fed and nourished you in his â—aith after your New Birth Your godly Friends were full often the Ministers of God for good unto you in things Temporal and Spiritual Brethren you were all Companions and mutual Benefactors serving one another in love Now fain I would know what you think Doth such Relation signifie little or nothing Or if it doth was the Relation and it's Obligations too dissolved at their Death In the language of Practice too many do so speak but you cannot so think What! Doth Death separate from God and Christ Away with that frightful thought Dead Saints be God's Friends He calls Abraham his Friend many hundred years after his decease Dead Saints be Christ's Friends also He saith concerning dead Lazarus Our Friend sleepeth Now are they still related to God and Christ and yet cut off from you Dreadful imagination But if as it is most certain the Relation is immortal and stands in full force what then It follows evidently that as sins against Relations be the most aggravated forgetfulness of glorified Friends is a sin against everlasting Relations And the guilty do in a very ill sense Forget their own people and their Father's house C. 4. Your Gratitude binds you to remember godly Ministers and Friends deceased The Apostle and all the Churches of the Gentiles owed thanks unto Aquila and Priscilla And owe you not any unto these that have been your Helpers in Christ Jesus If you do Contemptuous forgetfulness is a sorry payment Let it not offend but excite to farther enquiry such as may doubt the truth of that which follows I cannot but think that our godly Friends in Heaven do much more Love and Remember us now than when they dwelt in this cold and dark World Their Love of God is now incomparably greater than before And why not the Love of all his Children proportionably greater Their Memories now are perfected And how then should they forget the Brethren they but lately knew and delighted in Their Souls by entring Heaven receive an amplitude that we can little express And they can there remember us without diverting their minds from God Yea and be it heeded well their Enjoyment of God above as ours here below doth not only Admit but Require affectionate thoughts of his Children Our Prayers here are amiss if in them we forget our Brethren above as shall be afterwards shewn And their praises above would be amiss if in them they forgat us their Brethren below The reason is obvious the King of Glory will be honoured and loved by the honour and love of his Servants for his sake And gives law unto those in Heaven and Earth too that they love each other as themselves Those in Heaven do fully observe it The greater is our sin and shame that we are so little won by their admirable kindness For Upon the supposition of this their kindness and mindfulness of us this will be granted by all To be unthankful is to be ungodly And they are the most ungrateful Creatures on the Earth who live forgetful of their Friends in Heaven Being that ingratitude unto the greatest Lovers of us is the worst that is possible to be in us C. 5. Your Character binds you to remember your Godly Ministers and Friends deceased You are Believers are ye not If so the Spirit that can neither be deceived nor deceive describes you as persons Come up unto the Spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.22 23. Believers while they are in the State Militant are took into the Society of their Brethren in the State Triumphant They are come unto the City of the living God the Heavenly Jerusalem They are made free Denizons and spiritual possessors of it their Conversation is in it They are come to the innumerable Company of Angels in that City Not to this or that particular Tutelar Angel but to the whole Company Not come to them with their Prayers as is the way of Romish Idolaters who wildly worship the Servants to the reproach of the Lord. And against the Servants own holy Will Worship me not saith the Angel to St. John I am thy fellow Servant and of thy Brethren They are come to the Angels Society who are gathered into that one Body whereof Christ is the head They are become Fellow Members with them and have a Communion in service with them Angels rejoyce in their good and minister to it and they rejoyce in Angels Blessedness and Glory Nor is this at all Incredible or Wonderful if it be considered that they are come unto the very Lord of the foresaid City Unto God the judge of all Come into a state of Filial favour with Him Have Access unto him and the Throne of his Grace with sweetest liberty and boldness By means whereof they come also to the Spirits of their Brethren made perfect Being admitted thus to their Father they are admitted unto all their so dignified Brethren about his Throne They are come to the Spirits of the just made perfect The Dream of Spirits of just men departed and not made perfect but sent to Purgatory to be refined was never in the Apostle's Head He knew none but perfect And unto the Society of all such he declareth Believers access Unto them Believers all come Not â—s to Objects of their Worship and Invocation or Mediators of Intercession That were wretched Blasphemy towards God and Injury unto them They come to them in way of Friendship and Communion with them With them who in their separate state from their own Bodies do hold Communion with God and Christ and all his Mystical Body With Christs Members on Earth as truly as those above in Heaven with them Loving and loved of all A learned Man's words upon this Text are memorable We are said here to come unto the Spirits of juâ—â— men made perfect in those actings 〈◊〉 our minds wherein Evangelical Communion doth consist And this requireâ— that there be like actings in them without which there can be no sucâ— Communion This being supposed what musâ— we conclude of Souls estranged from their godly Friends departed Whâ—â— very rarely afford unto perfected Spirits one serious and steddy look oâ— their thoughts Who are far from taking it for their Duty and making it their practice to have theâ— in their minds And in the affectionate Memory due unto such a Society The least we can say is this â—uch Christians do foully blot their â—ames and fall short of their Chaâ—acter and live not up to their Estate â—nd Dignity C. 6. Your Faith binds you to remember your godly Ministers and friends deceased I had almost said 〈◊〉 necessitates you But of that â—dge ye your selves when you have â—onsidered what follows Faith â—ou must needs know is the evidence of Persons as well as of Things â—ot seen not seen by Eyes of Clay â—t were a sorry business if it were not 〈◊〉 For it is only for the sake of Persons that we do or ought to vaâ—e any sort
