way weaker Christians can hardly get to Heaven for them not without stumbling wounding their Consciences and making their hearts to ake 2. Persons that do iniquity no good much mischief in the Church and that make it their employ Too many such there are in the visible Church because they whose concern it is take not that care of and inspection over them as they ought When both these shall be bundled up by the Angel and hurl'd into the fiery furnace as fewel for Hell yet not be consumed but Salamander-like live in the devouring fire and dwell with everlasting burnings Consider these four Particulars 1. The Subjects of future Glory the Righteous 2. What their Dignity preferment and eternal happiness will be viz. 1. They shall shine as they do in Grace and Holiness much more in glory 2. Shine forth i. e. be perfectly freed from every thing that eclipses their light or obscureth the splendor and brightness of their Grace and Holiness 3. Shine forth as the Sun i. e. gloriously incomparably not as the Moon that changeth as the Sun in its noon day glory with unchangeable everlasting light shall they be perfectly glorified 3. The Firmament or place where In the Kingdom of their Father God may as soon be pulled out of Heaven his Being and Glory be extinct as they plucked out of their Orbs and their light and glory be put out 4. The time when when Hypocrites the unrighteous shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented with their Father the Devil and abide there for ever there to the torment of sinners their own unspeakable comfort especially to the glory of God shall the righteous in Heaven shine out Hence Note 1. They that shall be glorified are the righteous viz. through Regeneration Reputation by Sanctification and Acceptation 1. They that are righteous through Regeneration called v. 38. the children of the Kingdom by an usual Hebraism as in those terms children of death children of wrath c. 1. Because they are designed for and constituted by God heirs of the Kingdom And 2. are made capable of it being born of the Word of the Spirit of God himself 1. They are born again not of corruptible black rotting seed but of incorruptible the Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 â— et 1.23 24. i. e. Not of the Word of man flowers and flourishâ—s of humane wit and eloquence which soon fade corrupt and like rotten seed come to nothing but of the Word of God pure Gospel v. 25 whence they grow and as the corn sown and the corn in the ear are of the same nature by Regeneration turn as it were very word and spirit that incorruptible seed the Word of the Kingdom being turned into Grace in their hearts changes and transforms them inâ—o new Creatures and they grow from it in Grace and Holiness 2. They are born of the Spirit Joh. 3.5 6. and thereby not only Evangelized but spiritualized 2 Cor. 3 18. Changed into the image of Christ presented to them by the Gospel who received the Spirit without measure and transformed from glory to glory from grace to grace or from one degree of the glorious grace and graces of the Lord the blessed spirit to another made very like not only to their Lord Jesus but the Lord the Spirit Yea 3 ly They are born of God 1 Joh. 3.9 so implicitely termed his children in the Text which calls Heaven by the name of the Kingdom of their Father Though 't is true they grow after in their resemblance of him as they grow more holy as he is holy Eph. 4.23 24. in holiness of Truth wrought in them by the Word of Truth and by the Spirit of Truth whereas before Conversion there is none righteous not one Jew one Gentile one in all the World All are of their father the Devil and his works they will do All are corrupt and do iniquity yea abominable iniquity and do not do good Their best actions in holy Austin's Language are but glittering sins some in our days would say the good Father is out his bolt is soon shot what were the eminent vertues of the Heathens sins how differs Grace from Vertue and Morality therefore we 'l say the best actions of the unregenerate being not from a principle of Grace have nothing of holiness truth of grace and goodness in them So are sins of omission which was Austins meaning They do no good at all 2. Such as are righteous by Reputation i. e. to whom God imputeth not sin and guilt but reckoneth and reputeth righteous in his sight not for any thing wrought in them or done by them but for the merit righteousness perfect obedience and full satisfaction of their Lord Jesus received by faith alone This is the good seed the word of truth the Gospel of our Salvation which being scattered by Ministers and blown by the Blessed Spirit into the prepared hearts of Intelligent hearers takes root and grows there They which come up thereby to trust i. e. to hope in Christ and to be justified by faith thorough him they are the good seed the righteous that shall be glorified As the Sons of the first Adam were made sinners the Sons of the second are made righteous None after regeneration can make themselves righteous if they could keep the whole Law since by Adam's disobedience theirs in him they were made sinners All and only believers are constituted righteous by the obedience of Christ who was made of God the second Adam a common head and representative of all that were given to him by the Father This righteousness is not their own but Christs yet 't is theirs being made theirs 1. by Gods Donation 2. by their thankful acceptance apprehending