They devised devices against me saying Let us destroy the Tree with the Fruit thereof It is in the Margent Let us destroy the staff with the bread the Prophets the Ministers of God bring the Bread of Life to you Let us destroy the staff with the bread Hebr. Pane Perdamus culmum cum grano ejus as Junius renders it We render it Let us destroy the Tree with the Fruit. The meaning is this Let us kill the Prophet and there 's an end of his Prophecy But they were mistaken when they had done that God will make his Word to take place There are two things I would open to you 1. That the Prophets of God do not live for ever we are all sensible of it The Lord teacheth us it this day The Prophets do not live for ever But 2. Though they do not live yet the Word of God lives and will have its effect upon men for good or for evil 1. The Prophets do they live for ever Consider two or three things 1. The Prophets of God are subject to the same Law that others are There is a Stature-Law that is not reversed and there are so few I think is never transgressed There have been some few exceptions but it will not be repealed till Christ hath swallowed up Death in Victory The Prophets of God and Righteous men are obnoxious to it as well as others Heb. 9.27 And as it is appointed to men 〈◊〉 to die and after this the judgment It is appointed Gr. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is decreed It is decreed to all it is enacted and the Prophets have no exemption Yea that Man Christ Jesus the Mediator and great High Priest He was under this Law He was made under the Law He was to die And by one offering for ever perfected them that are dedicated to God It is appointed to all men once to die and to die penally by the force of that threatning Gen. 2 17. In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die Christ died Penally He was made a curse and his dying so hath delivered some that they shall not die Penally But to die Naturally that continues to all to the Prophets and them that fear him as well as others Rom. 8.10 If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the spirit is life because of righteousness If Christ be in you though there be that happy union yet he lets the Body be arrested by Death the Body is dead Believers Bodies the Bodies of his Ministers of his Prophets are dead that is Obnoxious to Death I think it hath reference to the second verse The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death How from the law of sin he had shewed before here he come to shew how from the law of Death The Body is dead and that is by sin Sin brought in death Adam had not died if he had not sinned and there being the reliques of sin Sin that dwells in Believers themselves the vitiosity and corruption of nature something of sin found in them they must die there 's no help we must die The spirit I think 't is the soul is life and capable of living with God in a separate state and shall be in the fruition of God and the Body shall at length be joyned with it And as a pledge of it this is added The spirit is life because of righteousness What God doth in sanctifying of his own here is a pledge to them that their whole man shall live with him hereafter 2. The Prophets do they live for ever They are Stewards Ambassadors Labourers and so Christ will not have them live for ever They shall have their Reward They shall come and tell what is the issue of their performing their Embassy in the world What reception they had How they were used 1. We are Stewards of the Mystery and manifold Grace of God 1 Cor. 4.1 2. and Wisdom and Faithfulness are required in a Steward A Steward should be Wise and Faithful the Lord make us so who have a Stewardship from him We must give an account of our Stewardship and you to whom we give a portion of meat in due season should take some care that we give up our accounts with joy and not with grief Christ will call his Stewards to account they must tell what they have done with their Talents how they have improved and gained 2. They are Ambassadors also 2 Cor. 5.19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 placed or deposited in us they have the word of Reconciliation committed to them they have it in them and they treat with you about the highest concerns We pray you be ye reconciled to God We pray you in Christ's stead if he had not other work to do in Heaven he would come and Preach to you himself but we do it in his stead Now is it not your advantage to be friends with God But we must go back and give an account what reception we have had in the world Ambassadors will be called home they will not always lye Lieger here below 3. I might shew you this also for Labourers the day declines 1 Cor. 3.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Co-workers God makes use of their labour and a man that hath wrought hard all the heat of the day is willing to go to rest A servant earnestly desires the shadow Job 7.2 And the sleep of the labouring man is sweet to him 3. The Prophets do they live for ever Jesus Christ hath Rewards for them small and great Rev. 11. The time is come that thou shouldest give reward to thy servants the Prophets and to the Saints and them that fear thy name small and great c. which is sometimes the only relief and support we have when we cry out We have laboured in vain Isa 49 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 humidum radicale and spent our strength for nought The radical moisture is dried up the Bellows are burnt we have no lungs to speak more to you Well Christ hath rewards for his Prophets and Servants in Heaven Great is your reward in Heaven There 's no getting to Heaven without dying It may be you would be willing to be fetched in Chariots of fire but that is not every man's lot We have our work to do Jesus Christ was his Father's servant an extraordinary one to do extraordinary work he finished it and glorified God on earth and then God glorified him with himself Thus it is with Christ's servants they have their work to do they are to finish it and to glorifie God here below and then God gathers them up and rewards them they have their reward their works follow them They die in the Lord and cease from their labour and their works follow them Rev. 14. in the Reward of them 4. The Prophets die and God will thereby chastise an ungrateful world and punish the barrenness
