avoid being so called Thirdly See hence How little Reason Souls in Christ have to be fond of Life or afraid of Death What fond of Labour and Sorrow What afraid of Rest and Blessedness your Case Christians is not like that of other Men whilst you live and are present in the Body you are absent from the Lord from the Joys of your Lord when you dye in the Lord you enter upon this Blessedness Tho' this Portal be dark and uncomfortable it is an Inlet to this Transcendent Glory to us and to our Dear Friends that dye in Jesus Fourthly See hence What little reason we have to lament immoderately for our Deceased Godly Friends that dye before us What because they are blessed before us Fifthly Learn hence How Holiness becomes so absolutely necessary to this Blessedness It 's that without which it cannot be enjoyed You have heard wherein this Blessedness lyes what Ingredients it hath in it that it includes the Perfection of our Natures and Satisfaction thereof Blessedness is but perfected Holiness Now how impossible is it that Holiness should be perfected in Heaven that was never begun on Earth when this is the State we are to be made meet for So that a Heart conformed to God is in the Nature of the Thing as well as by the Pleasure of God absolutely necessary to a Felicitating Enjoyment of God Wicked Men hope God will save them in their Sins take them to Heaven in their unsanctified State and Temper of Soul which is not only repugnant to the Nature and Word of God as it were easie to evidence but to the Nature of that Happy because Holy State for what Philosophy can shew you true Pleasure and Blessedness can be obtained without a proper suitableness of the Faculty to the Object and Exercise of the Heavenly State A Holy Nature is necessary to the Enjoyment of a Holy God How often have you heard that if it could be supposed that a Carnal Animal Unsanctify'd Wretch void of a Divine Nature and God-like Temper could enter into Heaven where we are as sure as God can make us no such Wretch can come he would find nothing there that would make him Happy no Objects would be found there suitable to his Fleshly Appetites to feed upon and no Holy Appetites in him to relish the pure Pleasures of that Happy because Holy State Oh! if Sinners could but sense this that is so true in it self so evident in Scripture and to Reason it self as depraved as it is surely they would bethink themselves pray for and endeavour in the use of all God's appointed Means to be partakers of a Divine Nature qualifying for Glory Sinner let me tell thee 'till thy Nature and Temper the Disposition and Constitution of thy Soul be turned towards God and Holiness to love and hate as God doth thou mayest dream of Heaven as thine but it will prove but a Dream If thou live and dye short of real Holiness in thy Heart and Life thou must lye down in Everlasting Sorrow short of true Happiness Well then Sinner go home and take this with thee to thy retiring Place and seriously consider how frivolous all thy Pretensions are for Blessedness whilst thou art short of this real Holiness without which thou art absolutely uncapable of it Secondly For Exhortation Is it so that they who dye in the Lord are Blessed Oh! secure to your selves a Share in this Blessedness In Order to which ask your own Hearts whether this be like to be your Case Let me Begg of you to deal Faithfully with your own Souls in a Matter of this Importance There is a Blessedness which Eye has not seen nor Ear heard neither hath it entred into the Heart of Man to conceive adequately of Have I an Interest have I a Share in it Will it be mine at last The Time will come will shortly come it may suddenly come that I must Dye Am I in Jesus Shall I Dye in Jesus Have I that Holiness that is Necessary to render me Meet for this Blessedness Oh! Christians would you put these Question in good Earnest to your own Consciences and take a Deliberate Answer some of you might go home with other Thoughts than you brought hither Do we see the Seats of our deceased Friends emptyed from day to day Will our Places shortly be Vacant as theirs are Must I Dye also and if I Dye in the Case I am in shall I Dye in the Lord Shall I be Blessed And give thy Soul no Rest 'till Conscience well informed and well awakened can furnish thee with a Satisfying Answer that when thou dyest tho' in the State thou art in thou dyest in the Lord and shalt be Blessed in the Eternal Enjoyment of him Secondly As ever thou wouldest be Blessed by Dying in the Lord Get into him United to him Interested in him as thy Lord and Saviour This I told you was supposed There is a Blessedness belongs to them that Dye in the Lord but none can share in it but such as are in him United to him Sinner art thou willing to be in the Lord in order to a Safe and Comfortable Dying in him and sharing in in this Blessedness with him Oh that it were so Oh that thou wert willing heartily willing for then the Hardest of the Work were over Our Dearest Lord hath done his part he hath satisfied Justice and Merited Mercy stands willing to Entertain thee Nay Courts and Solicits thy Compliance with him I know but three things and all highly reasonable in themselves that are absolutely Necessary to thy being in the Lord without which thou canst not Dye in him and be Blessed with him Let these be done and this Affair is well Secured First Give Credit and Assent to all that the Scriptures say of Christ Believing Acts 24. 