Graces and for all the Flelp and Assistance you had by their Doctrioe and Example while they lived and for all the Goodness and Grace of God towards them in enabling them to do or suffer his Will with their Supports Perseverance Assistances Encouragements and Victory Remember them so as to bewail your Loss and lay to Heart their Removal Remember how much more you ought to have valued their Ministry and how much better you might have improved it the very thoughts of what you would do if God would again have tryed you in that kind might herein be your Help Remember what Counsels what Warnings and Reproofs what Encouragements and Consolations you have ever had by their means Remember with what an Awe of god they were wont to Pray with what a Zeal for Christ and Love to Souls they did use to Preach with what humble Condescension Meekness and Charity and unblameable Conversation they lived in this World REMEMBER them in your Thoughts and Affections and in your Words and Actions so as on all fit Occasions to express your Love to their Memory Be ready to shew that you do not forget them by your continued Respects and Kindness to the Living for the sake of the Dead I mean the many despised Widows and Fatherless Children of Worthy Ministers Think often of them how God honoured them to bring many Souls to Christ and to build up Others How successfully they managed and comfortably finished their Work Think what and where they now are what they are delivered from what they enjoy how they are employed c. Don't be afraid to think often of your Deceased Ministers and Friends 'T is a plain Duty and a help to many Duties to have our Conversation in Heaven with Christ and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect To think of our Holy Relations and Acquaintance and especially Ministers who are got safe to Heaven It may assist and animate us in our Spiritual Warfare And much of the Comfort of the Life of Faith depends upon it They are part of the Family of Christ to which we are adjoined if by Faith we are united to him Heb. XII 22 23. We have no reason to believe that they Forget us whom they have left behind and certainly there is none why we should Forget them Let us remember them with Pleasure Honour and Love and speak of them with Respect and Gratitude CAN we think with Pleasure of such a Friend or Minister of such an Acquaintance or Relation whom we tenderly love that is many Miles distant from us here upon Earth and shall we be unmindful of those who are in Heaven It should be a Complacential Thought to consider that such a Father or Grand-father such a Husband or Wife such a Child or Brother of yours or mine are now with Christ in the Bosom of his Love in glory That such a Minister of Christ who was my Spiritual Father or by whom I was edified strengthened or comforted for many Years hath overcome and is at Rest has fought the good Fight and finished his Course While we are following after they have attained While we are in Tears and Conflicts they are in Joy and Glory While we are waiting at the door they are entered within the Vail 'T is our Duty to Remember them And 2. TO Follow their Faith that is the Doctrine they preached believed professed and obeyed or their found Doctrine and Practical Godliness Or their Faith may be considered as regarding Doctrines to be believed and professed Promises to be embraced and depended on and Precepts to be obeyed Such a Faith as realized the other World to them and help'd to crucifie them unto this Such a Faith as was the Evidence of things unseen whereby they were enabled to walk in Self-denyal Patience and stedfast Obedience 'till they came to the End of their Faith and Hope In short we must follow them as holding the Mystery of Faith in a pure Conscience and expressing the Power of it in a fruitful Conversation YOU see in what it is your Deceased and Holy Friends and Ministers are to be followed it is in their Faith and in the Principal Actings and Fruits of it so far as they kept The Example of Christ in their Eye and followed him for no farther does the Apostle require it 1 Cor. XI 1. the Pattern of Christ is propos'd for Imitation in all Ages of the Church We are no less obliged to it than the Apostle who prays for the Philippians that the same Mind might be in them that was in Christ Phil. 11.5 And therefore have we boldness in the day of Judgment says another Apostle because We are in the World as he was in it 1 John IV. 17. OUR Lord is the only Infallible and Supream Pattern whom tho' we cannot follow in his Miracles and Merits and what was peculiar to him as Mediator yet hath he set us an Example that we should tread in his steps in Obedience to his Father in Zeal for his Glory in Submission to his Will in Patience under Suffering c. He gave us an Example of Subjection to Parents Obedience to Magistrates Painfulness in Preaching