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A53746
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A funeral sermon Opening the nature and grounds of assurance, occasioned by the death of Mr. Philip King, Minister. Who departed this life, November, 8th. 1699. By Jonathan Owen.
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Owen, Jonathan.
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(1700)
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Wing O827; ESTC R216657
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12,870
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of the Scrutiny so if we make the most diligent inquiry into the Lives and Experiences of most Men and Women O where are the Persons that can or may thus warrantably declare themselves I know that my Redeemer liveth among them that profess Christ in a more exact way then others that hear more of his Person Office and Glory as Redeemer even among these it is a rare thing most are but come up to Hopes and but few to the good Hope through Grace that which maketh not ashamed 2 Thess 2.16 2. For as I would awaken all so I would not cast down any of Christs weak Lambs We that Preach the Word must with Boanerges Thunder and with Barnabas speak Consolation to you therefore know it is possible to be interested in Christ and not be fully assured of it Assurance is not of the Essence of Christianity it is but accidental like Benjamins Mess it is a peculiar Favour they were as really Josephs Brethren that had it not as he you may be of Christs Brotherhood by adopting Grace and yet be without it If Assurance were of the Essence of Grace then none could be saved but such this makes the number of the Blessed Saints Ten Thousand Times fewer then they are it excludes all Dead Infants out of Heaven indeed what the Apostle saith is remarkable 1 John 5.10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the Witness in himself But consider as it is spoken of Adult Persons so it refers to the Three-fold Witness spoken off before viz. the Spirit the Water and the Blood now every Adult Believer hath this Witness in himself but alas it oftentimes so falls out that the Ear of Faith is so Deaf and the Eye of Faith so dim and Hand of Faith so weak that the renewed Believer neither hears sees nor receives his own Mercy 's as he ought many a doubting Saint hath got safe to Glory when carnal Confidents have dropt into Hell-Flames a Child may be born Heir to a great Estate and by reason of his Infancy not know it it as Birth and Blood which gives right to it not the present Sense and Knowledge of the thing this renders the Matter comfortable the other makes the Thing sure thus much of what I thought needful to be Premised but few know upon Scripture Bottom that their Redeemer liveth it is possible to be savingly interested in Christ and yet not know it certainly I enter upon the second General 2. What is that Scripture-Foundation which this full Assurance of Faith I know that my Redeemer liveth must be Built upon Here take Notice for it is without Controversie this Assurance hath its Original in Grace and not in Nature true a natural Man may be endued with great Knowledge his Head may be full of Speculative Understanding about Divine Things he may come under very powerful and common workings of the Spirit and yet be without a Foundation for this so much the Apostle declares Heb. 6.4 5. Now that I may set this weighty Matter before you in the plain Light of the Word to know that ones Redeemer liveth it is and must be built upon this Threefold Foundation viz. 1. The saving Knowledge of Christ 2. The appropriating Acts of Faith 3. And the Witness of the Spirit 1. Christ Jesus in his Person Office and Glory as Redeemer must be revealed to that Soul Without this Manifestation of Christ no Man can say it though ignorant and confident Persons may Orally speak the Words but he that doth it with this Faith must know in whom he believeth 2 Tim. 1.12 The Glory of God in the Face or Person of Jesus Christ must shine into that Heart 2 Cor. 6.4 For God who commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness hath shin'd into our Hearts to give the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ All this is evident from Jobs Confession let me consider it a little farther 1. He knew the Lord Jesus Christ in his Person i. e. He knew him to be really God eternally naturally and essentially God therefore he expresly so calls him ver 26. Though after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see for my self The glorious Display which Christ will make of himself in the latter Day all shall see some to their Eternal Horror and Confusion and some to their Everlasting Joy all the redeemed shall see and enjoy Christ then not one shall be disappointed or missing but those who are seal'd with the Holy Spirit of Promise they know it assuredly Whom I shall see for my self ver 27. 