white coat of Sanctification along with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they follow or accompany him 2. Their inseperability Death may rob them of their estates but death cannot plunder them of their Graces Death may separate their heads from their bodies but shall never seperate or take their Crowns from their heads The ambitious man cannot carry his honor with him the Mammonist cannot carry his Gold with him but the godly man shall carry his godliness his holiness his works with him as the shadow follows the Sun or as the sequacious Ivy hedera sequax clings to the Oak 3. Their Honor and Dignity of State Grace we say is Glory begun and Glory is Grace perfected I as God is glorious in holiness so a godly man is glorious in holiness he is glorious in Grace his Grace is his glory As when a Nobleman or Ambassador is to attend on or visit a Prince or Emperor his Gentlemen in their Braveries and his servants in their Liveries wait on him to the Palace or Presence Chamber So a Believer honors God in this world and God will honor him out of this world he glisters and shines here in his silks and embroyderies of humility love and righteousness and when he is called up from this world he goes not without his Retinue his Graces his works accompany or follow him to Glory one Paradice as he said then enters into anther From the words thus opened I shall present you with this Proposition or Doctrine Proposit That when a Christian dies his works die not with him There is a sixfold attendance on a true Christian by his good works or graces when he leaves this world 1. His works follow him in respect of that good report they leave behinde him It is a Judgement to have our names writ on earth but it s an honor when our persons are in Heaven to have a name of honor on Earth A wicked man expires and goes out but it is like a Tallow candle leaving a stench behinde him a righteous man expires and goes out of this world but like a Wax candle leaving a sweet perfume behinde him His works in their report follow him 1. In a blessed memory Do well and hear ill is wrote on Heaven Gates said the Martyr yet oftentimes do well and hear well after we have done well is wrote on Heaven Gates Of you it shall be said this and that man was born in her While the poor curse the memory of the wicked they bless God in the remembrance of the righteous Some mens names are rotten before their bodies but other mens names are alive and fresh when their Bodies are rotten being laid in their Graves tantorum nominibus semper assurgo said the Moralist of the mention of Cato and Lelius The name of Lazarus is recorded that is supposed to be his proper name but the common name of Dives is onely related a certain rich man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is all to signifie who he was God thought him not worthy of further mention G d shews himself herein contrary to the world who have no name for the godly poor but silly wretch or a by-name as lame Giles 2. God makes a memorial of the righteous Prov. 10.7 A good name as the Father observes is the godly mans heir The names of wicked men are either altogether omitted as in that place or Recorded with Infamy as Jeroboam is mentioned in the Cronicles of Israel Pilate in the Creed Gardener in the Martyrology but the names of the righteous are famous David is dead but his zeal for God lives David saith the Scripture was a man after Gods own heart Job is dead but yet his patience for God lives have ye not heard or ye have heard of the patience of Job Abel was murthered above 4000 years ago yet his Faith is alive to this very day he yet speaketh his tongue is out of his head and yet his faith is not tongue-tyed Oh saith God what a Believer was Abel some render it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passively is yet spoken of that is he is of blessed memory his name is honorable in the Church 2. His works follow him in their report by an happy example A good mans person is gone but his footsteps are left behinde him when he is dead and gone to heaven and beholdeth the face of God in glory his example left behinde him is a Looking-glass for others to dress themselves by a Copy for others to write after This womans charity saith Christ shall be made mention of where ever the Gospel shall be preached The Father its true dies but yet he lives in his child that wears his image especially in a moral sense when the child imitates the vertues of the father When a friend bewailed to Epaminandas's want of issue that noble Captain replyed That he should leave two fair daughters behinde him the Battles of Leuctra and Mautinea in which his memory should survive A good man never dies childless his examples of Patience and integrity are his never dying off-spring In this sense Luther and Calvin and the rest of those Champions that wrote for Christ and dyed in the Lord are yet alive in their words and works And though their souls be in Heaven yet are they instrumental for the salvation of souls on Earth As long as their Works or Writings are extant in the World they shall not have done preaching to as long as their holiness towards and courage for God are upon Record and published they shall not have done converting of sinners to or at least of confirming of Saints in Christ efficacior est vox operis quam opus voeis Secondly Their works follow the Saints many of them formally and really Indeed they take leave of Faith and hope they are militant Graces and onely suitable to the state of the Church on Earth but Love is a Triumphant Grace and goes along with them to Glory and now abideth Faith Hope Charity these three but the greatest of these is Charity the greatest Extensively Faith and Hope being more personal Graces Love being communicative rather here protensively in respect of duration to save a man Faith is great in a man saved Love is the greatest Faith and Hope and Repentance go with Christians vertually as he that hath the Spirits and Extracts of Herbs is said to carry the Herbs with him and a Merchant that turns his Lands into Pearls and Gold is said to carry his Estate with him so the fruit and substance of Faith lives though justifying Faith or Faith justifying dyes The Motto of Chawcer Farewel Physick may well be the Motto of a dying Christian Farewel Repentance farewel Hope Repentance is a plank after Shipwrack and where there is no sea no water there is no need of a plank As the Sword-bearer to the Emperor Charls being a Protestant carryed the Mace before his Master to the Church door when he went to Mass but his conscience would