Frequency in praying and in going up and down the World doing good in Forgiving Enemies in Charity to all Men c. AS to all other Examples tho' there may be some things Imitable there are others wherein we should be cautioned not to do the like as in Noah and Lot David and Solomon c. Even St. Peter was a Rock and an Excellent Apostle but we should split upon that Rock if we should follow him in all his ways If we follow him into the High Priests Hall if we imitate him in making bold with Temptation instead of following Christ we may be brought to deny him Therefore St. Paul expresly cautions us how far we are to follow his Example Phil. IV. 8. Finally my Brethren whatsoever things are honest just pure lovely of good report if they have any vertue any praise think of these things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do these things and the God of peace shall be with you HOWEVER granting the Life of Christ only be a perfect Copy yet the good Examples of our Brethren and Fellow-Christians are a merciful Help and Assistance to us in the way to Heaven We see by their Faith and Patience that our Duty is practicable That they who dwelt in such Bodies as we and were surrounded with the like Temptations and had as many Hindrances and Difficulties and no more or better Assistance or Encouragement than we have yet been enabled to please and glorifie God and are got safe to Glory We are not the Forelorn Hope not the first Assailors in the Spiritual Warfare we are not set in the Front of the Battle many of our Fellow Christians have lived and dyed in the Faith have overcome the World the Flesh and the Devil in that very way that we are
called to do it MANY of our Fellow Soldiers have fought the Good Fight gained the Victory and received the Crown Their Example tells us that the Difficulties and Conflicts that we fear are no other than they have experienced They complained as much we can of inward Corruption and outward Temptation of an unfaithful World and a busie Devil and a desperately wicked Heart and yet by the Grace of God they have Overcome We have a Cloud of Witnesses among our particular Friends and Acquaintance whom we have known and loved whom we have seen and heard with whom we have convers'd and discours'd And it is a great Encouragement to consider we are to follow Them For why should we be disheartned as if that were Impobssile to us which the Grace of God hath enabled them to do and suffer T IS one great Design of God's Gifts and Graces to Some that they may instruct and edifie Others The path of the just in this sense is a shining Light We are to Shew forth the Word of Life in our Conversation that we may direct others in the way And by our Zeal we are to provoke many AND when the Precept is exemplified into Pattern and the Commands of Christ made legible in the Lives of Christians we are the more encouraged to obey This hath more Influence than meer Law and naked Authority We find that Examples strangely affect us and the Lives of Holy Persons writ with Truth and Judgment and Caution have a singular Advantage to attract our Imitation When Charity and Humility Self-denial and Patience Piety and Devotion are characterized in the Practice and Actions of the Saints they are written as it were with Light notwithstanding some mixture of Darkness from Humane Passions and Failings for which in all Men there must be Allowance That Holy Examples are apt to affect the Mind more deeply than Holy Laws alone is evident by the Malice of the Devil and his Instruments against the Holy Scriptures exemplified in the Godly more than against the Scriptures themselves they can better bear the Precepts of a perfect Rule than the imperfect practice of them in a Holy Life They have burnt Martyrs that could endure good Books SUCH Examples may be of Use both to Quicken and Enoourage us 1. TO quicken and excite our Diligence to this purpose the Apostle makes mention of them Chap. VI. 12. Be not sloathful but be ye followers of them who by Faith and Patience inherit the Promises To cure the Sloath and Laziness of Christians he saith this and to stir them up to Holy Diligence with this Encouragement in the following Words that if they follow their Guides in their Faith in Christ they will find him an Unchangeable never failing Saviour For it is added Jesus Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever i.e. He will certainly receive forgive assist preserve and save them as he did their Deceased Guides If we follow them we shall find the same Comfort and meet with the same Reward HOW may the Temper and Spirit and Carriage of such Exemplary Christians shame our Negligence Their Humility and Zeal their Gravity and Seriousness their continual Awe of God and Apprehension of his Eve their constant Watchfulness over Hearts Words and Actions may be considered to humble and shame us When