therefore actions issuing thence cannot be perfect and consequently not meritorious Yet a true iustifying Faith is ever accompanied with purity and charity Acts 15.9 Tit. 3.8 Jam. 2.14 c. Jude 20. * Maccovius's Distinct cap. 13. de Justif Fides sola justificat non solitaria Faith alone doth justifie yet that Faith which justifies is not alone as the Eye alone seeth in the body yet the Eye which seeth is not alone in the body without the other senses Good Works are the Pulse and Breath of a lively Faith Mr. Abraham Wright's Serm. on Luk. 16.9 It is as impious to deny the necessity as to maintain the merits of good Works God hath joyned good Works and Salvation together in his Word and what God hath joyned together let no man put asunder But when we have done all we can do let us confess our unprofitableness and cast our selves upon Gods Love and Favour as the surest hold Let us build our hopes of happiness upon Christ's satisfaction only for indeed there is no other way then by this Ark to escape drowning The Church is described Cant. 8.5 leaning on her Beloved which as it betokens infinite familiarity within so likewise faithful dependance upon him Well then as Joseph said to his Brethren Ye shall not see my face he means with safety and favour except your Brother Benjamen be with you Gen. 43.5 So neither shall we comfortably see God's Face hereafter except we bring the Lord Jesus that Benjamin the Son of his right Hand Col. 3.1 Rom. 8.34 with us in the Arms of Faith Let us then act Faith upon the Lord Jesus who alone delivereth us from wrath to come 1 Thes 1.10 Thus much for the matter wherein preparation for Death consists I shall now shew you how you ought to put these Directions into practice CHAP. III. Shewing how we ought to put the forementioned Directions into practice OUR Saviour saith Luke 13.24 Many will seek to enter in at the strait Gate and shall not be able Stella on Luk. 13.24 And Stella gives this reason Quia tardè insufficientèr quaerunt because they seek not after a right manner Right means are to be used after a right manner Put then the forementioned Directions into Practice First Early Secondly Earnestly Thirdly and lastly Constantly 1. Festinanter First Early or speedily whilst young healthful and strong This God calls for Eccles 12.1 Remember now thy Creator in the dayes of thy youth God's Adverb is manè betimes or early the Devil's Verb is mane tarry till afterwards Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto the Devil more than unto God judge ye Acts 4.19 O do not put off preparation for Death till sickness Thou mayest perhaps die suddenly An Imposthume Squinancy Apolexy or some such Distemper may suddenly dispatch thee in so much that thou shalt not have time to call upon God for mercy Some that have gone to bed in good health as they thought have been found dead the next morning dead they were before they could tell what ailed them But in case God exercise thee with sickness thou wilt be very unfit to go about this great Work thy thoughts will be upon thy pain and they enquieries will be after a Remedy proper for the removing the Malady Friends about thee without any ground for it will be ready to tell thee what thou art glad to hear and willing to believe that there is great hopes of thy recovery These flatterers are miserable comforters for in case thou growest deadly sick as thou may'st do of a sudden then it is ten to one thy Will is to make Worldly things are to be disposed of for men generally are too too blame herein putting this off to extream sickness and this making thy Will takes up a considerable part of that little time allotted thee Upon this follow exclamations and outcries of near Relations together with the clamour of thy sins if Conscience be awakened enough to distract thee Impertinent visits of Friends which come only with an How do you I am sorry to see you in this condition c. do rather hinder than further Devotion And perhaps by this time through want of sleep and extremity of pain thou wilt be light-headed unfit to listen to any good counsel if given to thee as the Israelites who hearkned not to Moses for anguish of Spirit Exod. 6.9 Do not then put off this great Work till sickness no nor till old Age neither for Life is uncertain as I have shewed We know not how soon our Pulse may leave beating We can call no time ours but the present 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This day is mine and thine whose to morrow may be we know not To day then cannot be too soon to set upon this Work because to morrow may be too late I have read of Archias the Lacedemonian that whilst he was in the midst of carnal Jollity quaffing with his Companions one presented to him a Letter wherein was signified that some did lie in wait to take away his life and desired him to peruse it presently for it was a Letter of serious concernment but he carelesly replyed Seria cras let serious things alone till to morrow and that very night he was slain Oh! then reckon not of many years seeing thou art not Lord of to morrow Prov. 27.1 But if God should grant thee longer space to repent in yet he may deny thee the means of Grace or he may deny his Grace to make a good improvement of