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A75990
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A sermon preached Decemb. 16. 1654. At the funerall of Mr Andrevv Pern, preacher of the Word of God at Wilby in Northampton-shire. By Samuel Ainsworth rector of Kelmarsh.
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Ainsworth, Samuel.
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1655
(1655)
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Wing A817; Thomason E487_3; ESTC R205454
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34,106
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48
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visited him in his sicknesse David complaines of some who came to him in the day of his calamity when he was under some grievous disease not to comfort him but to see whether there was any hope of his death but Joash though a wicked man visited not the Prophet upon such an account he desired his life and feared his death he came not out of hatred but out of love not to entrap him but to comfort him not to observe whether there were any hopes of his death but whether there were any hopes of his life not as a malicious spy to watch whether any words dropt from his lips which he might spread abroad to his reproach but as a friend to condole and sympathize with him and to bemoane so great a losse for when he perceived that he was drawing nigh unto his end and ere long would bid that Kingdome and the world farewell he wept over his face 4. The honourable titles which he gave unto the Prophet not in a false and flattering complement the common sin of this Age wherein men professe that with their lips which is far from their hearts but from a just and a reall sense and apprehension that he had of the Prophets merits and deserts to be honoured with the title of Father and to be accounted and esteemed the Chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof And he said O my father my father c. The parts thus opened we come to the Doctrines which arise out of the words The person that was sick and died we told you was both a good man and a holy Prophet from whence we may observe in the first place Doctrine That the best of men must dye neither great nor good can escape deaths dart Psal 89.48 What man is he that liveth and shall not see death The wise as well as the foolish the pious as well as the impious the strict as well as the loose must lye down in the grave Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas regumque turres Abraham eminent for faith Moses for meeknesse David for zeale Jehosaphat for livelinesse and holy fervour in the waies of God Nehemiah for spirituall valour and courage yet they all shut their eyes upon the world and bad it farewell Look upon those worthies made mention of Heb. 11. men of whom the world was not worthy what became of them The Text tels us ver 13. All these died in the faith Reason First The bodies of the best are composed of the same materials with the bodies of the worst the gracious soule hath no stronger a Cabinet than the gracelesse soule good men many times have weaker bodies than bad men Gaius who had a thriving soule had a weake and sickly body the best are but earthen vessels at the best 2 Cor. 4.7 which will not last alwaies but lye open to a thousand casualties and a little knock breakes them in peeces Secondly Ioh. 16.2 3. Christ hath prepared a better place for them to which they must passe through the gates of death this the Apostle Paul knew full well Phil. 1.23 and therefore he desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ He tels us 2 Cor. 5.4 that he was willing that mortality might be swallowed up of life loath he was to be uncloathed but yet he chose to be stript by death of his old rags rather than not to be cloathed with those robes which he expected from heaven Thirdly Ioh. 17.24 Christ hath prayed that they might be where he is therefore they must not live here alwaies We read Acts 3.2 that the heavens must receive Christ till the times of restitution of all things Though Christ as God is every where yet as he is Mediator he sits at the right hand of his Father Now there is no being where Christ is without tasting of the cup of death whereof Christ himselfe tasted before he was taken up into glory Christs members must be conformable unto him in suffering death here before they can be made conformable unto him in glory hereafter Fourthly God loves them so well that he will have them come home unto him here gracious soules are said to be absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 as children long to see their beloved Parents so loving Parents long to have the full enjoyment of their Children Christ can no more endure that his Children should be alwaies from him than his Children can endure to be alwaies from Christ Now the ordinary messenger which Christ imploies to bring home his Children unto him is death Uses Must the righteous dye what then shall become of the unrighteous Will God make his own to drinke of this bitter cup Then let not those who are none of Gods thinke to escape it no no dye dye you must though full sore against your wills But shall your deaths be like unto the deaths of Gods holy ones No there shall be as great a difference between your deaths and theirs as there hath been between your lives and theirs they are taken away from the evill to come but your evill is to come when you are taken away they are taken away from their enemies but go to their friends you are taken away from your friends but must go to your enemies they are taken away in mercy you shall be taken away in judgement when they dye they go to heaven when you dye you must go to hell when they dye they go to enjoy sweet and uninterrupted communion with Father Son and Holy Ghost when you dye you must go to converse with devils damned spirits when they dye their worst is past their best is to come when you dye your best is past your worst is to come when they dye they shall suffer no more you never suffer to any purpose till you come to dye Now now you shall be snatch'd from your cups of pleasure to drinke of cups of gall and wormwood Psal 75. â— from your stately houses to a loathsome dungeon from your carnall ease and contentments to endlesse and extreme tortures and howlings Woe woe unto you wicked ones weep and howle for the miseries which are likely to come upon you you are not so high now but you will be as low then you are not so honourable now but you will be as contemptible then you are not so joviall and merry now but you will be as sad and heavy then would you dye as the righteous dye then live as the righteous live if you would have your latter end like unto his let your conversation for the present be like unto his Must good men very good men the best of men such who have received a double portion of the spirit more than others who are full of faith and of the Holy Ghost dye Then let this teach us to make sure of God who lives for ever and cannot dye great is the comfort much is the benefit which is conveighed from persons eminent for grace
