing what in you lies that this Breach this great Breach which hath been made upon you may be made up again and that with all convenient speed You that have a sincere Love to the Interest of Christ and the Everlasting Gospel and a real Kindness to the Church of which you are Members lay out your selves to such a purpose and that to the utmost You that have the Spirit of Grace and Supplication poured out upon you and dwelling in you that have Acquaintance with God and an Interest at the Throne of Grace now do you improve that Interest
he must of necessity be justified and acknowledged right because he doth not in any of them exceed the demerit of their sins He cannot but do right in all things that doth wrong in nothing We do indeed meet with this Pathetical Expression in Job 23.2 Even to day is my Complaint bitter It is bitter to me for thô it gives me Ease yet it is not what I like I do not love to be always Complaining and I find it is bitter to you you do not relish it you do not love to have your delicate tender Ears thus grated yet saith he My stroke is heavier than my groaning If these Groans pierce your Ears there are Sorrows that wound my Heart if my Groans be great my Burden is much greater if my Complaint be very bitter I am sure the blow which God hath given me is very smart You think my Patience is very small but you are not sensible of my Pain you do not feel that which I feel But mark this though Job did say his Stroke was greater than his Groans yet he doth not say that it was greater than his Sins No No the Sins of an Hour deserve all the Afflictions of a Life and more too There is more evil in the least sin than there is in the greatest Affliction There is good in Affliction but none at all in Sin See what Zophar said to Job Job 11.6 Know that God exacts of thee less than thy Iniquities deserve God hath taken away thy Servants and thy Cattle and thy Children and suffered Satan to smite thee with Boyls from the Crown of the Head to the Sole of the Foot and hither thou art come from great Honour and Estate to a Dunghil but as good a Man as thou art and thinkest thy self to be thine Iniquities deserve worse than all this Iniquity for certain deserves Affliction but in this Life God never Orders out to any so many and so great Afflictions as their Iniquities do deserve The least Mercy is more than all our Earnings amount to and the greatest Affliction less than our least Sin deserves David complained in Psal 38. That God's Arrows stuck fast in him and his Hand pressed him sore But his sins made deeper Wounds in his Conscience than those Arrows did in his Flesh and accordingly he cryed out in the 4th Verse that his Iniquities were gone over his Head and as an heavy burden they were too heavy for him The Hand of God did sorely press him but his Iniquities did press him a great deal worse The Condition into which sinning and God provoking Jerusalem had been brought and in which it lay for the space of seventy Years was exceeding deplorable You must needs account it so if you ever took Notice how it is set out by the Prophet Jeremiah in his Lamentations Yet Holy Ezra humbly and ingenuously acknowledged to the Glory of God Ezra 9.13 That he had punished them less than their Iniquities My Friends it is a very proper Course for you and for others under Affliction first to take a serious View of your Sins looking upon them through the Glass of Christ's Blood for so you will see them to be out of measure finful and after that turn your Eyes upon your Afflictions and behold their Face in the Glass of your sins and then you will see them to be very moderate and that the Divine Contendings with you are in measure Whosoever he be that doth really see into the Demerit of sin cannot but presently discover much of the Mercy which is in the Affliction and it must be granted that those Afflictions can be no other than right which are Merciful Afflictions Thirdly Consider God in his depriving his People of their Comforts and taking away from them their pleasant things and how grievous soever this Dispensation is to them God cannot but therein be right because He takes from them nothing but that which was his own Job was stript to his very Skin and that too was not left whole he then looked to what would be at last that as he came Naked into the World so he should go Naked out but still he did not quarrel How came that about See Job 1.21 The Lord hath given and the Lord hath taken blessed be the Name of the Lord. God hath taken away your Estates how came you to have them were they not of his bestowing Remember then the same Hand that hath now cast you down did before lift you up God hath now Written you Childless but consider that he made you Parents it was His Wooll and his Flax his Gold and his Silver and your Children were more his than your own God hath now taken away your Husband and your Father and your Pastor but He gave him first and when He gave him you knew He did not give him to you for ever You knew when you came together and while you lived together it would be only for a season and you must part again When God gave him to you it was with the Reservation of his own Interest which must always be kept entire God did not part with nor in the least diminish his own Right when he put him into your Hands He gave him to you but it was for a time The truth is he did only lend him to you in his Pity and Love he sent him to you that he might be an Helper to your Faith and Joy and promote your Progress in that way of Truth and Holiness which leads to Heaven and Glory You knew that it was God's Intention his fixed and unalterable Resolution to send for him home as soon as he had finished that which was given him to do And what Reason can be assigned why He or any other Faithful Minister or Godly Christian should stay here after his Work is done It would be an irksom and tedious thing for an holy Soul to live in the World and be Idle to live and have nothing to do Shall I not do with my own as I please said the Master to that Labourer who quarrell'd with him about his Pay And may not the great God much more say so What shall I ask your leave Is it fit that I should advise with you what I shall do with and how I shall dispose of that which is mine own Ministers are Stars with which I have beautisied the Firmament of the Church which is a lower Heaven these I have made and appointed to give Light unto the World and I will set them in what Orb I please and when they have shined there and scatter'd their benign Influences as long as I see good I will place them in another and when they have done all that which it is my Pleasure should be done by them I will take them up to an higher Sphere even that of Heaven where they shall see my Face in Righteousness Contemplate my Glory and be Satisfied with my Love and Likeness But once more Fourthly Let us View those
