from the lusts and affections of human flesh and made stiff nature yield and submit her self to God Seing now That our merciful and faithful High-Priest hath given up his Innocent holy Soul an Offering and a Sacrifice for all our Sins by suffering that ignominious Death of the Cross and since he victoriously routed all the Forces and loosed all the pains of Death and of Hell triumphing over them at his Resurrection first and Ascension afterwards all true Christians may for that Cause readily bear a part in St. Paul's joyful 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Song of Triumph composed it seems for those very solemn Festivals O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory And forasmuch as the Merits of Christ the second Adam are as mighty to save Mankind as the Transgression of the first was powerful to condemn we may repeat the same words again with comfort of hope and in full assurance of our Faith in a cheerful Eccho to that heavenly Voice Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth even so saith the Spirit for they rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them These Words do plainly contain two general Parts 1. The first Part is a perfect express and affirmative Proposition wherein is peremptorily asserted The blessed unalterable State of all those Men who depart hence in the Lord Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord or according to the Grammatical Order of the Words The dead which dye in the Lord are blessed 2. The Second general Part affords the strongest Reasons imaginable to prove and confirm the aforesaid Assertion This Confirmation thereof is twofold 1. From the best Authority that may be for 't is evidenced by the most infallible Testimony of the blessed Spirit full of Grace and of Truth 2. From Reason which is double The dead which die in the Lord are blessed 1. Because They rest from their Labours and 2. Because their Works do follow them For the clearer manifestation of the Truth now laid before us in the Method and Demonstration of the Spirit the Terms of the Proposition would be first of all explained in our Answers to these two Questions 1. What sort of men they be which the Spirit reckons to be dead in the Lord And 2. What is here understood by their being Blessed To the 1. Question What sort of Men they be which the Spirit reckons to be dead in the Lord Our Answer is briefly thus They are such Men as have not lived unto Themselves nor to the World but like Strangers and Pilgrims upon Earth having their Conversations and Hearts in Heaven That have mortifyed the Flesh with its Affections and Lusts being renewed in the Spirit of their Mind That have truly repented of all their Sins and subdued all the proud high Thoughts of their carnal minds in Obedience to Christ That have resisted and repelled the Devil in all his Attempts either by secret Suggestions or with open Force and have likewise renounced and overcome the World with all its Adherents Pomps and Vanities Now this Victory which all true Christians must obtain both over Themselves the Devil and the World before they can dye in the Lord is not otherwise to be gained than by sincere unfeigned Repentance manifest in all the Duties of self-denyal and mortification a lively persevering Faith in Christ and a constant hearty though not perfect Obedience to Gods Holy Commandments And seeing the best Men living are not able to perform that intire and exact Obedience which the Law requires at their hands to make them appear justifyed in the sight of a righteous holy God being judged of him according to their own Works but unprofitable Servants whosoever thinks to depart this Life in Peace with God with consolation to themselves must loath detest and abhor their past Wickedness like pious Job in dust and ashes and Jâ—b â—â—â— with S. Paul Phil. 3.9 cast off the polluted rags of their own imperfect Righteousness according to the Law to put on Christ by Faith and be found at last in the white robes of his Righteousness that was made perfect through Sufferings And there is no doubt but those Men who thus live unto the Lord by faith and perseverance in good works even unto their end may be sure of dying so too because they have discharged their whole duty so far as to render it an acceptable service unto God by Jesus Christ for having so duly testified both Repentance towards God and Faith working by Love in our Lord Jesus Christ they become thereby justifyed and obtain their peace and Reconciliation with God Whereupon they may safely cast the Anchor of their Hope on the promises which God once made unto their Fathers and then depart in peace according to his word in full assurance of an happy Resurrection from the Dead And having this hope what shall hinder Men from spending all their time their care and pains in exerting vigorously the powers and faculties of their Souls to purifie themselves from all filthiness of the Flesh and of the World that so they may grow still in Grace perfecting Holiness in the fear of God As the chased Heart pants after the Water Brook so these refined