incapacity to perform them he cannot obey nor enjoy God Now the renewing of Man is called a Regeneration Our Saviour tells Nicodemus Verily I say unto you Vnless a Man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The reason of the Expression is because there is a new Nature spiritual holy and heavenly communicated different from the carnal polluted and earthly Nature derived from the first Adam And as the Relation of a Father results from the communicating a vital active Principle to another in that kind of Life like his own so God by making us Partakers of a Divine Nature of his Life and Image is stiled our Father Of his own Will beg at he us with the Word of Truth And we are said to be born again not of corruptible Seed but incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever By the Divine Influence the Word of God implants in them such Qualities and Dispositions whereby they resemble God are holy as he is holy in all manner of Conversation They are called godly as they are like him in their Minds Affections and Actions And to such God has the Heart and Eye of a Father to regard and relieve them in all their Exigencies Like as a Father pities his Children so the Lord pities them that serve him We are also the Children of God by Adoption This heavenly Privilege is obtained for us by the meritorious Sufferings of Christ and is founded in our Union with him God sent his Son that he might redeem them that were under the Law that they might receive the Adoption of Sons For his sake we are not only pardoned but preferr'd to this Heavenly Dignity 'T is worthy of Observation that the Degrees of our Redemption mentioned in Scripture have annex'd to them parallel degrees of our Adoption Thus when 't is said We are redeemed from the Curse of the Law 't is added That we might receive the Adoption of Sons When 't is said We are freed from the servile Spirit of the Law it follows We have received the Spirit of Adoption whereby we cry Abba Father And the Apostle tells us That the redemption of our Bodies from the bondage of Corruption into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God is our Adoption that is the manifestation of it before all the World Our Adoption is founded in our Union with Christ. A Member of Christ and a Son of God are the same 'T is therefore said As many as received him to them gave he Power or Privilege to become the Sons of God even to them that believe on his Name And ye are all the Sons of God by Faith in Jesus Christ. This is the vital Band of our Union with Christ and invests us with his Relation to God When he was to leave the World he sends this comfortable Message to his Disciples Go tell my Brethren I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God His Relation has the precedence in Order Dignity and Causality He is God's own Son in a sense infinitely high and proper to himself To which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son to day have I begotten thee The sublimest Prophet breaks forth with Wonder Who shall declare his Generation 'T is above our Capacity and Conception It becomes us to acquiesce in what the Scripture reveals He is the eternal Word and Wisdom of God the Brightness of his Father's Glory This is the most fit Comparison for as Light is productive of Light without any diminution so the Eternal Father communicated his Essence to the Son In short God is Christ's Father by Nature and God by Dispensation he is our God as the Author of Nature and our Father by Adoption Before I proceed it is fit to observe the Excellence of the Evangelical Adoption above the Civil Adoption among Men. 1. Adoption is a legal Act in imitation of Nature for the Comfort of those who are without Children But God had a Son the Heir of his Love and Glory His adopting Love is heightned by considering our Meanness and Vileness we are but a little breathing Dust worthless Rebels The Apostle cries out in a rapture of Admiration and Joy Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God! If we consider the natural Distance between God and us as he is the Creator and we are the Works of his Hands 't is truly infinite but the moral Distance between the holy righteous God and the guilty polluted Creature is if it were possible more than infinite Love inconceivable That releases us from Bondage and adopts us into the Line of Heaven If we admire any thing of this World in comparison of it 't is a sign we have no share in this Privilege 2. Civil Adoption conveys no Praise-worthy Qualities into the Person that is adopted A King may adopt one to be his Son and the Heir of his Kingdom but cannot endow him with a Royalty of Spirit with ruling Wisdom with Justice and Equity Clemency and Bounty with Magnanimity and Fortitude that may qualify him to manage the Scepter The adopted Prince may be of a low sordid Disposition a Slave to his vile Lusts and designing to enslave others But all the adopted Sons of God are divinely