The Church's Triumph over Death A Funeral-Sermon PREACHED Upon the Decease of Blessed Mr. Robert Fleming Late Pastor of a Church in Rotterdam By DANIEL BVRGESS Miseri Infideles appellant Mortem Fideles vero quid nisi Pascham Bern. de Divin Amor. Mors Christianis Ludus est Vinc. Lirinens London Printed by J. D. for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside and Andr. Bell and J. Luntley at the Pestle and Mortar in Chancery-lane 1694. To the Right Worshipful Sir Henry Ashhurst Baronet SIR THERE is a Frenzy abroad of which Men do together Adore the Pipes and Neglect the Fountain Make great court to his Ministers and slight the King the King eternal Worshipping the Stars that do lead to Christ and crucifying to themselves afresh the Christ that they lead unto yea by Unbelief and Disobedience putting him to open Shame But I must Hope better things of You. And believe it to be your Love of Christ that constrains you to receive a Paul and an Apollos as an Angel of God yea as Christ himself Wherefore as your extraordinary Kindness to another renowned Saint hath been told to the World by incomparable Pens By Mr. Baxter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by Dr. Bates in Dedicat. Epistles I do resolve that wheresoever this Sermon shall be read your like Affection to our heavenly FLEMING shall have its Memorial Very deeply I am impressed with your Favours done unto both For their Love was eminent and much exceeded the Fame of it to a Man Born to Reproach And not pretending to be Richer than his Brethren in any other Treasure A Love to be wondered at had it not been so known that God is Love And that therefore Love is Godliness And where Godliness abounds Loving-kindness overflows As we see in Angels that do flagrantly Love the least of Abraham's Children And highly honour the meanest of sanctified Worms As for the Former Jonathan must needs have known his David and the World will by and by have his Life in Folio to read And as concerning the Latter as little as any Man do you need to be told with what a Fulness of God he was filled Sir Your wondring Eyes were your Witnesses The great Love he bare you gave you more than common Knowledg of him whose Humility and Modesty hid him so that he was not much known unto those who knew him most As Ezekiel speaks of other Angels his Wings so covered his Feet However so much you saw that as very well you might you singularly loved him And esteemed his Love unto you to be of that Kind which is most valuable next unto God's own Love For the Information of others somewhat is said of this Man of God in the following Pages Whereto I can add this which was said of the famous Antonine He hath this Praise crowning all the rest that he hath no Gain-sayer of his Praises I hear not of any Dust to be blown off from this Diamond Honoured Sir Two or three of your Letters to me bewailed the World's Loss the Church's and Your own in the Departure of holy FLEMING Nor do I doubt but the best of the Church and World do lay it to heart Even generally all that hear how much Light and Salt and Balm is taken from a needy Age. For your Relief and others this is all in this Place to be said It is elsewhere shewn how we may hold Departed Saints in our Sight and in our Service Commemoration of Saints departed on Heb. 13.7 If the Course there prescribed be duly followed I am certain that this Saint's Death shall not be only his own Gain But his Ascension to Heaven shall be made to further our Conversation therein And notably contribute unto the Victory Joy and Triumph of Faith which this Sermon describes Thereto I dismiss you without any Sallies of Flattery the common Sin and Scandal of Dedications It must be confessed that if all Praise of Sir Henry Ashhurst be Flattery Old England and New are overrun with that Leprosy And the Israelites are much more sick of its Plague than the Egyptians be The Name of ASHHURST was left richly perfumed by your excellent Father And I hear not but it is so kept by your Self and your Right Honourable Brother Sir William A. Lord-Mayor Otherwise you had before this time loudly heard of it For they do sink deepest who fall from Pinacles highest they who were at first the best Angels are now the worst Devils saith Du Moulin And by the Old Law you had been condemned to be burnt for the Profanation of such a Father's Name Comprehenditur cum filiâ filius c. Calv. Lev. 21.9 Surely the Sun must have looked Pale and the Spheres have cast out their Stars if such as You and my Lord had forsaken your God and the God of your Fathers And had left no better to be said of you than Philostratus says of Perinthius Barely that he was the Son of Rufus But Sir as you very well know my Office is to bring low all Mountains and Hills not the contrary And as my own Heart sweetly knows my Ambition is to Edify not Magnify you to serve your Faith