own nature from within so it is in wicked men though they have no outward causes of trouble yet still they have causes of inward trouble upon point of Conscience than which what more exquisite torture or tormenter can there be The Heathens tell us of the Furies lashing wicked miscreants and these were only the lashes of an inraged Conscience every mans own sin creating Soul-racking trouble to each impenitent sinner But 2 For Beleevers it is unto them promised they being the persons alone that love the Law Psal. 119.165 Great peace have they that love thy Law and nothing shall offend them The Law of God it is the picture of the mind of God which a Beleever loves no less than a loving loyal Wife the Letters of her indeared Husband yea infinitely more they being the persons that alone are righteous being justified by faith they have peace with God and they alone shall enter into peace they had peace entring into them living and they enter into peace when dying it is they and they alone that are able to say when Death approacheth Lord now letest thou thy servant depart in peace c. 2 I will make out that to dye in peace is a transcendent priviledge Sol. 1. That Logicians call Transcendent that exceeds in Nobility Eminency Sublimity all Aristotles Categories besides to dye in peace in true Gospel peace was a thing he knew not of and we shall not trouble our selves to labour to reduce it to any of them this peace is the peace of God that passeth all understanding it is that peace of God whereof he is the Author and Conferror that keeps our hearts staid in peace as in an impregnable Garison this peace is prayed for as a priviledge of greatest worth Peter praies not only that Grace but that Peace might be multiplied to those to whom he wrote And so Paul Let the peace of God rule in your hearts as a Judge deciding all Controversies between them that are contending for Masteries nay this was conferred by Christ as the greatest mercy that wee might receive on this side Heaven witness that Golden bequest of his My peace I give to you Princes in power seldom promise toys or trifles but things of moment and greatest worth It was a great favour of Jesus Christ to his Disciples at sea to allay the Winds and the Storms that were up against them what is it to allay the storms of Conscience that are upon them Christ among other titles is dignified with this that he is the Prince of peace yea our peace who hath taken away the enmity between us and our God having purchased peace for us by no meaner price than the bloud of his Cross that priviledge must needs be transcendent that was purchased at such a transcendent rate 2 Besides if we do but look unto the nature of this peace it is that peace that doth transcend all the Ken of Nature Nature may take notice of peace with man but for that peace with God and peace with Conscience it is out of Natures Horizon He that hath peace with God shall always have peace in God he will speak peace unto his people If we have peace with him he can make our enemies to be at peace with us The Prince that hath peace with any State hath peace with all the Forces belonging to it we having peace with him he can make all his Creatures to be at peace with us not only the Beasts but the very stones in the Feild to be in an amicable League with us and when peace rules in Conscience having tranquillity within we need not care what storms are without When Christ speaks peace to Conscience as once to the raging Sea peace and be still who then can create trouble And if our hearts condemn us not then have we confidence towards God so that triumphantly we may break out The Lord is neere that justifies me who shall contend with me When a man hath been arraigned for his life and after is acquitted how is he inwardly comforted it was this inward peace that inabled the Martyrs with serenity of soul and undauntedness of spirit to pass through the fiery Trial and for Confessors though surrounded with many troubles yet hear their acknowledgements the Father loveth me the Son hath redeemed me the Spirit comforteth me how then can I be sorrowful in the most racking pain of the Stone crys out another one asking him what he felt he answered I have peace within though in my flesh I am sensible of most exquisite torments it is this peace that is Heaven upon earth while we live and rendereth us undaunted even in the jaws of death Vse Now for the improvement of this truth be perswaded to get an interest in this priviledge I mean to get well-grounded peace that when Death comes you may go to your Fathers in peace It may bee some may quere Q. Do all that dye peaceably dye in peace R. Yes all that dye in an estate of true real Gospel peace I confess there is as much difference between true and false Peace as between true and counterfeit Gold Silver or Jewels yet this observe that then peace is well grounded according to the tenor of the Gospel when 1 It flows in after the convincing sight of sin when a man beholding his face in the glass of the Law and the Curse of it hath been brought to cry out Sirs what must I do to be saved False peace springs out of a senseless benumbed sleepy or seared Conscience that never met with any trouble at all according to that of Christ When the strong man armed with strong corruption keeps possession of his palace i. e. his heart his goods are in peace all goes well all is at peace but when the Spirit comes in and convinces of sin he ejecteth the strong man out of his Dominion Christ spake not peace and be still to the Sea until the storms had been upon it So neither speaks he to Conscience 2 It comes from heaven even from the God of peace who is in heaven and speaketh peace upon the sense of their Justification unto his people who are a willing people to serve him in all duties that he requires yea an obedient and holy people before him false peace is altogether from Satan who promiseth peace though men go on to adde drunkenness to thirst and strikes a Covenant with the sinner which makes him fondly conclude that he hath made a Covenant with Death and with Hell he is at an agreement this sinful peace God sooner or later will dissolve it shall not stand But as for that true peace begun here when we are made sensible of the bloud of Sprinkling and have our Consciences purged from dead works it will indure unto eternity 3 It is attended with Sanctity and that 's the ground of Pauls conjunction of them Now
