A Funeral Sermon Preached at Deptford June 3. 1688. Upon the occasion of the Death of Mrs. Elizabeth Kilbury Late Wife of Mr. John Kilbury By Henry Godman Minister of the Gospel With Allowance LONDON Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell in the Poultrey near Cheapside 1688. TO THE READER THat thou may'st profit by thy hearing or reading of Sermons There is a necessity of more Pastors and Teachers to open and apply the Word than one Thou must act the part of a Pastor and Teacher unto thy self and thine own Soul. The Ministers Application without thine own will be to little or no purpose When there is the Application of the Word to the heart by preaching and the Application of the heart to the Word preached by serious Meditation when I say both these meet and strike one upon the other there will by the help of the spirit who is always ready to promote his work be some sire struck and a kindling of some good things in our Souls towards the Lord our God meditate on these things saith the Apostle that thy profiting may appear Reader if thou wouldst meditate well on this plain Sermon and ponder with thy Heart and Soul on these plain truths that are here laid down thou wouldst doubtless find them to be blessed for thy Spiritual and Eternal advantage but without this all will prove but empty words and the whole Discourse but as so much water spilt upon the ground This Sermon was calculated for a plain Countrey Auditory such as it is I mean rude rough and unpolisht as it is I let it go Being importuned by the earnest desires of several persons especially those concerned for the preaching of it to send it forth And indeed to tell you the truth if I had never so many polished shafts in my Quiver as I have none I should not care to draw them out in my Ministerial work being convinced in my Soul and Conscience that there is very little work done for God or Mens Souls this way I don 't at all affect to tickle means ears with pleasing Eloquence or to humour their fancies Though the flashy Professors of our Age whose Religion lies all in their fancies memories or minds for there is little or nothing of it in their hearts like nothing else I am sure that God in the Scripture doth not labour to please mens ears nor to adorn his matter with a curious garment of words but represents the matter it self to the Souls of men as that which is worthy of all acceptation The things of God need no humane Eloquence to commend them Painting spoils Native Beauty and external Ornaments would disfigure some things that are of themselves Proportioned and Lovely It 's that preaching which the world counts foolish and which men being vain in their imaginations are ready to despise that is made mighty through God for the casting down the Devils Kingdom and the setting up the Kingdom of Christ in the Souls of men If God would please to bless these plain things for the good of any poor Souls then I should easily despise all the exceptions of the Curious and slight all the cavils of the Captious That the Lord may water these Seeds with his Blessing shall be my Prayer Farewel Psalm 73. 25 26. Whom have I in Heaven but thee And there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my Portion for ever My Beloved THIS Text was bequeathed unto me and you as I may say by the last Will and Testament of a Deceased Friend both mine and yours which the Lord can make more profitable to us than thousands of Gold and Silver And I am sure it was the earnest desire of her that left it that it might be blest to us all for our everlasting benefit In the first verse of the Psalm the sweet Singer of Israel lays down a Consolatory Proposition for the whole Israel of God to cheer up and refresh their Souls withal in their darkest and most cloudy seasons of trouble and affliction Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart As if he should say though God may seem by his Providence to neglect the ways of men and the worst in the view and judgment of sense may seem to prosper most and the best be of all men the most miserable yet for all this I am sure that this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation That God is good to his Israel and will do them good Then to come near to the Text he tells us that God will guide them v. 24. by his counsel and hereafter will receive them to his glory He speaks indeed in the singular number as of himself but you are to understand him in what he says as personating all the People of God Therefore it must needs be well with the People of God here since Infinite Wisdom doth guide and direct them and it shall certainly go well with them hereafter since Infinite Glory then shall crown them Which blessed Estate the Psalmist esteemed above all that this world can afford because God in that estate will be all in all in the faith hope and expectation of the enjoyment of him for ever knowing that in him he shall inherit all things he incourages and comforts his Soul in his present troubles verse 25. Whom have I in Heaven but thee And what is there upon Earth that I desire besides thee The words you see are an Interrogation which here hath the force of a Negation Thus there is nothing Lord in my Judgment either in Heaven above or on the Earth beneath that is of any real worth and value to me or affords any comfort to my Soul besides thy self Now the doctrinal Observation which I shall draw from hence is this Doct. That God is the All of a gracious and godly Soul. Other things to him are but as Cyphers that signifie nothing are but as shadows which are something in shew but nothing in substance the things that the men of the world court and adore the Trinity which the world doth worship which are earthly pelf sleshly pleasure and airy honour are nothing less than nothing and vanity in compaparison to him unto such a Soul. Take this in two or three particulars 1. This gracious Soul sees all things in God I am God All-sussicient saith God to Abraham and I see thou art so saith this Soul to God. In thy breasts are all things as the Hebrew word imports out of which we may draw and suck every thing that we need either for the vile Body or the precious Soul he sees by an Eye of Faith and the Vision of an enlightned mind that all things are in God comprehensively eminently virtually superlatively according to what we read Rev. 21. 7. He that overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God. The carnal heart
