Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A33279
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A sermon preached at the funeral of Mr. Nathaniel Aske, late rector of Somerford-Magna in North-Wilts by John Clark.
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Clark, John, fl. 1676.
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1676
(1676)
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Wing C4477; ESTC R11583
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11,530
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36
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same of all true Believers 2 Cor. 5.2 For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven And that they are rather willing to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord according to that of 2 Cor. 5.8 Now there may be several Reasons given for the ground of this Doctrine that you may the better believe it As First Because Believers know and are well assured that the day of death is better then the day of a mans birth Eccles 7.1 When a man is born he comes into misery a world of misery what tongue is able to express the internal and external troubles of this life I could enumerate in divers cases both as to the one and other but I pass them over Now death puts an end to all these miseries to Gods people and therefore no wonder that the Servants of God have in them such a willing desire after death Secondly Because a faithful Soul when it departeth is immediately after death with Christ I desire to depart and to be with Christ And thus saith the Apostle it is Melius it is better yea it is Multo melius it is much better nay yet again it is Multo magis melius we must bear with St. Pauls incongruity of speech it is much more better to be with him And to the same purpose speaks the same Apostle 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable Believers the Children of God are most miserable that is if in this life in this world only for the present we have hope and confidence in Christ and the height of our confidence reach no further then we we poor Christians we the Faithful in the world we of all men are most miserable yea we are more miserable then any other men Thirdly Again Believers have in them a willing expectation and desire after death because they have hope in their death Prov. 14.32 The wicked is driven away in his wickedness but the righteous hath hope in his death It is by death Believers come to be partakers of the object of their hope The time when the righteous hath hope is in his death In the evil day in time of greatest disconsolation when Friends stand weeping and wringing their hands when speech sight senses strength fail when riches will not profit a man when Physicians are of no value when all creatures prove miserable Comforters and when all human helps fail then then is a Christians Soul full of hope and may comfortably use this motto Spero meliora Though I leave loving Friends near and dear Relations many outward comforts and enjoyments yet I hope to enjoy and inhabit an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens whose builder is God So that Believers upon this ground are willing to dye because they have hope in their death Fourthly Again Believers have in them a willing desire of death because here they look upon themselves but as Pilgrims and Strangers They are in this world but not of this world for Heaven is a Believers proper Country and a Believers desire is after this Heavenly Country Heb. 11.16 But now they desire a better country that is an heavenly A wicked mans Country is here below here he lives and here he desires to live An Unbeliever is a Citizen of the world Terrae filius a Son of Earth he is one that minds only Earthly things his delights his contentments his portion his happiness are in this life see Psalm 17.14 and there you will find it so But now a true Believer is a Citizen of Heaven a Free-Denizen of that Country where Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God Believers do disclaim and disown the World as none of theirs The World accounts them as Strangers and so they account themselves And as they disclaim the World so they lay claim to Heaven We desire say the Apostles 2 Cor. 5.2 to be cloathed upon with our house which is from heaven And indeed there is nothing that a Christian hath that is worth the having that he hath as a Christian but it is in Heaven as is well noted by a Reverend Divine Houses Mr. Jer. Dike Lands Possessions Goods Riches Honours these men have not as Christians but as men these are common to Heathens with Christians But there be many excellent things that belong to Christians as Christians and all these things are above in Heaven Our Father is in Heaven Mat. 6.9 Our Father which art in heaven Our Mother is in Heaven Gal. 4.26 But Jerusalem which is above is free which is the Mother of us all Our elder Brother and Head is in Heaven Ephes 1.20 He raised Christ from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places Our Inheritance is in Heaven 1 Pet. 1.4 To an Inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you Our Mansion house is in Heaven 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Our Substance is in Heaven Heb. 10.34 Ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance Our Hope is in Heaven Col. 1.5 For the hope that is laid up for you in heaven Now if all these be in Heaven where should Believers be but in Heaven also and have a willing desire of death to be with their Father and with his Son Jesus Christ Fifthly Lastly Believers have in them a willing desire of death because it is better to be with God then with men better to be in Heaven then on Earth in a state freed from sorrow sin and temptation than in a state subject to them all for as holy Job speaketh chap 14.1 A man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble but a few days and those days full of trouble But now blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord for they rest from their labours and their works follow them Here the people of God labour for rest I but when they come to dye they rest from their labour Rev. 14.13 Now they rest from their labours in as much as all tears are wiped from their eyes No more death nor sorrow no more aches pains Agues Feavers Consumptions nor pain doth take hold of them and therefore no wonder upon this ground also that Believers have such a willing desire and expectation of death Objection Here some may object That we see in many good Christians a fear of death and a desire of life And I my self may some poor doubting Christian say do find that I am apt to tremble at the thoughts of death How should not death then be rather a day of misery to be trembled at than a day of happiness to be longed for Answer To this I answer That we are to distinguish
