his Love and Power shine with greatest Lustre Remember â—our Sanctifier but forget not his most Sanctified ones I conclude with a saying of one â—cquainted with God above thouâ—ands He never knew a heavenly â—onversation that pretending to know God alone hath no converse with his â—oly ones that attend Him and doth â—ot live as a Member of their Society â—n the City of God that doth not with â—ome delight behold their Holiness â—nity and Order But as it is time 〈◊〉 proceed to my next Observaâ—â—ion D. 2. The holy Faith and Conversation of godly Ministers and Friends deceased must be considered and followed So the Text in terms most plaiâ— Follow their Faith to wit considereâ— by you And that Comma consâ—dering the end of their Conversation imports evidently a command to follow it For the sake of these waâ— the remembrance of their Persons fore required Which without thâ—â— use of their Faith and Conversatioâ— would be to little purpose Bâ— it considered therefore strictly 1. What this Faith is 2. What this Conversation And 3. What the Reasons for our coâ—sidering and following both 1. Faith is considered as Objectively taken or Subjectively A the first it is the truth of the Goâ—pel by them held Viz. 1. Thâ— Gospel-History of the Primitiâ—â— Friendship between God and Man of the Enmity raised by the first siâ— between them and of the Reconcâ—liation made by the Son of God 2. The Gospel Offer and Invitation of Sinners unto Grace and Salvation â—y a New Covenant one of admiraâ—le Promises and most equitable and â—racious Demands 3. The Gospel-Rule and Directory for the Worship â—nd the whole Walk of all embracing â—nd entring that Covenant This History they Credited this Offer â—hey Accepted this Covenant they Entred this Rule they Followed â—ubjectively taken their Faith is that â—race of God in them whereby â—hey so received the Gospel Now â—his grace of Faith is either general â—nd so 't is their Assent and Consent â—nto all God's Revelation as perfectâ—y true Or special as it relates unâ—o Christ Jesus the sum of all God's Revelation and so it is their accepâ—ance of Him in all his Offices as Teacher Saviour Ruler The deâ—arted Saints we speak of had a Faith which was unto them instead of Possession and Sight One that made things said by God as credible as if they had seen them with their Eyes And things promised by God as comfortable as if they had had them in their hands I would be understood of the Truth only not of the degree of Credibility and Comfort They had also a Faith iâ— their Hearts which was unto them a Marriage Knot whereby they joyned themselves unto Christ Jesus in everlasting Covenant Resigning themselves to him to be Taught Saved and Ruled Committing themselves to God's saving Mercy lodged in Christ's Hand And submitting themselves to God's governing Authority lodged in the same This Faith of theirs in both acceptations is that which we are to consider and follow Conversation is the way and course of humane life Respectively of all Duties towards our Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier towards the Church the World and our Selves And this as under all Circumstances of our various Conditions in our Pilgrimage The way and course of the Saints we speak of was Holy and Exemplary Through their Faith in Christ working by Love purifying their Hearts conquering the World and chasing the Devil they sincerely and perseveringly glorified God They held Communion with the Father Son and Spirit in Faith Hope and Love in Worship and Obedience They loved the Church as Christ's Body served it and sympathized with it as members of it The Unregenerate World they pitied and spent their days in pains and prayers for it's conversion Their Hearts that is Themselves they kept with all diligence preferring always the man above the Brute the Soul above the Body In a word their life was an Exercise of Grace a Warfare against Corruptions and Temptations a putting of their Talents to Usury and merchandizing to and for Heaven All their days were Humiliation-days for their Sins their Own and their Relations and Thanksgiving days for their Mercies and Hopes They walked after the Spirit and not after the Flesh And this their walk is that their Conversation that we are called to eye and to imitate We shall briefly enquire the Reasons for this practice To wit of our considering the Faith and Conversation of our glorified Brethren And of our setting our selves to transcribe both Our own vanity is apt to charge the Divine Wisdom foolishly for commanding it And to ask Unto what purpose is this our cost and pains Being we have the perfect rule of the Gospel and of our Saviour's own transcendent Example St. Austin's word is of great weight WHY God commands any thing I need not trouble my self He will look to that Let me ever look well to WHAT he commands Whether we see them or no there are infinite reasons for every thing God requires But yet when those reasons are obvious their use is rich and various Of the Practice foresaid I shall therefore point