living comfort That God loves you and that you have had an heart truly to love God and you know that he loves you by your love to him and your love to God being as it were the transcript of Gods Love to you in your souls And indeed which may raise your admirings where God loves and whom he loves he never leave he never ceases to love Rom. 8. 38 39 For I am perswaded saith the Apostle there that neither death nor life nor Angels good or bad Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come Nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to seperate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 2. Use of exhortation to them that truly love the Lord Jesus Dear Saints you that have indeed a true love to God and do by that see his love to your souls Oh keep your selves in the love of God To that end Direct 1. Set a high price on this grace that is wrought in you and as the Apostle says let it be your great care to preserve and to keep life in this love of yours to Jesus Christ. Jude vers 21 Keep your selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life And for this purpose 1. First of all consider the worth of this love to Christ what an excellent and wonderful grace this is to have a heart truly to love the Lord Jesus Christ. 1. It is that which is the clearest evidence of the Love of God it gives you all your life and comfort in a time of darkness in a dark day to know by your love to Jesus Christ that he loves you and that the Father loves you there is no such clear evidence as this in all the World If a man had all the treasures of gold and silver in the world he could not read the love of God in them but in your true love to Jesus Christ you may When you walk in darkness and can see no light this is that spark of light that will give you light when you are at a loss When it is dark round about us when we can see little or no faith little or no hope little or no strength that we have let us then inquire and see whether we have any love and if we have any true love to Christ this will give us light and life Rom. 8. 28 We know that all things says the Apostle work together for good To whom to them that love God If one should ask me this question Why is the promise made to those that love God I answer because the Saints do want somewhat to comfort to support and relieve them in a dark day and when all other light fails and we can see no faith find no holiness this will never fail them If there be once true love to Christ there will be some spark remaining that will administer comfort to them in the darkest day 2. Consider with your selves that if you preserve and keep up this love this love to Jesus Christ in your hearts it will work in you a likeness to Christ And can you desire to be like any person that you love better or that is more exactly and perfectly pure and holy that is more lovely than Christ This true love is a fire that makes all things like it self true love to God is of an assimilating vertue it will make us like to God and like to Christ whom we love Love is like a Looking-glass if you turn the Glass downward there will appear nothing but the representation of earth and terrestrial creatures all earth but if you turn it upward then there will appear Heaven and celestial and the urseen glory of another world unseen as to our bodily eyes but visible to the eye of faith If we give forth our love to Christ why then all Christ all Heaven and all holiness is on the soul. Direction 2. Be diligent and exact on your watch if you do prize and set any value upon this love to Jesus Christ endeavour to keep it as you would keep your lives keep it as you would keep the best Jewel in the world nay the world cannot give cannot afford you such another Jewel This Christ hath bought for you with his own most precious blood by his death his shameful and accursed death and therefore you have reason great reason to keep it safe for its own worth and because it is of so great use as hath been before mentioned because it will be a light to you in a dark in the darkest day and because it will make you like God and like Christ take heed therefore lest it be stoln from you or abated in you As persons that have a Jewel of great price and value will be often looking into the place where they laid it up to see whether it be safe so this spark of Divine fire which is put into and laid up in our Souls is a Jewel of matchless and inestimable price How therefore should we inquire concerning it how it is with us as to our love to God and Christ We should be trying and examining our selves whether Wives or Children or any earthly Relations or worldly concernments or enjoyments have not stoln away our hearts or abated our love We should say to our own hearts in this case as Christ to Peter on another account Lovest thou me more than those Joh. 21. 15 16 17. So we should say to our hearts Dost thou love Jesus Christ dost thou love him indeed and in earnest dost thou love him better than these than these Children these pretty little Idols that are set up before our eyes dost love him better than all creature-comforts and relations dost love him better than all earthly treasures better than thy estate better than all the world better than all these Yea better than Heaven it self without Christ Thus I say we should still be examining our hearts and see how it is with us as to our love to Christ for to tell you the truth our hearts are very treacherous I know not how it is with yours but I find it so with mine and that it is a very hard matter to keep up that height of love to Jesus Christ as there should be The Prophet Jeremiah tells us Jer. 17. 9 That the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it And as it is so in general so especially with God the heart is more inclined to be treacherous with God and in things relating to God than in any other things and therefore we have great need to look well to them to be diligent and exact upon our watch in reference to this love to Christ. Direct 3. If God hath vouchsafed this grace to you as he hath made you partakers of his love and given you the transcript or reflection thereof be you sure that you love him again and be you
