THE RIGHTEOVS MANS HOPE IN HIS DEATH IN A SERMON AT THE Funerall of Mr WILLIAM CONYE of Walpoole Justice of Peace and Captain over the Trained Band in Marshland PREACHED By JOHN HORNE Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ at Soushlyn in Norfolke 2 do May 1648. 2 SAMUEL 14.14 For we must needs die and are as water spilt on the ground which cannot be gathered up again neither doth God respect any person yet doth he devise means that his banished be not expelled from him ISAIAH 57.1 2. The righteous is taken away from the evil to come He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightnesse Cum constet deresurrectione mortuorum vacat dolor mortis vacat impatientia doloris Tertul. de Patientia Quinto major fides tanto morsest imbecillior Luth. LONDON Printed for Tho. Vnderhill 1649. To the Author of the Sermon IN Achor's vale Thou op'st a Door of Hope The Heart enlarg'd may well behold Thy scope The strong Devourer is by Thee made sweet We see the Eater is become mans meat The Faithfull die their fear of death is past In hope they live These dead thou lead'st to rest J.A. On the death of William Conye Esq Justice of the Peace and Captain at Wars Who being dead yet speaketh Heb. 11.4 OH living man would'st by death gain Learn Christ who did thy death sustain That so when Death Thy Life shall end Thou maist in Life with Christ Ascend Thy losse of friends becomes thy gain When God thy friend thou do'st obtain Then Pattern-like Be taught of me Let Christ thy life yet living be By sin came death yet liveth he Who conquer'd death to succour thee J.A. Or Thus. The Bush on fire is still preserv'd Mans life in death is yet conserv'd The Angels food Mans bread Christ is This Captain slew our death by his His bonds makes free his death brings life Our shame through Christ works glory rife Christ's Grace gains Faith Man hopes glory Sure 's God 's word myst'ry and stlory Vain man I Why fearest death in vain Christ is risen Beleeve and reign J.A. The CONTENTS Doctrines 1. That Righteous men die 1. The leverall kindes of death 1. Eternall which is a perishing from the presence of the Lord The second death 2. Spirituall Dead in sins strangers from the life of God Taken in an ill sease Dead to the Law to a mans self Thus taken in a good sense 3. Temporall see sin Inchoate In deaths often The shadow of death Censummate An utter sepatation of the soul from the body 2. The reasons of the Righteous mans dying 1 From the frail and mortall nature about them 2 From Satan and this world haters of them 3. From sin that cleaves so fall to them 4. From the Ordinance of God upon them That all men must die 5. For right ends to them 1. To humble the righteous by death 2. To make them seek salvation out of death through Christ 3. That the glory of Christ in raising them out of death may appear 4. That death may put an end to all their evils 5. That dying the righteous may enter into life and glory 2. That the Righteous hath hope in his death And therein consider 1. The difference of the Righteous mans hope from other mens hopelesse of life or senselesse of death 2. Who is the Righteous man 3. Divers sorts of Righteousnesse 1. Of a mans own and of works Morall Legall 2. Of God Of saith 4. Gods goodnesse done for man and his truth said to man cals for mans trust and hope towards God 5. What is this hope of a Righteous man 1. The severall objects of his hope Christ And other things through Christ 2. The grounds of his hope 1. Christs sufferings for man the ground of mans righteousnesse with God 2. Christs resurrection out of death the ground of mans hope of life 3. The efficacy of his hope the Righteous mans hope dies not It lives in his death 6. The blessed memory of this deceased Righteous man and of his hope in his death Application 1. The Righteousnesse of God is to be taken notice of and not to be slighted 2. All men ought to fellow this righteousnesse of God and not faint for sufferings 3. These followers are to go on in the way of righteousnesse The righteous not to die in their affections for death it self but to have hope in their death THE RIGHTEOVS MANS HOPE IN HIS DEATH The Text. PROV 14.32 The Righteous hath hope in his death NOt to spend time in unnecessary prefacing because we shall finde matter enough in the words to take up all this little time allotted us There are two Propositions couched in the Text to which I shall desire as briefly and yet as clearly as I may to speak viz. 1. That even Righteous men also are liable to death 2. That the Righteous have hope in their death The truth of the former of these is not only a matter of faith but is evident to sense also as the Scriptures tell us Heb 9.17 It 's appointed to man once to die So we see the wise and the foolish the righteous and the wicked both are subject thereto and in that regard all things come alike to all The most famous for righteousnesse have yielded unto death Abraham is â—â—nd and the Prophets are dead yea Christ himself yielded up the Ghost and died so that we shall not spend time about the proof of that point only I shall desire to unfold the severall acceptions of the word death and see in which of them this is found true that the righteous comes unto death and so see the latitude in which this Text may be taken and then shew whence and upon what grounds it comes to passe that the righteous also die and so proceed to the next particular The word death is diversly used in Scripture As We reade of a second death Rev. 20 6. 〈◊〉 Thes 17.8 9 Mâ—â—â— 25 4â— a perishing from the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power a being thrown into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his Angels But of this death the text is not to be understood for this is none of the righteous mans death it 's not appointed for him nor he for it nor shall he come into it nor is it a death in which any hope may be had this is indeed the righteous mans hope that he shall not see this death but be preserved and kept from it as it is said Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection for on such the second death shall have no power Rev. 20.6 And of this that saying of our Saviour is to be understood that he that beleeves in him shall not taste death Joh 8 52. 2. Death is sometimes taken for a more spirituall death or a death in the spirit of a man only not in the body as when men are said