Jeremy his book of the Lamentations penned upon that dolefull occasion may abundantly declare The death of Jacob and Joseph before the oppressions came on and strange cruelties of the Egyptians made seisure upon their off-spring savoured of mercy and it was a great blessing for Augustine to bee taken away by a naturall death when Genserik had besieged Hippo that hee might not see the cruelties of the Vandalls that were breaking in upon the Church of God and for Pareus that hee should die at Heidelberg before the enemy was Master of it a place that hee so intirely loved Thirdly Is it not a great mercy to bee taken away from the tasting of evills in their own persons that they may not feel the smart of grievous and direfull Judgements he that is omniscient foresees calamities and judgements a coming which we cannot see He took notice of the deluge in his own decree before the Cataracts of Heaven were opened hee therefore snatches away those that he was minded to secure lest they should be in wrapt in the common calamity Our God rich in mercy deals as a prudent rich man when hee sees the fire come near his own habitation hee removes his Jewells or his treasures into another place where they may bee secured from danger or as a carefull Husbandman in catching weather in Harvest when hee sees the Heavens be clouded or a storm up hee will do his utmost to get his Corn into his barn if possible before it bee wet Wee read of the Egyptians when they heard that God would cause it to rain a grievous hail such as had not been in Egypt since the foundation of it to that present hee that feared the word of the Lord amongst the Servants of Pharaoh made his Servants and his Cattel flie into their houses so dealeth our God when hee sees a storm a comming hee driveth in his that as they shared not with others in their sins so neither shall they partake with them in their sufferings yea even that Heathen observed that when God brings on any remarkable destruction or Alteration in a Nation hee first takes away them that are good in it Vse I shall dismiss this Relative observation with this word of improvement Lay to heart the Lords taking away of any godly professors at any time for albeit the dispensation savours of mercy to them yet many times it proves ominous to them that are left behind when Swallows flie away winter is then approaching Their death indeed is a blessing unto themselves for blessed are they that dye in the Lord and not only they that die for him yet mostly it portends evill to survivers however it shall bee well with themselves as is here promised unto Abraham which leadeth mee to the second The Absolute consideration of the words which affords two soul cheering Cordialls 1 Thou shalt go to thy Fathers in Peace 2 And be buried in a good old age A couple of Promises or a couple of Branches of the same Promise that would require a couple of hours for the unfolding of them to view them exactly I must deal as a Travailer that is on his way who may glance his eye here or there but makes no stay till hee comes to his Journyes end no more shall I till through help from my God I shall have spoken something of both these as they lie before you And for the opening of the first we shall inquire Quest. 1 What is meant by his going to his Fathers Was hee to go back to Haran or Ur of the Chaldees in his life or bee carried thither to be interred after death or was hee to go to that place whither their soules went upon the dissolution of their bodies Sol. 1. Abraham was not to go to his Fathers first In Body the place of his locall Interment was to be Macpelah in Canaan and not any other place secondly Nor in Soul that removed to the immediate fruition of God in glory whereas many of his Ancestors were Idolators serving other Gods and doubtlesse many of them died in their Paganish condition 2 But the sense of this expression is Abraham shall die that 's the meaning of the Hebraism thou shalt go to thy Fathers that is corporall death shall arrest thee as well as it did do them Now if you compare these words with verse the sixt where wee read that Abraham beleeved in the Lord and it was counted to him for Righteousness though hee were a beleever in Christ yet hee must go to his Fathers that is hee must die as well as they this may inform us Doct. That albeit faith in Christ doth exempt Beleevers from the second yet it will not free any from the strak of the first death Abraham though a Beleever yea the highest in the forme of Beleevers being the Father of the faithfull yet hee must die and it is no wonder since the Decree is gone forth from God which is farre more irrevocable than the laws of the Medes and Persians It is appointed unto all men Beleevers as well as unbeleevers once to die When the Scripture saith all none is exempted some indeed have had a writ of Privilege from some kinds of death yet none from death in the main Moses was freed from the bitings of fiery Serpents as Magistrates sometimes through mercy are privileg'd from death in times of common mortality yet death surprized them in the end for Moses the servant of the Lord died in the land of Moab Daniel was secured from being devoured by those hungry Lions yet his body became a prey to Death as well as the bodies of other Prophets Elisha was spared from being torn in peeces by the Shee-bears out of the Wood yet Death took him away in the end 2 This Decree hath made seisure in all Ages even where faith hath been in an eminent way as in Moses witness his undertaking that difficult Embassage to Pharaoh to deliver Israel out of Aegypt Faith in the end did eat up all his fears and engaged him in that difficult work yet Death at last did arrest him as was hinted before so in Job a great Practitioner in the life of faith that made him draw up this Resolution Though he slay me yet will I trust in him David a Beleever a man after Gods own heart and yet Death overtook him and Paul who professed I live yet not I but Christ lives in me and the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God c. yet did not death surprise him I might be endless here to shew you how Death attached Beleevers both before as well as under the Law yea even in the time of the Gospel had the debt of Sin been taken off and the Decree rescinded that Pursevant of Death would not go on daily to Arrest Beleevrrs at Gods Sute Thirdly The holiest Beleever hath in his body the Principle of
death viz. sin and that entwisted even with his very Nature As by one man sin entered into the World and death by sin and so death passed upon all c. The holiest may cry out as those Sons of the Prophets O thou man of God death is in the pot death is in the body Bodies of Sin will become bodies of Death because sin is in the Soul as a Canker at the root that will kill the Tree as the Worm that smote Jonahs Gourd that made it wither away this drew out that Emphatical Quere What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Shall he deliver his soul himself from the hand of the grave A question that carries a Negative answer in the bowels of it q. d. no man even the most eminent beleeving or holiest for living can free himself from the tasting of death Vse Look not you now that are Beleevers to be freed from the common fare of all real Christians viz. Death count upon this Dye I must I know not how soon Q. But if my faith exempt me not from death what avails me to be a Beleever Sol. Much every way chiefly because by Beleeving though thou be not freed from the stroke yet sure thou art to be protected from the sting of death so that even in the very jaws of death a Beleever may 1. holily exult