I think how diligently they improved their Talents how faithfully and fervently they attended their Work how their Hearts were in it and how much they did in a little time and how God was with 'em in abundant Success it should shame and quicken me Do I pray or preach or live at that rate of Seriousness Integrity Self-denial and Devotedness to God as they Durst they have indulged themselves and pleased themselves and allowed themselves the Liberty which I take Were they guilty of such Omissions and Neglects as I am Am not I more slight and formal seldom and heartless in Prayer than they were wont to be c. IF we have the same Spirit of Faith with the Holy Persons whose Examples we read or hear of these things will quicken and assist us for so the Apostle argues 2 Cor. IV. 13. We having the same spirit of Faith according as it is written I believed and therefore have I spoken we also believe and therefore speak And if they do not move us and excite us to follow them in their Faith and Obedience it is a sign that we are not partakers of the same Spirit 2. NOT only as to Duty but let us consider 'em for our Encouragement and Comfort Whatever Difficulties we may meet with in the Christian Race the Consideration of these Examples may encourage our Faith and Patience and Perseverance They found the Sweetness of Dependance upon God and the Success of a Life of Faith and had gracious Answers to Prayer and suitable Help in every time of need They could set to their Seal that God is true and the Scripture true and never any Word of his in which they regularly trusted did ever fail them And is it no Encouragement for us to be able to say Lord our Fathers trusted in thee and were delivered they trusted in thee and were not ashamed they cryed to thee and thou didst answer them They have told us what thou didst for them How Good was God and Faithful how Wise and Gracious The Word of the Lord is tried in six and in seven Troubles they found it true AND we that live in the latter Ages of the World have a greater Cloud of Witnesses than others we have the Benefit of the Experience of all the Saints that have gone before us They can tell us what they have found of the false Cavils Slanders and Objections of Unbelief of the Folly and Disingenuity of our Carnal Fears of the Fraud of the Devil's Suggestions of the certain Accomplishment of God's Promises and a good Issue of all Events if we wait on the Lord and keep his Way AND as to many of them we may observe with what admirable Patience they endured greater Trials sharper Pains and longer Exercises without Murmuring and without Fainting than ever yet we have known How Diligent Heavenly and Fruitful were some of them under less Advantages and Help than we The Examples of the Poor may shame many of the Rich The Examples of some young Converts may shame Old Disciples Religious Children may shame many Parents There are younger Brethren by whom the Elder are out-gone Such who were new-born but lately who exceed them that were in Christ many years before HAD not they whose Faith you are exhorted to follow the like Temptations as you meet with Have not you the same Rule to walk by the same Promises Assistances and Encouragements in the way to Heaven Are your Wants to be supplied Diseases to be cured Difficulties to be conquered Burdens to be endured more or greater or other than what they met with And was not Death the Passage to Glory as to all of them and
to help to make the World better I Rejoice in the Gifts and Graces and Success of All the Servants of Christ of whatever Name or Denomination Yea I will Esteem and Love Them whether they will Own and Love me or no. THIS Charitable Spirit let who will call such Moderation Lukewarmness with serious Diligence to please God and do what Service we can in our Several Places will be accepted with God and yield us Comfort living and dying And will I doubt not be better thought of hereafter when the little Names of Distinction and Matters of Dispute that now divide Christians and Protestants shall be forgotten As to all the Opinions and Censures of Men while we endeavour to do our Duty we ought to be firmly perswaded that every Man's Reputation and Credit is as much at the Disposal of God and under the Conduct of his Providence as his Estate or Health or Life and accordingly we ought to trust him SIR By what I already know of you I do not question your Agreement with me in these things I hope I shall know you better by a nearer and more intimate Acquaintance if it shall please God to Direct and Guide you to comply with the Invitation you have by a unanimous and speedy Choice to succeeed your Brother However that may be I beg of God to sanctifie this Providence to you to the Congregation and to all his surviving Friends and Acquaintance May I have Wisdom duely to improve it I am SIR London Febr. 3d. 1696 7. Your Affectionate Brother and Servant John Shower Advertisement THere will be speedily Publish'd a Funeral Sermon on the Death of Mr. T. Heasy an Hopeful Student Aged 19. With Serious Counsel to Young Students and Candidates for the Ministry c. And some Meditations on Several Subjects Collected out of the Papers he left By J. S. BOOKS Written by the same Author and Sold by John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey WInter Meditations Or a Sermon concerning Frost and Snow and Winds c. and the Wonders of God therein 4 to A Thanksgiving Sermon April the 16th 1696. 