while alive Eph. 4.18 and 2.1 to be dead in an evill sense void of the life of God dead in sins and trespasses but of this this place cannot be understood neither they that are so dead are not righteous men but as yet unrighteous and ungodly But 3. Death is sometime taken in a good sense for a spirituall death not in sin but to a mans self and sin as when the Apostle saies Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ yet I live c. Rom. 6.4 We are planted with him into the similitude of his death And 7.9 When the law came sin revived and I died That is When a man formerly alive to his wisdome parts priviledges righteousnesse after the Law c. comes to be taken off from all life in them confidence springing from them expectation of favour from God because of them findes no support comfort or encouragement from them sees them all to be nothing in the account of God and so looses and departs with them all in that regard to enjoy the full grace of God in Christ Unrighteous men oft times finde life in their own hands power and works endeavours parts c. but the man that doth righteousnesse dies to all that he may live to God and Christ may be his life And so he dies also to the world riches gloâ—â— pleasures treasures of it and whatsoever is therein so as not to love cleave to and have his life therein or suck his soul sweetnesse and satisfaction there-from It is crucified to him and he to it as Gal. 6.14 He is condemned and cast out by it and he again condemns and reproves it and findes no goodnesse or life in the customs approbation or excellencies of it So Paul saies of himself he died daily 1 Cor. 15. and saies to the Colossians chap. 3.3 Ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God And this death in these severall particulars the righteous man dieth to and in these dyings also he hath hope so that this acceptation of the word death we may understand to he included in this expression in the Text. 4. The word death signifies also dangers of death to the body heavy afflictions and distresses such as bring into eminent dangers of the dissolution of the body and soul each from other as when Paul said that God delivered him from so great a death 2 Cor. 8.9 and that he was in deaths often 2 Cor. 11.23 Fifthly and lastly It is used most ordinarily to signifie the death of the body the separation made between it and the soul the laying down of this earthly tabernacle so Christ was put to death in the flesh and Abraham and the Prophets died c. And in this and the next foregoing sense joined with it shall I here especially eye and speak to it It being a clear truth that the righteous come into many tribulations and deaths or dangers and at last also lay down their earthly tabernacles and die in the flesh 2 Cor. 5.1 and 4.12 Let us now view some reason of this why they are subjected to or how they come to yeeld up to such deaths The question is Quest. Why and whence it is that the righteous come into dangers and into death The answer is Answ That though they are in their conditions and spirits above death yet their bodies are subject thereto from sundry causes as If we look upon secundary causes It is because 1. They have the same frail natures and infirm constitutions as other men have they have and carry about them the seeds and principles of mortality righteousnesse leads to peace in them and to hopes under them but doth not keep death from them Yea 2. They have more cause then other men inasmuch as they have more enemies Satan stirring up instruments against them yea and if God permit working upon the principles of mortality in them more forceably and violently as in Job if by any means he might destroy them he stirs up the world to hate reproach and persecute them so that considering the worlds hating of them and plots against them it 's a greater wonder and more to be admired that they die no sooner then that they die at all that they meet not with many more deaths then that they meet with so many If we look upon the first and higher causes then we finde 1. Sinne in them as well as in others and that exposeth to death the body being corrupted with sin must die that it may be made new and incorrupt and that springs from an higher cause yet 2. The appointment of God It 's an ordinance of his making that mankinde should be subject to death It 's appointed to men once to die Heb. 9.27 And this ordinance includes and reaches to beleevers as well as others they being men also and God would have it so for divers good ends and purposes as to instance 1. That they might have something to humble them and keep them low in themselves while they are minded of their sin and sinfulnesse that let in death and experiment themselves in mortality frailty and weaknesse like other men and so are led also to see that they as well as any other have daily need of help from above that they need a Saviour out of death 2. That they seeing their own nothingnesse and need of a Saviour might be more earnestly stirred up to accept thankfully and diligently seek after and have recourse unto and exercise faith in the Saviour that God hath freely given to remedy and help them Deut. 32.29 Psal 9â— 11. for the consideration of their later end and the right numbering of their daies is a means to make them apply their hearts more heedfully to wisdom in minding the grace of God and comforting themselves therein against their straits and sufferings and breathing after the experiments of the power of God in supporting and bearing them up in deaths and in due season delivering them out of them Were we not subjected to death and misery in ourselves we should never so much prize and look out after salvation and help given us in another 3. That God in Christ might be the more abundantly glorified in supporting and carrying them through deaths and sufferings and raising them out of them for his strength is perfected in weaknesse and his power in infirmities 2 Cor. 12. as thereby it is most eminently put forth so therethrough also it 's most fully and clearly seen and known and being seen is most acknowledged as Christ said of Lazarus his death Joh. 1â— so we may say of the death of all his people it is that the son of man might be glorified for it 's greater glory to uphold in deaths and raise dry bones out of death then to preserve from it As the resurrection of the dead when mens bodies are wasted consumed and the reliques thereof scattered and dispersed doth more appose reason and seems more absurd to mans conception
