Selected quad for the lemma: work_n
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A60357
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Vincentius redivivus, a funeral sermon preached Octob. 27, 1678 upon the occasion of the much bewailed death of that reverend and eminent servant of Christ, Mr. Thomas Vincent ... / by Samuel Slater.
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Slater, Samuel, d. 1704.
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1679
(1679)
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Wing S3979; ESTC R23647
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37,199
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50
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secretly mock him as well as those that publickly affront him Make sure work therefore for your precious souls see that you have that faith which is unfeigned the faith of Gods Elect that you do cordially imbrace the Truths of the Gospel and â—lose with an offered Jesus that you have that faith by which you may live that faith by which you may walk until you come to walk by sight I would not have any of you deceived and cheated to your own destruction as many poor creatures are who run away with a lie in their right-hand build hopes of Heaven and Happiness upon a sandy bottom please themselves in a lifeless Image of Religion which the holy One of Israel will despise when he awaketh unto judgment their faith is no better than a fancy their Godliness is not a Godliness of Gods making nor approving they walk about in the sparks of that fire which themselves have kindled and at last lie down in sorrow Be you wise for your souls and deal prudently get that faith which upon tryal will be found to praise and honour much more precious than gold that perisheth be ye provided with that Oyl which will keep your Lamps burning when the blessed Bridegroom cometh 3. Follow them in the actings of their faith Grace is given you not only for Ornament but also for use we are not only to be justified by faith and saved by â—aith but to live by faith Have you got it then suffer it not to lie dormant but exercise it Act your faith upon Christ his Mediation Merits and Intercession He is a full Christ it hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell a fulness that is far beyond your emptiness live upon him therefore and draw from him you can never draw him dry Act your faith upon the Covenant it is an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure God is ever mindful of it with it holy David comforted himself in it he placed all his happiness and sum'd up all his desires Act your faith upon the Promises these are exceeding great and precious you cannot measure them nor over-rate them In them there is an answerableness to every case a complete suitableness to every condition in which you either are or can be And you cannot over-trust them being Yea and Amen of most sure and certain accomplishment The Womb of Divine Promise never miscarried but shall bring forth at the time of life all the mercies and blessings with which it travails Ever count Gods Promise abundant security and believe that all Mountains which lie in the way of its performance shall be made a plain the darkest Providences are still subservient to the promise Iosephs being sold for a Slave and clapt up in a Prison were steps to his being made the second man in the Kingdom Act your faith upon the wisdom and power the love and care of your heavenly Father know he endears you and will look after you His Glory shall not be lost nor given to another his Truth is great and shall overcome his Church is built upon a Rock and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it Iacob though small shall rise and though a worm he shall thresh the mountains the Beast and the false Prophet shall be cast into a lake of fire burning with brimstone and the glorious victory shall be the Lambs for he is King of kings and Lord of lords and they that be with him are chosen and faithful and true Believe and rejoyce while you believe that when Gods desperate Enemies are at work He himself is not idle but observes them is in the Conclave and the Cabal undermines them counter-acts them and will turn their counsels backward or headlong so that no weapon shall prosper which they form against his cause and people but he will accomplish the thoughts of his heart which shall stand in all generations and effect his own designs and be absolute Master of all his ends finishing all the work which he hath to do in the world and that without losing either time or ground as our days go off so Gods work goeth on it is never out of hand Thus act your faith upon God in all conditions and under all dispensations when you are high and when low yea at the lowest for still still still the everlasting arms arms are underneath In these actings of faith those holy men lived and so must you otherwise you will never be established much less in such gloomy tottering turning and tumbling times as these are 4. Lastly Follow them in the fruitfulness of their faith Your gracious Pastors were not neither may you be Solifidians As they did believe so they maintained good works and by that means obtained a good report While you know that faith justifieth you you must also know it is your duty to justifie your faith that faith which is alone is stark naught it is dead and rotten and stinks above-ground shew me and shew the world your faith by your works If you ask me what fruits they are which grow upon the root of faith and prove it genuine I Answer all the fruits of the spirit in which you must abound if you would have an abundant entraâ—ce into the glorious Kingdom of our God and Saviour But I shall speak only to three Holiness Love Ioy. 1. Follow them in their Holiness A wicked Believer is as meer an impossibility as a gracious Devil such a faith as will consist with the love and life and reign of sin is no better than what may be found in Hell among lapsed Angels and damned Spirits who as the Apostle Iames tells us Believe and tremble Wheresoever true faith is it purifies the heart and reforms the life and orders the footsteps according to the word As it cloathes the soul with the beautiful Robe of Christs Righteousness so it subjects the soul to his governing Scepter and Law it lets Christ in and casts corruption out when Christ dwells in the heart by Faith he shines in the life by Holiness The pearl of faith is never found in the dunghil of profaneness Study then study holiness and perfect it too in the fear of God think with your selves what manner of persons ye ought to be how acurate and exact in your whole course remembring That grace of God which bringeth salvation and hath appeared unto you teacheth you that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts ye should live soberly righteously and godly in this present evil world 2 Tit. 11 12. And that you ought to be like your Father who is holy in all his ways and righteous in all his works When therefore a temptation to any sin assaults you resist it with utmost indignation and say as Nehemiah did in another case Shall such a man as I do this or as Ioseph How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against God or as that good Woman Christiana sum I am a Christian. This my dear Friends