4 to An Account of the Life of Mr. Henry Gearing 12o. A Discourse of Tempting Christ 12o. A Discourse of Family Religion in three Letters 12o. A Funeral Sermon HEB. 13.7 Remember them who have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the Word of God whose Faith follow considering the End of their Conversation THE Suitableness of this Passage to the present Solemnity and to the Mournful Occasion of it is sufficiently apparent The Direction here given concerning the Peoples Duty with respect to their Ministers is entire and may be understood without examining the Context One would think it very easie to determine of what Ministers the Apostle speaks whether such as were yet alive or such as were dead did not our Translation favour their Opinion who would make the Original Word a Participle rather than a Substantive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 contrary to the more general Sense of most Learned Interpreters and Criticks who read the Words thus Be mindful of your Guides or Rulers and remember them who have had the Rule over you i. e. who have been and were your Spiritual Guides That 't is of these he speaks is manifest by what follows Who have spoken to you the Word of God or have been your Instructors in the Faith and who have kept the Faith and finished their Course For he advises them to follow their Faith and to consider the happy End and Exit of their Conversation AS to the Duties unto Deceased Ministers here mention'd it cannot be denyed but they are applicable in part to other Good Men departed this Life For when private Christians dye in the Lord we are not to forget them and are obliged to imitate their Faith and Patience and to that end to consider their Conversation in this World and how they got safe into another But the Apostle speaks here of their Pastors and Teachers the Ministers of the Gospel and such of their Spiritual Guides as were departed this Life With respect to these we have two things to consider First The Account that he gives of them as to their Persons Secondly The Duty of surviving Christians towards them after their Death 1. FIRST As to their Persons the Apostle gives us an account of them in four Things 1. As to their Name They are Guides and Rulers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. They have spoken to you the Word of God have been Preachers of the Everlasting Gospel 3. He testifies their Exemplary Faith proposing them as Patterns 4. Their Constancy and Perseverance in Faith and Holiness to the last Considering the End of their Conversation 2. HAVING thus described their Persons he mentions three Duties towards them 1. To Remember them 2. To Follow their Faith 3. As a Motive and a Means thereto to Consider their Conversation and the happy End of it Remember them who have had c. I shall first explain these several Particulars in the Text in the order mentioned and then Apply my Discourse to the Solemn Occasion of this Assembly viz. the Breach which God hath made amongst you by the Death of my Reverend and worthy Brother 1. FIRST As to the Persons here described They are called Rulers and Guides for so the Original Word imports such as have the Guidance and Instruction of others by Authority or Office It is sometimes used for Civil Rulers sometimes for Ecclesiastical and for the General of an Army for the Captain of a Regiment for the Governour of a Town and sometimes for a Principal Person amongst others Acts 15.22 THE Sacred Writers make use of this Word for such as were established to feed the Flock of Christ and had the Over sight of Particular Churches so Ver. 17. Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give an account the like 24. ver Salute all them that have the Rule over you and all the Saints 't is doubted whether St. James who was Bishop of Jerusalem was then alive and more whether the Apostle directs this Epistle to all the Churches in Judea or only to the Converted Jews in Jerusalem I shall not go about to decide it 'T is plain that these Rulers these Warchmen are the same who in the Text had spoken the Word of God or preach'd the Gospel TO this purpose we find that Clemens Romanus who is the most Antient Writer of the Christian Church next the Apostles the same Clemens who is mentioned by the Apostle himself Phil. 4.3 in his Epistle to the Corinthians useth this very word very frequently for * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 30. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ib. p. 73. St. Clemens Rom. Epist 1. ad Corinth 4to Edit Patr. Junij Oxon. 1633. Gospel Ministers Bishops such as preach'd the Word of God and were over 'em in
