Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n
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A52250
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A sermon preached at the funeral of Mr. Joseph Aleine by George Newton ...
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Newton, George, 1602-1681.
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1672
(1672)
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Wing N1047; ESTC R16860
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20,159
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39
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storm and from the rain Sometimes they are called Shepherds and the business of a Shepherd is to keep and save the flock Sometimes they are called Angels and Angels are the Guardians of the Lords people They Guard and Cover and Protect a people Now this they do while they instruct them so to walk that wrath may not come upon them while they Intercede with God and stand up in the breach to keep out the indignation that is flowing in upon it A praying Minister and such a one have you lost one that bare you on his heart continually before the Lord as Aaron did the names of Israel on his Breast-plate I say a praying Minister is a protection to the people It s true the fervent prayers of the meanest Saint are an Incredible defence to any place to save it from the strokes of God And therefore even they are stiled Intercessors Isaiah 59. 16 Because they mediate with God when he is Angry and by their zealous Supplications hold his hands But yet however though it be a certaine truth that God hath much respect to the Petitions of his weakest Servants yea though perhaps some private Christians may Excel a holy Minister in prayer yet God hath more regard to the Intreaties of his faithful Ministers who have a special charge and Commission to be his Remembrancers for the good of that people which he committeth to their charge and their Petitions are of more availe and power with God both to procùre his Blessings and avert his Judgments Moses and Aaron among his Priests and Samuel among them that call on his name They called upon the Lord and he answered them Psalm 99. 6. Why doubtless so he heard the prayers of his other Saints But these his holy Priests and Prophets had the Ear of God as special favorites have their Princes Ears and could be heard and Answer'd when others were denied Access and Audience And this is not obscurely Intimated in that protestation of the Lord to Israel concerning their approaching Desolation Ezek. 14. 14. Though these three men Noah Daniel and Job were in it they should deliver but their own souls By which he insinuates that when the absolute decree is once gone forth it can by no means be revok'd so he suggests withall that if it had been feasible these holy Prophets would have done it q. d. were those three men in Israel they would put me to it hard and try me shrewdly to forbear the Land I should be hardly able to deny them He said he would destroy them had not his chosen Moses stood before him in the breach to turn away his warth Psalm 106. 23. Oh how did Moses stand against him and bind the hands of the Almighty when he was about to strike So that the Lord intreats and flatters with him to let him alone Exodus 32. 10. While such as Moses are Intercessors for a people God forbears he holds his hands and restrains his indignation as he that means to strike observes what strength there will be likely to oppose him And when he looks and sees that there is no Intercessor then he goes on with his design Isaiah 59 16. Then his Arm brings salvation to him and he puts on the Garments of vengeance Brethren you are in greater danger then you are aware by the removal of your praying Minister For you have lost one Intercessor if any breach should happen between God and you Yea you have lost your Covering if a storm of wrath should fall So that it may be said of you as it was once of Israel when Moses was away that you are naked And what are you in Laodicea's case indeed do you not know that you are naked Are you naked and are you not afraid Are you naked and not ashamed This would become a state of Innocence indeed in which it was observed of Adam and his Wife that they were both naked and were not ashamed Genesis 2. 5. But will it suit with such a state of sin and danger as the best of you are in do you not find your selves uncovered Have you no sense and feeling of it especially at such a time as this when the Judgments of the Lord are abroad upon the Earth upon the Land upon this very place in which you live more waies then I am able to express Alas alas you are uncovered whether you know it yea or no. And it is perhaps some mercy that you are not quite uncovered Here spend your tears and you shall not misplace your sorrow That is the first branch of Direction Weep for your selves For the sins that you have done and for the Judgments that you may 2. There is a second yet behind and I have done Weep for your children Weep not for me saith Christ but weep for your selves and for your children And why for them Because their children were to bear a share and suffer with them in the wrath that was about to come upon them as you may see Luke 19. 43. For the daies shall come upon thee saith our Saviour that thine enemies shall cast a Trench about thee and compass thee round and keep thee in on every side and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee Brethren if you have any tears lest drop a few upon your Children you are not able to foresee what miseries your little ones may be reserved for and verily their danger is increased as well as yours by this stroke For you have lost a Catechiser as well as a Preacher you know what care and pains he took and what a gift and faculty he had in instilling holy knowledge into your children and your little ones while he had liberty in Publick and strength with opportunity in Private He took a very great delight to tamper with them and to tole them on to the holy waies of God by all the means that he was able to devise It was his very last design as he was alwaies full of holy projects to take some Course that children might be more generally Principled in the grounds and Fundamentals of Religion then they are And I am very well assured that many of your children have such Liquor poured into them by his means that they will relish of it as long as they have a day to live and it may be bless the Lord and him for it to all Eternity And therefore you have cause enough to weep that you have lost a Minister that was fit and apt to teach not your selves only but your children too and make them know the way of the Lord. Not to feed the Sheep only but to lead the Lambs too and to bear them in his Bosome as the expression is Isaiah 40. 11. I have done with the Directions Weep for your selves and for your children And now for the close of all I say again Weep not for him his sorrow certainly is turned into Joy and therefore so let yours be also He hath receiv'd that blessed Sentence Well done good and faithful Servant enter into thy Masters Joy And let me tell you I speak it upon good assurance he went Triumphantly to Glory an Entrance was ministred to him abundantly into the Heavenly Kingdom As he drew nearer Heaven till his Disease prevailed against his Reason he grew still more Heavenly When Grace and Glory were about to Joyn Grace in him was most Glorious Oh with what Extasies and Ravishments of spirit did he fly away into the Bosome of his Saviour I have but one word to add and it is that of the Apostle Hebrews 13. Remember him that had sometimes the Rule over you who hath spoken to you the word of the Lord whose faith follow considering the end of his conversation And that was a blessed end indeed Remember him to follow him in all that was exemplary in him whether concerning Faith or Life that walking in the holy way that he did you may at last come to the happy end and place where he is FINIS