gone gone never to be seen in this place nor in any of your houses or families againe do we love our neighbours and brethren let us mourne that they as well as we have lost at one clap a faithfull friend a faithfull counsellour a faithfull instructer a faithfull reprover a faithfull comforter in a word a faithfull Preacher Let every one of us mourne together and yet mourne apart let the wife mourn that she hath lost so pious a yoke-fellow let his children mourn that they have lost so carefull a father let the servants mourn that they have lost so religious a master let the people mourne that they have lost so painfull a Pastor and let us Ministers mourne that we have lost such a fellow-labourer one that did joyne with us and help us to oppose those grand enemies Sin Satan and the World True it is none have cause to mourne in reference to his present condition but rather to rejoyce he hath fought a good fight finished his course and kept the faith and now is wearing that crown of righteousness which hath been prepared for him Could he speake unto us he would say as Christ to the women who be wailed and lamented him Luk. 23.28 Weepe not for me but weepe for your selves Let us search our hearts and lives and find out the causes of this our losse why God hath given us such a cup of gall and wormwood for to drinke And is there not a cause Yes certainly Our unthankfulnesse our unfruitfulnesse our pride our worldliness our deadness our coldness our lukewarmness our hypocrisie our contempt and undervaluing of such a blessing have provoked God to deprive us of him The losse of our first love hath made God to scourge us with this loss a loss with a witness a loss to many at once a loss to the State a loss to the Church a loss to the Country a loss to his Parish a loss to his Neighbours a loss to his Yoke-fellow a loss to his Children a loss to his Brethren we have lost we know not what this loss may be more felt hereafter than it is for the present I wish you may never have cause to say where is the spirit of Elijah Where is he now whose zeale was wont to inflame our hearts whose forwardness for God was wont to put us forward whose teares were wont to set us on mourning whose spirituall fervour was wont to heate and warme us whose elevated heart in the waies of God hath helped to lift up our hearts in Gods waies the prevalency of whose prayers we were wont to feele in the encreasing and quickning of our graces whose powerfull Sermons were wont to leave most sweet and refreshing influences upon our soules Where is he Where is he God grant that the spirit of Elijah may be doubled upon his successour that you may not pine and languish away in such sad complaints I make no question were it in the power of prayers and teares of fasting and mourning to fetch him back againe you would not be long without him But now it is too late thankfulness fruitfulness and a close walking with God might have kept him still amongst you who cannot be recalled by any teares or supplications Thus having finished the first thing that Joash did after he came to see Elisha we come now to speake of the second effect or fruit of his visitation expressed in the honourable titles which he gave unto him First he cals him his Father from whence we may observe That honour and respect ought to be shewed from all sorts of men to the faithfull Messengers and Ministers of God Joash did no more than his duty the spirit of God would not have left it upon record for his commendation had it not been a thing that God liked and approved All Sexes whether men or women all relations whether Prince or people husband or wife or all degrees whether high or low rich or poore all conditions whether good or bad righteous or unrighteous learned or unlearned are bound to honour and respect the Messengers and Ministers of Christ there is an inward honour belongs unto them we are highly to esteeme of them to love them there is an outward honour belongs to them we are to honour them in our words by speaking well of them and respectfully to them we are to honour them in our gestures and carriages towards them the Babylonians were charged with this fault that they respected not the persons of the Priests Lam. 4.16 Mat. 13.57 It seemes then nothing was more common and ordinary than to shew respect and honour to the Prophets of God 1 Thes 5.11 1 Tim. 5.17 Reasons First God honours them and therefore men should not neglect to honour them it is ground enough for us to love a man because God loves him and to respect men because God respects them Christ would have us to be mercifull that we might be like unto our heavenly Father who is mercifull Mat. 5. So we must honour those whom God honours that we might expresse our conformity unto God What shall be done unto the man whom the King will honour saith Ahasuerus to Haman Est 6.6 Haman thought no honour too great for and none too great to honour such a man what shall then be done unto the men whom the King of Kings will honour Surely mortall men should not thinke much to honour those whom the immortall God thinkes not much to honour Now there is no faithfull Minister whom God doth not hath not will not highly honour 1 Sam. 2.30 they honour God and God will honour them Secondly Their Office is an honourable office their calling an honourable calling Heb. 5.4 to be a Steward to another man is a place of honour Yearely Stewards if I mistake not are Esquires by their places as Knights eldest Sons are by their birth To be Lord High Steward to a Prince is a place of greater honour Now all Gods Ministers are Stewards to that God who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords 1 Cor. 4.1 Againe the Office of an Embassadour who represents the person of the King is a place of great honour Ministers are Gods Embassadours they negotiate for God and they are employed to treat about a peace between God and man about a marriage between Christ and the soules of people 2 Cor. 5.20 Again they are said to be co-workers and fellow labourers with God himselfe in the salvation of sinners 1 Cor. 3 9. Thirdly Good men have been ready and carefull to honour the Messengers and Ministers of God such who have slighted them before their Conversion have much respect and reverence unto them after conversion Those who mockt at Peter and the Apostles when they were in the state of nature did very much honour them after they were wrought upon by Peters Sermon Acts 2.37 Cornelius a good man was ready to go beyond his bounds in shewing honour to Peter he was ready to give him too much