Spirits being wearied and heavy laden with all the frailties of their own Flesh tempted by Satan hated and persecuted by the World pant and groan earnestly for deliverance breathe and are athirst for their appearing before the presence of God where Mortallity shall be swallowed up of Life To the second Question what is here understood by their being Blessed who die thus in the Lord You may take this very plain yet apposite Solution notwithstanding Mens opinions about their Felicity present or to come have been as different numerous and irrational as concerning their very Gods themselves because one doth naturally presuppose and infer the other Felicity being nothing else but a close intimate Fruition of God in the notion of an All sufficient Immense Being that is absolutely good of himself and in his Nature and relatively too being the Fountain of all the goodness and pefection that can be met with amongst all the Creatures and Workmanship of his hands yet according to the common use and import of the word there have been always two things implied First a deliverance from evil and then a possession of something which is good And with regard unto the many kinds of good or evil which may befal the Sons of Men either in this present Life or in that which is to come so their happiness or misery doth both encrease and multiply And because every Man is naturally compounded of the Flesh and Spirit of an immortal Soul united with an earthly fading Body which nevertheless are by Gods infinite Power made capable of Life Eternal in dispight of Death or Hell it self therefore he may be counted happy 1 In respect of this present world and 2 with relation to the next and
thereupon Mans happiness may be considered either as it is Temporal or Eternal Those Temporal and Earthly Blessings which are but equivocally good or profitable unto Men that are Creatures made for Eternity Philosophers have drawn out upon their Ethick Schems into the distinct parts of bona Animi bona Corporis bona Fortunae the first rank of these erroneously stiled Beatitudes are properly seated in the Soul the second pertain especially to the Body but the last are the poor Largesses of blind chance the treacherous Donatives of deceitful unconstant Fortune They are all summed up in three words Honour Profit and Pleasure which like Cyphers can signifie nothing by themselves and yet will enhanse our Accounts at the General Audit according as they have been superadded for the good use and improvement of better Talents 1 John 2.16 17. but after all St. John the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath set a true Gloss upon that false Text by comprizing all that is in the World under the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eyes and the pride of Life And then for the confusion of all vain Philosophers and wretched Miscreants who fix their affections and all their happiness on such pittiful empty things He concludes they be not of the Father but of the World that passeth away together with all the Vanities and Lusts thereof And what Men having but so much reason as to know themselves and their eternal Interests can be so very Brutish in the great business of Religion or so careless of their own precious and immortal Souls as to set up such gross and ridiculous Idols in their Hearts to fall down worship and serve the Creature instead of their Creatour that is God Blessed for ever Do not those unreasonable Men exceedingly deceive their own Souls who trust in their uncertain Riches and foolishly vaunt in those very things that perish even in their use and will certainly come to naught Are they not the most absurd Idolaters in the World that make their own Belly their God Who sacrifice to their own proud imaginations and ambitiously court other folks for the vanishing breath of popular applause Are any Men so mad or beside themselves as they be who count their happiness more or less by the numbers of their Flocks and Heards their large Fields and full Coffers Or as others who forsake the living and only true God and place all their Devotion upon the Service of their own Luxurious Tables and that for no better end but only the pampering of those fleshly Lusts that war against their Souls Believe it such worldly carnal Wisdom is but Foolishness with God it is not from above but from beneath it is earthly sensual devillish absurd and irrational in its nature destructive and pernicious in its end Eccles 5. For in short Riches may be kept unto the owners hurt because they can yield no real content or satisfaction but are the cause of much trouble and vexation of spirit both in their persuit and fruition too For as they will not suffer the greedy wretch to sleep or take his rest so they will certainly one time or other make themselves wings and fly away What confidence also can be reasonably fixed upon the strongest Arm of Human Flesh What true joy what comfort can arise from Gorgeous Apparel even to Crowns and Scepters Purple Robes and precious Jewels with a numerous train of obsequious hungry Servants wherein lies the delight and pleasure of