out a few such as are most clear and apparent R. 1. This practice unites the upper and lower House of God The Church above and that below It holds together the Members of the Family in Heaven and upon Earth It engageth us to keep eyeing of them As Scholars of the lower Form eye those of the higher whom they must imitate It even necessitateth the Houshold of Faith to hold great conversation with them that live by Sight This is no light reason with such as consider how God stands for his Children's Union and Association Such as hath been forespoken of and therefore shall have no more here said of it R. 2. This Practice doubles our help to the Life of Faith and Holiness The Instructions and Precepts of the Gospel are a blessed Help But not all that we need Who feels it not After that we have heard our Master's best and brightest Doctrines we need our Fellow Servants instructive and motive Examples Which are indeed the most instructive Comments to the understanding of them and most motive Encouragements unto the obeying of them as Experience certifieth By what is here said no disgrace is cast upon the Gospel 'T is meerly from our own dulness that we need superadded Examples And the shame of that want rests singly upon our own Head While in the mean time unto God belongs the glory of the additional Mercy Admirable Mercy For the Gospel shews us but the Duty But the Example of deceased Saints shews also the possibility of living by Faith and in Holiness Because what has been done may certainly be done again We are emboldned to believe we may so live when we consider others to have lived so And let it not startle you if I say this Jesus Christ's own Example is in this one respect a much less encouragement than one of his least and poorest Servants For it doth
of Things But it is out â—f question the Eye of Faith sees Him that is Invisible Heb. 11.27 â—he Life of Faith is fellowship â—nd Communion with the Divine Persons 1 John 1.3 Say then I â—eseech you Can Faith see the Faâ—her of Spirits and hold Communiâ—n with the Father and Son and not with them that stand continually before his Face and nearesâ— his Throne The same Eyes of Flesh that see the King see his Attendantâ— that surround him Why should not the same Eyes of Faith see thâ—â— Spiritual King and his Attendants King's Children at greatest distance use to have considerable Acquaintance and Friendship with the neaâ— est in their Father's Court. Whaâ— should hinder yours with your glorified Brethren if indeed you havâ— it with their Father in Heaven Let me tell you Sirs the Goâ— of Heaven is a Lord of most numerous Hosts The Father of Spirits is not to be conceived of as Childless Nor the King of Glory as sitting on a Throne solitary Or dwelling in a thin Court There is nâ— such God in Heaven as is withouâ— his thousands and ten thousand time ten thousand Spirits ministring untâ— Him And all as spectable as visible unto Faith as He himself Alâ— so near unto him that one would â—hink it impossible to see Him and â—ot see Them All so like to Him â—nd so beloved by Him that conâ—empt of them is no small contempt â—f Himself The plain Inference then is this The Faith of living Saints faileth before their Memory of the dead ones â—oth so And the reason why we â—o not more by Faith live with them 〈◊〉 because we do not by Faith live â—ore upon God For a right Remembrance of Him is inconsistent with the Forgetfulness of them so â—ear unto Him C. 7. Your Interest binds you to Remember your godly Ministers and Friends deceased The interest of â—our Grace and the interest of your Peace and Comfort doth bind you The Interest of your Grace Need â—ou be told the Efficacy of Company You have your glorified friends in â—our company as oft as you have them in thoughtful memory And of such their company great is the double force To wit the Natural and the Institutive For naturally we follow admired Examples There 's not one mind of a thousand but receiveth impressions from them just as Wax receiveth the figure of an applied Seal Besides God hath ordained a Communication of Qualities from chosen Associates He that walks with the wise shall be wise God hath promised illapses of their Wisdom into them that chuse and hold their Communion It cannot be therefore but we must derive into us their heavenly Dispositions if in our thoughts we converse much with our heavenly Friends We must derive of their Love of God Contempt of this World c. The Interest of your Peace and Comfort doth no less oblige you That which serves your Grace doth in so doing serve your Peace But not alike all Nor scarcely any thing so immediately and sensibly as â—leep and pious thoughts of glorified Friends Which will soon be but of question if you use but a â—ittle consideration If you think a â—ittle what a refreshment it must â—e to be took now and then out of â—n Hospital of sick and crying Souls â—r a Bedlam of mad and ranting â—nes into an house wherein all are â—erry and wise Alas what is this World but a mad Bedlam What is â—he Church on Earth