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<DATE>2014-12-01</DATE>
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<NAME>Kate Allen</NAME>
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*Correct excusable and inexcusable errors x*If appropriate, check for yoghs. x*If appropriate, check for Latin problems, e.g. oe and ae digraphs x*If appropriate, check for abbreviation and brevigraph problems. x*If appropriate, check for units of measure, symbols (alchemical, astronomical, etc.) and the like. x*Correct illegibles from proofsheet x*Check illegible page, para, line, span, word, dollar signs
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1">
<P>THE Saints Re&s;t, AND REWARD IN <HI>HEAVEN.</HI></P>
<P>Set forth in a Sermon preached at the Funerall of the mo&s;t Vertuous and truly Religious Gentlewoman, Mrs. <HI>Anne Tirwhytt,</HI> Widdow of <HI>Robert Tirwhytt</HI> of <HI>Camringham</HI> in the County of <HI>Lincolne,</HI> E&s;q; <HI>Decemb.</HI> 8. 1652.</P>
<P>By JOHN LEIGH, Ma&s;ter of Arts, and Preacher of Gods Word at <HI>Camringham</HI> near <HI>Lincolne.</HI></P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>Calv. In&s;tit.</HI></BIBL>
<P>Terra Exilium, Coelum Patria, Corpus Carcer, Liberatio &agrave; cor|pore, &s;olida libertas, &amp; optima quies.</P>
<BIBL><HI>P&s;al. 112.6.</HI></BIBL>
<P>The righteous &s;hall be in everla&s;ting remembrance.</P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by J. G. for <HI>Tho: Heath</HI> dwelling in <HI>Ru&s;&s;el-&s;treet</HI> in <HI>Covent-garden</HI> near the <HI>Piazza.</HI> 1654.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>To the five Virgins, and vertuous Si|&s;ters, M^r^s^. <HI>Ellen, Douglas, Jane, Mary</HI> and <HI>&V;r&s;ula Tirwhytt,</HI> Daughters of the late decea&s;ed, but ever to be remembred, Mrs <HI>Anne Tirwhytt</HI> of <HI>Camringham,</HI> in the County of <HI>Lincolne.</HI></HEAD>
<P>_I Had great rea&s;on to decline the Printing of this plain Sermon, as judging it (in reference to my &s;elf) altogether unworthy of a publique view, and fearing its meanne&s;s might rather eclip&s;e, than il|lu&s;trate the fame of your Mothers happy memory. But being met with an Army of Arguments, and Importunities to this purpo&s;e, I re&s;olved to deliver up my &s;elfe to be di&s;po&s;ed of according to your plea&s;ure. Into your hands therefore I commend it, as a publique Te&s;timony of my particular ob|ligations to you, and the worthie Family of your name in this place, de&s;iring it may ever remain as a Monument of your Mothers incomparable Vertues, to encourage and e&s;tabli&s;h you in wayes of Truth and Godline&s;&s;e, and like a faithfull Grave-stone, tell Po&s;terity, how much good &s;he did in <HI>I&s;rael</HI> for her pre&s;ent Generation. What &s;hould I &s;ay more? But with our Saviour, <HI>Go, and do you like|wi&s;e.</HI> Let your Mothers blood run fre&s;h in your Veins, write after her glorious Copie, improve all opportunities for ad|vancing Gods glory in works of Piety &amp; Charity. Provide
<PB REF="3"> Oyle for your Lamps, that ye may be wi&s;e Virgins indeed, to meet your &s;pirituall Bridegroom with un&s;peakable joy and comfort; And if Providence &s;hall &s;o appoint that you must &s;pend all your dayes in the Mountaines of <HI>Gilead,</HI> and die childle&s;&s;e, yet be &s;ure to propagate your vertues to po|&s;terity, and let your Faith and Obedience, like <HI>Epimanon|das</HI> his two Daughters,<NOTE N="&dagger;" PLACE="marg">Two Virgins at <HI>Luctia</HI> and <HI>Mantinea.</HI> Plut.</NOTE> perpetuate your memories, and ren|der you famous to &s;ucceeding Generations. For the furthe|rance whereof, you may ever be confident of the heartie&s;t Prayers of</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your mo&s;t faithfull and obliged Friend to &s;erve you, JO: LEIGH.</SIGNED>
<DATELINE>Camringham, <DATE>Jul. <HI>24. 1654.</HI></DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB REF="3">
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><BIBL><HI>REV. 14.13.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And I heard a voice from Heaven, &s;aying unto me, write&punc; Ble&s;&s;ed are the dead which die in the Lord, from hence|forth; &s;o &s;aith the Spirit, that they may re&s;t from their labours, and their works do follow them.</P></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_PHilo&s;ophers (who &s;aw no farther than the clouds of humane rea&s;on) could &s;ay, <HI>A wi&s;e mans Life &s;hould be a continuall meditation of Death;</HI> therefore Chri&s;tians di&s;covering in the Gla&s;&s;e of Scripture, the lying Vanities of this world, and the glorious Felicity of that which is to come, &s;hould often call to remem|brance their latter end, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> wi&s;hes the People of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 3 Job 14.<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"></NOTE> and ever wait for the appointed time of their &s;olemne change.</P>
<P><HI>Jo&s;eph of Arimathea,</HI> had his &s;epulchre in his garden, and <HI>Je|&s;us Chri&s;t</HI> at the Publicans fea&s;t, falls into a &s;erious di&s;cour&s;e of his Pa&s;&s;ion, and A&s;cen&s;ion, to teach us that in times and places of greate&s;t Plea&s;ure, we &s;hould put our &s;elves upon Theams of mortalitie. Heathens indeed had their burying places without their Cities, but Chri&s;tians in and about their Churches, to &s;ig|nifie that in our devotions, we &s;hould thinke upon our di&s;&s;olu|tions, which was one rea&s;on why <HI>Alphon&s;us</HI> King of <HI>Arragon</HI> u&s;ed to confe&s;&s;e, that dead men were his be&s;t friends; they gave him &s;ound and &s;ea&s;onable coun&s;ell, to remember Mortality here, and provide for Eternitie hereafter.</P>
<P>To this end, S. <HI>John</HI> in his Book of the <HI>Revelation,</HI> is &s;ome|times advi&s;ing us to make Preparation for Death; Remem|ber
<PB REF="4"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 span">, and repent. Ble&s;&s;ed are they that watch,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">ev. 22.14.</NOTE> and ble&s;&s;ed are they that do the Commandements, they &s;hall enter into the City. And &s;ometimes encouraging us again&s;t the approaches of Death, by de&s;cribing the glorious reward of the Saints departed, as in this Text. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the dead,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>It is therefore well ob&s;erved by Divines, that the three Books of St. <HI>John</HI> have &s;peciall reference to the three Theologicall vertues, Faith, Hope, and Charity. His Go&s;pel hath reference to Faith; there he makes a de&s;cription of Chri&s;t in his Merits &amp; Mercies, and would engraft us into him by a lively Faith. 2 His Epi&s;tles to Charitie; there he makes a de&s;cription of Love, and would unite our hearts in the bond of Peace and Amitie. And then 3. His Book of Revelation hath reference to Hope; there he makes a de&s;cription of Heaven, and would encourage us again&s;t fear of death, by the con&s;ideration of that ble&s;&s;ed Sab|bath of eternall Re&s;t, to be celebrated by all the Saints depar|ted in the faith of Chri&s;t: So &s;aith the Text, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the dead which die in the Lord,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Divi&s;ion Text.</NOTE>In which words there are three things chiefly ob&s;ervable:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. A Propo&s;ition, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the dead.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. The Expo&s;ition, Not all the dead, but <HI>they which die in the Lord.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3 The Confirmation, partly by way of Te&s;timonie, <HI>So &s;aith the Spirit,</HI> and partly by way of Rea&s;on and Demon&s;tration, <HI>They re&s;t from their Labours, and their Works follow them.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>Put the two former together, and they make up this conclu&s;i|on: That</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">ctr.</NOTE>Th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">y that die in a &s;tate of Grace, live in a &s;tate of Glorie. This Ob&s;ervation I take to be the &s;cope and quinte&s;&s;ence of the Text, and therefore &s;hall make it the proper &s;ubject of my pre|&s;ent di&s;cour&s;e. It will be nece&s;&s;ary to handle the point by way of
<LIST>
<ITEM>Explication.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Confirmation.</ITEM>
<ITEM>Application.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>Fir&s;t by way of Explication, to &s;hew what it is to die in the Lord. That implies two things e&s;pecially. 1. To die in the Lord is to die for the confe&s;&s;ion of the Faith. 2. To die in the pro|fe&s;&s;ion
<PB N="3" REF="4"> of the faith of the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, to die for the confe&s;&s;ion of the faith; &s;o <HI>Beza</HI> reads the words. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they who die for the Lord,</HI> who &s;acrifice their lives for Chri&s;ts &s;ake, and the Go&s;pells &s;ake, who &s;uffer Martyr|dome either Pa&s;&s;ively in act only, as the Innocents at <HI>Bethleem,</HI> or Actively in act and will al&s;o, as Saint <HI>Stephen</HI> and the re&s;t of the faithfull witne&s;&s;es of Chri&s;t, in all ages.</P>
<P>The&s;e indeed are ble&s;&s;ed in their Works, and ble&s;&s;ed in their Reward: In their Work, becau&s;e they &s;uffer as Chri&s;t, and for Chri&s;t; as Chri&s;t, according to that of the Apo&s;tle, <HI>I rejoice in my &s;ufferings for you;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Colo&s;. 1.24.</NOTE> and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Chri&s;t in my fl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;h, for his bodies &s;ake, which is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">he Church. To fill up that which is behind, Why? Are the &s;uffe|rings of Chri&s;t imperfect? Is there not ab&s;olute freedom and &s;atisfaction wrought by his Pa&s;&s;ion?</P>
<P>Yes, by one offering he hath perfected for ever tho&s;e that are &s;anctified,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Vid.</HI> Daven. <HI>Ep.</HI> in locum.</NOTE> <HI>Heb.</HI> 10.14. but yet there are <GAP DESC="foreign"> and <GAP DESC="foreign">, fore-&s;ufferings and after-&s;ufferings of Je&s;us Chri&s;t. H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">s fore-&s;ufferings are tho&s;e torments he endured in his owne fle&s;h, and his after-&s;ufferings are the manifold afflictions of his Mem|bers upon Earth. He may be per&s;ecuted at <HI>Dama&s;cus</HI> after his A&s;cen&s;ion, and crucified at <HI>Rome</HI> in his Members.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Act. 9.4. Rev. 11.8.</NOTE> Here is all the difference, His fore-&s;ufferings were for the expiation of Sin, his after-&s;ufferings for the triall of Patience, and the credit of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P>But then, as they &s;uffer as Chri&s;t, &s;o for Chri&s;t, for thy &s;ake we are killed all the day long:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.36.</NOTE> in the Primitive times Chri&s;ti|ans were wont to call Martyrdome by the name of <HI>Corona Martyrii,</HI> the Crown of Martyrdome, becau&s;e this was the crown, and complement, and perfection of a mans happine&s;&s;e upon earth, to &s;uffer for Chri&s;t, and to Seale his Profe&s;&s;ion with his deare&s;t blood. Heathens accounted it their greate&s;t honour to die for their Countrie, Chri&s;t thought it an honour to die for &s;inners, the ju&s;t for the unju&s;t, how much more &s;hould &s;inners e&s;teeme it honourable to die for their Saviour, the unju&s;t for the ju&s;t, that's the be&s;t peice of &s;ervice we can doe him, and &s;uch a high degree of promotion, as the highe&s;t Angel in Heaven is not permitted to arrive at.</P>
<PB N="4" REF="5">
<P>Thus they are ble&s;&s;ed in their Work: And 2. they are ble&s;&s;ed in their Reward. They that &s;uffer with Chri&s;t in the Vale of Teares, &s;hall reigne with Chri&s;t in the Kingdome of Glorie: They that have the marks of the Lord Je&s;us upon their Bodies, &s;hall have the crowne of Life upon their Heads. They that goe to Mount <HI>Calvarie</HI> with Chri&s;t, and for Chri&s;t, in this world, &s;hall go to Mount <HI>Olivet,</HI> Mount <HI>Sion,</HI> with Chri&s;t, to triumph in the world to come. Who are they that are welcom to the &s;pirituall <HI>Canaan,</HI> but they that are forced thorough the red Sea of their own Blood? Who are they that are carried in white Robes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 7.9.14.</NOTE> with Palmes in their hands, but they that come out of great Tribulation for the name of the Lord Je&s;us? If a <HI>Julian</HI> will honour the memorie of tho&s;e that were &s;laine in his warres; how much more will Je&s;us reward all his faithfull witne&s;&s;es, that have lo&s;t their lives, that have been prodigall of their blood in this quarrell, and for his &s;ake? <HI>Right deare in the &s;ight of the Lord, is the death of his Saints. P&s;al.</HI> 115.16.</P>
<P>In the &s;econd place, To die in the Lord is to die in the Pro|fe&s;&s;ion of the Faith of Chri&s;t, in the &s;tate of Grace, and eternall Salvation. And this is con&s;iderable in three particulars:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. To die in the Favour of God.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. In the Faith of Chri&s;t.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. In the Peace of a good Con&s;cience.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, To die ble&s;&s;edly, is to die in the favour of God; &s;o <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> died: according to the Word of the Lord. The <HI>Caldees</HI> Paraphra&s;e is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Deut. 3 4.5</NOTE> <HI>Hee died with a ki&s;s from the mouth of God.</HI> God is plea&s;ed &s;ometimes to ki&s;&s;e the righteous in their death, to &s;mile upon them on their Death-beds, to embrace them in the armes of his Love, to pre&s;ent them with a bunch of Grapes before they come at <HI>Canaan&punc;</HI> giving them &s;ome &s;peciall tokens of his Favour, as a Pawn and Pledge of that Glorie which is to be revealed in Heaven. And &s;urely they die mo&s;t comfortably who have the &s;tronge&s;t a&s;&s;urance of the love of God in their hearts: A man may leave <HI>Egypt</HI> with joy, when he hath a Land of Promi&s;e before him; he may well part with an earthly Po&s;|&s;e&s;&s;ion, when he hath Writings &s;ealed for an Immortall Inheri|tance; he may goe to his owne hou&s;e of D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ath, to his long home in the Grave with un&s;peakable comfort, when he &s;hall have &s;uch
<PB N="5" REF="5"> a me&s;&s;age from Heaven as that in the Go&s;pel, <HI>Sonne,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Math. 9, 2.</NOTE> <HI>be of good cheere, thy &s;ins are forgiven thee,</HI> thy warfare is accompli&s;hed, and <HI>thou &s;halt receive double at the hand of the Lord,</HI> E&s;ay 40.2.</P>