laying hold upon and appropriating of it by faith So if I may borrow the Learned Mr. Richard Hooker his saying God accepts them in Jesus Christ as perfectly righteous as if they had fulfilled all that was commanded in the Law shall I say more perfectly righteous than if they had fulfilled the whole Law I must take heed what I say but the Apostle saith God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him 3 ly They who are by Inchoation I mean by the Word and by the spirit of Holiness truly in part though not perfectly sanctified and made righteous and daily more and more when as 't was in an instant of their being turned to God that they were regenerate of their believing in Christ that they were justified Whom he justified them he also glorified Rom 8.30 i. e. say Divines he sanctified There being not a specifical but only a gradual difference betwixt them and such have love and do righteousness 1. They have righteousness inherent in them answering to what was in the first and in some measure to that which is in the second
ΕΚΛΑΜΨΙΑ ΤΩΠΔΙΚΑΙΩΠOR THE Shining forth of the RIGHTEOUS A SERMON PREACHED Partly upon the death of that Reverend and Excellent Divine Mr. STEPHEN CHARNOCK And in part At the Funeral of a godly Friend By JOHN JOHNSON M. A. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyssen Orat. de Mortuis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys hom in Matt. 49. Cum a propriâ ingenita Corruptione immunes ab ascittiâ improborum inquinatione separati non tum ut alim sicut Luna quae suâ Luce mutabilis est sed ut ipse Sol infinito fulgore fulgebunt Cartwr in Mat 13.43 LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be sold by Tho. Parkhurst Will. Miller and Benj. Alsop at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside at the Acorn in St. Pauls Church-Yard and at the Angel and Bible in the Poultry 1680. TO THE READER Courteous Reader I Thought when it was told me that my only bosom-friend amongst the Ministers that excellent Divine Mr. Stephen Charnock 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lay a dying that I heard a Voice from Heaven which whispered to him Go up and Die but spake aloud to us Do the Prophets live for ever It awakened me to review a Sermon which I had preached at the request of some godly friends in Leicestershire upon a Text given by their Father the day before his Death and to repeat it to some very few of Mr. Charnocks Hearers My intent in publishing of it is not so much to gratifie them both as to endeavour some small benefit to the souls of some weaker Christians as well as theirs before I go hence and be no more May not a little milk be handed by me to new born babes but one or another must think strange of it What if they should I leave it to others to seed strong men with stronger meat This prevails with me Mr. Charnock is dead I 'm a dying Some other reasons I have acquainted him with who knows my thoughts afar off Here 's nothing of an Elogium on my Country friend that I delivered formerly to his Relations little concerning Mr. Charnock I should have said at least attempted much more but I heard a Narrative of his Life will be drawn by an able hand All my skill could not have done it to the life If this Sermon beyond my intention should fall into the hands of any Ministers besides some few my acquaintance and Juniors who may challenge it from me I shall add only this following character taken out of several of the Fathers Writings more applicable I dare avouch it to Mr. Charnock than those to whom they affixed it I cite not the places they are known to Scholars He was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I pray they may be delivered into this expressed form as these lines were into their Types and commend them and the following Discourse to the blessing of our good God and rest Thine in our Lord John Johnson THE Importunity of some constraâ—ns me to render into English the Character in the Epistle to the Reader though far short of the copiousness and elegancy of the Greek Language i. e. He was as to manners and comportment venerable and grave like an aged person from his youth Then well train'd up and learned in all the wisdom couched under exotick and foreign languages In his skill in both the Originals of Sacred Writ the wisdom taught by the holy languages was he instructed and so augmented and grew ripe as in years even to perfection and became not only the lively representation but the original it self of humanity love and kindness towards the sons of men Keeping no consort but only grace and vertue He was the Rational house of God Christs spiritual building the Temple of the Holy Ghost framed made up of Orthodox Doctrines and good works A person really transformed into the very Image of God himself Always serving the only true and living God as becomes such a God All the work wherein he employed and exercised himself with diligence skill and constancy was love to God and souls His life he examined and squared until it was in every thing exact according to the rule of the Word His Gravity not affected in the least his very silence was more efficacious many times than his own very often than the speech of others But all his Ministerial service always such as brought down fire from Heaven upon the spiritual Sacrifices He being a fountain of Divine Truth a larger beam of great light which always carries much warmth and heat as well as light along with it He was the