mighty Influence upon those about them Now the Deportment and Expressions of this Servant of Christ in his long languishing Condition were so holy and heavenly that though his Life has been very useful yet he more glorified God dying than living When he was summoned by painful Sickness his first Work was to yield himself with resigned Submission to the Will of God When a dear Friend of his first visited him he said I am in the use of Means but I think my appointed time is come that I must dye If my Life might be serviceable to convert or build up one Soul I should be content to live but if God hath no work for me to do here I am let him do with me as he pleaseth But to be with Christ is best of all Another time he told the same Person That now it was visible it was a determined case God would not hear the Prayer to bless the means of his Recovery therefore desired his Friend to be willing to resign him to God saying It will not be long before we meet in Heaven never to part more and there we shall be perfectly happy there neither your Doubts and Fears nor my Pains and Sorrows shall follow us nor our Sins which is best of all After a long continuance in his languishing Condition without any sensible Alteration being asked how he did he replied I lie here but get no ground for Heaven or Earth Upon which one said Yes in your Preparations for Heaven O yes said he there I sensibly get ground I bless God An humble Submission to the Divine Pleasure was the habitual Frame of his Soul Like a Dye that thrown high or low always falls upon its Square thus whethe hope of his Recovery were raised or sunk he was content in every Dispensation of Providence His Patience under sharp and continuing Pains was admirable The most difficult part of a Christian's Duty the sublimest degree of Holiness upon Earth is to bear tormenting Pains with a meek and quiet Spirit Then Faith is made perfect in Works and this was eminently verified in his long Trial. His Pains were very severe proceeding from a cancerous Humour that spread it self in his Joynts and preyed upon the tenderest Membranes the most sensible Parts yet his Patience was invincible How many restless Nights did he pass through without the least murmuring or Reluctancy of Spirit He patiently suffered very grievous things through Christ that strengthned him and in his most afflicted Condition was thankful But what Disease or Death could disturb the blessed Composure of his Soul which was kept by the Peace of God that passes all Vnderstanding Such was the Divine Mercy he had no Anxieties about his future State but a comfortable Assurance of the favour of God and his Title to the Eternal Inheritance He had a substantial double Joy in the reflection upon his Life spent in the faithful Service of Christ and the Prospect of a blessed Eternity ready to receive him This made him long to be above He said with some Regret Death flies from me I make no haste to my Father's House But the wise and gracious God having tried his faithful Servant gave him the Crown of Life which he hath promised to those that love him His Body that poor Relick of Frailty is committed in trust to the Grave His Soul sees the Face of God in Righteousness and is satisfied with his Likeness The Hope of this should allay the Sorrows of his dearest Friends When the Persons we love and have lived with are to be absent a few Months it is grievous but at the last lamenting Separation all the Springs of our tender Affections are opened and Sorrows are ready to overwhelm us But the stedfast Belief of the Divine World and that our Friends are safely arrived thither is able to support our fainting Spirits and refresh all our Sorrows The truth is we have reason to lay to heart the Displeasure of God and our own Loss when his faithful Ministers are taken away When the Holy Lights of Heaven are Eclips'd it portends sad Things When the Saints are removed from Earth to Heaven their Souls freed from the interposition of their dark Bodies they truly live but we that remain dye being deprived of their Holy Lives their Examples that are a preservative from the Contagion of the World A due Sense of God's afflicting Providence is becoming us But always allayed with hope of our being shortly reunited with our dearest Friends for ever in the better World O that our serious Preparations our lively Hopes and the Presence of the great Comforter in our Souls may encourage us most willingly to leave this lower World so full of Temptations and Trouble to ascend into the World Above where perfect Peace full Joy and the most excellent Glory are in Conjunction for ever FINIS Rom. 12.11 Luke 1.74 75. Et si adhuc viliorum materiarum obtulisses fecisset quod ex illa fieri optimum possit Sic sapiens virtutem si licebit in divitiis explicabit si minus in exilio Quamcunque fortunam acceperit aliquid ex illa memorabile efficiet Senec. Ep. 78. Tit. 2. Rom. 13. Acts 26.18 Col. 1.12 Rom. 1. Phil. 1. 2 Tim. 2.14 Mat. 13.52 Mat. 24.45 1 Tim. 4.14 15. Cui ideo reor veteres pagani tam speciosae appellationis titulum dederunt ut quia in eo non erat numen vel nomen esset Et quia non habebat aliquam ex potestate virtutem haberet saltem ex vocabulo divinitatem Salv. de Provid l. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hippoc. Aphor. Lib. 6. 2 Tim. 4.1 2. Col. 1.28 Acts 20.24 Miser ego semper aeger caloribus impatientiae Confiteor ad Dominum Deum satis temere me si non etiam impudenter de patientia componere ausum cui praestandae idoneus omnino non sim. Esa. 44.12 Psal. 103. Dan. 9. Psal. 118.181 Idoneus sui operis aestimator magno pretio nos redemit Arnob. Luke 11.21 Acts 18.5 1 Pet. 3.12 Rev. 3.21 Deut. 7.8 Col. 3. Nam ut mens per diem veris visionibus avocatur ne dormiat ita falsis nocte ne excitetur Lactant. de Opific Dei c. 18. Quae in ipsis visceribus medicaments epotis Originem futuri hominis extinguunt paricidium faciant antequam pariant Minus Fel. 1 King 2.38 Jussisti Domino sic est ut poena sit sibi omnis inordinatus animus Aug.