renewed they are purified from defiling debasing Lusts and are adorn'd with all the Graces of the Spirit that God is not ashamed to be called their God and Father nor Christ ashamed to call them Brethren Now from this special Relation and Interest of God in the Saints there is a sure Foundation of their Trust in his saving Mercy David addresses himself to God for his preservation from imminent Danger I am thine save me As if his miscarrying would be a Loss to God who had so dear a Propriety in him I come now to the second thing that encourages the praying Faith of the Saints when they leave the World to commend their Souls to him His Perfections joined with his Relation His Love inclines his Truth engages and his Power enables him to bring them safely to Heaven 1. His Love This is the brightest Ray of the Deity the first and clearest Notion we have of God St. John tells us God is Love His Love cannot be fully express'd by the dearest Relations and Affections in Nature The Relation of Parents as 't is most deeply implanted in Nature so it implies the most cordial strong and tender Affection But as God is infinitely greater and better than earthly Parents so he equally excels them as in his Abilities so in his good Will to his Children Our Saviour directs us Call no Man Father upon Earth for one is your Father which is in Heaven The Title and Love of a Father is peculiar to him Our Saviour argues If you that are evil know how to give good
A Funeral-Sermon FOR THE Reverend Holy and Excellent DIVINE Mr. Richard Baxter Who deceased Decemb. 8. 1691. WITH An Account of His LIFE By WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed for Brab Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1692. To the Right Worshipfull and his much Honoured Friend Sr Henry Ashurst Baronet SIR YOur Noble and Constant Kindness to Mr. Baxter Living and your Honourable Respect to him Dead have induced me to inscribe the following Memorial of him to your Name He was most worthy of your highest Esteem and Love for the first Impressions of Heaven upon your Soul were in Reading his unvalued Book of the Saints Everlasting Rest. This kindled a mutual Affection in your Breasts his Love was Directing Counselling and Exciting you to secure your Future Happiness your Love was Observant Gratefull and Beneficent to him The Sincerity and Generosity of your Friendship was very evident in your appearing and standing by him when he was so roughly and unrighteously handled by one who was the dishonour of this Ages Law whose Deportment in a high place of Judicature was so contrary to Wisdom Humanity and Justice that there need no foul words to make his Name odious Of this and your other Favours Mr. Baxter retain'd a dear and lasting Sense and in his dying hours declared that you had been the best friend he ever had He has finished his Course and received his Crown His Name will shine longer than his Enemies shall bark I cannot omit the mentioning that Mr. Boyle and Mr. Baxter those incomparable Persons in their several Studies and dear Friends died within a short space of one another Mr. Boyle was engaged in the Contemplation of the Design and Architecture of the visible World and made rare discoveries in the system of Nature not for Curiosity and barren Speculation but to admire and adore the Perfections of the Deity in the Variety Order Beauty and marvellous Artifice of the Creatures that compose this great Universe Mr. Baxter was conversant in the invisible World his Mind was constantly applied to understand the harmonious Agreement of the Divine Attributes in the Oeconomy of our Salvation and to restore Men to the Favour and Image of God They are now admitted into the inlightned and purified Society above where the immense Volumes of the Divine Wisdom are laid open and by one glance of an eye they discover more perfectly the Causes Effects and Concatenation of all things in Heaven and Earth than the most diligent Inquirers can do here in a thousand years Study though they had the Sagacity of Solomon By the Light of Glory they see the face of God and are satisfied with his likeness for ever 'T is a high honour to you that Mr. Boyle and Mr. Baxter should by their Last Will nominate you amongst their Executors It was the Saying of a Wise Roman Malo divi Augusti judicium quam beneficium I had rather have the Esteem of the Emperour Augustus than his Gifts for he was an understanding Prince and his Esteem was very Honourable to a Person That two who so excell'd in Wisdom and Goodness should commit to your Trust the disposal of their Estates for the Uses of Piety and Charity is a more noble Testimony of their Esteem of your Prudence and inviolable Integrity than if they had bequeathed to you rich Legacies It is a satisfaction to me that I have complied with Mr. Baxter's desire in Preaching his Funeral-Sermon and with yours in Publishing it I shall unfeignedly recommend Your self your excellent Lady and