A FUNERAL SERMON AFTER THE INTERMENT OF Mrs. SARAH LYE The late WIFE of Mr. Thomas Lye of Clapham By PHIL. LAMB Minister of the WORD Together with the Scriptural Evidence and Experiences of the Grace of God towards and in her left under her own hand LONDON Printed in the Year 1679. PROV VIII 17. I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me OUR dear deceased Friend whose death occasioned this diversion from our wonted course as often as she thought as indeed she did often think of her great change approaching and as she was going to her Fathers House where doubtless she is now in glory desired her dearest friends that these words might be the Text or Theme of her Funeral Sermon being as we may very well conceive willing to tell her surviving friends o◠that Love of God of which she had tasted in her wilderness state and of which she hath now undoubtedly her fill we enjoy few drops but she is got to th◠Fountain-head She desired tha◠all hers and all you might know the way to the enjoyment of this Love as well as her self The Text she chose is a worthy Text Perhaps you may think 't is not so suitable to a Funeral occasion but let me tell you Funeral Sermons are not Subsidia mortuorun◠sed solatia vivorum they are not they cannot be for the help of dead Saints they need no such little things but they are for the comfort and solace of living Saints The words are the words of Wisdom they are I say the words of Wisdom it self I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me In which I shall only take notice of these two parts or branches 1. In the first part there is a most glorious display of Divine Grace And Love in an act of wonderful condescension enough to astonish Men and Angels I love them that love me 2. Here is a most gracious promise the product of that glorious infinite Love And those that seek me early shall find me The first part of the Text is a fair Preface and Introduction to a most excellent Promise The second part is a Promise every way suited to the glory and excellency of such a Preface 'T is true indeed it begins with some kind of limitation and straitness Those that love me Those that seek me early But then it hath a most pleasant and desired Exit with abundant satisfaction They shall find me There is your glory your heaven your eternal happiness here is the work of your lives I beseech you remember it and let not this Text or Sermon be ever forgotten by you Here I say is the work of your lives to seek early The happiness of Eternity to find God and to enjoy him for ever Before I come to the Observations give me leave to speak a little to these two things 1. To the Author of these words that I may not leave one Soul here at an uncertainty And 2. I would speak a little to the Form of the words that I may leave none of you under any mistakes 1. The Author of this great and glorious Text if you look into the beginning of the Chapter is Wisdom uttering her voice Vers. 1 Doth not wisdom cry and understanding put forth her voice vers 2 She standeth in the top of high places by the way in the places of the paths Vers. 3 She crieth at the gates at the entry of the city at the coming in at the doors Behold I stand at the door and knock Rev. 3. 20. Wisdom knocks Wisdom calls Wisdom cries and uttereth her voice The Acceptations of Wisdom in the Holy Scriptures in the Word of God are various 'T is sometimes taken for the God of Wisdom himself Sometimes for the Son of God the wisdom of the Father Sometimes for the Spirit of Christ who reveals wisdom to the Saints of God the Spirit of wisdom and illumination Sometimes for the grace of wisdom and spiritual knowledg And sometimes for the Word of Wisdom the Gospel of Christ as he says himself Matt. 11. 19 Wisdom is justified of her Children That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ wherein the wonderful Wisdom of God is displayed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes. 3. 10. But to wave the rest as having many things to speak to you this day that concern the happiness of your precious and immortal souls to Eternity and therefore I hope that you will not only bear with me but also bear me up by your prayers Doubtless by Wisdom here in this Text is meant the Interna sapientia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Filius Dei and we are to understand the Internal Eternal Wisdom of God that is called in Scripture The Word of God the Word that was made Flesh Wisdom speaking the speaking Wisdom the Son of God the Son of God In quo a quo omnis sapientia in whom and from whom is all wisdom all counsel and spiritual understanding without whom we cannot know God the Father or the Truth as we should do and by whom we know the Truth as it is in Jesus In the first Verse of this Chapter Wisdom is intituled to this great Speech and indeed in the whole Chapter if you will but take the pains when you are gone from hence to read it seriously before you come to the end thereof you will be convinced as well as I that this Wisdom is the Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ making this great Proclamation to all the World I love them that love me and those that seek me early shall find me 2. I told you that I would shew you somewhat concerning the form or manner of this expression I love them that love me to prevent the mistakes and errors as we have need to do especially in this Age wherein the minds and hearts of men like Spiders suck poyson from the most precious and most glorious Truths of the Gospel I love them that love me doth not in the least 1. Intimate that our love or the love of the creature is the cause of the love of God to our souls nor doth it in the least imply that our love is antecedaneous the least moment of time to the love of God which will the more clearly appear if we curiously observe the manner of expressing it 'T is not said I will love them that will love me but I love them that love me Besides the Apostle John clears the Text and puts all out of doubt in 1 John 4. 10 Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us And vers 19 We love him because he first loved us 2. As it doth not at all any way intimate or suggest the precedency of our love to God before he loved us so in the next place I must tell you that it is a most excellent Truth a golden Maxime fit to be written on your Door-posts yea on your very hearts Wisdoms thus