the means See what is said of Jezebel I gave her space to repent of her Fornication but she repented not Rev. 2.21 Repentance is not in our own power to be performed at pleasure it is God's-Gift Jer. 10.23 Acts 11.28 2 Tim. 2.25 And if we slight God calling upon us now who in the seasons of Grace is willing to be found of us 2 Cor. 6.2 Isa 66.5 Prov. 8.17 he may justly slight us in sickness and old age when his judgements break forth upon us We may then seek early and that early be too late to find him Prov. 1.24 c. As Jeptha said to the Elders of Gilead Judg. 11.7 Did not ye hate me and expel me out of my Fathers House And why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress So may God justly say to such as defer preparation for Death till sickness or old Age Did not ye hate me in your youthful time whilst healthful and strong and say unto me Depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Job 21.14 Why do you now forced through fear or pain come to me in your distress Do we think God will be pleased with the Devils leavings What King will receive a cripled Rebel that hath spent the best of his strength and time under his Enemies Colours Cum nemine obtrudi potest itur ad me Ter. What Husband will receive his Wife that hath
be a means to humble thee Drinking Wormwood say some will take down a full body Sure I am the Wormwood of Poverty is a proper remedy for an high and lofty spirit Lam. 3.19 20. Poverty clips the wings of Pride and keeps the heart humble 6. Patience Rom. 5.3 We glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation worketh patience St. John the Divine speaking of the Saints sufferings saith Here is the Patience and Faith of the Saints 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rev. 13.10 The meaning is here is matter for their Patience and Faith to be exercised about Jam. 5.11 Ye have heard of the Patience of Job Job's Poverty amongst other afflictions set Patience at work 7. Frugality Rich men many times are addicted to prodigal spending They are excessive many times in their expences upon back and belly And they give that to their Dogs and Hogs which is fit for poor Christians to feed upon God therefore by sending Poverty teacheth a Lesson of Frugality to gather up the fragments that remain that nothing be lost Joh. 6.12 8. And lastly Constancy and sincerity of your love to God It is ordinary to see many follow Christ for loaves and express their love towards him so long as they reap outward gain by him but to see a man cleave to him and follow him through a wilderness of temptations and tryals when he sees nothing but signs of his displeasure this argues the strength and sincerity of his affection towards him Job's love was seen and set at work in the midst of poverty and other tryals that he met with Job 27.5 6. Till I die saith he I will not remove mine integrity from me my righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go Now if God take away outward possessions and by this means work in us these and the like graces we have no cause to complain as if we were undone or losers by such an exchange If a man go backward in estate yet if he thrive in grace this is uberrimus quaestus and what he loseth one way he gains another 2. Answ A man is never utterly undone till he be in Hell And wilt thou say thou art utterly undone when God by this affliction would prevent thy coming thither 1 Cor. 11.32 When we are judged we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world The Captain of our Salvation was made perfect by suffering Heb. 2.10 Though the cup be bitter yet Gods wisdom tempers and love sweetens all the bitter ingredients God saith he will do us no hurt Jer. 25.6 He sees it needful for you to be thus afflicted 1 Pet. 1.6 For a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations God who afflicts not willingly Lam. 3.33 sends no more affliction then you need God who is a dieting of thee sees it best for thy souls health to be kept fasting or to be stinted in thy allowance It is good for the Patient to be at the finding and disposing of so wise a Physitian and withall so careful It is good for me saith David that I have been afflicted Psal 119.71 Volo mihi irascare Pater misericordiarum sed illâ irâ quâ corrigis devium non quâ excludis curiâ Bern. Per diversam medicaminum opem ad unam nos vult Deus perducere salutem Salvian de Gub. Dei lib. 6. p. 224. Alas poor silly man knows not what is good for him like a Child led by sence he prefers sweet-meats before bitter pills that are more wholsom Assure thy self dear friend Non caeco impetu volvuntur rota The motions of Providence are all juditious these wheels are full of eyes God knows these worldly things have ruined thousands of souls God knows a great estate hath hindred many from entring in at the narrow-gate and therefore he cuts you short as a man cuts off a gangren'd Leg to preserve Life It is thy ignorance of Gods design that makes thee quarrel with him Moreover the greatest Mercies have oft-times issued from the womb of greatest Disappointments How ill does Jacob resent Josephs absence Gen. 37. latter end 42.36 He concludes all against him when indeed all made for him for preservation of himself and