<P N="2">2. To <HI>die in the Lord</HI> is to die in the faith of Chri&s;t, and that is fir&s;t to confe&s;&s;e the name of Chri&s;t, becau&s;e there is no <HI>Salvation but in his name;</HI> Act 4.12. all &s;ufficiency in his name, in&s;uffici<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">n|cy in any other name. No hope for tho&s;e that are out of the Pale of the Church.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is to profe&s;&s;e the truth of Chri&s;t, becau&s;e a man cannot be &s;aved in any Religion: there is but <HI>one Truth, one Faith, one Bapti&s;me, one Mediator.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 4.5.</NOTE> <HI>Varro</HI> may reckon up 30000 Gods a|mong the Gentiles, where there is one onely; and men may forge and phan&s;ie 30000 Truths, whereas they &s;hall finde but one in the conclu&s;ion.</P>
<P N="3">3. It is to apply the merit of Chri&s;t, becau&s;e Chri&s;t in the ge|nerall notion will never bring a man to heaven. It is not &s;uffici|ent to be a Chri&s;tian in name, or a Prote&s;tant in Profe&s;&s;ion, ex|cept a man be a reall and living member of Chri&s;t, by a faith of application as well as apprehen&s;ion. <HI>They die in the Lord</HI> who are united to Chri&s;t, and engrafted into his body, by a lively faith in his blood. There are many that leave the doctrine of Sal|vation by Chri&s;t hovering in the air, they take up in a hi&s;toricall commemoration of his Pa&s;&s;ion, in a knowledge &s;wimming in the b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ain, whereas it mu&s;t be a knowledge &s;inking and &s;oking into the heart, a knowledge accompanied with application, which will afford a &s;inner &s;ound and &s;ub&s;tantiall comfort. The Angells &s;er|mon was driven home by way of application, <HI>unto you is borne a Saviour.</HI> It is not the report of a Saviour, but the embrace,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.11.</NOTE> and application of a Saviour, that renders a man Truly happy. <HI>M. Luther</HI> &s;aid very well; <HI>Dulce nomen &s;alvatoris &amp;c. Sweet is the name of a Saviour,</HI> oh but the &s;weetne&s;&s;e lies in the Pronoun, (&s;ays he) that Chri&s;t is <HI>my</HI> Saviour, and <HI>thy</HI> Saviour, theres the com|fort.</P>
<P>And indeed, it is &s;mall comfort to know there is redemption wrought, if I hav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> no right, and title, and inter<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t in that re|demption. To know there are holes in Chri&s;ts &s;ide, if my fingers be not in the holes. To know there is a rock of &s;alvation if I get not into the clefts of the rock, and lodge in the &s;ecret places of
<PB N="6" REF="6"> the &s;taires, in the wounds of Chri&s;t, in the heart of Chri&s;t: As Queen <HI>Mary</HI> &s;aid, <HI>if &s;he was opened, one might &s;ee the Towne of</HI> Callis <HI>lie at her heart.</HI> As Chri&s;t lies at the heart of a Beleever by love, &s;o a Beleever lies at the heart of Chri&s;t by faith; &s;o that it is not <HI>Chri&s;t dying at Jeru&s;alem,</HI> but <HI>Chri&s;t living in the heart,</HI> that mu&s;t &s;ave us: Not <HI>Chri&s;t hanging on the Cro&s;&s;e,</HI> but <HI>Chri&s;t ta|ken downe;</HI> we mu&s;t with <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> of <HI>Arimathea</HI> take him downe from the Cro&s;&s;e, wrap him in clean linnen, lay him in a new Se|pulchre, a holy, heavenly, penitent, believing heart, then he is ours indeed.</P>
<P><HI>Thra&s;yllus</HI> an <HI>Athenian</HI> being di&s;tracted in his brain, had a &s;trong conceit, that all the Ships and their lading in the Port of <HI>Pyrea</HI> were his owne: It is not Fancy, but Faith which a&s;&s;ures a Chri&s;tian all the Merchandi&s;e of Heaven, all the ben<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">fits of Chri&s;t, all the mercies promi&s;ed are his owne, and therefore he dare proclaime his unque&s;tionable intere&s;t in Chri&s;t, and lay claime to Salvation,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 1.15.</NOTE> as Saint <HI>Paul; Je&s;us Chri&s;t came to &s;ave &s;in|ners, of whom I am chief:</HI> This is to die ble&s;&s;edly in the Lord, that is, in the Faith of Chri&s;t, a faith of particular application. Thus the Primitive Chri&s;tians died ble&s;&s;edly, they died in Faith, not in a generall Belief of the Go&s;pell,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.13. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> but in a full A&s;&s;urance of the Love of God in his Son Chri&s;t, they embraced, or ki&s;&s;ed the Promi&s;es, and laid hold on the purcha&s;ed Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion, Eternall life by the hand of Faith.</P>
<P>Thus old <HI>Simeon</HI> died Ble&s;&s;edly, becau&s;e he died Believingly, with Heaven in his Eye,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.29, 30.</NOTE> and Chri&s;t in his Armes, <HI>Lord let thy Servant depart in peace.</HI> That man is mo&s;t &s;ure to die in peace, who&s;e eyes have &s;een the &s;alvation of God, who hath the &s;pirit of Chri&s;t in his heart, as <HI>Simeon</HI> had the body of Chri&s;t in his armes, who hath made his Calling and Election &s;ure, and knowes for certaine that Chri&s;t hath &s;hed his Blood for his Redemption in particular, according to that rare and ravi&s;hing expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>Gal.</HI> 2.20. <HI>Chri&s;t loved me, and gave him&s;elf for me,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P N="3">3. And la&s;tly, To die in the Lord, is to die in the peace of a good Con&s;cience. A con&s;cientious man dies ble&s;&s;edly, how&s;oever, or when&s;oever, or where&s;oever he dies; therefore when St. <HI>Paul</HI> had received the &s;ummons of Death, he fled to the Ca&s;tle of his good Con&s;cience;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> Tim. 4.6, 7.</NOTE> there he &s;ate like <HI>Noah</HI> in his Cabbin, in an
<PB N="7" REF="6"> Ark pitch'd within and without. I am ready to be offered, and he time of my departure is at hand; And here is my comfort,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 8.</NOTE> <HI>I &s;hall go to my Grave with a Con&s;cience as clean as my Winding-&s;heet:</HI> it followes, <HI>I have fought a good Fight, fini&s;hed my Cour&s;e, kept <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">he Faith, Henceforth is laid up for me a Crowne of Righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>Thus <HI>Samuel</HI> died in the Lord, when his heart bare witne&s;&s;e of his integrity, in&s;omuch, as he makes a glorious Manife&s;to, and Challenge to all the World. My departure is at hand, and who can accu&s;e me of Deceit, or Briberie, or Oppre&s;&s;ion? <HI>Who&s;e Ox have I taken? Or who&s;e A&s;&s;e,</HI> &amp;c. Thus they that live the Life of the Righteous, &s;hall die the Death of the Righteous: They &s;hall be welcome to Gods Hive in Heaven, who come la|den with works of Piety and Charity from the field of the World. If the wi&s;e Virgins keep Oyle in their Lamps, and Oyl in their Ve&s;&s;els, Faith, and a good Con&s;cience in the cour&s;e of their lives, they &s;hall attend the Bridegroom Je&s;us Chri&s;t, to &s;ing the Marriage Song in Heaven, the Song of <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and the Song the Lamb.</P>
<P>To this purpo&s;e, I may very fitly apply that pa&s;&s;age of <HI>Jehu</HI> to <HI>Jehonadab, Is thy heart right as mine is? if it be,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 King. 10.15</NOTE> <HI>give me thy hand and come into my Chariot.</HI> Thus may God &s;peak to you in the language of <HI>Jehu,</HI> and &s;ay, <HI>Is thy heart right?</HI> Are your hearts believing hearts, clo&s;ing with, and cla&s;ping about J<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;us Chri&s;t? Are they &s;oft and penitent hearts, &s;teeped in teares of compuncti|on? Are they holy, humble, hone&s;t hearts, hating Sinne, and lo|ving Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e? Now, if you can make <HI>Jehonadabs</HI> an&s;wer, and &s;ay, they are right (Lord) in &s;ome mea&s;ure, <HI>we believe, Lord help our &V;nbelief;</HI> we are &s;orry for Sinne, <HI>Lord increa&s;e our Sor|row;</HI> We tru&s;t he have a good con&s;cience, at lea&s;t we de&s;ire to have one; then <HI>give me thy hand</HI> (&s;ayes God) <HI>and come into my Chariot, He grace thee with my Favour in this World, and crowne thee with my Pre&s;ence, my Glory, in the World to come.</HI></P>
<P>So much by way of Explication. I proceed to the proof and confirmation of the Point, as it was laid down in the Text. Fir&s;t by way of Te&s;timony; <HI>I heard a voice from Heaven, &s;aying, write;</HI> and &s;o &s;aith the Spirit, <HI>that they re&s;t,</HI> &amp;c. Here (with <HI>Jonathan</HI>) we may ta&s;te of the Hony as it drops by the way, and ob&s;erve,
<PB N="8" REF="7"> That it is the duty of all men to believe in heart, and to pre&s;erve in memory what&s;oever is delivered from Heaven.</P>
<P>To believe in heart, becau&s;e the Voice from Heaven confirmes it; in every Chapter we heare read, there is a Voice from Hea|ven; in every Sermon we heare preacht, which is con&s;onant to the Doctrine of Scripture, there is a Voice from Heaven. Prea|ching is not the Word and Work of Man, but the ble&s;&s;ed Ordi|nance of J<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;us Chri&s;t, that noble In&s;trument which he hath chiefly appointed,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 1.21.</NOTE> and &s;anctified for the &s;alvation of Sinners. It is God the Father that invites you to Repentance, it is Chri&s;t that &s;tands at your doore and knocks, and wooes for Entertain|ment; it is the holy Spirit that &s;trives with you, as in the daies of <HI>Noah;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 6.3.</NOTE> take heed you re&s;i&s;t not the &s;trivings of the Spirit, le&s;t the Lord deliver you up to the rage of Satan, and to the rebellion of your own heart; take heed you &s;hut not your eyes when Chri&s;t is in your company, that you do not &s;top your cares when the Voyce calls from Heaven, when the Spirit &s;aith Write; make not the Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel &s;o unhappy, as to ri&s;e up in Judgement again&s;t you; do not give them occa&s;ion to com|plaine, as the Prophet of old, <HI>Who hath believed our Report?</HI> &amp;c. We preach Repentance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 53.1.</NOTE> and amendment of Life; we preach Chri&s;t, and him crucified; we preach comfort to the Penitent, and terror to the Ob&s;tinate; But who believes our report? We have piped to you, and you have not danced; we have mourned, and ye have not wept; we would allure you with the &s;weets of the Go&s;pel, or el&s;e terrifie you with the threats of the Law; but yet we may complaine, Who hath beleived our Report? It is our Report, but it is Gods Me&s;&s;age; we are Amba&s;&s;adours of Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 5.20.</NOTE> we pray you in his &s;tead to be reconciled, to &s;eale the League, and compo&s;e the great D fference; we are Spoke&s;men for Chri&s;t (to &s;peak it with reverence) we be&s;eech you in His name, and for His &s;ake, to accept of the match, to untwi&s;t the contract with Sinne and Satan, and to enter into a matrimoniall Covenant with Je&s;us Chri&s;t; and if you believe not us, believe him that &s;ent us; we &s;peak not in our owne name, the Voice from Heaven &s;aith, Write; and write this as an unque&s;tionable Truth, That they are ble&s;&s;ed which die in the Lord.</P>
<P>Secondly, Learn from hence, to keep in memory what is deli|vered
<PB N="9" REF="7"> from Heaven, becau&s;e the Spirit commands it; the Spirit &s;aith, Write. The &s;innes of <HI>Judah</HI> are written with a pen of Iron, and the point of a Diamond. As our Teares are bottled, and our Prayers recorded in Heaven, &s;o our Sinnes are regi&s;tred there, and put in a book of Remembrance, till they are blotted out, and wa&s;hed away in the blood of Je&s;us Chri&s;t. The Commande|ments &s;hall be written in tables of Stone, that we may write them in the tables of our Hearts.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.8.12.1</NOTE> Chri&s;t &s;aith to the Angels of the Churches, <HI>write;</HI> to <HI>Smyrna, write;</HI> and to <HI>Pergamus, write;</HI> and to <HI>Thyatyra, write &s;till.</HI> According to this <HI>Voice from Heaven</HI> in the Text, <HI>write.</HI></P>
<P>Writing is one of the chiefe&s;t in&s;truments of humane Com|munion, and the &s;afe&s;t way to convey the ble&s;&s;ings of God to po&s;terity. <HI>Vox audita perit, litera &s;cripta manet.</HI> The word in the Eare vani&s;hes, but writ in the Book, remains by us to do us good hereafter.</P>
<P>It is lawfull and commendable then, both for Preacher and Hearer, to write what is delivered: For the Preachers, the Spi|rit &s;aith to the Angels of the Churches, <HI>write,</HI> that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Fa&s;ciculum luminum.</HI> bundle of tings.</NOTE> the Mini|&s;ters of the Go&s;pel they are terre&s;tiall Angels, cele&s;tiall Men: St. <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elfe made u&s;e of Notes, and therefore &s;ent to <HI>Troas</HI> for his Patchments. 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 4.13.</P>
<P>Thus the Scripture mentions a Writing, which <HI>Elijah</HI> the Pro|phet &s;ent to <HI>Jehoram,</HI> 2 <HI>Chron.</HI> 21.12, 13. But how by <HI>Elijah,</HI> when he was tran&s;lated before,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 3.</NOTE> and <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> prophe&s;ied in his &s;tead before this time in the daies of <HI>Jeho&s;aphat?</HI> Some of the Jewi&s;h Rabbins have a groundle&s;&s;e conceit, that <HI>Elijah</HI> &s;ent the Writing from Heaven; more probable it is, that he left the Prophe&s;ie behinde him: but yet more probable,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Kings 2</NOTE> that by <HI>Elijah</HI> is here meant <HI>Eli&s;ha,</HI> who might be called <HI>Elijah,</HI> becau&s;e he had received a double portion of his &s;pirit according to his reque&s;t.</P>
<P>He &s;ent the writing to <HI>Jehoram,</HI> &s;ome think out of feare, be|cau&s;e he dur&s;t not reprove him to his face. Others, to declare the certainty of infl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">cting the judgement denounced. Thus &s;aith the Lord, <HI>Write this man childle&s;&s;e;</HI> that is,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jerem. 22.</NOTE> he &s;hall &s;urely be childe|le&s;&s;e. <HI>Haman</HI> would have the bloody Decree written, and <HI>Bel|&s;hazzar</HI>'s Doom is written upon the wall. As God will certain|ly execute the Judgement written,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al: 149.</NOTE> &s;o he will certainly accompli&s;h
<PB N="10" REF="8"> the Promi&s;e written: and therefore, &s;aith the Spirit, <HI>write,</HI> as a note of certainty and perpetuity, that <HI>they are bl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ed who die in the Lord.</HI></P>
<P>And then for the Hearers of the Word, that they may not be forge<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">full hearers, the &s;pirit &s;aith, <HI>write.</HI> We finde a company of religious Courtiers upon this imployment, and it is there recorded for their everla&s;ting honour,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">rov 25.1.</NOTE> that they (the &s;ervants of <HI>Hezekiah</HI>) copied out the Proverbs of <HI>Solomon:</HI> It is no le&s;&s;e commendable in Chri&s;tians, to copie out the glorious Oracles of the &s;pirituall <HI>Solomon,</HI> Chri&s;t Je&s;us, as they are faithfully delivered in the Mini|&s;try of the Word and Go&s;pell; the Spirit &s;aith, <HI>write. In codice, in corde,</HI> in the Book, however in the Tallie of the heart, &s;et it down, as an unque&s;tionable truth, that the Saints departed are in a ble&s;&s;ed condition.</P>