but a very Hospital wherein no one is perfectly tured What is Heaven but the Colledge of all Souls without sin or sorrow To retire in our minds from â—he Bedlam and Hospital into this Colledge To leave a while the objects of our Grief and go and entertain our thoughts with them who have none but of Joy No words â—an picture forth the sweetness of â—his Which is then always and â—hen only known when tryed I mean solemnly not in slight and â—nelaborate thoughts They are therefore their own Enemies who bury in forgetfulness their deceased godly Friends They rob themselves of not the least means of Grace and Peace Wrong their own Souls and that in their greatest Concerns Averting from so soveraign a course both to Refine and Revive them C. 8. Your God's Commands bind you to remember your godly Ministers and Friends deceased In my Text he commands as you have heard Heb. 6.12 He commands you to be followers imitaters of them and consequently I hope to remember them For Copies forgotten can by no means be imitated or used for Examples as is required Jam. 5.10 All the Texts that set forth the state of departed Saints have so many commands going with them of your Remembrance contended for You cannot think that God leaves you at liberty whether you will take and improve his Revelations or no. Or that any holy improvement can be made of the same while left in Oblivion Waving all others I will singly propose that one Text more which I conceive â—xtraordinary Heb. 12.1 Seeing we also are â—ompassed about with so great a cloud â—f Witnesses let us lay aside every â—eight and the sin which doth easily â—eset us and let us run with patience â—he Race that is set before us Belieâ—ers are here compared to men â—nning a Race They are exhorted â—o the means of running it so that â—hey may obtain the prize To wit â—y laying aside weights and sins and â—xercising Patience with Diligence â—hey are encouraged so to run also â—ncouraged by Witnesses given â—hem a cloud or great number of â—hem and this number placed â—und them encompassing of them â—hese Witnesses are the Saints gone â—efore us to Heaven Their Testiâ—ony is either of that which we do or of that which we ought to do As in the Races to which the Apostle alludeth those that did run used to have many Friends looking on them and encouraging them by testifying either that thus they had done or thus and thus they might and ought to do In like manner all the Saints above do as it were stand looking on us Not in proper Speech or intuitively we have no such Dream But upon Scripture-record they do still stand round about us And are by their Examples for that purpose recorded encouraging us in our Christian race Ready to testifie how we acquit our selves Though dead yet they in a sort see speak and testifie By their richly rewarded Duties they testifie to the wisdom of our most costly ones Those for which we are thought to be beside our selves and are most inhumanly dealt with by our Adversaries They are ready also to testifie what may be done in every case by us Principally this â—hat Faith will carry sound Believers â—hrough all their Duties and Dangers Upon many occasions we fall into â—ontest with our selves and dispute what is best To go back or to go â—n And in a Wood and lost we â—re Now these holy blessed Friends of ours encompass us And their â—erdict they do from the Holy Scripâ—ure
fed and nourished you in his â—aith after your New Birth Your godly Friends were full often the Ministers of God for good unto you in things Temporal and Spiritual Brethren you were all Companions and mutual Benefactors serving one another in love Now fain I would know what you think Doth such Relation signifie little or nothing Or if it doth was the Relation and it's Obligations too dissolved at their Death In the language of Practice too many do so speak but you cannot so think What! Doth Death separate from God and Christ Away with that frightful thought Dead Saints be God's Friends He calls Abraham his Friend many hundred years after his decease Dead Saints be Christ's Friends also He saith concerning dead Lazarus Our Friend sleepeth Now are they still related to God and Christ and yet cut off from you Dreadful imagination But if as it is most certain the Relation is immortal and stands in full force what then It follows evidently that as sins against Relations be the most aggravated forgetfulness of glorified Friends is a sin against everlasting Relations And the guilty do in a very ill sense Forget their own people and their Father's house C. 4. Your Gratitude binds you to remember godly Ministers and Friends deceased The Apostle and all the Churches of the Gentiles owed thanks unto Aquila and Priscilla And owe you not any unto these that have been your Helpers in Christ Jesus If you do Contemptuous forgetfulness is a sorry payment Let it not offend but excite to farther enquiry such as may doubt the truth of that which follows I cannot but think that our godly Friends in Heaven do much more Love and Remember us now than when