death at thâ— Gallows and to make a King 〈◊〉 him is much But to proceed anâ— to make him the means of raisâ—â— many others unto Thrones is veâ—â— much more In a word then Who can wonder that the Grace of God hath chose this method And engaged us to consider and imitate the grace of our Friends departed His goodness is above the Heavens And the effects of it must be like unto it Therefore he bestows not Salvation passive without Active that is whom he saves he also makes instrumentally Saviours And why but because he will praise his grace and make it like itself And so be Glorifyed in his Saints and admired in all them that do Believe He will leave nothing to be said that it might have been done for them that was not done R. 6. This Practice is unto all the living a charm of great sweetness to most exemplary Faith and Holiness For what heart will not strain for the purest faith and most unspotted Life upon the consideration that God intends it for a Pattern And commands all its good to be eyed and imitated who will or can argue otherwise I am to be a Copy I will therefore write fair as for my Life and beware of blots and blurs I am to be a Guide and be followed I will therefore make straight paths to my feet and dread a false step in Doctrine or Manners I am to speak even when I am dead I will therefore season with salt every word And see with great carefulness that none be found hurtful or useless If Posterity follow me they shall follow Christ If they walk as I I will see they shall walk as He walked A sweet and salutary Reasoning is it not And who would have been without such a Charm If any pretend to be so spiritual that they can perfect holiness without it and therefore give God no thanks for it to speak the mildest thing that can be said I think that a great Jealousie of their state is Godly and Necessary Brevity commands me to offer no more than these few Inferences for application of this Truth Disposed minds may easily farther apply it in their own thoughts unto its obvious purposes I. 1. What garments of praise are Faith and Holiness Surely incomparable Otherwise our Predecessors attire with them needed not to be so observed so followed The Church i. e. holy believers are called a Bride beautifully decked Their Faith and Holy Life bear the names of Embroidery Silk Fine linnen Silver Gold and Jewels Yea and are declared to be the End of our Saviours all-transcending Righteousness imputed unto us They are therefore miserably Blind who are contentedly Naked And as shamefully Naked who are not thus cloathed I. 2. How many are our Ministers more than the Earth bears For all our fore-runners unto Heaven abide Ministers still unto us Their faith and Holiness if we are not wanting to our selves will be our daily Lectures We have every day the refusal of them The King of the Church for many reasons aforesaid requires our use thereof Who then dares say that Ministers be scarce O that deaf Adders and dull and slow Hearers of them were so I. 3. What need of Gods mercy have all his family on earth All are bound to Remember and Imitate their Brethren in Heaven Now it is Mercy very great to be bound to a practice so beneficial delightful and honourable as this hath been shewn to be And of this mercy who saith that he hath no need again 't is mercy unspeakable to be forgiven the neglect of so gracious a Precept Of so kind a Prescription against sin and sorrow And of this mercy what an abundance do we all want I say this upon good warrant I am jealous that the generality of true Israelites do need a special abundance Being as to this precept guilty of above ordinary negligence The Lord grant unto us that we may find mercy of the Lord in that day so the Apostle names the Judgment-day tho' some critical Heads have construed it of another I. 4. How unexpectable is sinless perfection in this World Hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 looking off from the forementioned witnesses and patterns to a more perfect exemplar Heb. 12.2 Christ the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as enduring despising and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as now set down and so having perfected his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hence proposed to the exercised as their example and encouragement hence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 proportionate or analogize your selves to him as in ver 3. Christ was indeed the Author in an higher sense but here I think he is proposed as the most perfect and encouraging exemplar of thorough costly and successful faithfulness The very Apostles had it not And this restriction of our imitation unto their Faith argues that they had not And implicitely tells us that they had Errors of Judgment and Practice that we are to Decline not to follow In Writing the Holy Scriptures they had and professed to have the Holy Ghost's infallible guidance But at other times and to other purposes they never had it nor pretended to it No their own Writings record