the pure Possibility of Being without the giving actual Being to us The natural Law that shines in the Minds of Men in the Knowledg of what is just and good and in the Conscience of what is evil binds them with the deepest Humility to acknowledg the Greatness and Goodness of our Creator and in the sense of this first and fundamental Benefit to consecrate our selves for ever to his Service 2. We are his Servants not only upon the general Title of Creation but in a more peculiar manner by Redemption Man by his Disobedience was fallen into a woful Bondage his Guilt subjected him to the threatning that contained two Deaths in one Sentence the temporal and present of the Body and the eternal of the Soul The righteous Judg of the the World whose Law was broken required an honourable Reparation of it the most costly Sacrifices of Beasts a Sea of Blood could never atone his Displeasure Nay the Obedience and Sufferings of Men and Angels were of no value to satisfy his injured Justice Thus Mankind was desperately lost our Ruines if I may so speak were sowed with Salt we were concluded under his most righteous and fearful Wrath If the Love and Wisdom of God had not accorded to find out that astonishing expedient of uniting the eternal Son of God with the human Nature in one Person that as Man he might voluntarily submit to bloody Sufferings and as God give an infinite Merit and Value to them and thereby purchase our Redemption This is accomplished by Jesus Christ The Lord laid on him the Iniquity of us all he gave his Life a ransom for us From hence a new Right springs of his Dominion over us as the Apostle invincibly argues Ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price therefore glorify God in your Bodies and in your Spirit which are God's The naked representing of this to the serious Mind must awaken a dear Sense of our Obligations to our Saviour but if we solemnly and deliberately contemplate this amazing Benefit out of what Rock is the Heart framed that is not soften'd and melted in Love and Obedience to our Blessed Redeemer To heighten the Sense of our Obligations Consider 1. A more excellent Goodness is visible in the redeeming Man than in creating the Angels upon the account of the distance of the Terms and the Difficulty of the way to effect it In the Creation of Angels Goodness was rich indeed there being no Possibility of desert in pure nothing but it was simply free whereas in our Salvation it is merciful beyond all Imagination for by our Rebellion we were justly fallen under the Wrath of God Their Creation was without the least strain of his Power He spake and it was done But there was a legal Bar against our Restitution To remove it his Son endured the Curse of the Law for us and bore our Sins in his own Body on the Tree Divine Love in our Redemption not only exceeds what was shewed in the Creation of Angels but is admirably illustrated by a higher comparison For the Father seemed to love us above his only begotten Son whom he spared not but delivered him up for us all and the Son loved us above his Life which he laid down for us 2. By the way of our Redemption he has infinitely honoured our Nature that was so vilified by the Fall Man whose Soul was an immortal Spirit stamped with the lively Image of God capable of everlasting Communion with him in Glory was sold for nought Be astonished O ye Heavens at this and be very desolate That Man who had the two great Lights of Natural Reason and Divine Faith should prefer the pleasing an irregular Appetite before the Favour of God and for a vain Fancy lose the most substantial Happiness Thus Man being in Honour and understood not became like the Beasts that perish nay viler than the Earth And all the Children of Adam sin according to the Similitude of his first Transgression O the cheap Damnation of Sinners For transient Pleasures and mean Profits they venture upon eternal Death This guilty and woful Folly not only defiles but debases Men to Hell Now the Lord of Life and Glory by suffering an ignominious Death for us has with the clearest evidence discovered the true Worth of Souls That they are precious beyond comparison since the whole World is not a valuable Compensation for them We are not redeemed with corruptible things as Silver and Gold but with the precious Blood of Christ as of a Lamb without spot and blemish That sacred Treasure of Heaven that was laid down for us exceedingly increases our Obligations to