time in a visible way and they will be brought into desolation even in a moment VSE I. Examine your selves whether God be your All Can you say Whom have we in Heaven but thee and that there is nothing on Earth that we desire besides him Prove your own selves by this Touchstone try your selves by this Weight and Ballance of the Sanctuary If you do not attain to this you are reprobate Silver and the Lord will reject you We have reason to examine our selves about this matter 1. Because there are but few that make God their All Many give him glorious Titles and challenge an interest in him they call him their Lord their God and their King yet in their serious and practical thoughts have higher estimations of lying vanities than of God blessed for ever Many there are that hear the Word of the Lord they come before him as his people use to do and sit before him as his people use to sit but amongst these how few are to be found that make him their All that look for no happiness no comfort no good but in the enjoyment of him 2. We have reason to examine because of the necessity of it it must be done Woe unto us if it be not done we are no Christians without it we are not in the state of Grace if this be not We are no more Saints whatever our Profession may be than the picture or carkass of a man is a man. Oh! if we do not make God our All though we may seem to be something and may deceive our selves and others yet in God's account we are nothing and God will make nothing of us i. e. will have no regard of us or respect unto us another day To help us now a little in our enquiry about this matter I shall give you a few Characteristical Marks of such a Soul as makes God his All. 1. This Soul will love to draw near to God To draw near to him by Faith by Prayer and in all the Duties and Ordinances of his Worship you read in the last verse of this 73 Psalm It is good for me to draw near to God So saith every one that makes God his All Oh I love to draw near to God One day in the Courts of the Lord is better to me than a thousand elsewhere I was glad when they said unto me Come let us go into the house of the Lord Whilst others say unto God Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy ways Job 21. 14. And again chap. 22. 17. They said unto God Depart from us and what can the Almighty do for us We shall get no good by Gods drawing near to us nor by our drawing near to him and in the 15th verse of the 21 chap. of Job What is the Almighty that we should serve him and what profit should we have if we pray unto him This is the language of the men of the world their words are indeed stout against the Lord but saith the Soul that makes God his All it 's good for me whatsoever the sentiments and apprehensions of carnal ones are this I am sure of it 's good for me I believe it to be good and I have found it to be good all the people of God say it's good for them and I will say it's good for me to draw near to God Lord saith Peter Whither should I go but unto thee Thou hast the words of eternal life Lord saith this Soul Whither should I go but unto thee I love I love to come to thee for thou art my All and all my Springs are in thee and slow from thee 2. He is one that fears to sin against God He fears indeed nothing more his Motto is Nil nisi peccatum timeo There is nothing in all the world that I fear more than sin because this is the only thing that can separate between him and his God and that can make a partition wall between him and his great All. He fears sin more than suffering and will chuse it rather than iniquity because suffering doth not separate between the Soul and God. He fears sin more than poverty than sickness than death it self for none of these can separate between the Soul and God. He knows what is exprest Rom. 8. ver 35 c. That tribulation distress persecution famine nakedness peril or sword neither height nor depth death or life i. e. The pains of death or the afflictions and sorrows of life can separate from the love of God in Christ Jesus therefore he fears sin more than all Sin is against God suffering is only afflictive to the Creature It 's sin only that causes God to hide his Face from us and to set his Face against us 3. When other things come into Competition with God this Soul that accounts God his All will leave them and cleave to God. If he can't injoy Father and Mother Brethren and Sisters Houses and Lands with God he will leave them all because they are not his All and will cleave to God. As Rath left her Kindred and her Fathers house and joyned her self to Naomi And as it 's said a man shall leave his Father and Mother and shall cleave to his Wife in like manner will that Soul do whose All the Lord is As Mephibosheth said Let Ziba take all since the King is returned in peace 2 Sam. 19. 29 So saith he Let all go I am willing to forgo them all if God will return to me in peace and abide with me I shall say My lines are fallen in a fruitful place and truly I have a goodly heritage Sometimes we may see a Servant following two Gentlemen but unto which of these the Servant belongs we can't tell until they part asunder and then the Servant will go with the one and leave the other While we can have God and the world both it 's hard to say which is our All and which is our Master that we desire to serve but when they come to part asunder and we can no longer injoy God and the world together that Soul whose All the Lord is will resolve with Joshua that he will serve the Lord and as the Needle in the Compass leaves all the other points and stands to the North so will he leave all his other injoyments and joyn himself to the Lord in an everlasting Covenant to love the name of the Lord to fear him and serve him for ever 4. Such as these will not be envious at the foolish when they see the prosperity of the wicked I mean this temptation will not abide in and upon them they will not remain under the power of it though they may be surprized with it but they will soon get out of it He that makes God his All cannot but see that tho' they seem to possess all things yet indeed they have nothing that they are more to be pitied than to be envyed and that they have