the riotous Livers which are truely burdens to the Common-wealth and also to themselves being loaden with their Sins and miseries at once having their Brains besotted and their whole bodies infected with disease and surfeit from the spoils of nature and fopperies of art For when those voluptuaries have industriously ransackt all the Elements for the nourishment of their lusts having drawn up several courses in rank and file and made their assaults against the works of nature and of Art with fierce and keen Appetites rushing like wild Horses into the Battle and engaging all before them like those old Andebatae blindfold without either fear or wit it hath often come to pass the most unsatiable Assailants have been wounded shamefully with their own Weapons The preserving remedies of Health and Life were turned into the most unhappy Instruments of Sickness unto Death in spight of Nature and of God himself their Tables were become snares unto them and those very things that should have been for their wealth were unnaturally misused for the sad occasions of their fall There now remains of all things under the Sun but only one Blessing more that hath any pretence at all to the present or future happiness of Mankind namely the rare endowments both of intellectual and moral habits which at once enrich and adorn our Souls These were the best means whereby the Philosophers ever dreamt of attaining happiness with all their pains and studies But though knowledge and morality be two Pearls of no small price even with Christians and are both difficult in their acquisitions requiring the most accurate endeavours of our Hearts and Heads and also very profitable in their use being the most likely means for gaining that happiness which is in truth our end yet these things are insufficient of themselves till quickned by the warm influences of Gods Holy Spirit For the subtlest Polititians the most profound Scholars in the World could never come up to the knowledge of the Truth or of Gods reconciling the World unto himself by Jesus Christ with all their otherwise excellent abilities void of Divine Grace for the Gentiles or meerly natural men 1 Cor. 2.14 receive not those deep things of God which are foolishness unto them neither can they know them because they are spiritually discerned For the same reason the most learned Rabbies amongst the Jews also lived ignorant of those obscure mysteries which lay hid in Christ notwithstanding that unto them were committed the first written Elements of Religion those choice Oracles of God for had they known the great mystery of Godliness in Christ Jesus they would not have crucified the Lord of Life and Glory Wherefore it is manifest that neither Jews nor Gentiles remaining still ignorant of Christ and his Gospel could be made wise unto Salvation For Acts 3. 1 Cor. 2.8 Joh. 17.3 Lu. 10.22 This indeed is Life Eternal that they may know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent And no Man knoweth who the Son is but the Father and who the Father is but the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal him From hence 't is plain That Mans eternal Redemption from the jaws of death his peace and reconciliation with God in Christ Jesus could never have been discovered by the wise Men or Princes of this World that come to naught but meerly by the demonstration of the Spirit and Power of God as it is revealed in the Gospel And since the Gospel
he seldom or never would eat or drink but when 't was Necessary and an Habitual Abstinence for 24 hours bred in him a nauseous dislike of those Meats which other Men have made almost natural by the contrary Custom From his knowledg of the true God whom he constantly worship'd with a great deal of Reverence and Devotion both in publick and in private He took his measures of this Evil World and then made the best use of it imaginable not like a Proprietor but a Steward that waits patiently for his Lords coming and hopes to give up his Account with joy He may be thought to be of the same Opinion with Plato esteeming his Body no better then a prison to the Soul He therefore used it not for his Mansion but his Inn looking upon himself as a stranger in the Land or like a wafering Man which tarryeth but for a Night Briefly neither his Meat nor Drink no nor Sleep were at all superfluous or exceeding the bounds of that Soberness which becometh Christians For he never so clog'd and stupified the Stomach and the Brain as to become indisposed for Action exemplifying the Truth of our Souls being one continued Act whilst our Bodies are but the dull Engines to those nimble Spirits And he thereby testified also that man is to live here like the Israelites in the Desert having no resting place no continuing City before he comes up to Canaan the good Land of Promise Upon this account he vertuously contemn'd and slighted all the Pomps and Vanities of this fading sinful World and learned with Saint Paul to count their temporary things not better then dung in comparison to that life of Grace which after all our Tribulations will end in Glory Real Godliness like