O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy victory the sting of death is sin the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God that gives us victory through Christ Jesus our Lord 2. yea sure thou art to be delivered from the Second Death thy faith interesting of thee in the first Resurrection and implanting thee into Christ it frees thee from Condemnation He that beleeveth on the Son hath everlasting life viz. even here someway in possession as well as hereafter fully in reversion Besides thou maist be certain the condition of death is altered to thee it being not now formally the wages of sin but turned into a part of those advantagious chattles that do belong unto thee 1 Cor. 3.23 All is thine even Death as well as other things Death to thee is only the final period to all thy miseries and the ready inlet to thy full and eternal happiness Now God permits his Decree to take hold upon thee for divers gracious ends and purposes viz. 1 To cast out perfectly the remainders of sin that even after our Conversion do still abide within us When the Priest under the Law had been to view the house infected with the Plague of the fretting Leprosie the house was to be broken down stones the timber and all the mortar of it Jesus Christ sees the fretting Leprosie of Sin to be in thee that will not be outed of its Habitation till that earthly Tabernacle of thine be pulled down 2 To put an end to all the perplexing miseries that do befall thee here Whilst Israel was in the Wilderness they were infested with fiery Serpents never totally freed from them till they came to Canaan so whilst thou art in the wilderness of the World thou art lyable to the stingings of many fiery Serpents the fiery Serpents of Sin and Misery Absolute immunity will be obtained by Death from them and not before 3 To be a gate for thy Admission or entrance into Heaven Death indeed to on unbeleever is the door of Hel but to a Beleever it is the entrance of Heaven this in eagered Paul with so much panting to be dissolved and to be with Christ what Jacob spake in another case is true here of the death of a Beleever this is the gate of heaven Vse 2. Yet know this for thy comfort though death be unavoydable dye thou must yet thou maist assure thy self thou shalt dye in peace which leads me to the manner how Abraham shall be gathered unto his Fathers which is the Elixir of the Promise He shall go in peace whence we may observe Doct. That it is a Beleevers transcendent Priviledge to go unto his Fathers or to dye in peace For the profitable handling of this truth 1 I le endeavour to shew you what is meant by going to his Fathers or dying in peace 2 I le study clearly to make it out 1 That it is a priviledge to dye in peace 2 A transcendent priviledge belonging to Beleevers 3 I le cast in something by way of improvement Q. 1. What is meant by going to his Fathers or dying in peace Sol. The Phrase is of different construction in different places of Scripture I finde it sometimes opposed to a violent immature or forcible kind of end Thus to Zedekiah as bad as he was it was promised Thou shalt not dye by the Sword viz. a violent but thou shalt dye in peace i. e. come unto a Natural death Jer. 34.4 5. so David advising Solomon to cut off Joab by a forcible death he useth almost a parallel expression not in a promissory but minatory way Let not his hoary head go down to the grave in peace i. e. let him dye a violent death and be rolled to his grave in bloud But sometimes I finde it opposed to an uncomfortable end and then to dye in peace is to dye in the sense of inward peace or in an estate of reconciliation and this I look upon as the common priviledge of all beleevers Josiah had this in promise though hee dyed of his Wounds yet he dyed in a reconciled condition with God and this is the main of the Promise to Abraham here compared with vers 6. Abraham beleeved in the Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness being now justified through faith he had peace with God And when he comes to dye he shall dye in peace being sensible of his standing in the grace and favour of God and resting on the invaluable merits of Jesus Christ whose day he saw and upon that account with a placid spirit he resigned up his Soul unto him Q. 2 How it may be made out that to dye in peace is a priviledge belonging to beleevers 1 We call that a Priviledge which is an Immunity granted to some of favour and denied to others of justice Wee all deserve as to dye so to dye with fear terrour and amazement but our God in mercy exempts Beleevers from the common Law of death as it is the King of Terrours and vouchsafeth them this favour to depart in peace when others depart with horror 2 This we say is the Beleevers priviledge for as for 1 Unbeleevers and all wicked men whatsoever there is no peace to the wicked saith my God they are as the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast out in reâ—aâ—d dirt an elegant Similitude whereby the Prophet setteth forth to the life the restlesness of wicked men though the Sea hath no Winds nor Tempests from without to infest it yet it is restless of its
in the days of thy youth remember to acquaint thy self with him and to make peace that so good may come unto thee in time of age get grace in youth and become obedient unto thy Parents which probably may prepare a way for thy Burial in a good old age 2 If Youth be elapsed or run out in vanity yet 1 Now presently repent repent of sins of Youth and set upon the ways of Holiness Paul had been in his youth a Persecutor injurious a Blasphemer yet after repentance what a foundation did hee lay of a good old age labouring more abundantly than others he had been zealous to draw others to Hell so now he was as forward to win others to Heaven for Augustine how vain vilde vicious sinful was his youth wallowing himself in all Licentiousness as his confessions speak where how doth he bewail himself yet after repentance what an useful Instrument was he in the Church of Christ many admire and that deservedly Chrysostoms golden Rollings Cyprians Martyr-like spirit running through all his Works but we may behold these nay more than these in Augustine after his repentance 2 Rest not till thou be implanted into Jesus Christ our ingrafting into him intitles us to dye in peace and to live not only long here but even to eternity hereafter as freeing us from Condemnation and ensuring us of admission into Heaven The Science ingrafted into the tree liveth as long as the tree and we ingrafted in Christ as long as Christ and that will be to eternity if our implantation qualifie us for eternity it cannot but qualifie us for the longest date of life here below 3 Live piously being implanted Piety not only hath the promises of this life but of that that is to come impiety cuts asunder the thread of our lives but Piety prolongs our days as Solomon witnesseth My Son let thine heart keep my Commandements for length of days and long life and peace shall they adde to thee 4 Live temperately lest thou diggest thy Grave with thine own teeth sobriety being the best natural means for the prolongation of life as is obvious to experience 3 If thou art a verging or inclining towards old age and art implanted into Christ. 