sure also to keep off every thing that may stifle or quench the heat of your love take heed of those strong blasts those wicked and cursed temptations that arise from Hell take heed also of those damps that arise from the world if you set your affections there those cold vapours arising thence will either abate or extinguish the heat of this pure heavenly fire of love take heed of being Servants with the World to the lusts of the flesh beware of these things Sin the lusts of the flesh the love of the World and Christ are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 inconsistent they cannot dwell together in one Soul 1 Joh. 2. 15 If any man love the world the love of the father is not in him These are like two fires in one Chimney the one will extinguish the other Direct 4. Fourthly and Lastly Be sure to add fuel to this fire and keep this heat you have received from Heaven warm take heed that your hearts never get cold I must confess that we live in a cold and frozen age in the worlds old age in an age wherein there is little love to God to Jesus Christ and to the Saints and if you would in this cold season keep up the height of your love to Christ I would advise you 1. To be much in communion with him the nearer you are to the Sun the more heat you will have 2. Be diligent and active and vigorous in the performance of every duty clothe your selves well with the constant performance of duty tender bodies delicate persons if they leave off a Garment are very apt to catch cold and so it will be with us if we neglect the constant performance of duty the neglect of praying morning and evening the neglect of praying constantly in your Closets the neglect of hearing Sermons the neglect of the due observation of the Sabbath in the neglect of these things you will be apt to get cold yet it is not enough barely to attend these duties which is too common a folly and sin but there is one thing more to be done and that is when you have been in the exercise of your love and in communion with Christ when you have warmed your selves in your Closets or at an Ordinance go not too soon into the world this care we do usually take for our bodies when we are warm when we are hot we do not presently expose our selves to the cold and thus we should do in reference to our souls when we have been at an Ordinance and have been warmed and heated there we should not too soon adventure abroad into the world this hath done a world of mischief and persons have thereby cool'd and dampt their love 3. And one thing more When you meet together not to be quench-coals one to another not to abate the love and zeal one of another but as the Apostle exhorts Heb. 10. 24 Consider one another What to do to provoke unto love and to good works love to God love to Christ love one to another love to the Ordinances of God When you meet together do not meet together I say to cool one another but meet as so many live-coals that will kindle and enliven one another that you may make the greater heat that you may warm your selves and one another and so keep your hearts and affections continually warm for God Vse 2. I have yet a word to another sort of people by way of Application and that is to such as have never yet tasted of the love of God nor never yet have found any love to Christ in their souls I hope there are or may be none or few such here and therefore I shall speak but little to this if there should be any such here or any of yours at home should be such their case is as bad as that of Cain or Judas If they have yet no love to God and to Christ I tell them that are here and do you that are here tell them that are at home that they must never content themselves without it any longer without which they can never be able to say truly to say that God loves them for if they hate Christ Christ will hate them and set himself against them yea there is a curse gone out and pronounced against them already 1 Cor. 16. 22 If any man says the Apostle love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha And therefore you that are such as I am now speaking to be you perswaded from henceforth to love Christ and in order thereto wait upon the means of grace where God hath promised to shew forth his love and to inkindle it and inflame their hearts with a greater and higher love to himself In Job 22. 21 says Eliphas to Job Acquaint thy self with him that is with God and be at peace thereby good shall come unto thee And this brings me now at last though I have staid long from it to the second Observation from the Text wherein lies much comfort for poor souls though you have had hitherto but a little light and love from God and but little love to God And that is Doct. 2. That they that seek the Lord early shall certainly find him and shall find him a God full of grace and mercy and shall certainly enjoy him eternally in Heaven Our deceased Friend that precious Saint of God that is gone before us having found the benefit of an early seeking after God and Christ in the way of his Ordinances desired that her nearest Friends Relations and Children might be and indeed by chusing this Text doth advise us all to be a Generation of Seekers and oh that God would make every one of us such as may seek thy face O Jacob O God of Jacob that is that may seek after Jesus Christ This is the work of our lives and it is well for us that Jesus Christ came into the world to seek and to save that which was lost and to put this great advantage into our hands that we could never have had without him In Matt. 7. 7 8 Christ exhorts us Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you For every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be opened Under the Covenant of works you might seek and seek till your eyes sunk into the holes of your heads and never have found Christ nor God but now he tell us that he is come into the world and that if we seek him with our whole hearts in the way of his Ordinances and appointments we shall find him and that if we knock there it shall be opened unto us In the prosecution of this Observation I shall only speak to these three things 1. First of all I shall shew you That man is born in a natural estrangement from God every man every individual person every Mothers Child is brought into the
