Cor. 3. 14. We all with open Face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 3. There is a sight of Gods Salvation by the vertue or help of inward experience The gracious Soul sees the Harvest in the seed the Topstone in the Foundation that is laid the greatness of the design in the greatness of the preparation In short he sees that which God intends for him by that which God hath been already pleased to work in him He doth both see and feel Salvation begun in the Soul For my Brethren we are to know this and seriously consider it that Salvation is not a thing wholly future it is not only after Death and in the other world but it is a thing present Heaven is to be had here as well as hereafter and he that is not saved here shall never be saved He that doth live an utter stranger to Heaven in this world shall never enter into Heaven The perfecting and completion of the work is reserved for the next life but the inchoation and beginning of it is here even here the Saints Conversation is in Heaven there be their thoughts and affections they walk with God and have fellowship with Christ. As soon as ever a man is sanctified he is saved When Grace is first planted in the heart Salvation is begun When Christ went home with Zacheus he told him Salvation is come to thine house to day When Christ comes to any heart Salvation comes along with him Grace is glory in the Infancie and Bud and as Grace doth thrive and grow and improve in the heart so the work of Salvation is carried on therefore gracious renewings are in Scripture called glorious changes We beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same Image from glory to glory i. e. from Grace to Grace from lower to higher degrees The Apostle Paul saith Eph. 2. 5 When we were dead in sins we were quickned together with Christ by grace ye are saved If quickened and made partakers of Spiritual Life the life of grace and holyness then saved There is Heaven and Salvation in the smallest quickenings as there is the total sum or bargain in the earnest and the crop or harvest in the first fruits Observe also that place in the 2 Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling If you be effectually called then you are actually saved not only in spe but in re not only saved in hope but in deed That person who is turned from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God is passed from Death to Life he is out of reach of eternal dangers The same calling is to virtue and glory and fo far as that call doth carry a man on in virtue so high full so high doth it advance and raise him up in glory So that when once you do experimentally find this change wrought in you sin Crucified and Mortified in you and Holiness Communicated to you If you find that you are taken off from the old stock and ingrafted into the Lord Jesus Christ that you are in any measure though never so small made partakers of the Spirit Life and Grace of Christ then you may sit down in peace and heartily rejoyce for your eyes have seen God's Salvation A renewing change is a saving change and my brethren consider how much this should commend Grace to us Oh how should they desire it and beg it and use means for it who have it not and you that have it how thankfull should you be and how should you admire and bless God for it since there is Salvation in it there is a blessing in a cluster fullness in Spiritual hungerings Heaven and Glory in brokenness of heart Fourthly and Lastly There are the sights of Heaven in a way of assurance and this is the sight of or the looking to the perfecting and completion of this most great and blessed work of Salvation By assurance the believing Soul sees the matter brought to an issue and the top stone laid in the building which reaches as high as Heaven The poor Christian in the midst of enemies and dangers and from his low condition from his Dunghill or Cottage can look upon all the glory and happiness above and as great as it is lay hold upon it and claim it all this is mine This God is my God for ever and ever Heaven will be my Everlasting home and the Kingdom there my portion even as the Proto-Martyr Stephen in a shower of stones which fell about his ears could see Heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and could comfort himself with such thoughts Thus Jesus stands yonder as my Friend my Advocate and shortly I shall be there with him To the producing of this Assurance in the heart of a Christian especially in an high degree in its fulness there is required not only the work but also the witness of the Spirit The work of the Spirit in Sanctification drawing the divine image upon the Soul breathing into it Spiritual Life and implanting in it a gracious and holly nature and then irradiating and shining upon those graces that the Soul may see them and see them to be what they are the true grace of God he doth bear witness to his own work so that the Soul can say the Finger of God was here This is not Flesh and Blood this is more than nature this is grace indeed This you read of in Rom. 8. 