1 Shew thy self to be a tree of Gods planting in all those fruits of the Spirit mentioned by the Apostle as God hath made thee good by Grace so be thou abundant in all gracious actings in all Christian duties Fruit-bearing trees are seldom cut down till they become fruitless 2 Let thy life be a life of Prayer and wrastling with God among other things that God would not cast thee off in the time of age nor forsake thee when thy strength faileth yea let thy life be a perpetual meditation of death and all the days of thy appointed time do thou wait upon God until thy change shall come 3 Get old Simeons light or his clear sight of Christ by faith when thou hast once obtained this thou wilt then be panting with him and crying Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace old Abraham was then happy when he saw the future day of Christ by the Prospective-glass of faith through the interval of two thousand years distance and no wonder that he rejoyced men go to Hell with their eyes shut but to Heaven with their eyes open 4 Wait then for old Pauls Crown if in sincerity thou art able to say The time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith thou maist then conclude henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give unto me at that day and to all that love his appearing if constantly thou perseverest and goest on in the ways of faith and love and holiness thou maist expect the accomplishment of this Promise unto thee to go to thy Fathers in peace and to be buried in a good old age if the Lord see it meet for thee A Short Narrative of the Life and Death OF JOHN LAMOTTE Esq JOhn Lamotte Esq sometimes Alderman of the City of London was born at Colchester in Essex May 1. 1577. his Father was Francis Lamotte Son of Baldwin Lamotte of Ypres in Flanders who in the time of the great Persecution in the Low Countries under Duke D' Alva was driven out of his Native Country and came together with his Wife Mary to shelter themselves and to enjoy the free profession of the true Religion for which they had abandoned all their Temporal very considerable goods and enjoyments under the protection of that famous Nursing-mother of Gods afflicted Children in those bloudy times Queen Elizabeth here in England in the fourth year of her Reign taking up their residence at Colchester where he lived many years in very good esteem and was very forward and industrious for the setting up and promoting of the great Manufacture there for the Publick good and God blessed him in the same and in a hopeful Issue untill he dyed in a good age at London Now as both these Parents had made Piety their greatest interest and the Freedome of Religion their best Purchase so they were ever exceeding sollicitous and diligent to season their Children and this their Son especially from the very Cradle with the fear and nurture of the Lord and that with such blessed success on him that having Piety instilled into him by their means and publick Ordinances through Gods Grace he never departed from it to his dying day but proved most exemplary therein through all the course and relations of his life so that even in his younger years he never was given to nor delighted with those vain and sinful Sports and Pastimes to which youth is ordinarily so prone to and so hard to be weaned from His Recreation was commonly to turn from one honest or pious employment unto another as from that of his Calling being brought up timely to Trade and Merchandize and in which he was always very careful and industrious to the reading of the Bible and other good Books Meditation and learning of Languages acquainting himself with several of the best Histories especially such as treated of the Persecutions and Deliverances of the Church of God and the Propagation of the Gospel all which he made in a manner his own such delight he took both in the perusal and rehearsal of the same on all occasions and yet omitting no publick opportunities whereby he might nourish communion with God at any time He would often bless God that according to his earnest prayers when he came first up to London hee had kept him from bad company and from all allurements and engaging occasions of haunting Taverns and the like places whereby so many hopeful young men come to be undone Being grown up to some greater maturity of years and Grace and acquaintance with God and beginning to Trade
the God of peace sanctifie you throughout to whom God speaks peace he is always a Sanctifier a purifier of the heart and life from sin Q. It may be some may say how may we get into such an estate that we may be sure to dye in peace S. If thy heart be toucht with what thou sayest 1 Presently fall upon the duty of repentance bewailing sins of Nature of Practice against the light of the Law and Gospel crying mightily for pardon this ushered in true peace to Davids Soul and brought him in ease in the setting of his bones and making him to rejoyce after their breaking So that heart-smitten Publican crys out Lord be merciful to me a sinner and then goes away in a justified condition Till Sin be removed by Repentance what peace can there be What peace so long as the Whoredoms of thy Mother Jezabel and her Witchcrafts are so many What peace so long as iniquities remain unrepented of So long as Wind remains shut up in the bowels of the earth that can get no vent an Earthquake daily is to be feared so here an Heart quake is to be expected until you have repented 2 Labour by faith to take hold of Jesus Christ whose Bloud alone is able to cleanse our Consciences from dead works i. e. from sin when wee look up to him with the eye of faith whom we have peirced and be in heaviness for him as a man is in heaviness for the death of his first born this brings peace Faith devolves all our guilt upon our Suerty Christ and then takes hold of his Meritorious Righteousness which becoming ours by application we are justified in Gods sight and thereby acquitted from sin 3 Walk up unto the Gospel the promise of peace is made alone to them that walk according to this rule not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit this brings peace Mark the perfect man and behold the upright in heart and life for the end of that man is peace 4 Keep a good Conscience this is as a continual Feast not only in Life but when Death stares thee in the face as we see in Hezekiah Remember O Lord now I beseech thee how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart and have done that which is good in thy sight And upon this account Paul was so careful to exercise himself in keeping a good Conscience free from offence both towards God and man A polluted corrupt Conscience will sting a man in the end as we see in Spyra and many Apostates whereas an undefiled Conscience will chear us in the worst of times 5 Dye daily to sin make it thy work every day to drag thy