too weak and feeble to admit of so lofty a flight Let nature and the power of it be never so much commended by its admirers the natural man without a supernatural principle and the sweet yet mighty assiâ—â—ance of special grace never did never can make God his highest end No no self sâ—icks too close to him and is predominant it is both at the top and bottom of all his actions and doth indeed run quite thorough them Whereupon Theophylact said you cannot instance in one good Heathen because they did all for vain glory 2. Your deceased Pastors desigâ—ed the salvation of their own souls interest in God communion with him and fruition of him tasts of his sweetness sights of his beauty now and satisfaction hereafter They were of David's mind and rejoyced in the same hopes David had been speaking of the men of the world how they had their bellies filled with hid treasures Oh! that is good say some we wish we had our belly full too but stay that which spoiled all is this that they had their portion in this liâ—e The comforts of the wâ—â—ld are good enâ—oymenâ—s but they are a bad portion that holy man did think them so and therefore closed most sweetly thus Psâ—l 17. 15. As for me I will behold thy â—â—ce in rightâ—â—usâ—ess I shall be sâ—tisfied when I awake with thy likeness It is as if he had said Every one as he likes if these men see so much in the world let them take it and much good may it do them when they have their bellies full let them go to rest and sing themselves asleep in the lap of pleasures at the breast of creatures when God awakens them they will find emptiness and pain having fed all along upon wind and ashes As for me I will not be put off with these things they are but for the body but for the belly which must be destroyed for that part of man which shall never be glorified As for me I study the good of my precious soul and am set for a portion for my soul I would have my portion to take when their portion is spent I am for beholding the face of God and satisfaction with the likeness of God and when I once have that I am sure that I shall have enough both of his love and of his glory Paul laboured more abundantly than all if you should ask him what it was he laboured for he tells you I and my faithful Brethren labour that whether present or absent they might be accepted of God 2 Cor. 5. 9. We would gladly be accepted of the Saints but our chief desire and ambition is to be accepted of the God of Saints and to be received to live with him as his Children for ever And surely their greatest Adversaries may well allow them this We all know there is a scantiness in the creature and a narrowness in the world from whence proceeds shouldering and justling and scrambling but the Divine Love is infinite the fulness of a God inexhaustible and in Heaven there are many mansions room enough and happiness enough and glory enough for all that shall come thither let us not quarrel by the way nor at the Inne at home at our Fathers house there is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore 3. Lastly They desir'd and aim'd at the spiritual good and eternal welfare of your souls To bring you unto Christ to build you upon Christ to keep you from departures from him and from unstedfastness with him in a word to be instrumental for the making you meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Your selves are witnesses of the pains they took among you God is witness of their studies for you the tears they shed in private the prayers they made in which they wrestled with great wrestlings that you might live in his sight and neither fall short of the grace which is bestowed upon his people nor of the Rest which remains for them I dare with highest confidence affirm these were the ends at which they principally aimed and do not fear being put to the blush at last as one that is found a lyar 2. But now let us consider the end of their daies their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 last end their going off the stage of the world and out of this vail of tears What Exist have they how come they off at last for that is the import of the word in the Original which saith a Learned Critick is a metaphor taken from those who being incompast about with thieves are in danger on every side how do they escape Faithful Pastors are tha light of the world but how many are there every where puffing at them They are the Salt of the earth but how do the wicked endeavour to cast all this Salt upon the dung-hill and what an unsavoury world should we have then They are troubled on every side and in all revolutions of Kingdoms and Nations none are so much exposed to hazard as they Well now observe and consider the end the last Act and blessed be our good God you shall find that in the Evening it is light Finis coronat opus Their End is such as that it crowns their works such as makes them free to tell the world that their labour hath not been in vain in the Lord because it fully answers all their hopes and expectations nay doth unspeakably exceed them It is such an End as is desirable for all men Even a Balaam wished thus Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his The vile wretch did not like the righteous mans life that was too refined and strict for him who loved the wages of unrighteousness but he would fain have his end And you will see no cause at all to wonder at it if you will but retire a little and in good earnest consider these things 1. The End of your faithful Pastors yea and of faithful Christians too is a welcome end Others like the fool in the Gospel have their souls taken from them there is a force put if they could resist they would in a sullen mood and disconted fit they will call for death but when it comes indeed they wish it â—arther off Whereas these resign their souls and give up the Ghost and commend their spirits into their Saviours hand They did according to their duty love their work and Relations and Friends and Comforts yea and glory in the Cross of Christ but they can freely bid farewel to all when they know they shall and think they do go to God Though their daies be few yet they depart hence full of daies because they have had their fill of living they do not only submit to God when he sends for them but also are well pleased the World was crucified to them and they to the World when things are once brought to that pass it is no hard matter to part the World