which shall be revealed in us He that hath his thoughts much on the Crown of reward will despise the ignomine and shame of the Cross Moses when he had by an eye of Faith looked a while on the recompence of reward chose affliction with the people of God rather then the great preferment of Pharaoh's Court. Reproach for Christ was preferred to the treasures of Aegypt because he had a respect to the recompence of reward And Christ himself who is far greater then Moses for the joy that was set before him endured the Cross and despised the shame Ille moeret si sibi male sit in seculo cui non potest bene esse post seculum The ill being of this life is not greatly sadning to that heart that knows it shall have a well being in the other life The holy Martyrs did chearfully kiss the Flames because they had their thoughts on that Glory which was far brighter then those Flames Thirdly if Christians did but muse much on this Heavenly Glory it would make them more exact in all the Duties of Religion as to the real performance of them For that Christian will be most abundant and most serious in Duties who hath his eye in Heaven while he is performing of them No Saints will have so exact conversations on Earth as those that have their conversation most in Heaven We know what the Apostles advice to Christians tend to 1 Cor. 15.58 That they would be stedfast and unmovable always abounding in the work of the Lord because they know their labour is not in vain in the Lord. Some few serious thoughts of Heaven would shake off laziness and work heart-enlargement in all the Services we do for God Fourthly if Christians did but much think of this Heavenly Glory it would make them more desirous to be in the possession of it He that by holy meditation lives much in Heaven will be weary of living long on Earth When the blessed Apostle St. Paul thought of being with Christ he desireth a present departure as in the Text. And so many of the Fathers when they did meditate on their Heavenly Country thought they had continued long enough in their Earthly Country So that from what hath been said of this Heavenly Glory and the great profit and advantage that comes to Believers by meditating thereon and that death puts them into the possession of that Glory methinks many Christians should not be so unwilling to dye as sometimes they are 3. Vse The third Use is by way of Exhortation not to fear death Too much fear of death argues want of Faith Why should we be afraid of that which is a part of our portion why should Christians be afraid of that which is their best Friend When death was in Satans hand it was our Enemy but now it is in Christs hand it is our Friend I confess Nature will be Nature still and death is a dissolution and so the enemy of Nature the last enemy as the Apostle calls it 1 Cor. 15.26 I but though it be an enemy yet it is a Conquer'd enemy Wherefore then should we so much fear it I shall offer two Considerations to keep us from the fear of death First consider to be under the slavish fear of death is an uncomfortable estate the Apostle calls it a bondage Heb. 2.15 which shews the uncomfortableness of it The Apostle saith by the fear of death they were held in bondage all their life long Secondly consider your Covenant interest and relation shall secure your hearts against the fear of death They should not fear to live nor yet to dye who have God to be their God 1 Cor. 15. for the sting of death is gone it is taken out by the death of Christ Death separates soul and body but it can never separate Believers from the love of God And this the Apostle assures us of Rom. 8.38 39. For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come Nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. My Beloved the Covenant of Grace holds beyond death it doth not bring Believers only into a present enjoyment of God but it is to bring them into a full perfect and everlasting enjoyment of God in Glory for evermore The Covenant of Grace yields Christians the least part of their good of their portion of their happiness in this life The greatest and fullest portion of good promised unto Believers by God in the Covenant of Grace lies in the arrears in the referves in the full possession of the inheritance after death And then why should Christians fear to dye and go to take a full possession why should Believers fear to dye and to enter into the joy of their Master why should they fear to dye and go home to receive all the desires of their hearts and all the eternal preparations of glorious blessedness for their Souls I beseech you therefore that you would well ponder these things against those dismal times wherein death may be represented unto us as an ugly and grim thing It is so to Nature indeed but to Faith death is become very amiable as I have formerly told you There is nothing in the world that doth us so much good as death for it is the best Physician It cures all diseases of Soul and Body and therefore why should we so much fear it Now therefore for ever blessed be God for Jesus Christ that hath made in him even death the bitterest thing of all to be sweet and pleasant to us 4. Vse The fourth Use is by way of Direction that we may with St. Paul be willing to dye First let us labour to get an interest in Jesus Christ and when we have so done let us value the Lord Jesus Christ more then ever we have done even because he did shed his most precious bloud to redeem our Souls Had it not been for Jesus Christ we had been under the power of Death and Hell to this very moment Christ suffered death to deliver us from death Christ bare wrath to deliver us from wrath And let us dispute what we will we shall never find pardon of sins or peace with God but by Christ his name only is the Prince of Peace Christ only is the Mediator of Peace Christ only reconciles God and Sinners So that then we can never be happy either in life or death without an interest in Jesus Christ Secondly if we would with St. Paul be willing to dye then our great care must be to get our sins pardoned for if once our sins are forgiven then nothing which befalls us in life or death shall ever be an evil or hurt Whatsoever state the unpardoned sinner is in it is a cursed estate to him his life is cursed and his death is cursed But now when sins are forgiven the