sometimes by Lingering Painful Sickness Antecedent to dying Therefore you may and should take Heart by their Examples and follow their Faith HOW you should do so I will sum up in * See Mr. Baxter's Life of Faith 4 to Chap. XXII p. 585. And Mr. D. B's Christian Commemoration and Imitation of Saints Deported 120. 1691. Where these things are more fully express'd better Words than my own Let us fix upon the same Ends to Glorifie God and Enjoy him let us choose the same Guide and Captain of our Salvation let us believe the same Gospel and build upon the same Promises let us obey and trust to the same Spirit of Holiness and Comfort let us live upon the same Truths and exercise the same Graces and watch against the same Sins and Corruptions let us choose prefer and use the same Company and other helps and means of Grace and under all the Trials and Temptations of this Life act the same Faith and Patience and Hope unto the End and we shall finish our Course as they did and inherit the Promises as they do In order whereto III. LET us consider the End of their Conversation Be mindful of your Deceased Ministers that you may observe the happy End of their Conversation and so be assisted to follow their Faith Their Conversation and Course of Life was agreeable to their Faith agreeable to the Doctrine they believed and taught and their End was answerable They lived in the Faith and they dyed in the Faith The End of their Conversations an End attended with Victory and Deliverance the same Word that is used for Escape 1 Cor. X. 13. Consider what Difficulties they met with and yet did overcome their Faith did not fail their Hope did not perish their Courage did not faint They endured to the End and finished their Course came off with Victory and are got safe to Everlasting Rest THE Consideration of this their happy End knowing what they were and what we are should encourage us to Follow them It ought to raise our Desires and Hopes fix our Resolutions answer our Doubts scatter our Fears make Death less formidable and the thoughts of Heaven more familiar and so excite and forward our Preparations for it That following their Faith we may with them at last receive the End of our Faith and Hope the Salvation of our Souls I NOW come to the other Part of my Subject to speak of Your Deceased Pastor Not that I design to give you the History of his Parentage Birth and Education before he came to London that is before my Acquaintance with him or yours but some Account of his Example as a Christian and as a Minister of Christ that being the more sensible of your Loss you may take the more care to improve it AND tho' I feel my self a real and hearty Mourner with you as for one whom I highly esteemed and loved and had a great deal of Reason to do so I shall yet take care that my Affection may not prompt me to say any thing concerning him that cannot be well attested either by my own Knowledge or by some of you who now hear me As knowing that I ought not to speak any thing that is not true of a dead Friend any more than raise an Evil Report of a living Enemy But I speak to those who knew his Doctrine and manner of Life Purpose Faith Patience Love Long-suffering and Charity 1. HE was considered as a Christian a lively Instance of inward Godliness and Real Religion He believed and practis'd what he preached to others He lived in the firm Perswasion and Expectation of the Invisible Everlasting World and in diligent Preparation of himself and others for it Humility the Badge of our Relation to Christ was his Cloathing and Ornament endeavouring to approve himself to God and to the Consciences of Men as in the sight of God Not as pleasing Men but God who seeth the Heart 2 Cor. X. 14 15. PRAYER was his Delight Strength and Excellency I have hardly heard of any more abundant in Prayer more Constant and Conscientious in it with the like Variety and Fervour upon all Occasions Besides what you had the Assistance of in Publick in his Family and Closet every day and also with his Wife with that Seriousness and Frequency that 't would be thought incredible should I name Particulars And many times early in the morning before day after the Example of his Blessed Master he wrestled with God in Secret Prayer He tasted the Sweetness and reaped the Benefit of such Converse with God AT other times the Thought of God and how often in a day did he think of God! and the very Name of God was wont to strike him with a becoming A we and Reverence His whole Life was almost a Life of