Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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A60957
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A sermon preached at the funeral of the Reverend Mr. John Culem, vicar of Knowstone and Molland, in Devon December 2. 1691 / by Lewis Southcomb.
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Southcomb, Lewis.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing S4752; ESTC R33847
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20,626
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36
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that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom And the five holy Virgins who with oil in their Lamps very carefully and watchfully expected the uncertain coming of the Bridegroom in the noted Parable of St. Math. 25. are called wise by him who is Wisdom it self the Holy Jesus And are a sufficient Proof of the Infinite Prudence and Discretion of an early and a seasonable Preparation for the approaching of the Bridegroom of our Souls whether by Death or the last great Day of Rewards and Punishments when he shall come once for all to dispose of the Palms and the Crowns of Eternity I might stay to produce many other instances of Holy Writ that do abundantly confirm the Doctrin by fair Inference or necessary Consequence But I pass from Holy Scripture to the endeavours of its demonstration by eight several Reasons 1. Every man methinks should allow it to be Wisdom to prefer Eternity before Moments and for one short life to act accordingly Say Christian is there any thing in which thou rejoycest here any thing that delights thee If so oh what shall the perpetual Delights and Rejoycings be of Eternal Ages where there shall be no such damp struck upon them as there constantly is on every thing thou rejoycest in here that it shall be of no long duration None of thy Complacencies and Joys and little Satisfactions here shall stay long with thee Still some Disappointment or Affliction or Uneasiness shall step in and damp and cool them And a cloud of darkness shall quickly be drawn over thy present Sun-shine But how blest shall that state be where our Rejoycings shall be without Mixture without Allay and for Perpetuity too Where our Love of Jesus shall be without Interruption Cessation or Abatement for all Futurity And our Obedience shall be uninterrupted clear and active and without Mixture of the just Fear of his Disfavour for all Ages To this Head I might subjoyn this Consideration That whatever is uneasie here or troublesome or afflictive if we dread it so much while its duration can be but as it were a Span long how truly how justly how wisely should we dread the long Affliction and unsupportable Uneasiness of an eternal Separation from the Lord of Glory An eternal Separation from the happy Spirits of the upper World from the Spirits of the Martyrs the Confessors the Virgins and the Doctors of the Primitive Church a perpetual Exclusion from the Religious Hermits or Holy Anchorites from our Fathers in Christianity from those Worthies of whom the World was not worthy from Noah Daniel and Job from St. Peter and St. Paul from the Prophets Apostles and Evangelists but above all an Exclusion from the Glorious Face of the Lord that bought us If we dread a Temporal Momentany Affliction or Uneasiness so much that we naturally start at the Approach or Apprehension of it how much dread does the unsupportable and long Uneasiness of an eternal Separation from the Presence of our God and his holy Angels and his menial Servants those lovely Inhabitants of a lovely World deserve at our hands See here a little of the Wisdom of preferring Eternity before Moments 2. Every Man methinks should allow it to be a thing truly rational and truly wise to prefer a perpetual Tranquility and Peace before the disappointments and uncertainties of this lower World and for one short life to act accordingly If I should ask any Person here present how many and great his Disappointments have been how many and great the secret Fears and Dangers the inward Tumults and Hurries and Disorders and Discomposures of his Soul have been since he came to be able to feel and find and reflect on them He 'l presently answer they were more and greater than the World thinks of Little do even those who stand near him think what he has felt within Well tell me then Christian is it Wisdom or is it not by your own Account to provide seasonably for a happy Removal from them for all Ages Do you complain of them and yet would you rather live in them for ever than prepare for a blest and a perpetual Freedom Is it better still to live in the Wilderness than to be translated to a Canaan a Land of Peace and Plenty Where every thing shall answer your Expectations and every thing shall be calm and easie and sedate and peaceful both within and without for all Futurity Let your own silent Answer to this Question be the second Confirmation of the Doctrin 3. Every man should methinks allow it to be an Act of substantial Reason and Wisdom to prefer a lasting Rest and Ease to the Succession of constant Labours And for a Life that is but as a Span long to act accordingly Why is Rest at night so gratefull to the weary Traveller Why is Leisure and Ease so pleasant so refreshing to the Labourer but because his Toils and Travels are a Violence to his Frame and Constitution a weariness and pain to the Flesh and a Dissolution and Dissipation of his Spirits And who that has felt the Uneasiness of either can with any Reason quarrel with that hand that only comes to undress him and put him away to Rest The froward Child indeed may do so may be displeased at that Person that carries him away to uncloath him and to lye him down to Rest But has the weary Labourer the painful Traveller any cause to do so Why that Death for which thou hast made a seasonable and careful Provision only does this for thee uncloaths thy Soul pulls off and lays aside this heavy Garment of Flesh unfetters unlocks unchains thy better part frees that and lays down thy wearied Body to rest in the easie Bed of Dust till the Resurrection Tell me now Christian whether a safe and holy and happy putting thee away to rest be not in Wisdom to be preferr'd to the toilsom Labours of the day the day of this Life 4. Every Man methinks should allow it to be Wisdom to prefer a perpetual Health and Beauty before the Pains and Sicknesses and Deformities of a decaying Body And for one short Life to act accordingly Do we believe the Resurrection of the Body Is this any part of our Creed Do we believe that this our House of Clay shall be better built at the Resurrection Do we believe that the Holy Ghost has said Phil. 3.21 That our vile bodies shall then be fashioned like to our Saviovr's Glorious Body If we do not we are Infidels and have but little business here But if we do why should we then wonder at the holy Life of the good Man At the mortify'd life of the devout Christian that only has a fixt a constant and a steddy eye to such a Resurrection Where he wisely foresees he shall alone find a perpetual Freedom Health and ease from the Pains the Aches the Deformities of a ruinous House of Clay Even then when it shall be built more Glorious fitted for nobler