Almighty God the Spring and Fountain of it is exhaustible restless and impatient of constraint before it flows over with all imagninable Freedom to enrich and beautify the Neighbouring Fields and Meadows Thus we see the Clouds do liberally spend themselves in dropping fatness both on the barren Hills and more fertile Vallies the Rain makes no difference and the Sun too sheds Light and Influence both on the Righteous and the Wicked High and Low Rich and Poor one with another And is it any way probable that Man should be wonderfully made for himself alone Can we think that ever infinite Wisdom ever intended that he should live at his own pleasure and so take his pastime and sport himself upon Land as the Leviathan doth at Sea but much more unreasonably to the Reproach of his being in the World and in open defiance both of his own Conscience and his God This Honourable Person here departed was I am sure of another mind more sensible of Gods undeserv'd Munificence and more conscientious in making all possible returns of Gratitude in proportion to those engagements which accomplished his Blessings His Godlike Soul was endued in good measure with all the Virtues that could represent him once more in his Makers Image If you pause a while and impartially reflect on the former passages of his life both in respect of himself his Neigbour and his God I believe you 'l readily acknowledge that God was in him of a Truth for he had learnt of that grand Exemplar his Lord and Master to be meek and lowly of heart full of Contentment in every Condition choosing tranquility of Mind with a good Conscience void of all offence both towards God and Man before abundance of Wealth and Riches Honours and Preferments with trouble and vexation of Spirit He was sober grave and temperate in all things even amidst many powerful Temptations to the contrary Vices He was obliged I suppose more than ordinary To keep his Tongue from evil and his Lipps from uttering any thing of deceit and Guile For you may remember no corrupt Communication proceeded out of his Mouth but only such manner of Discourse as would Minister grace or knowledge for his attentive Hearers His familiar Conversation was affable courteous pleasant facetious both from scurrilous or obscene Language and also from a Stoical morose Taciturnity He could seem angry sometimes but still in imitation of his God rather with the faults then persons of Men with due regard unto the Christian precept of being in Wrath but without Sin For Love and Charity that Bond of perfectness commanded all his Passions possest his whole Soul and crown'd all other Vertues with good success Being once Master of that most excellent spiritual Gift exceeding both our Faith and Hope he was truly Rich and Honourable too these things were indeed his beloved inheritance fairer in his Eyes then stately Buildings and large Mannours dearer unto him then many thousands of Gold and Silver sweeter also then Honey and the Hony Comb He seem'd by the course of his life to have taken Moses or much rather Christ for an example in renouncing the good things in this World and in suffering Evil for he did always highly prize the Christians Ornament of a meek and quiet and inoffensive Spirit above all the glittering Honours and ensnaring Gayeties of an usurping Tyrants Court choosing rather to suffer Afflictions then to enjoy the pleasures of Sin for a season Godliness with Contentment he judged rightly to be the most real Gain having the promise of this life and of that which is to come and it s therefore much greater and more lasting Riches then all the Treasures in Egypt and cannot be purchased with all the Gold of Opher Thus he lived and thus he dyed in the true Faith of Christ and in stedfast Hope of a good Reward in the Resurrection of the Just for he is now made free from Sin Death has no more Dominion over him for that he hath fulfill'd the Royal Law by loving his Neighbour as himself he frankly forgave his Enemies and likewise did the best he could for men of all sorts whether Friends or Foes without any distinction of Sects or Countrys In this charitable course he followed the precept and Example of his Master Jesus Christ forgiving all men their Trespasses either in words or deeds For it was no part of his Religion or his practice to repel injury with wrong to resist and recompence evil for evil he never so learn'd of Christ as to retaliate and revenge himself otherwise then by those harmless defensive weapons a patient silence and magnanimous contempt His great proneness to pity and compassion by forgiving other men their Trespasses produc'd in him remorse of Conscience and hearty sorrow for his own thus Charity began at home demonstrating to the World the soundness and sincerity of his heart by the streight line of his Conversation As the Sun being always one and the same Agent produces very different effects In like manner Charity bestows her Boons with one and the same hand but in very different ways of Dispensation according to the manifold Exigencies it meets with among the wretched Sons of miserable Men It cloaths