corruptions to the Cross of Jesus Christ never leaving till thou hast fastned them there and gotten them Crucified even thy beloved sins mortified within thee and dye daily unto the World get into Christ by whom the World may bee crucified unto thee and thou unto the World and carry thy self as a Crucified man in respect of it not heeding minding or regarding of it and if thou doest thus thou mayest expect an interest in this common Mercy among all Saints to dye in peace whether ever thou share in the later part of the Promise or no to be buried in a good old age Which leads me now to the second Branch in this Promise Thou shalt be buried in a good old age Whence we may take notice of this last observation Doct. That burial in a good old age is afforded unto some Saints by Gods special indulgence For the prosecution of this truth I shall labour to shew 1 What is meant by Burial 2 What by a good old Age. 3 How it may be made out that for a Saint to bee buried in a good old age is an evidence of Gods indulgence Q. 1. What is meant by Burial Sol. Burial speaks nothing but the covering of the dead body of man with earth or the interring of it Now touching Burial I have nothing to say for any thing that savours of the least of Superstition in it I neither look upon it if denied by cruel men as any badge of Gods Curse to Beleevers though sometimes he gives way to some such stupendious dispensations which was the ground of that sad complaint of old The dead bodies of thy Servants have they given to be meat unto the Fowls of the Heaven and the flesh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the earth their bloud have they shed like water round about Jerusalem and there was none to bury them Men indeed have discovered much inhumanity this way especially Papists against Protestants by prohibiting their Burial or digging up their bones again as they did of Bucer Fagius c. such acts savour of wrath in men but none in God towards them that were in Covenant with him So neither do I construe it if afforded or permitted as any help to heaven because upon the dissolution of the body the Spirit returns to God that gave it the Soul is admitted immediatly into the embraces of God though the body be kept above ground divers daies together yet this I may say upon a Scripture account concerning Burial that the decent interment of the bodies of Saints when death hath divorced those old companions the Soul and Body speaks 1 Mercy in the Interrers which David acknowledged in burying the body the trunck of Saul though we know he was a bad man yet he so farre resented this act of the men of Bethshemesh that he sends unto them this Message and with it this benediction Blessed are yee of the Lord that have shewed this kindness to Saul and have buried him and he adds this prayer for them The Lord shew kindness and truth to you and passed this Promise unto them I also will requite this kindness because yee have done this thing 2 Justice in them that discharge this office when the Soul is returned to God that gave it it is a part of justice that the Body should return to the earth whence it was taken the Earth indeed is the common Mother of all who receives all that came from her as the Mother the Childe into her lap God I know laid this in justice upon man for sin at the first Thou shalt return to the earth for dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return 3 It speaks hope that the interrers have of the happy Resurrection of those bodies which now they commit to the ground they having been Instruments of Righteousness Members of Christ and being still united to him shall certainly be raised by him unto glory and upon these accounts I deem the care of Saints to have been to see their friends decently interr'd as Isaac Abram Joseph his Father Jacob and those devout men that stoned Massacred Martyrd Body of that Proto-martyr Stephen as knowing
in a word when the Soul of man is once bathed in that Fountain that is set open for the cure of Sin he comes out as Naaman out of Jordan when his flesh was restored as the flesh of a little Childe and hee became clean Man washed in this Fountain becomes a new Creature having a new nature i. e. a Divine Principle of good infused into him and this makes him good good at all times good in age especially 2 When men do good in old age as the Lord hath rejoyced over them to do them good so they make it their work even with joy to do all the good they may that makes them in age more holily fruitful than ever in youth I mean in all the fruits meet for repentance in all the fruits of the Spirit as in love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance with all the expressions of them wherewith they abound in old age in this trees planted by Christ in his Church differ from trees planted by men in their Gardens the former are alwaies most fruitful in age as the Psalmist avers such as are planted in the House of the Lord i. e. such are implanted into Christ they shall flourish in the Courts of our God they shall still bring forth fruit in old age viz. The fruits of Piety Purity Mercy being desirous cordially to Consecrate as their time and strength so their estates to God saying as David of thine own Lord have I given thee A good old man looks upon himself only as a Steward of all outward injoyments and as a Steward he will be careful to dispose of all according to his Masters minde he puts down his Imprimis for the maintenance of the Worship of God and his Items for the poor the sick the lame the blinde and in a word he doth endeavour to do good to all men but especially to those that are of the houshold of faith he doth desire to be rich in good works ready he is to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for himself a good foundation against the time to come that he may lay hold upon eternal life 1 Tim. 6.18 In a word he makes it his end to honour God with his substance and with the first fruits of his increase as knowing this to be the most thriving way 3 When a man grows up to be an old Disciple then old age is good when a man is grown old in the sincere profession of the Gospel as we read of Mnason dignified with this title because he had been a Disciple of long standing in the Church of God whether he were of the Seventy two first sent abroad by Christ or one that came in to Christ long before others an old Disciple he was and Spiritual seniority carries Spiritual dignity along with it and upon this account Paul gives preheminence to Aâ—dronicus and Junia because they were in Christ before him an old Disciple as an old friend should be valued at a far higher rate than old gold 4 When a man is adorned with those Graces that are the ornaments of old age what though his face be withered or furrowed with wrinckles without yet the hid man of his heart is deckt with grace within especially with those reckoned up by Saint Paul as sobriety in Opinions in conversation in meat and drink which sometimes prove a snare to men in age as they did to Noah and Lot 2 Gravity consisting in a seemly modest yea venerable deportment in Gesture Speech Apparrel Countenance 3 Temperance which speaks the moderating of themselves in respect of their desires but above all with 4. Soundness in the 1. Faith not as Reeds blown up and down with every wind of Doctrin but built upon the Rock Jesus Christ they remain unmoveable yea when moved to renounce Christ or his Truth they reply with Policarpus This fourscore and six years have I served him and he never did me hurt and shall I now defie him c. 2 Soundness in Charity in love to God to Christ to his Church his Ministers his Members where he sees any thing of Jesus Christ. 