and greater enormities as in 2 Cor. 6. 18. and in the first verse of the next chapter I will be your God and Father and you shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord God Almighty Having therefore these promises dearly beloved sayes the Apostle let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse both of flesh and spirit and therefore if you have a care to abstain from all secret sins whereby the inward man is defiled it is a signe that you have a reall interest in God because God will be our God and will own and accept of us to be his people we must not onely wash our legs and our outward man but our inward parts too and if we do thus we may be confidently assured that we are a sacrifice well pleasing and acceptable unto God through Jesus Christ but now you that make conscience of your wayes so far only as that men may not say black to your eye if you doe not labour to keep your inward man from defilements as well as your outward man you have no interest in God at all 2. Another evidence of your interest in God is this if you have an earnest and unwearied labour and endeavour in your spirits to come to the nearest resemblance and conformity to Jesus Christ as possibly you can Doe you labour to be holy as hee was holy and humble and meeke and lowly as hee was in 2 Cor. 7. 1. sayes the Apostle there dearly beloved let us cleanse our selves from all filthinesse both of flesh and spirit perfecting holinesse in the fear of God Doe you labour still to resemble God in holinesse thy relation and interest in God will make thee labour to be like unto God and to be still perfecting holinesse though you cannot be perfect in holinesse If you have an interest in God you will labour more and more to be holy as he is holy and to come to the nearest resemblance to him that may be 3. Another discovery of your interest in God is this if God hath engraven upon thy soul those saving effects and blessings which he doth bestow upon all those that have an interest in him God hath promised that he will be their God and they shall be his people that he will give them a new heart taking away the heart of stone and giving them a heart of flesh and that he will sanctifie and renew their natures and write his Law in their inward parts and work in their hearts a sutable disposition to his Law and put his fear into their hearts that they shall never depart from him These are the blessings of the Covenant of Grace Now you that can give abundant and evident testimonies in your own souls that you have found God cleansing and purifying your hearts and sanctifying and renewing your natures and writing his Law in your inward parts and putting his fear into your hearts that you doe never depart from him if you finde these things in you they are undoubted evidences that you have an interest in God 2. As I would have you prove your interest in God so I would exhort you to improve your interest in God too Many of you do let God lye by you as I may so say and never make use of him for your spirituall comfort and support and never goe to him for help and succour and relief in times of danger you doe not improve your interest in God Object But here it may be you would ask mee how you should improve your interest in God Answ 1 I answer 1. Improve it thus in making your interest in God a great incentment and provocation to thee to obey God thus David did in Psal 143. 10. Teach me to doe thy will sayes he for thou art the Lord my God here David did well improve his interest in God so in Psal 119. 115. Depart from me ye evill doers sayes he for I will keep the commandements of my God We should make our interest in God an ingagement upon our souls to keep the commands of God 2. Then you doe rightly improve your interest in God when this doth stir you up to aggravate all the sins you have committed against God when your interest in God doth make you see how exceeding sinfull sin is and how greatly you have provoked the Lord your God by your sins as in Jer. 3. 25. We have sinned against the Lord our God we and our Fathers from our youth even to this day and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God here the children of Israel aggravate their sins against God as their God And so Daniel he makes his interest in God a motive to stir him up to aggravate sin against God in Dan. 9. 5. sayes he there We have sinned and have committed iniquity and done wickedly and have rebelled even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgements and then in vers 7. Oh Lord sayes he righteousnesse belongeth unto thee but unto us confusion of face as at this day so again in vers 8. Oh Lord to us belongeth confusion of face to our Kings and to our Princes and to our Fathers because we have sinned against thee but to the Lord our God belongeth mercy and forgivenesse though wee have rebelled against him and so hee goes on all along aggravating their sins against God no lesse then ten times he mentions their interest in God and ten times he aggravates their sinnes against God It is the consideration of our interest in God that does stir us up to aggravate our sins against God when we doe consider that we have sinned against our God against our gracious and mercifull Father who hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace who is infinite in goodness and abundant in mercy and truth Such considerations as these will exceedingly provoke us to aggravate our sins against him 3. Improve your interest in God by making it a prop and pillar of marble to bear up and support your hearts under all the miseries and afflictions and troubles you meet withall here in the World thus David incouraged himself in the Lord his God in Psal 3. 