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A45687 A sermon on the decease of Mr. Hanserd Knollis, minister of the Gospel Preached at Pinners-Hall, Octob. 4. 1691. By Tho. Harrison. Harrison, Thomas, fl. 1700. 1694 (1694) Wing H911; ESTC R221275 16,595 74

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Predicate do not live for ever There is a threefold life whereof we read in the holy Scripture viz. A Temporal life or a life of nature a Spiritual life or a life of Grace and an Eternal life or a life of Glory In the two latter sences the faithful Prophets of God shall live for ever The life of grace which they are partakers of here shall never be destroyed but will terminate in a Life of Glory and that Life of Glory which the Saints shall live above will be of an everlasting duration But the Spirit of God in the words of my text speaks of a Temporal Life or a Life of nature to which a Period must be put In this sence the Prophets do not live for ever From the words thus explained I shall present you with the following observation Doct. That they who minister about holy things are not exempted from a Temporal Death Or That ministers are liable to and must undergo a Temporal Death The Prophets do they live for ever If they do not live for ever they must certainly die I need not Insist long upon the Proof of such an undeniable Proposition Have not all God's Ministers who lived in Preceeding ages fallen by the stroke of Death Is not Moses gone to the House appointed for all living who is stiled the Prophet by way of eminence Hosea 12.13 Who was the Prince of the old Testament Prophets an eminent type of the Great Apostle of our Profession with Respect to his Prophetical Office as appears from Deut. 18.18 Compared with Act. 3.22 What is become of that famous Prophet who came in the spirit and Power of Elias who was the Morning Star that ushered the Sun of Righteousness into this World did not he set in a Gloomy night of Death Where are the Apostles of our Lord those Heraulds that first Proclaimed the glad tidings of Peace to the Rebellious world are not they gone down to the dark and silent grave Do not we frequently see the King of terrours hewing down those who are Pillars in Jehovah's Temple with his fatal Ax. In the farther Prosecution of this Point I shall proceed in the ensuing method 1. To shew you more particularly what that Death is which they who Minister about holy things are liable to and must certainly undergo 2. To assign some general Reasons why they must die as well as other men 3. To assign some particular and special Reasons of their death 4. To give you some Account of the time when God usually calls them out of this world 5. To make some Improvement and Application of the whole 1. I shall shew you more particularly what that Death is which they who Minister about holy things are liable to and must undergo 1. Negatively Neither they nor any of the Children of men are liable to or shall undergo a natural death of the Soul Though the Souls of wicked men are subject to a Moral Death which Consists in a Privation of felicity and blessedness yet they are not subject to a Physical Death which Consists in a Privation of Existence or Life when men die their Souls depart from their Bodies they do not die or sleep with their Bodies When their Bodies return to the Earth from whence they came Their Souls return to that God as a Judge from whom they came forth as a Creatour Otherwise it would be in the Power of man to kill the soul as well as the Body which our Saviour denies Math. 10.28 Fear not them which can kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul Death's fatal dart cannot pierce this Immortal Being Death may break the Cabinets but cannot touch that rich Jewel which is Inclosed therein It dissolves that earthly Tabernacle wherein the Soul resides but cannot destroy it 's noble Inhabitant The Soul is a spiritual Immaterial and therefore an Immortal Everliving substance If the Soul sleeps with the Body I know not how our Lord's Promise to the Penitent theif This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luk. 23.43 could be accomplish't nor what Reason can be assign'd for the Apostle Paul's desire speedily to depart out of the world Phil. 1.23 I might produce many Arguments to establish this assertion But I cannot enter upon a large discussion of this controversy at this time 2. Affirmatively There is a two fold death which they who Minister about holy things are liable to and must undergo as well as other men viz. A death of the man and a death of the Body 1. A death of the man Which Consists in a separation of the Soul from the Body As the union of the Soul with the Body is the Life of the man So the separation of the Soul from the Body is the death of the man When the Soul is Joyned to the Body we begin to live when it is divorced from the Body then we die Death's fatal stroke breaks in sunder the Ligament wherewith the Soul and Body are tyed together and Rends these Intimate Companions from each others Embraces 2. A death of the Body This is inseparable from a death of the man The Soul is the Principle of the Bodies Life and Motion while it continues in it and therefore when it takes it's flight from it it ceases to be a living Creature and becomes a lifeless lump of clay This death of the Body consists in a Cessation of the Circulation of the Blood and Spirits which are the Animal Soul of man Thereby the Body is deprived of it's strength and vigour of it's Motion and Activity and of it's comeliness and Beauty Death makes a great alteration in this Curious structure It tyes the most voluble tongue fetters the most active and nimble hands and feet It introduces paleness into the most ruddy face and dimness into the most sparkling eyes 2dly I Proceed to assign some general Reasons why Ministers must die as well as other men In general because it is appointed for all men once to die Heb. 9.27 This is a statute Law of Heaven which never was never will be repealed but shall be fully executed The Law is universal and therefore none can plead an exemption from the execution of it They who give Laws to men are subject to this Appointment of God No Priveledges either Temporal or spiritual can give the Children of men a Protection from death's arrest If it be objected that some have past by not through the Gates of death for Enoch was Translated and Elias mounted up to Heaven in a fiery Chariot and they who remain alive upon Earth at the coming of the Lord from Heaven shall not sleep but be changed It may be replyed that some Particular exceptions do not destroy a general Rule besides the foremention'd Persons either did or shall undergo a change equivalent to a Death But more Particularly Ministers must die as well as others 1. Because they as well as others descended from the first Adam by whose transgression death was entailed upon all
