the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him But how very effectual the fervent prayers of such men sometimes are appears sufficiently from the instance here before us of the great Elijah singled out by St James for the same purpose and alledged soon after the words already cited James 5. 17. He I say who tho a man subject to like passions as we are opened and shut the Heavens at his pleasure kept up the dew and rain but brought down showres of fire so that all things hapned according to his word 1 Kings 17. 1. The Ministers of Gods holy Word and Sacraments in respect of one part of their Function are Gods Ambassadours to the people but in this of prayer they are their Agents and Solicitours with God constituted by himself as a sort of Mediatours for and amongst men Masters of Requests resident on Earth appointed to present and offer up the petitions of the people to and in the name of the one great Mediatour between God and Man 1 Tim. 2. 5. And to him those addresses cannot but be the more acceptable as coming in his own Method and way and thro' those hands to which he has committed so great a power as to bind and loose in Heaven and on Earth a power not vouchsafed as St Chrysostom somewhere expresseth it either to Angels or arch-Arch-Angels or any other of the most glorified favourites of Heaven If then persons set aside and consecrated for the service of God and his Church be ordinarily acceptable and powerfull Intercessours how much does this Church and Nation and indeed the whole Christian world owe to the pious Devotions of the Holy Prelate of whom we are now speaking Twice a day most duly besides his family Prayers He offer'd up to Heaven either in the Publick Congregation or when his health could not allow that more privately his daily Homage and Sacrifice of Morning and Evening Prayer and Thanksgiving according to the Prescript of the Church of England He that had so throughly studied and did so perfectly understand the Beauties and Excellencies of the English Liturgy and so frequently and affectionately recommended the conscientious and devout use of it to all both Clergy and others and had himself received great Spiritual Comfort and Advantages by a long and Religious attendance on it He I say as you will easily believe could not allow himself in the least neglect of it but went to it and called for it as his daily bread the necessary food and refreshment of his soul I need not tell this Congregation I am sure how Solemn and Reverend his approaches were to this Sacred place how Holy and Saint-like his behaviour here Almost every thing that Good man did or said was edifying and instructive but nothing could well be more so then his devout deportment when he had audience with his God The Faith and Fervency the Humble yet Restless and Irresistible importunity of his Spirit strugling and contending with God in Prayer could not be conceal'd from those that saw him but flam'd up from his heart into his eyes and discover'd it self by so many natural indications of Holy and transported Affections that the Example was enough to rouze and warm the most sluggish and frozen Devotion of any that did observe him It is no wonder that his devout Soul found so Divine a rellish in those Prayers to which He attended with so much Reverence and Religion The Prayers of the Church are a dead letter to none but such as bring dead hearts to them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disc 16. as our Martyr'd Sovereign observed long since And I dare say that all that use them unless the blessed effect be hindred by prejudice or prophaness do experience that those united and well advised Devotions are most excellently contriv'd to kindle and keep alive in us such pious dispositions of mind as are most suitable to that duty I shall not presume to conduct you from the Church to the Good mans Closet or pretend to reckon how often in a day He was upon his knees He that did nothing for ostentation and understood so well the Reward reserv'd for good things done in secret knew how to conceal those Addresses from the eyes of man which He intended only for the notice of his God But his constant and steddy Practice of all Christian duties the general Holiness of his Life the visible delight He took in Prayer that great Priviledge as well as Duty of mankind besides other Evidences that could not always be kept from the observation of those that had the honour and happiness to be near him serve to assure us that He watch'd unto Prayer pray'd always without ceasing and at all seasons according to a due understanding of those expressions in Holy Writ It was to him a pleasant performance of which He could not be weary What a Benefactour I say then was He to this Church and State which had so great a share in his publick and private Petitions sent up to a Gracious God with such an unfeigned Piety and ardent Zeal Luke 18. 