Prayer which made his Face to shine and his Grace to thrive and gained him so much of the Divine Presence in his publick Work that sometimes you might manifestly discern that God was with him He never went about to compose nor preach a Sermon without most serious earnest Prayer before-hand with a particular Reference to that Occasion He gave himself continually to Prayer as well as to the Ministry of the Word Acknowledging the most and best of his Knowledge and Learning he got upon his Knees PRAISE and Thankfulness to God for all his Mercies was a great part of his daily Prayer and made up much of his Religion The Love of God and the joyful Praises of our Redeemer were his constant and most hearty Service They that knew him best can witness how much he delighted in Singing the Praises of God and how stated a part of Family-worship he made it every day THE Hely Scriptures were his continual Delightful Study as a Treasury of Divine Wisdom and Knowledge He despised all Books of other Learning in comparison of this And next to the Bible he most esteemed such Practical Books as Mr. R. and Jos Allen's and Mr. Corbet's Kingdom of God amongst Men c. THE Lords-Day was his Peculiar Delight and the Solemn Worship of it the Joy of his Soul He was then and thereby revived tho' he had been ill all the Week before And when confined to his Chamber by Pain and Languishing Sickness so as he could not attend the publick Assemblies how would he lament the slight Sabbaths he thought he kept and made Others keep but could add Thanks be to God it was otherwise formerly HIS Relative Religion in his Family was most strictly Christian and Exemplary His Affection to his Relations evidenced in his Concern for their Souls and particular Recommendation of their Case to God by Prayer upon all Occasions aggravates their Loss in his Death but will make his Memory precious with them AS to his Carriage and Behaviour abroad he thought the Life of a Minister in some respects was scandalous if it were not Exemplary and managed with greater Strictness than that of Ordinary Christians What
him with Pleasure and not with Grief not as lost but as delivered and crowned and at Rest in Everlasting Joy TO You who attended his Ministry and shall behold him no more in the Land of the Living nor ever hear him more in this or any other Pulpit let me add a few Words Remember him who hath spoken to you the Word of God Especially be careful to practice the Sermons you have heard him preach and seen him live Imitate whatsoever you saw of the Image and Life of Christ in him and write down any thing that was very remarkable that you ever heard from him in Publick or Private any thing that did particularly affect you or may be of Service to you YOU have been favoured with a Succession of such Burning and Shining Lights as are not set up in every Candle-stick Remember the Sound Instructions the Faithful Warnings the Earnest Exhortations the Fervent Labours and Exemplary Lives of your Deceased Guides What Fruit may God expect from you after such a Seeds-time as you have had Your last Minister had a Lean Withered Wasted Consumed Body that you might be fat and flourishing in the Courts of the Lord. BUT You are of two Sorts Either you have profited by his Ministry or not If the former you have reason to be thankful to God You that have been convinced and awakened by his Preaching that have been touched at the Heart under his Ministry who have often gone away striking of your Breasts and with Weeping Eyes driven to your Knees when you came home and obliged to come to him again saying Sir what must I do to be saved You cannot but feel and lament this Loss Your affectionate Tears are his Commendation And of several of you he might say with the Apostle to the Corinthians Tho' you have ten thousand Instructers in Christ ye have not many Fathers for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you by the Gospel 1 Cor. IV. 15. To the like purpose I might speak to Others who have by his Assistance been built up in their Holy Faith confirmed strengthened encouraged established and comforted THERE is another Sort who reap'd no such Advantage by him His Death is a sharp Reproof to such How far unprofitable Hearers may be guilty of the Death of their Ministers as well as an Unfaithful Minister of the Blood of Souls may deserve your Consideration With how many did he prevail but could not with you He shall now be a Reprover to you no more Be perswaded to look back and think with your selves what earnest Entreaties he used with you in the Name of Christ beseeching you to be reconciled to God How he longed for your Salvation How he studied and prayed and waited for Success Be not deceiv'd not a Sermon he ever preached or a Conviction you ever had under his Preaching but must be accounted for Tho' the Man be dead and the Minister be dead yet his