their Mistakes and Miscarriages Of the Saints of the Old Testament there can be little matter of doubt concerning them the same thing may be said and this only shall be added The Holy Ghost commends them unto us indeed for very useful witnesses and patterns as hath been before shewn Heb. 12.1 But then as in way of caution against our Dreams of their Perfection in the very next verse what doth he He bids us look off from them all unto an incomparably more noble and truely perfect one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Looking off from them unto Jesus the Author and Finisher or Leader and Perfector of our Faith Jesus that had despised the shame endured the Cross and received his blessed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or escape out of all his sufferings having sit down at Gods right hand Unto this blessed Jesus in the next verse we are instructed to proportionate our selves as some think the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to signify Our Nature was sinless under the Sun in Jesus Christ but as to us meer men it is truly said Adam lost more Innocence and Purity in an hour than his Posterity will recover to the Worlds end I. 5. What a reproachful thing is Universal imitation of the best men Their holy Faith and Life is all you are bid to follow To Swallow their Errors and practise their Sins is what God and they themselves forbid you And is imitating or them in the things wherein they were not themselves But were more Satan's than their own men Wherefore so to do is to comply with Satan not to conform unto them Let it also be considered that to affect and strain to take up their unaffected Tones Gestures Garbs c. is to but ape their Humanity it self And nothing of an imitation of their
first P. 1. Godly Ministers when Dead must not be Buried in Oblivion My Text expresly commands the contrary Remembrance of them Natural and Moral is here required Naturally we remember those whom we often call to mind think of and speak with our selves concerning them For thinking is nothing but speaking with our selves Thoughts be the words of our hearts Morally we remember such as we do congruously speak of with our selves I mean agreeably to their worth and suitably to the proper End of our commemorating them This Moral remembrance without the Natural is impossible and the Natural without this Moral is at least vain and idle Remember your Guides is in effect thus much Multiply honourable and affectionate thoughts concerning them Thoughts proper and apt to praise the Gifts and Graces of God in them and to promote the same in your selves Our English Translation renders 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as a Participle of the present tense The Syriac Arabic Vulg. Lat. Rhemists Calvin and Grotius and of our own Writers Doctor Owen and Bishop Lloyd so take it But I rather conceive it a Noun Substantive in this place because the Apostle speaks of such as had been Rulers not such as continued to be so He seems to intend the Apostles Evangelists and all ordinary Pastors who had led and ruled them by God's holy word and were now â—t rest from their Labours and enâ—oying their Reward These he commandeth to be remembred but not with any Heathenish or Popish Celebrations These without the â—east particular deference unto St. Peter or any ambitious pretending Successors of his These with a veâ—â—y apparent exclusion of all the Tribes that take on them to Rule without speaking the Word of the Lord. All that Preach not oâ— Preach another Gospel But be it here observed it is not only or principally as Ministers but as Members of Jesus Christ thaâ— we are charged to remember these departed ones aforesaid Their Ministry of the Word is indeed considered as an Engagement unto the required Remembrance But it iâ— their Faith their holy Conversation and the glorious End of both thaâ— are proposed as specially obligativâ— thereunto Insomuch as my Texâ— may well admit a comprehension of all Christians that have fought thâ— good fight kept the Faith finished their Course and received their Crowâ— I mean of such as tho' they werâ— never called to the distinct Office oâ— the Ministry yet in all manner of hoâ—â— Conversation have ministred untâ— our Faith and Joy as all seriouâ— practical Christians do And 〈◊〉 whom after their Dissolution we may assert the things foresaid in Hope and Charity It being not for mortal Worms to conclude peremptorily who do enter the heavenly Mansions I shall therefore confirm the Doctrine proposed as so far extended And advance Considerations which do very convincingly prove thus much scil That godly Ministers and Christians when they are Dead ought so to be remembred as we have foresaid C. 1. Your reasonable Nature binds you to remember your godly Ministers and Friends deceased It binds you to converse most in your thoughts with the most noble Objects But of â—ll Creatures excepting the blessed Angels these are the most excellent They are so in themselves and so in our Opinion or rather your Faith When they were in the Body you â—â—ought them pieces of Heaven of whom the World was not worthy You â—alled them the excellent of the Earth and all your delight was in them How readily did you break from other Company put off any dispensable Business and undertake Journeys otherwise tedious to solace your hearts with their Converse 〈◊〉 And are they now grown worse for their very Perfection Are they lesâ— Lovely for their being in Glory Bâ— they therefore faln in your esteem because they are advanced unto Heaven The nearer they be unto their Lord and yours the farther must they be from all kind thoughts of yours What hinders that you cannot more delightfully visit them now when all that is delightful fill them That you cannot follow them to no worse a Countrey than you profess your selves seeking and nâ— more