<P>So much by way of Te&s;timony. Secondly this truth is confir|med by a double rea&s;on, <HI>They re&s;t from their Labours, and their Works follow them.</HI> Their ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e con&s;i&s;ts in two things. 1. In a ce&s;&s;ation from all &s;inne and mi&s;ery, <HI>They rest,</HI> &amp;c. 2. In a po&s;&s;e&s;|&s;ion of all glory and felicity. <HI>Their Works follow them.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t, <HI>They re&s;t,</HI> &amp;c. The Kingdome of Heaven, is often in Scri|pture termed a Re&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">b. 4.1.9.</NOTE> a place of Re&s;t, the Re&s;t of God, the Re&s;t of the godly; and therefore was it typified at fir&s;t by Paradi&s;e, and afterward by <HI>Canaan, a land of Be&s;t and redemption from op|pre&s;&s;ion, and Per&s;ecution.</HI> The World indeed is a troubled Sea, but Heaven is the Haven of Re&s;t; the World is an <HI>Egypt,</HI> a place of Burdens, and Bondage, but Heaven is a <HI>Canaan,</HI> that's re&s;embled by the bo&s;ome of <HI>Abraham,</HI> a place of &s;weet refre&s;hment, and <HI>&s;oul &s;atisfying Rest.</HI></P>
<P>Here indeed the &s;ervants of God have re&s;t <HI>in sps,</HI> but there <HI>in re.</HI> Here in expectation, there in full fruition, <HI>re&s;t from all Labours;</HI> and that appeare in the&s;e four particulars, The Saints departed re&s;t from the labou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">s of their
<LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Corruptions.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Afflictions.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Temptations.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Part<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">cular Vocations.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>F r&s;t, From the Labour of their Corruptions, their own &s;innes,
<PB N="11" REF="8"> &s;innes, and the &s;innes of the World. 1. Their owne &s;innes; they are a Load and Labour to them; <HI>David</HI> felt that weight upon the &s;houlders of his tender con&s;cience, and therefore complaines grievou&s;ly, <HI>Mine iniquities are gone over my head,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 38.4. P&s;al: 89.19.</NOTE> <HI>and are become a burden too heavy for me to beare&punc;</HI> So heavy is this burden, as the Scripture tells us, <HI>Help was laid upon one that was mighty:</HI> God &s;ent his owne Sonne to beare the burden of our Tran&s;gre&s;&s;ions, and this cau&s;ed him to &s;weat, and groan, and bleed, and cry out to the amazement of Men and Angels, <HI>My God, my God, Why ha&s;t thou for&s;aken me?</HI></P>
<P>So great is labour of &s;inne, that S. <HI>Paul</HI> cries out (as an undone man) for freedome from it. <HI>Oh wretched man that I am,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 7.24.</NOTE> <HI>Who &s;hall deliver me?</HI> &amp;c When &s;hall I have freedome from this wofull thraldome? Not on this &s;ide of the Grave.</P>
<P>Here the Saints are cloathed with infirmities, and infirmities in tho&s;e things wherein they are mo&s;t eminent.</P>
<P><HI>Mo&s;es</HI> is the meeke&s;t man in the earth, and yet there was a &s;car in his curious complexion; He once &s;pake unadvi&s;edly with his lipps. <HI>Job</HI> a mirrour of Patience, yet put him into the balance of the Sanctuary, and he wants more than the graines of allowance; he once cur&s;ed the day of his Birth. The glory of <HI>Davids</HI> confi|dence is eclip&s;ed with a di&s;tru&s;tfull feare of man, <HI>I &s;hall one day peri&s;h by the hand of</HI> Saul.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 37.1.</NOTE> Thus in this world they are party-coloured, like <HI>Jacobs</HI> Lambs; there is &s;ome darkne&s;&s;e in their cleare&s;t light; &s;ome Dro&s;&s;e in their pure&s;t Gold, &s;ome Blemi&s;h in the beauty of all their Graces. When &s;hall they be deliver'd then? The Apo&s;tle tells us in the world to come,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 6.7.</NOTE> <HI>He that is dead is freed from &s;in,</HI> is ea&s;ed of that burden: When an old Hou&s;e falls flat to the ground, then will the Vermine be gone: &s;o when the Taberna|cles of Clay, the old Hou&s;es of our Bodies, fall to the ground by Death, then will the Vermine of our corruptions be di&s;per&s;ed and de&s;troyed: Tho&s;e earthen Ve&s;&s;els that were legally pollu|ted, could not be clen&s;ed, but by breaking all in pieces: &s;o the be&s;t of Gods &s;ervants, whom the Scripture calls earthen Ve&s;&s;els, they cannot be &s;ufficiently purged from their &s;infull pollutions, till they be broken all in pieces by death. The life to come is the time of their full R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">demption, and compleat Sanctification, then &s;hall all Canaanites be de&s;troyed, all the Egyptians &s;hall lie dead
<PB N="12" REF="9"> behinde them upon the Sea-&s;hore; then they may &s;ay of all their &s;innes, as <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> did of the Egyptians, <HI>The&s;e Egyptians which you have &s;een to day, you &s;hall never &s;ee them again; they are all drowned in the Red &s;ea of Chri&s;ts Blood. Adam</HI> was happy in Paradi&s;e, in a <HI>po&s;&s;e non peccare,</HI> a po&s;&s;ibility not to &s;in: how ble&s;&s;ed are the Saints triumphant in the cele&s;tiall Paradi&s;e, in a <HI>non po&s;&s;e peccare,</HI> being free from all po&s;&s;ibility of &s;inning, and falling away from that incomparable happine&s;&s;e, which the di&s;obedient Angels lo&s;t?</P>
<P>Againe they re&s;t from the labour of corruption, that is from the &s;innes of the World, they are a grievous burden to the chil|dren of God. So they were to zealous <HI>Elijah,</HI> the &s;innes of the times made him weary of his life; the Pride, and Whoredome, and Idolatry of <HI>Je&s;abell;</HI> the great neglect of the wor&s;hip, and contempt of the Prophets of the Lord, went to his heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 King. 19.4.</NOTE> and cau&s;ed him to wi&s;h earne&s;tly for a Re&s;t from that Vexation. <HI>It is enough for me, let me die, for I am not bet|ter than my Fathers.</HI> So they were to righteous <HI>Lot,</HI> the &s;innes of <HI>Sodome</HI> were as &s;o many Swords at his Heart,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Pet. 2.7. Ver&s;e 8. <GAP DESC="foreign">. Mr. <HI>Leigh</HI>'s <HI>Crit. Sac.</HI> P&s;al. 119.158.</NOTE> as cruell Racks to his tender con&s;cience; So much the word in the Originall imports, <HI>The &s;oule of ju&s;t Lot was vexed (or racked)</HI> with <HI>the filthy conver&s;ation of the Sodomites.</HI> So they were to holy <HI>David,</HI> I <HI>be|held the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors and was grieved, and mine eyes gu&s;h out with water becau&s;e men keep not thy Law.</HI> Here <HI>David</HI> is drown'd in a flood of Tears, becau&s;e the World was drown'd in a Sea of &s;ins.</P>
<P>Now here is the ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of the righteous departed; their conver&s;ation is not with Idolatrous <HI>Je&s;abells,</HI> and unclean <HI>Sodo|mites</HI> but with glorious <HI>Angels,</HI> and glorified <HI>Saints;</HI> they live in a Land where no venomous creature can live; in an Ark, where no unclean Bea&s;t can enter; in <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> above, which is free, wh<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">re the pre&s;ence of all good, &amp; the ab&s;ence of all evill is, and ever will be, where is nothing but pure Joy, and perfect Peace, and perpe|tuall Singing of P<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ai&s;e &amp; glory to him that &s;its upon the Throne.</P>
<P>Secondly, they that die in the Lord, are ble&s;&s;ed, for they re&s;t from the labour of Affliction. I need not tell you the &s;ervants of God on earth are &s;ubject to Afflictions: Is not the Church in generall compared to the Ark, floating upon the waves of di&s;tra|ction, and per&s;ecution? Is it not the little City be&s;i ged? The Bu&s;h on a flame? The Lillie among thorns? The little Flock in
<PB N="13" REF="9"> the mid&s;t of Wolves? The Woman weeping in the Wilderne&s;&s;e? Need I in&s;tance in particular members of the Church, when the Apo&s;tle a&s;&s;ures us, that all that will live godly mu&s;t &s;uffer Tri|bulation, &s;uffer Tribulation in one way or other,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 3.12. Acts 14.22.</NOTE> at one time or other? No Cro&s;&s;e, no Chri&s;t; no Crown of Thorns, no Crown of Glory; no Tribulation here, no Glor<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">fication hereafter. Hence it is that the P&s;almi&s;t concludes from his owne ob&s;ervation &amp; expe|rience, <HI>Many are the troubles of the Righteous, but the Lord delivers them out of all.</HI> D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">livers them, When? <HI>Aut hic, aut hinc,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 34, 19.</NOTE> either in this life, by taking the Troubles from them; or, however, in the end of this life, by taking them from their troubles by death. <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> gave his Brethren Provi&s;ion for the way, but the full Sacks were kept in &s;tore, till they came home unto their Fathers hou&s;e:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 42.</NOTE> So the Lord will give h s people &s;ome Provi&s;ion, &s;ome Refre&s;h|ment in the way, a ta&s;te of his Mercy and Goodne&s;&s;e here, but the full Sacks of Re&s;t and Comfort are kept in &s;tore until they come to their heavenly Kingdome.</P>
<P>Or what if the righteous, like <HI>Noah</HI>'s Dove, can find no ground to &s;et the &s;ole of their foot on, becau&s;e the waters of afflictions prevaile &s;o much in the world? Yet in the end, Chri&s;t Je&s;us, the &s;pirituall <HI>Noah,</HI> will put forth his hand from the Ark, and take them in, to &s;ettle them in everla&s;ting Re&s;t. Indeed, many times it goes very hard with the children of God in this world; <HI>I&s;rael</HI> may make Bricks, when the <HI>Egyptians</HI> lie upon their Beds; Chri&s;t may be crucified, when <HI>Barabbas</HI> is delivered; <HI>John Bapti&s;t</HI>'s head may dance on the Scaffold, when the daughter of <HI>Herodias</HI> is dancing in the Palace; <HI>Lazarus</HI> may be glad of C<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ums, when the R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ch man fares deliciou&s;ly. Well but this world will not la&s;t alwaies: there is a day of Re&s;t and Retribution for the people of God: Death will come, and that to them is the end of all m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">y, and the beginning of all felicity. Death is the funerall of all their &s;orrowes, and the life and re&s;urrection of all thei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> joyes. Then comes their Triumph after their Warfare and Victory, their Liberty <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">fter Bondage, their Kingdome after Bani&s;hment, their Inheritance after Poverty, their Re&s;t after all their Labours: for then <HI>the Lord wipes away all teares from their eyes,</HI> there is no more <HI>crying</HI> nor <HI>dying,</HI> no more <HI>&s;obbing</HI> nor <HI>&s;orrowing,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 21.<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters"></NOTE> for <HI>the fir&s;t things are pa&s;t:</HI> there is no <HI>Laban</HI> to oppre&s;&s;e, no <HI>Potiphar</HI> to
<PB N="14" REF="10"> to impri&s;on, no <HI>Herod</HI> to per&s;ecute, there all Mourning Sonnets are turned to Marriage Songs, all the Vinegar of temporall Cro&s;&s;es, to wine of eternal Con&s;olation: &s;o much the Heathen man knowledged, <HI>ante obitum nemo felix,</HI> a man may be accounted pro&s;perous and fortunate in this world, but he cannot be truly happy till his end, according to the voice in the Text, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the dead,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P N="3">3. They that <HI>die in the Lord</HI> are <HI>ble&s;&s;ed,</HI> becau&s;e they re&s;t from the labour of temptation. While we abide in the Fle&s;h we are &s;ub+ject to manifold Temptations, from Satan, the World the Fle&s;h; Temptations on the right hand in the Plea&s;ures, and Profits, and Preferments of the World; Temptations on the left hand in the Cro&s;&s;es and Calamities of the World. Here <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> hath an en|ticing Mi&s;tri&s;s, and <HI>Samp&s;on</HI> a cunning <HI>Dalila,</HI> and <HI>David</HI> a faire <HI>Bath&s;heba.</HI> But what &s;peak I of the&s;e? Did not <HI>Adam</HI> finde a Serpent in Paradi&s;e? And our Saviour a Tempter in the Wilder|ne&s;&s;e? And <HI>if this was done to the Green Tree, What &s;hall be done to the Drie?</HI> How &s;hall Chri&s;tians avoid temptations, or over|come temptations, when Satan is &s;o politique and powerfull, watching all opportunities, and taking all advantages, and &s;uiting his temptations according to their &s;everall di&s;po&s;itions? He takes mea&s;ure of the frame of our Spirits, and &s;hapes his temptations accordingly: he had a wedge of Gold for covetous <HI>Achan,</HI> a convenient Vineyard for greedy <HI>Ahab,</HI> a beautifull <HI>Tamar</HI> for la&s;civious <HI>Ammon.</HI> Well may we pronounce the Saints departed in a ble&s;&s;ed and glorious condition, when they are re&s;cued from the paw of the roaring Lyon, when <HI>Lucifer,</HI> is ca&s;t downe, never to be entertained againe. No (beloved) there is no Serpent in the Spirituall Paradi&s;e, no <HI>Bath&s;heba</HI> in the New Jeru&s;alem, no Tempter in Heaven: there is Freedome from all Feares and Di|&s;tractions, from all Di&s;turbances and Mole&s;tations, from all Sin, and from all Enticements and Provocations to Sinne: <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are they that die in the Lord,</HI> they re&s;t from this labour of tem|ptations.</P>
<P N="4">4 And la&s;tly, They re&s;t from the labour of their particular Cal|ling and Vocation, which is toil&s;ome and trouble&s;ome, ever &s;ince God pa&s;t this doom upon man for his offence in Paradi&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19.</NOTE> <HI>In the &s;weat of thy Browes &s;halt thou eat Bread.</HI> Indeed, Man in the
<PB N="15" REF="10"> &s;tate of innocency, was not excu&s;ed from labour: Paradi&s;e, which was <HI>Adams</HI> Store-hou&s;e, was his Work-hou&s;e too; God put him into the Garden, not to &s;leep in tho&s;e &s;weet Bowers, not to &s;pend his time idly in tho&s;e plea&s;ant Walks,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen 2.15. <HI>Vulg. lat.</HI></NOTE> but to <HI>dre&s;&s;e</HI> and <HI>keep</HI> it <HI>(ut operaretur)</HI> that he might work and labour in it, onely here is the difference, Labour then was a Recreation to the mind, and now it is an Affliction to the body.</P>