they dwelt in this cold and dark World Their Love of God is now incomparably greater than before And why not the Love of all his Children proportionably greater Their Memories now are perfected And how then should they forget the Brethren they but lately knew and delighted in Their Souls by entring Heaven receive an amplitude that we can little express And they can there remember us without diverting their minds from God Yea and be it heeded well their Enjoyment of God above as ours here below doth not only Admit but Require affectionate thoughts of his Children Our Prayers here are amiss if in them we forget our Brethren above as shall be afterwards shewn And their praises above would be amiss if in them they forgat us their Brethren below The reason is obvious the King of Glory will be honoured and loved by the honour and love of his Servants for his sake And gives law unto those in Heaven and Earth too that they love each other as themselves Those in Heaven do fully observe it The greater is our sin and shame that we are so little won by their admirable kindness For Upon the supposition of this their kindness and mindfulness of us this will be granted by all To be unthankful is to be ungodly And they are the most ungrateful Creatures on the Earth who live forgetful of their Friends in Heaven Being that ingratitude unto the greatest Lovers of us is the worst that is possible to be in us C. 5. Your Character binds you to remember your Godly Ministers and Friends deceased You are Believers are ye not If so the Spirit that can neither be deceived nor deceive describes you as persons Come up unto the Spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.22 23. Believers while they are in the State Militant are took into the Society of their Brethren in the State Triumphant They are come unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem They are made free Denizons and spiritual possessors of it their Conversation is in it They are come to the innumerable Company of Angels in that City Not to this or that particular Tutelar Angel but to the whole Company Not come to them with their Prayers as is the way of Romish Idolaters who wildly worship the Servants to the reproach of the Lord. And against the Servants own holy Will Worship me not saith the Angel to St. John I am thy fellow Servant and of thy Brethren They are come to the Angels Society who are gathered into that one Body whereof Christ is the head They are become Fellow Members with them and have a Communion in service with them Angels rejoyce in their good and minister to it and they rejoyce in Angels Blessedness and Glory Nor is this at all Incredible or Wonderful if it be considered that they are come unto the very Lord of the foresaid City Unto God the judge of all Come into a state of Filial favour with Him Have Access unto him and the Throne of his Grace with sweetest liberty and boldness By means whereof they come also to the Spirits of their Brethren made perfect Being admitted thus to their Father they are admitted unto all their so dignified Brethren about his Throne They are come to the Spirits of the just made perfect The Dream of Spirits of just men departed and not made perfect but sent to Purgatory to be refined was never in the Apostle's Head He knew none but perfect And unto the Society of all such he declareth Believers access Unto them Believers all come Not â—s to Objects of their Worship and Invocation or Mediators of Intercession That were wretched Blasphemy towards God and Injury unto them They come to them in way of Friendship and Communion with them With them who in their separate state from their own Bodies do hold Communion with God and Christ and all his Mystical Body With Christs Members on Earth as truly as those above in Heaven with them Loving and loved of all A learned Man's words upon this Text are memorable We are said here to come unto the Spirits of juâ—â— men made perfect in those actings 〈◊〉 our minds wherein Evangelical Communion doth consist And this requireâ— that there be like actings in them without which there can be no sucâ— Communion This being supposed what musâ— we conclude of Souls estranged from their godly Friends departed Whâ—â— very rarely afford unto perfected Spirits one serious and steddy look oâ— their thoughts Who are far from taking it for their Duty and making it their practice to have theâ— in their minds And in the affectionate Memory due unto such a Society The least we can say is this â—uch Christians do foully blot their â—ames and fall short of their Chaâ—acter and live not up to their Estate â—nd Dignity C. 6. Your Faith binds you to remember your godly Ministers and friends deceased I had almost said 〈◊〉 necessitates you But of that â—dge ye your selves when you have â—onsidered what follows Faith â—ou must needs know is the evidence of Persons as well as of Things â—ot seen not seen by Eyes of Clay â—t were a sorry business if it were not 〈◊〉 For it is only for the sake of Persons that we do or ought to vaâ—e any sort