7. I am thine sayes hee Lord save me then you make a right improvement of your interest in God when you go to him and trust and rely and depend upon him in all times of danger and distresse for you have an interest in that God that is both able and willing to relieve and succour you a God that hath helped you and doth help you and will never leave you nor forsake you and therefore be incouraged to cast your care upon him FINIS THE SAINTS TRIUMPH OVER DEATH OR A SERMON Preached at the Funerall OF Mr. CHRISTOPHER LOVE IN Lawrence-Church August 25. 1651. By THOMAS MANTON Minister of the Gospell at Stoak-Newington near London London Printed by E. Cotes for George Eversden at the Golden-ball in Aldersgate-street 1652. THE SAINTS TRIUMPH OVER DEATH OR A
in Christ you have all things though you have nothing this I touched upon before you may say with the Apostle as having nothing yet possessing all things though you may be without wealth and riches and Olive yards yet herein lies your comfort you are not without Christ and in having him you have al things though you have nothing for all things are given you in and through Christ by way of entaile as in 1 Cor. 3. 22. All things are yours and yee are Christs I shall a little explain this place to you sayes the Apostle Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come all is yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas that is all the Ministers of Christ if you have an interest in Christ Christ hath given gifts to his Ministers for your sakes so that you may lay claim to all the Ministers of Christ Paul is yours and Apollos is yours they are yours because they are your lights to guide you in the way to heaven through the darke wildernesse of this world they are your Pastors to feed you with knowledge and understanding in the Mysteries of Salvation they are your Shepheards to gather you into the fold of Jesus Christ they are your builders to hew and square and make you fit for Christs spirituall building they are your conâ—â—ctors or the friends of the Bridegroome to make up a compleat match between Christ and you I speak only in Scripture phrase they are your Vine-dressers to prune you and make you fit to bring forth fruit unto God Thus all the gifts of all the Ministers in the world are intended by Christ for the good of his children if there were no godly men in the World there would be no Ministers in the World and therefore these people that will heare onely one kind of Ministers such as they affect and slight all else they straighten their own priviledges for all the Ministers in the World are given by Christ for the benefit of his children But then again says the Apostle Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the World all is yours you have a right to all the World not only a civil right but a religious right The meek shall inherit the earth So that if you could go to the top of an exceeding high Mountain and look over all the whole World you may say Behold I see all this is my Fathers ground and he hath given it to Christ even the heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession and I having an Interest in Christ am thereby a coheire and joint heire with him 3. Life is yours likewise God hath given you your lives that in that little space of time you might provide for eternity and labour to know God and worship him aright 4. Death is yours likewise death is but as it were a lanching of you forth into an Ocean of endlesse joyes and pleasures but as a trap-doore to let you into heaven if you should never dye you would bee but miserable creatures but God hath appointed death to be a means to let you into Heaven Whether wee live we live unto the Lord or whether we dye we dye unto the Lord so that living or dying we are the Lords 5. Things present are yours which includes in it either present mercies or present afflictions 1. present mercies are yours as having a right to them and beholding the goodnesse of God in them and praising God for them and as serving God with them and as doing good to others by them 2. Present afflictions are yours likewise to humble your hearts to wean you from the world to quicken your desires after heaven to purge out your corruptions and exercise your graces and the like whatsoever present condition thou art in that present condition bee it what it will be shall work for thy good 6. Things to come are yours too if afflictions come or temptations come or trouble or want or famine or pestilence or imprisonments or any thing come they are all yours they are ordered by Christ to be for your good and so if mercy comes and the blessings of another world they are all yours Heaven and Happinesse and Glory Life Salvation are all yours Here then Beloved you see the first branch of a mans happinesse that hath an interest in Christ in having Christ he hath all things though hee hath nothing because he hath him that hath all things this is the first 2. That man that hath an interest in Christ his second consolation lies in this that all that Christ hath is his and oh my Beloved this is a golden mine that will afford you many pretious comforts I shall give them to you under these five or six particulars 1. If you have an interest in Christ then Christs Father is your Father 2. Christs Spirit is your Spirit 3. Christs Righteousnesse is your Righteousnesse 4. Christs Graces are your Graces 5. Christs Peace is your Peace And 6. Chr. Sufferings are your Sufferings And oh Beloved see what a large field you may here walk in 1. If you have an interest in Christ his Father is your Father as in Joh. 20. 