Selected quad for the lemma: duty_n
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A54873
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A funeral sermon upon the sad occasion of the death of Mordecai Abbott, Esq. preach'd the 17th of March 1699-1700 by John Piggott.
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Piggott, John, d. 1713.; Abbott, Mordecai, d. 1700?
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1700
(1700)
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Wing P2220A; ESTC R28440
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25,005
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96
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And indeed all men have just reason to fear Death who have nothing but a gloomy prospect beyond it the terrible apprehensions of an angry God and a tormenting Tophet But such whose guilt is remov'd by the Blood of Christ and their Souls renew'd and cleans'd by the Spirit of Christ have no reason to fear Death for it approaches 'em without a sting Thirdly From the Doctrine I have establish'd we learn of what necessity it is to be united to Christ for 't is only such that shall have part in the first Resurrection over whom the second Death shall have no power 't is only such as die in the Lord i. e. united to Christ by the Spirit and Faith that are said to sleep in Jesus and that God our Saviour will bring with him I know that some men think themselves very witty when they ridicule the Doctrine of Union with Christ but I am sure they are very miserable if we may take the word of an Apostle for it who says that if any Rom. 8. 9. Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Now none but such as belong to Christ shall attend his Triumph at the last day and reign with him in his immoveable Kingdom Fourthly How great are our Obligations to our Redeemer who hath alter'd the very nature of Death by dying in our stead and given us assurance of our Resurrection by his own rising from the dead O the heights the depths the lengths the breadths of the Love of God in Christ Jesus O shall not our Hearts burn with a grateful flame and shall not his unexampled Love render him exceeding precious to our Souls and cause us to strike up with the Church Triumphant Rev. 5. 12 Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive Power and Riches and Wisdom and Strength and Honour and Glory and Blessing for ever and ever Fifthly How little reason have those that are united to Christ to desire any long tarry in this World which is a sink of Sin and Sorrow a place of gloominess and darkness where we constantly suffer and are always in danger of sinning Moreover while here we are kept from our Inheritance and our Father's House Therefore it better becomes a true Member of Christ's Mystical Body to desire rather to depart and to be with Christ which is best of all Sixthly How great is the difference betwixt the death of a Believer and that of an Infidel Mr. Cruso They may both fall by the same diseases and their Dust be mingled in the same Pit but their immortal part will be everlastingly divided There is a great Gulf fixed between the Spirits in Prison and the Souls in Paradise We read that when the rich Man died in Hell be lift up his Eyes being in Torments Luke 16. 22 23. but when the religious Beggar left this World he was carried by Angels into Abraham 's Bosom An impenitent Sinner at death loses the very Shadows that he courted for Happiness but the Saint heightens his Felicity into Perfection Mark the perfect Man and behold Psal 37. 37. the upright for the end of that Man is peace Lastly If such as sleep in Jesus God will bring with him then let us not sorrow like those without hope when God removes our Relations and Friends by death especially such whom we have good ground to believe are fallen asleep in Jesus as blessed be God we have of that excellent and worthy Gentleman Mr. ABBOTT whose Death has given the sad occasion to this Discourse And is he dead Well but his Name lives and will be fresh and fragrant to Posterity And I cannot do Justice to his Memory without taking notice of those Graces and Virtues that eminently shin'd in his Conversation and Conduct for the Memory of the just shall be blessed and the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance I am not now to give the Character of one that dwelt in a shade but of one whose publick Imploys expos'd him to a continual view so that I doubt not of a crowd of Witnesses to attest the truth of what I shall say I confess to collect all that was excellent and imitable in the deceas'd Gentleman is too big a task for so unskilful a Person as I am who can but lay the dead Colours of his Character and must leave the finishing strokes to more artful Hands to Men of better Judgment of greater compass of Thought and exactness of Stile I must own I am at a loss where to begin and what part of his excellent Character I shall insist upon but I think his Piety towards God may properly enough be spoken of in the first place He began very early to be religious devoted to Heaven the flourishing bloom of his Youth the first and best of his time he had well studied and digested the great Articles of the Christian Faith and had right Notions of the Person and Mediatory Work of Christ which had a mighty influence into his whole Conversation for tho he liv'd in a crowd and hurry of business yet he lost not his Religion in the midst of it but kept close to the private and publick Duties of Divine Worship With what seriousness and diligence did he attend on Sermons and what Pains did he take in the writing and repeating of ' em which was the more extraordinary because his publick Imploys engag'd him in writing even to toil and fatigue He was not a Gentleman that affected Singularity or pretended to more Purity than other Christians but there was a native gracefulness that attended his acts of Piety and Devotion which he manag'd without Pomp or Noise this was an evidence of his great Humility a Grace very conspicuous in him as some of the poorest in this place cannot but have observ'd to whom he carried it as if they had been his Equals which added a mighty lustre to the rest of his Virtues His Zeal for spreading the great Truths of the Gospel was strong and regular bright and flaming for notwithstanding his many necessary Avocations he would redeem time to advise and assist in the promotion of substantial Godliness His Sincerity was very extraordinary and visible for he appear'd always with great freedom simplicity and plainness in Conversation he detested all Reserves and Disguises 't was too mean for him to appear in Masquerade tho Alamode Integrity preserv'd him from the meanness of Flattery and he preserv'd his Integrity amidst a thousand Temptations He was a true Nathanael who by the Grace of God abating the common frailtys of human Life might be said to keep himself unspotted from the World for he acted like Joseph in the Court of Pharaoh only with this difference that he had not learn'd to swear by his Life In his Family he was very exemplary gave great encouragement to the beginnings of Piety but deeply resented the negligence of Servants or Children that should absent themselves from Family-worship The Company