vertuous Children to the Divine Mercies and remain with great Respect SIR Your humble and faithfull Servant William Bates A SERMON On the DEATH of Mr. Richard Baxter Luke 23.46 And when Jesus had cried with a loud Voice he said Father into thy Hands I commend my Spirit THE Words are the Prayer of our Blessed Saviour in the Extremity of his Passion His unrighteous and implacable Enemies had nail'd his Body to the Cross but they had no power over his Spirit that was ready to take its flight to the Sanctuary of Life and Immortality This dying Prayer of Christ is a Pattern for sincere Christians He has invested them with the Relation of Children of God and authorises them by his Example to commend their departing Spirits to his powerful Love The Observation I shall unfold and apply is this 'T is the Priviledg of dying Saints to commend their Spirits into the Hands of their Heavenly Father In discoursing of this I shall I. Consider the Foundation of this Priviledg II. Shew what a blessed Priviledg this is III. Apply it I. The Foundation of this Priviledg is to be consider'd This is built upon two things 1. The Relation of God to the Saints 2. His Perfections joined with that Relation 1. The Relation of God to the Saints The Title of Father is upon several Accounts attributed to God 1. He is a Father by Creation O Lord thou art our Father we are the Clay thou art the Potter we are the Work of thine Hands He formed Man's Body into a Majestick Figure becoming his original State being Lord of the lower World But in a peculiar manner he is stiled the Father of Spirits they have a near Alliance and Resemblance of the Father of Lights in their intellectual Powers and their immortal Nature From hence it is the Angels are called the Sons of God They are the eldest Off-spring of his Power Adam has the Title of the Son of God And since the Fall Men are called God's Offspring There is an indelible Character of Dignity engraven in the reasonable Nature by the Hand of God But since Man turn'd Rebel to his Creator and Father this endearing obliging Relation aggravates his Rebellion but gives him no Interest in the Paternal Love of God of which he has made a deadly Forfeiture 'T is threatned against ignorant perverse Sinners He that made them will not save them 2. Upon the account of external Calling and Profession there is an intercurrent Relation of Father and Sons between God and his People Thus the Posterity of Seth are called the Sons of God and the entire Nation of the Jews are so stiled When Israel was young I called my Son out of Egypt And all that have received Baptism the Seal of the holy Covenant and profess Christianity in this general Sense may be called the Children of God But 't is not the outward Dedication that entitles Men to a saving Interest in God unless they live according to that Dedication There are baptized Infidels as well as unbaptized How many every day fall as deep as Hell whose hopes were high on the account of their external Christianity 3. God is our Father upon a more excellent Account by Renovation and Adoption The natural Man is what St. Paul saith of the voluptuous Widow dead while he lives There is not only a cessation of spiritual Acts but an utter
same Almighty Power be carried through the Dominions of Satan in the sight of their Enemies tormented with the remembrance of their lost Happiness and Envy that humane Souls should partake of it to the Place of God's glorious Residence I shall also observe that as the Lord is a God of Power so he is a God of Order and uses subordinate Means for the accomplishment of his Will Our Saviour has reveal'd that the Angels transport the separate Souls of the Righteous to Heaven Those glorious Spirits who always behold the Face of God such is their exact Obedience to him and perfect Love to his Children that they disdain not to protect his little ones in this open State They rejoice at the Conversion of Sinners at their first entrance into the Way of Life and with tender watchfulness encompass them here never withdrawing their protecting Presence till they bring them to their celestial Country and resign their Charge to the Lord of Life How safe are the departed Saints when convey'd through Satan's Territories by the Royal Guard of Angels that excel in strength 2. Heavenly Felicity The receiving of holy Souls into God's Hands is introductive into his Presence which is both a Sanctuary to secure us from all Evil and a Store-house to furnish us with all that is good The Lord is a Sun and a Shield he is to intellectual Beings what the Sun is to sensitive communicates Light and Life and Joy to them In his Presence is fulness of Joy at his right Hand are Rivers of Pleasure for ever All that is evil and afflicting is abolish'd all that is desirable is conferr'd upon his Children A glimpse or reflected Ray of his reconciled and favourable Countenance even in this lower World infuses into the Hearts of his Children a