17. saith Christ Behold I ascend to my Father and your Father to my God and your God Christs Father is a Beleevers Father 2. Christs Spirit is your Spirit in John 14. 8. sayes Christ I will pray to my Father and he shall give you another Comforter which shall abide with you for ever even the Spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not but you see him and know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you 3. Christs righteousnesse is your righteousnesse Jer. 23. 6. And this is the name whereby he shall be called The Lord our righteousnesse So in 1 Cor. 1. 30. Christ is made of God unto us wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption 4. His Graces are your Graces Joh. 1. 14. Christ is full of grace and truth Why That out of his fulnesse we might all receive grace for grace that is for every Grace that is in Jesus Christ according to our proportion and capacity we shall receive from him 5. His peace is your peace Joh. 14. 27. My peace sayes Christ I leave with you my peace I give unto you the peace that we enjoy is from Christ 6. Lastly Christs sufferings are your sufferings God looks upon his sufferings for you as if you in your own persons had done and suffered what he did the just hath suffered for the unjust to bring you to God the sufferings of Christ do as effectually bring you to God as if you in your own persons had suffered upon the crosse as he did nay it doth it a great deal more for our sufferings could not have done it Thus having an interest in Christ all that
so presse them as that unlesse you have them all in you you cannot have an interest in Christ for if you have but one of them in you in truth and sincerity it is an evidence that you have an interest in Christ I give you this caution for fear of casting down any poor dejected soul if you have but one link of this golden chain you have as sure hold as if you had all of it 3. In laying down these characters of one that hath an interest in Christ I lay them down onely in the affirmative not in the negative that is all those that have these characters in them may be confidently assured that they have an interest in Christ but I do not say that those that have not these characters in them have not an interest Christ for should I say so I should cast down many a humble and dejected soul I do not say that if you have not these characters in you you have no interest in Christ but this I say that you may confidently and indubitatively know and be assured that you have an interest in Christ if you finde these things in you 4. Lastly take in this caution likewise that in giving you these Characters I shall not presse them so as if the having of all these in exercise and feeling and in your own apprehensions can only evidence your having an interest in Christ but if you have them in habit and in truth though not in exercise and practise it is sufficient to evidence your interest in Christ For a poor soul may have many graces of Gods Spirit in truth in him though he doth not feel and exercise and apprehend them in himself as I told you it was with Mary Magdalen she talked to Christ face to face and sayes she they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him And thus I have done with the cautions or cautelary conclusions wherein I have only made way for my better proceeding in giving you the severall Characters of a man that hath a reall interest in Christ and I wish to God they may be all engraven upon every one of your hearts that you may be unquestionably assured in your own souls of your interest in him I shall reduce all I have to say concerning this particular under these 12. heads 1. That man that hath an interest in Christ he is cast out of himself that is he is cast out of all conceit of his own self-sufficiency and righteousness good works or merits no man is in Christ but he is out of himself this character the Apostle gives you in Phil. 3. 8 9. Yea doubtlesse saith he I count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the losse of all things and do count them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in him not having on my own righteousnesse Here Paul having won Christ would not be found having on his own righteousnesse the Apostle doth not mean his own righteousnesse in point of being but in point of dependence not having on his own righteousnesse to be justified by it in that regard he would not be found having it on So in 1 Cor. 4. 4. sayes the Apostle there I know nothing by my self now one would think this man were a very holy and exact man for sayes he I know nothing by my self that is I know no sin upon my soul that I perform wittingly or willingly but mark the next words yet sayes he am I not hereby justified he was quite out of conceit of all the good works that ever he did every man that is in Christ he is out of himself he sees his own in sufficiency and Christs all-sufficiency he sees his emptinesse of grace and Christs fulnesse of grace he sees himself to be nothing and Christ to be all in all Luk. 16. 