2. A well-grounded Assurance includes not only the Knowledge of Christs Person as God but also an Acquaintance with his Offices as Redeemer in both Natures the Lord Jesus by Eternal and Foederal Agreement with his Father is become a Redeemer Holy Job had the Knowledge and Fore-sight of this he not only acknowledgeth Christ to be a Redeemer but he confesseth him to be his living Redeemer Christ redeemeth his two ways by Price and Power by the Price of Satisfaction paid to the Honour Law and Justice of God to his Honour by the Death of one who thought it no robbery to be equal with him Phil. 2.6 To his Law by the perfect Obedience of Christs own self who was under it Gal 4.4 To his Justice by being made a Curse i. e. his induring the Substance thereof Gal. 3.13 As thus by Price so by Power the Lord Jesus Christ redeems Souls he hath already conquer'd Sin Death Hell and the Grave by his Almighty Power He is now conquering Sinners to himself by the Ministry of the Word and Spirit and yet a little while and the last Trump shall sound and the Dead in the Bowels of the Earth and in Depths of the Sea shall hear his Voice and come to Judgment John 5.28 29. They that have done good to the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation then Christ will compleat the Redemption of his People their Bodies and Souls shall be reunited they shall all appear with him in Glory 3. As the Knowledge of Christs Person and Office is included in this Assurance so likewise the Knowledge of his Present and Future Glory to wit that he now liveth and shall stand upon the Earth at the latter Day he liveth there is much in that Expression it Points at the Eternity Fulness and Power of Christ as Redeemer his Eternity that as God he hath Life in and from himself his Fulness that he hath Life to give to all his Members and his Power that as he lives by his own self so he will quicken the Dead and Judge the World in Righteousness and shew that he hath the Keys of Hell and Death Rev. 1.18 But 2. In a well-grounded Assurance of an Interest in the living Redeemer the Faith of a renewed Soul must appropriate Christ
A FUNERAL SERMON Opening the Nature and Grounds OF ASSURANCE Occasioned by the DEATH OF Mr. Philip King Minister Who Departed this Life November 8th 1699. By JONATHAN OWEN LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three-Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chapel 1700. To the Church of Christ Congregating in Dead-Mans-Place Southwark the Author wisheth that all Grace and Peace may abound Beloved in our Lord GOD by his merciful Providence hath yet continued us together in the sacred Bonds of the glorious Gospel and it is my earnest Prayer and Desire that we may stedfastly keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the Bond of Peace and Love Amongst the many Afflictions which have attended my Course in the Ministry this hath been none of the least to wit the too little Service which I have done for Christ and immortal Souls yet I thankfully acknowledge to the God of all Grace it is none of my Fear that I have laboured altogether in vain some of you I have espoused to Christ others by my Poor endeavours have been built up in him what the Blessed Apostle writes to the Corinthians is verified in some measure amongst you 1 Epist 1. Chap. 27 28. yea God is my Witness I wou'd gladly spend and be spent for you it 's Ability and not Will which is wanting to Answer your affectionate Expectations in all things when your Sympathy somewhat eased me the Lord directed you to one richly anointed for his Masters Work But ah alas Mr. P. K. is removed in the Morning of his Days in the Twenty Fourth Year of his Age when your Eyes and Heart were much upon him it may be too much for to know Ministers after the Flesh is the speedy way to be rid of them those Feet which were beautiful in bringing glad-tidings shall walk with you and speak to you no more O that all such humbling Providences might be wisely improved The Voice of the Rod speaks loud and plain comply with it for the Lord's sake for what Reasons I was loth to undertake this Province you know but I can deny no reasonable Request to your concurrant Desires and