abundantly in the work of the Lord so God prospered and blessed his labours abundantly He did not run in vain pray in vain preach in vain God made him a blessed Instrument of good of Eternal good to many Souls And he did as little mind the praise and glory of this World as he did the profits and gain of it He sought his honour in God only and was carry'd forth with pure aims and respects to his glory I have sometimes heard him profess that he scarcely knew what it was to lie under the temptation of desiring the praise and commendations of men in what he did He saw such an emptiness in all humane applause and had his eye so fixt upon his Masters glory that it put out all vain humane glory in his estimation I have often admir'd him for the good things of the Spirit of God that I saw in him for that spirit of Faith that dwelt in him he liv'd in as firm and lively belief of the Eternal and invisible things of the other World as any man that ever I knew For that Spirit of Adoption that rested upon him for he was as much above the spirit of Fear and Bondage as any man that ever I knew For that Spirit of Heavenly-mindedness that he liv'd in continually He had his heart and conversation in Heaven as much as any man that ever I knew For that Spirit of holy Courage he was fill'd withal for he was one that would stand for God in the worst of times and when he judg'd that the Cause and Truth of God required it he would not be daunted and driven from his Duty by the fear of men But above all his glory and Excellency lay in this the uprightness and integrity of his spirit that he serv'd his Lord and Master with such a single eye and such a single heart I have sometimes seen him rejoyce in spirit and speaking of the great comfort that he found in his Soul upon this account that his Conscience did bear him witness that he sought the glory of God in what he did above all the world and expected his reward from God only I have often thought that if ever I saw an Israelite indeed in whom was no guile he was one And as he was thus perfect and upright in his life so his end was peace and blessedness I saw him only the Evening before he died and asked him how he did He answered me That he had been under a very sharp rod But it was that which my heavenly Father said he hath laid upon me for as many as I love I rebuke and chasten that is a Paradox said he to the world but everlasting Arms are underneath me and I bless God he hath taken all the terror of Death quite away from me And when another asked him If he had not the restimony and witness of a good Conscience he would say Truly I have served God in sincerity and can truly 〈◊〉 I have believed and therefore have I spoken then those that were about him pitied him because of his great pains and Agonies You know not said he what my pains are and you know not what my Consolations are Oh how sweet will my glory and triumph be after these sharp pains And when his Relations wept about him he would be displeased with them saying What are you troubl'd that God is calling home his Children If you think I am afraid of Death you are mistaken for I have no fear of death upon me He had not the least Cloud upon his spirit in all his sickness that could be perceived by those about him And in the midst of the sharpest pains which could not but be very sharp by a large stone in his bladder and kidneys one of them being wasted and the other extreamly swoln under all his pains no other language came from him but Father pity thy Child But I see I must break off for the clouds return again after the rain the waters are ready to overflow the banks and I would not have you drown'd in tears What shall I say my Brethren precious in the sight of God is both the life and death of his Saints the memory of the righteous shall be blessed the name of holy men it is as a precious Ointment poured forth and so is the name of this holy man We need not bring any Spices to embalm him we need not raise him up any Tomb or Monument he hath a better Monument erected in the hearts of Gods people and of God himself than any we are able to erect unto him This I must say and this is all that I will say I verily believe there are few men that have been more belov'd whilest they lived or more bewail'd when they died Though the day of his Funeral was a clear Sunshine day without any Clouds yet I am sure there were many showrs of Tears that fell by the way as he was passing to his grave I should have spoken something to those that are left behind 1. To his Relations a word to them Do not you mourn as those that are without hope why should your eyes be pouring out tears for him when all tears are wip'd from his eyes he is with God and Christ and the innumerable company of Angels and Spirits of just men made perfect he is before the Throne triumphing and if you could hear him he would say to you Weep not for me shed not one tear for me but weep for your selves You have not one doubt not one fear concerning his everlasting happiness and Oh what a quieting consideration should that be to you 2. To you that were his Church and People I should have spoken a few words to you 1. Be you sensible of your loss lay to heart the breach that God hath made amongst you and such breaches as this should not be look'd upon with unbroken hearts You know how they lamented Samuel when he died and how they lamented Aaron and Stephen when they died and you have great cause of lamentation You will say We have wept again and again I but weep not only for your loss but for your sins we can many times pour out floods of tears upon our losses when we can look upon Sin that was the true cause of all with dry eyes all the while I tell you if your heads were Fountains of waters and your eyes Rivers of tears you could never enough bewail those sins by which you have sinned so many godly Ministers into their graves of late for when faithful and pious Ministers are going off so fast from us 't is a sad sign of some severe judgment that is coming on apace therefore lay this loss to heart To lose such a painful pious faithful Labourer as he was it is no little loss He had a large heart as the sand upon the Sea-shore for the doing of good he was one that did bestir himself to do good and did much work in a little time
