Selected quad for the lemma: truth_n
Text snippets containing the quad
|
ID |
Title |
Author |
Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) |
STC |
Words |
Pages |
|
A51401
|
A sermon preached at the funeral of the Right Honourable Roger Earl of Orrery, who dyed the 16th of October, at Castle-Martyr, and was buried at Youghall in Ireland the 18th of the same month, in the year 1679 by Thomas Morris, M.A. ...
|
Morris, Thomas, M.A.
|
1681
(1681)
|
Wing M2812; ESTC R16333
|
20,753
|
48
|
in the words of the Text will yield us some relief in this matter Indeed considering all his Vertues and Accomplishments how pious a Christian he was how loving a Husband how careful and tender a Father how loyal a Subject how faithful a Friend how wise and vigilant a Statesman how good a Patriot of his Country how kind and just a Neighbour how charitable to the poor how noble a Master in his Family how ingenious and learned a Person in his discourses and converse and in a word how great a Lover of all Vertue and Goodness and Hater of all Vice and Impiety in all which he was so eminent that though he hath left behind him many Peers in his honours yet 't is to be feared few in his vertues considering I say all these things in him we might have reason never to have lest grieving and lamenting our loss of so excellent a Person But considering withal from what great pains and labours he now rests and what future evils he may be taken away from and to what an happy state of bliss he is now advanced where he doubtless enjoys the comfortable fruits of the good works he hath done though we have indeed lost one of the Pillars and Patriots of our Country and one of our best Friends yet we have reason humbly to acquiesce in the good will and Providence of God lest by our overmuch grief and sorrow we shew that we repine at what God hath done distrust his good Providence and envy the happiness of our noble Friend an happiness which a voice from Heaven declares they are possessed of that dye as he did saying Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord the very hearing of which methinks is enough to quiet and calm the most tumultuating passion upon this account And now that we may see we are not deluded in this matter with vain shadows and appearances of comfort I shall lead you to the considerations of those things in this noble Person which from what hath been said will appear to be a great relief to us this way And to let pass those many things that might be said of him in all which should I be particular I shall be thought to compose a Volume rather than a Sermon all that I shall say shall be only what will be pertinent to our present comfort which I shall digest into this following order shewing 1. What reason we have to believe this noble Person dyed in the Lord and consequently is blessed 2. What labours he now rests from 3. What good works of his follow and entertain him with unspeakable joys 1. That this noble Person died in the Lord these things following sufficiently declare viz. His Faith his Repentance and his sincere obedience to all Gods Commandments First His Faith For as he was by Baptism initiated in the true Faith so he continued firm and stedfast in it to the end He believed with all his heart and soul as he would often phrase it all the truths of Gods Word and would often declare He expected salvation in and through none else but Jesus Christ alone because he would say Acts 4.12 there is none other name under Heaven given among men whereby we must be saved And this Faith of his was not an idle speculative Faith but truly active and working which he would often say was the only true saving Faith for it made him severe against all vice and impiety and a lover of all vertue and goodness it made him also employ the utmost of his great Parts in the rigorous defence of all those religious truths which he believed Gods Word contained against all the incroaching errours of all Parties and this not only in his common Discourses but sometimes with his Pen too neither did his Faith make him a talkative Christian only but it influenced all his actions also so that his whole life seemed to be but one continued Argument of his firm belief Secondly His Repentance He did not only believe but with tears often lamented and repented of all the sins he could charge himself with which though they were not many for he generally led too strict a life to be guilty of very many yet those that he was guilty of through surprize anguish of his Distemper or frailty he had so tender a Conscience that he was immediately sensible of them and would with tears in his eyes heartily beg God's pardon for them and by many expressions testifie how much grieved he was for offending God but by a sinful word as all that were near him can abundantly witness And this his sorrow for sin which wrought this repentance in him never to be repented of made him watch and pray and zealous against those sins he had been any time through frailty guilty of all which are sound marks of unfeigned repentance if we will believe what the Apostle says concerning the fruits and effects of godly sorrow in 2 Cor. 7.10 11. Thirdly His sincere obedience his sound faith and unfeigned repentance could not chuse but bring forth the saving fruits of obedience in his life and conversation Hence it came to pass that he was truly zealous in his life for the honour of God and Religion which zeal of his enkindled in him an holy indignation against the common crying sins of the Age viz. drunkenness whoredom prophane swearing and cursing oppression schism atheism c. For which abominations he would say The Land mourns and God will certainly visit Besides all this it made him most religiously devout in all the Duties and Services of publick and private Worship it made him frequent in good and edifying discourses and in heavenly ejaculations and prayers and that even amidst his greatest pains it made him charitable to the poor humble and modest temperate and sober just and peaceable forgetful and forgiving of injuries and in a word it made him do all things that Christ had commanded him not out of any bye and sinister ends but in pure obedience to Gods will and out of a respect to God's Glory and his own souls salvation Now what do all these things else but testifie that he lived and dyed in the Lord For they who being baptized into the true Faith live and dye in it repenting of all their sins and obeying sincerely all Gods Commandments are the persons who from what hath been said appears dye in the Lord and then this noble Person who so dyed must needs be blessed as such in the Text are declared to be Having therefore now this assurance of the blessed state this noble Person now is in let us next take a view of the Particulars wherein it consists and therefore 2. We next come to consider the great labours he now refts from And here we shall find That besides those labours and evils which 't is common to all that dye in the Lord to rest from as from sin and the troubles and horrours of it from crosses and afflictions c.
