Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A64229
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A funeral sermon on the decease of the Reverend Mr. Richard Mayo late minister of the gospel in London, who died the 8th of September, 1695 / by Nathanael Taylor.
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Taylor, Nathanael, d. 1702.
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1695
(1695)
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Wing T543; ESTC R5634
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22,460
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40
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A FUNERAL SERMON ON THE DECEASE Of the Reverend Mr. Richard Mayo Late Minister of the Gospel in London Who Died the 8th of September 1695. By NATHANAEL TAYLOR LONDON Printed for Thomas Cockerill Sen r and Jun r at the Three Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks-Market M DC XCV TO That part of the Church of Christ in London of which the Reverend Mr. RICHARD MAYO was lately Pastor Beloved in our Lord I Here present you with the following Sermon which I hope will meet with a kind and favourable Reception from You. Indeed a stately Monument shewing the Excellency of the Work-man that erected it as well as of him that is enclosed in it is necessary to invite and gratify the curiosity of a Stranger But any little thing though so mean in it self that it cannot challenge any regard upon its own account yet is wont to have some value set upon it because 't is the Memorial of a Departed Friend The Relation to you wherein both of us stood the entire Affection you so justly had for him the great kindness you have shewn me for so many Years together with the Additional one of so unanimously fiixing me in his room since his Decease do not only justify but also command this my present Dedication I shall now more than ever need your Remembrance of me at the Throne of Grace in order to the discharge of the great Trust committed to me with Faithfulness and Success so that none of you may want a Crown of Glory nor I one of Rejoycing in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming 1 Thess 2.19 which shall â—lso be the daily Prayer and faithful Endeavour of him who is on many accounts with great Sincerity and Affection Yours to serve You In the Work of the Gospel Nathanael Taylor 2 COR. V. 8. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. IN that Prophecy of our Blessed Saviour recorded by the Evangelist Luke 17.34 36. concerning some black and terrible Day which some understand of the approaching ruin of the Jewish State and others apply to the dissolution of the World among other things we are told That two Men shall be in the same field two Persons in one and the same bed the one shall be taken the other shall be left Somewhat like this the Sovereign discriminating Providence of God hath lately done among you Not long since Two Persons were working in this part of God's Field A few days ago there were Two that were wont to stand in the same Pulpit the unprofitable Servant indeed is left but Alas the very Valuable one is taken The first remarkable stroke that was given him was in this very Place and in the midst of his Work and the change that it made in his Countenance and thereupon in many of yours you cannot but remember Death pursued the Blow that made the strong and fruitful Tree to shake till at last it fell to the Ground And now if like the Sons of the Prophets we should seek our Elijah it would be in vain for he is Ascended 'T is to no purpose to enquire for him at his own home for he is absent from his Family 'T is a vain thing to search the houses of any of his People for him for he is absent from his Flock It would be lost labour to seek him any where here below for he is absent from the Body too and present with the Lord. Our time and pains will be far better employed in seeking after some portion of the same Spirit that rested on him that so we who have so lately followed him to his Grave and must ere long do so in another sense may follow him to Heaven too For the hour of our decease will come whether we are willing or no we also must ere long be absent from the Body and I wish our being present with the Lord were but as sure as that is For could we but say upon good grounds with our A postle and his Brethren that we are confident of this we should not stop there but be able to go on to the end of the Text and add we are willing rather to be absent from the one and present with the other In which words you have these three Parts 1. One of the true Notions of Death 'T is a being absent from the Body 2. What immediately follows upon it to a holy Soul He shall thereupon be in Heaven which the Apostle describes by one of the greatest Privileges of it being present with the Lord. 'T is the Lord Jesus Christ he here means For of him is this word Lord used in the New Testament as peculiarly belonging to him And in other parallel places the Apostle describes the happiness of Heaven by our being with Christ Phil. 1.23 1 Thess 4.17 and being for ever with the Lord where the Context plainly shews that Christ is meant for 't is that Lord that shall descend from Heaven with a shout and whom they that remain alive to that day shall be caught up to meet in the Air. And so our Saviour himself was wont to describe Heaven Where I am there shall my servant be also And John 12.26 Chap. 14.3 I will receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also 3. The frame of his Spirit and of other holy Men like him in reference to Death on this account We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and be present with the Lord. I say These words are not in the Original but are well put in by our Translators The Apostle had said this before v. 6. And after the interposition of a short Parenthesis v. 7. For we walk by faith and not by sight he here repeats it lest any should suspect that these great words had hastily dropp'd from him He intimates hereby that he had well-weigh'd the Point and that this was indeed the settled temper of his Soul We are confident i. e. we are well assured of Heaven or we are full of holy Courage to venture on all dangers that lye in the way of our Duty and are able to look even Death it self in the face without the least degree of fear We are willing We do acquiesce in and approve of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the word signifies We are willing rather We have a natural Inclination to continue in this Body but yet this is over-ruled by Reason and Grace to that degree that of the two we like this better to lay down these our Earthly Tabernacles as knowing the advantage we shall receive thereupon by being immediately introduced into the blessed Presence of Christ above From the words thus open'd many Doctrines might be raised but I shall confine my self to these two I. 'T is a most desirable thing to a holy Soul to be present with Christ in Heaven II. 'T