A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL Of the Reverend Mr. John Culme Vicar of Knowstone and Molland in Devon December 2. 1691. By LEWIS SOVTHCOMB Rector of Rose-Ash Imprimatur Ra. Barker Dec. 28. 1691. LONDON Printed for H. Bonwicke at the Red Lyon in St. Pauls Church-yard 1692. To the Worshipful Philip Shapcote Esq of Shapcote one of Their Majesties Justices of the Peace for the County of Devon SIR I Have sometimes wondred how the Dedication of a Book or a Pamphlet to a worthy Person could be called or thought an Instance of paying Respect or doing Honour to the Patron where the Discourse has but little worth in 't Upon which Principle or Opinion Sir the prefixing your Name to this Discourse would rather look like an Affront than a Dedication and make me as much inclin'd to beg your Pardon as I should be to think I needed it did I not know that as you would have all you converse with to be truly Wise truly Happy and truly Good so you may Countenance the meanest Endeavours that with clear Intuition undisguised Sincerity and Purity of Intention have such Aims and Intendments which is all that can and I am afraid more than ought to be said for this Sermon 'T is usual to tell the World that the Publishing of a Sermon was desired by some of the Hearers Now tho I might say so too yet should I mention who they were it would derive as little Honour upon their Judgment for desiring it as can accrue to my own for consenting Sir if you find as you will two or three Pages more-here than what was delivered I am to assure you that 't is what was prepared to have been spoken if the shortness of the Day and some other Reasons had not made me think fit to wave it The great Respect Sir you have alway shewn to our whole Order and particularly to the Person whose Obsequies we lately celebrated your Countenancing and Encouraging your Excellent Lady's late pious Action of Building of a Tower not intentionally to her own but to the divine Glory for I am confident if it had been possible she would have conceal'd it till the Resurrection That Prudence and Zeal with which she began that Act of Piety and has conducted it all the way makes me among many others desirous to be thought by both and by all that know me to be SIR Your Faithful Affectionate Humble Servant Lewis Southcomb A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL Of the Reverend Mr. John Culme Vicar of Knowstone and Molland December 2. 1691. Deut. 32.29 O that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end THE great business of our present state in this lower VVorld is our Preparation for a better and by one short but holy Life to train up and discipline and trim the Soul for its safe and holy Passage to the state of Separation for its blest Admittance to the Spirits of Just Men made perfect to a new and unknown and glorious Society in a new and lovely world among the beatified Spirits of all the VVise and all the Good Men of all Ages That by such an Admittance there we may supply the Vacancies of fallen Angels enjoy the beatific Vision or the felicity of the presence of God the Holiness and Happiness and Peace and Joy and Clarity of understanding the upper world for all futurity Every man methinks that believes any thing of this and has these Hopes and Expectations beyond the Grave should easily be perswaded to be so wise as to understand this to be the most important business of our present state of probation here and consequently consider his latter end The words of the Text will need but little Opening or Explication Only I must observe this That I do not think the words consider their latter end 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are in this place primarily and directly meant of Death or our Dissolution nor does the Context at all seem to warrant it But they are a kind of Wish of God by Moses that the Jews would consider Gods dealings with them and compare them with what would befall them in the end for their Stubbornness and Rebellion So Menochius and Vatablus both say upon the place if the Synopsis have quoted them right Vtinam intellexissent quis finis eos maneat reputassent eadem sibi eventura propter peccata sua i. e. That they would understand and consider and observe how God would deal with them in the end for their Rebellion Disobedience and Ingratitude But I shall for the present follow the common Road and as most suitable to our present occasion suppose them to be meant of Death or the State of Separation and the parting of the two old Friends Soul and Body till their Re-union at the Resurrection I shall spend no one minute of my time in so fruitless a Thought as to shew the Certainty of our Removal or the uncertainty of the time when which every Body believes whatever they do as to the Consideration of it But I shall rather choose from the words to raise this Doctrinal Head That as a seasonable Provision for our change of Worlds our removal hence or our state of Separation is an Act of the highest Reason and the truest Wisdom so the contrary neglect is infinitely irrational and unaccountable This I shall a little further confirm and make evident from holy Scripture And then from eight rational Considerations endeavour to demonstrate its most infallible Truth and Certainty And then see what Uses are to be made of the whole or what Influence it ought to have upon our Thoughts and Actions 1. From Scripture a word or two Holy Job thought it so much the truest Wisdom that he tells us it should be the great business of all the days of this his Pilgrimage to wait for his Dissolution and accordingly lay up no doubt for his safe admittance to the beatified Spirits of the Patriarchs and other Just men made perfect who were gone before him Thus in that known place Job 14.14 He resolves that all the days of his appointed time he would wait till his change came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All the days of my warfare will I wait or as the Verb there also signifies will I Hope or Trust till my Change come Till I change a tumultuous and uncertain World for a World of Happiness and Peace and Joy for all Ages In either of which Senses whether of Expectation Trusting or Hoping he sufficiently intimates and supposes not only a due Consideration of but a seasonable Provision and Laying up for his safe and holy Passage out of this World to a new Scene of things and for the Dis-union of his Soul and Body and for his unknown State and Condition Thus the same Moses who is the Author of my Text has given it as the Character of the Truest Wisdom in the Psalm for this Occasion Psal 90.12 So teach us to number our days