not your Fame which as it less needs it doth less deserve it Much rather would I provoke you to one good Work than make known all that ever you did And be the meanest Instrument to make you a better Man than a Trumpet to proclaim you a good one Plain dealing is a Jewel and will appear so one day though now there be much more of it at the Mill than about the Throne And I do account that Earthly-Gods themselves are seldom so richly treated as my Friends that be entertained with these Complements Sc. That BARONETS must perish without the New-Birth That A Repenting Lazarus is of better Estate than a Jovial Dives That A Grain of holy Faith is worth more than a Mountain of pure Gold That In the Day of Judgment Christ will be Ashamed of the Greatest that are now Ashamed of Christianity That Royal Heads Honourable and Worshipful Ones must worship God's Majesty or bear his Fury That There is no Safety for the Highest on Earth without Trust in the most High in Heaven That They shall suffer eternal Death who Love not Christ Jesus above the richest Life That No Greatness can save them from Vengeance who deny Christ Reverence That Whatever their Rank is in this World their Portion shall be everlasting Shame who do not all that they do to God's Glory That The most Prosperous who will not submit to God's Afflicting-hand shall not escape his Revenging-hand That If they Love not their Enemies and Bless them that Curse them and Do good to them that Hate them and Pray for them that Despitefully use them and Persecute them they shall not be the Children of God Finally that Whosoever of them shall Live without Dying Thoughts he shall Die without Living Comforts SIR My
not that thou art none of his Plants because others do vastly excel thee in all Christian Vertues and out-do thee in all the Works of Righteousness One Rose upon a Bush though but a little one and though not yet blown proveth that which bears it to be a true rose-Rose-tree Look well to thy Sincerity and to thy sincere Labour for Proficiency Then know that neither God or Men do cut down good Trees because small or despise unripe Flowers and Fruits if they be ripening A sorry Speaker may be a most excellent Wrestler Milo had not the Tongue of Cicero Moses that greater Prevailer with God was a Man of a very slow Utterance Do not say you cannot pray because you cannot speak much or well or long Praying is Wrestling with God The Heart is the Wrestler Holy Faith is the Strength of it If by Means of this Strength thy Heart be a good Wrestler though thou art ever so Tongue-tied thou wilt be a Prevailer Rhetorick goes for little in the heavenly Court but sincere Groans have a kind of Omnipotence A Mine of Gold may be a long time unknown The Heat of the Sun may make it many a Year before the Light of the Sun doth discover it It is long before the Spirit doth witness to some what he works in them A King is not the less a King for dreaming himself a Beggar Suppositio nil ponit in esse Victorious Believers are most truly so when they are not sensibly so The most bruised Reed maketh no little Melody to the Lord. Our compassionate Saviour tells his affrighted Dove when driven into the Clefts of the Rock that her Voice was sweet Cant. 2.14 The little Specks in the milky way be as real Stars as the Sun We must not argue that we are Darkness it self because we are not the most burning and shining Lights The crying Child is alive as sure as the laughing one If whatever stole away our Joy did steal away our Faith also where would Faith be found upon Earth The World and Church will be soon at an end when all shall kill that maketh to cry It doth often rain and shine together in the Heart of a Believer His Soul hath the Joy that is his Duty and shines with Grace acted in Desires and Endeavours to triumph When as yet it hath not the Joy that is the Largess of God's Bounty by which its Clouds must be chased away no but is lamenting after the Lord for it Dolet de dolore gaudet Joyfully it laments after him for it singing our renowned Gataker's most delectable Lamentations I thirst for Thirstiness I weep for Tears Well pleas'd I am to be displeased thus The only thing I fear is want of Fears Suspecting I am not Suspicious I cannot chuse but live because I die And when I am not dead how glad am I Yet when I am thus glad for sense of Pain And careful am lest careless I should be Then do I grieve for being glad again And fear lest Carelessness take care from me Amidst these restless Thoughts this Rest I find For those that rest not here there 's Rest behind And as for sinful Sorrow it self be it observed A Believer may gloriously conquer even when he is miserably conquered And he doth so when tho Sin strikes him down it cannot make him yield Positive Nolition is Conquest of Sin Of the unconsenting and out-crying Virgin over-powred by the Strength of a Ruffian God did pronounce that there was no Sin in her worthy of Death By resisting she made the Destroyer flee even then when she could not make the Defiler flee The Believer that resists is not struck down under the Wrath of God when he is struck down into the Mire of Sin Glory be to God in the highest Fight against Sin though it be upon our Knees is Conquest And therefore Lastly Rahab is in Heaven as sure as Abraham St. James saith that Dwarf in Faith was justified by it as well as this Giant And it 's sure if justified is glorified Now Whoso is wise and will observe these things they shall to their Joy understand the Loving Kindness of the Lord. My next Exhortation is §. 