when the Gospel which he began to preach was to be published in its beauty and glory They had all but their appointed seasons though their abilities were eminent who like unto them and their employment excellent what like it in the earth yet at their seasons they must go their ways to rest and lie down till they stand in their lot at the end of the dayes Reas. 1. The generall condition of their mortality doth require that it should be so It is appointed to all men once to die Heb. 9. 27. There is a stable law fixed concerning the sons of men that is not upon the account of any usefulness here to be dispensed withall The number of our moneths are with God he hath fixed our bounds which we shall not passe our dayes are as the dayes of an hireling that have a certain prefixed and determinate end their strength is not the strength of stones neither is their flesh of brasse that they should endure for ever See Job 14 10 11 12. This I say requires that there should be an appointed season for their Employment for it is so for their lives and yet there is more in it then this for in the course of 5000 yeeres God hath exempted two persons by his Sovereignty from the condition of mortality who walked with him in their generations So that the bounds fixed to them were not upon the account of their lives but meerly of the work they had in hand 2 God doth it that he may be the more eminently seen in the carrying on his own works which in their season he commits to them Should he leave his work always on one hand it would seem at length to be the work of the Instrument only Though the people opposed Moses at the first yet it is thought they would have worshipped him at the last and therefore God buried him where his body could not be found Yet indeed he had but the lot of most who faithfully serve God in their generations despised whilest they are present idolized when they are gone I do not know of any great work that the Lord carried out the same persons to be the beginners and enders of He gave them all their seasons that his power and wisdome might the more evidently appear in carrying it from one hand to another 3 God makes room as it were in his Vineyard for the budding flourishing and fruit-bearing of other Plants which he hath planted Great Employments call for great exercise of graces Even in Employments in and about providentiall things there is the exercise of spirituall grace as much Faith and Prayer as much communion with God walking before him and wrestling with him may be used in casting down of Armies as in setting up of Churches God exerciseth all the graces of his in the work he calleth them out unto He principles them by faith and fellowship with himself for their Employment and therefore He gives each individuall but his appointed season that others in whose hearts he hath lodged the same spirit wherewith they are endued may come forth and shew the fruits thereof Daniel lieth down in the dust in rest and peace and why so the spirit of prophecie is poured out on Haggai and Zeâ—hariah c. they must also carry on this work and beare my name before my people Consider the use of this Vse 1. of Exhortation unto all that are imployed in the work of God especially such as with eminent Abilities are engaged in eminent Employments you have but your alotted season for your work your day hath its close its evening your night cometh wherein none can work The grave cannot praise the Lord death cannot celebrate him it 's the living the living that are fitted for that worke Isa. 38. 18 19. It is true men may alot you your season and all in vain but your Times are in the hand of God that which he hath appointed out unto you shall stand be you never so excellent never so usefull yet the dayes of your service are as the dayes of an hireling that will expire at the appointed season be wise then to improve the time that is in your hands this is the praise of a man the onely praise whereof in this world he is partaker that he doth the will of God before he fall asleep that he faithfully serves his generation untill he be no more For a dying man to wrestle with the rebukes of God and the complaints of his own conscience for meeting with the end of his dayes before he hath attained the midst of his duty is a sad condition You have your season and you have but your season neither can you lye down in peace untill you have some perswasion that your worke as well as your life is at an end what ever then you finde to do do it with all your strength for there is neither wisdome nor power in the grave whither you are going Ecclesiast 9. 