14. all things that are said in the Law and the Prophets For these are they that Testifie of him And as Faith Unites the Soul to Christ so this is the first Work of Faith the Foundation of all the Rest But this must be an Energetical Operative and Influential Assent to all the Discoveries made of Christ Here is a Gospel that brings good Tydings of him and thou sayest thou believest it but I am notwithstanding all my Charity verily afraid with very many that say so it is not so for they do not carry it as if they did believe it Did they believe it they would not dare to live so opposite to it to the holy Ends of it therefore rest not in a naked Assent hereto but bring thy Heart thereby Secondly To give a Cordial Consent to the Terms proposed by him Thy Assent which is an Act of the Intellect or rather of the Soul as knowing the Truth and Goodness of Gospel Proposals must be accompanied or followed with an unseigned Consent to the Terms on which he is offered to be thine this Act of Faith is called Receiving of Christ As many Joh. 1.
A Funeral Sermon Occasioned by the DEATH OF M rs Jane Papillon Late WIFE of The Very Worthy Thomas Papillon Esq First Preached July 24. 1698. and now Published at his Request By JOHN WOODHOVSE LONDON Printed by J. Astwood for John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey 1698. TO THE Worthy and Ever Honoured Thomas Papillon Esq One of the Representatives of the Honourable City of LONDON in the present Parliament AND The Deservedly Respected Philip Papillon His Only SON WHEN I had performed the Service which you were pleased to Call me to in the Preaching of this Sermon I had no Grounds of Fear you would Importune me to make it more Publick THERE are few can be desired to send their Pulpit Discourses to the Press upon greater Disadvantage than my self who have no written Hints to recollect what I deliver and must therefore be forced when urg'd to it to Desire Help from some of my Hearers and refresh my Memory with their Notes which alwayes labour under considerable Imperfections To this I was particularly forced in the present Case which I thought a sufficient Reason for my desiring as I did it might when committed to Paper be kept for your own Private Perusal THEY that know us will not expect I should say much of you when I write to you However I am bold to be your Remembrancer of what was your Deceased Consort ' s Satisfaction in her Languishing Hours because it may on equal Grounds be both yours To have about Thirty descending from you or nearly United to them that do and no One but what gives just Cause to all of us to believe the Root of the Matter is found and Christ formed in them is a Comfort many want after all their Pious Counsels Holy Examples and Care of their Disposal And tho' this be but one of the many Distinguishing Marks God hath Honoured you both with yet this alone should raise our Thanks and Hopes about them AND that God will continue them and especially You Sir his Worthy Son in the Steps of such a Father to fill up many of his Useful and Exemplary Posts both Religious and Civil is the Desire and shall be the Prayer of Your Affectionate Honourer and Faithful Servant in Our Dear Lord John Woodhouse Upper Moorfields Octob. 27. 1698. REV. XIV 13. And I heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me Write blessed are the Dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them I Need not tell you Beloved the sad Occasion of this Mournful Assembly The Design I shall mainly drive at is not the Celebration of the Deserved Praises of the Dead or the Revival of the Grief and Tender Sence the Living have of so great a Loss But if it were possible I would Endeavour to bring this Afflictive Providence so near our Hearts that we might not lose all that we might get some good by so great a loss the loss of so Excellent a Person I would render it as Instructive as I can to this great Assembly And that I may the more successfully do it will you lend me your Attentive Thoughts to that Passage of Sacred Writ that you have upon Record but now named to you Blessed are the Dead c. Scripture and Experience tell us that the Inhabitants of this lower World are Divided under two great Lords that have the