Joy unspeakable and glorious a taste of the Divine Goodness here causes a disrelish of all the carnal Sweets the dreggy Delights which natural Men so greedily desire And if the faint Dawn be so reviving and comfortable what is the Brightness of the full Day None can understand the Happiness that results from the full and eternal sight of God's Face and the fruition of his Love but those who enjoy the Presence of God in perfection His Goodness is truly infinite the more the Saints above know it and enjoy it the more they esteem it and delight in it His compleat and communicative Love satisfies the immense Desires of that innumerable Company of blessed Spirits that are before his Throne there is no Envy no Avarice no Ambition in that Kingdom where God is all in all The Divine Presence is an ever-flowing Fountain of Felicity The continual reflection upon this makes Heaven to be Heaven to the Blessed their Security is as valuable as their Felicity they are above all danger of losing it Methinks the belief of this should cause us as it were with Wings of Fire with most ardent Desires to fly to the Bosom of God the alone Centre of our Souls where we shall rest for ever 3. The reception of the Soul into Heaven is a certain Pledg of the Resurrection of the Body and its re-union with the Soul in the State of Glory The Covenant of God was made with the entire Persons of Believers therefore under the Law the sacred Seal of it was in their Flesh. To be the God of Promise to them implies his being a blessed Rewarder to them Our Saviour silences the Sadduces who disbeliev'd the Resurrection from the tenour of God's Covenant I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob which Title he was pleased to retain after their Death Now God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living The immediate Inference from thence is that their Souls did actually live in Blessedness and that their Bodies tho dead to Nature were alive to God with respect to his Promise and Power If we consider that the Divine Law binds the outward Man as well as the inward and that during the time of our Work and Trial here our Service and Sufferings for the Glory of God are from the concurrence of the Soul and Body it will appear that the Promise of the Reward belongs to both and that the receiving of the Soul into Heaven is an earnest of our full Redemption even that of the Body 'T is true there is no visible Difference between the Bodies of the Saints and of the Wicked here they are sick with the same Diseases and die in the same manner As 't is with Trees in deep Winter when they are covered with Snow we cannot distinguish which are absolutely dead and destin'd to the Ax and Fire and which retain their Sap and will be fruitful and flourishing in the returning Year so the dead Bodies of the Godly and Ungodly to external appearance are alike But what a vast difference will be between them in the next World The Bodies of the Ungodly in conjunction with their Souls shall be cast into the Lake of Fire the Bodies of the Godly resumed by their Souls shall enjoy a full and flourishing Happiness for ever The Application 1. This may inform us of the contrary States into which dying Persons immediately pass The Children of God resign their Spirits to the Hands of their gracious Heavenly Father but Rebels and Strangers to God fall into the Hands of a revenging Judg. Could we see the attending Spirits that surround sick Persons in their last Hours what a wonderful Impression would it make upon us A Guard of glorious Angels convey the departed Saints to the Bosom of God's Love and the Kingdom of his Glory But when the Wicked die a Legion of Furies sieze upon their expected Prey and hurry them to the infernal Prison from whence there is no redemption How many Rebels and open Enemies to God are in the Pale of the Christian Church They will loudly repeat Our Father which art in Heaven notwithstanding the impudent and palpable Atheism of their Lives they live as if they were independent and not accountable to him who will judg the World without respect of Persons The more strict his Commands are the Contempt of them is more visible Our Saviour's Prohibition is peremptory I say unto you Swear not at all but how many make no more conscience of Swearing than they do of Speaking and pour forth Oaths of all fashions and sizes We are severely forbid all degrees of Impurity in the Look in Words or in Wish yet how many without reflection or remorse continue in the deepest Pollutions We are commanded to live soberly in this present World yet how many indulge their swinish Appetites and debase themselves even below the Beasts that perish And as the sensual Appetites are notoriously predominant in some so the angry Appetite is tyrannous in others Pride Wrath Revenge possess the Breasts of many How often for a slight or but reputed Injury they are so fir'd with Passion that their hot Blood cannot be satisfied without