wherewith God had entrusted him yea when his flesh and his heart seemed to fail when his flesh was so weak that he could hardly bear to stand in a Pulpit and his Voice so low that he could scarcely be heard his affestions were so much engaged in his work that he was very unwilling to leave it 5. His couragious and chearful suffering for his Masters and the Gospels sake He chearfully went about suffering as well as preaching work He was not unwilling to take up his cross and follow his Lord and Master in the Thorny Road of Tribulation In these things let us imitate and follow the Example of this holy man who I question not is gone to the Assembly of the first born to that glorious Company of Prophets who having finished their work on Earth are wearing their Crowns in Heaven 6. When Ministers are taken away beg of God to raise up others in their stead When God calls any Labourers out of his Vineyard earnestly cry to the Lord of the Harvest that he would thrust out more Labourers into it That there may be a succession of Ministers who may rightly divide the Word and faithfully break the Bread of Life to you and to your Posterity when your places shall know you no more Thirdly By way of Consolation to the Saints First With respect to their own Death It may be you are ready to go all your life-time in Bondage for fear of Death the thoughts of your Dissolution are troublesome to you but consider that you go the same way that the most Eminent Servants of God who have been and are in the highest Place and Office in the Church either have gone or must go You are going to the Glorious Society of God's Prophets who are made Perfect in Holiness and in Happiness Death will Translate you from the Militant Church upon Earth to the Church Triumphant in Heaven Secondly With respect to the Death of your Ministers It is an Affliction but yet it admits of Consolation and that upon these three following Accounts First Tho it be your Loss yet it is their gain For me to live is Christ and to die is gain says great Minister of the Uncircumcision 1 Phil. 21. They are only gone to exchange mortality for a glorious Immortality a heavy Cross for a ponderous and never fading Crown a Pulpit wherein they Laboured for Christ for a Triumphant Throne whereon they shall Eternally Reign with him Could they who are Rejoycing above speak to you who are Mourning below they would say to you as our Lord did unto the Women who followed him to the Cross Luke 23.28 Weep not for me but for your selves Weep not for us who are come to our Journeys end but weep for your selves who are still Travelling thro' a waft and howling Wilderness Weep not for us who rest from our Labours but weep for your selves who are still Labouring and Toyling Weep not for us who are safely Arrived at the Haven of Rest and the Port of Blessedness but weep for your selves who are tost to and fro upon a Tempestuous Sea Weep not for us who stand upon a Mount of Triumph and have obtained a Compleat Victory over All Our Enemies but weep for your selves who are still in a Field of War Wrestling not only with Flesh and Blood but with Principalities and Powers Secondly God can supply their Places and make up your Loss by Raising up others When Moses Dyed the Lord sent Joshuah to Lead Israel into the Land of Canaan Is Elijah gone to Heaven The Residue of the Spirit is with God and he can cause a Double Portion of it to rest upon Elisha When God hath Work to do he will never want Instruments He can perfect Praise out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings and make even a persecuting Saul to become a preaching Paul Thirdly E're long you shall meet them never more to be separated from them 'T will be but a few Days e're you shall enjoy their Society in a more Glorious Place than this Oh! What Greetings will there be between you and your Faithful Ministers when you are entered into the Joy of your Lord Then shall you who Worshipped God together with them upon Earth Joyn with them in a Triumphant Song of Praise to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore in Heaven Ye shall then see the Great Prophet our Lord Jesus Christ sitting upon a Majestick Throne and all the other Prophets like so many bright Stars compassing about this Son of Righteousness for ever and ever AN HYMN Composed and sung on the same Occasion ALL Adam's Children once must die Deaths fatal stroke will sever Their bodies from their souls surely Prophets don't live for ever These bright illustrious Stars must fall into a bed of dust God will his Messengers re-call tho Prophets die they must Then shall they enter into Rest who here have labour'd hard They must die that they way be blest with a prophets reward Our sins do oft times God provoke to take these Lights away When prophets do fall by deaths stroke expect a gloomy day Oh Lord us unto Canaan bring that with thy prophets we May Joyful hallelujahs sing unto Eternity FINIS ERRATA PAge 9 line 12 dele and p. 33 l. 21 r. the p. 40 l. 13. f. stopt r. stop l. 15 f. slights r. slight Several small mistakes the reader is desired to correct with his Pen.