15. sayes Christ there to the Pharisees Ye are they which justifie your selves before men but God knoweth your hearts as if hee should have said you think well of your selves and of your graces but God knoweth your hearts that you are not such as you seem to be and therefore Beloved consider seriously of it if God hath wrought this grace in your hearts that you are cast out of your selves to see your own emptinesse and vilenesse and insufficiency and want of Christ if there be this work of grace wrought in you then you may know you have a reall part and portion in Jesus Christ Character 2 2. Another distinguishing character of a man in Christ is this that he makes conscience of keeping every known command of Christ This you have in 1 Joh. 2. 5. Whoso keepeth his word in him verily is the love of God perfected hereby know we that we are in him hereby we know that we are in Christ if we keep every known command of Christ and therefore you that can appeal to heaven that there is no one known command of Christ but bears sway in your heart and carries an authority over your conscience that you can subject your selves to it although you have many weaknesses and failings yet this is an undoubted character that you are in Christ as in 1 Joh. 3. 22. If that therefore sayes the Apostle that you have heard from the beginning shall remain in the you you also shall continue in the Son and in Father You that keep every known command of Christ have an interest in him and he in you and therefore beloved all you that doe make conscience of keeping the known and revealed wil of God that there is no known sin but you labour to avoid and no known grace but you labour to exercise and no known duty but you labour to perform if it be thus with you you may comfort your selves in this that you have a reall interest in Christ Character 3 3. Another character or discovery is this he that hath an interest in Christ he hath a power derived from Christ enabling him to mortifie his inward and bosome lusts as in Gal. 5. 24. They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts when Christ came in the flesh amongst us we crucified him but if ever Christ come in thy heart he will crucifie thee the crucifying of the flesh with the affections and lusts that the Apostle here speaks of is not the killing and totall extirpation of sin but the giving a deadly blow to sin that sin shall never reign in us nor have dominion over us any more if you be in Christ sin will be like those beasts spoken of in Daniel their dominion was taken away but their lives were preserved for a little season so the dominion of sin wil be taken away that sin shal not reign in you yet the life and being of sin will remain in you for a little season but still as the house of Saul grew weaker
or speak for you Christ is a mediator to those only that are under a covenant of grace now what canst thou say for thy self oh man why thou shouldst not be condemned and damned in hell for ever for thy drunkennesse adultery sabbath-breaking prophanenesse swearing lying and thy ungodly practises thou canst have nothing to plead for thy selfe but must needs be cast out into hell fire irrecoverably but now a godly man that is under the covenant of grace he can say Lord here is Christ my mediatour that pleads with thee for the pardon of all my sins and for the obtaining of heaven and happinesse and glory for me through his obedience and merits but thou that art under the covenant of works thou canst not say I have Christ to plead for me and to be an Advocate with the Father to beg for pardon of sin and life and salvation for thee thou canst not say so for without the covenant of grace there is no Mediator Christ is the Mediator onely of the new covenant therefore what sad condition art thou in seeing as verily as thou standest here now so thou must one day stand before Gods tribunall to answer and be judged for every thing thou hast done in thy body whether it be good or evill and then thou wilt have no body to plead for thee but must inevitably be cast into everlasting burnings 4. Being out of the covenant of grace this is your misery God will in exactnesse and rigour of justice proceed against you for your sins without any mixture of mercy at all Beloved God hath no mercy without his covenant but in the covenant of grace he is a God gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindnesse abundant in mercy and truth pardoning iniquity transgressions and sins but he is cloathed with justice and rigour to all that are without this covenant As it is in courts of judicature in point of life and death the Judge will take no notice whether the man be a sorrowfull man or no the Law is not to shew mercy but to punish the offence the Law does not enquire whether the man be penitent and sorry for what he hath done but whether the fact be done or no if it be he must dye for it there is no remedy just so it is here God doth not enquire under a covenant of works whether you are sorrowfull for breaking of his Law but he enquires whether you have broken it or no and if you have he will condemn thee and cast thee into hell fire and then the poor soul cryes out Oh Lord be mercifull to me this once it shall be a warning to me I will never sin against thee nor displease thee more but will from henceforth walk more humbly and holily and circumspectly before thee and yet all this that thou hast promised if thou wert able to perform it will not avail thee for God will hear none out of Christ and out of the