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 |
|
A50479
|
Comfort in death a funeral sermon preach'd upon the death of Mr. Timothy Cruso, late pastor of a church in London, who died Novemb. 26. 1697 / by Matthew Mead.
|
Mead, Matthew, 1630?-1699.
|
1698
(1698)
|
Wing M1545; ESTC R9995
|
21,237
|
34
|
from the dead dwell in us he that raised up Christ from the dead â— Thes 4.18 shall also quicken our mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in us Wherefore comfort ye one another with these words I KNOW you expect that I should say something of the Person Deceased and not pass him by in silence But I acknowledge my self to be very unfit for this Province it being a Work I rarely engage in as having no Authority to take the Commission out of the hand of his own Works Grov 31. â—lt They are to praise him in the Gates and not I. And yet it is not fit When every mean Virtue in others hath its Funeral Trumpet that so much Excelling Worth as was in him should be forgotten and the Memory of it buried with him Should I speak of his Carriage and Behaviour in the various Relations he stood in As a Son to his surviving Mother As a Husband to his Wife As a Father while he had Children As a Master to Servants As a Friend to his Friend I might herein propound him as a Pattern to many for he excelled most And that is a Good Man indeed who is good in all Relations BUT his Great and Chief Care was to fill up his Relation to God in Christ and that not only as a Christian and a Believer but as a Minister of Christ and a Pastor to that Flock which the Holy Ghost had committed to his Charge I must say God had fitted him for this Work Service above many of his Brethren in betrusting him with such Gifts and Talents as but very few have received AND how Diligent and Faithful was he in laying them out and so improving them in his Master's Service How Zealous was he for Christ How Laborious in his Work how sound in the Faith How great in Prayer How apt to Teach And how All was Crowned with Success is Evident in the many Comfortable Seals which God gave to his Ministry among you AND tho' his Natural Parts were great and made much greater by the Blessing of God upon his Unwearied Industry yet that he neither Leaned upon them nor Trusted to them appeared by his constant Labour and Study for every Sermon THEY that were Discerning Christians and did Wisely Observe the suitable Matter he prepared the exact Method in which it was ordered the taking Dress with which it was clothed the Charming Manner in which it was uttered could not but say That he did not offer to God that which cost him nothing His great Delight was in his Work for he knew how well it becomes a Disciple to be as his Lord whose Delight was to do the Will of God And therefore he was fervent in Spirit serving the Lord. And this made him willing to spend Rom. 12 11. and to be spent till by degrees he wasted and consumed himself I would have said no more of him were it not to Obviate some False and Malicious Whispers as if he Dyed in great Darkness and under much Trouble of Conscience I was with him the day before he Dyed and among other things I asked him How it was with him concerning his Spiritual State He told me That he had a Firm Confidence of Hope in the Infinite Righteousness of Jesus Christ I then asked him and desired that he would be as Plain with me as I desired to be Faithful to him If there was any particular Thing that lay as a burden upon his Conscience HE replied No he blessed God there was not But that which Troubled him in general was That in the Course of his Ministry he had not Honoured God as he ought to have done nor had he been so Faithful to the Souls of Men as he should have been But yet in this he could appeal to God that whatever By-Ends might come in and mingle themselves which he Renounced yet the Glory of God in the Conversion and Salvation of Souls was the great End he Aimed at in the whole Course of his Ministry And Blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he comes shall find so doing What I have else to say is to you that were his Flock over which the Holy Ghost made him Overseer but are now as Sheep without a Shepherd 1. Labour to be Truly Sensible of your LOSS and let it be deeply laid to heart for it is a Great a very Great Loss it is so to the whole Church of God but it is so more particularly to you especially if the Circumstances of it be considered for the Lord hath taken him from you in the midst of his Days and in the Prime of his Ministry And God hath not done this without a Cause and therefore you should every one reflect upon himself What have I done Wherein have I offended God Have not my Sins my Barrenness my Vnprofitableness under his Ministry provoked God to take him away as that good Woman said when she heard that the Minister of the Place had broke his Leg Oh! said she My Sins have broken my Ministers Leg. 2. Remember and keep in mind the Seasonable Counsel he gave you not only from the Pulpit but from the Press too by which though he it Dead he yet Speaketh Lay them up in your hearts and Practice them in your Lives Let me tell you that God expects much Fruit from you after such a Sower and such a Seeds-time as you have had Tho' you shall never hear him