the life of his whole family in Egypt Gen. 45.5 Nay we read that Joseph himself was sold Gen. 37. and after that cast into Prison Gen. 39. What could Joseph expect but utter ruine Retrò omnia all things went so cross and ill-favoured with him yet Divine Providence so ordered the matter that Joseph is advanced Religion propagated in Aegypt and the Reliques of the Church preserved in a time of great Famine Gen. 50.20 Patitur eum in Carcere aliquantulum sudare laborare clamare precari lachrymari ut eum in pietate probè exerceat tandem verò Carcerem in salutem ejus convertit nisi enim in Carcerem quidem Regium fuisset conjectus non innotuisset Regi nec fuisset hoc modo exaltatus saith Pareus in Gen. cap. 39. It was a great mercy for Israel to be in the Wilderness for that was the right way to Canaan And though God suffered them there to meet with much hardship yet it was to humble them to prove them and do do them good at their latter end Deut. 8.15 16. yet they thought and concluded they were brought to be slain Exod. 16.2 3. Num. 14.2 3. 20.4 One attempting to kill Prometheus the Thessalian Tully reports the like of Phereus Jason Cic. l. 3. de Nat. Deorum Sic casu fortuito Phereo Jasoni profuit hostis qui gladio vomicam ejus aperuit quam sanare medici non poterant run him so deep with his sword into an Imposthume that he let out corruption and saved his life So this bitter stroke of God which thou thinkest God intends for thy undoing is a means to purge out corruption and save thy soul Therefore say with Themistocles Periissem nisi periissem I had been lost if God had not prevented me with this happy losse It is well with me it is so ill with me for if God had not thus cross'd me I had been in a cursed condition Job calls Gods afflicting of us his magnifying of us Job 7.17 And vers 18. he calls afflictions Gods visitations They are God's friendly visits he corrects out of love As Josephs Cup was put in Benjamins Sack whom he most loved so the Cup of Affliction is the Lot of God's most affected Children Prov. 3.12 27.6 Heb. 12.9 10. Rev. 3.19 Et cum blandiris Pater es Pater es cum caedis Augustine saith well he is a Father when he strikes us as well as when he stroaks us The Cross is the way to the Crown Via non Causa 2 Cor. 4.17 For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory That God that brought light out of darkness and erected the glorious Fabrick
I know there is a kind of bastard counterfeit patience which as one saith ariseth from the natural constitution whereby the heat not abounding too much the man is not so prone as some others to choler and discontent but useth his reason in ordering of himself and bears what he cannot avoid but this is but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shadow and picture of true patience which indeed is an herb of Grace not growing in Natures Garden or if you will it is a Slip taken from the Tree of Life and planted in the Soul by the finger of God it is of an heavenly extract or descent from God as well as Faith Phil. 1.29 Men naturally meek good natures as we call them may bear a little but not enough nor in a right manner nor to right ends without the supernatural work of patience The Apostle placeth it amongst the fruits of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 23. Well then If any man be afflicted let him pray Jam. 5.13 Let him under loss of Friends or any other Affliction lay open his sad condition before God in prayer as a man opens his mind to his Friend So did Hannah 1 Sam. 1.12 and then with her ver 18. he may in time come from prayer and his countenance no be more sad The End of the First Part. Deo gratias A Funeral Handkerchief The Second Part. Containing severall Uses which we ought to make of the Death of Friends By Thomas Allestree M. A. Rector of Ashow in the County of Warwick 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nocumenta documenta Hear the Rod and who hath appointed it Mic. 6.9 So teach us to number our dayes that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom Psal 90.12 LONDON Printed for the Author Anno Dom. 1671. To that Worthy Gentleman and my much esteemed Kinsman Mr. William Allestree Living in Darby Grace and Peace be multiplied Dear Sir DIvine Providence hath deprived you of many dear Friends and Relations amongst others he hath taken away your Religious Parents and lately your dear * Mâ—is Frances Lorymore Wife the choicest under heaven of all your outward Possessions and Delights made nearer unto you by Marriage than either Father or Mother I call her one of Gods Jewels such there are Mal. 3.17 she was little of stature but of great worth She was a Great Fortune but which is more considerable she was an huge good person She was a constant frequenter of the Ordinances a strict observer of the Sabbath her Family-devotion was great and her secret ejaculations fervent and constant She was meek modest chaste courteous charitable patient humble c. These and the like Virtues came streaming into her Soul from the Fountain of Divine Grace She was no scoffing Michal nor you a churlish Nabal The onely strife betwixt you was this which should shew most dearness and tenderness so pleasing was your deportment each