2. To those that have formerly sung Triumph over Death but have lost that Voice of Joy and Gladness All such are to be thus exhorted First Despise not your Loss For it 's a Loss of more than all the World is worth It 's a Loss of Heaven upon Earth A Loss that was to David as a Sword in his Bones And cannot but be grievous to a Heart that is not perfectly senseless Unto any other to joy in Christ's Love is sweeter than Life and to have that Joy taken away must be more bitter than Death Yet Secondly Despair not under this Loss You are not the first that have faln under it David lost his Joy and cried O spare me Jeremy was afraid to die Jer. 37.20 Hezekiah turned to the Wall and wept at the Tidings of Death Holy Latimer told his Ridley that sometimes he could run into a Hole for Fear A Balm in Gilead there was for them and a Physician that restored them Nor is there any reason why your Wound should be presumed to be incurable It is surely your Duty to pray for the Cure And it were a fond Conceit that you might not look for the things you are bound to pray for Thirdly Enquire how you came by your Loss Whether Pride were not swelling in you and made needful this Loss to keep you from being exalted above measure Or whether Earthly-Mindedness got not into you for as in Nature it cannot be Night till the Earth interpose between the Sun and us so I question whether ever a very dark Night fall on the Face of a Soul but by some earthly things interposing between Christ and it The Achan that is the Troubler must be stoned e're you are like to be quiet To which purpose you are to make diligent search after it Fourthly Blame not God for your Loss Justify God as David did and to your selves take all the Blame and Shame To be sure your own Sin was all the culpable Cause And this know till a Job let 's go his hard Thoughts of God and abhors himself in Dust and Ashes his Captivity is not to be turned But then it is presently turned and his Comforts be forthwith multiplied Fifthly Conceal not your Loss Hide it not from those to whom God saith Comfort ye comfort ye my People Peace and Joy are created by God but they are ministred by his Servants Whom not to consult in your Troubles is to despise And whom to despise is to despise Christ and him that sent him Sixthly Consent to God's Terms for the Repair of your Loss With a thousand Thanks go and enter a-new the Covenant of his Grace He cannot in honour make the Terms thereof any lower But if you humble you as low as the Gospel demands you will be seasonably
the Holy Spirit doth and shall assist you do and you ever will commit you to his Saving-Mercy and submit you to his ruling Authority in Christ Multiply Direct Acts if you would have the Comfort of Reflex say all our Divines This is the only way wherein a trembling Faith may be expected to be made a triumphing one Fifthly When you act holy Faith attend upon God in all holy Ordinances It is at Wisdom's Gates that the Hearts of the Poor and Sorrowful are made to sing for Joy Be you constantly found at every one of them for you know not whether your waiting at this or that shall best prosper But you may be certain your Neglect of any one will provoke God to send you away empty from all the other Sometimes it is in Reading and Hearing that Joy is infused Sometimes it is in Prayer that as Peter's Bonds ours be loosed Sometimes it is with Sacramental Wine that Hearts are cheered Sometimes it is the Conference of holy Friends that sharpneth a Man as Iron sharpneth Iron Many times singing of Psalms and Hymns and spiritual Songs doth together make glad the Heart of God and Man Try all and continue in them and fear not but you shall have Beauty given you for Ashes and the Oil of Joy for Mourning Sixthly When you attend on holy Ordinances cast away all your Transgressions As soon shall heavenly Joy enter Hell as a presumptuous Sinner's Heart It is only the Conqueror that is capable of Triumph the Conqueror of all wilful Sin he that being made free from all such hath now his Fruit unto Holiness We lie saith St. John if we say we have Fellowship with him and do not the Truth They who like Devils are ever in the Fire and be never refined be ever using holy