Preach more yet what he hath Preached you shall hear of again Not one Sermon that ever he delivered from this Pulpit but you must Account for it in the Day of Judgment and it will be a Dreadful Account now that The Bellows are burnt and the Lead is consumed of the Fire if the Founder hath Melted in vain â—er 6.29 AND therefore 3. IMPROVE this Providence this Sad and Severe Providence If you have hitherto turned a Deaf-Ear to the Word of God yet now Hear the Rod of God what that speaks for it speaks aloud When so many Faithful Ministers Eminent Servants of Christ are taken away in a few Months * Dr. Annesly Mr. Oldfield Mr. Vincent Mr. Mather Mr. Cole and now your Pastour and since him Mr. Day This is a Crying Voice it crys to this City it crys to this Place And what doth it say IT says That the Prophets don't Live for ever That they have their Heavenly Treasure but in Earthen Vessels That the Lamps are within the Pitchers and when the Pitchers break the Lamps go out and therefore Walk while ye have the Light lest Darkness come upon you IT says that When the Means of Grace are Undervalued WHEN the Loud Calls of God are Slighted WHEN the Great Truths of the Gospel are Corruped WHEN Deism in Contempt of the Son of God is Countenanced WHEN all Revealed Religion is Disowned and thereby the Gospel of Christ and the Ordinances of Christ and the Ministry of Christ rendered Vain and Useless Then God will soon Remove them This is what the Rod says NAY It says That unless we are Awakened and Reformed by these Judgments God will yet bring greater If there be not a speedy Repentance and Returning to God from all these Abominations he who hath put out so many of our Lights will put out all and and not only put out the Lights but remove the Candlesticks nay Hof 1.9 Write a Lo-ammi against us and say Ye are not my People and will not be your God THE Lord Teach us therefore now His Voice crys so loud to the City to Hear the Rod and who hath appointed it 4. BE Earnest in Prayer to God to make up to you this Great LOSS for He only can do it Eph. 9.11 Faithful Pastours are a peculiar Gift of the Lord Christ and they are a Gift that comes under a Promise Jer. 3 1â— I will give you Pastours according to mine own heart which shall feed you with Knowledge and Vnderstanding Go away and plead this Promise with God Pray in Secret in Private in Publick let each one make it his Duty let the whole Church make it their Duty Set some time a-part to meet together and Pray that he that hath in Judgment made this Breach would in Mercy make it up That He who hath took away Elijah to Heaven would send an Elisha to succed him This is the Mercy and Blessing which you now Want and none can Supply this Want but that God who hath the Residue of the Spirit Therefore cry to Him in the Words of Dying Moses Numb 27.16 17. Let the Lord the God of the Spirits of all Flesh set a Man over the Congregation which may go out before them and which may go in before them and which may lead them out and bring them in that the Congregation of the Lord be not as Sheep which have no Shepherd Amen FINIS BOOKS Written by the Reverend Mr. Mead Sold by Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheap-side THE Almost Christian Discovered Or The False Professor Try'd and Cast Spiritual Wisdom Improved against Temptation The Good of Early Obedience Or The Advantage of bearing the Yoke of Christ betimes Excellency of Unity A Sermon Preached before the Ministers of the Congregational and Presbyterian Perswasion There is newly Re-printed Two scarce Books one A Discourse of the Fountain of Life the other A Treatise of the Soul of Man both by the Reverend Mr John Flavel BOOKS Printed for and Sold by John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultry MR. Buxter's Life published by Mr. Silvester Folio Mr. Showers Sermon Preached to the Societies for Reformation of Manners Nov. 15th 1697. Octavo Mr. Woodhouses Sermon to the same Societies Octavo Mr. Addys Stenographia Or The Art of Short-Writing compleated in a far more Compendious Way than any yet extant c. In which Character is also Printed the whole Bible by Mr. Addy Cambridge Concordance in Folio
in the Flesh but Quickened by the Spirit 1 Pet. 3.18 Declared to be the Son of God with Power according to the Spirit of Holiness by the Resurrection from the dead Rom. 1.4 And this is the sense of that in 1 Tim. 3.16 Justified in the Spirit How was He Justified in the Spirit Why the Spirit by Raising Him from the Dead did therein declare him acquitted from all the Guilt he was charged with and all the Reproaches he underwent NOW as Christ arose so doth every Believer rise by the same power and that is the Power of the Spirit of God so the Apostle tells you 2 Cor. 4.14 He which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus He dwells as a Principle of Resurrection Power in every Believer and holds a Union with the Flesh for that very Purpose that while it is in the Grave He may preserve it and at last raise it again NOW pray mind the Text again If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the Dead dwell in you He that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you The Dead Body of a Saint is designed for quickening e for a Resurrection to Life And that