perfect man for in a Gospel-sense they that would have no sin in them they have no sin in them and in a Gospel-sense they that desire and strive after perfection they are counted perfect Thus we have done with the first term the first Character that is given of a godly man as he is stiled the perfect man Secondly He is stiled the Vpright man and some distinguish between these two as between the Root and the Fruit the Fountain and the Streams Perfection they refer to the inward state of the Soul and uprightness to outward walking before God and Man but we need not be very curious in distinguishing these two for they are often put one for another and indeed a Christians perfection it lies in his uprightness and therefore Asa and Job and David are said to walk before God with a perfect heart that is with an upright heart Now then to be upright it is to be downright in Religion to be plain-hearted and single-spirited in what we do when we are true to our profession and real in what we do and thus Jacob is said to be a plain man that is a perfect and an upright man without any foldings or doublings in his spirit 't is oppos'd to Hypocrisie and false-heartedness to dissimulation and empty shows in Religion as the Phaerisees you know they made great shows in Religion they did many things but they were false-hearted in all that they did they made long Prayers but it was under a colour to devour Widows houses they gave Alms but it was to be seen of men they had by-ends base and sinister respects in all that they did they did seek themselves and served themselves in their serving of God they did not do it out of conscience and obedience to God to please God to honour God to enjoy God this was the dead Fly in all their Ointment this was the Leven that did sowr all their Services for without this inward Truth and uprightness of heart all that we do in Religion is nothing at all our most glorious performances they are but abominations in the sight of God if there be not this Truth within if they be not done out of conscience and obedience to God it is the same with that simplicity and sincerity you read of 2 Cor. 1.12 In simplicity and godly sincerity we have had our conversation in the world In simplicity not a foolish simplicity but a godly simplicity as God is said to be a Simple Essence without mixture so Pauls simplicity was without all mixture of guile or fraud or deceit in what he did I might shew you what are the Ingredients of this Uprightness when it is that we do act in the uprightness of our hearts First Love to God that must be the spring and principle from whence all comes for if we do not love God we shall not seek to please him in what we do and if we do not love God God will not be pleased with us neither in what we do for what are all our performances to God if they do not slow from Love and how can we love him except we know that he hath lov'd us first and therefore there must be Faith apprehending the love of God in Jesus Christ at the bottom of all without which all that we do in Religion is but Morality And secondly The Will of God must be the Rule of what we do for it is not properly a duty or service done to God if it be not done in obedience to his Will What Master will be served by his Servant as his Servant will if in our serving and worshipping of God we serve him according to our own will and not his Will we do but serve our selves and not God nay indeed we do but set up our selves in the room of God And Thirdly The Glory of God that must be the end of all not that we may have praise and glory from men but that God in all things may be glorified by us if we have any good thing in us it is from the grace of God that we receive it and if there be any good thing done by us it is by the grace of God we are enabled to do it and therefore the glory and the honour of all that we have and do belongs to God The upright man he is always an humble man he hath the lowest and meanest thoughts of himself of any in the World he hath to do with God in all that he doth and so he can see the defects that are in himself and in his services and therefore when he hath done all he doth acknowledg that he is but an unprofitable servant Thus you see who this Upright man is he is one that doth study to approve his heart unto God more than his ways and actions to men We might here shew you what are the signs and evidences of this uprightness of heart but I must not engage too far in that All that I will say is this There are two Verses in Davids Psalms if you are able to repeat them and your hearts not give your tongues the lye in the saying of them it will be a great proof and evidence of your uprightness the one is that in the 139 Psalm ver the last Lord search me and try me and see is there be any way of wickedness in me If you can thus pray to God that God would try you and search you and see if there be any corruption in you that does endanger your Salvation this is a great sign of your Uprightness That is a sure Rule He that repents truly of any Sin he does repent of every Sin for every Sin hath the nature of all Sin in it and therefore he that says This Sin I must reserve herein the Lord be merciful to me this pride this lust of mine I would have spar'd as Saul spar'd the