<P>Now the Husbandman ri&s;es early, and re&s;ts late; now the La|bourer beares the burden of the day, the Marriner is expo&s;ed to the &s;tormy wind and tempe&s;t, the Souldier endures hard&s;hip, the Mini&s;ter works in the Vine-yard, and watches the Flock day and night; <HI>Man goes out out to his labour to the Evening,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 104.23.</NOTE> every one is imployed in the work of his calling.</P>
<P>But then after Death, comes the Re&s;t from this Labour, then the Husbandman g<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ts his Harve&s;t, the Labourer his Penny, the Marriner his Haven&punc; the Souldier his Pay, and the Mini&s;ter his Crowne, h s Reward in Heaven. This is the work of God in the ordinary cour&s;e of his Providence, to crown his Servants labours with a comfortable i&s;&s;ue. <HI>Jacob</HI> may endure the heat of the day, and the fro&s;t of the night, at la&s;t he comes to his Re&s;t, to receive his Wages and enjoy his beautifull <HI>Rachel. I&s;rael</HI> may have many a weary &s;tep in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, at la&s;t they come to <HI>Canaan,</HI> a Land of Re&s;t: in a word, Gods people may endure the &s;ix daies work of toyle and trouble in this life, but at la&s;t they &s;hall cele|brate a perp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">tuall Sabbath of glory in the world to come. So the T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">xt, <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the dead,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>The &s;econd rea&s;on is laid downe in the la&s;t words of the Text, <HI>Their works follow them,</HI> therefore they are ble&s;&s;ed: Their happi|ne&s;&s;e is not onely privative, con&s;i&s;ting in a freedome from &s;inne and mi&s;ery, but po&s;itive al&s;o, in a po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of all peace and glo|ry, in a con&s;ummation of Grace, in a perf<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ct fruition of God, and a bl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">d communion w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">th the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P><HI>Their works follow them,</HI> not their works in kinde,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Opera eorum merces operu<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="right margin cropped or obscured" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1+ letters"> quae <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">x gratia da<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ur, <HI>Gerh.</HI></NOTE> but their works in i&s;&s;ue and effect, the fruits and reward of their works, the ble&s;&s;ings of God which lie in the promi&s;es to works of piety and charity: The&s;e follow them to Heaven: Indeed Faith leads the way, that mu&s;t be our Hatbinger to take up our lodging in the New Jeru&s;alem, that like the Starre in the Ea&s;t, leades us to
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<PB N="16" REF="12"> <HI>Bethleem,</HI> where Chri&s;t is, but then good works follow after, they are our attendants to the Court and Kingdome of Glo|ry.</P>
<P>Their works follow them to be recorded in Heaven, and rewar|ded in Heaven.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">&s;th 6.2.</NOTE>Recorded, as the good &s;ervice which <HI>Mordecai</HI> did for the King and Kingdome was writ in the Chronicles, and called to remembrance in an acceptable time: as the coats and garments which <HI>Dorcas</HI> made,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">cts 9.39.</NOTE> were brought forth after her death; &s;o &s;hall the good hu&s;wifery of the Saints, the good &s;ervice they have done for Chri&s;t and his Church, be recorded in the Chronicles of Heaven for their everla&s;ting honour; good works are &s;o well plea&s;ing to God, as he will never forget them; Chri&s;t will make mention of them at the Day of Judgement.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">ath. 25.35.</NOTE> <HI>I was hungry, and ye fed me; thir&s;ty, and ye gave me drink,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>You &s;hall finde there the &s;ervants of God had kept no record of their acts of charity, they had clean forgotten what they had done for Chri&s;t, and for his Members.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 37.</NOTE>They an&s;wered, <HI>When &s;aw we thee an hungred or thir&s;ty?</HI> &amp;c. Well, &s;aies Chri&s;t, if ye have forgotten your good works, I have not,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">r. <HI>Caryll</HI> upon <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">b</HI> c 9 v. 15.</NOTE> I have kept a perfect Regi&s;ter: It is our duty to remember to do good, but let God alone to remember the good we have done, <HI>He is not unrighteous to forget our labour of love.</HI> Hebr. 6.10.</P>
<P>Then 2. Their works follow them to be rewarded in Heaven, and with Heaven, yet not for the merit of the works, for if God &s;hould mark what is done ami&s;&s;e in our &s;acrifices, and be&s;t per|formances, they would te&s;tifie again&s;t us. How then? Through the mercy of God he crowns his owne graces,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">nunerat mu|<GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">a &s;ua, non <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">ita no&s;tra. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">g <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">m. 6. ult.</HI></NOTE> not our merits. <HI>The wages of Sinne is Death;</HI> but not the wages of Righteou&s;|ne&s;&s;e is Eternall life, <HI>But the</HI> Free-grace, <HI>gift of God is Eternall life.</HI></P>
<P>Thus far good works are nece&s;&s;ary to Salvation, as the way to the Kingdome, not as the cau&s;e of raigning: We cannot be &s;a|ved without good works, becau&s;e our Faith is dead, our Calling is fruitle&s;&s;e without holine&s;&s;e of life; yet we cannot be &s;aved by good works as a meritorious cau&s;e.</P>
<P N="1">1. Becau&s;e they are not our owne.</P>
<P N="2">2. They are not ab&s;olutely good.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="17" REF="12">3. They are due to God, and there is no proportion betweene them and the Reward in Heaven. We are ju&s;tified by Faith in the Blood of Chri&s;t, but good works declare our ju&s;t fication, and give infallible te&s;timony of the goodne&s;&s;e and excellency of our faith.</P>
<P><HI>Judeth</HI> alone cut off <HI>Holeferne</HI>'s head; &s;he went in fir&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Judeth 13.3, 4.</NOTE> and commanded all her attendants to &s;tand without: but when the Deed was done, the whole company came in, and &s;tood about her. So Faith alone (with <HI>Judeth</HI>) breaks the Ice, enters fir&s;t, and cuts off <HI>Holofernes</HI> his head, grapples with, and conquers Sa|tan, apprehends and applies the mercy of God, and the merit of Chri&s;t, <HI>By Grace ye are &s;aved.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ephe&s;. 2.8.</NOTE> But the good works come in as Faith's attendants, to declare that the deed is done, that the Ser|pents head is broken, Satan vanqu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;hed, and Heaven gate &s;et wide open to entertaine Believers. All which is an&s;werable to this pa&s;&s;age in the Text. <HI>They that die in the Lord are ble&s;&s;ed&punc; for their works follow them.</HI> Faith went before, and the&s;e follow af|ter to be recorded and rewarded in Heaven.</P>
<P>So much by way of Explication and Confirmation: it remains now, that we come to the U&s;e and Application. From this hea|venly Fountain we may derive &s;everal Streams of divine in&s;tructi|on. As,</P>
<P>F<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">r&s;t, If the Saints departed, re&s;t, &amp;c. from hence we may conclude, there is no place of paine or puni&s;hment for the righte|ous in the world to come. This Doctrine quenches the fire of Purgatory: there is no room for that heatheni&s;h opinion in this Text.</P>
<P>The good Thief went immediately from the Cro&s;&s;e to Paradi&s;e, <HI>Lazarus</HI> immediately from the Rich mans Gate to <HI>Abrahams</HI> Bo&s;ome: <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the dead,</HI> they re&s;t; they that <HI>die in the Lord</HI> have no more to &s;uffer, they have nothing to doe but to receive their R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ward.</P>
<P>A double Purgatory we have upon Earth,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Zach. 13.1. 1 John 1.7.</NOTE> One in the Blood of Chri&s;t, which is the Fountaine opened to wa&s;h away the guilt of Sinne: Another in Affl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ction, which is a meanes (through Ver|tue in that Blood) to clean&s;e us from the pollution of Sinne: but,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 11.35.</NOTE> for a Purgatory after death, a third place from Heaven, and Hell, is that which neither <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> nor the Prophets, neither Chri&s;t,
<PB N="18" REF="13"> nor his Apo&s;tles, ever mentioned: Indeed, the Scripture is cleare for a place of torment for the wicked, <HI>Tophet</HI> is prepared of old. When <HI>Lazarus</HI> was called to Triumph in Heaven, the Rich man was dragged to Torment in Hell. The Hypocrites have their reward (&s;aith our Saviour) they have their Portion in this life, they have their Heaven here, and therefore are &s;ure of a Hell hereafter: for, <HI>as a man lives, &s;o commonly he dies;</HI> and as he dies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;. 11.3.</NOTE> &s;o certainly he lives in the world to come. <HI>As the Tree falls &s;o it lies,</HI> to the North, or to the South, Heaven-wards, or Hell-wards: <HI>As Death leaves us, Judgement findes us.</HI> And if they onely are ble&s;&s;ed which die in the Lord, it mu&s;t follow (by the rule of contraries) that their condition is fearefull who die in their &s;innes, in a &s;tate of impenitency and unbelief, without godly &s;orrow in their hearts for &s;inne, without intere&s;t in the blood of Chri&s;t by Faith. This arrow wounded <HI>Davids</HI> heart to the pur|po&s;e,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plus impius qua~ rebellis <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ffl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">xit, <HI>&amp;c. Aug.</HI></NOTE> to con&s;ider his &s;on <HI>Ab&s;olon</HI> died with all his &s;innes about him, in his rebellion again&s;t God, and his Anointed. This drove him into &s;uch a &s;trange pa&s;&s;ion, as it is hard to di&s;cover whether his love was more naturall, or carnall, or &s;pirituall. <HI>Oh my Son Ab&s;alom,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> 18.33.</NOTE> <HI>Would God I had died for thee,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>And indeed it is a wofull thing for a man to have his Lamp out when the Bridegroome comes, for a man to die unreconci|led to God, if we con&s;ider that after death there is no hope of re|conciliation with God. <HI>While there is Life there is Hope;</HI> but after Death comes Judgement, after Judg<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ment Sentence, &amp; after Sen|tence Ex<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">cution; no hope of a minutes Reprieve, no parlying with the Judge, or pleading for Mercy. It is then too late to cry, <HI>Lord, Lord, open,</HI> too late to knock at Heaven gate for mercy; too late to wring the Hands and bewaile former &s;innes. Truly the an&s;wer will be cold and comfortle&s;&s;e: <HI>Depart from me, I know you not.</HI> There was a time when <HI>Richard</HI> the third of that name, King of <HI>England,</HI> cried out, <HI>A Kingdome for a Hor&s;e, a Kingdome for a Hor&s;e:</HI> in the &s;ame language may a wic|ked man crie out at the day of Judgement, <HI>A Kingdome for a good Con&s;cience, a Kingdome for a drop of Mercy, for an hour of Repen|tance and Reconciliation.</HI> But alas, then the Tide is pa&s;t, and the Market is over. This Life is the time of Repentance, this is our working-day for Heaven: now the doore of the Ark is open,
<PB N="19" REF="13"> now Salvation is tendered; behold now is the accepted Time,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6.2.</NOTE> now is the day of Salvation: I but the Morning comes, and al&s;o the Night, if ye will enquire: enquire, returne, come.<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 21.12.</NOTE></P>
<P>I find two Rea&s;ons rendred by D vines for our Saviours &s;ilence before <HI>Herod.</HI> He an&s;wered the H gh Prie&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 23.9.</NOTE> and he a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;wered <HI>Pi|late,</HI> but he would not &s;peak a word to <HI>Herod.</HI> Fir&s;t, <HI>Herod</HI> had taken away his voice, and therefore how &s;hould he &s;peak? He had beheaded <HI>John Bapti&s;t,</HI> who was the voice of one crying in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, <HI>Prepare ye the way of the Lord.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Math 3.3.</NOTE> The &s;econd is more &s;ub&s;tantiall, Chri&s;t would not &s;peak to <HI>Herod,</HI> becau&s;e he would thereby reprove his wilfull ignorance, and damnable carele&s;ne&s;&s;e: he had lived a great while where Chri&s;t abode, where his Oracles and Miracles were known, and yet he had ne|ver &s;een his Per&s;on, or heard his Sermons. Now (beloved) if we neglect precious opportunities of Mercy, and &s;ea&s;ons of Grace, if we be not acquainted with Chri&s;t now he lives in our Coa&s;ts, and knocks at our Doores, &s;uch a dreadfull time will come, when Chri&s;t will not &s;peak a word to us, not one word of comfort to us in our greate&s;t di&s;tre&s;&s;e; that voice of Wi&s;dome ju&s;tifies what I &s;ay, <HI>Th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">n &s;hall they call upon me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 1.28.</NOTE> <HI>but I will not an|&s;wer; they &s;hall &s;eek me early, but &s;hall not finde me.</HI> Then; When? <HI>When your feare cometh as De&s;olation,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 27.</NOTE> <HI>and your de&s;truction as a Whirlwind.</HI> Well, What's the rea&s;on Wi&s;dome will not an&s;wer? <HI>Becau&s;e I called and ye refu&s;ed I &s;tretched out my hand and no man regarded.</HI> There is no reconciliation. 2.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 24.</NOTE> No hope either of Mi|tigation or R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">demption, Ea&s;e or End: th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">re is both Extremity and Eternity of puni&s;hment for the Wicked after Death, extre|mity of Heat, Fire and Brim&s;tone, and Soule-tormenting fire is their Portion, extremity of Cold (as &s;ome think) by gna&s;hi g of Teeth, then all the Viols will be poured out, Wrath&punc; and Cur&s;e, &amp; Vengeance, and all, without any po&s;&s;ib<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">lity of refre&s;hm<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">nt; there is no Light in the land of utter Darkn &s;&s;e, no Ho<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">y in the roaring Lion, not a drop of Water in Hell to coole a &s;corched Tongue.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Luk. 16.24, 25 &amp;c. Ver&s;e 26.</HI> Immutabile D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> decretum, ne qui&s;quam un|quam tran&s;iret a &s;tatu damnato<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">m ad &s;tatum fidel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">s.</NOTE></P>