Message doth not dye and shall not fall to the Ground Tho' all Flesh be Grass and the Glory of it as the Flower of the Field yet The Word of the Lord abideth for ever and not a Tittle of it shall be unaccomplished IT will be sad indeed if he that spent his Health and Strength and Life for you should be obliged at last to Witness against you and to say tho' not with such compassionate Words and Tears as formerly Lord I did Instruct Admonish and Exhort them in season and out of season but could not perswade them to leave their sins and come to Christ that they might have Life I told them of the Danger of their present State and what was like to be the End of it I told them plainly again and again that now only was the time to be reconciled to God I opened to them the Gospel-Covenant and shewed them the Riches of God's Grace in Christ and his Readiness and Sufficiency to save the chiefest of Sinners and that his Blood cleanseth from all sin But they would not consider they would not regard they would dye O with what concerned and awakened Souls should We Ministers study preach and pray when every Sermon for ought we know may witness against Some of those that hear it in the day of Reckoning O pity Us and therein your Selves for We do not desire the woful day Lord thou knowest WHAT would you have us say * See more to this purpose in Mr. B's Sermon of Judgment 8vo p. 30 34. in the Day of Judgment if God should ask us Did you tell this Sinner of his need of Christ of the Misery of his Natural Sinful State of the Glory of the World to come of the Vanity of this c. Should we lye and say we did not We must unavoidably bear Witness against you and say Lord we did what we could according to our weak Abilities to reclaim them Indeed our own Thoughts of Everlasting Things were so low and our Hearts so dull that we must confess we did not follow them so close nor speak so earnestly as we should have done We did not cry so loud or lift up our Voice as a Trumpet to awaken them Isa 58.1 We confess we did not speak to them with such melting Compassion and with such Streams of Tears beseech them to regard as a Matter of such great Concernment should have been spoken with we did not fall on our Knees to them and so earnestly beg of them for the Lord's sake to have Mercy upon their own Souls as we should have done But yet we told them the Message of God and we studied to speak it to them as plainly and as piercingly as we could Fain we would have convinced them of their Sin and Misery but we could not Fain we would have drawn them to the admiration of Christ but they made light of it Mat. 22.5 We would fain have brought them to the Contempt of this vain World and to set their mind on the World to come but we could not Some Compassion thou knowest Lord we had to their Souls many a Weeping or Groaning Hour we have had in secret because they would not hear and obey and some sad Complaints we have made over them in publick We told them that they must shortly dye and come to Judgment and that this World would deceive them and have them in the dust We told them that the Time was at hand when nothing but Christ will do them good and nothing but the Favour of God would be sufficient for their Happiness But we could never get them to lay it to Heart Many a time did we entreat them to think soberly of this Life and the Life to come and to compare them together with the Faith of Christians and the Reason of Men but they would not do it Many a time did we entreat them but to take now and then an hour in secret to consider Who made them and for what he had made them and why they were sent into
this World and what there Business here is and Whether they are going and how it will go with them at their latter End But we could never get the most of them to spend one hour in serious thoughts of these weighty Matters Many a time did we entreat them to try whether they were Regenerate or not whether Christ and his Spirit were in them or not whether their Souls were brought back to God by Sanctification but they would not try We did beseech them to make sure Work and not leave such a Matter as Everlasting Joy or Torment to a bold and mad Adventure but we could not prevail We entreated them to lay all other Businesses aside a little while in the World and to enquire by the Direction of the Word of God what would become of them in the World to come and to judge themselves before God came to judge them seeing they had the Law and Rule of Judgment before them But their Minds were blinded and their Hearts were hardned and the Profit and Pleasure and Honour of this World did either stop their Ears or quickly steal away their Hearts so that we could never get them to a sober Consideration nor ever win their Hearts to God This will be the Witness that many hundred Ministers of the Gospel must give in against the Souls of their