very mouth by which the Lord Christ spake and a genuine Interpreter of the Holy Ghost of his mind in the words of his meaning in the Doctrines of the Gospel That Golden Urn in the Ark of God that preserved Divine Manna and was fill'd to the brim with Coelestial food to nourish souls in spiritual unto eternal life his heart ever-flowing and over-flowing love and grace abundantly poured round his lips The Doctrines he set forth before his Hearers for food and physick were most Divine whom he never directed into any way of truth wherein he had not walked before them Christs most fruitful Vine over-spread the walls of his Auditory well hung with lovely clusters and flourishing with pleasant fruit of all the salutiferous Doctrines of the Gospel whence Ministers others carried home baskets full to rejoice the hearts of new-born babes which they were to bring up for Christ Herein lay his Eminency he had resigned all into the hands of his Lord and Saviour that had received him viz. his Estate Reputation Health Life and what ever might be for his comfortable being here even his Learning and Learned Discourses enjoying only thus much of all these things that he over-looked them and had wherewith he might make it appear how much he pre-esteemed Christ before them MAT. 13.43 Then shall the Righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father OUR Lord in this and the two precedent verses ascertains us what Discrimination at the end of the world shall be of Saints and Sinners They can hardly be distinguisht here In the Lords field pure corn grows and also tares i. e. not such noisome and noxious weeds as cockle darnel c. openly known notorious sinners such should be weeded out But as the Learned Brederodius after him Scultetus and others do expound it burnt or blasted corn which cannot be extirpated before Harvest without endangering the plucking up good corn with it From the same root I have observed blasted ears sprang up-must then since 't would sully and damage the good corn Amongst the truly righteous Hypocrites grow up which are but 1. Things that offend i. e. not Dissenters they are persons scandalized offended Nor 2. only men Heterodox or Hereticks that lay Traps to ensnare others But 3. All such as lay or lye themselves as stumbling-blocks and snares in the
light of the world 'T is but an hour The Church once said This is the day of Jacob's trouble She is still militant under the Cross eclipsed with a cloud 'T is but for a day then more gloriously will her light shine forth The Pageantry of sinners will soon be over They come on the stage dazzle spectators eyes the scene will alter such as acted the part of Nobles e're long will appear as they are meer Beggars nay in a worse condition when called to account for what they profusely spent on their lust and when thrown into Hell that most hideous prison from whence there is no redemption In this vale of tears I sit down and cry Few and evil have my days been The Church said Though I am comely look not upon me I am scorched Sun-burnt and much discoloured thereby Nay all my days have been one night In perils oft and too much in fears of them 'T will be day what 's this to eternal life What 's time to eternity What 's this moment to the five thousand years past since the Creation yet that and all the time that shall be which the Lord only knows till the end of the World is nothing to Eternity all that endless eternity shall I shine forth in glory 2. At the day of Judgment when scandals they that do iniquity some that created me much disquiet and discomfort in the world shall be cast into Hell shall all my sorrow be turned into joy and my disgrace into glory Let Antiochus be Epiphanes here was not he eaten up of lice or worms and will not that greedy worm of Conscience gripe gnaw and feed upon his soul to all eternity Let Herod for his gorgeous apparel be most illustrious had not he the same Exit Act. 12 22 23. But v. 24. The word of God grew and multiplied Let Bishops at Rome come forth in their Pontificalibus and their Olympia's in gold and silver in all their gallantry and too many of our professing Gentlewomen to their shame for Ladies generally are more modest in their apish French Modes and fashions they have little else to set themselves out with Was not Dives one day clothed in fine linnen in purple clad in scarletrobes which the sumptuary Laws of the Romans allowed only the chief Magistrates to wear the next in Hell and when out of curiosity he had looked for but found not Lazarus did he not lift up his eyes and espy Abraham in Heaven with Lazarus in his bosom in his lap on his knee leaning on his bosom cheering him Thou wast as thy Saviour some time in the world and receivedst didst patiently take from the â—ands of others since thou lawest the hand of God in it and didst not bring upon thy self thine evil things thou hadst hard measure scarce a rag to thy back a crust for thy belly yonder 's one lies that had enough to spare might and ought to have relieved thee but had no heart to do it he had more respect for his hounds than a child of God Look now he 's in torments thou art and shall be comforted for ever Thy Father hath called thee into this his Kingdom of Heaven with everlasting consolation to comfort thee here shalt thou shine in glory for ever So shall shine when many Diveses shall be cast into Hell to be tormented for ever weeping wailing and gnashing of their teeth 2. 