<P>La&s;tly, Eternity of puni&s;hment. There is a great Gulf fixt be|tween Heaven and Hell: he that would come from below can|not: there is an irrever&s;ible decree for eternity of joy in Hea|ven, and torment in Hell: the Fire is unquenchable, the Worme
<PB N="20" REF="14"> is ever gnawing, and never dying, the De&s;truction perpetuall Confu&s;ion, the wicked &s;hall be puni&s;hed with everla&s;ting de|&s;truction from the pre&s;ence of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 1&punc; 9.</NOTE> and from the glory of his Power.</P>
<P>On con&s;ider this, ye that forget God ye that hazard the lo&s;s of eternall re&s;t and happine&s;&s;e, for the plea&s;ures of &s;inne, which are but for a &s;ea&s;on: What will ye do in the day of v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;itation? <HI>What will it profit you to gaine the whole World and lo&s;e your own Soul?</HI> What will it profit you to get the Vineyard, and the Vengeance of God with it? To get the Talents and the Lepro|&s;i? to have a Crowne on your head, and a Cur&s;e in your heart? To &s;wim in a plea&s;ant Stream of outward glory and pro&s;perity for a Moment, and then to frie in Hell fire for Evermore? This will be the condition of every one that dies in his &s;inne, unrecon|ciled to God: and that is the fir&s;t u&s;e of the point. There is nei|ther Purgatory for the righteous, nor Paradi&s;e for the wicked in the world to come.</P>
<P>The &s;econd u&s;e is for comfort to all the faithfull Servants of God. If the Saints departed re&s;t from their Labours, here is then comfort in the Generall again&s;t all cro&s;&s;es and calamities in the world, and in Particular again&s;t the feare of our owne death, or the death of friends,</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Again&s;t the cro&s;&s;es and calamities in the world. This &s;weetned the bitterne&s;&s;e of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> his affl ction,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 11.25, 26.</NOTE> he e&s;te<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">med the reproach of Chri&s;t greater riches than the Trea&s;ures of <HI>Egypt:</HI> Upon what ground? B<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">cau&s;e he had re&s;pect to the recomp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="2 letters">ce of reward: his Eye, and Heart, and Hope was in Heaven, that carried him through all calamities with un&s;peakab<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">e cheereful|n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>This was the Cordiall which held up the &s;pirits of the faithfull Hebrewes,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 10.34.</NOTE> they took joyfully the &s;poyling of their goods, know|ing that in Heaven they had a b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">tter, an enduring &s;ub&s;tance. They were content to exchange Earth for Heaven, to Lo&s;e at fir&s;t, and Win at la&s;t, to lo&s;e a Counter and win a Crown: they knew Plea&s;ures above are perpetuall,<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 16 22.</NOTE> <HI>Your joy can none take from you;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Math. 6.20.</NOTE> Riches above are unplunderable riches, <HI>There no Thief can break through and &s;teal.</HI></P>
<P>Yea farther, This was our ble&s;&s;ed Saviours encouragement in
<PB N="21" REF="14"> his Agony, in all his heart-breaking afflictions, namely, the Re&s;t in Heaven, the glorious Crowne to be Received: He endured the Cro&s;&s;e, and de&s;pi&s;ed the Shame. Why? Becau&s;e of the joy that was &s;et before him: He look'd upon the Pr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ze,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 12.1.</NOTE> and there|fore ran his Race with Patience, though he &s;weat drops of Blood before he came to the end. What encourageth the weather b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">aten Marriner, but his hope of a &s;afe Harbour and Haven, after all the dangerous Stormes and Tempe&s;ts? What encourageth the Traveller that hath ill Weather above his Head, and ill Way un|der his Feet, but the Meditation of his comfortable Re&s;t at Home, his good F<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">re, and warm Lodging at night? What en|couraged <HI>Jacob</HI> to beare that hard Apprenti&s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">p under <HI>Laban</HI> for &s;even yeares, and &s;even yeares more, but hopes of enjoying <HI>Rachel?</HI> He endured the H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">at of the day, and the Fro&s;t of the night, becau&s;e he knew his <HI>Rachel</HI> would make amends for all;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 29.20.</NOTE> he loved her, &amp; therefore the Time &s;eemed to be but &s;hort. The &s;ame encouragements may all Chri&s;tians have in the mid&s;t of their Afflictions; they may have a rough Tide and a dangerous Voyage, but there is a &s;afe Harbour and Haven of Re&s;t: they may have ill Weather, and ill way in their Journey, but their Home is Heaven, and there is a warm and welcome Lodging provided by their ble&s;&s;ed Ha<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">binger, <HI>Chri&s;t Je&s;us:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">John 14.2.</NOTE> <HI>I go to prepare a place for you.</HI></P>
<P>They may meet with many <HI>Labans</HI> upon earth, hard Appren|ti&s;h ps in this world, yet their comfort is, there is a <HI>Rachel</HI> to receive, Chr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t and his Kingdome to enjoy, Peace, and Glory, and Re&s;t to po&s;&s;e&s;&s;e for ever in Heaven, and this will make amends for all.</P>
<P>There is an overflowing Fountain of comfort in that pa&s;&s;age of the Apo&s;tle,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.18,</NOTE> and it &s;prings from the &s;ame ground with this in my Text. I reckon, that the Sufferings of this pre&s;ent time, are not worthy to be compared with the glory that &s;hall be revea|led hereafter.</P>
<P>I reckon, I have ca&s;t up the account,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign"></NOTE> and con&s;idered &s;eriou&s;ly of the matter, &s;ummed up all the Sufferings that can be endured or imagined, temporall and &s;pirituall, and I finde they come in|finitely far &s;hort of that re&s;t and recompence of the Saints in Heaven. I have put all the mi&s;eries of this life in the balance,
<PB N="22" REF="15"> and behold they are nothing no that exceeding weight of glory which &s;hall be revealed in Heaven, they are not worthy to be compared (to be named the &s;ame day) with tho&s;e incompara|ble and unconceivable comforts laid up for the righteous in the Kingdome of Glory.</P>
<P N="2">2. And more particularly, the Text &s;peaks comfort again&s;t the feare of Death, our owne death: there is naturally in man an unwillngne&s;&s;e to die, and a feare of death: we would linger in <HI>Sodom,</HI> and live &s;till in <HI>Babylon,</HI> though in a &s;tate of Bondage; Grace is ever willing. but Nature is ever fearfull to die: Death is terrible&s;t of all terrible things, according to the Philo|&s;opher&punc; and the King of <HI>Terrors,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 18.14.</NOTE> as <HI>Job</HI> expre&s;&s;eth it; and there|fore the be&s;t of Gods Servants, <HI>Jeremiah,</HI> and <HI>David&punc;</HI> and <HI>Peter,</HI> and Chri&s;t him&s;elfe, as man, declares an unwillingne&s;&s;e to die, at lea&s;t a great &s;adne&s;&s;e of &s;pirit upon the approaches of death. A word of comfort will be very &s;ea&s;onable in this particular, which I would commend to you under the&s;e two notions.</P>
<P N="1">1. Death cannot be an enemy to harm.</P>
<P N="2">2. Death mu&s;t be a Friend to help Believers, it cannot be an En<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">my. So farre that Promi&s;e reaches in the Go&s;pel, <HI>Nothing &s;hall by any meanes hurt you.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 10.19.</NOTE> Dogs that have no teeth may Bark, but cannot Bite; and Serp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nts that have no &s;tings may Hi&s;s, but cannot Hurt; and Enemies that have no weapons may Rage and Threaten, but cannot Wound and De&s;troy: So (beloved) Death once had the teeth of a Blood-hound, but Chri&s;t hath broken them all to pieces; Death once had the Sting of a Serpent, but it is lo&s;t in the Side of Chri&s;t, in the Wounds of his heart; Death once had a Weapon to de&s;troy, but Chri&s;t hath di&s;armed it: and what infinite comfort is this to Believers, to &s;ee Chri&s;t ride in Triumph, to &s;ee the Captaine of their Salvation bring in Death as a Pri&s;oner, and captived Enemy, &s;aying and &s;inging with the Prophet,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 25.8.</NOTE> <HI>Death is &s;wallowed up in Victory:</HI> and with the Apo&s;tle, <HI>O Death, where is thy Sting? O Grave, where is thy Victory?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cor. 15.55, 56.</NOTE> <HI>The sting of Death is Sinne, and the &s;trength of Sinne is the Law: But thanks be to God&punc; who hath given us Victory through Chri&s;t our Lord.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Death mu&s;t be a friend to help us to help us to our Re&s;t in Heaven. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the dead, they rest,</HI> &amp;c. Death (like <HI>Lot</HI>'s
<PB N="23" REF="15"> Angels) plucks us out of the <HI>Sodom</HI> of &s;inne and mi&s;ery, and placeth us in <HI>Zoar,</HI> a city of re&s;t, tranquility: like <HI>Peters</HI> Angel, it &s;hakes off the Chaine of mortality, and opens the Iron gate, the gate of Pearle into the New Jeru&s;alem: like <HI>Lazarus</HI> his Angel, it conducts the Soule from Earth to <HI>Abrahams</HI> bo&s;ome, from this Vale of Teares to the Kingdome of Glory. Moreover, as Death helps us to our Re&s;t, &s;o it is our R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t: Why &s;hould we feare it?</P>
<P>The Scripture termes it but a taking away of the Soule to Peace, a gathering to our People, a &s;weet &s;leep of the Body.<NOTE PLACE="marg">John 11.11. Acts 7, 60.</NOTE> <HI>Our friend</HI> Laz<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rus <HI>&s;leepeth,</HI> and the Patriarchs are fallen a&s;leep, S. <HI>Stephen</HI> fell a&s;leep: our burying places are but <HI>dormitories,</HI> &s;lee|pi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">g places. <HI>The righteous is taken away from the Evil to come:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;ay 57.1, 2.</NOTE> <HI>And he &s;hall enter into peace, they &s;hall re&s;t in their beds.</HI> Such a ble&s;&s;ed Re&s;t have the righteous in Death; as our Saviour wept, becau&s;e his friend <HI>Lazarus</HI> was to be deprived of it: it is both the Ob&s;ervation of an ancient Father, and the Re&s;olution of an ancient Council, concerning Chri&s;ts weeping over <HI>Lazarus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>S.</HI> Jerome Test Tolot. Concil.</NOTE> John 11.35. <HI>Deluit</HI> Lazarum, <HI>non dormientem, &s;ed re&s;urgentem.</HI> Chri&s;t did not weep becau&s;e <HI>Lazarus</HI> was dead, and taken out of the world, but becau&s;e he was to returne from the Grave into a Trouble&s;ome world after he was gone to his R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t.</P>
<P>It may be for the &s;ame rea&s;on,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Fui&s;se quidam qui ortus homi|num lugerent, ob<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tu&s;que cele|brarent, <HI>&amp;c. Ambr. de fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> re&s;ur.</HI></NOTE> the <HI>Thracians</HI> of old u&s;ed to la|ment at the Birth of their children, but rejoice at their Fune|rall.</P>
<P>Thus much we may learn from their practice (though we doe not commend it) that we have &s;ome cau&s;e to mourne when children are born; b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cau&s;e they are born to &s;inne, and brought forth in inquity; and becau&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> they are ca&s;t into a trouble&s;ome Sea of m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ery, which they them&s;elves are in part &s;en&s;ible of, and therefore weep at their coming in.</P>
<P>Yet have we this occa&s;ion of r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">joycing, even in the death and funerall of our Friends, becau&s;e they are pa&s;t all the waves of Mi&s;ery, and arrived at the haven of heavenly Re&s;t and Felicity. This brings me to the third and la&s;t &s;tream of comfort, again&s;t the death &amp; departure of Friends. The time will come that we mu&s;t part with our <HI>I&s;aacs,</HI> our <HI>Benjamines,</HI> neare&s;t Friends, and deare&s;t Comforts. Then remember my Text: If they <HI>die in the Lord,</HI>
<PB N="24" REF="16"> take no care for them, they are ble&s;&s;ed, they are at their re&s;t. <HI>Praemi&s;imus, non ami&s;imus,</HI> They are not lo&s;t, but laid up in hea|ven: when the Lord returned in mercy to <HI>Job,</HI> and was plea&s;ed to &s;et him up the &s;econd time, we finde that he doubled all his outward comforts, he gave him as many more Camels and Sheep, and Oxen, as he had before; but he re&s;tored onely the &s;ame num|ber of children to him; as will appeare by comparing the fir&s;t, and la&s;t Chapters of <HI>Job</HI> together, he gave him &s;even Sonnes, and three daughters. And the rea&s;on is rendred by St. <HI>Augu&s;t,</HI> becau&s;e his Sheep and Oxen were utterly con&s;umed, but his chil|dren were in the hand of God; they were at re&s;t, though they &s;uffered a &s;udden and violent death.</P>
<P>But &s;ome will &s;ay, how &s;hall we live when friends leave us, and Comforts faile us; As <HI>Amaziah</HI> &s;aid of the Talents, <HI>What &s;hall I doe for the hundred Talents?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Chron. 25 9.</NOTE> I an&s;wer; though friends die, yet the Redeemer lives; if comforts faile, re&s;t upon Providence, rely upon the all-&s;ufficiency of God, the &s;ure mercies of <HI>David;</HI> then put your bonds in Su<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t, the promi&s;es of the Go&s;pell, which are all, <HI>yea</HI> and <HI>Amen.</HI> That Promi&s;e in <HI>Math.</HI> 6.33. and that e&s;pecially, <HI>Hebr.</HI> 13.5. He hath &s;aid, I <HI>will never leave thee nor for&s;ake thee.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;al. 37.25. <HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">xperto creden|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m e&s;t.</HI></NOTE>Then remember <HI>Davids experience, I have been young, and now am old, yet I never &s;aw the righteous for&s;aken. David</HI> had ob|&s;erved much in his time, but this he could never ob&s;erve, that the righteous man was ever for&s;aken in affl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ction. Minde the place well, he doth not &s;ay, <HI>I never &s;aw the righteous in affliction;</HI> but <HI>I never &s;aw the righteous for&s;aken in affliction,</HI> in Poverty, in Di&s;grace, in Bani&s;hment, Impri&s;onment, &amp;c. God hath &s;up|plies and &s;upports for his people in di&s;tre&s;&s;e; when Temporall comforts are abated, &s;pirituall joyes abound; as our Saviour &s;aid of his meat, &s;o may we &s;ay of the Comforts of the godly, they have Comforts which the world knowes not of, and Comforts which the world cannot deprive them of. The te&s;timony of a good Con&s;cience, the L<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ght of Gods countenance, the love of Chri&s;t, and the comforts of the Spirit; the&s;e, like the tree at <HI>Me|ribah,</HI> &s;weeten the bitter waters of all worldly Tribulations.</P>