A Funeral Sermon PREACHED Upon the Death of the Reverend and GODLY DIVINE Mr. FRANCIS HOLCROFT Late Pastor of a Congregational Church IN Cambridgeshire Who Deceased Jan. 6. 1691 2. Aged 63. By T. M. Preacher of the Gospel LONDON Printed for William Marshall and Sold at the Bible in Newgate-Street 1692. Where are to be had Mr. Holcroft's Elegy An Epistle to the Christian Readers THIS Province of Preaching at the Funerals of our much Reverend Brother Mr. Francis Holcroft Deceased was by Divine Lot devolved upon our Worthy Brother Mr. Milway Pastor of a Church of Christ in Bury in Suffolk Who notwithstanding the rude insoleney of the absurd Scholars disturbing the whole Assembly at that time and therein highly affronting the present Generous Government was much assisted by the Lord and performed it by his Grace with great Majestick boldness and gravity to their confusion of face and our expected satisfaction The Sermon now Printed we recommend to you as very nervous and much adapted to the occasion it was to us in the hearing of it as a very lovely Song of one that had a pleasant voice Ezek. 33.32 and could play well on an Instrument What was said in praise of the Person was but a just debt and the payment was rather under than over Read the Sermon and may it be as sweet and profitable to you in reading as to us in hearing One of our Prophets and that none of the Minor Prophets but to us a great one in Israel is dead as to his Body yet lives in his spirit in Glory May his words of Doctrine Counsel Conduct Comfort which already have taken bold on the hearts of many in Cambridgeshire and many other places abide and produce much fruit Knowing assuredly that his words of threatning which he denounced will overtake the scorners that ridiculed the Saints at his Funerals contradicting and blaspheming And like as the Lord thought to do unto them according to their ways and doings Zech. 1.4 6. so will he deal with them if they do not hear and hearken to the Lord and turn from their evil ways and doings May the Prophets that survive attain in their Ministry to the height of this excellent person who as to Gifts as Saul for stature among his Brethren 1 Sam. 10.23 taller by the head and shoulders was and to us in our day one of David's Chieftains and mighty Warriers by the sword of the Spirit the Word of God doing great and good execution We question not but great is his reward in Heaven yet a reward of Grace he sits now and will sit both in Soul and Body in a high place in Glory This Teacher shall shine as the Stars Dan. 12.3 and as the brightness of the Firmament having turned many not only from sin but unto righteousness i. e. justified them by turning them to the imputed righteousness of Christ a Doctrine much despised by many of the Prophets of our Age. In fine it pleased the Lord that after this our small Apostle had in the body been frequently wrapt up into Heaven in our view in Prayer and Preaching or rather Heaven descending into him and upon him in high communion and enjoyments of God in which he had such Illuminations that he was not able to utter and express 2 Cor. 12.9 c. It pleased God lest he should be exalted above measure through the abundance of these discoveries that a messenger of Satan should be sent to buffet him and though the Lord was besought abundantly by himself and many others yet would not the Lord cause it wholly to depart He giveth not account of any of his matters he is Soveraign Lord of all is in one mind who can turn doth whatever he will in Heaven and Earth and laughs at the trial of the innocent Job 33.13 Job 23.13 Job 9.23 Yet before his death and in his dying the Grace of God was sufficiently manifested to him and we may make use of that Notion some had of the death of Moses viz. when it is written Deut. 34.5 That Moses died in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord. Deut. 34.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Or by or upon the mouth of the Lord. That Jehovah kissed Moses when he died as the Mother takes the sleeping child into bed her cheek by the Childs cheek in her tender embraces so may we say of this our Brother Francis Jehovah kissed him with the kisses of his mouth at his departure out of this world Cant. 1.2 having given him a praelibation of glory in his spirit and he now both Soul and Body recumbs in the everlasting arms and bosom of Infinite Love THOMAS TAYLOR JOSEPH HUSSEY EPITAPH ENtomb his Body consecrated dust Until the Resurrection of the just It was a temple full of the Holy Ghost In which the Lord did dwell the Lord of Host Entomb't with highest greatest stately Glory And get some Fox some Clerk to write his Story Anoint his Herse with sweet Perfumes of Fame Hath any left behind more fragrant Name When Christ shall come with Troops of Cherubims And with this Glittering Winged Seraphims He 'l raise this Temple one of th' first you 'l see And th' second Temple shall more Glorious be Than was the first in that Christ's Person will Be present with him and him richly fill WILL. HAWORTH A Funeral Sermon ZECH. I. 5 6. Your fathers where are they and the prophets do they live forever But my words and my statutes which I commanded my servants the prophets did they not take hold of your fathers and they returned and said Like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us according to our ways and according to our doings so hath he dealt with us YOVR fathers where are they and the prophets do they live for ever After the return of this People out of the Babylonish Captivity that Pit in which was no Water in the 9th Chapter out of which they were brought by the Blood of the Covenant God raised up two Prophets Haggai and this Zechary to stir them up to Build the Temple of the Lord and to settle his Worship therein the Province of this Zechary was in God's Name to call the People to return to God Verse 3. Therefore say thou unto them Thus saith the Lord of hosts Turn ye unto me saith the Lord of hosts and I will turn unto you saith the Lord of hosts A very great Allective and Inducement to return to him for he will be reconciled The Favour of God is better than Life And Thus saith the Lord of hosts Thus saith the Lord of hosts Thus saith the Lord of hosts Return it is the Call of that God that can arm all in Heaven and Earth against you One great obstacle to Conversion is our Imitation of our Fathers It is very common with Persons to speak of the Dignity of their Progenitors and yet to imitate them in their Sins Be