A SERMON PREACHED AT THE FUNERAL OF Mr. JOSEPH ALEINE BY Mr. GEORGE NEWTON late Minister of Taunton in Somersetshire Rev. 14. 13. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them LONDON Printed and are to be Sold by Nevil Simmons at the Princes-Arms in St. Pauls Church-yard 1672. Luke 23. 28. Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your Children WHat Subject fitter for this sad Occasion then a Theam of Weeping what Language can we better speak or more agreeable to the dark Providence that we are under then Sighs and Cries and Lamentations how merciful was God to him whom he hath taken to himself and how severe to us in this Stroke and oh what hard and stupid hearts have we should we be so insensible of Gods heavy Indignation and our irreparable Loss as to give him just occasion to Complain as in Jeremiah 5. 3. I have smitten them and they have not grieved You of this Congregation have reason to sit down in bitterness because the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with you And to cry out as sometimes Joash did over Elisha 2 Kings 13. 14. My Father my Father the Charists of Israel and the Horsemen thereof And as Rachel once to weep and hardly to be comforted because he is not And for my own part I shall take up David's Lamentation over Jonathan with David's Affection 2. Sam. 1. 26. I am distressed for thee my brother very pleasant hast thou been unto me But methinks I over-hear him who being dead yet speaketh calling upon us in our Saviours Words Weep not for me As for my own part I have Rest for Labour Joy for Sorrow Peace for Trouble Ease for Pain I feel no aking Bones no falling Fits no strained Sinews no Distortions no Convulsions in the Grave And for what I find in heaven you shall know when you come thither My refreshing time is come God hath now wiped clean away every Tear from my Eyes and every drop of Sweat from my Face and every sad thought from my Heart And therefore I forbid your tears for me Weep not for me But if your swelling Passions must have vent Consider whose the Loss is Alass it is not mine but yours And therefore turn the Stream into the right Channel Weep not for me but weep for your selves and for your children These were our Saviours words sometimes in which he puts a stop upon the sorrow the tears of those who wept too much even at the Death of Christ himself Dead he was in Law already condemned by Pilate delivered to the Roman Band to guard him to the Place of Execution Such tragical appearances are usually attended with a Multitude of Lookers on and by how much the greater and more remarkable the person is who is to suffer so much the greater is the Concourse And hence it was that such a heap of people followed Christ on whom the eyes of the whole Nation of the Jews were fixed though with different affections Some to secure him from a rescue some to mock him and deride him some to gaze upon the Prisoner and to observe his carriage in his dead March some to see the Execution Among the rest there were a sort of people that bewailed his Death of whom it is observed that they exprest their grief in tears I make no question there were men that wept but because women usually have moister brains and less command upon their passions and so are more inclinable to vent their sorrow in a flood of tears then men especially because their passions are not much regarded neither so that there was no fear or danger though they were free and open in their sorrow Hence it is that there is no notice taken of any other tears but theirs in the Verse before the Text and that our Saviour turns himself and directs his Speech to them in the words that have been read Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me but for your selves and for your children Now in this Speech of Jesus Christ we have especially to be considered two things a prohibition and a permission In the first place we have the prohibition of our Saviour in which he forbiddeth them to weep Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me And in the second place we have his permission in which he alloweth them to weep but weep for your selves and for your children And yet you see he doth not cross himself neither he doth not here command and forbid the same things in the same respect but in relation to a diverse object In relation to himself he forbiddeth them to weep weep not for me In relation to themselves he alloweth them to weep but weep for your Selves and for your Children The total final and irreparable ruine of Jerusalem was near at hand our Saviour had it in his eye when he spake these words He wept apace for this himself but a little while before as you may see Luke 19. 41. He beheld the City and wept over it First he beholds it with his eye and then his eye affects his heart Wo and alass saith he while in a pang of holy pity and compassion the tears come flowing down his cheeks If thou badst known even thou at least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes And therefore he alloweth them to weep for this who were to have a share and portion in that dreadful desolation But for himself who willingly submitted to the death which he was leading to and all the other circumstances of his passion who was beloved of him who had appointed and designed him to it who was God as well as Man and therefore able to endure it and to overcome it too and who was shortly to be rescued from the jaws of death and so triumphantly to enter into Glory He forbiddeth them to weep weep not for me but weep for your selves and for c. So that the purpose of our Saviour is not wholly to suppress but to rectifie their sorrow They wept for him out of a childish kind of pity but they wept not for their sins nor the unseen calamities that were about to come upon them And therefore Christ endeavours to withdraw their sorrow from the wrong and fix it on the right object And to this end he shâ—ws them why they should not weep and why they should Weep not for me but for your selves and for your children Two Observations lie before us in the Text. The first That it is not unlawful nor unfit sometimes to express our grief in tears The second That we are very subject to misplace our grief and to mistake the ground and object of our sorrow I shall speak to these in order beginning with the first Doct. That it is not unlawful nor unfit sometimes to express our grief in