'T is time for me to beseech the concern of your comfort at present and future happiness calls you to try whether ye be righteous and shall be glorified 1. Are you born of the Word of the Spirit of God himself 1. Of the Word was you ever by the Gospel read or preached brought out of the Kingdom of Satan the World into the Church militant Has the Word of God been the power of God to your conversion Were you by any Ministers preaching Christ brought over to Christ so as you gave up your selves and your heart souls and bodies to the Lords Anointed the Messiah the Christ the great Prophet the only King Head and Saviour of his Body the Church to be taught governed and saved by him How shall ye know this why 1. If you v. 23. received the seed the Gospel into good ground I would not give you my own much less other mens but the Lord Christs characters of the Regenerate i. e. you heard the Word and understood it it made such impression and took deep root in your hearts as made you leave the world and cleave to Christ with full purpose of heart at least to be as desirous and sollicitous to be Subjects of the Kingdom of Christ in grace as to have a lot and share with the righteous in the Kingdom of glory You have known and learnt from the Word and Spirit something of Christ of his Grace and Truth and of the life and immortality that he brought to light by the Gospel Whereas the first the worst sort of hearers are all ignorant careless willfully ignorant hearers such as hear the Word without attention affect on understanding do not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their minds go along with the Word till they understand it and get grace spiritual light and wisdom by it they resisting the motions of the good Spirit God suffers the evil one to beguile them of it by casting vain at least unseasonable thoughts into their minds God gives encrease to the conscientious careful attentive hearer which he denies to the careless and negligent that will not attend and regard but thinks to give the Minister the hearing is enough to stop the mouth of Conscience to save his credit with professors yea to save his soul such a cheat he puts upon himself 2. Are you born of the Spirit how shall you clear that why if v. 23. you bear fruit as good corn doth in a fertile soil which grows and comes up in a hundred where many ears spring from the same root or sixty where fewer or thirty where the fewest corns for one as persons are wrought upon by the Word and Spirit some in and after hearing are made as much more spiritual in their thoughts meditations desires than others And yet there are some that herein very much exceed them yet all that are regenerate bear fruit Act. 20.32 of the same kind and nature with the seed sown fruits of Grace resembling the Spirit of Grace gracious thoughts desires purposes resolutions spiritual meditations holy affections gracious words and discourse the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 Love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith Conformity to Christ which are fruits unto holiness Rom. 6.22 Good works works of Piety Religious acts works of honesty righteous dealings works of mercy and charity In a word all the fruits of righteousness Phil. 1.11 The Word works a wonderful change 1. In their hearts 2. In their lives and conversations coming up like Isaac's seed Gen. 26.12 in some an hundred fold Whereas the
by the disobedience of the first Adam and that ye can never be acquitted therefrom but through the obedience of Christ the second Adam by your believing on him and his righteousness have you had the sense of that sin that guilt lying up on you as much as the guilt of the want of original righteousness corruption of nature of actual sins of omission and commission have you had a sight of your need of Christ of his perfect righteousness so as to apprehend it as that wherewith alone God is and can be well pleased and satisfied and as that which is only sufficient to justifie you in his sight Have you by faith applied and appropriated this righteousness to your selves and so trusted i. e. hoped in Christ after ye heard this word of Truth Ephes 1.7 This Gospel of your Salvation Ephes 1.12 13. Do you lay the weight of all your confidence all your hopes for Salvation on this corner-stone Christ God-man on whom the Church is built The more after Regeneration ye abstain from sin perform duty the more will you see sin in your natures lives and the guilt of commissions and omissions carelesness in the performance if not neglects of duty you 'l have less sin but more light and so not have but see more sin in and by your selves and the more your sin unrighteousness and the impurity and imperfection of your own righteousness the righteousness of Christ the perfection of it are discovered to you the more will ye go on from faith to faith and live by it Rom 16.17 3. Are you righteous inchoatively i. e. in part some measure and degree purified and sanctified by the Word and through the Sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience 1. Have you righteousness inherent gracious dispositions and habitual grace the graces of the Spirit infused into and wrought in you By these is the new nature clearly evidenced The blessed God having created a new man will not leave off his work till he hath made him a real and conspicuous Saint do you find as a corrupt nature remainders of indwelling sin by evil dispositions inclining you to that which is evil so a sanctified nature by gracious dispositions inclining byassing you to that which is holy just and good Do those dispositions the blessed Spirit moving you to frequent exercise become habitual Rom. 4.5 6. 