3. Soundnes in patience willing to do or suffer any thing for Christ counting all things but loss or dung that so he may win him Phil. 3. To conclude when a man is gray in years and gray in all sanctifying Graces that beautifie old age old age is good then to him and for him 5 When a man is every day more and more built up in all the old experiences of Gods Love and goodness towards him as David I have been young and now am old yet never saw I the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread What though others of his intellectuals do decay with age yet he is careful to keep his memory for to bee a Store-house a Treasury of all Gods Mercies as we see in old Abraham what a Recognition do we read of Gods old loving kindnesses Gen. 24.7 The Lord which took mee from my Fathers house and from the land of my Kindred and which spake unto mee and sware unto mee saying unto thy seed will I give this land So in old Jacob what a mercy-admiring man was hee the God that fed mee all my life long to this day the Angel that redeemed mee from all evill c. as the Remembrance of old sins is loathsome to a gracious old man so of old mercies exceeding gratefull c. 6 When a man in his old age makes it his business to finish that work that God bath given him to do A man came not into the World to eat drink sleep take his ease or heap up Riches but God sent every man into the World upon some speciall account or other whether as a Magistrate a Minister or a private Christian among other ends as private persons God sent us into the World that wee should work out our Salvation with fear and trembling to make our calling and election sure i. e. sure to our selves when a man makes it his work to work the works of him that sent him while it is called to day because hee knows the night comes in which no man can work or walk when a man can say with Christ not long before his death I have finished the works thou gavest mee to do or with aged Paul The time of my departure is at hand I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith henceforth is laid up for mee a Crown of Righteousnesse when a man with David hath served God in his Generation then death becomes welcome Seventhly and lastly Old age is then good when a man makes it in old age his only work to make provision for death his passage to happy eternity as knowing with Peter shortly he must put off this Tabernacle of his he saith as Isaack behold I am old
and know not the day of my death only I desire to provide for it and is alwaies a pondering of it it was upon this account that Joseph of Arimathea built his own Monument and Barzillai when moved by David to turn Courtier and to go with him to Jerusalem hee humbly begs a dismission that hee may turn back to his own City and die there and be buried by the grave of his father and of his mother and that because that day hee was fourscore years old he minded more to provide for death than to injoy momentary Courtly delights so old Simeon waited for Christ the consolation of Israel and old Anna departed not from the Temple but served God with fasting and prayer day and night and all to fit themselves the more for their dissolution 3 Q. How it may be made out for a man to be buried in a good old age is a special favour and mercy of God S. To be buried at any time savours of some mercy as Jer. 22.19 it savours of Judgement to be buried with the burial of an Asse or to lye uninterred because of sin But to be buried in a good old age we cannot but look upon it as a choyse mercy because very few live to bee old look upon an Apple-tree in the Spring you may almost see it covered with Blossoms yet how many fall before they come to knit and if knit how many fall yet before they come to be ripe many are worm-eaten and they drop many are beaten down by violent Tempests scarce one of ten yea twenty yea sometimes not one of forty comes to its full maturity so it is in regard of man abundance of Children like blossoms seem to cover the ground but how few of them live to Youth fewer to Manhood fewest of all to old age but how infinitely farre fewer do live to a good old age it must needs therefore be a chief Mercy Is it not a Mercy when we have done our work then to be called home to receive our Wages Then to be gathered when here we are fully ripe then to come to the Grave in a full age like a shock of Corn comes in his season To conclude is it not a mercy then to be called to make your account when we have been long a preparing and making ready for it the accounting day to a just Steward is a glad day indeed when he can do it with joy and not with grief this fills the Soul with panting Come Lord Jesus come quickly because he hath now made his peace with God and hee can now lift up his head because his full redemption draws nigh being insured that the day is now drawing on apace when he shall hear Christ thus speaking unto him Come thou blessed of my Father inherit a Kingdom provided for thee from the beginning of the world But for the improvement of all take these three words Vse 1. To you concerned in this great this common loss wherein the Daughter hath lost a tender Father the Grand-children an indulgent Grand-father the Servants a good Master the Parish a worthy Parishioner the Congregation to which he belonged a vigilant Elder yea the City a great Ornament I know the loss is great to all related to him yet to alleviate your grief weigh with me 1 Gods great mercy to you in sparing him so long a Father a Friend a Master a Parishioner an Elder that he might be eyes to the blinde strength to the weak a cloather of the naked one that stood often in the gap to divert Wrath from you 2 Gods mercy to him in gathering him to his Fathers in peace admitting him to burial in a good old age 3 Ponder though we may mourn yet we must not murmure or mourn as them without hope for him that sleeps in Christ Lazarus our friend sleeps our deceased friend is only gone to sleep he will awake again in the Resurrection could he now speak unto you he would doubtless say Weep not for me but weep for your selves 2 To you not only that are concerned in this loss but to all of you that knew him take notice of that light part of his Cloud which he held forth long before you there were many signal things in him worth your imitation 1 His constant attendance upon the Word which I observed to be in him these ten last Winters when so many went back