10. Some particular Rules may direct you herein 1 Compare yonr selves with the Saints of God who were faithfull in their generations and are now fallen asleep What a deal of work did Josiah do in a short season what a Light did John set up in a few yeares with what unwearied paines and industry did our deceased friend serve his generation It is said of Caesar that he was ashamed of his own sloth when he found that Alexander had conquered the Eastern world at the age wherein he had done nothing Behold here one receiving his dismission about the age of 40 yeares and what a world of work for God and the Interest of the Lord Christ did he in that season and how well in the close hath he parted with a temporall life for him who by his death procured for him an eternall life And now Rest is sweet unto this labouring man Provoke one another by examples 2 Be diligent to passe through your work let it not too long hang upon your hands Your appointed season may come before you bring it to the close yea search out work for God You that are intrusted in power trifle not away your season Is there no oppressed person that with diligence you might relieve is there no poor distressed Widow or Orphane whose righteous Requests you might expedite and dispatch are there no stout offenders against God and man that might be chastized are there no slack and slow Counties and Cities in the execution of Justice that might be quickened by your example No places destitute of the Gospel that might be furnished and supplyed by your industry and wisdome can you not finde out something of these or the like nature to be dispatched with vigour and diligence nay do not innumerable particulars in each kinde lye upon your hands And is not your performance of them such a sacrifice as wherewith God is not well pleased your time is limited and appointed you know not how soon you may be overtaken with it and would it
not be desireable unto you that you had done these things will it be bitternesse in the end that you so laid out your endevours Vse 3. All men have but their seasons in any worke onely God abideth in it for ever in every undertaking let your eye still be on him with whom is the fulnesse and the residue of the spirit Jeremiah's great bewailing of Josiah's death was doubtlesse made upon the account of his discerning that none would come after him to carry on the worke which he had begun but the wickednesse of that people was come to their height else God can raise up yet more Josiahs let him be eyed as the principall and onely abiding Agent in any great undertaking In the residue of the observations I shall be very brief The next is Obs. 2 God oftentimes suffers not the choicest of his servants to see the accomplishment of those glorious things wherein themselves have been most eminently engaged The case of Moses is most eminently known he had a large share in suffering the persecutions which were allotted to the people 40 yeers banishment he endured in the Wildernesse under the reproach of Christ 40 yeers more spent in wrestling with innumerable difficulties dangerous perils mutinies wars and contentions At the close when he comes to look upon the Laud when the end of all that dispensation was to be wound up and the Rest and Reward of all his toile and labour to be had which formerly he had undergone for tvvice 40 yeers Go thou thy wayes saith the Lord thou shalt rest take thy dismission thou shalt not enter into the good Land lie down here in the Wildernesse in peace John Baptist goes and preaches the drawning nigh of the kingdom of God but lived only to point out Christ with his finger cryes Behold the Lambe of God I must decrease and is cut off David makes the great preparation for the Temple but he shal not see so much as the foundation laid Men must take their appointed lot God will send by the hand of him whom he will send Daniel must rest untill the end be It is said of some they began to deliver Israel The case of Zerobbabel was very rare who saw the foundation and also the top-stone of the Temple laid and yet the work of Jerusalem was not halfe finished in his dayes as you may see Zach. chap. 1. Reason 1. God oftentimes receives secret provocations from the choicest of his servants which moves him to take them short of their desires Those of his own whom he employes in great workes have great and close communion with him God usually exercises their spirits in neer acts of fellowship with himself they receive much from him and are constrained to unburthen themselves frequently upon him now when men are brought into an intimacy with God and have received great engagements from him the Lord takes notice of every working and acting of their soules in an especiall manner and is oftentimes grieved and provoked with that in them which others can take no notice of let a man read the story of that action of Moses upon which the Lord told him directly he should not see the finishing of the work he had in hand nor enter into Canaan Numb. 20. 7 8 11. It will be a hard matter to finde out wherein the failing was he smote the Rock with the rod with some words of impatience when he should onely have spoken to it and this with some secret unbelief as to the thing he had in hand God deales with others visibly according to their outward Actions but in his own he takes notice of all their unbelief fears withdrawings as proceeeding from a frame in no measure answering those gracious discoveries of himselfe which he hath made unto them and on this account it is that some are taken off in the midst of their work 2 To manifest that he hath better things in store for his Saints then the best and utmost of what they can desire or ayme at here below He had a heaven for Moses and therefore might in love and mercy deny him Canaan He employeth some eminently their work is great their end glorious at the very last step almost of their journey he takes off one and another le ts them not see the things aymed at this may be thought hard measure strict severity exact