People at that day But to draw to a Close Let us all be affected with his Death so as wisely to improve it The Removal of such an one at his Age is a Publick Loss not only to his Family and to the Congregation but to the Poor to the City to the Nation to the Church of Christ One of a clear Head and warm Heart who understood believ'd and obey'd the Gospel One of a Peaceable and Publick Spirit Abundant in Prayer and of an Exemplary Life and of Extraordinary Diligence to do Good Being fitted for it as he was filled with Love to Christ and the Souls of Men to carry on the great Design of Faith and Holiness to the utmost of his Power in the Station God had put him And full of Thoughts and Care therein to abide with God But mourn not for Him Some sorrowful Concern 't is true is unavoidable if you are sensible of your Loss and 't is also fit and becoming For 't is a Judgment upon any and a Reproach upon a Minister to dye unlamented As if his Life were of no Use and the World were weary of him But you need not mourn for Him when you Consider Who he was and Where he Now is being exalted to a higher Sphere of Action and Enjoyment for which through Grace and Holy Diligence he was prepared And so for ever delivered from all Pain and Sickness from Sin and Sorrow Corruption and Temptation If you follow his Faith and Patience you shall meet him again in Unutterable and Endless Joy HEREUPON you will do well to admit the Thought that all your other Ministers are mortal and dying and that you your Selves are so And therefore should improve their Lives and and Labours as you shall wish you had done when They are Dead or when You your selves are ready to dye TO Conclude Because He alone who made this Breach hath the Residue of the Spirit and can supply it let me advise you tho' the Shepherd be smitten yet that the Sheep do not scatter Let not this Breach occasion Others but Agree together and take the best Advice you can in looking out speedily for a Suitable Supply And the Lord direct you to a Man after his own Heart that may be like-minded with my Deceased Brother And whatever you have received and heard and learnt and seen in Him as a Follower of Christ that do and The God of Grace and Peace be with you Amen FINIS BOOKS Printed for John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey MR. Baxter's Life published by Mr. Sylvester Folio Mr. Lorimers Apology for the Ministers that subscribed to the stating the Truths and Errors in Mr. Williams's Book in Answer to Mr. Trails Letter to a Minister in the Country In 4 o. Mr. Lorimers Remarks on Mr. T. Goodwins Discourse of the Gospel proving that the Gospel-Covenant is a Law of Grace answering his Objections to the contrary In 4 to Mr. Stephens's Sermon before the Lord-Mayor Jan. 30. 1693. 4 to his Thanksgiving Sermon April 16. 1696. before the Lord Mayor 4 to Mr. Gibbons Sermon of Justification 4 to Mr. Slaters Thanksgiving Sermon Octob. 27. 1692. 4 to his Sermons at the Funerals of Mr. John Reynolds and Mr. Fincher Ministers of the Gospel 4 to Dr. Burtons Discourses of Purity Charity Repentance and seeking first the Kingdom of God Pubished with a Preface by Dr. John Tillotson late Arch-bishop of Canterbury 8vo Bishop Wilkins's Discourses of the Gift of Prayer and Preaching the latter much Enlarged by the Bishops of Norwich and Chichester Mr. Samuel Slaters Earnest Call to Family Religion in Eighteen Sermons 8 vo A Help to true Spelling and Reading or a very easie Method for Teaching Children or elder Persons rightly to Spell and exactly to Read English in much less time then usual By William Scoffin 8vo Mr. Addy's Stenographia or the Art of Short-writing compleated in a far more compendious way than any extant 8 vo Mr. Addy's Short-hand Bible in the same Character Sir Robert Howards Free Discourse Wherein the Doctrines which make for Tyranny are Displayed The Title of our Rightful and Lawful King William vindicated and the Unreasonableness and Mischievous Tendency of the Odious Distinction of a King de Facto and de Jure Discovered 8 vo Robinsons Cambridge Phrases being a General Phrase-Book for the Use of Schools In 8 vo The London-Dispensatory reduced to the Practice of the London Physitians wherein are contained the Medicines Gallenical and Chymical that are now in Use those out of use omitted and those in use not in the latter Copy here added By John Peachey of the Colledge of Physitians London In 12 o. The Dying Mans Assistant or short Instructions for those who are concerned in the preparing of sick Persons for Death Being also no less worthy the Consideration of all good Christians in Time of Health As shewing the importance of an Early Preparation for their latter End with Regard as well to their Temporal as Eternal State 12 o. Mr. Alkins English Grammar or the English Tongue reduced to Grammatical Rules Composed for the use of Schools 8 vo