in the late defection from Ordinances among us he spake in effect as Peter when the Disciples were questioned Will yee also go away Lord to whom shall we go thou hast the words of eternal life When others â—hrough sloathfulness would not rise how diligent was he in coming to the Morning Exercise especially on the Lords Day even in the sharpest Winter season when health would permit him 2 His real friendliness to all the Embassadours of Jesus Christ yea to all where he saw any thing of Christ he was both open handed and open hearted to all the needy Members of Christ and would more gladly do good than receive thanks for the good he had done 3 His sympathising with the Church of God in all her sorrows especially heretofore in the Palatinate and at present in Piedemont as Lots Captivity setled on the spirit of Abram so did the miseries of the people of God on his heart he seemed to be of Esays and Jeremies temper O the Rowlings Yernings compassionate Meltings for them that were Massacred and his bounty to them that did survive often saying of our Popish Adversaries in the Massacre of Piedemont we have only a pattern of that Stuff which our enemies would cut out for us all 4 His exemplary Piety he taking up the resolution of old Joshua I and my house will serve the Lord his known Meekness and Humility though God had cast in a great Estate upon him yet he was not lifted up a meek and quiet spirit in the sight of God is of great price I omit his walking in a way of private communion with God which was best felt in himself yet he gave many discoveries of it to all that came near him that were acquainted with the workings of the Spirit To all of you now that count upon or desire to come to the Grave in a good old age Q. It may be some of you may be inquiring what must I do that I may share in this branch of this Promise Sol. I shall only give a brief answer unto this and so dismiss you 1 If thou be young lay the foundation of a good old age in Youth Train up a Childe in the way he should go and he will not forget it when he is old A young Timothy will prove an old Mnason a young Disciple will become an old Disciple but can any man look for good fruit from that tree in Autumn wherein hee could not behold either Blossoms or Leaves in the Spring Remember therefore thy Creator
himself by discourses but retired himself and unbosomed his heart and spread his condition before the Lord in prayer When but three weeks before his decease he was sore afflicted with extremity of head-ake and Colick that he began to find some impatience to seize on him he soon recollected and chekt himself saying How often and fervently have I besought the Lord that he would be pleased to fit and prepare mee for himself and his everlasting Kingdome and why then should I find fault and repine now when he thus really and effectually doth prepare me making mee by these very pains and torments loathe this wretched World so much the more and long for my happy change and dissolution and to be with my Redeemer and thus he continued for the most part even to his last hour which was July 13. 1655. in the seventy ninth year of his age looking death cheerfully in the face as of whom he was not afraid being implanted into Christ and thereby freed from the imbondaging fear of death alwaies almost speaking of the same and setting the remembrance of our latter end both before himself and others upon all occasions knowing there was no such effectuall means to make us apply our hearts to wisdome that is to say to the fear of God the only Antidote against all other fear And as in Troubles and Affliction hee shewed a great deal of filial submission and resignation to God so it was a comfort to all that conversed with him to see and observe his continuall thankfull remembrances of and chearfull rejoycing in Gods mercies and goodnesse both to the Church in generall and particular and to the Land and Nation wherein he lived as also to any of his dear friends and relations as well as to his own person loving both to hear and speak much of that Argument and ever and anon most feelingly exclaiming O what cause have wee to praise our good and mercifull God that yet preserveth yet affecteth yet delivers and favours us and passeth by and forgiveth our manifold infirmities transgressions and provocations aggravated with so much unthankfullness if yet we would love him and beleeve in him and yet walk in his fear obediently before him to our everlasting happinesse On Queen Elizabeths anniversarie Coronation day he would usually bid some friends and put them in mind of the great Mercy of God shewed to England on that day by quenching the fires in Smith field and continuing the Gospel ever since for so many years among us even beyond the number of years recorded in Scripture of an uninterrupted prosperous estate of the Church and then as also on his Birth-day and other joyfull occasions of friends meeting at his house he would often say he had desired their company to eat bread with him before the Lord as Jethro and Moses did in remembrance of such and such signal Mercies and Deliverances whereof his memory was a living Chronicle especially of those grand Deliverances both before and since the Reformation from under the great sufferings and bloody Persecutions in France and the low-Countries whereof he would often discourse in so punctuall and feeling a manner as if he had been an eye-witness yea a sharer in them taking many arguments thence of encouraging both himself and others to be still mindfull of them in bonds and miseries as being themselves in the body saying why their case might have been ours or may be yet who knows And instancing often in this particular with holy admiration and thankfullnesse that when his own Father for Religion sake being fain to flee for his life stood doubtfull whether like as many others did he should repair for shelter to the Palatinate and Frankendale or to England that yet God inclined his heart to chuse England for his place of refuge whereupon he would frequently inferre hee had great cause especially since their late sad condition in that place and Country in acknowledgement of that preserving mercie to have a fellow feeling of their Miseries wherein himself and his might have been involved together with them since God had not only kept and safeguarded him and his from the same but likewise abundantly blessed and protected him and them hitherto And therefore he was very mindfull to send relief to many of them from time to time Together with all these eminent graces God had likewise endued him with a large portion of Wisdome Judgement and Understanding in many things of moment and importance grounded on much experience observation and practise of his own for which he was deservedly much esteemed by men of no small place and account Hee brought still forth out of his Treasure old and new and knew so pertinently to produce compare and apply the same that it was great pleasure and no lesse profit and instruction to hear him The pious and indefatigable