him I found him to be of a sweet affable and loving Temper by means whereof his Grace was the more taking being like a Diamond set in Gold He had good Natural parts which were cultivated and improved by acquired Learning He had found mercy to be faithful having been so all along to his great Lord and Master his Cause and Interest standing his ground like a Rock unshaken in the days of soarest and most violent Temptation nor would he touch tho he saw others swallow down those things which his Conscience told him would prove defiling to himself or snares and stumbling-blocks unto others yet was he a Man of peace he would study it advise it and pray for it and follow it with all men so far as ever he could go without forsaking of Truth and Holiness that he was bound to be dear over while he was true to his Principles and held on his way he was no Incendiary He was a very modest Person cloathed with Humility as his upper Garment in which he walked up and down I never saw him without it You know full well and are ready to testifie that he was an industrious painful Labourerer in God's Vineyard and as he laboured so he longed for the Life Salvation and Spiritual Progress of his Hearers traveling in birth to see Christ formed in them He was a Workman that needed not to be ashamed his Pulpit was a witness to his pains with you and his Chamber to his Prayers for you in the former he wrestled with you and in the latter with God on you behalf And as he preach'd so he walk'd commending his Doctrine by his practice was he an Angel to and in the Church he was a Saint in the street being in his Conversation a singular Ornament to the Gospel and an Excellent Pattern to them that knew him But he is gone here you shall see his Face no more and hear his Voice no more Having finished that Work which his great Lord and Master had given him to do he was by that grim Messenger Death sent for and carried to his last and everlasting Home the Presence-chamber of God the habitation of his Holiness and Glory where he hath received that Crown of Righteousness which was laid up for him It is well with him very well Eternally well so well that he would not have it better for he hath fulness of Joy and Pleasures for evermore at the right hand of God he is at rest in the Bosom of his Lord being satisfied with his likeness and taking his fill of Love Only his Body lies sleeping in its Bed of dust but rests in hope of a comfortable awaking and blessed Resurrection when it shall stand up from the dead shake off its dust arise and shine being made like unto Christs most glorious Body no longer a clog and impediment to the Soul but an Help-meet fit to accompany it in all its great and blessed Employments and Operations The loss is yours and indeed it is a great one it becomes you to be intimately sensible of it and to bewail it Weep not for him but for your selves and for your Children Secondly Learn from hence one singular piece of Wisdom and good Husbandry in Improving your faithful Ministers and others the precious Saints of God while you have them among you Blessed be God tho many are called up to a better State yet there are many left behind but they are only sojourners here for a short season the time will come when they must be gone too the Number of their dayes is with God who hath appointed and fixed those bounds which they cannot pass As for the Fathers where are they and do the Prophets live for ever No no Experience tells you that they do not and they themselves are ready to tell you that they would not And indeed it is a thousand pities that they should as matters do now stand It is pity they should alwayes carry about them a Body of death which is worse than Death it self that they should be alwayes groaning under Corruptions and conflicting with Temptations What! alwayes upon hot and hard service and never have the Victory and Triumph It is pity they should alwayes live in a dirty stinking World in an ungrateful and malicious World It shall not be no it shall not be God hath graciously provided a better Place for them and better Company and incomparably better Things than ever they could have met with here Well do you think of this feriously frequently and manage your selves accordingly Your late Pastor was snatched away from you on a fudden as if Heaven had been longing for him and in a kind of Haste to have him there and it may be quickly so with reference to others as well as to him none hath a Lease of his Life And be not offended if I propound one Question to you which is this Doth it not this day wound some of your spirits to think your Minister is gone and you have not Improved him as you might and ought to have done If a Friend lend you an excellent Book for a Week or Month will you let it lye by on a Shelf or throw it into a Corner and not read it God lends you Faithful Ministers gracious Friends and Relations that you may get good by them and be the better for them if you will not make use of them their very remembrance will be a terrible sting in your Consciences Let me commend to you the Wisdom and Practice of Elisha he had an inkling of his Masters leaving him and that more than once 2 Kings 2. The Sons of the Prophets that were at Bethel said unto him Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy Master from thy head to day And so again said the Sons of the Prophets that were at Jericho Well his Master carried as if he had a Mind to shake him off three times he would have had him staid behind Tarry here I pray thee for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel v. 2. and so again v. 4. and yet again v. 6. but all would not prevail still Elisha answered As the Lord liveth and as thy Soul liveth I will not leave thee But he kept with him and his Eye fixed upon him and by that means obtained a double portion of his Spirit We need not a Spirit of Prophecy to let us understand that we shall be taken from one another The Scripture assures us that it is appointed for all Men once to to dye and there is never a pore in our Body but what may serve as a door little indeed but wide enough to let Life out and Death in therefore while you have those with you by whom you may get good for your Souls make all the advantage of them that you can Do thus with your Fellow-Christians your Godly Neighbours and Acquaintance those with whom you walk in an holy Communion and in breaking of Bread and in Prayers You are all of