covenant of grace 5. A man out of the covenant of grace he hath no true and speciall title to any of the blessings of God here in this world Gods blessings go along with his covenant and therefore it is very observable that in that chapter where God does promise the blessings of the covenant of grace in that very chapter he promiseth the blessings of this life as you may see in the 36. of Ezek. sayes God there I will powre clean water upon you and you shall be clean yea from all your filthinesses and from all your Idols will I cleanse you a new heart will I also give you and a new spirit will I put within you and will take away the stony heart from you and will give you a heart of flesh and will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgements and doe them and you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you shall be my people and I will be your God all these are the meroies of the covenant of grace now mark the next words saith God I will call for corn and will incerease it and lay no famine upon you but I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the increase of the field and so in the 10 11 ver of that chap. And I will multiply men upon you and the cities shall be inhabited and the wastes shall be builded and I will multiply upon man and beast and they shall increase and bring fruit and I will do better to you then at your beginnings and ye shall know that I am the Lord Here the Lord entails earthly blessings to the covenant of grace intimating that all that are under the covenant of grace they have a title not only to all spirituall but to temporal blessings likewise but no wicked man out of the covenant of grace hath any true title to any outward blessings they that are of the faithfull are blessed with faithfull Abraham and enjoy outward blessings as a blessing but wicked men it is true they have something allowed them but it it as to prisoners in a prison they have something to keep them alive untill their execution and so wicked men they have prison allowances till the execution day 6. Your misery that are strangers to the covenant of grace lies in this God will not give acceptance to any of your services though you may doe as much for the matter of them as any godly man doth nay thou mayst hear more Sermons and say more prayers and perform more duties then a godly man does and yet not be accepted when the others shall as you may see in Gen. 4. 4 5. Cain and Abel they both of them brought sacrifices to God one of his flock and the other of his grounds and the Apostle speaking of this sayes that by faith Abel offered a more excellent offering then Cain it was not more excellent in regard of the matter of it for in all probability and likelihood Cains sacrifice was of more value then Abels for his was but a few young lambs the firstlings of his flock but Cains was of the first fruits of his ground and yet Abels sacrifice was accepted and the others rejected because Abel was a godly man under the Covenant of Grace by which God did accept of what he did though it were lesse then Cains and so Solomon The sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord but the prayer of the upright is his delight a sacrifice you know is a great deal more costly then a prayer for that costs a man nothing but his breath when the other will cost a great deal of money and yet a costly sacrifice is hated by God coming from a wicked man when a pennilesse prayer coming from a godly man is accepted so that under a covenant of grace though you do less for the matter of the duty then wicked men doe
as having thy portion and interest in him and in none else this is an undoubted evidence that you doe belong to the Covenant of Grace 3. For God to be your God it notes Gods soveraignty and power over you for your benefit the Lord will reign over you and subdue corruptions in you and quell your pride and humble your heart and give you a meek and quiet spirit If you finde that God is yours in these three particulars you may comfort your heart in an unquestionable interest in the Covenant of Grace if God be your God and you his people that you have given up and devoted your selves wholly to the service of God in every thing that you doe 2. Another speciall blessing of the covenant of grace is that God hath promised to sanctifie and renew your natures as in Ezek. 36. 26 27. saies God there A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and will take away the stony hearts out of your bosomes and will give you hearts of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you shall keep my judgments and do them God will not onely give us life for our happinesse but grace for our holinesse he will not only give us imputed righteousnesse for our justification but also inherent righteousnesse for our sanctification now therefore examine your selves have your natures ever been sanctified and regenerated have you been ever washed with clean water and those stains of sin and corruption wiped away from you hath the beasom of sanctification ever swept your inward man and made it not a cave for every unclean bird to lie in but a habitation fit for the holy Ghost to dwell in if it be so you have a reall right to and interest in the covenant of grace for no man can have the blessings of the covenant but he must have a beeing in the covenant of grace It is very observable that God is not only as the covenant represents him a God gracious and mercifull slow to anger and full of compassion c. but he is a holy God as well as a mercifull God and therefore he will work holinesse in us and expect holinesse from us if ever we expect to have mercy and happinesse from him never lay claim to God nor expect life and happinesse from him as he is a mercifull God unlesse you resolve to be conformable to him as he is a holy God Object But here some may say This is not so great a blessing as you speak of to be sanctified by vertue of the covenant of grace for there are many men that may be sanctified by the covenant of grace and yet never be saved by it and this objection they ground upon that place in Heb. 10. 