<P>But &s;ome will &s;ay, Shall we meet with our friends againe de|parted in the faith? Yes, without peradventure, if we walk in
<PB N="25" REF="16"> wayes of obedience to the end. It was <HI>Davids</HI> comfort upon the death of his Child.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam. 12.21.</NOTE> While the child was living <HI>he fa&s;ted and wept, and lay upon the ground;</HI> but when it was dead, <HI>he aro&s;e and anointed him&s;elfe, and ate bread:</HI> His rea&s;on is very &s;trong and convincing.</P>
<P N="1">1. An impo&s;&s;ibility of recoverie, <HI>He &s;hall not come to mee.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. An a&s;&s;ured hope of meeting againe in Heaven, <HI>But I &s;hall go to him:</HI> He &s;hall not come to me, that would be for his lo&s;&s;e, to part with his Re&s;t in H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">aven, for a re&s;tle&s;&s;e condition on Earth; but I &s;hall go to him, I have not lo&s;t him for ever, we &s;hall meet againe as comfortably as <HI>Jacob</HI> and <HI>Jo&s;eph</HI> met in <HI>Egypt;</HI> meet againe in Heaven and never part. Now you know it never troubles us to &s;ee the Sun &s;et, becau&s;e we know it will ri&s;e againe in the morning; it never troubles us to part with a friend wh n he goes to bed, becau&s;e we hope to &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e him againe in the morning. Beloved, the death of a Friend is but lik<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the &s;etting of the Sun, or the uncloathing of a man when h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> goes to bed, there will be a glorious appearing in the morning of the Re&s;urrection,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 The&s;. 4.13.</NOTE> and therefore S. <HI>Paul</HI> condemnes immoderate &s;orrow for the dead, <HI>I would not have you &s;ory, as tho&s;e that have no hope:</HI> Nature will be &s;orrowfull, but let Grace moderate the &s;orrow, and keep it within the bounds of hope; and the ground of hope is &s;et downe, <HI>If ye believe that Je&s;us died,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ver&s;e 14.</NOTE> <HI>and is ri&s;en againe, even &s;o al&s;o them that &s;leep in Je&s;us, will God bring with him.</HI></P>
<P>I come now to the third and la&s;t u&s;e of Exhortation, to per|&s;wade us all to make preparation for death; it is nothing to know the Reward in Heaven, except we doe the work on Earth; no|thing to wi&s;h to die the death of the righteous, except we en|deavour to live the life of the righteous; therefore, that we may be ble&s;&s;ed in life and death, that we may live to the Lord, and die in the Lord, give me leave to commend &s;omething to your con&s;ideration, and &s;omething to your care and con&s;ciona|ble practi&s;e. To your con&s;ideration:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The certainty of Death.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Uncertainty of the time of Death.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>The certainty of Death from Gods doom, <HI>Du&s;t thou art</HI> &amp;c.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19.</NOTE>
<PB N="26" REF="17"> Du&s;t thou art;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 3.19.</NOTE> there is <HI>materia prima,</HI> the matter of which man was Compo&s;ed; and <HI>&V;nto du&s;t thou &s;halt return: Re&s;olutio in ma|teriam primam,</HI> a re&s;olution into the fir&s;t matter again.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Sam<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> 14, 15. Heb. 9 27.</NOTE>Indeed there is a nece&s;&s;ity for death, &s;ince the fall of man, yet not &s;uch a nece&s;&s;ity as hath no Law; for there is plaine Statute for it; <HI>Statutum e&s;t, &amp;c.</HI> It is appointed to all men once to die.</P>
<P>Here I mu&s;t make an&s;wer to a double que&s;tion:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. Whether the Law of mortality be naturall:</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. Whether it be univer&s;all or not.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<P>To the former, I an&s;wer negatively; man was not made mor|tall, but made him&s;elfe immortall by his &s;inne. <HI>Pelagius</HI> his Er|ror hath been condemned by Councells, and therefore I need not &s;tand to confute it, That man died <HI>naturae nece&s;&s;itate, non peccati merito,</HI> by a nece&s;&s;ity of Nature, not by a penalty for Sin. This Doctrine would bring the wi&s;dome of God in que&s;tion, pre|&s;cribing a Law of mortality, after he had created man mortall.</P>
<P N="2">2. It would bring the ju&s;tice of God in que&s;tion, to puni&s;h with death where no offence is committed. Every penalty is for &s;ome iniquity:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Omnis poena e&s;t propter aliquam culpam. <HI>Aquin.</HI></NOTE> This is therefore the conclu&s;ion of all Ortho|dox Divines, <HI>Non expoliandus Corpore, &s;ed &s;uperve&s;tiendus im|mortalite.</HI> There had bin no &s;eparation of the body from the &s;oul by death, had there not been a &s;eparation of the &s;oul from God by &s;inne: a po&s;&s;ibility to die, is from Nature, a nece&s;&s;ity to die is from Sinne, and an impo&s;&s;ibility to die is from Grace, <HI>The Wages of Sin is Death.</HI> Rom. 6. <HI>ult.</HI></P>
<P>To the &s;econd que&s;tion, I an&s;wer affirmatively. The Law of Mortality is univer&s;all. Though the Scripture mentions &s;ome that have not died, as <HI>Enoch</HI> and <HI>Elias:</HI> their tran&s;lation may teach us, that God may make an exception to a generall rul<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, he can and will di&s;pen&s;e with that Law, whereof him&s;elfe is the &s;ole and mediate Author, as he did with the Morall law, in &s;ome ca&s;es with the &s;ixth commandement, <HI>Thou &s;halt not kill,</HI> when he commanded <HI>Abraham</HI> to &s;acrifice his Son: and with the eighth Commandement, <HI>Thou &s;halt not &s;teale,</HI> when he commanded the <HI>I&s;raelites</HI> to &s;poyle the <HI>Egyptians.</HI> God is free, and an indepen|dent Agent; he doth not binde him&s;elfe, when he bindes his people; his Prerogative is above the Law, his Mercy is over all his Works: As the Judge may pa&s;&s;e Sentence and yet reprieve
<PB N="27" REF="17"> the Malefactor, &s;o God may condemne the race and generation of Mankinde to be liable to death, and yet may &s;end his royall Di&s;pen&s;ation, his gracious pardon for any one in particular. Who can &s;ay unto him, <HI>What doest thou?</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Though the Scripture mention &s;ome that &s;hall not die, as they that &s;hall be found alive at the coming of Chri&s;t to Judge|ment. St. <HI>Paul</HI> tells us in plain termes, <HI>we &s;hall not all &s;leep,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 15.51.</NOTE> <HI>but we &s;hall be changed:</HI> The meaning is, they &s;hall not &s;o &s;leep, as to continue in the &s;tate of the dead, but be changed in a mo|ment, in the twinkling of an eye; yet &s;uch a change, as they &s;hall have a di&s;&s;olution, and in the &s;ame moment, a redintegration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Donne,</HI> in P&s;al. 68.20.</NOTE> a reall Death, and a reall re&s;urrection, though no &s;leeping in the Grave of Corruption.</P>
<P>Well then, Let this con&s;ideration of certainty of death, &s;ink into your hearts, and take deep impre&s;&s;ion, and work your &s;pi|rits to a holy and heavenly frame. <HI>Plato</HI> once complained of the <HI>Argentines, The&s;e men live</HI> (&s;ayes he) <HI>as if they &s;hould never die.</HI> Truly many Chri&s;tians live &s;o vainly, and wantonly, and wickedly, as if they &s;hould never die, or be called to account, as if Death were but a Scar-crow, or Bugbeare, a painted Hell.</P>
<P>You &s;ee one Generation pa&s;&s;ing, and another Generation co|ming, one Friend and Neighbour drops into the Grave after a|nother, and when your turne &s;hall be you know not: This you may be a&s;&s;ured of, Death will come certainly, and it may be &s;pee|dily, it may be &s;uddainly, <HI>What man is he that liveth and &s;hall not &s;ee Death?</HI> P&s;al. 89.48.</P>
<P>Then againe, con&s;ider the uncertainty of the time of death: The rich man promi&s;ed him&s;elfe a certainty, &s;ung a R<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">quiem to his &s;oule, as if God had &s;ealed him a Lea&s;e of his life for many yeares, <HI>Soule take thine ea&s;e, thou ha&s;t goods laid up for many years.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 12.</NOTE> Oh (&s;aith our Saviour) How this man fools him&s;elf, he promi&s;eth many years, when he cannot a&s;&s;ure him&s;elf of one moment: <HI>This night &s;hall thy &s;oule be required of thee: You know not what hour the Judge will come: You know not what o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e day may bring forth:</HI> Many have gone well into the fi ld, and have been brought home in the Been; Many have gone well to bed, and wakened in the pangs of Death; Many make but a &s;tep from the Credle to the Grave. Like that creature, <HI>Ephemera,</HI> which lives but eight
<PB N="28" REF="18"> hours. Many die in their ful &s;trength, when their bones are full of Marrow, and their brea&s;ts full of Milk: I know it is the practi&s;e of the world to procra&s;tinate Repentance, to defer Preparation for death to the very la&s;t of all. Pre&s;&s;e this duty, and many will an|&s;wer with <HI>Faelix,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 24.25.</NOTE> We will heare of this at a convenient &s;ea&s;on, We will think upon Death and Judgement at our lei&s;ure: Or with the <HI>Jewes,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hag 1.2.</NOTE> The Time is not yet come: You tell us of pray|ing &amp; repenting, and pleading for mercy; but the time is not yet come, we mu&s;t p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ea&s;e our phan&s;ies, and pamper our lu&s;ts fir&s;t, partake of the jolli<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ies and jocundities of the world fir&s;t, we mu&s;t have the Prod galls &s;pending time, before his repenting-time, we mu&s;t have <HI>Davids</HI> Plea&s;ure, and <HI>Davids</HI> Penance, we mu&s;t have a little more Sleep, a little more Slumber, we will think upon Repentance afterward.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 18.21.</NOTE> God is mercifull, and <HI>At what time &s;oever a Sinner repents, he will put all his wickedne&s;&s;e out of his remembrance.</HI> Oh but con&s;ider, you run upon a de&s;perate ha|zard all this while: Life is uncertaine, God may cut you off in the mid&s;t of your &s;innes, and then what will become of your &s;oules? It was a notable an&s;wer the widow Woman gave to <HI>Trajan</HI> the Emperour: She comes to him, and demands ju&s;tice upon him that had &s;laine her Son: Well, &s;ayes the Emperour, I am now upon my march, and when I come againe, thou &s;halt have ju&s;tice. Oh but, replyed the woman, What if my Lord ne|ver <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ome againe? So there are many put off Repentance, and preparation for D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ath from youth to middle-age, from middle-age to old age: Why, what if old age never come? Or, what if it doe come? Have you any a&s;&s;urance of the means of grace, or a ble&s;&s;ing upon the meanes? God indeed hath promi&s;ed par|don to the Penitent; but where hath he promi&s;ed repentance to the Peccant? Repentance is the gift of God as well as Forgive|ne&s;&s;e, and truly there is no certainty of it, it is promi&s;ed but with a peradventure, if God peradventure, will give them repentance. God gave one Sinner repentance at the hour of death (the good Thief on the cro&s;s) le&s;t any &s;hould de&s;pair;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 2.25.</NOTE> yet but one in all the Scriptur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">, le&s;t any &s;hould pre&s;ume, as S: <HI>Aug.</HI> excellently. So much as to your con&s;ideration.</P>
<P N="2">2. And la&s;tly, (and &s;o I &s;hall draw to a conclu&s;ion) as to your care, and con&s;cionable practi&s;e; I be&s;eech you imbrace and im|prove
<PB N="29" REF="18"> the&s;e few directions, in order to a pious Life, and a peace|able Death.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, if you would live to the Lord, and dye in the Lord, labour for exemplary purity of life; <HI>Not every one that &s;aith,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.21.</NOTE> <HI>Lord, Lord, &s;hall enter into the Kingdome, but he that doth the will of the Father.</HI> 'Tis not holine&s;&s;e in Profe&s;&s;ion, but holine&s;&s;e in Conver&s;ation, Practicall holine&s;&s;e, that mu&s;t carry it out at the day of Judgement. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the pure in heart,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.8.</NOTE> <HI>they &s;hall &s;ee God, and ble&s;&s;ed are they that doe the Commandements, they &s;hall enter into the City.</HI> They are entituled to Heav<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">n,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 22.14.</NOTE> they are qua|lified for Heaven, they mu&s;t be pure Virgins that follow the Lamb, they mu&s;t be cloathed in white Linnen, and have robes wa&s;hed in the blood of the Lamb; <HI>Solomon</HI> had two Altars, one to &s;acrifice Bea&s;ts on, another to burne Incen&s;e on, to teach us to goe to the outward Altar: fir&s;t, &s;acrifice our Bea&s;ts, mor|tifie our Corruptions, walke before God in Holine&s;&s;e and Righ|teou&s;ne&s;&s;e of life, and then goe to the inner Altar, to offer up our Incen&s;e of everla&s;ting prai&s;e to God in Heaven.</P>
<P>Beloved, holine&s;&s;e of life is the end of your Redemption, and the ornament of your Profe&s;&s;ion, and the way to Eternall Salvation: be not deceived,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 6.9.</NOTE> <HI>No unrighteous per&s;on &s;hall enter into the Kingdome of God.</HI> Where there is no Purity, there will be no Peace, no Grace, no Glory, no Holine&s;&s;e, no Happine&s;&s;e; marke that of <HI>David, He that ordereth his Conver&s;ation right,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 50.23.</NOTE> <HI>to him will I &s;hew the Salvation of God.</HI> He that orders his Con|ver&s;ation right, that is, by a right rule, the Word of God in a right manner, as becomes the Go&s;pell of Chri&s;t, and to a right end, the advancement of Gods glory in workes of Piety and Charity; <HI>To him will I &s;hew Salvation, he &s;hall dye in the Lord, and rest from all his labours.</HI></P>