be with his Lord Jesus which he longed for far above life even from the begining of his sicknesse so that some being desirous to pray for him he would by no means that they should pray to preserve his life here any longer but that he might go to his Lord Jesus and be taken from that state of estrangement and absence from him that he was in while in this body to be at home with him that he might in his spirit more fully see and enjoy him whom he had seen by faith or whom not seeing yet he beleeved in and loved for that good report of his love in the Gospel declared to him as he had wrought righteousnesse or done righteously in his life in receiving the testimony of the Gospel the record of God concerning Jesus Christ and was not ashamed of it though spoken against and rejected by men nor of those that brought it though weak and vilified by most so went he not without the fruit of it in his death the word of God wrought effectually in him both in life and death In his life time it wrought in him to desire the true and lasting riches although he was blessed here with a good and large portion of these outward riches which often prove such snares and intanglements to mens hearts that they cannot attend to God for the true yea and whereas commonly rich men are high minded as it is intimated in that charge given them not to be high minded 1 Tim. 6.21 and prove great hinderances of mens entring the strait gate because men are apt to swell in their mindes up to the largenesse yea and often far beyond the largenesse of their estates and to despise so low and contemptible a way as the Gospel is It was not so with him the goodnesse of God so wrought in him as for the enjoiment of Christ he condescended to them of low degree to bear the reproach of Christ with them and to professe the despised Gospel amongst them A rare thing to finde a rich estate and a poor humble spirit together riches and pride and loftines usually accompany each other and so choaking all motions or desires of goodnesse that they come not out to perfection In all this he did righteously but above all in that he received not only the sound but the substance of the Gospel the truth into his heart so as to set his hope in God therethrough and to expect his salvation as also his brother had done before him however opposite at first as many others yet are which accompanied him to his death as hath been expressed which hope also suted with the hope of the righteous man in this that it was founded upon the love of God in Christ to mankinde and so to him The death resurrection ascension mediation of the Son of God for him according to the Gospel declaration as appears by this ensuing confession of his faith which he penned with his own hand when he first began to grow sick and weak and caused to inserted into the preface of his Will whence also as I was requested I copied it out word for word to publish it to you as here followeth I bequeath my soul into the hands of God as into the hands of a faithfull Creator who hath made heaven and earth and all things therein and to Jesus Christ the second person in the Trinity God blessed for ever who hath redeemed me and all mankinde for the Scripture that I do faithfully beleeve saith That he by the grace of God tasted death for every man and St John saith That God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life And the same John saith in his Epistle He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world and other such like Scriptures which I here forbear to insert And this I do declare because so many do deny the truth of these Scriptures and some others deny all Scriptures and many now in our daies deny the Lord Iesus Christ to be the second Person in Trinity and so account the written Scriptures as a History and the mystery in their hearts they give for Scripture But I do faithfully beleeve as it is recorded in the word of God that that Iesus who died for all men is risen free and acquit of all that was against them for to this end he both died and rose again that he might be Lord of all and is ascended up on high and hath received gifts * Or In the man for men to send forth even to the rebellious that the Lord God might dwell amongst them and that they might come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved such provision hath God made for all in and through his Son that be invites all to come and saith all things are ready his trible is furnished and he bids them eat of his bread and drink of his wine that he hath mingled Thus far is the love of God in his Son set forth to all and more fully and of his fulnesse have we all received and grace for grace And further it is said To so many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God to them which beleeve in his Name Which makes it plain that whosoever is found to receive and accept what is declared in the Scriptures of what Jesus hath done for all it is as much as to say they receive him that is to own God for their father in the righteousnesse of his Son so that he that is Gods righteousnesse is their righteousnesse who presents them in himself unto the Father and for them be hath a further businesse with the father as in 1 Joh. 2.1 is declared We have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous making good our cause and not suffering our evils to come up before him and it is through what he hath done by dying rising and ascending and continuall advocating that I have all my hope that when I depart this life I shall live with him according to that Scripture which saith Because I live ye shall live also c. Thus he exprest himself In the last expression of which you have the confession of his hope to agree with what I said before of the righteous mans that it sprung from a good bottom the death resurrection and advocation of Jesus Christ as with that of the Apostle Peter who saith God hath begotten them to a lively hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead 1 Pet 1.3 So that as this our Brother did righteously to beleeve the Gospel of the grace of God and therethrough to beleeve in God so had he a good hope in his death a hope for good and glorious things and a hope well grounded And thus we have seen the explication and confirmation Come we now to the third