the feet of Christ when he calls them to it and this as soon as ever they apprehend that love of Christ to them as soon as ever they come to be made sensible of the worthiness of Christ of the All-sufficiency that is in Christ to do them good away goes the world they sit loose to it as loose as Elijah's Mantle 2 Kings 2. 13 which fell off when he was taken up to Heaven Thus said and thus did the Disciples of Christ We have left all and followed thee But I shall only add the example of one eminent Saint who left all for Christ and if all the Princes in the World had thrown their Crowns into his lap he would have left them all Phil. 3. 7 8 What things were gain to me those were counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ. v. 9 And be found in him c. 2. As Christ discovers his love to the Saints in his delight of communion with them so the people of God do intirely love earnestly desire and delight in communion with the Lord Jesus Christ theâ— would be in fellowship with Christ where-ever they be Cant. 1. 1â— A bundle of myrrh is my well-beloveâ— unto me he shall lye all night betwixt my breasts that is near my heart And therefore is the Spousâ— brought in Cant. 2. 7 breaking ouâ— after this strange kind of manner I charge you or I adjure you O yâ— Daughters of Jerusalem by the Roes and by the Hindes of the field that ye stir not up nor awake my love till he please The Lord Christ as iâ— she had said is come to abide with me and I take so much delight in communion and fellowiship with him that I charge you not to disturb him I would not have the dearest lust I would not have any sin whatsoever to interpose betwixt Christ and me 3. As Christ discovers the greatness of his love to his Saints in longing to injoy them with himself in his glory so the Saints of God here upon earth do long earnestly long to injoy him in his Fathers presence in the House of his glory to be in those Mansions that he hath provided for them in those Regions of glory above They look earnestly for the glorious appearance of the great God and the Lord Jesus Christ as the Apostle to Titus expresses it Titus 2. 13 14 Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works They look out as Sisera's Mother out of her Window and cry through the Lattice Judg. 5. 28 Why is his Chariot so long in coming why tarry the wheels of his Chariots So the soul of a Saint looks out at every cranny at the eye and at the ear and cries out Why tarries his Chariot why is he so long in coming That dear Saint that is gone before us was wont to tell me That she had waited a long time for her great change and did continue waiting And the truth is it cannot be otherwise when once a Soul is espoused to Jesus Christ and hath been kissed with the kisses of his mouth and knows any thing of his love and loveliness from the very day of espousals there will be there must be a longing desire of enjoyment as it is with young Lovers when once true love is between them all the time after is a time of desire and longing Make haste says the soul to Christ and come away Egredere anima says the longing Saint go out Soul to meet Jesus Christ this is the Case as it is between Christ and a believing Soul Says the Soul to Christ either come down to me or take me up to thee Dear Jesus Christ when shall I come and appear before God I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is best of all I would also observe to you that passionate out-cry of the Spouse to Jesus Christ Cant. 8. 14 Make haste my beloved and be thou like to a young Roe or to a young Hart upon the mountains of spices It is the voice of a believer to Jesus Christ. I should now make a transition from hence to the next Observation but let me first a little improve this And the use I shall make of the first Doctrine is this Vse 1. To stand a while together with you admiring at the infinite sovereign and free Grace of God who hath set his love upon man and hath done poor creatures that honour as to engage their hearts to love God and the truths of God God is not beholding to us for our love for he is an object infinitely above our love and 't is a wonder of mercy that God accounts us worthy to love him and to love Jesus Christ What a mercy is this that God should beget in us any love to himself by revealing his infinite love to us that his love should be shed abroad in our hearts Oh! stand amazed at this especially when you hear God saying Isa. 65. 1 I am sought of them that asked not for me I am found of them that sought me not I said behold me behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name But more of this anon when I come to the second Branch Only here we may go away with admiring thoughts into Heaven at this infinite free and condescending love of God to our poor souls and to raise up our hearts to the greater admiration consider 1. What a great what a wonderful and immense Love this Love of God is that he bears to poor creatures his favour is better than life it self Psal. 63. 3 Because says the Psalmist thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shalâ— praise thee What shall we call it A Fountain a Fountain without brim or bottom Amor Dei est infundens creans bonitatem The Love of Christ as one says 't is that which creates and infuseth goodness all manner of good temporal spiritual and eternal 2. Would you see the fruits and effects of this Love Alas 't is not a small matter for the great and glorious and holy God to tell a poor soul I love thee Men may say so and it may signifie little but God never says so to any but it creates a Heaven in the Soul it fills the Soul with all the joys and delights of Heaven it leads him into the Regions of Life and Peace peace peace and assurance for ever Isa. 26. 3. and 32. 17. In all your duties this will be your delight That God loves you In a time of darkness this will be your light and in the pangs of death this will be your