Rule over them Christ and Satan the Flesh and Spirit and it is true it lyes at every Man's Choice whose he will be and whom he will serve the Devil cannot force Subjects and Christ will not he will Deal with us according to the Free and Noble Natures that he hath given us but hath from the Divine Pleasure and according to the Nature of the thing Purposed that what Sinners Choose that they shall have such as hath been their first such shall be their Final State the Way and End are inseparably Connected together The far greater part of Mankind Devote themselves to the Service of the World and the Flesh abandon themselves to a fleshly animal Life these they Choose and Follow And Verse 9. the Context tells you what will be the Dreadful Issue of this their Course They shall be filled with their own Verse 10. Wayes for they shall be Tormented with Fire and Brimstone A Dreadful Entertainment shall Sinners find when they come to Receive the Recompence of the Pleasures of Sin that they had for a short Season For they shall find the most Tormenting Element of Fire with Brimstone to give Heat and Horrour to it the Smoke of their Torment that 's an Verse 11. Awakening Word to them that feel and to them that do not yet feel it shall ascend for ever and ever and they shall have no Rest Day nor Night Sinners let me tell you from the Lord that there is not one of you that is yet a Slave to his Lust that chooseth and pursueth a Carnal Worldly Interest before all that God and Christ have offered to you but he is in a Case that doth certainly entitle him to this Torment tho' yet he is not in it I know Sinner thou fondly hopest it will be better but where is the Ground for it Either set thy self to Fear the Lord and Follow the Lamb or thou canst never escape and therefore whoever thou art that hast never been awakened to a Sense of thy Sin and Danger art thou yet in an Impenitent Christless State think what will the way I have taken bring me to this End God hath told me so and at my Peril I must believe it that I may prevent it Oh that God would give thee a Heart to it But as dark as that side of the Cloud is the Context hath a light side also and my Text leads me to a Better Sort of Souls And O that God would lead it to the Souls of all of you that are in such a State as will intitle you to this Torment that you may make your Escape and never know by feeling what it means There is a Generation that under the sweet Influences of Free and Powerful Grace follow the Lamb whithersoever Verse 4. he goes They had taken Christ and become Imitators of him and they would follow him through Tribulation and Persecution to Glory let it be how it would with them here they would follow Christ they had embark'd with him and they would adventure their all with him These are they that are devoted to God set apart for God and Holiness in their Hearts and Lives They keep the Commandments of God and the Verse 12. Faith of Jesus they follow Christ in a Life of Obedience and maintain the Faith of Jesus cleaving to abiding in and walking with him and these shall have the Recompence of Reward In the next Verse I heard 〈◊〉 Voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the Dead Surely Sirs here is somewhat
low as the Learned Grotius does that their Good Works Nay add the Influences they shall have on others shall follow them be notify'd to them with Sweetness and Joy in the Reflection upon them I say though this be true it is not all because I find Holy Men shall have a Recompence according to what they have done Christ hath told us He that giveth a Cup of cold Water in his Name shall not lose his Reward O holy Soul I tell thee to thy Comfort that many of those Works of Piety and Charity that have made thee to abhor thy self for the Meanness and Imperfection of them where the allowed Hypocrisie of thy Heart spoiled them not these shall be set in an acceptable View And therefore that Soul must needs be blessed that hath been doing and getting Good in this imperfect state and now shall be crown'd with a Recompence according to what it hath done tho' not for it in a Meritorious Sence And then shall you discern the difference between him that is righteous and him that is wicked him that serves God and him that serves him not Maâ— 3. â—â— And thus much for Explication To show what it is to Dye in the Lord for him or interested in him what you are to understand by Blessed both as to Name and Thing and for Confirmation shewing what Reasons and Evidences there are in the Text that such shall be so blessed and must needs be so Time calls me to the Application Is it so my Friends Come Stâ—â— up your Thoughts a little Is it 〈◊〉 that They are blessed that dye in thâ— Lord That the dead that dye in thâ— Lord as well as those that dye foâ— the Lord are blessed from henceforth Blessed in the Removal