remote than that you havâ— your Conversation in if you anâ— true Israelites It is full as easie to think of 〈◊〉 friend at the Indies as at next dooâ— And of your friends that be in thâ— house made without hands as those â—hat be in any house of your own here â—elow Wherefore your own Minds if you inhumanely resist not â—heir Light and Law will be aâ—cending unto these Stars in Glory And that as naturally as the sparks â—y upward Or as Men impatient â—f herding with Creatures that live â—ut an Animal Sensitive life do â—esort for their pleasure unto the â—ossessors of their own more noble Nature And most Industriously â—nto such of them as are of most â—nspicuous Goodness C. 2. Your gracious Love of God â—nds you to Remember your godly Miâ—sters and Friends deceased Love â—hich is all Religion is of all things â—e most Imperious And of all â—ings to be named doth most comâ—and those Legions of ours which are â—â—dest to be Governed our thoughts â—endures not wilful Ignorance or â—â—â—getfulness of it's Object It hath â—en named very justly the matchless Art of Memory Ubi Amor ibiâ— Oculus If the Love of God prevail in your Hearts it will carry your Minds and keep them where he is It will turn the stream of your cogitations and hold them toward Heaven The Heaven in which He is not without his Children with Him Without the Souls of the juâ—â— made perfect who behold his face iâ— Righteousness and are satisfied with his Likeness Every one exulting in that triumph about Him My God iâ— mine and I am His. And is it possible think you to Love this Father and not Love these Children of His to Converse with Him and to forget them with a neglectful Oblivâ—on of them to hold an acceptablâ— Communion with him The beloved Disciple tells us unâ—â—mitedly concerning all his Family on Earth as well as Heaven Eveâ— one that loveth him that begat loveâ— him also that is begotten of Hiâ— 1 John 5.1 But what Children of hâ— can we Love if we Slight the very best He hath And do then regard them â—east when we conclude them to have most of his Image Likeness and Complacence C. 3. Your continued Relation unto godly Ministers and Friends deceased â—inds you to the Remembrance of them Sirs you have been often charg'd â—ot to look upon your selves too â—bstractedly but to consider your â—elves as Members of a Community All the World is naturally but â—ne Man and Woman's Children The Church above and below is but one Family Besides as you cannot be â—gnorant the great Lord of this â—amily hath pleased yet nearer to â—yn you and those â— speak of To â—ut you in particular endearing Reâ—â—tions unto them Your Ministers â—ow in glory were some of them our Fathers and begat you in Christ Others were your Nurses â—nd
of Things But it is out â—f question the Eye of Faith sees Him that is Invisible Heb. 11.27 â—he Life of Faith is fellowship â—nd Communion with the Divine Persons 1 John 1.3 Say then I â—eseech you Can Faith see the Faâ—her of Spirits and hold Communiâ—n with the Father and Son and not with them that stand continually before his Face and nearesâ— his Throne The same Eyes of Flesh that see the King see his Attendantâ— that surround him Why should not the same Eyes of Faith see thâ—â— Spiritual King and his Attendants King's Children at greatest distance use to have considerable Acquaintance and Friendship with the neaâ— est in their Father's Court. Whaâ— should hinder yours with your glorified Brethren if indeed you havâ— it with their Father in Heaven Let me tell you Sirs the Goâ— of Heaven is a Lord of most numerous Hosts The Father of Spirits is not to be conceived of as Childless Nor the King of Glory as sitting on a Throne solitary Or dwelling in a thin Court There is nâ— such God in Heaven as is withouâ— his thousands and ten thousand time ten thousand Spirits ministring untâ— Him And all as spectable as visible unto Faith as He himself Alâ— so near unto him that one would â—hink it impossible to see Him and â—ot see Them All so like to Him â—nd so beloved by Him that conâ—empt of them is no small contempt â—f Himself The plain Inference then is this The Faith of living Saints faileth before their Memory of the dead ones â—oth so And the reason why we â—o not more by Faith live with them 〈◊〉 because we do not by Faith live â—ore upon God For a right Remembrance of Him is inconsistent with the Forgetfulness of them so â—ear unto Him C. 7. Your Interest binds you to Remember your godly Ministers and Friends deceased The interest of â—our Grace and the interest of your Peace and Comfort doth bind you The Interest of your Grace Need â—ou be told the Efficacy of Company You have your glorified friends in â—our company as oft as you have them in thoughtful memory And of such their company great is the double force To wit the Natural and the Institutive For naturally we follow admired Examples There 's not one mind of a thousand but receiveth impressions from them just as Wax receiveth the figure of an applied Seal Besides God hath ordained a Communication of Qualities from chosen Associates He that walks with the wise shall be wise God hath promised illapses of their Wisdom into them that chuse and hold their Communion It cannot be therefore but we must derive into us their heavenly Dispositions if in our thoughts we converse much with our heavenly Friends We must derive of their Love of God Contempt of this World c. The Interest of your Peace and Comfort doth no less oblige you That which serves your Grace doth in so doing serve your Peace But not alike all Nor scarcely any thing so immediately and sensibly as â—leep and pious thoughts of glorified Friends Which will soon be but of question if you use but a â—ittle consideration If you think a â—ittle what a refreshment it must â—e to be took now and then out of â—n Hospital of sick and crying Souls â—r a Bedlam of mad