29. And they shall count the bloud of the covenant wherewith they were sanctified an unholy thing Answ I answer that the sanctification here spoken of is not a true sanctification but onely in profession in the sight of men not in the fight of God it is not a sanctification in very deed and in truth but onely in shew and in the judgement of men 3. Another blessing of the covenant of grace is the forgivenesse of our sins as in Jer. 3. 34. They shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest saith the Lord for I will forgive their iniquity and will remember their sins no more now beloved can you say that God hath pardoned your sins and done away your offences if so then you are under the Covenant of Grace Object But here some poor soul may say Alas I have been a great sinner and have committed offences against God and therefore I fear I have no reall interest in the covenant of grace Answ Be not discouraged for it is the glory of the covenant of grace to pardon great sins it puts a great deal of glory upon God to pardon great sins and passe by great offences as in Amos 5. 12 15. I know sayes God your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins here you see are manifold and mighty sins and yet saies God hate evill and love good it may be the Lord will be gracious to you nay the Lord he will be gracious to you though thou hast manifold and mighty sinnes yet it is not the greatnesse nor mightinesse of them but thy stubbornnesse of heart in not coming in and closing with Jesus Christ that undoes thee 4. Another blessing of the covenant of grace is Gods writing his Law in our hearts that we shall never depart from him as in Jer. 31. 33. I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts I will be their God and they shall be my people that is God will put into our hearts a sutable frame and disposition answerable to every command of God in his Law that we shall be able to obey observe and keep it and say that it is good and then saies God you shall never depart from me now examine your selves hath this effect beene wrought by the spirit of God in your hearts hath God written the Sermons you have heard not in your books but in your hearts if so these are good evidences of your interest in the covenant of grace 2. Another discovery or character of your interest in the covenant of grace is this if you have in you the inseparable concomitances that belong to this covenant of grace there are some things that doe alwayes accompany the covenant of grace as I shall instance in 3 or 4 particulars 1. If you be a man under the covenant of grace in covenant with God then you are disingaged from that league and covenant which you have made and contracted with your lusts whosoever is in covenant with God he hath broken his league with his lusts you cannot be in covenant with Christ till you fall off from your lusts and break off from your sins as in Act. 3. 25 26. sayes the Apostle You are the children of the Prophets and of the covenant which God hath made with our Fathers saying to Abraham even in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed First unto you hath God raised up his Son Jesus Christ and him hee hath sent to blesse you in turning every one of you from your iniquities so that if you are children of the covenant the Lord will turn every one of you from your wicked wayes and therefore you that are not turned from the evill of your courses that have not broken that league you have made with death and hell you can lay no claim to the covenant of grace as in Psal 50. 16. sayes God there to the wicked What hast thou to doe to take my covenant into thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed and castest my words behinde thee thou wilt not forsake thy lusts nor leave thy sins and therefore what
If you be at this pass I have preached al this while in vain the victory of Christ which I have discoursed of is to little purpose Oh consider generous Heathens may shame you you make all the provision of Christ in the Gospell to be of lesse effect then meer morall principles 2. Especially improve this in the very season and hour of death the great Goliah is now faln and you may come forth and look upon the carkasse death its self that startleth the creature and seemeth to be the great check and prejudice of Christian hopes is vanquished by Christ therefore in the very season when it seemeth to prevail over you apply the victory and say Thanks be to God c. When the pangs come upon you remember this is deaths last pull and assault you may bear with it it shall molest you no more as Moses said The Egyptians which yee have seen to day yee shall see them no more again for ever so you shall feel these things no more in heaven there are no groans nor tears nor sorrows have but a little patience and assoon as the last gasp is over the soul shall be carryed by Angels to Christ and by Christ to God beleevers have the same entertainment that Christ had he was carryed into heaven by Angels Dan. 7. 