makes nothing of God Psal 10. 4. He is not in all his thoughts God is not worth his thinking of he Idolizes God as if he were nothing in the world and he Deifies the Creature making that a God He sees nothing in him no excellency at all why he should desire him He prefers the dung and dross of the world before him and is a lover of these things more than God these broken Cisterns that hold no water he prefers before the Fountain of living waters But the gracious Soul sees all things in him and that all things which we can desire are not to be compared to him 2. He accounts nothing misery but to be separated from God. There is no sorrow saith this Soul to this sorrow all other sorrows laid in the ballance he sinds but light He had rather chuse to beg with God than to reign without him He had rather die with God that is in the Arms of his Mercy and in the Bosom of his Love than live without him in the affluence and confluence of all creature comforts enjoyments and delights Hîc ure hîc seca saith this Soul Burn me Lord wound me rend and tear me with the Briers and Thorns of the most grievous afflictions for this do I chuse and this is infinitely more eligible unto me with the enjoyment of thy self than to live without God in the world in the Sun-shine of all its favours and to bathe my self all my days in the River of its pleasures and delights Much rather would this Soul be with Job upon the Dung-hill groaning under the burden of all his sorrows or with Lazarus at the Rich man's door covered all over with Sores and Ulcers from the crown of the head to the soles of his feet than to be without God. But you may say Are not these things miseries Surely they are for a Poor creature to have no soundness in his flesh and to have no rest in his bones to be chastned with pains to be feeding on Wormwood and drinking the waters of Gall all the day and all the night long to be pinched with Poverty to lie upon the wrack of continual pains to be always under griefs and groans are not these miseries Ans Yes they are mala miseriae in se but not ad hominem istum I mean that they are evils and miseries in themselves and so they are to all others but not to that man that hath the Lord for his God Therefore saith the Apostle Rom. 5. 1 2. We glory in tribulations having peace with God Tribulations are to us no tribulations all our maladies are now turned into medicines our crosses into comforts all these things shall work together for our good God's People shall gather Grapes of all their Thorns and Figs of all their Thistles All their bitter Waters of Marah shall be turned into sweet Wine unto them God will comfort them in all their sorrows for he will not leave them comfortless but will come unto them The fruit of all shall be the taking away their sin and the making them partakers of his holiness When they fall into the Waters of Affliction it 's that they may be washed there when they fall into the Fire of Tribulation it is that they may be purged there With these God proves them that he may do them good in the latter end All shall work for the increasing their Grace and preparing them for Glory and the adding more weight of Glory to their Eternal Crown These are restraints to them from doing evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Spurs to them to provoke and excite them to good In a word there is no evil befals any one that hath an interest in God but what shall be turned to a far greater good than that is an evil therefore under all they should with Habakkuk joy in the Lord and rejoyce in the God of their salvation 3. He accounts nothing blessedness and happiness but to be united to him to be one with him and to live in the enjoyment of him Psal 144. 2 last Happy are the people that are in such a case even the people that have the Lord for their God. Nihil bonum sine summo bono There can be no good without the chiefest and best good Therefore those terrae filii those men of the world that you read of Amos 6. 5 6 7. that did lie upon their Beds of Ivory and stretch themselves upon their Couches and did eat the Lambs out of the Flock and the Calves out of the midst of the Stall that did chaunt to the sound of the Viol and invent to themselves Instruments of Musick like David that did drink Wine in Bowls and anoint themselves with the chief Ointments are said verse 13. to rejoyce in a thing of nought Intimating to us that they did put a value upon nothing and made themselves glad with Dreams and Fancies as Mad-men use to do We must derive our joy from the Eternal Spring which is God himself else our joy will quickly be turned into sorrow because that Well out of which we did draw our Water will be dryed up In 1 John 1. 4 5. These things write I unto you that your joy may be full and what he was writing about we read before about fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ That you may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ And truly unless we attain to that blessed fellowship we can never have verum aut plenum gaudium that is true or full joy Qu. But you may say Is not this happiness to have what heart can wish For a man to have his desires attend him all the days of his life and to have all the sDreams of the Creature to concur together to bring him satisfaction to be like the Rich man in the Gospel to be clothed with Purple and to sare delicicusly every day Ans This is indeed no happiness no blessedness without God at all because without him there is nothing blessed but every thing cursed which we do enjoy Psal 69. 22. Their Table becomes a snare how well furnished soever it may seem to be and that which should otherwise have been for their welfare is turned into a trap by which they are taken and snared unto their destruction Job 29. 18. Their Portion is cursed in the Earth It may be a large a very plentiful and stately Portion and men may bless them because of it but the Lord abhors them and the Curse of the Lord is upon them and their Portion They were better indeed ten thousand times have no meat than such sawce Solomon tells us that the prosperity of fools doth destroy them and is as a Sword in their bowels to them Their Cups of pleasure and delight are but sweetned draughts of mortal Poyson This the godly man seeth by Faith and that this Poison will work in a little