and ranting â—nes into an house wherein all are â—erry and wise Alas what is this World but a mad Bedlam What is â—he Church on Earth but a very Hospital wherein no one is perfectly tured What is Heaven but the Colledge of all Souls without sin or sorrow To retire in our minds from â—he Bedlam and Hospital into this Colledge To leave a while the objects of our Grief and go and entertain our thoughts with them who have none but of Joy No words â—an picture forth the sweetness of â—his Which is then always and â—hen only known when tryed I mean solemnly not in slight and â—nelaborate thoughts They are therefore their own Enemies who bury in forgetfulness their deceased godly Friends They rob themselves of not the least means of Grace and Peace Wrong their own Souls and that in their greatest Concerns Averting from so soveraign a course both to Refine and Revive them C. 8. Your God's Commands bind you to remember your godly Ministers and Friends deceased In my Text he commands as you have heard Heb. 6.12 He commands you to be followers imitaters of them and consequently I hope to remember them For Copies forgotten can by no means be imitated or used for Examples as is required Jam. 5.10 All the Texts that set forth the state of departed Saints have so many commands going with them of your Remembrance contended for You cannot think that God leaves you at liberty whether you will take and improve his Revelations or no. Or that any holy improvement can be made of the same while left in Oblivion Waving all others I will singly propose that one Text more which I conceive â—xtraordinary Heb. 12.1 Seeing we also are â—ompassed about with so great a cloud â—f Witnesses let us lay aside every â—eight and the sin which doth easily â—eset us and let us run with patience â—he Race that is set before us Belieâ—ers are here compared to men â—nning a Race They are exhorted â—o the means of running it so that â—hey may obtain the prize To wit â—y laying aside weights and sins and â—xercising Patience with Diligence â—hey are encouraged so to run also â—ncouraged by Witnesses given â—hem a cloud or great number of â—hem and this number placed â—und them encompassing of them â—hese Witnesses are the Saints gone â—efore us to Heaven Their Testiâ—ony is either of that which we do or of that which we ought to do As in the Races to which the Apostle alludeth those that did run used to have many Friends looking on them and encouraging them by testifying either that thus they had done or thus and thus they might and ought to do In like manner all the Saints above do as it were stand looking on us Not in proper Speech or intuitively we have no such Dream But upon Scripture-record they do still stand round about us And are by their Examples for that purpose recorded encouraging us in our Christian race Ready to testifie how we acquit our selves Though dead yet they in a sort see speak and testifie By their richly rewarded Duties they testifie to the wisdom of our most costly ones Those for which we are thought to be beside our selves and are most inhumanly dealt with by our Adversaries They are ready also to testifie what may be done in every case by us Principally this â—hat Faith will carry sound Believers â—hrough all their Duties and Dangers Upon many occasions we fall into â—ontest with our selves and dispute what is best To go back or to go â—n And in a Wood and lost we â—re Now these holy blessed Friends of ours encompass us And their â—erdict they do from the Holy Scripâ—ure
History give us Testifying still â—gainst the frauds of all Temptations â—gainst the folly of all our distractâ—ng fears and unto the Duty Safeâ—y and sure Victory of persevering Faith By consequence it must be the Will of God that in all our Tryals we ever and anon consider the Eyes of these excellent Persons thus upon us And their Testimony as hath been said that is ever upon the side of our Duty That we do so consider and lay this to Heart as to turn it unto our motive encouragement And a provocation to put forth the utmost of our Spiritual strength Whereby alone we can answer the gracious End of God in vouchsafing unto us this encompassing Cloud and encouraging one In short God's Preceptive Will makes a perfect Necessity And this his Will is revealed for the remembrance of Saints deceased So that his Fear cannot be duly before your Eyes when these Persons are not duly kept in your minds C. 9. Your God's promises do bind you to remember your Godly Ministers and Friends deceased Know ye not that he hath promised an honourable and lasting Memory unto his righteous Servants And that Memory to be among your selves the only persons Qualified to bear it Now his promises speak that Will of his that is the Rule of yours If you Consent not to it you Oppose your God If you but Consent to it with an Unoperative and Ineffectual Will Sola voluntas est cadaver Scalig. that is as if you Consented not If you Consent entirely you remember those we speak of with sweet memory And by that Practice ye fulfil the divine Promise Add hereto God hath honoured this gracious Practice with considerable Promises unto such as hold it The very promise of dwelling in his holy Hill is made unto such as honour them that fear Him And 't is a wonderful mistake if any think it made to such as honour them but for term of life Such as honour them here as the Excellent of the Earth but cease to honour them at all when God honours them most taking them to Heaven as â—udged to be too good for this World â—f this Promise then be a cord of Love wherewith God draws us to â—he Honour and Love of the Saints in Light as well as of the Household of Faith what must be inferred They break it daringly do they not as many as Love and Honour Saints but unto their Deaths Accounting themselves to have don their last Office indeed when the have followed