now what you all would have hath not only come to your Ear but also to your Eye and into your Hands it may be this will abide with many of you when shortly it will be said of me as now of the more Worthy that I am gone also What may be the censures of some I know not and if you be profited I shall less Matter This with hearty Prayers for each other is what I propound and desire whilst I am Living and your Unworthy Pastor Jonathan Owen Books lately Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chapel MR. Adams's Funeral Sermon A Discourse concerning the Redeemers Dominion over the Invisible Worlds some Part whereof was Preach'd on the Occasion of the Death of John Houghton Esquire Dr. Bates's Funeral Sermon Mr. Mead's Funeral Sermon All Four by the Reverend Mr. John Howe Of the Shortness of Time By F. Fuller Mr. Bradford's Eight Sermons Preach'd at St. Pauls at the Lecture founded by the Honourable Robert Boyle Esquire Mr. Philip Henry's Life Mr. Reynold's Minister of Notingham his Life Mr. Math. Henry's Discourse of Meekness Mr. Joseph Barrett's Funeral Sermon to which is annexed his Life c. A FUNERAL SERMON Opening the Nature and Grounds OF ASSURANCE Occasioned by the DEATH OF Mr. Philip King Minister JOB XIX XXV For I know that my Redeemer liveth HOLY Job was an eminent Instance of Grace he had this singular Honour put upon him viz Heavens Testimony that he was a non-such for true Piety ver 8. Never was Saint upon Earth exercised with Afflictions like him they came upon him as the Waves of the Sea The Sabbeans and the Caldeans Wind and Storms swept all away his Wife seemeth to be spared only to add to his Sorrows all his Friends were miserable Comforters such that added unto and aggravated his Calamities Chap. 16.2 His admirable Patience doth thus appear to wit in all he exalted God and debased himself Chap. 1.21 The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away and blessed be the Name of the Lord. Chap. 7.20 I have sinned there is his great Self-abasement In this Chapter he proceeds to maintain his Integrity against Bildad he chargeth Job very high he loads him with black Crimes and numbers him with the vilest of Men such that knew not God as you may see in Chap. 18. But to fall upon the Text it contains the Reason of his Defence and foregoing Option and the Grounds of his inward Support under all his outward Afflictions Therein more Particularly you have Two Things 1. A full and Clear Confession of Job's Faith Respecting the Person Office and Glory of Jesus Christ his Person that he is really and truly God So he expresly calls him In my Flesh shall I see God ver 26. His Office a Redeemer of lost and inthrald Sinners his Glory both Present and Future his Present Glory a living Redeemer his Future in the latter part of the Verse He shall stand at the latter Day upon the Earth i. e. He shall come in our Nature to Judge the World and Triumph over all his Enemies 2. You have here the Nature Kind and Degree of Holy Job's Faith it was not a common but a special Faith not a dead but a living Faith not a weak but strong Faith not a doubting but a Plerophory a full Assurance of Faith I know that my Redeemer liveth having thus briefly open'd the Words behold an Ocean of spiritual Matter presents it self we may venture to Launch into it and how pleasant will it be if we are wrapt up in the ravishing Contemplations thereof as the Deceased often was in such Work and that remarkably in his last Discourses upon glorying in nothing but the Cross of Christ The Doct. They are great and rare Instances of Grace who like Job can say They know that their Redeemer liveth i. e. That can say it upon Scripture Grounds Would to God we were all come up to this Grace since it is possible with a Holy Ambition let us aspire after it The Method of prosecuting this Point shall be thus if the Lord will I. To Premise two Things for Illustration II. To set before you the Scripture Foundation of a well-grounded Assurance III. I shall confirm this Truth by demonstrating the greatness and rarity of this Grace IV. The Practical Improvement of the whole with respect to the sad Occasion thereof The two Things to be premised are these 1. There are but few that can say from Scripture-Foundation They know that their Redeemer liveth this is not more sad then true it is facile easie and common to repeat the Words but it is peculiar and rare to find those who upon the like footing as Job can thus express themselves Zeph. 1.12 There God speaks of searching Jerusalem as with Candles which denotes the exactness