7.14 to the end In the unregenerate and unsanctified ones there are nothing but evil dispositions which the Devil helping on grow up into evil habits and strongly incline them to that which is evil to love it and to do it In the sanctified though there be corruption yet there is grace though there be remainders even of hypocrisie yet there is truth of grace and many gracious dispositions infused by the Spirit which by his mighty co-operation with the Word grow into habits strongly set them against all evil make them hate and abhor it and byass them unto that which is good making them to love it Rom. 7.19 they would do that good which they do not and would not do that evil which they do whereas a sinner a wicked man that good that he doth he would not do that evil which he doth he would do and he doth it in despight of God and man and his own conscience very freely very willingly indeed with all his heart Therefore 2. Doth grace in your heart frequently shew it self 1. By your hatred of sin of every false way that appears to you by the light of the Word and Spirit so to be And 2. by your love to holiness and righteousness and an universal respect to all Gods commands is the firm and full resolution of your souls and your daily endeavour to bring your hearts and lives into as near a conformity to the mind and will of God as possibly ye can Though ye too oft fail in the doing of it is it the desire of your hearts and your endeavour to be as good holy righteous as God would have you to be weaker Christians seeing many failings in their duties much sin in their hearts little good done in their lives conclude they are not regenerate they should discern and bewail that they are sanctified but in part and pray and strive that they may be wholly Had they not been regenerate they could not have seen that sin which they see nor have done duty and had they not been sanctified they could not have so hated sin which they see and so loved righteousness as to be much troubled that they do so much of the one so little of the other 3. That ye may know whether you have not only gracious dispositions but habits the graces of the Spirit in you Chiefly have an eye to your work business and employment in the world True Paul did not some good that he would did do some sin that he would not yet he did abstain from much evil do much good Who so much as he the weakest poorest Saint does some good that is not only his profession but his trade his calling Ye cannot but know what work you have been doing and done since you came into the world What good have ye done in your places and generations Joh. 5.28 29. they that should have minded things of concernment did many frivolous things or actions that should be done but not aright according to Gods appointment and many mischievous acts shall arise to condemnation and they which have done many and many a good act and deed good for their kind and the manner of their doing of them from good principles and for right ends shall arise to the Resurrection of life a life in glory remember as much as ye can of your good actions Try them by the Touchstone do you think they will abide the trial another day at the day of judgment Oh that there were a heart in all of you to do all that has been desired in the sight of God! then I am sure you will 4. Above all try whether you have in all been upright and sincere and righteous before God Do you give God his due and to men theirs and do both as under the eye in the sight of God The Formalist gives God part not his whole due his body not his soul his cap and knee but not his heart he regards not God and God regards not him The meer Moralist will give man his due he either respects or fears him but will not give God his he gives to God very little if any at all he cares but little for God and God as little for him The hypocrite pretends to give both God and man their due carries it so as if he would have others think he doth it but God sees him sees he doth all to be seen of men nothing as in the sight of God he hath his reward Only the truly righteous gives as well as he can both God and man their due and doth both as in the sight of God his
his as it was of the Lords preaching in the land of Zebulon The people which sat in darkness saw great light and to them which sat in the region of the shadow of death light sprang up And lastly in this great City where his sphere being not spacious enough for so great a light was enlarged Here he intended to have given forth a compleat body of Divinity but alas after he had demonstrated the Being and Existence of God this Sun set before he had gone over half of his transcendent Excellencies and Perfâ—ctions The last subject he treated on and finished was the Patience of God He was looking what to say next of the Mercy Grace and Goodness of God which he is gone to see and to admire for he found that which he most looked and longed for The mercy of our Lord Jesus unto eternal life in heaven where he shines now Indeed all the while he was upon the Attributes of God he moved with that extraordinary strength and celerity 't was an argument of his near approach unto his center his everlosting Rest and if it be true as some say that the Soul doth prominere in Morte his words were too