their Corps unto the grave's side Giving the grave thâ— Victory over all their regards unto them C. 10. Lastly Your own Prayer and Promises bind you to remembeâ— your Godly Ministers and Friends deceased A word shall serve in thâ— plain Argument You pray that Gods will may 〈◊〉 done by you and by others on Earth 〈◊〉 it 's done in Heaven As there it 〈◊〉 done by all the Spirits about thâ— Celestial Throne But how prâ—phanely must you thus pray without some very lively thoughts câ— those Spirits and of their Obedience Without which it is as if yoâ— prayed plainly that his will may bâ— done by you like you know not whom and as to manner you mind nâ—â— how Your Prayers all are full of viâ—tual promises Praying that yoâ— may you do constructively promise that you will labour to obey God as the Heavenly Host do Consequently that you will well consider them and their performances Even with the accuracy and frequence of those who set themselves to imitate greatest Exemplars And is it a trivial thing in your sight to lie unto God! And that in your very prayers Or do you not so if you exercise not your minds in the foresaid consideracy of your glorifyed Friends Other considerations might be added but I will hope what is said hath inforced your Belief and raised in you full purposes of Obedience unto this Truth Granting that it hath so done some may ask what will the Belief and Obedience of it make for Edification Urging that this remembrance of Godly Ministers and Friends deceased is a subject they have rarely heard preached And notwithstanding all the caution wherein it is expressed it is one very liable to be abused unto Superston c. I answer If indeed it be a Trutâ— the less it hath been insisted on thâ— more it ought now to be insisted or And must not be kept from all People for fear it should be abused bâ— some I have convincingly prove it to be a Truth And one whoâ—â— faith and regular Obedience contrâ—butes more than a little unto thâ— love of God unto the life of Faith unto all Grace and Consolation which I must believe is to Edifie Neveâ— theless I acknowledge it's use untâ— Edification to be more manifesteâ— in the sequel of this Discoursâ— Wherein are set forth those holâ— things whereunto the foresaid Râ— membrance is an Antecedent botâ— most Conducive and Necessary Wherefore I will but briefly suggest a few Inferences from this firâ—â— Doctrine and proceed unto a second I. 1. The best of this World must â—ave it In Death's War there 's no Discharge The Prophets and Apostles â—re dead John the beloved Disciâ—le is not left behind It was the advice of a Heathen Reckon your best friends as least duraâ—e things And it is the Sentence â—f holy Scripture the Body is dead â—ecause of Sin Rom. 8.10 I. 2. God honours them in their Deaths that honour him in their lives â—nd that here where they have hoâ—oured Him For as He commands â—â—e Church above honorably to receive â—hem So Chrysostom Clem. Vatablus Menoch and Lud. de Dieu in loc construe the Text. He commands â—e Church below honoâ—â—bly to remember ' em â—e will have their â—ames shine here as â—ell as their Souls â—ere Abel so long ago murdered 〈◊〉 to this day most honourably menâ—â—oned Heb. 11.4 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Being dead he is yet spoâ—en of with renown immortal I. 3. Every Believer hath a Jacob 's Ladder I mean he hath that whereby he can in his Thoughts ascend the Heavens and Spiritually view his glorified Ministers anâ— Friends there In his mind he caâ— see where they are what they are and what they are doing as we shall hereafter shew I. 4. Sorrow for godly men deceased ought to be moderate For we are tâ— remember them honourably and foâ— imitation not scandalously to oâ—â— distraction True we may aâ—â— ought to mourn When Lazaruâ— died Jesus wept But we may nâ—â— sorrow unmixedly and as withoâ—â— Hope The Israelites mourned nâ—â— so much for Jacob as the Egyptiaâ—â— did The grief of Saints muâ—â— know its bounds I. 5. Although God be to be remeâ—bred by us principally he is not to 〈◊〉 remembred only For he commandâ— us to remember his and our hoâ—â— Friends that are in glory attendinâ— him Remember your Father but â—orget not his Children who carry â—ost of his Image and Likeness on â—hem Remember your Redeemer â—ut forget not those his Redeemed â—n whom
not nearly and immediately so teach the possibility of the foresaid Life as his Servant's example doth A Soul under Temptation exclaims that be it ever so necessary 't is altogether as impossible to live by Faith in this World and hold a rightly ordered Conversation in such a Catholick Sodom Go you and tell him that the Son of God did live by Faith and fulfil all righteousness even in this World He shall reply upon you that it is a wild inference that he may because the Son of God did so do He shall tell you Christ had none of his sins in him and he has little or none of Christ's strength in his dejected Soul Christ had all created and uncreated holiness and might well overcome World and Devil but it were a wonder if they should be overcome by him a weak and sinful Dust He shall ask you what Logick of yours it is that thus argues An Angel slew an hundred thousand Enemies therefore a Worm may slay as many But on the other hand tell you this bruised Reed that yonder in Heaven be multitudes and many of his own Acquaintance that were Worms as weak as himself as tempted as himself and many a time as dejected as himself who did nevertheless keep the holy Faith and finish their holy Course and win the Crown of Righteousness What then Why then you do bind his contradiction hand and foot and it is odds but you cast out his despairing Spirit To be sure you silence him and very probably you make him by and by to speak Evangelically And to fall to chiding of his legal self and counselling it in Davids Rhetorick Why cast