is not all but it is to be conformed to the likeness of Christs Resurrection in its quickening This the Prophet intimates Isa 26.19 Thy Dead Men shall Live Together with my Dead Body shall they Arise So we Read it but the Hebrew is Nebelathi jekumun cadaver meum resurgent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thy dead Men shall live They shall arisc my dead Body The Natural body of a Believer belongs to the Mystical Body of Christ and shall arise as a part of his Body and therefore shall arise as his Natural Body did How is that By the Spirit dwelling in him AND the Spirit is said in the Text to dwell in the Dead Body of a Believer for that purpose He shall quicken your Mortal Bodies by His Spirit that dwells in you Your Margent reads it Because of His Spirit that dwells in you And that makes the Thing more plain viz. That the Great Reason why the Spirit dwells in the dead bodies of Believers is to be a Resurrection Principle in them to raise them again to Life This the words speak out plainly He shall quicken you because of His Spirit that dwells in you SO that a Resurrection to Glory is made plainly dependant upon the indwelling of the Spirit in such Bodies as shall be so Raised I don't speak of a Resurrection absolutely and simply but of a Glorious Resurrection For though the Resurrection of the Body considered in the thing it self be a business Absolute and Determined yet the Resurrection to Glory which is the thing intended is Conditional and not vouchsafed to any but upon an antecedent Work of Grace wrought in their hearts whereby they have the Spirit of the Lord dwelling in their persons and hereby he becomes a Resurrection-Principle in the Dust of a Saint to quicken his Dead Body to a Glorious Life Therefore you have a double dwelling of the Spirit mentioned in the Text If the Spirit dwell in you he shall quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you There is a Dwelling in you to sanctifie the Person of the Believer then a dwelling in you to raise the dead body of the Believer So that the Sense of the Text is this If the Spirit of God dwell in you now to Sanctifie your Persons here the same-Spirit shall dwell in your Bodies in the Grave to Raise them to Glory hereafter AND so I come to the Application of this Truth IS it so that the Bodies of all the Saints shall at the Last Day be Quickened and Raised again by the Spirit of God which dwells in them THEN the First USE that I would make of it shall be for Caution and that is That you would take heed of slighting this Truth or any other Truth of the Gospel because it may seem New or Strange This was the Spirit of the Learned Men of Athens when Paul Preached up Jesus and the Resurrection What New Doctrine is this say they for thou bringest certain strange things to our Ears Acts 17.19 20. Many are very apt to slight Things though of the Greatest Weight because they do not understand them the Line of their Reason is too short to Fathom them Do you think to Ketch the Sea into your Nut-shell Or to take a full Prospect of the Mysteries of God by the Dim-light of Pur-blind Reason Alas it can never be for these are Things the evidence whereof lies in Revelation and therefore we ought to believe them because God says them and to take comfort in the Truth of them tho we are not able to see the reason of them As we should not undervalue any Truth because it is common so we ought not to disown any Truth because it is to us new but if the Scripture doth confirm it it is our Duty to believe it This is a Truth of great Concern so great that the not believing of it takes away all the comfort of the Grave For what difference is there between the Death of a Saint and a Sinner The one hath no more Priviledge in the Grave than the other but only in this Solomon says The righteous hath hope in his death This is a hope that springs from Christ's hope Pro. 14.22 for he had hope in his Death my flesh shall rest in hope * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 16.9 23.4 shall dwell confidently i.e. confident of its Union confident of its Resurrection This was the confident hope of Christ in his Death and from hence it is that the righteous hath hope in his Death It is the same hope Christ had Now take away this Truth and what hope hath the Righteous in his Death then He hath hope after Death but what hope hath he in Death The Union of the Spirit with the Dust of a Believer gives hope in Death Tho I walk through the Valley of the shadow of Death I will fear no evil for thou art with me Who then would slight so useful and so comfortable a Truth as this is that doth so sweeten Death and make the Grave so easie 2. This Truth shews us the great disterence between the Resurrection of Man and Man of Saint and Sinner tho all shall rise yet they shall not rise alike Some shall have a better Resurrection than others shall there is a Resurrection both of the Just and the Vnjust Acts 24.15 He. 11.35 There is a Resurrection that ends in Misery and a Resurrection that runs into Glory Daniel calls the one an awaking to everlasting life and the other a waking to shame and contempt Dan. 12.2 And Christ calls the one the Resurrection of Life and the other Joh. 5.29 the Resurrection of Damnation Therefore there is a