13. They brought him to the ancient of dayes and so we are carryed by Angels into Abrahams bosome Luk. 16. 22. they have a train to accompany them into heaven as their friends accompany their bodies to the grave and as Christ was welcomed into heaven with acclamations and God saith Sit down at my right hand and aske of me and I will give thee c. so are beleevers welcomed Well done good and faithfull servant enter into thy masters joy What remaineth then but that we dye by faith as well as live by faith but that we welcome death with confidence and breath out our souls in triumph Moses when he took up the Serpent in his hand 't was but a rod death thus welcomed and entertained by faith will prove at most but a correction yea rather a blessing of the Covenant a means of passage into glory One thing I had almost forgotten to presse you to thankfulnesse to Christ Oh blesse your Redeemer that hath delivered you from the fear of death admire his love and condescension that he should come down from heaven and substitute himself into our room and place and take the horrours of death into his own soul 't is said Mat. 20 28. The Son of man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransome for many Christ was a Prince by birth heir of all things yet he came not in the pomp and equipage of a Prince if he had come in state to visit us and to deliver comfort to us by word of mouth it had been much but Christ came not in this way not in the pomp of a Prince but the form of a servant to minister to our necessities and that in the highest way of self-deniall he gave his life as a ransome for many other Princes are lavish of their subjects bloud and care not how many lay down their lives for them many give their lives as a ransome for the Prince but here 't is quite otherwise this Prince layeth down his life to redeem the subjects and he suffered death that it might not bee terrible and destructive to us Oh blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ for this love for evermore Some may expect that I should speak something concerning the servant of God our dear brother now departed but I need not say any more then what I have spoken already all along the discourse I have indeed spoken of him and that in the judgement of your consciences the duties which I pressed upon you he performed the comforts which I have propounded to you he enjoyed I shall not make any particular rehearsall of the passages of his exemplary life I judge it not convenient only to you of this place I may take liberty to commend his doctrine and intreat you to be carefull of those precious truths which he sowed among you whilest the Lord used him here as a skilfull seeds man God looketh for some increase and taketh speciall notice of the time that you have enjoyed his labours there is an exact account kept in heaven in that parable These three years came I seeking fruit Luk. 13. 7. probably the three years of Christs ministery are intended for then he was entring upon his last half year God reckoneth how many yeares how many moneths your Minister hath been with you and accordingly doth expect fruit your pastour a little before his suffering professed high and worthy thoughts of you let him not be deceived 't will be sad for you in that great day of separation that when he expecteth to finde you among the sheep and to be his Crown and rejoicing he should see you among the goats he will know you there memory in heaven is not abolished but parfected I say he will know you though without any lessening of his own happinesse or repining at Gods rightous judgements FINIS An Alphabeticall Table A. AFflictions sweetned by Christ 75 76 Atheist in practise and judgement 238 Grounds of Atheisme 239 Discoveries of a practicall Atheist 243. 246 B. BAcksliders have no interest in Christ 43 Baseness of a man without Christ 23 61 Beggerlinesse of a man without Christ 26 A Beleever hath all things equivalently conditionally finally and in heritively 65 Blessings turn curses without an interest in Christ 55 Blindnesse of a man without Christ 28 C. CArist How a man may be said to be in Christ and out of Christ 18 What it is to be without Christ 19 The properties of a man without Christ 22 Characters of a man without Christ 34 The misery of a man without Christ 50. 101 Christ is to the soul as the sun to the earth 60 The benefits derived from Christ 67 All that Christ hath is a beleevers 71 and all that a Beleever hath is Christ's 73 Characters of a mans interest in Christ 85 Christ precious to a beleever 97 Church compared to a Commonwealth 103 Wherein they differ 107 Necessity of church government 109 Necessity of Church union 110 A great misery to be a stranger to the Church of God 113 A wicked man in the Church like a Wen in the body or a woodden leg 115 Comfort Vid. Joy No comfort without Christ 61. 75 Common-prayer-book an abstract of the Popish Masse 207 Three sentences of Scripture misinterpreted therein 206. 208. 210 Contentation only in Christ 98 Covenant and promise how they differ 118 Divers administrations thereof 119 Covenant of Grace what 121 How you may know whether you be within this Covenant 123 The difference in being under a Covenant of Works and a Covenant of Grace 126 The misery of strangers to the Covenant of grace 135