care and pains hee took in bringing up of his Children and governing his family in the fear and admonition of the Lord is hinted partly already His perpetual indeavour was to bring them into acquaintance and communion with God and to make them stand in filial awe and fear of him to read and meditate and take delight in the Word of God to be well grounded and setled in Religion and not shaken by every wind of Doctrin to avoid and flee all vain and idle courses companies and dalliances to be painfull carefull and diligent every one in his peculiar calling and imployment orderly and exact in all their affaires sober and frugal in the use of Gods good creatures full of bowels of compassion to the afflicted and distressed Members of Christ and to all that were in need and chearfully ready to communicate unto such loving and helpfull one to another obedient to all good orders submissive to the Magistrate respectfull to the Ministry Civil and upright towards all and watchful at all times to be in readiness when the Lord should call them hence to give an account of their Stewardship c. in all which he would say and exhort them to no more than himself continually endeavoured to practise before their eyes and that this his tender care towards them might yet extend beyond his life and he still speak to them and minde them of these sayings he left for them in writing by abundance of Letters to his nearest and dearest Relations from time to time especially in one of his last Papers written as it seems when he had set his House in order to be ready for the Lord a Copy whereof followeth after this Narrative such excellent instructions and admonitions as sheweth plainly as he took pains and care to leave them a comfortable Temporal estate so their Spiritual good estate was that he mainly wished their whole hearts possest of as his was for to enjoy communion with God and the abiding comfort thereof both in this life and that to come together with him A Letter of John Lamotte Esq to his Daughter and Grand-children written not long before
his death BEloved Daughter Dame Hester Honywood and beloved Grand-children Maurice Abbot and Elizabeth Thomas John Honywood I do wish you all the blessing and peace of God the Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ his dear Son our Saviour and Redeemer and that his fear and love may be so rooted and grounded in you that it may knit and bind your hearts together in love and amity as my heart has been to every one of you ever praying for you all that God of his mercy would bless you all and plant his fear in your hearts and unfeigned faith in Christ Jesus in your souls I desire that no strife nor envie nor grudging arise about the dividing of the Estate which the Lord of his mercy hath lent me for I setled the Land after Prayer by the best counsels and advice I could and my personal estate I have by Will after Prayer to the best of my skill in all good Conscience as equally drawn it as I could so I would after I am dead have you receive it from God with a thankful and contented mind and pray to the Lord to bless it to you and every one of you to his own posterity I having been by Trade a Merchant and what by Gods blessing I have advanced I have endeavoured and laboured to gain it honestly and to keep faith a good Conscience always ever acknowledging that these following Parties had a share in my estate as in all other mens The Common-wealth the Service of God the Ministers and the poor Members of Christ of whom as I have endeavoured to be careful so would I have every one of you to be zealous for the Service of God heartily affectionate to the poor members of Christ and to give with the releef a comfortable word when occasion permits John Lamotte Errataes marring the sense PAge 3. l. 10 r. peece p. 4. in the margin r. excindi p. 7. l. last but one r. him p. 10. l. 10 r. an p. 11. l. 36. r. mire p. 14. l. v 9 r. the heart p. 15. l. 30. r. thou p. 25. l. 34. r. our p. 19. l. 36. r. naught p. 27. l. 1. r. through Omissions p. 4. l. 1. r. or adversitively but c. p. 25. l. 33. r. like as a shock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 1.3 Eccles. 7.2 Ubi lugetur mortuus Mercer Psal. 90. Josh. 1.5 Heb. 13. Id quidem Joshuae dicitur subesse vero generalem consolationem piorum Apostolus hâ—c allegatione docet Paraeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zehneâ—i Simil. p. 18. Q. Pezel Pareus in loc Leo Judae Junius Pareus 2 Chro. 34.28 Caesus fuit Josias 31. anno Regni aetatis 39. quoties ei moriendum fuisset si diutius vivendo vidisset veram religionem everti filios Captivos abduci regnum exscendi Lavat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2.8 Psal. 189.136 Ezek. 9.4 â—ucholcer Chronol Gen. 19.28 Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Possidonius O Heidelberga Heidelberga In vita Parei Ex. 9.20 Plato Rev 14.13 (a) Gen. 25.7 Josh. 24.2 Dan. Heb. 9.27 Deut. 34.5 Joh. 8.52 2 King 13.2 Rom 5.12 Psal 89 49 1 Cor. 15 Rev. 20.6 Rom. 8.2 Joh. 3.36 Lev. 14.43 44 45 Gen. 28.17 1 King 2 6 2 Chro. 84.28 Rom. 5.1 Joh. 8. Gen. 25.8 Privilegium est privata lex Privarum seu singulare jus contra jus commune indultum Hostien Reginald praxis â—ori praenit vol. prioris p. 547. * Job 18.14 Es. 57.20 21 Es. 57.1 2 Luke 2. Scheibler Meâ—aph lib. 2. c. 1 â— 15. transendunt praedicamenta Communitate effendi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 praesidio custodieâ— Beza Col. 3.18 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Joh. 14 2â— Es. 9.6 Rom. 5. â— Psal. 85.9 Prov. 16.7 Job 5.23 1 Joh. 3 Maul 118 12â— Joh. 16.7 8 Act. 16.30 31 Luke 11.12 Mar. 4.39 Psal. 85.9 Deut. 29.19 Es. 28.15.18 Heb. 10.22 1 Thes 5.23 Psal. 51 Luke 18.13 Heb. 9.14 Zech. 1â— Rom. 5.1 Gal. 6.16 Psal. 37 37 Prov 15.15 Es. 38 1 2 3 Acts 24.16 1 Cor. 15.31 Gal. 6.14 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 operuit terra humavit Psal. 79.2 Acts Mon. 2 Sam. 2.5 6 Eccles. 12.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 3.19 (a) Gen. 25.9 (b) Gen. 50. (c) Acts 8.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Thes. 4. Buxâ—orâ— Dan. 7.9 Numb 11 1â— Deut. 22 15 Levit. 19.22 Aelian Prov. 14.34 Quo minus restaâ— viae eo plus quaerunt viatici Cicero de senectute 1 Sam. 25.17 Es. 65.20 Josh. 14.10 11 Lib. de Senect 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Laert. Mat. 19.17 Prov. 16.31 Psal. 103.5 Zenor adag Rev. 12.1 Es. 40.31 2 King 5.14 2 Pet. 1.4 Eccles. 6.3.6 Psal 91. Gal. 5.22 Psal. 92.13 â—â— 15. 1 Chro. 29.14 Gal. 6.10 Prov. 3.9 Prov. 3.5 Acts 21.16 Rom. 16.7 Tit. 2. â— Euseb. l. 4. c. 15. Psal. 35.25 Gen 48.15 16. Phil. 2. 2 Pet. 1.10 Joh. 9.4 Joh. 17. 2 Tim. 4. 1 Pet. 1.14 Mat. 27.60 2 Sam. 19.25.37 De morte magis quam de delitiis aulieis eogitat Lavater Luke 2 2â—.37 Erasmus de contemp mundi Job 5.26 Rev. 22.20 Luke 21.28 1 Thes. 4. Joh. 6.66.68 Es. 22.4 Jer. 9.1 Josh. 24. Prov. 22.6 Eccles 12. Exod. 20.12 1 Tim. 1 15 1 Cor. 5.10 Rom. 8.1 Prov. 3.1.2 Gal. 5.22 Psal. 71.5 6.17 18 Job 14.14 Luk. 2.26 Joh. â— 56 Acts 7.55 2 Tim. 4 8.9