to other that one would think one Soul animated two Bodyes You did never grieve her Spirit but by your excessive grief to see her in that extreamity of She dyed in child-bed pain which with greatest care you could not remedy and with admirable patience and Christian courage she chearfully underwent She was not afraid of Death Though she loved her Husband as dearly as any Christian ought to do yet she loved him much less than her Saviour and she knew that Death would bring her to an happy sight of him and I doubt not but she is with him whom her soul longed for What remains sweet Sir but that you look upon your self at least as half dead and become a most serious and mortified man I know when God first snatched this precious Jewel out of your bosom you were sadly affected with your loss indeed her Funerals were celebrated with great solemnity with many a weeping eye and sorrowful heart let not sensual delights make you to forget it Labour to get good by this affliction Let her Memory be still pretious with you not for adoration leave that foppery to the Papists but for imitation And that you may make a right use of this and such like losses which have and may still befal you let me entreat you to peruse this following Treatise to which I take the boldness to prefix your Name to testify my thankfulness for former Favours and to declare to the world That I am SIR Yours unfainedly T. Allestree Ashow March 3d. 1670. A Funeral Handkerchief Part 2. CHAP. I. Containing several Uses which we ought to make of the Death of Friends SAint Austin cryed out against some who did not profit by afflictions August de Civit. Dei lib. 2 cap. 33. Perdidistis utilitatem calamitatis Ye have lost the benefit of your affliction Christians should improve cross Providences to their spiritual advantage Sad it is when as Salvian Salvian lib. 7. de Cub Dei p. 231. complains Curâ ipsâ deteriores sumus we are made worse by that which should make us better It is with Spiritual as with bodily Physick if it makes us not better it leaves us worse than we were before I shall therefore Courteous Reader for thy spiritual benefit shew thee what Use ought to be made of the Death of Friends which discourse like the Wine in the Gospel John 2.10 though it come now at last yet through God's blessing may be best of all And here my Prayer is That my Doctrine may drop as the Rain my speech distil as the Dew as the small Rain upon the tender Herb and as the Showers upon the Grass Deut. 32.2 Now if you would make a right Use and spiritual improvement of the Death of Friends and Relations you must Use 1 1. Eye the hand of God in such losses Gods Providence reacheth to all worldly occurrences Not a Sparrow falls to the ground nor an Hair from our Heads without the will of our heavenly Father Mat. 10.29.30 Of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory for ever Amen Rom. 11.36 God worketh all things after the Counsel of his own will Ephes 1.11 There is no evil befalls us but God hath a hand in it Amos 3.6 Shall there be evil in a City he speaks of malum culpae of the evil of punishment and the Lord hath not done it God is the appointer of the Rod as the Prophet Micah tells us Mic. 6.9 In particular God hath an hand in loss of Friends as I shewed at large in the former Treatise and therefore under such losses look up to God and give him the glory of all The Psalmist Psal 28.5 there threatens with destruction all such as regard not the works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands So Isa 26.11 Lord saith the Prophet when thine hand is lifted up they will not see but they shall see and be ashamed It is a most grievous sin when people do like the Dog snap at the stone forgetting the hand of him that sent it It is a
us thankfully acknowledge both spiritual and temporal Mercies to proceed from him as the Apostle speaks Eph. 5.20 Giving thanks alwayes for all things unto God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 5.18 In every thing give thanks for this is the Will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you Adam had he continued in Paradise should have sung praise unto God And the Saints now in Heaven as so many blessed Quiristers are continually chanting forth Divine Anthems of praise Rev. 4.10 11. And Dr. Sibs saith They that begin not Heaven upon Earth shall never go to Heaven when taken from the Earth Let us then bear a part here in singing praises to God which is a pleasant and comely duty Psal 147.1 if we would hereafter have admittance into the Coelestial Quire to sing forth perpetual Hallelujahs Future happiness is called Glorification John 13.32 And he that gives not glory unto God here shall not hereafter be glorified by God Let us then be much in thanksgiving for as God saith Psal 50.23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me and to him that ordereth his conversaition aright will I shew the Salvation of God 10. And lastly to name no more There was in Christ Heavenly-mindedness He lived on Earth as if he had been still in Heaven The gaudy vanities of this World were too pittiful a lure for him to be taken with So Heavenly-minded he was that he extracted many spiritual contemplations instructions from all sorts