16. The Spirit it self beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God There is the Testimony of our Spirits our Consciences and the Holy Ghost doth super-add his And in the mouth of these two witnesses the thing is Established and the Believer is satisfied and cryeth Abba Father Take notice of that Prayer which Paul put up Rom. 15. 13. That they might abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost So that good hope through grace and the abounding of that hope the fullness of Assurance is no other than a divine work brought about by the powerfull operation of the Spirit of God The Resurrection of Christ from the Dead is the ground and reason of our hope And the Holy Spirit of Christ is the Author of our hope Now then lay these things together that person who seeth Christ by Faith who doth experience an inward change and who hath the assured hope of Heaven and Glory may very well say that his eyes have seen God's Salvation And the man that hath been blessed with such a sight may very well be free and willing to depart out of this World to bid farewell to present comforts and enjoyments and welcome Death in its nearest approaches And this is the second thing unto which I am now to speak and he that considers what hath been spoken concerning this
will sanctifie you as well as well as save you He will Rule you and Govern you as well as save you He will bring you to his Foot if ever he bring you to his Throne God the Father hath exalted him to be a Prince as well as a Saviour and he will be both or neither Vse 3. Be sure to flie to this Jesus in all your dangers and distresses When your Enemies without you are furious and fears within you are high so that your hearts are almost overwhelmed then run to this Rock that is higher than you When you find Corruptions are stirring within you and you know not how to master them and when you find Temptations are violent upon you and you are not in your own strength able to resist them then go to Christ and beg ye of him that he would be your Salvation Thus Paul did when he had a Thorn in the Flesh and a Messenger from Satan buffetting him then he besought the Lord thrice and had this assurance that Christ's grace was sufficient for him and Christ's power should be made known in his weakness And that gracious answer which was given to Paul may be an incouragement to you and all the people of God to take the same course in the time of their need and as this is a most proper course so it is most prevailing for the Lord is good to them that wait upon him and to the Souls that seek him And if you will consult your own experiences they will tell you that you get most of your comforts and most of your victories upon your knees And our Lord Jesus himself by his own example directs you to this means For when Peter was to be Tempted then Christ prayed But there remains one thing more very observable in the words upon which I shall more largely insist than I have done upon all the foregoing points The sight which this good man old Simeon had of Gods Salvation was the reason why he was so willing and ready and desirous to depart and take his last farewell of this World From hence I offer to your consideration this truth Doct. 9. Those that have had a sight of Gods Salvation may very well be desirous of Dissolution and think long till that happy day comes which will convey them into the other World Some men wish for Death meerly in a fret or discontented fit They meet with disappointments and crosses and troubles their estates fail them their trading grows dead their friends unkind A Ship at Sea is cast away or taken by Pirates they are vexed at this and the other and hereupon they are weary of Life and now whether they be fit or no they would fain dye thus it was with passionate Jonah when that a Worm had smote his Gourd that it withered and the Sun darted his scorching beams upon his head that he fainted he wished in himself to dye and said in his hast that it was better for him to dye than to live Poor man he had been put out of sorts and did then quite forget himself But this is very ordinary among people as if every trouble of life should make life it self a burden And as if though our comforts be consumed it were not still of the Lords mercies that we our selves are not consumed And certainly as ordinary as it is it is exceeding sinfull It speaks a wofull impotency and weakness of Spirit yea and there is in it a Spirit of rebellion against God when men would live no longer than God useth them as they themselves please and orders all things concerning them according to their own mind and humour If we did but seriously consider the Sovereignty of God and that as we are his creatures we must be at his dispose we should see reason enough to submit to him and be silent under all his providences How great and how heavy soever our Cross is we should carry it patiently and be content to bear it so long as our God will have us But now a sight of Christ and of Gods Salvation by Christ is a just and justifiable ground of such a desire so that still it be with submission to the vvill and good pleasure of that God in vvhose hand our lives are In the handling of this