of all Evâ—â— in the Enjoyment of all such Goodâ— Felicitating Good such a Good in sucâ— a manner that is beyond Expressionâ— beyond Conception and full of Glory Is this that which belongs to everâ— one that dyes in Jesus that they reâ—â— from their Labours and their Workâ— do follow them How Easie and Natural would the Application of it bâ— to our Deceased Friend a Person 〈◊〉 that Excellent Spirit one that wâ—â— so early in Christ a young Disciple one that walked so closely with Christâ— in the Course of a Useful and Wellâ— ordered Conversation one that diâ— drive on Designs for live to him as well as in and upon him and one that took so much care with so good Effect to clear up her Evidences and Title to him in whom she lived and in whom she hoped to dye But how Natural and Easie soever this might be I must restrain my self wholly in it since if I should speak but what I know I should militate against the settled Opinion of the Dead declared to me and often to others against Elegies and Funeral Encomiums as things that seldom do good but often harm and against the Desires and especial Directions of the Living which I have a just Deference for who know her Works praise her in the Gates and know she 's above our Praises and also in some Degrees against my own Sentiments and Ordinary Practice as you know and therefore being herein restrained let 's try if we can make any other Improvement of it if not to the Honour of the Dead yet to the Advantage of the Living And pray let not any of you thaâ— stand so uneasily here have cause to say when you go away Well I have got no good by this Providence by this Sermon I have heard the Funeral Sermon of a very Useful Person a good Woman who lived desired and dyed greatly lamented but I am never the better for it I know here is one thing wanting that we cannot have in our Assemblies that is very affecting to many the sight of the Deceased's Hearse and that we do not follow them to the Grave and see them laid in the silent Dust and left there which often begets very serious Thoughts how certainly we must shortly follow after them and be used as they are used And tho' these Thoughts wear off too soon with the most yet they have some Influence for the time and give the Word deeper Impressions on the Hearts of Careless Professors However under all the Disadvantages we labour let you and I joyn let 's do our Parts ot make some good use of this Useful Doctrine and this Doleful Providence First By way of Information Secondly By way of Exhortation Thirdly By way of Consolation As Time will permit First Then is it so that They who dye in the Lord are blessed do rest from their Labours and have their Works thus following of them First See here a High Demonstration of the Divine Good-will to such Souls It was an amazing Kindness God should employ his infinite Wisdom in Contriving a way to raise up fallen Man to himself by Jesus Christ to fit and succeed Means of Grace to bring them into Christ to make them meet for his Blessedness Oh! but what was it to admit them into it fully and satisfyingly to possess them of it and that too when Death had done its worst What Dye and yet be blessed this had need be told from Heaven that it might gain Credit What to Rest from their Labours and receive Recompence of their imperfect Works who cannot read Matchless Love in all this and who that lays it to Heart can choose but adore it and study to make Returns for it Canst thou repent of any thing thou hast done and suffered for him that hath so loved thee Canst thou think any thing too hard too Self-denying he puts thee upon who will treat thee thus Some of thy Work is now thy Wages but who can tell what thy Reward shall be when fully possest Oh! the Kindness this springs from Oh what manner of Love is this Labour to love as thou art loved Secondly See here a Demonstration of the Wisdom of these Holy Souls that live in Christ that live to him that they may dye in him and be blessed by him Let the foolish World that makes light of Christ that prefers present perishing Trifles to a Saving Union to him and Interest in him put the Brand of Fools and Fanaticks upon them for making so much adoe about these Matters yet these Men shall shortly see and say your way was not your Folly but Wisdom was with you tho' they themselves had played the Fool and shall have Cause and Leisure to tear and torment themselves for ever for this their Folly Nay Madness of Folly in neglecting this Blessedness and abandoning the way to it Lift up thy Head O thou Revil'd Soul that which these Men call thy Folly shall be found by God and Men by bad as well as good Men to be thy truest Wisdom that on which thou mayest justly value thy self under all the Contempt they pour upon thee Abide by thy Wisdom tho' Fools call it Folly better be called a Fool than be one to