of earthly objects occasions that were before him Upon the sight of Jacob's Well he preacheth to the Woman of Samaria concerning the Living-Water John 4.10 By which Theophilact understands as we are told 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Grace of the Holy Spirit which refresheth the weary Soul even to life eternal vers 14. So when he had wrought the Miracle in feeding five thousand with five Loaves and two Fishes he teacheth them that sought after him that they should not labour for that Meat that perisheth but for that Meat which endureth to everlasting life John 6.27 And after tells them He was the Bread of Life vers 32.33 so John 15.1 passing through or by some Vineyard he tells them That he was the True Vine and his Father the Husband-man It was Christ's usual manner upon the sight of things temporal to raise Spiritual and Heavenly Meditations Let us play the Divine Chymists and extract Spiritual Instructions and Heavenly Meditations from Worldly Occurrences The Moralist could say Senec. Praefat. in Natural Quest Quà m contempta res est homo si non supra humana se exercuerit What a dung-hill wretch is Man if he mind only earthly things The Apostle tells you The end of such is destruction Nos ut Coelorum cives nos-met gerimus Beza Phil. 3.19 but saith he vers 20. Our conversation is in Heaven Christians are ad majora nati born to look after greater things than the World affords Let us then as we are commanded Col. 3.2 set our affections upon or according to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. let us savour and mind the things that are above and not the things upon earth Let not the Heaven-born Soul be imprisoned in an earthly body See Dr. Boreman's Serm. on Phil. 3.20 or be chained in Fetters of earthly cares but let it be dilated in its ardent desires after Heaven and Heavenly Objects These and the like vertues which appeared in the Life of Christ must appear in our lives and conversations else we cannot be saved 1 John 2.6 He that saith he abides in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked Christ was full of Grace John 1.14 and true Christians that are in Christ not only in regard of outward profession but likewise in respect of saving union they partake of his fulness vers 16. All God's Elect are conformed to the Image of his Son Rom. 8.29 1 Cor. 11.1 The Oyl poured on Aaron's Head ran down upon his Beard and went down to the Skirts of his Garments Psal 133.2 by which was signified That the very same Oyl of Grace that was poured on the Head Christ Jesus is thence derived unto all even the meanest of his Members As Jacob was blessed by his Father Isaac in the goodly Raiment of his Elder Brother Gen. 27.15 27 compared So must we have on the Spiritual Garment of Christ's Vertues who is our Elder Brother if we expect the Blessing of our Heavenly Father These and the like Vertues are called Glory because they undoubtedly lead to Glory 2 Cor. 3.18 View then Christ's Image in the Glass of the Gospel and labour to be transformed into that Image Put on therefore as the Elect of God Holy and Beloved bowels of mercy kindness humbleness of mind long-suffering forbearing one another and forgiving one another c. Col. 3.12 13. And as St. Peter speaks 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 10 compared Giving all diligence add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge and to Knowledge Temperance and to Temperance Patience and to Patience Godliness and to Godliness Brotherly-kindness and to Brotherly-kindness Charity for if ye do these things ye shall never fall And thus much for the fifth Direction 6. And lastly Preparation for Death consists in Believing 6th last Direction Fidendo This though◠mentioned last is not the least but chief Direction see John 3.14 15 16 18 36. To this Paul directed the trembling Jaylor Acts 16.31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved Acts 10.43 To him give all the Prophets witness that through his Name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins Christ is the Lord our Righteousness Jer. 23.6 He is the Way the Truth and the Life as he tells Thomas John 14.6 He is the true way to Eternal Life Qui aliter vadit cadit He that thinks to go to Heaven any other way will fall short of it For there is none other Name given among men whereby we must be saved Acts 4.12 See for farther proof of this Gal. 2.20 3.11 1 Pet. 1.5 9. 1 John 5.13 Those Worthies mentioned Heb. 11. died in the Faith St. Paul would not be found at the Day of Judgment in the most righteous Work that ever he did Phil. 3.8 9. Nay Bellarmine himself after a long Discourse concerning the merit of Works he overturns all in his last conclusion Propter incertitudinem propriae justitiae periculum inanis gloriae tutissimum est fiduciam totam insolâ Dei misericordiâ reponere He thought it the safest way to put his whole trust in the mercy of God alone Works must needs be a Sandy Foundation to build hopes of Eternal Life upon For our best Works are imperfect they flow from a foul Fountain for there is no mind so illuminated but there is some darkness in it See Bp. Andrew's Serm. on Jer. 23.6 no Heart so sanctified but there is some uncleanness in it and