down O my Soul why disquieted in me Trust in God For I even I may yet Praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God And now I ask Should such a Tower of David such an Armory as this whereon there hang a thousand bucklers and shields for tempted despondent Souls should such a practice suffer disuse It would be unspeakable loss to the whole generation of the righteous But blessed be his excellent name He that delights of bruised Reeds to make polished Pillars in his Temple and of smoaking flax to make burning and shining lights He is more wise and kind than to admit it Glory be to him in the highest R. 3. This practice doubles the glory of God from the Faith and Conversation of Saints deceased If I may so speak God had from themselves one crop Or tribute of glory And would have had it tho' no eye but his own had seen their Faith and Conversation Tho' no mortal man had observed and followed them But now now that Faith and Conversation are not buried in Oblivion but are lifted up and draw men after them behold a second crop another tribute springs up So fruitful do living Christian's Meditation and Imitation make them that it may be said of deceased ones much like as of Sampson The Praises they bring unto their God in their death be more than they which they brought in their life Can therefore any Lover of God be without a deep sense of the reason of this practice Or need to be farther told that he who hath made all things for his glory hath required this practice for the same Here I must believe that none are Blind but those that will not see R. 4. This Practice doth likewise add unto the joy of Saints deceased Heaven is the element of Joy There 's less water in the Sea and light in the Sun than Joy in Heaven But we are generally taught that the Inhabitants have various degrees even after the Resurrection However it be it is this only that I would here propose viz. Of their Joys in Heaven this must needs be one that they did in their measure glorifie God in their day upon Earth And if they have knowledge of it it must be another Joy to have their Faith and Obedience live and bear fruit after that they are transplanted To have their old Graces and Duties for many years after to edify their Brethren and glorifie their Father And why we may not conceive them soon to know it when it is so let them say that can I cannot With humble submission I conclude that they are informed of it when the matter of their Joy is obtained Whether the holy Angels give them notices or what way they receive the same I take not on me to determine Some have thought that this is true concerning men Damned Such whose Errors are remembred to the diffusing of their enmity and malignity after their death they have proportionable encreases of their torment in Hell made presently made and with full significations given of the meritoriously procuring cause of it And on the other side concerning Saints in Heaven some have presumed this viz. That such whose Faith and Holy Life are commemorated c. made use of to the edification of the Church they receive like encreases of Joy As soon made as the foresaid sinners increases of Torment Learned men have thought Jer. 17.10 to make this way I the Lord search the heart I try the reins even to give to every man according to his ways and according to the FRUIT of his doings and with full certification of the service that is so of grace rewarded I contend not but to as many as with me do suppose this which I think no one will pretend an ability to disprove To such at least I shall think this reason of good force Upon the very single account hereof I dare ask them Is there not a cause for the commended Practice If we on Earth have Power should we not have Will to add to the Joy of our Brethren in Heaven R. 5. This Practice of good men exalts the saving grace of God Grace unto a Sinner is and will be an eternal Wonder Saving grace even most restrainedly considered is above all the blessing and praise that can be given it in the very state of Glory Abraham himself even after the Resurrection will be unableadequately to praise the grace of his own Salvation The grace that took him out of his misery and qualified him and brought him unto Glory That said to him in his blood Live That when he was alive gave him Life more abundantly And when he waâ— Meet placed him in the inheritanâ—â— of the Saints in Light This gracâ— unto his single Person will transcenâ— all his possible conception But leâ—â— this Grace to him be considered iâ— its just extent As saving him anâ— making him an Instrument of savinâ— many others In a sense the Fathâ—â— of thousands of heirs of Salvation An Exemplar unto them Making his Faith and Obedience blessâ— means of grace unto multitudeâ— Causing generations to call him blesseâ— Using him when Alive and alâ—â— when Dead as a Co-worker with Goâ— What an addition is this Thiâ— that makes Salvation it self somewhâ—â— more than it self Yea much more As to save a man from