justice yea as Job complains taking advantages against them see but what he calls them to in calling them off from their greatest Glories and Excellencies on the earth and all this will appear to be love tendernesse and favour in the highest Whilest you are labouring for a handfull of first fruits he gives you the full harvest Whilest you are labouring for the figure here below he gives you the substance above Should you see the greatest worke wherein any of you were ever ingaged brought to perfection yet all were but as a few drops compared with that fulnesse which he hath prepared for you The Lord then doth it to witnesse to the children of men that the things which are seen the best of them are not to be compared with the things that are not seen yea the least of them in as much as he takes them whom he will honour from the very doore of the one to bear them into the other The meanest enjoyment in heaven is to be preferred before the richest on earth even then when the Kingdome of Christ shall come in most beauty and glory Use 2. You that are ingaged in the work of God seeke for a reward of your service in the service it selfe Few of you may live to see that beauty glory which perhaps you aime at as the end of all your great undertakings for God whereinto you have been engaged God will proceed his own pace and calls on us to go along with him and in the mean time untill the determinate end come to wait in faith and not make haste Those whose mindes are so fixed on and swallowed up with some End though good which they have proposed to themselves do seldome see good dayes and serene in their own soules they have bitternesse wrath and trouble all their dayes are still pressing to the end proposed and commonly are dismissed from their station before it be attained There is a sweetnesse there is a wages to be found in the work of God it selfe men who have learned to hold communion with God in every work he calls them out unto though they never see the maine harvest they aime at in generall yet such will rest satisfied and submit to the Lords limitation of their time they bear their owue sheaves in their bosomes Seeing God oftentimes dismisses his choisest servants before they see or taste of the maine fruits of their endeavours I see not upon what account consolation can be had in following the Lord in difficult dispensations but only in that reward which every duty bringeth along with it by Communion with God in its
performance Make then this your aime that in sincerity of heart you do the work of God in your generation finde his presence with you his Spirit guiding you his Love accepting you in the Lord Christ and when ever you receive your dismission it will be Rest and peace in the meane time you will not make haste 2 See a bottome and ground of Consolation when such eminent Instruments as this departed worthy are called off from their station when ready to enter upon the harvest of all their labours watchings toylings and expence of bloud God hath better things for them in store abiding things that they shall not injoy for a day or two which is the best of what they could hope for here had they lived to see al their desires accōplished but such as in the fulnesse whereof they may lie downe in peace to eternity Why do we complaine for our ovvne losse is not the residue and fulnesse of the Spirit vvith him vvho gave him his dismission for his losse he lived not to see Ireland in peace but enjoyes the glory of that eternall Kingdome that vvas prepared for him before the foundation of the World vvhich is the condition held out in the third observation Obs. The condition of a dismissed Saint is a condition of Rest Go thy way untill the end be for thou shalt rest The Apostle gives it in as the issue of a discourse from a passage in the Psalmes there remaineth Therefore a rest unto the people of God Heb. 4. 9. it remains and is reserved for them this the Lord hath solemnly proclaimed from Heaven Revel. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them they go into a blessed condition of rest There is not any notion under which the State of a dismissed Saint is so frequently described as this of Rest which indeed is the proper end and tendency of all things their happinesse is their rest their rest is all the happinesse they can be partakers of Fecisti nos ad te Domine inquietum est cor nostrum donec veniat ad te Now Rest holds out two things unto us 1 A freedom from what is opposite thereunto wherein those that are at rest have been exercised in reference whereunto they are said to be at rest 2 Some thing which suites them and satisfies their nature in the condition wherein they are and therefore they are at rest which they could not be were it not so with them for nothing can rest but in the full fruition and enjoyment of that which satiates the whole nature of it in all its extent and capacity We must then briefly inquire 1 what it is that the Saints are at rest from and secondly what it is that they are at rest in which I shall do very speedily 1 The many particulars which they are at rest from may be referred unto two general heads 1 Sin 2 Labour and travel 1 Sin this on all consideration whatever is the main disquietnesse of the soule Temptations to it Actings in it troubles for it they are the very