fattest of the Cattel and as David would have the young man Absalom dealt gently withal he is no upright man The other Text is Psalm 119.6 Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy Commandments Mark true Uprightness it hath an eye to all Gods Commandments to all that is good to know the whole Will of God and to practice it He does not pick and chuse amongst the Commandments of God he that truly makes conscience of one Command makes conscience of every Command partial Obedience it is hypocritical Obedience So that here now is your Trial Christians when there is no Sin that you would have hid from Gods eye and no Duty that you would have hid from your eye when there is no Sin which God reveals to you to be a Sin but your hearts are against it and no Duty which God reveals to be your Duty but your hearts are for it when you make conscience of the least known Sin and of the least known Duty this and nothing less than this will prove your Uprightness will prove your
Oh my Brethren he is one that will be dearly mist by all His Family will miss him and his People will miss him the Countrey will miss him and the City will miss him too Saints will miss him to build them up in their Faith and Sinners will miss him to awaken and rouse them out of their sins the Poor will miss him to raise Collections for them to refresh their bowels and the rich will miss him to spur and quicken them up to be rich in good works The second thing I would say to you is this That you would live as those that have sate under the Ministry of so pious and worthy a Person how is that you will say first walk as Children of Purity Secondly as Children of Peace for he was a Friend to both First Walk as Children of Purity those pure heavenly and spiritual Exhortations that you have heard from him they do call for a pure and heavenly Conversation from you though he be dead and buried do not let his Sermons die and be buried with him the death of the Minister should indeed revive his Instructions and enliven and imprint the remembrance of them the more deeply upon the hearts of the people Secondly Walk as the Children of peace too and maintain Peace and Unity amongst your selves though the Shepherd be smitten yet let not the Sheep be scatter'd let not this breach that God hath made be the occasion of any more breaches amongst you Remember the words of David How sweet and lovely a thing it is for brethren to live together in unity Remember the words of Christ That blessed are the peace-makers And read over those words of Paul when you come home 1 Cor. 1.10 for I have not time to read them Take heed Brethren of walking so as to bring a dishonour and an evil report upon your Pastor and Teacher now he is gone O! think with your selves Did my Pastor teach me to be proud or to be covetous or to be unjust or to be censorious If he could return again upon the earth and see any of you such Would he not say to you Did you learn these things of me Lastly A word of Counsel in general and so I have done Do we desire to have peace in our end I that is it which we all desire Would we fain dye comfortably Who does not desire to do so Here is your way Two things I would leave with you 1. Mark the perfect and upright man to imitate his example 'T is the command of the Apostle Heb. 13.7 He would have them mark them that labour amongst them and follow their conversation O! it is a matter of great concernment whom you follow whom you imitate Alas if you live with the wicked if you follow vain persons you must dye with them do not think to live salsly and dissemblingly and yet to dye comfortably do not think to live with Pharoah and yet to dye with Moses to live with Judas to live with Demas and yet to dye with Paul No we must live with the pure with upright and perfect men we must make them to be our examples if we would dye with them we should make a good use of every good example that God hath given us A godly Man when he dyes bequeaths us this Legacy he leaves us the Picture of his Life to walk by 2. You must not only mark the perfect mans example and behold the upright man but you your selves must live so as you may give and leave a good example to others Brethren 't is not only the duty of those that teach you to give a good example as Paul exhorts Timothy and Titus to be examples to the believers in word in conversation in charity in faith in purity But it is the duty of hearers to give good examples one to another The Apostle exhorts aged Women Tit. 2.2 by their example to teach the younger Women and exhorts Wives to have their conversation so in fear 1 Pet. 1.3 that their Husbands beholding their good conversation may be won to the truth it may be thy Husband is not won by the hearing of the Word but thou shouldst labour to be so holy humble loving and obedient in thy conversation that hereby thou maist convince him What knowest thou O man whether thou shalt save thy wife and what knowest thou O woman whether thou shalt save thy husband Are there not many Husbands that have cause to bless God for their godly Wives Are there not many Wives that have cause to bless God for their godly Husbands Are there not many Children that have cause to bless God for their godly Parents There are many in Heaven who will be blessing God to all eternity that ever they saw the faces of such and such persons by whose holy conversations they were won to the love and liking of the ways of God Now then Labour to imitate the examples of the godly that have gone before you and to live so your selves that you may be an example to those that are round about you this is the way to have your end peace and then this Epitaph may be written upon your Graves Mark the perfect man and behold the upright for the end of that man is peace FINIS