things but are not made holy by them they are as certainly as Devils held in Chains of Darkness Old and New Testament say There is no Peace to the Wicked Allow then no Sin if you would attain any Peace Seventhly When you cast away all your Sins be ye Doers of all Christ's Word Negative Goodness is a very Chimera Christ loves and manifests himself to them only who have his Commands and keep them Though Duties be not the Merits they are the Means and commonly the Measures of Peace and Joy and of all Duties those arduous ones that do most cross the Grain of corrupt Nature and most thwart our secular Interest Would you have your Light to rise in Obscurity and your Darkness be made as Noon-day Draw out your Soul to the Hungry satisfy the Afflicted Would you be made appear to be the Children of God and Coheirs of Christ Love your Enemies bless them that curse you Would you have your Consciences and all the World be made to know that God is not ashamed to be called your God Be not you ashamed then of the Gospel of Christ at any time but couragiously own and confess Him and It in the midst of Gainsayers Would you be most certain you are not Reprobates Keep under your Bodies and bring them into Subjection By rare Duties you may rise up to as rare Joys Eightly When you are Doers of the Word give not way to such Scruples as have no bottom on the Word Unreasonable Fears are the Sins of our Hearts as truly as they be Thorns in our Sides they grieve the Holy Spirit and they together deny and impair and tend to destroy his Work in us Thieves they are that do waste the Candle of the Lord and Worms that eat up the hidden Manna As many as are liable to these Distempers would do well to take to heart these and like Antidotes God accepteth Mites though his Due be ten thousand Talents Else what would become of the richest in Faith and Works Holiness is less than Sinlesness The Field which hath Millions of Weeds in it is a Corn-field for all that There were none upon this Earth else Damning Sins be somewhat more than terrifying Falls Yea we receive the least Hurt by the Sins that put us into the greatest Fright He that exclaims I am dead expresseth a Conceit which he confuteth David's Fall and Peter's were terrible but were not mortal It is keeping under Water drowns a Man it is not his falling into it that kills him Smoaking Flax hath more Fire in it than is thought of No doubt but Heman was stored with God's Graces while he was distracted with his Terrors Travellers be not out of their way as oft as they be out of sight of the City they would be at No but they are as truly moving towards it when they are in the Vale and do but think of it as when they are on the top of a Hill and do pleasantly behold it The Way to Heaven is through great Changes and many Vicissitudes up-hill and down-hill But in the Deep as truly as on the Mount in Temptation as truly as out of it a Saint makes way toward Heaven The Will and Work of his God he very profitably suffers when he knows not what he does And on he goes toward Heaven as Sinners do toward Hell not knowing whither they go Trees do grow downward when they have scarce Sap enough to show that they be alive upward Wondrously gainful are many spiritual Losses themselves Good Words and Works are a Christian's Leaves and Fruits Self-denial and Faith in Christ are his Root By the Winter-Season which doth deaden him to those former he is enlivened and strengthned in these lattter And the Temptations and temporary Desertions which take from him his Activity do make him amends by notable Additions unto his Humility even all Days of his Life Most true are judicious Hooker's Words Happier a great deal is he whose Soul by inward Desolation is humbled than he whose Heart through abundance of spiritual Delight is lifted up above-measure Remember troubled Soul remember it well bitterly humbling Winters do make sweet and fruitful Summers And know thou If the Corn upon the Ground be good it matters not how little deep the Plough went Do not torment thy self as the manner of some is with Fears that thou art not of the good Ground upon a Surmise that God hath not broken thee up with Convictions and Humiliations sufficiently deep Examine more thy Corn and be less concerned about the Plough If thy Reliance on Christ's Righteousness be entire and thy Imitation of his Holiness be constant and cordial the Plough hath done its Part upon thee Consider on the other Hand too that There are valuable things kept in Brine as well as in Sugar Dream not that because thy Life is made sorrowful God intends not ever to advance thee to his Fulness of Joy The Fruits which are preserved in Sweetness that exceedeth Honey be not more intended for the Table of the Lord than the Meats that are buried in Salt and Bitterness All the Fruits of Christ's Garden be not of a size not equally Ratheripe Conclude