Lord. The Eccles 3. 4. wise Man tells us that there is a time to mourn and a time to weep as well as for other things certainly it cannot be an unfit season to weep when God takes away our pious Friends that have been eminently useful and publick Blessings to a Nation And 't is observable how the Prophet complains of the gross Stupidity of the Jews who were insensible under the signs of the Divine Displeasure Isa 57. 1. The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart And we find also that 't is threatened as a Jer. 22. 18. Judgment when any die without being lamented yea 't is said to Job 27. 13 14 15. be the Portion of the wicked from God and the Heritage of the Oppressor that they are cut off and their Widows shall not weep So that upon the whole 't is very evident that St. Paul in my Text has no design in his Disswasive from immoderate Sorrow to recommend the Stoical Apathy for the Rules of the Christian Institution have no tendency to eradicate our Passions but to correct and govern ' em And here I cannot but remark that what has been said casts no favourable Aspect on the Doctrine of the Stoick Philosophers which teaches that Men are to stifle all natural Affections both of Joy and Sorrow that no outward Emoluments should move the Affection of Joy and that a Person should be as easy and as free from the passion of Grief in a violent Paroxism of the Gout or Stone as if he were in perfect health in the midst of the most ravishing Delights 'T is reported of Possidonius a Stoick Philosopher who passed a great part of his Life under very acute Diseases that being visited by Pompey at Rhodes he entertain'd him with a Philosophical Discourse and when his Pains were the most sharp and violent he chid 'em in such Language as this * Nil agis dolor quanquam sis molestus nunquam te esse confitebor malum In vain dost thou assault me Pain tho thou art troublesom thou shalt never force me to confess thou art evil Indeed could the pomp of words abate our painful Sensations there would be some shew of reason in this Philosopher's method but since the contrary is evident by universal Experience 't was an instance of great Pride and the most ridiculous Folly And 't is worth remarking that the greatest Masters in this Philosophy when they fell into sharp Adversity suddenly sunk into such deep Despair and Impatience that they laid violent hands upon themselves I need only name Cato and Brutus the most eminent among 'em who as one observes professing themselves to be wise in their Speculations became Fools in Practice and were confounded with all their Philosophy when they should have made use of it Which brings to my mind a Passage I have read of Seneca who was not a little inclin'd to the Stoick Philosophy who tells us that at the death of his dear Friend Annaeus Serenus he * Epist 63. Inter exempla eorum fui quos dolor vicit was found of the number of those whom Grief overcame Upon which one remarks That Nature was too strong for his Philosophy tho at other times none outbraves the Misfortunes of Life or the Terrors of Death at a higher rate as if they had not the least power to move his wise Man So that upon the whole we see the insufficiency of Philosophick Axioms to support a Mind overwhelm'd with Sorrow but that which Philosophy has vainly attempted Divine Revelation has fully compleated and finish'd as will be evident when I consider the Arguments St. Paul uses in the Text to disswade from mourning as those that have no hope But before I touch upon them I must be a little more particular in this other matter I have already told you what kind of Sorrow for the dead the Scripture indulges but that which is without hope you see our Text condemns Now our mourning may fall under this Character First When 't is excessive in the measure and degree Secondly In the length and continuance First When 't is excessive in the measure and degree as it may be deem'd 1. When our Sorrows are vented in impatient Murmurs and indecent Reflections upon the Conduct of Divine Providence as if when our Friends are taken from our Society God had done an unjust an unmerciful or an unwise Act. This is very criminal for hereby we affront him in his moral Perfections and seem to dispute with him about the Rights of his Godhead forgetting that he is our absolute Soveraign and has an original and unalienable Right in us and ours For as it was merely an Act of his choice to give us a Being all his subsequent Bounties can have no other Original than his own good pleasure And since he bestows his Favours upon us without our merit he may justly when he pleases recal 'em without our leave for his fundamental right in us and our Friends skreens him from the least shadow of Injustice when by Death he removes them from us So that if while we are mourning for our deceas'd Friends we permit our Passions to mutiny so as to utter any unbecoming Reflections on the Skilfulness of the Divine Hand 't is a strong evidence that our Sorrows are too excessive And this kind of Excess and Impatience seems to have overcome David when in the most mournful Accents and in an uncommon strain he laments the tragical end of his rebellious Son Absalom as the Text informs us The King was much mov'd and went 2 Sam. 18. 33. up to the Chamber over the Gate and wept and as he went thus he said O my Son Absalom my Son my Son Absalom would God I had died for thee O Absalom my Son my Son But 2. We sorrow like those without hope when our Grief does so ruffle our Minds and enfeeble our Bodies as to render us uncapable to discharge the special Duties of our Relation and Place and to exercise those Graces which are eminently useful and very necessary to be called forth into act in a time of solemn mourning and deep sadness If the Mind be greatly pensive and thrown into a convulsive Agony and do long continue so sadness and disorder will appear in the Countenance for the Laws of Union betwixt Body and Soul are so strict that 't is impossible for the Faculties of the Mind to be indispos'd but the Organs of the Body will be sensible of it and suffer by it For as any injury done to the Body occasions painful Sensations in the Mind so a violent hurry of the Powers and Passions of the Soul will soon abate the strength of the Body which while it declines and languishes increases the disorder of the Spirit so that by an unaccountable Sympathy they become partners in each others Sorrows and mutually hinder the performance of holy Duties and the exercise of Faith Hope and Patience for