not suffer him to go in with him So in a sense Faith guards us to Heaven Gates and when it hath done its office there it leaves us Faith follows a Christian as the shadow doth the Sun from one point of the Compass or Dyal to another until it comes to the Miridian and there it leaves it but love is a Royal Grace an Heavenly Peer with State and Majesty it enters into Glory and dwells with the King of Glory himself to all Eternity As Dr. Preston said when a dying I shall change my place but not my company his Graces followed him Thirdly Their Works follow them in respect of the comfort of them as the wicked onely leave their duties behinde them and carry their sins with them so the godly leave their sins behinde them and carry their graces with them they put off their garments when they go to bed And here 1. After death a childe of God is comforted with the success of his works How comfortable at the last day will it be for a Master of a Family to present his servants at the Tribunal Bar before the Lord and to say Lord Here am I and my servants with me that not onely wear my Livery but also obeyed thy commands For the Ministers of the Gospel that have been faithful to present their flocks before the great Bishop and Shepheard of souls and to say Here are the purchase of thy blood the travail of our souls the fruit of our labors and tears As the Ancient sweetly brings in the Apostles like so many File-leaders severally bringing up their Converts to the Judgement-Seat Peter attended with the converted Jews John leading up the Asiatiques Thomas the Indians and Paul the Gentiles Et nos hic Pastores vocati sumus ibi greges non ducemus And it is the perswasion of many great Divines That the spiritual Fathers in Christ shall know their children in Christ at that day Their success will advantage their comfort and therefore it is part of our duty to labor for success though it must be acknowledged that God rewards us not according to the success of our labors properly but according to our labors for success Let none be discouraged that their faithful works have not their success with men for as the good Physician always heals not so the good Preacher always converts not The success of our labors is his work not ours and God rewards us not according to his own work simply and abstractly taken by the leave of that yet true and famous affirmation God crowns his own works in us but according to our works He shall give to every man according to his works 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we had better have one work writ in Heaven then a thousand on Earth and though men may forget labors of love on earth yet the comfort is they shal be reminded rewarded by Christ in heaven those that convert souls and run like stars on Earth shall at last be Crowned and shine like stars in Heaven Dan. 12.3 4. 2. After death a childe of God shall be comforted with the Testimony of his Conscience And thus 1. His Integrity shall follow or accompany him Miserable is he whose conscience condemns him though all the world acquit him but thrice happy is he whose conscience acquits him though all the world accuse him A man may have hypocrisie in him and yet be no Hypocrite he may slumber and sleep with the foolish Virgins yet be no foolish Virgin while we are on this side our Fathers house we cannot but trip and stumble though we keep the way while we are on this side Paradice we cannot behold a Pomgranate that hath no rotten grain in it This may support that if we bring our Graces to the Touch-stone the Lord himself will never bring them to the Balance the charge of Hypocrisie is familiar and easie the proof is laborious and hard We are not made Lord Judges of mens Consciences and therefore notwithstanding private suspitions we must forbear and refer the censure of the full and final estate of man to God It s the work of God to discover Hypocrites not of man while a man goes about to discover an Hypocrite let him beware lest in seeking to finde out one he discover two the searched and the searcher Quam immensa est laetitia de recordatione transacti operis Possibly it may be said concerning many Christians who never studied to be conformable to the Critical Religion of the World as it was said of Father Paul the Venetian because men knew not how to convince him either in his Profession or Life they had onely this common plea against him That he was an Hypocrite But what a testimony will Samuel bring with him at that day to say in the audience of Men and Angels Whose Ox have I stoln For blessed Paul to manifest at that day This is the testimony of my conscience that in godly simplicity I have behaved my self in the world My Beloved get a good conscience for that is a thousand witnesses and a thousand witnesses will not at that day be so good as a good conscience How amiable will the face of true Grace be then How abominable will the vizor and counterfeit be 2. His Charity and Love shall witness for him Many have no greater sensible evidence of their loving Christ then by the love they bear to his servants that wear his Livery to his Children that bear his Image But then the scruples of the upright shall be dissolved resolved and they shall not need so to puzle their brains to finde the love of the Brethren in their hearts How refreshing will it be then for a Believer to have occasion to say by way of Praise and Testimony the Lord gave me the loaf and I grudged not to give others the crums God made my cup full and I made it to run over for the relief of others It will I am sure it will be more comfortable for a man to say I have been good and I have done good in the World then to say I had all the goods of the World Good works are a Treasure and will follow you good and cordial Prayers are a Treasure and they will go before you and Faith and Hope are a Treasure and they will go with you It is strange to consider how many bad words men have for good works as if to be charitable were to be Popishly affected but if charity be Antichristianism Christ is the Pope and Rome is at Jerusalem Rev. 14.13 Acts 7.59 Luke 23.43 Make to your selves friends of the Mammon of unrighteousness that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations Luke 16.9 Not by way of merit but by way of concomitancy every acting of every Grace will stand us in stead a charitable act as well as a repenting act Quicquid pauperibus spargimus nobis colligimus I shall not impose on your belief But it is reported that