I have often heard him speak with great thankfulness both to God and him of that mixture of Love and Prudence whereby he gained upon him God having engraven a Divine Image upon his Heart used him as a Seal to impress the same upon many others For upon this he soon entred tho Young upon the Sacred Work of the Ministry I shall not follow him into all the places of his Abode tho he was like a Box of sweet Perfume that sheds abroad a fragrant Smell whithersoever 't is carried and open'd It shall suffice to take notice of one or two only He was fixed for many years at Kingston upon Thames where he had a large opportunity for Service and his Labours were crowned with an answerable Success And tho most of the old Disciples that were wont to sit under his Ministry are dead yet his Name and Memory still lives and is very precious there to this day But tho that was the place of his stated Residence yet he was not confined to it and 't was pity he should He kept up for several Years a weekly Lecture in London at White-Chappel Church where multitudes flocked after him to that degree that many were wont to hang about the very Windows glad to fix their Foot in any place where they might but have the advantage of hearing him so that they darkned as well as filled the place And seeing the Multitude he was moved with Compassion open'd his Mouth and taught them with great Life and Zeal a more than ordinary Spirit being pour'd out on him and them so that the Word of the Lord ran and was glorified Such a deep tincture and savour of God Christ and Religion was by his means left on the Spirits of many as is not worn out to this very day At length came that Black day wherein so many hundred faithful and excellent Ministers of Christ were ejected and he among the rest But yet they could not wholly silence him 1 Cor. 9.16 because he remembred that it was written Wo be unto me if I Preach not the Gospel I pass over all the following time which he with the rest of his Brethren spent with a great variety of interchangeable Providences till he came to be fixed with you You know his preaching among you to have been solid weighty and substantial apt at once to instruct and move For the matter of it it was things of the greatest importance Christ crucified the necessity of an Interest in him Conformity and Obedience to him imputed Righteousness and inherent too not putting one into the room or exalting it to the Prejudice of the other both being necessary in their proper places and to distinct ends which he knew well how to assign and warmly to press Three great Excellencies in his Preaching I have often observed that it was methodical clear and genuinely derived from his Text like ripe and fair fruit that drops from the Bough whereon it naturally grew I had rather that your Lives than my Tongue or Pen should shew how successful his Labours have been among you yet I have had the opportunity of knowing that here he hath been far from labouring in vain tho it can't be presumed but that he hath done a great deal more good than ever came to my knowledge or even to his own while he was here below As for his great insight into Divinity both Polemical and Practical his Learning and Ingenuity you may have a tast of all these if you peruse what he himself hath publisht a Catalogue of which you will find annexed to the end of this Discourse And indeed Men's own Books are far better Pictures of the Authors than any of those which their Friends are sometimes pleased to set before them We may in these Points more fully and exactly discern what manner of Men they are by what they themselves have written than by any Representations that another can make of them The Understanding Reader may become more so by a diligent consulting of what he hath printed and then will have reason to thank me tho I only do the Office of a hand in the Margent point out to him those remarkable things that deserve a very attentive perusal Besides all this he had some other most valuable Qualifications such as a great love for Peace and Union This he unweariedly pursued with a godly Zeal in despight of all Discouragements a thing that all wise and good Men can't but wish to see effected for the Glory of God and the publick Welfare For Animosities and Divisions slaming Anger and Passion in the Bosoms of Brethren one against another will naturally produce as many terrible Effects as blazing Comets in the Heavens are generally thought to presage Add to all this his great Sincerity and an excellent Sweetness of a natural Temper that ran through his whole Converse like a Golden Thread through a Garment With such a one you may be sure that I could not but lead a very happy and comfortable Life We drew in the same Yoke and the same Way though indeed on my side with a vastly unequal strength He treated me with the same gentleness and kindness as the right hand doth the left The pleasure of a Minister's Life and the success of his Labours greatly depend on this the contrary will weaken his Hands and is enough to break his very Heart Where two are joyned together to serve their common Lord in one place though matters should not come to an open Breach and Quarrel yet if there be but a shiness or a secret displeasure against each other tainting their Spirits or if there be but oblique Reflections 't is like the two Eyes in a Man's Head turned several ways and looking ill-favouredly on each other a very unpleasant and uncomely thing and very prejudicial to the Body which they are to serve But God be thanked it was not so with us We have lived and laboured together among you for about the space of eight Years and matters have been carried with the same endearing Affection on his part and the same reverential Respect on mine as are wont to be between a Father and a Son which have been so far from decaying that they were daily on the growing hand Like the Joynts of the Body the longer we grew the more firmly we were knit together of which he gave me very ample Proofs particularly throughout his late Sickness which put a period to his Days about the 65th Year of his Age. His make and the strength of his Constitution and his uninterrupted state of Health for so many Years which made his Life like a strong Thread drawn out to a great length without any Knots promised a much longer continuance here And could the Skill of his Eminent Physicians who were also his cordial Friends have effected it we had yeâ— enjoyed him But experience shews us that neither the natural Strength of the Place nor all the contrivances of thâ— most excellent