the Blessed Redeemer 3. By giving himself for us he has not only freed us from the Wrath of God but restored us to his dearest Favour We are translated from the fearful State of being God's Enemies into the amiable joyful State of his Children And consequently our Redeemer has purchased for us not only Salvation from Hell but eternal Glory a Life more divine and durable than the natural Life in Paradise How can we seriously think of this transcendent Benefit without a rapture of Affection He infinitely deserves our Love and Service who has bought us with so dear a price and purchased for us a glorious and incorruptible Inheritance 3. We are his Servants by his Deliverance of us from our Spiritual Enemies Satan Sin and Death Since the Devil obtained a woful Victory over us in the Fall of Adam great was the Triumph of Hell And though he be an Usurper of God's Right which could never be extinguished yet by our Overthrow he has a kind of a Title to us and keeps us as the Spoils of his Victory And having revolted from God we are justly though miserably under the Powers of Darkness We are chained in the lowest and the vilest Bondage The Soul and Body are under his tyrannous Dominion and suffer the deepest Wounds of Infamy and Cruelty He fetters our Minds with dangerous Delusions our Wills with divers Lusts and Passions and leads Men Captives in the ways of Sin till they fall into Hell the Centre of Misery Now as in redeeming a Captive there must be the paying the Ransom and the breaking his Chains that he may be restored to Liberty So besides the Price that was payed to God the Supreme Judg for our Discharge our Saviour has broken our Chains he by the sanctifying Spirit dispels the Darkness of our Minds softens the Hardness of our Hearts subdues the Rebellion of our Wills rectifies the Disorder of our Affections that we may be freed from the Domion of Sin as well as from the Obligation and Terrors of the Law He has broken the Powers of Darkness that conspired to keep us fast in the Intanglements of our Iniquities he has freed us from the spiritual Pharaoh and his cruel Task-Masters the imperious violent Lusts that are seated in the Heart and restores us to the glorious
and Doctrine What Opiate can stupify the Conscience of idle Ministers so as not to be awakened by these ardent Expressions How can they appear before the most High and Everlasting Judge What will be a sufficient Defence before his inlightned Tribunal What Apologies will skreen them from his fiery Displeasure Will their Ignorance or Abundance or Slothfulness excuse the neglect of their Duty They may deceive themselves with vain Allegations to palliate their Negligence but God will not be mocked If in the last Judgment those who neglected to feed the Poor with material Bread to support their Bodies shall be placed with the Reprobates at the Left Hand of Christ how can those whose Office it is to dispense the Bread of Life to Souls and neglect to feed them escape Condemnation The useful Diligence I have been urging upon Ministers is not only necessary in publick solemn preaching the Word but in seasonable applying it to particular Persons within their Compass and Care Of this we have an excellent Pattern in St. Paul who gives this Account of his Spiritual Work We preach Christ warning every Man and teaching every Man in all Wisdom that we may present every Man perfect in Christ Jesus A Minister should with watchful Diligence take all Opportunities for the saving of precious Souls and sometimes one short Lesson seriously applied to a Person in private more powerfully affects the Conscience and moves the Affections than a long and well studied Sermon 4. The Servants of Christ must with Resolution and Constancy despise the Allurements and the Terrors of the World in performing the Duties of their Office The Apostle declares his fixed Mind I count not my Life dear to me so that I may finish my Course with Joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus Tho amongst the pikes of a thousand Dangers he was never faint-hearted much less false-hearted in the Cause of Christ. The two principal parts of the Minister's Duty are to preserve the Truths of the Gospel inviolate and to open and enforce the Commands of it in their spiritual Purity and Extent They are stiled the Lights of the World and the Salt of the Earth All the Truths of the Gospel are of precious value but not of equal clearness and moment And Christian Charity should moderate between Dissenters in smaller Matters who agree in the main Points of Religion But those Truths of the Gospel that are primary and radical and those that by necessary Consequence are deduc'd from them require our most vigilant Care and Zeal to preserve them entire and untainted 'T is a universal Duty respecting Christians to search out the Truth as 't is in Jesus to understand the Reasons of the Religion they profess and to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints But the Ministers of Christ who by virtue of their Office are Depositaries of the Truth are chiefly obliged to assert and defend it Especially when there are many Snares spread abroad to entangle ignorant and unstable Souls with dangerous Errors Our Saviour has set us a