point I shall do these three things 1. I shall shevv hovv or in vvhat vvays a Soul may see God's Salvation 2. That one vvho hath had the sight of Gods Salvation may very vvell be vvilling and desireous to dye 3. And then improve it by vvay of use and application First What is it to see God's Salvation or in vvhat vvays doth a man or woman see this blessed sight Unto that I shall return this fourfold answer 1. There is an ocular vision or a sight of God's Salvation with the eyes of the body This sight those Saints had vvho savv Christ vvhen he vvas here upon Earth and Tabernacled among men and vvho beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten of the Father This sight Simeon had vvhen his Parents brought him into the Temple then Simeon took him up in his arms and said mine eyes have seen thy Salvation And upon that sight he was raised and his heart so ravished that he vvas vvilling immediately to set sail for the other World His Soul vvas ready to take its flight he thought he had lived long enough and had seen enough of these inferiour objects he cared not for beholding the vanities of the World any more Jesus in his svvathering bands did outshine Princes in their Robes and Thrones And having once got a sight of him he thought there was nothing else upon the face of the Earth worth seeing Having seen Christ upon Earth he had a mind to go see God in Heaven Now this sight we cannot have and we need not have it now In this respect the Lord Jesus is gone out of our sight The Heavens do contain him and so they must until the time come wherein there shall be the restitution of all things And there is not any necessity of our seeing him in this manner we are no losers by his absence It was expedient for us that he went away for it was upon his going that the Comforter came who is to abide with us for ever All the work which Christ had to do upon Earth was finisht before he went away what remains further to be done he can do it in Heaven as he sits upon his his Throne at the right hand of his Father And his bodily presence would contribute nothing at all to our advantage and comfort We have a great deal more cause to please our selves with the thoughts of his being in Heaven by which we see that justice is satisfied yea that he entred there as our Fore-runner to make way for us and to take a place up for us and that he doth there ever live to make intercession for us And upon these accounts though now we see him
A FUNERAL SERMON Delivered upon Occasion of the Death of that Worthy Gentleman John Marsh Esq Who lived at Garston-Hall in Watford Parish in the County of Hartford And Died in the Lord and was Buried Septemb. 16 1681. By Samuel Slater Late Minister of the Gospel at Edmunds-Bury in Suffolk Isa. 57. 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their Beds each one walking in his uprightness LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1682. The Epistle Dedicatory To my Honoured Friends Madam Marsh and her Pious Son and Daughters AT the Motion and Desire of your since Deceased Father and Husband my Worthy Friend I did after the Solemnization of his Funeral deliver the following Discourse to you in Private And in order to Common Good I have here made it Publick The Father of Mercies accompany it with his Blessing upon you and all others into whose hands it shall come that thereby Love to and Faith in Christ may be promoted together with Holiness of Life and Comfort at Death That you may not be unmindful of that King of Terrors at his greatest distances nor terrified by him in his nearest approaches I was greatly pleased to see your gracious Deportment under that Afflictive Providence which deprived you of one so desireable and that you were duely affected with your Loss yet sweetly submissive to your God Though the Cup was bitter you did not faint nor murmur It was indeed a Mercy that you enjoyed him so long for he was full of Dayes and had a flourishing old Age. And it may be a Comfort that you shall see him again in Heaven where you shall Eternally rejoyce together in God That your Souls may prosper your Graces increase your Comforts abound your Daies may be filled with Mercy and Duty and your selves at last received into Glory is the Hearty Prayer of Your Friend and Servant in our dear Lord Jesus S. Slater Decemb. 22 1681. Errata corrigenda PAge 13 line 16 for primative read privative p. 14. l. 12. for places r praises l. 22. for Son r Sun p. 20. l. 10. for lusted r likened p. 22. l. 6. dele thus p. 23. l. 31. dele that l. 36. after am l r that l. p. 26. l. 20. for him r them p. 30. 1. 14. for Judges r Judge l. 37. for Lords and Gods r Lord and God p. 34. l. 34. for their r the. p. 35. l. 16. for in r is p. 36. l. 10. for not r now LUK. 2. 29 30. Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace according to thy word For mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation THESE are the words of Holy Simeon who is supposed to be the Son of Hillel and Chief of the great Synedrion and Father of the Learned Doctor Gamaliel at whose Feet the great Apostle of the Gentiles Paul was educated Concerning whom the Sacred Scripture testifies that he was a Just and Devout man i. e. Godly and Righteous Wary and Cautious A man that managed his Life and ordered his actions with that due circumspection as evidenced his sedulous care of approving himself to God This good man waited for the Consolation of Israel viz. the incarnation or coming of the Son of God the promised and longingly expected Messiah in whom all our comforts are laid up if we be Israelites indeed That Jesus alone can be our Consolation who is our Salvation It is only under his shadow we can sit with great delight because under that alone we can sit in safety Those men and Women that seek their comforts out of Christ will find themselves under miserable disappointment And by how much the higher they are raised in hopes and expectation by so much the lower they will be plunged into sorrow and vexation I do earnestly beseech you Christians to remember this that Christ is the Consolation of Israel and improve it for your Souls advantage Especially I speak this to you my Friends who are most nearly concerned in the late stroak of Providence and do now mourn under the smart thereof Learn whither you should repair for support and healing even to this Jesus who to this day yea for ever continues to be the Consolation of Israel and in whom you may find abundantly enough to sweeten this bitter Cup. This Simeon who thus waited was well rewarded for his Faith and Patience having this assurance given him that he should not see Death until he had seen the Lord's Christ. He should not see Death until Christ was born Christ should come upon Earth before Simeon should go to Heaven From whence you may learn this truth That waiting upon God is not in vain much time may be spent in it but it will not be time mis-spent God is not wont to send a waiting Soul mourning away Such an one may come to God with a tear in it's Eye but sooner or later it shall go from him with a smile upon it's Countenance Thou O mourning drooping Christian dost not see Christ now he covers himself with a Cloud well sink not under discouragement but let patience have it's perfect work and do thou charge thy Soul to wait on I am perswaded before thou seest Death thou shalt see Jesus Christ will manifest himself unto thee however as soon as Death hath closed thy bodily Eyes thou shalt both see him and thy self with him in Glory Well Simeon having waited long though not too long came into the Temple which did then exceed in Glory for there he met with Jesus And having met with him he toook him up in his arms and he was a most blessed arm-full doubtless the good old man was glad he had got him and his heart did leap within him He never before embraced so great and glorious an Object And I tell thee O Christian who hast got Christ in thy Heart and dost hug him in the arms of thy Faith thou hast as much reason to rejoyce as Simeon did when he had him in his arms for it is Christ in you the hope of Glory If he be formed in you you shall be saved by him Having taken Christ in his arms what did the good man do Oh! he blessed God and truly he had reason How could he be without his Song when he had got him who was his strength and Salvation We have cause to bless God for Creatures for our Health Strength Estates and Relations because we are less than the least of these but we have infinitely more cause to bless God for Christ because he is a gift of the dearest love and of the greatest excellency All Earthly comforts come from the hand of God but Christ comes from the Some part of that which Simeon spake upon this occasion you have in the words of the Text in which take notice of these two things 1. Simeons humble petition and request to God Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word 2. The ground
or reason of this his request for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation This Scripture being chosen by our deceased Brother for his Swan like-Song I shall present you with those several Observations I have made upon it and briefly touch upon them and so pass to that which I purpose most to insist upon Doct. 1. Every Godly man is God's Servant So Simeon stiled himself here Lord lettest thou thy Servant And so did David Psalm 116. 16. O Lord truly I am thy Servant I am thy Servant He gloried more in his being Gods Servant than in his being King of Israel Wicked men are the Slaves of Corruption and Vassails of Satan the Scriptures saith they serve divers Lusts and truly that is an hard task if a man cannot well serve two Masters how shall he serve divers many Their service is meer drudgerie and bondage Two things may justly discommend it viz. they have dirty works and they shall have dreadful wages their works foul them and their wages undoe them But you O Saints are the Servants of God and you are so upon a threefold account besides that of your Creation First Upon the account of your Redemption which was brought about by the power of Christ who rescued you out of the clutches of sin and Satan Luk. 1. 