great that to question it will be to injure Christianity and affront our reasons for besides the many other places of Scripture which bear witness to this truth this of the Text also is a most full and unexceptionable proof of it where we have an account from one infallibly inspired by the spirit of truth that he heard a voice from Heaven declare this Blessedness and that the spirit of God said as it were an Amen to it to confirm it For so saith the Holy Pen-man And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write blessed are c. Which words as they contain in them admirable matter of comfort against the death of our selves or others that dye in the Lord so they will afford me a fair opportunity of speaking something concerning the admirable worth of this Noble person Deceased whose Funeral Obsequies we are here met with loads of grief to solemnize of whom should I say nothing I might well deserve to be branded with ingratitude and injustice His noble Birth and Parentage his honourable Alliance his high Titles and places of honour and trust which the bounty of his most Sacred Majesty thought good to confer on him without repenting though they sufficiently declare to the world that he was a person of no mean Merit and Quality yet for as much as Honour may be possessed by the unworthy as well as worthy therefore I shall here pass by these things of him as the least part of his praise and in the close speak a little of those singular Virtues he was eminent for which have render'd his Memory glorious and happy and his Decease comfortable to his Friends and Relations though our loss of him be most deplorable In the mean time I shall crave leave to consider the import of the Text and discourse so much only of the matter contained in it as will lead me to what I have further to say of this Noble person The sacred Pen-man of this last part of Scripture being in the foregoing Verse acquainted with the invincible patience of the Saints under their afflictions is in the words of the Text acquainted with their blessedness also Where we have First A future blessedness after Death declared and recorded write blessed are the dead Secondly The persons described who are declared to be thus blessed viz. such as dye in the Lord Thirdly The time when these persons are blessed viz. from henceforth from the time of their decease to all Eternity Fourthly the evidence afforded us of the undoubted certainty of this truth Which is twofold 1. The testimony of a voice from Heaven declaring this thing and commanding it to be Recorded which voice was heard by one of the Holy Apostles and attested by him when inspired by the spirit of truth I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me write blessed c. 2. 'T is moreover attested and confirm'd by the Holy spirit of God who is truth it self and cannot lye yea saith the spirit that is the spirit of God saith this is true Fifthly The nature of this blessedness wherein it consists and that we find is in two things 1. In a freedom from those evils which holy persons undergo in the flesh they rest from their labours 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In enjoying the good of all they have done their works do follow them or accompany with them as the words in the original properly signifie I should exceed the bounds of a Funeral Sermon and consequently be too tedious should I take the liberty to say so much as on this Text and on this occasion I might both which afford such a plenty of matter that it is hard to distinguish which is the most copious subject I would do no wrong to the Text and I am as unwilling to be so injurious to the happy memory of this Noble Peer as to pass by in silence those things of him which are worth our knowledge and imitation and I would not exceed my due bounds To be as brief therefore as the subject matter I am to discourse of will handsomly permit I shall crave leave to make no other observations from the words of the Text than what will lead me to speak pertinently though briefly too on the subject of this present sad occasion First And here first 't is worth our while to observe That there is for certain a blissful state to be enter'd upon after Death by those that dye in the Lord for we find in the Text a voice from Heaven from God himself declaring that blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord and this is one of the greatest evidences of the truth of a thing that mortals can expect Exod. 20.1 By such a voice God declared his will upon Mount Sinai By such a voice Christ is declared to be the Son of God Matt. 3.17 And by such a voice they are declared blessed that dye in the Lord. And lest we should have any doubt about the truth of this declaration upon the account of the reporter who perhaps may be thought to be deceived or deceive to obviate such a doubt we find an inspired person reports this one acted by the infallible spirit of God records this and that by a special command too of that voice which he heard declare it and lest yet there should be any place of doubting the spirit of truth peremptorily asserts and confirms it But to speak a little more particularly of this important truth I shall in brief consider 1. Who may be said to dye in the Lord. 2. What rational grounds we have to be perswaded that such are blessed after their death 1. As for dying in the Lord by Lord here we are to understand our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and to dye in him implies two things 1. A being baptized into Christ for a persons dying in Christ doth necessarily suppose his being in Christ before he dyes else he cannot be said to dye in Christ Now Baptism is the ordinary way by which persons are brought to be in Christ for 't is said Gal. 3.27 as many as are baptized into Christ have put on Christ 2. It implies also a living and dying suitable to that profession of Christ which is made in Baptism for all that are baptized do not dye in Christ because many fall away from that profession they made in baptism and so dye in a wicked Apostasie from Christ They therefore only dye in Christ who live and dye suitable to their Baptismal profession believing with all their hearts in Jesus Christ and taking care to yield such unfeigned obedience to all the Gospel precepts as to be always heartily sorry for the committing of any sin or omitting of any duty They that thus live conformable to Christ and his precepts and continue unto the death in such a conformity may be truly said to dye in the Lord Joh. 15.14 Joh. 8.31 for Christ owns such to belong unto him that do whatsoever