not only Healed but Beautified Often have I heard you complain of Wounds Bruises and Putrifying sores like my own And now methinks I see you without Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing While the cure of my own Diseases is little more than begun In you in you it is that I read the high Praises of Christ your Physician and mine Should I let go the memory of you I should lessen the Honour of Him In you it is that I read the praises of the Holy Ghost Then it is he appears to me a most wonderful Builder when I look on you his most glorious Temples Then I conclude sure he is able to raise me also out of my ruins O ye Conquerors and more than Conquerors whom I knew when you were Warriours And under my own hardships of warfare My own who was your unworthy Fellow-Souldier under Christ's Banner How congratulate I your Conquests and Triumphs How admire I the Truth Power and Love of your and my Captain How uneasie doth the sight of your Crowns make me till I am with you and like you If I forget you O ye Angels-fellows let my Tongue cleave to the roof of my Mouth If mine Eye keep poring always upon my SEA my SICKNESS and my WARFARE if it be not also turned on your PASSAGE your CURE and your CONQUEST let my Arm fall from my Shoulder-blade The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Contemplators of the blessed End of godly Friends are Christians that thus converse with themselves I say thus unto the true end and use thereof And unto this end do converse or consider not transiently think There is a great difference between a step and a walk And there is no less between a thought and a consideration I come therefore to the last particular P. 4. This consideration of godly Friends escápe unto Heaven is a motive most necessary unto imitation of their Faith and Holiness The Apostles use of it as such proves it such But to give measure pressed down and running over it shall be added 1. The best of Christians do need motive Considerations Which is acknowledged by all that are so much as titularly Christians 2. Of motive Considerations this is of the best Which will appear from the natural effects of it in which its motive virtue is most resplendent Of these the seven following ones are not the least principal E. 1. This Consideration confirms our Faith Our Faith of the holy God's bountifulness and of holy men's blessedness It is true that the H. Spirit 's Light dispels our darkness and enlightens our minds And he giveth us the Gospel for a Lamp and Faith for an Eye But can any man doubt it The Gospel is cleared and Faith strengthned more than a little by Examples Examples of the promised goodness of God to Men and the blessedness of men in that goodness of God Especially by the examples of Persons known and dear unto our selves Put the case you know and believe ever so well of a Physician Yet let him once make perfect Cures on many of your most dangerously diseased Relations Your confidence of his ability and his Patients safety will be encreased You will be somewhat more fearless to trust him with your own Life than you were before The Application is easie E. 2. This Consideration raises our Apprehensions Our Apprehensions and Estimations of God of Christ of the H. Spirit and of the Gospel-Covenant You cannot see your dear Friends saved by them but you must the more esteem and value them Their so great Salvation that certifies the goodness of the Efficients and Instruments unto you must needs enhance the value of them in you Great and grateful Effects never fail to raise the price of Causes and Means I mean with any but Idiots or Lunaticks Creatures of undisposed minds or distracted ones E. 3. This Consideration strengthens our Choice Our choice of our Redeemer for Prince and Saviour The sight of our Tempted Persecuted Afflicted Brethren here on Earth is but too often a scandal unto us Makes our Hearts to stagger Tempts us to go back and follow Christ no more But the Spiritual sight of our Crowned and Triumphant Brethren in Heaven hath on us a contrary operation It strengthens our Resolution and steels our Courage to trust and obey him who gave such a Life and Glory unto them It makes us anew to resign our selves unto him Yea and bitterly lament that we chose him not more early and more fervently E. 4. This Consideration quickens our Desires Our Desires and our Hopes Our desires to be with Christ and his triumphant Friends above And our hopes that as laden with sins as now we are divine Grace may unburthen us at last and lodge us with them The thoughts of their wonderful Advancement will work upon any Heart not stone dead When carnal men think of any of their Equals that are risen above them unto high Places what is the effect Why they are straitway inspired with an unwonted Ambition for themselves Yea and affected with a new Perswasion also that 't is as possible for themselves to break through the difficulties which are in the way to Preferment Why should not the Ambition and Expectation of Spiritual men be excited by the same Medium Surely as Desire and Hope are the springs of Action glorious Successes of mean Agents be Springs of Desire and Hope in their Spectators E. 5. This Consideration provokes our Diligence The Victory of Miltiades took sleep from the eyes of Themistocles The thoughts of anothers honour spurred him on unto his more successful Labour And will not the matchless conquests of our glorified Friends take our hands out of our bosoms They will unquestionably if they be considered solemnly They will urge unto that holy Violence without which the heavenly Kingdom cannot be taken E. 6. This Consideration sweetens our Life of Religion Joy is our strength Heaviness in the heart weakens if not binds our hands and feet Indeed many Objects of God's Love and true Saints are of sorrowful spirits But the chiefest Instruments of his glory are for the most part Souls of much alacrity To be sure whatever doth sweeten doth also heighten our Duty For Delight exonerates Body and Mind takes off dulling Indispositions from them Gives wings to both and intends their actions It doth marvelously but as certainly encrease our Force to act and our Accuracy in acting Cogendi vis inest saith Pliny it makes the very Lame to walk yea leap For this reason it seems that Musick hath ever been used in Wars because it doth delight and by delighting strengthen the Nerves of flesh and spirit But what can delight a Soul that is any thing heavenly like contemplation of the celestial Society For Contemplation doth in a sort unite the Soul unto its Object And eminently this Contemplation ministers Hope which is the greatest Parent of Joy next to Fruition When you are musing of Heaven's Inhabitants your Soul has a place