<P>Secondly, If you would live to the Lord, and dye in the Lord, g<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ve the world a bill of Divorcement, otherwi&s;e it w ll clip your Wings, and clog your Souls, and hinder your pur&s;uit of Heaven; there is nothing in all the world that is worthy of your affecti|ons, nothing but what is tran&s;itory, and un&s;atisfactory, and therefore look on it and pa&s;&s;e away.</P>
<P><HI>Gregory Nazianzen,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ozyza,</NOTE> &s;peakes of a Land which had abundance of curious Flowers in it, but no Corne for Bread to &s;atisfie the
<PB N="30" REF="19"> peoples hunger; the world is very like that Land, here are ma|ny Flowers, which may plea&s;e our Sences and our Phanta&s;ies, but here is no Corne for Bread, no &s;ub&s;tantiall &s;atisfying comforts; therefore the Prophet chides,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ay 55.2.</NOTE> <HI>Why doe you lay out your Money for that which is not Bread, and labour for that which &s;atisfies not?</HI> a man may drinke of <HI>Jacob</HI>'s well, but that water will not quench his thir&s;t, he may feed upon husks of worldly v<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nities, but they will not fill his belly. The Ble&s;&s;ed Trinity onely can fill the Tri|angular heart of man, my Grace is &s;ufficient, there is <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;uffici|ency in Grace and Glory, but not in Wealth and Honour; Heavens joyes are filling joyes,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">&s;al. 17.15.</NOTE> <HI>When I awake I &s;hall be &s;atisfied,</HI> and therefore doe not prize the Fl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;h-pots, a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he Cucombers of <HI>Egypt</HI> above the Milke and Honey of <HI>Canaan;</HI> the rivers of <HI>Dama&s;cus,</HI> above the &s;treames of <HI>Jordan;</HI> the plea&s;ures of Mortality, above the trea&s;ures of Eternity; but place your Af|fections upon right Objects, upon things above, and not on things below. As Death &s;hould be the Subject of your Medita|tion, &s;o Heaven the Center of your Affections. <HI>Richard</HI> the fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t, &s;ometimes King of <HI>England,</HI> gave charge that his bowells &s;hould be buried at <HI>Charron,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">eds Chron.</NOTE> but his heart at <HI>Roan,</HI> the faithfull City, the City of his love: Truly the world de&s;erves but our wa&s;t parts, we may bury our bowels in the Earth, but our hearts &s;hould be laid up in Heaven, the Royal City, the new Jeru&s;alem, there our Trea&s;ure is, there &s;hould our hearts be al&s;o; our be&s;t comforts are in Heaven,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">l. 3.20. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> and our be&s;t friends are in Heaven, and therefore &s;hould our Conver&s;ation be in Heaven, our Traffique and Commerce in Heaven, this was the ground of the Apo&s;tles earne&s;t wi&s;h for di&s;&s;olution,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span">. 1.23. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <HI>I de&s;ire to be loo&s;ed, to be with Chri&s;t,</HI> &amp;c. it is a Metaphor from Marriners, that are winde-bound in a forraigne Countrey, I de&s;ire to lo&s;e Anchor, I &s;tay but for a winde that may wa&s;t me over into the I&s;le of Mercy, that I may be with Chri&s;t, enjoy the beatificiall Vi&s;ion, &s;ee my Saviour and live for ever with him that loved me, and loved me &s;o dear|ly, as to &s;hed his blood for my Redemption.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Be provident for Eternity, you are Tenants at will, provide for your flitting,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> 10.4.</NOTE> act the parts of the wi&s;e Steward in the Go&s;pell, to make &s;ure of another hou&s;e, before you be put out of this.</P>
<PB REF="19">
<P>Mo&s;t men have a foreca&s;t for the world, to provide Fewell and Fodder in Summer, Oh that we could learne this piece of Spirituall Husbandry, to foreca&s;t for Heaven, for the good of the Soule, the one thing needfull. Oh that we could in Health, lay up thoughts for Sickne&s;&s;e, in the Summer of Pro&s;perity, pro|vide for a Winter of Adver&s;ity; that we could in plentifull years, lay in a &s;tock of Grace, again&s;t a &s;pending time of Sick|ne&s;&s;e, Di&s;traction, Death and Judgement. <HI>Dama&s;cene</HI> writes of a Countrey, where the people u&s;ed to chu&s;e their King common|ly out of the meane&s;t &s;ort of the People, and upon any di&s;like would depo&s;e him, and bani&s;h him into an I&s;land, where he was to be fami&s;hed to death. One wi&s;e King &s;ent before him great &s;tore of Money and Provi&s;ion into the I&s;land, &s;o that when his time of bani&s;hment came, he was received with exceeding great joy and Triumph. Now the time is coming when we mu&s;t be depo&s;ed from all worldly Honour, bani&s;hed by Death, without any Provi&s;ion with us. <HI>Naked we came,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Job. 1.21.</NOTE> <HI>and naked we mu&s;t re|turne,</HI> it will there<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ore be wi&s;dome in us to fore&s;ee the danger, and provide for the Storme, to &s;end &s;omething before us to Heaven, to &s;end our Prayers and Teares, our Faith and Obedi|ence, to &s;end a good Con&s;cience before, and then after bani&s;h|ment from Earth, we &s;hall finde comfortable and plentifull en|tertainment in Heaven. 4. And la&s;tly (&s;o I conclude.)</P>
<P>Pray for Patience, and Per&s;everance to the end, how many with <HI>Demas</HI> for&s;ake Chri&s;t, and embrace this pre&s;ent world?<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Tim. 4.1</NOTE> how many faint and tire in the race to Salvation, before they come at the mark of Glory? like the <HI>I&s;raelites,</HI> they come to <HI>Kade&s;h barnea,</HI> but come not to <HI>Canaan.</HI> Whereas indeed the motion of piety &s;hould be <HI>velocior in fine,</HI> quicke&s;t in the end; we &s;hould not content our &s;elves with <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> to look into <HI>Ca|naan,</HI> by an outward Profe&s;&s;ion, but with <HI>Jo&s;huah,</HI> enter <HI>Cannan</HI> by practice, and per&s;everance in a holy Conver&s;ation. Some Philo&s;ophers conceived the Soule grew more and more Divine towards the time of its parting from the Body, it &s;hould indeed be the Chri&s;tians prayer and care to grow in grace as he grows in y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ars, to bring up the be&s;t wine at la&s;t, to mend his pace in his journey, and hold out to the end, like the two Milch Kine, which left their Calves behinde them, and went &s;till for|ward,
<PB REF="20"> till they came at <HI>Beth&s;heme&s;h,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Sam. 6.12.</NOTE> that &s;o his latter end may be better than his beginning, and the day of his Death be better than the day of his Birth.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">emin. ex <GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">ri&s;tot.</NOTE>Some report of the Mole, that though &s;he is blinde all her life, yet &s;he &s;eems to open her eyes when &s;he is ready to dye; I feare many of us are blinde in Soule for many yeares, we doe not remember our Creator in the dayes of our youth, we doe not pre&s;ent God with the fat of the Sacrifice, and the fir&s;t fruits of our yeares, yet however when we came neare the borders of Death, let us open the eyes of our Soules, and look up to our Redeemer Chri&s;t Je&s;us, that we may &s;ing old <HI>Simeons</HI> Swan-like Song with cheerfulne&s;&s;e; <HI>Lord let thy Servant depart in Peace, for mine eyes have &s;een thy Salvation,</HI> that &s;o after a Trouble&s;ome Life, we may have a peaceable Death, and after Death a glori|ous reward of everla&s;ting re&s;t in Heaven, according to this, voicc from Heaven in the Text. <HI>Ble&s;&s;ed are the dead which dye in the Lord, for they re&s;t from their labours, and their works follow them.</HI></P>
<DIV2 TYPE="funeral oration">
<PB N="33" REF="20">
<HEAD>Commemoratio funebris in Memoriam ANNae TIRVVHYTT.</HEAD>
<P>I Have now done with the Text, and now come to addre&s;&s;e my &s;elfe unto that &s;ad occa&s;ion, which hath given my pre&s;ent D &s;cour&s;e this Mourning &s;uit. The occa&s;ion of our pre&s;ent meeting is to &s;olemn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ze the Funerall of this decea&s;ed Gen|tlewoman, Mrs. <HI>Anne Tyrwhytt,</HI> to doe our la&s;t office to her body, by affording it the benefit of a Chri&s;tian and comely bu|riall.</P>
<P>Concerning whom, I might upon very good and warrantable grounds, enlarge my Di&s;cou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;e in the de&s;cription of the ble&s;&s;ed|ne&s;&s;e, both of her Life and Death, but as the O<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ator &s;aid <HI>Quid opus e&s;t verbis?</HI> What need is there of words, when her d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eds are &s;o manife&s;t? What need I light the Candle of verball Commen|dations, when the light of her Rel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">gious life &s;hines &s;o clearly be|fore your eyes, as you cannot but magnifie her vertues, and by that meanes glorifie your Father which is in Heaven? S. <HI>Origen</HI> tells us, our Saviour refu&s;ed to an&s;wer his accu&s;ers in the Go|&s;p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll, becau&s;e his workes did &s;o palpably, and powerfully con|fute them: well might I be &s;ilent, and forbeare Funerall Com|mendations at this pre&s;ent, when &s;he being dead yet &s;peaketh; when the exemplary Piety of her life is &s;o famou&s;ly known to all the world about her. Yet in regard the Commemoration of her godly Life, and the pre&s;ervation of her Vertues (the true re|liques of the Saints) for the view of Po&s;terity cannot chu&s;e but be a work acceptable to God, and profitable to our &s;elves; ac|ceptable to God, who in her fame is chiefly hon<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ured, as the &s;ole Author of every good and perfect gift: &s;o <HI>Nazianzen</HI> &s;pake once of Holy <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> by prai&s;ing <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> I p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ai&s;e Ver|tue it &s;elfe; and againe, by prai&s;ing Vertue, I give glory to the God of Vertue, by who&s;e grace alone, Man is made Vertuous; and then a worke profitable to our &s;elves, becau&s;e commonly
<PB N="34" REF="21"> we learne more by Patterns, than Precepts. The Hi&s;tories of Good mens lives, are our mo&s;t choice and compendious in&s;tru|ctions, and teach us more in one exemplary line, than Precepts doe in whole Volumes. Upon the&s;e grounds I de&s;ire to build my following Di&s;cour&s;e, wherein my endeavour &s;hall be to ac|quaint; or rather reminde you of many memorable pa&s;&s;ages, worthy both of your Ob&s;ervation, and Imitation, in this religi|gious Gentlewoman.</P>
<P>Now my Text being a Text of Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e, we &s;hall con&s;ider the Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of her Life, and the Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of her Death, for the Ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of her Life, we may look upon her under a double Notion; 1. As &s;he &s;tood in relation to God. 2. In relation to the world.</P>
<P N="1">1. As &s;he &s;tood in relation to God, and here we may take notice of the Graces &s;he practi&s;ed, and the Duties &s;he perform|ed. Fir&s;t, the Graces &s;he practi&s;ed, and of them I might &s;ay as <HI>Leah</HI> of <HI>Gad, Behold a Troop:</HI> I could pre&s;ent you with a gol|den chaine, of &s;upernaturall vertues, which &s;he ware to her dying day, and houre.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">inke in this golden chaine is her Faith, which was Orthodoxe and Operative. Orthodoxe, &s;he lived and dyed in the bo&s;oms of the Church, in the True Prote&s;tant Faith wherein &s;he was bred and borne. Neither Wor&s;hipping the Image of <HI>Baal,</HI> nor failing downe to the golden Calves &s;et up in <HI>Dan,</HI> and <HI>Bethel;</HI> neither leaning to Popery on the one hand, nor li&s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing after novelties on the other, but kept the good old way in the middle; &s;o &s;teering her cour&s;e by the compa&s;&s;e of Scrip|ture, &s;he &s;ailed &s;afely b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tween two Rocks to the Haven of her re&s;t. She walked in the Furnace of the Churches Triall, (like the noble Jews at <HI>Babylon</HI>) without &s;ingei<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">g her Garments,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. 3.27.</NOTE> and came forth at la&s;t without any &s;mell of fire, the lea&s;t &s;mell of Fa|ction or Super&s;tition upon her.</P>
<P N="2">2. Her Faith was operative, manife&s;ted in, and attended with a glorious Train of works of Obedience and Righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e. She was a burning and a &s;hining Lampe, a reall, not a verball pro|fe&s;&s;or. She wore her &s;pirituall Garments in the old f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">on, in <HI>Aarons</HI> fa&s;hion with Bells and Pomegranats. <HI>Exo.</HI> 28 33. Bells, as the &s;ound of an Orthodoxe Faith in her profe&s;&s;ion, and
<PB N="35" REF="21"> Pomegranates, as a &s;weet perfume of godline&s;&s;e in her Practice and Conver&s;ation. Chri&s;t was the foundation &s;tone in the fabrick of her Faith, and works of Piety, and Charity, the &s;uper&s;tructure, the Top-&s;tones in the Temple of the holy Gho&s;t within her.</P>
<P N="2">2. A &s;econd linke in this golden chaine, is her Patience, it plea&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d the Lord to bring her to the Crowne by the Cro&s;&s;e, to bring her to <HI>Canaan</HI> through the Wilderne&s;&s;e of Affl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ctions and mole&s;tations in <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he world: But who ever heard her complaine again&s;t the Lord in the Wilderne&s;&s;e, or tempt the Holy one, by murmuring as the I&s;raelites did? W<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">o ever knew her either cap|tivated by her Pa&s;&s;ion within, or extreamely ca&s;t downe by any lo&s;&s;e or cro&s;&s;e without? She wre&s;tled with many difficulties, and calamities but came off from all with a conquering Patience.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Fortior e&s;t, qui &s;e, qu&agrave;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> qui forti&s;&s;ima, vin|cit Maenia.</NOTE> This (according to the Philo&s;ophers) is the better part of true fortitude, which con&s;i&s;ts in &s;u<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">prizing the Rebellious perturbati|ons of grief and anger in the minde, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t is the height of true valour to overcome our &s;elves, we have <HI>Solomons</HI> Opinion to back the Philo&s;ophers and Poets, <HI>He that ruleth his Spirit,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 16.32.</NOTE> <HI>is better than he that taketh the City.</HI></P>