of them that have enjoyed their Ministry You had need fear and tremble before him lest he do so by you When the Vineyard is barren God will either take away the hedge and fling it up to be a prey to the beasts of the wood else he will take away the dresser he shall no more dig and prune it no more labour shall be spent upon it no more cost and pains shall be taken with it Saith God the rain came oft upon it and it brought forth briars and thorns such are nigh unto cursing and their end is to be burnt The Prophets live not for ever God will teach you by it that your season will not always last Know your time as Christ said Job 12.35 Yet a little while is the light with you Walk while ye have the light lest darkness come upon you For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth The next step may be Hell While ye have the light believe in the light that ye may be the children of light But I will go off that and give a little account of the second and so come to the Use 2. Though the Prophets live not for ever yet the Word of God lives Do but consider a little 1. The Prophets of God use to come with their Menaces the threatning part of God's Word and though the threatning you think is always Conditional and leaves space for Repentance this made the Prophet Jonah refuse to go on his Errand I knew saith he that thou art a gracious God and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and wouldst repent thee of the evil and so I should have my Reputation stained Go and preach to Niniveh and say Yet forty days and Niniveh shall be destroyed and then God repent They will say There 's a lying Prophet Yet let me tell you when God denounceth his Judgments sometimes he puts his Oath to the Threatening swears to the matter and then it is irreversible As I live saith the Lord my heart cannot be towards this people And as the Ministry of the Prophets had a Minatory part so truly the Gospel hath Threatnings most severe ones Mark 16.16 He that believeth and is haptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Words that came out of the gracious mouth of the Son of God Hebr. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great Salvation There 's no escaping Damnation The Word of God lives The very Threatning lives Though the prophets die God will take care to make good his threatning be sure he will do it when he swears in wrath we shall never enter into his rest 2. The Word of God abides too as it comprizeth the Promises which are a declaration of God's Grace and good will towards men This was part of the Prophets Office to publish the Promise Luk. 1.69 He hath raised up an Horn of Salvation for us as he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets since the world began to perform the mercy promised to our Fathers c. So the Apostle Peter saith he The spirit of God spake by the Prophets concerning Christ his Sufferings and the Glory that should follow So the Ministers of the New Testament O how they love to Preach the New Covenant and all the Promises for the relief of distressed sinners It is the most pleasing part of their work 2 Cor. 1.20 For all the Promises of God in him in Christ are yea and in him Amen to the Glory of God by us God glorifies himself by us God glorifies his faithfulness in performing his Promises by our Ministry The Promise lives for God lives whose the Promise is He cannot lye nor cannot change He shews by it the Immutability of his Counsel that the heirs of Salvation may have strong consolation God's Prophets and Ministers they die but the Word dispensed by them that lives it hath its fulfillment Our work is to declare the whole counsel of God to you that concerns your Salvation and God doth cause his Prophets to stand in his Covenant and the secrets of God are with them Saith the Apostle Acts 20. I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God and have kept back nothing that was profitable for you Preaching Repentance towards God and Faith towards the Lord Jesus His Counsel shall stand You shall see my face no more saith he to them verse 38. But this whole Counsel of God which I have declared shall be fulfilled and there is no Person no Churches that do reject the Counsel of God but it is against themselves i. e. to their own ruin Luke 7.30 The Word of God lives the Prophets dye but the Word of God lives The Word of God dispensed by us is as seed sown though it seem to dye under the Clods yet it will live again the Lord gives it a Body or rather a Spirit And so l Peter 1.23 Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever In all Productions there is some Seed out of which the Creature is brought forth so it is in the new Creature Born of the incorruptible seed the word which we Preach to you and this Word lives and abides for ever and if it be turned into a vital Principle in your Souls that will abide too it will be the Seed of God that remains And though in our sowing we go forth with precious Seed we wish it might alike prosper but we do not always meet with good Ground that which falls into good Ground by the blessing of God brings forth Fruit some more and some less The Word of God lives the Prophets dye the Ministers of Christ dye but their Word lives and will take place Now I would make some Application The Prophets do they live for ever No they do not live for ever they are Mortal and Frail they dye sooner than other Men their Labours are great and that they do not live for ever I would have you make these two or three Uses of it 1. Think with your selves God's Prophets and Ministers dye It becomes us to have our hearts affected with it to put our hearts to this matter Isaiah 57.1 The righteous perish 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to perish here is to dye he is taken away 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In unum collegere He is gathered to his Fathers and no Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ponens super Cor. 1. qui caret Schindler and no man lays it to heart The Lord will take notice how you are affected this day for this Prophet The righteous perish and no man layeth it to heart and merciful men are taken away none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come he shall enter into peace Blessed be God for that Admission into Peace God hath given his Servant He shall enter into peace they shall rest in there beds the Grave is a