feci haec ego feci this and that have I done are but faeces dregs as Luther saith aptly so they must be qualified with sincerity while the peny is in the hand let Gods glory be in the heart Your lights must shine so that men seeing your good works may glorifie God but not that men should see your works and glorifie you and cry you up and down There goes a charitable man there goes a great worker Men judge of the heart by the work but God judgeth of the work by the heart At the Judgement Bar it will be no excuse before God if the matter of the work be ill to plead the goodness of the heart to say Though I was a common Blasphemer of thy name a common neglecter of holy duties yet I had an honest heart so when the heart is naught there is no pleading before God the goodness of the work you fasted and professed and were charitable Will the Lord say as he did to the Jews but was it for my Glory for the exaltation of my name out of the sense of my love Cains works had been good if Cains heart had not been evil How sad will it be for some to behold at the last day the mites of others to be received and their own talents rejected the good works of many to leave them and their evil works onely to follow them Christus opera nostra non tam actibus quam finibus pensat 3. Work while you have time to work cast up your accompts before you come to give up your accompts or your accompts will cast up you How vainly do many talk of working for Heaven when they are going from the place of working to the place of rewarding of doing the greatest work to repent to believe when they have least strength to do them of turning their souls to God when they can hardly turn their bodies on their beds Believe it believe it Christians its too much for one man and that at one time to look after a sick soul and a sick body together if ever you would have your works to follow you when dead follow you your works while you live be earnest in self-examination industrious in making your Calling and Election sure like wise Virgins Get not onely lamps into your hands but oyl also into your lamps The Grave is a place for resting from out works not of working for rest The Judgement Bar is a place for the distribution of Justice not for the dispensation of Mercy now or never now if ever work out your salvation get the one thing necessary Surgunt impii non ad judicium sed ad condemnationem The wise man tells us There is no work to be done in the Grave that 's not a shop to work in but a Grave to rest in that 's not a time for the killing of the worm of guilt in our souls when the worms are gnawing and feeding on our bodies God will not send Prophets to the grave nor set up a Pulpit in Hell for the Preaching of salvation to the dead or damned Lastly I might adde Take examples from Gods Oracles and from Providence follow them that have so followed Christ as ever you would have your persons follow Gods servants to glory let your faith love follow their examples that are left behinde on earth FINIS Good Reader IN regard of the known exemplariness of the conversation of this vertuous Lady deceased I am perswaded from arguments brought as to the common good that this her following Character be annexed to my Sermon It is reported of a great man that he had good Intellectuals but bad Morals This honorable Lady had a good head and also the addition of a good heart not to mention her acquaintance with several Languages she was best versed in the Language of Canaan she was able solidly to maintain the controversies of the Church of God against Papists Socinians c. It was her Honor while other Ladies spent their time in reading Romances and painting their faces that she spent her time in reading the Oracles of God and adorning her soul Her private family duties justled not out her publique attendance on Gods Ordinances nor on the contrary some few have hearts but want time most have time but want hearts but as God gave her time so he also gave her a heart to serve him She never thought the Sabbath to be over till the duties of the Sabbath both publique and private were over She was able to comport her self with the highest yet she usually condescended both in discourse and behavior to the lowest and meanest of Gods children She brought forth much fruit and made but a little noise She had much glory by her Face but as Reverend Hall says of Moses in her proportion she had more glory by her vail I never heard she was reconciled to any for indeed I never heard she had an enemy The Ministry have lost a judicious Favorer the Poor a Physician her endeared Husband the best Companion in this troublesome world And that which is the Crown of all she acknowledged the imperfection of her own Duties and the necessity of Christs righteousness To conclude she was of the number of those few that lived and dyed in honour she hath done her work and is gone to sleep FINIS