Egypt of the soule it's house and place of bondage and vexation either the power of it indwelling or the guilt of it pressing are here still disquieting the soule For the first how doth Paul complain lament yea cry out concerning it Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man that I am and what a sad restlesse and tumultuating condition upon this account doth he describe in the Verses foregoing The best the wisest the holiest of the Saints on this account are in a restlesse condition Suppose a man a conquerour in every battel in every combate that he is engaged in yet vvhilest he hath any fighting though he be never foiled yet he hath not peace Though the Saints should have successe in every engagement against sin yet because it vvill still be rebelling still be fighting it vvill disturbe their peace 2 So also doth the guilt of it our Saviour testifieth that a sense of it wil make a man to be weary and heavy-laden Mat. 11. 28. This oftentimes makes the Inhabitants of Sion say they are sick for though an end be made of sin as to the guilt of it in the bloud of Christ yet by reason of our darknesse folly and unbeliefe and the hiding of the countenance of God the conscience is oftentimes pressed with it no lesse then if it lay indeed under the whole vveight and burthen of it I shall not instance in more particulars concerning this cause of want of rest and disquietnesse the perplexity of Temptations buffettings winnowings of Satan Allurements and Affrightments of the World darknesse and sorrows of unbeliefe and the like do all set in against us upon this account This in general is the first thing that the dismissed Saints are at rest from They sin no more they wound the Lord Jesus no more they trouble their own souls no more they grieve the Spirit no more they dishonour the Gospel no more they are troubled no more with Satans Temptations without no more with their own corruption within but lie down in a constant enjoyment of one everlasting victory over sin with all its Attendants saith the Spirit They rest from their labours Revel. 14. those labours which make them faint and vveary their contending with sin to the uttermost they are no more cold in communion they have not one thought that wanders off from God to Eternity they lose him no more but alwayes lie down in his bosome vvithout the least possibility of disturbance Even the very Remembrance of sin is svveet unto them when they see God infinitely exalted and admired in the pardon thereof They are free from trouble and that both as to doing and suffering fevv of the Saints but are called out in one kinde or another to both these Every one is either doing for God or suffering for God some both do and suffer great things for him in either of them there is pain vvearinesse travel labour trouble sorrovv-and anxiety of spirit neither is there any eminent doing or vvorking for God but is carried on vvith much suffering to the outvvard man What a life of labour and trouble did our deceased friend lead for many yeers in the flesh hovv vvere his dayes consumed in travel God calling him to his foot and exercising him to understand the svveetnesse of that promise that they that die in him shall have rest many spend their dayes deliciously vvith so much contentment to the flesh that it is impossible they should have any foretaste and svveet rellish of their Rest that is to come The Apostle tels us that there remains a Rest for the people of God and yet vvithall that they vvho believe are entred into that Rest those vvho in their labours in their Travels do take in the svveetnesse of that promise of Rest do even in their labour
make an entrance thereinto This then secondly they rest from all trouble and anxiety that attend them in their pilgrimage either in doing or suffering for God Heb. 4. 10 7. They enter into rest and cease from their work God wipes all tears from their eyes there is no more watching no more fasting no more wrestling no more fighting no more bloud no more sorrow the ransomed of the Lord do return vvith everlasting joy on their heads and sorrovv sighing flyavvay There Tyrants pretend no more title to their Kingdom Rebels lie not in vvait for their bloud they are no more awakened by the sound of the Trumpet nor the noise of the Instruments of death They feare not for their relations they weep not for their friends the Lambe is their Temple and God is all in all unto them 2 This will not compleat their Rest something further is required thereto even something to satisfie everlastingly content and fill them in the state and condition wherein they are Free them in your thoughts from what you please without this they are not at rest This then you have in the second place God is the rest of their soules Psal. 116. returne to thy rest O my sou Dismissed Saints rest in the bosome of God because in the fruition and enjoyment of him they are everlastingly satisfied as having attained the utmost end whereto they were created all the blessednesse whereof they are capable I could almost beg for liberty a little to expatiate in this meditation of the sweet gracious glorious satisfied condition of a dismissed Saint But the time is spent and therefore without holding out one drop of water to quench the feigned fire of Purgatory or drawing forth any thing to