pattern of our Duty who declared For this end was I born and came into the World to bear witness to the Truth They are false to the sacred Trust reposed in them when by Silence the Truth is in danger of being opprest 'T is their Duty and Glory to be valiant for the Truth when false Doctrines boldly oppose it and poyson'd Arrows are shot into the Eyes of Men by erroneous Teachers 'T is said of John the Baptist He was not the Light but as next in Dignity he came to bear witness of the Light But if they withdraw their Testimony when the Truth challenges it they will be covered with Confusion at the last Day according to that fearful Threatning Whosoever denies me before Men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven The ignorance of Saving-Truths will not excuse the People and Silence will condemn their Guides who should illustrate and defend the Truth even in the Face of Danger Besides they are guilty of Unfaithfulness to Christ who by colourable temperaments adulterate the Purity of the Truth and by milder modifications qualify and lessen Errors who would joyn the Word of God with the Traditions of Men which are incompatible as Mid-night and Mid-day None are more artificial than fearful Spirits They have many Turns and Expedients to compound necessary Controversies and to make it seem indifferent which Opinion is chosen They transform their fearful Apprehensions into Counsels of Prudence and disguise the baseness of their Cowardise under the Reputation of being Discreet The wisest of Men who understood the incomparable value of Truth advises Buy the Truth and sell it not And we are told by St. James The Wisdom that is from above is first pure and then peaceable But the Worldly-wise with Art and Industry endeavour to secure their outward Peace with the violation of Truth How contrary is the Judgment of God to the vain Opinions of Men He is jealous of the Simplicity of his Truth and the Chastity of his Worship and will at last convince such of their extream Folly who would reconcile Religions that can never flow into one another 'T is therefore an indispensable Obligation of the Servants of Christ to adhere to the eternal Truth in Scriptures tho vilified by some as an insufficient Rule or impertinent and not absolutely necessary And to preserve the pure Doctrine and transmit it to succeeding Ages And this divine Encouragement should sustain them with unfainting Resolution to do their Duty that if they cannot save the Truth from being over-born at present yet the Truth will save them and that it will pierce through all Opposition and be victorious in the Issue The Church of Christ is of a supernatural Original and Order and contrary to the custom of Human Things is enlarg'd and establish'd by the means used to destroy it When the Heathen Powers with the utmost Rage and Cruelty attempted its final Ruine it prosper'd the more The patient Deaths of the Martyrs as well as conspicuous Miracles gave credit and conveyance to the Gospel And the Ministers of Christ must with Faithfulness and Courage enforce the Commands of the Gospel upon all Carnal Men would fain relax the strictness of the Gospel and endeavour to make their Principles correspondent to their Practices They try to bend the Rule to their disordered and licentious Appetites and will not regulate their Hearts and Lives according to the Sanctity of the Rule And those who are high in the World very uneasily bear the Conviction and Reproof of their Sin But a Minister must be faithful to Christ and their Souls and press upon them the Commands of our Judg to pluck out the right Eye and cut off the right Hand upon the heavy Penalty of being made entire Victims to revenging Justice for ever 5. They must with a prudent temperament of Zeal and Meekness insinuate
Esteem and Affections of Men unless they are prodigiously degenerate and corrupted by their Lusts. The Heathens were convinc'd that Honour is the extrinsick Tribute always due to Vertue and some were so strict and had such Divine Thoughts as to maintain that Vertue is the only true Nobility 'T is foretold in Scripture The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance They leave an honourable Evidence of their Graces and Vertues in their Works and are of precious memory when the Name of the Wicked shall rot But the Reward our Saviour promises is the Honour that comes from God only And as his Majesty infinitely transcends all Earthly Principalities so in proportion the Honour that he confers upon his Servants is above all the Titles of Honour all the swelling Praises of Men. This Reward is given in the next World Here the Servants of Christ are sometimes darkened with many Afflictions and buried in sad Obscurity before they are dead They are the Objects of Scorn and Contempt St. Paul who was an incarnate Seraphim whose Zeal in the Service of his Divine Master exceeded all the Apostles yet was as he declares vilified as the off-scouring of the World Now such is the excellent Goodness of God that he will certainly in the next Life reward with the highest Honour all who have advanced his Honour The Honour and Glory of the future state is concealed at present 't is wrapt up in a Cloud only some glimmerings of it glance