<P>This Grace was not onely manife&s;t in her life, but continued in her &s;ickne&s;&s;e, to death it &s;elfe: In all her extremity &s;he had recour&s;e to our Saviours pattern and practi&s;e, &s;aying, as he in his Agony, <HI>Not My will, but Thy will be done;</HI> an evident te&s;timo|ny, that &s;he was well plea&s;ed with the cha&s;tning of the Lord, &s;ubmitting cheerfully to his Will and Wi&s;dome in all her di|&s;tre&s;&s;e. T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">us &s;he was faithfull in doing, and &s;uffering al&s;o, unto death, and therefore we may be confident Chri&s;t hath enriched her with a Crown of Life.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2.10.</NOTE></P>
<P>In the third place, her Humility was remarkable. This was another Diamond in the crown of her prai&s;e, another Flower which flouri&s;h d in the garden of her heart. Pride, that i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;inua|ting Serpent, could finde no harbour in the Paradi&s;e of her Brea&s;t. Temptations &s;he might have from worldly re&s;pects, as <HI>David</HI> had from the multitude of his people.</P>
<P><HI>Hezekiah</HI> from the richne&s;&s;e of his trea&s;ure; &s;o &s;he, from the noble fame of her worthy Ance&s;tors being de&s;cended from one of the be&s;t Families in <HI>Nottingham-&s;hire,</HI> and matched into one of the be&s;t Families in <HI>Lincoln &s;hire;</HI> yet far &s;he was from
<PB N="93" REF="22"> being puffed up with a vain glorious conceit of her &s;elf in re&s;pect of the&s;e outward con&s;iderations, but ever had regard to her &s;pi|rituall priviledges, the ornament of the inward Man, to be cloa|thed with a Garment of Meekne&s;s, and graced with knots and ribbons of Humility (as &s;ome render that word in 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 5.5. in this al&s;o) following the foot&s;teps, and writing after the copy of our Saviour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Math. 11.29.</NOTE> <HI>Learn of me, for I am lowlie and meeke, and ye &s;hall finde re&s;t to your &s;oules.</HI></P>
<P>The fourth link in the golden Chaine, is her Sincerity, and up|rightne&s;s of heart; as &s;he was without gaule of Envy, &s;o without guile of Hypocri&s;ie. Sincere, <HI>&s;ine cer&acirc;,</HI> all Honey, without any Wax; all Gold, without any Dro&s;s, or counterfeit Metall; any &s;uperficiall Varni&s;h of D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;imulation in her words or action: Her Practi&s;e was an&s;werable to her Prof<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ion, and her life agreeable to her Faith: indeed her Body alwaies carried a &s;weet pre&s;ence, yet her Beauty lay within, like the Queens Daughter, &s;he was all glorious within; her in-&s;ide was the be&s;t &s;ide, her inward cloathing was of wrought Gold, and that is it which is mo&s;t acceptable in the &s;ight of God;<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 16.7.</NOTE> he looks at the heart, his eyes of <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">b&s;ervation and affection, are upon the <HI>Nathanaels, I&s;rael<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">tes,</HI> indeed, in whom is no gu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">le.</P>
<P>This was a ground of infinite comfort to her &s;pirit, in the time of her &s;ickne&s;s, as it was to <HI>Hezekiah,</HI> when a me&s;&s;age of Death was &s;ent him,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 38 1.3</NOTE> <HI>Remember Lord, how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart:</HI> and to <HI>Samuel,</HI> when he made his la&s;t appeale,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Sam. 12.3.</NOTE> <HI>Who&s;e Ox have I taken?</HI> &amp;c. The &s;ame m ght &s;he make to all the world, <HI>Who&s;e Ox have I taken?</HI> &amp;c. Whom have I defrauded or oppre&s;&s;ed, or impoveri&s;hed? Witne&s;s again&s;t me before the Lord, &amp;c.</P>
<P>I could gather many more F<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">owers to make up the Garland of her prai&s;e, but the time prevents me, and therefore I conclude this, with <HI>Solomons</HI> commendation of the good Hu&s;wife, <HI>Many Daughters have done vertuou&s;ly,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 31.</NOTE> <HI>but thou excelle&s;t them all.</HI> Thus I have done with the golden chaine of her Graces, onely let me intreat you to weare it for her &s;ake, for your owne &s;ake, for Chri&s;ts &s;ake, that it may goe well with you, both in life and death, that you (with her) may live de&s;ired, and the lamented, having the prayers of men in your life, and the prai&s;es of men when you are dead and gone.</P>
<PB N="37" REF="22">
<P>The next particular concernes the Duty &s;he performed. To name but two, Hearing and Praying.</P>
<P>Hearing, you are witne&s;&s;es of her con&s;tant waiting at Wi&s;|domes gate, and daily attending at the Po&s;ts of the&s;e Doors, how &s;he wore the Thre&s;hold of this Temple with her diligent feet, how &s;he longed, with <HI>David,</HI> to dwell in the hou&s;e of the Lord all the dayes of her life, and how &s;ometimes &s;he would hazard the health of her Body, rather than neglect the welfare of her Sou<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e. And la&s;tly, when by indi&s;po&s;ition of health &s;he could not fea&s;t with God in his Publique Ordinances; how carefull &s;he was to make u&s;e of that Provi&s;ion which God had &s;ent her at home, by hearing divine in&s;tructions, read to her by tho&s;e that were about her.</P>
<P N="2">2. For Praying it was her daily &s;acrifice, and hourely imploy|ment. That pa&s;&s;age in the Go&s;pel hath often put me in minde of her: there we finde a Prophete&s;&s;e of the &s;ame name,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Luke 2.36, 37.</NOTE> <HI>Anna,</HI> in the &s;ame condition, a Widdow, much what of the &s;ame age, Four&s;core and four yeares, and of the &s;ame devotion; &s;he de|parted not from the Temple, but &s;erved God by fa&s;ting and prayer, night and day. It is well knowne what a great part of the day this religious Gentlewoman &s;pent in private devotions, during the time of her health; and in her &s;ickne&s;&s;e, it was her continuall exerci&s;e to call upon God for pardoning, and pre&s;er|ving mercies, which &s;he cheerefully performed (while &s;he was able) with the outward expre&s;&s;ion of the voice, and when the naturall &s;trength of the body decayed, &s;he was &s;t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ll ready to pre|&s;ent the Lord with the &s;acrifice of her heart, as appeared by the frequent lifting up of her hands and eyes towards Heaven. In a word, &s;he delighted to &s;ing <HI>Ho&s;annaes</HI> by prayer on earth, &amp; there|fore God hath taken her to &s;ing <HI>Allelujahs</HI> of prai&s;e in Heaven.</P>
<P>So much for the fir&s;t particular, as &s;he &s;tood in relation to God.</P>
<P N="2">2. The ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of her life is con&s;iderable, as &s;he &s;tood in re|lation to the World. Here indeed I might multiply particulars, and begin with her Piety (as Civilians call it) to her children, being religiou&s;ly carefull to promote their intere&s;t, both in re|ference to this world, and that which is to come. Although, through &s;ome cro&s;s acts of Providence, &s;he was di&s;appointed in her hopes of &s;etling &s;uch fortunes upon them as m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ght be expe|cted
<PB N="38" REF="23"> from &s;uch a con&s;iderable e&s;tate; yet was it her comfort, that &s;he left them a pre&s;ent competency, with hopes of &s;peedy improvement, by the recovery of tho&s;e debts which &s;he had with much charge and trouble, long contended for; &s;pecially her hope was, God had e&s;tated her children in Grace given them a portion of &s;pirituall comforts, and therefore would deny them &s;o much of the world, as &s;hould make mo&s;t for his owne glory, and their everla&s;ting happine&s;s, according to our Saviours Pro|mi&s;e, <HI>Math.</HI> 6.23.</P>
<P>In the next place, we might con&s;ider her Ho&s;pitality to &s;trangers. Famous &s;he was for good Hou&s;e-keeping, for a free, and generous, and bountifull Entertainment. She was &s;o much given to Ho&s;pitality, as &s;he made her owne Hou&s;e a Ho&s;pitall: thither came the Lame, and the Blinde, and the Di&s;ea&s;ed, and that without money, or money-worth, for the cure and reco|very. She was indeed, Eyes to theb linde, and Feet to the lame: She was a Mother to the poore, and the cau&s;e &s;he knew not &s;he &s;earched out,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 29.15, 16.</NOTE> as that holy Man &s;peaks of him&s;elfe. This brings in her Charity to the Poore: S <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ets downe two characters of the Widdow indeed, both remarkable in her, <HI>To lodge Strangers, and to relieve the Afflicted&punc;</HI> 1 Tim. 5.10. How many Widdowes have been &s;u&s;tained by her liberality, how many Fatherle&s;s children have eaten bread at her Doore, in her Hou&s;e, at her Table, I need not tell you, but appeale to your owne experince. <HI>She heard the cry of the Fatherle&s;&s;e, and made the Widdowes heart to &s;ing for joy,</HI> Job. 29 12, 13.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 112.9.</NOTE>K. <HI>James</HI>'s father was called the poor mans King, She might be called the poor mans Widdow, &s;he di&s;per&s;ed abroad, and gave to the poor,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eccle&s;. 11.1, 2. Luke 12.24.</NOTE> &s;he gave a portion to Seven, and al&s;o to Eight, &s;he ca&s;t her Bread upon the Waters, and, like the wi&s;e Steward in the Go&s;pel, provided portions for the poore in due &s;ea&s;on.</P>
<P>What need I mention her veracity, her reall and true affection to her Friends, her affability and bounty to her Servants and Tenants; her re&s;pect and reverence to the Clergie, acting <HI>Mar|tha</HI>'s part, as well as <HI>Marie</HI>'s; not onely fea&s;ting her &s;oule upon Chri&s;t in his Doctrine, but al&s;o fea&s;ting Chri&s;t in his Members, and Me&s;&s;engers, with a bountifull Hand, and a cheerfull Heart.</P>
<P>Put all the&s;e together, and you will conclude her death to be
<PB REF="23"> a great and generall lo&s;&s;e; not my lo&s;&s;e, or yours, but the Coun|trey's, the Kingdomes, the Churches lo&s;&s;e, in which every one of us beareth &s;o great a &s;hare, as our Hearts, and Eyes, and Tongues, may well want Sighs, and Teares, and Words to expre&s;&s;e our Grief. All our hope is of another <HI>Phaenix,</HI> that as one Star &s;ets, another will ri&s;e, that they which come after her, will inherit her Vertues with her Lands, that &s;o <HI>Camringham</HI> may &s;till be fa|mous for the Practice and Patronage of Vertue and Religion, for eminent works of Piety and Charity, though &s;he be dead and gone.</P>
<P>Thus you have &s;een the coats and garments which our <HI>Dorcas</HI> made, when &s;he was alive: The ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of her life. But a word or two concerning the ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e of her death, and I &s;hall conclude.</P>
<P>There are many of the Saints in the Scripture remarkably ble&s;&s;ed in their deaths: I may fitly compare this Gentlewoman to three, e&s;p<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">cially of that noble Generation, <HI>Abraham, Mo&s;es,</HI> and <HI>Paul. Abraham</HI> died ble&s;&s;edly, <HI>He di<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d in a good old age,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 25.8. Prov. 16.31.</NOTE> <HI>an old man, and full of dayes:</HI> But is there any ble&s;&s;edne&s;&s;e in that? Yes, &s;ayes the Wi&s;e man, <HI>Gray haires are a crowne of honour, when they are found in a way of righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e:</HI> and we know it was a cur&s;e pronounced again&s;t old <HI>Eli,</HI> That there &s;hould not be an old Man left in his hou&s;e. 1 <HI>Sam.</HI> 2.31. Thus our decea&s;ed Si&s;ter here died, with credit and comfort in a good old age, an old Woman, and full of dayes, an old Chri&s;tian, an old D<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ciple, as as well an old Woman: &s;he was full of Daies, and full of Grace, full of Faith and good Works, full of the fruits of Righteou&s;ne&s;s, which made her to be a venerable &s;pectacle, beautifull, infinitely above all the comeline&s;&s;e of youth. She did much good upon Earth, and there|fore God called her late to Heaven. She died the death of <HI>Abra|ham.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. She died the death of <HI>Mo&s;es:</HI> He died lei&s;urely, God gave him notice of his journy before-hand, for his better preparation, <HI>Go up to the Mount and die:</HI> So departed &s;he from the world, not before &s;he expected death, not before &s;he provided for death: God was plea&s;ed in mercy to give her warning, before &s;he flitted, to ring her Pa&s;&s;ing-bell in her Soule many daies before &s;he died; and whereas many are flattered with hopes of life, till the very
<PB REF="24" MS="y"> hour of death; yet &s;he was upon a meditation of death from the fir&s;t beginning of her &s;icknes: Death was not &s;udden to her, either in re&s;pect of expectation, or preparation; &s;he had her Wedding-garment on, and her Lamp trimmed with Faith and a good Con|&s;cience; &s;he was ready for Death, and ripe for Eternity: behold &s;he is coming to the Grave, and &s;he comes as a Shock of corne from the field in due &s;ea&s;on.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> 5.26.</NOTE></P>
<P N="3">3. And la&s;tly &s;he died the death of <HI>Paul,</HI> not as <HI>Paul</HI> by a vio|lent Hand, but as <HI>Paul</HI> with a willing Heart: I de&s;ire (&s;ayes he) to be di&s;&s;olved, and to be with Chri&s;t: &s;o &s;he was a voluntiere in death;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" REASON="left margin cropped or obscured" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1+ letters">il. 1.23.</NOTE> Death was welcome to her, becau&s;e the World was a burden to her. In a word; &s;he was &s;en&s;ible of the labour of &s;inne and &s;orrow upon Earth, and therefore earne&s;tly de&s;ired her re&s;t in Heaven; which re&s;t (I doubt not) but &s;he hath obtained to her endle&s;&s;e joy and comfort: She lived Con&s;cionably, died Com|fortably, and now reignes Gloriou&s;ly. We may be confident, God hath (in her) a Servant le&s;&s;e on Earth, and a Saint more in Heaven. And here we leave her, and returne to our &s;elves:</P>
<P>Be&s;eeching Almighty God, that he would give us grace to fol|low the precious example of her ble&s;&s;ed life, that we may make it our work and bu&s;ine&s;&s;e to live well, and die well; to live to the Lord in Holine&s;&s;e here, that we may live with the Lord in Happine&s;&s;e hereafter: Which mercy he vouch&s;afeth us, who hath dearly bought us, Je&s;us Chri&s;t the righteous, To whom, with the Father, and the Holy Spirit, we a&s;cribe all Honour, Glo|ry, and Dominion, now, and for evermore. <HI>Amen.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>Soli Deo, Laus omnis.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="24">
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