true Predictions and from his Soul when he said that concerning Divine patience would be his last Sermon which the Lord grant may prove Salvation to all that heard him Let me advise you dry your eyes he is translated to Heaven to shine forth Here your Timothy was something obscured by manifold infirmities a crazy Body weak Eyes one dark the other dim a Hand that would shake sometimes an infirm Stomack an aking Head a fugitive memory which after it had failed him sometimes he would never trust again but verbatim pen'd and read all his Notes whereas till of late years in Preaching he never look'd within them more by a little Passion or choler which through grace he turned into the right channel most of all by foul and false Aspersions cast upon him as if he was Melancholly Reserv'd Unsociable to which all his acquaintance will give a character of him diametrically opposite How cheerful free loving sweet-disposition'd was he in all Companies where he could take delight He was their Love their Delights Well your Stephen has seen the Glory of God and Jesus at his right hand in the Glory of the Father and now he shines forth as a Star as the Sun it self for ever and ever I know it the Word of God is Truth They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever Dan. 12.3 As a Learned Rabbin comments upon the Words They that in their life-time followed the righteousness of God and were the adjuvant causes to make others to work and do righteousness shall attain to a more eminent degree of light and glory from the brightness of the Shechinah or the Divine Presence and their faces shall shine as the face of Moses did when he had been long fed with and lived upon the Divine-light and that for ever for they shall sin no more as here as oft as they sinned they lost degrees of the excellency of their dignity but shall with an absolute perfection be made perfect Then also whatever did let and oppress their shining forth viz. the Captivity we may say Temptations to sin or their being in part carnal and sold under sin Satan and the evil figment or remainders of corruption shall cease And you know that your Sun which is now set did follow after holiness and rejoyced as a strong man a Giant to run that race the light of his Doctrine was pure perfect sure right enlightning the eyes converting the soul making wise the simple and rejoycing the heart Your Teacher was though not a perfect man a perfect Minister thorowly accomplish'd by the Spirit and the Word of Truth the Old and New Testament I never in all my life knew any that had attained near unto that skill he he had in both their Originals except Mr. Thomas Cawton unto all those four good works of the Ministry 2 Tim. 3.16 1. Doctrine i. e. clearly to Expound 1. the Promise the Covenant of Grace the Gospel 2. The Law and so to Preach over the Apostles whole System of Divinity Faith and Love which is in Christ In this which is the only true Divinity he was a most judicious solid and sound Divine As for 2. Reproof he was an able and an Orthodox Divine a Professor in Divinity able to convince of every sin to refute every error to demonstrate the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of each Antichristian or other false opinion 3. For correction and restauration of any that through infirmity or temptation had fallen into sin to the wounding of his Conscience he was an excellent Casuist a most experimental Preacher a most discreet and experienced Divine 4. For instruction in righteousness he knew the way to Heaven and how to conduct and take his Hearers along with him He was a most Powerful and Practical Preacher He was so but now he is not He is not so to you All that I speak I see doth but renew your grief but moderate your sorrows Yea sorrow not Read what Dr. Bates in his Funeral-Sermon on Dr. Manton cites out of Chrysostom pag. 47. yea read the Text 1 Thes 3. from v. 13. to the end Mr. Charnock his soul is gone his body will be raised to be for ever with the Lord. You 'l say you weep for your selves truly well you may yet think not because he hath left you that you are left of God I own it your loss is so great that it cannot be repaired but by God himself Continue in Prayers that God would please to raise you up a Pastor by whose Ministry you may be called more and more effectually to the obtaining of the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Were I to speak to Mr. Charnock's people I should beg of them to be most circumspect and prudent in calling one to establish you if they could meet with to chuse such a one as he was a powerful Preacher a good Casuist a judicious Divine a Doctor yea Professor in Divinity I know not what more to advise pray I will since a Chariot of fire hath parted Mr. Charnock and you that a double portion of his Spirit may be and rest on him whom the Lord shall chuse and direct you to pitch upon to succeed him that whilst you are crying my Father my Father the Chariots of Israel and the Horsemen thereof the enemy may not pursue your Souls break in upon rout scatter and divide and so ruine you and your Congregation Amen! Amen! FINIS Pictores P. Ichram absolutámq faciem rarò nis in pejus effingunt Plin. sec lib. 5. c. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stumbling-blocks Traps 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not only as Justin and Gr. Nyssen cite it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 G Nazian Orat. 1â— Rom. 3.10 c. Splendida