upon our Eyes Light is sowed for the Righteous the plenary Revelation is hereafter 'T is true the Apostle tells us that Life and Immortality are brought to Light through the Gospel But that is only to be understood of a Comparative Revelation to what was under the Law 'T is brought to the Light of Faith which is like to Break of Day when the Shadows of the Earth and the Light of Heaven are mixt There is a Veil between us and the Glory of Heaven partly to try our Faith whether we will believe the Promise of God without sensible Discoveries of it and to try the sincerity of our Love whether we love God for Himself without the distinct unfolding of that excellent Glory and to comply with the weakness whilst we are in such temper'd Tabernacles of Flesh. If the Beams of his Glory were display'd before our Eyes we should be struck with blindness as Saul was at the brightness of Christ's appearing to him The Flood of Light would swallow us up in Extasy and Amazement Our faint Faculties cannot sustain his Glorious Presence As God told Moses No Man can see my Face and live St. John tells Believers Now we are the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be Now our Names are written in the Book of Life in the Rolls of Eternity now we are Adopted into the Line of Heaven now we are cloathed with the Righteousness of Christ the Royal Purple Robe dyed in his Blood we have the Priviledges of the justified State we have a Right to the Eternal Kingdom by our Saviour's Purchase and the firm Covenant of Grace we have the Holy Spirit of Promise who is the earnest of our Inheritance and the Seal of God's Love to us But the full partaking of that Glory is reserved till we leave this visible World I will briefly glance at the several Degrees of the Reward that shall be conferred upon all whom the King of Glory delights to honour in the next World 1. The Scripture reveals that the Souls of just Men first come to the perfection of Glory If Adam had continued in his holy State after a short Immortality upon Earth he had been translated Alive and entire in Soul and Body to Heaven The everlasting Doors had been opened wide for his Reception But since our Disobedience tho our Guilt be pardoned the Gate is so strait that the gross Spoils of our Flesh must be left behind us Now immediately upon the dissolution of the Saints God sends a Guard of Angels his most noble Creatures to convoy their Souls into the Courts of his Honour into the Chamber of his glorious Presence Divine Dignity This is the priviledg of his chosen Friends and Favourites of the most illustrious and blessed Creatures In Heaven the Divine Majesty is seen in its Glory And if one Ray of it reflecting upon Suffering Stephen adorn'd him with Angelical Glory how much more will the Face of God most radiant and resplendent transform the Soul into an admirable Similitude of his Perfections When we shall see him as he is we shall be like him by his everliving Spirit the principle of the Divine Life and Beauty in the Soul as the Soul is of the natural Life and Beauty in the Body There will remain no shadow of Error in the Mind no mixture of Evil in the Will no Pollution in the Affections but the full Likeness of God in Holiness and Joy This is the highest Honour an immortal Spirit is capable of The State of Innocence wherein Man was created is call'd a State of Honour The Angels are dignified with the Title of Saints And God is glorious in Holiness It follows therefore when the Spirits of just Men are made perfect they partake of the Heavenly and Divine Honour If the Joy that springs from believing whilst we are in this Vale of Tears be unspeakable and full of Glory how glorious is the Joy that springs from the clearest Sight and the most intimate Fruition of the blessed God the Joy that is without defect or end as the Psalmist expresses In thy Presence is fulness of Joy at thy right Hand are Pleasures for evermore 2. At the last day their Bodies shall be raised and refined to a Spiritual Excellency and transformed into the Likeness of Christ's glorious Body The Apostle declares That the Consummation of the Saints Glory shall be at Christ's Appearance Then their Souls shall be reinvested with shining Robes of Immortality They shall be placed at the right Hand of the everlasting King which implies the highest Honour as God's being at our right Hand implies Protection and Defence They shall then receive a most glorious Testimony of his Acceptance Well done good and faithful Servants enter into your Master's Joy After they are approved they shall sit upon Thrones and judg the the World even the Prince of Darkness with all his Apostate Trains they shall give their solemn Suffrages to the Judgment pronounced by our Saviour saying Hallelujah Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power unto the Lord our God for true and righteous are his Judgments And after the last Act of his Regal Office our Saviour will lead them into the Kingdom of his Glory to reign with him for ever and ever Who is able to unfold this excellent Glory all Humane Words are unworthy and too narrow to express it only the lively and ravishing Experience of that Glory can fully reveal it to us The meanest Saint in that Kingdom