discover the vanity of their Assertion who affirme the soul to sleep or to be nothing untill the Resurrection or their 's who assigning to them a state of subsistence and perception do yet exclude them from the fruition of God without which there is no Rest untill the end of all with such other by-perswasions as would disquiet the condition or abridge the glory of those blessed soules which yet were a facile undertaking I shall draw towards a close There are 3 points yet remaining I shall speak onely to the first of them and that as an use of the doctrine last proposed and I have done 1 Then you see there is an appointed determinate season wherein all things and persons according to the will of God will runne into their utmost issue and everlasting condition Thou art going who ever thou art into an abiding condition and there is a lot appointed for thee wherein lies an Estate everlastingly unchangeable It is the utmost end whereunto thou art designed and when once thou art entred into that lot thou art everlastingly engaged no more change no more alteration if it be well with thee it will abide if otherwise expect not any relief In our few dayes we live for Eternity in our mutable estate we deal for an unchangeable condition It is not thus onely in respect of particulars but God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge all the World by the man whom he hath ordained An End is comming unto all that whole dispensation under which we are To you who by the riches of free grace have obtained union and communion with the Lord Jesus Rest and Peace when God shall everlastingly raine snares fire and brimstone upon the workers of Iniquity Some mock indeed and say where is the promise of his Comming but we know the Lord is not slack as some men count slacknesse but exerciseth patience untill the appointed season for the bringing about of his own glorious Ends which he hath determined concerning his creatures Why should we then complain when any one perhaps before our expectation but yet according to Gods determination makes an entrance into the end of all All things work to that season This state of things is not for continuance That which is incumbent is in this uncertain space of time alotted to us to give all diligence to make our calling and election sure as also to serve the Lord faithfully in our Generations wherein we cannot be surprized we have an example in him who is gone before It is true the Lord Jesus is our primitive pattern and example but those also who have followed him wherein they have followed him are to be eyed and marked as provocations to the same labour of faith and love wherein they were exercised And that this use may be made by this Assembly I shall adde one word concerning him from whom is the occasion thereof Every man stands in a threefold capacity 1 Naturall 2 Civill 3 Religious And there are distinct Qualifications that are suited unto these severall capacities To the first as the ornaments and perfections of Nature are suited some seeds of those Heroicall vertues as courage permanency in businesse c. which being in themselves morally indifferent have their foundations eminently laid in the Natures of some persons which yet hinders not but that their good Improvement is of grace 2 To the second or mans civill capacity there are many eminencies relating as peculiar endowments which may be referred unto the three heads of Ability Faithfulnesse and Industry that through them neither by weaknesse treachery nor sloth the workes and employments incumbent on men in their civill state and condition may suffer 3 Mens peculiar ornament and emprovement in their Religious capacitie lies in those fruits of the Spirit which we call Christian Graces of these in respect of usefulnesse there are three most eminent viz. faith love and selfe-deniall I speak of them upon another account then the Apostle doth where he placeth hope amongst the first three of Christian Graces Now all these in their severall kindes vvere as eminent in the person deceased in his severall capacities as perhaps is usually found in any one in a generation My businesse is not to make a Funerall Oration onely I suppose that without offence I may desire that in courage and permanency in businesse which I name in opposition to that unsetled pragmatical shufling disposition which is in some men in ability for wisdome and counsell in faithfulnesse to his trust and in his trust in indefatigable Industry in the pursuit of the work committed to him in faith on the promises of God and Acquaintance with his mind in his mighty works of providence in love to the Lord Jesus and all his Saints in a tender regard to their Interest delight in their society contempt of himself and all his for the Gospel's sake with eminent self-deniall in all his concernments in impartiality and sincerity in the execution of justice that in these and the like things we may have many raised up in the power and spirit wherein he walked before the Lord and the Inhabitants of his Nation This I say I hope I may speake without offence he upnn such an occasion as this my businesse being occasionally to preach the Word not to carry on a part of a Funerall Ceremonie I shall adde no more but commit you to him who is able to prepare you for your eternall condition FINIS