74. He hath delivered us out of the hands of our Enemies that we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our lives Secondly You are Gods Servants upon the score of purchase that Jesus who purchased Heaven and Glory for you hath also purchased you for himself and the price which he laid down was no less than that of his own Blood and therefore it is your unquestionable duty to glorifie him in your Souls Bodies and Spirits 1 Cor. 6. 20. Thirdly You are Gods Servants by virtue of Covenant you have chosen one another he hath chosen you for his people and you have chosen him for the Lord your God an agreement hath been made and Indentures sealed Ezekiel 16 8 I entered into Covenant with thee saith the Lord God and thou becamest mine Vse Remember and seriously consider then whose you are and unto whom you belong Study and acquaint your selves with your Masters will and knowing it apply your selves immediately to the performance of it let your life be a life of obedience to God and whatsoever your hand findeth to do as the matter of his Will be sure that you do it with all your might knowing that your labour shall not be in vain and that it is most highly reasonable you should be as industrious about the work of God as you have been about the work of Satan as diligent for your best Friend as your greatest Enemy as industrious for the saving of your Souls as you have been for the damning of them And for your encouragement and quickning consider 1. First That in the service of God there is perfect freedom his Yoke is easie and his burden light You are never so much your own men as when you are Gods servants You are so his servants as that you also are his Children Your work is cut out by the hand of a most tender Father and therefore it should be done with the Heart and Spirit of a Child David resolved to run the way of God's Commandements 2. As you have the noblest work so you shall one day have the most glorious rewards You may now do your work with singing you shall then receive your reward with admiring When you have done the work of Servants you shall be instated in the inheritance of Sons where Christ is there shall his Servants also be to behold his Glory and to share with him in it for the Apostle assures us that he and his people shall be glorified together And their work is not so difficult nor are their sufferings so pressing but that their future Crown will unspeakably excel them for its weight and splendor Doct. 2. I Observe That Gods Servants must be at Gods dispose and not at their own Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart I dare not stir without thy order thou didst send me hither and here I must stay until thou shalt please to send for me hence I am weary of being here Lord wilt thou dismiss me and give me leave to be gone It is Gods unquestionable right to order out as he pleaseth concerning us and that in these things 1. God may cut out for us what work he pleaseth and lay it either in active or passive obedience as he thinks good Whatsoever his Will is we must not dispute but obey it and so be like those ministring Spirits the Angels above who do his pleasure yea all his pleasure 2. It is Gods right to carve out our allowances either a full or a scantie condition abundance or want to set us in a Palace or upon a Dunghil to cloath us in Scarlet or in Canvas to give us comfort or afflictions We must be wholly at Gods finding Feed me said good Agur with food convenient for me he did not prescribe to God but left God to judge what was so 3. It is fit that God should measure out our time for us and bestow upon us a longer or a shorter day of life we do not live nor do we die at our own pleasure or at the will and pleasure of men but God He is not only our Lord but also the Lord of our time So David cheerfully acknowledged my times are in thy hands to make them cloudie or serene halcyon or tempestuous to prolong or to contract them as seemeth good to him It is an indubitable part of Gods Royal Prerogative to order concerning us and it is the unquestionable duty of our place to submit to his Orders Whatsoever he commands we must do even as did the Centurions servants if he said to one of them Go he went if he said to another Come he came Reason good we should do so for all the Commandements of God are Holy and Just and Good And an Universal Cordial Respect to them will evidence our sincerity and secure us from shame And whatsoever God doth we must accept not only kissing his Hand when it sweetly seeds us nor only his Arm when it graciously supports but likewise his Rod when it doth smartly lash us There ought to be no discontents no quarrelsome murmurings nor immoderate excessive sorrows when he blasts our sweetest Comforts or kills our dearest Relations yea though he should do it with a violent stroak for he may do what he will with his own When he destroyed Nadab and Abihu by fire in the very act of their sins Aaron their Father held his peace He saw that God was provoked by them and angry with them and therefore concluded it his wisest course to be quiet It is indeed extreme madness for the Clay to say to to the potter why dost thou so or for the creature to contend with his Creator Such contendings