be no true Faith without Charity Moses in the Ecclesiastick Story was wont to say I like that Faith better that can be seen then that Faith which onely can be heard Ubi bona opera non apparent ad extra ibi non est bonum opus ad intra So where there is no Charity ad extra without there is no true Faith ad intra within So John Husse Though Faith have a preheminence because works grow out of it and so Faith as the root is first yet Works have the preheminence thus both in that they include Faith in Believers in them and that they diffuse and spread themselves more then Faith doth And it is remarkable That though Christ refer oft to believing in this life because he would be sure to plant and fasten that safely which is the root of all Faith yet in the next life his proceedings are grounded on Works and he will judge us according to our Fruits 2. Because works are visible demonstrations of Faith In Titles and Conveyances where Lands are made over to us we have Seals to our Writings and witnesses to our Seals so here our persons are instrumentally justified by our Faith as we ordinarily speak but our Faith is justified by our Works The evidence to God that our Works are good scil formally is our Faith the evidence to men that our Faith is good probably is our Works Men can give testimony concerning our Charity but Faith is a secret and God onely can witness to that Now God who is all Spirit will not judge the World immediately but by our Mediator God-Man that humane nature that hung on the Cross shall q. d. sit on a Throne the Judge then shall be visible and the Persons to be Judged shall be visible and the publick processe shall in a great part be concerning things visible too God will so act at that day as that all men shall see the righteousnesse of his Processe he will judg not according to his secret counsels his cabinet decrees but according to evidence and his revealed Law Now James saith Shew me thy faith without works and I will shew thee my faith by my works this demonstration à posteriori is manifest Faith like the Queen of the South comes not alone to Solomon she brings her traine after her Faith is this Queen let Repentance be her Usher to go before her and good Works as Patience Charity Meeknesse the Court that follow her so let her come to the King of Glory in the Presence Chamber of Jesus Christ in heaven As long as we feel thy pulse beating we are sure thou livest yet the beating of thy pulse is not the cause why thou livest but a signe by the effects As Christ said of himself when the question was whether he was the Messias View my works said he they are they that testifie of me So I may say of men their conversations their works testifie what they are Good works before men are good witnesses of our faith before God God will then examine men of those things that man can bear testimony to 3. Because men accused naturally and generally appeal to their good works by whom or by what wil the hypocrite be tried By Gods people No by the work of Regeneration No for that 's a mystery unknown to them but by my works will I be tryed why then to thy works thou shalt go thou boastest of thy works but where is their goodnesse How can thy works be good if thou thy selfe the worker art evil The Lord likes Adverbs better then Adjectives Benè better then Bonum Do your works proceed from a good heart and do they tend to a good end Our works must not only materially be good for there may be malum opus in bonâ materiâ but the aim and intention of our works must be good also or else notwithstanding our good works we are evil workers before God And further I believe that the meer outside Christian will then be found to have been defective in good works in some or other good work Either he will be charged for injustice in getting his estate with which he hath been charitable and that 's not properly charity for a man as we say to steal the whole loaf out of the cupboard of a poor man and then to give him a crust at the door Or as the Spanish Proverb is to steal a Goose and stick down a Feather Or secondly For partiality in doing good We may observe That all Causes are required to make an Action good but one defective Circumstance will render an Action bad Fourthly Good works will then be called in for Evidence because by them we are like God What one Evangelist hath Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect another renders it Be you merciful as your Heavenly Father Some things God teacheth us by precept other things he teacheth us by Example as to repent by Precept to love by Example Now we more imitate God in following his Precepts then in obeying his Commands Simply so considered we are more like God in our Love then in our Repentance hence God in Scripture is called Love but not Faith properly A Believer that is a good man a man full of compassion and bowels of mercy is the most godly the most God-like man in the world For the Application and Conclusion of this Doctrine That when a Believer dies his works die not with him Vse 1. Hence is by way of Caution concerning good works Good works say the Papists on this Scripture go before in respect of Merit but follow after in respect of Reward but the words speak of the Reward that follows not of the Merit that goes before a Reward we acknowledge Merit we deny we shall be rewarded according to our good Works but not for our good Works It is sufficient to merit that merit sufficeth not The Antinomians say Good works are not necessary for Salvation they might better say They are not necessary as to Justification that is that they Justifie not He that beggeth Mercy boasteth not of Merit Good works do not go before but follow us to Heaven The blood of Christ is the golden Key to open the door of Paradice It is reported that the Doctrine of Simon Magus was That a bare profession of Faith without a reformation in the life was sufficient for salvation Austin justly conceives that one reason why James so prefers Works Cave non tantum ab operibus malis sed etiam à bonis as to say That Abraham was justified by them was because that some Licentiats had so abused the Doctrine of Faith delivered before by Paul Good works are such things as no man can be saved for them and yet no man can be saved without them The truth is we are not onely not saved for our Works that we are not so much as saved for our Faith The greatest degree of Faith is not worth the least or lowest