1. Shall not God hear his servants that cry day and night unto him He that ask'd such a question when He was on Earth will be sure to answer such prayers now he is in Heaven And then I am sure the publick has received manifold advantage from the Bishop's earnest supplications put up in the behalf of the whole Kingdom The interest of which was as dear to him as his own Soul and for which He was almost hourly breathing out fervent ejaculations Rev. 5. 8. and night and day praying exceedingly The prayers of Saints we are told are as golden vials full of odours and those odours are sacrifices of sweet savour unto the God of Heaven Such Sacrifices of Supplications Intercessions and giving of Thanks was this Holy Prelate almost constantly offering up unto Almighty God for the King and all in Authority for the Holy Catholick Church and for all Men. Three most signal Favours and Blessings on this Land within our memories I have often heard his Lordship mention with most feeling and affectionate expressions of Religious Gratitude and Joy The first was that Abundance of Heavenly Graces which adorn'd the Person of our late Martyr'd Sovereign and those particularly which did so Gloriously shine forth in him under the most barbarous indignities and bloody violence offer'd him by the Rebels Another was that stupendous revolution of Affairs brought about by the miraculous Providence of God in the Restitution of His present Majesty and the Church in Honour and Peace to the astonishment and confusion of the Adversaries of them Both. The Third was the wonderfull disappointment and most happy Discovery of the late Fanatical and Republican Conspiracy against the Life of His Sacred Majesty and His Royal Brother And to these He added that more Publick and General Mercy of God in appearing so seasonably and so mightily for the
Name is a very Death only that it continues longer is more vexatious and tormenting then Death it self Born indeed we are but unto trouble Job 5. 7. as the sparks fly upward Cares and fears tears and temptations doubts and disappointments distract the mind whilst the body which partakes in those agonies of the soul is also miserably subjected to racks and tortures of its own to pains and diseases that would be desperate and insupportable were they not as it were the earnest and Harbingers of Death which puts an end to all those tragical miseries of life And is not this a goodly thing for men to be so fond of as generally they are that is it self so great a disease that nothing but death can cure That therefore is often call'd for even by those who yet are much unprepar'd for such a remedy But how welcome then are or ought to be the approaches of Death stingless Such it is to those that die the death of the righteous as they all do to be sure that have liv'd their life which was well known and consider'd by the Holy Prelate whom I now commemorate Conscious to himself of a race happily run of talents well improv'd and a fight well fought with a clear conscience and an undisturb'd mind in a well grounded reliance on the Mercies and Merits of his Redeemer the Holy Man like just and devout Simeon or this very Elias in the Text humbly pray'd for his departure in my hearing as I kneeled by him tho' as I have reason to believe against his will as well as without his knowledge For He seem'd to mind nothing but his God his eyes then shut and his words whisper'd tho' both before and after he spoke strongly and aloud It was the only Prayer I ever heard him make to which I could not heartily say Amen I could have wished that He should still have walked before the Lord in the Land of the Living and therefore must confess was afraid He would be heard and that God would not deny him the request of his lips but would bestow Death upon him so pressing and importunate was his Prayer for He seemed to groan earnestly like St Paul 2 Cor. 5. 2. to have that his earthly Tabernacle dissolv'd and to be cloth'd upon with his house from heaven And yet were those breathings of his soul sent up to Heaven with that same Christian resignation and submission to the Divine will which so qualifies and recommends a Good mans Prayers that they cannot fail of a favourable audience and success Thus He whose Conversation had been so much in Heaven even whilst Himself was on Earth did in heart and mind thither ascend even before his soul could get loose from the troublesome embraces of the body And thus like Elijah He was not only carried but went up to Heaven That Holy Prophet gladly mounted up into his Heavenly Chariot leaving most willingly Elisha and the world below The whirlwind it self was not in more haste then He the Chariot and Horses and Fire could not move quicker and fly swifter then did his own ardent desires toward his everlasting bliss So did our dying Bishop joyfully part with all that He valued here on Earth and in a chariot of fire mounted unto the Heavens if I may be allowed so to stile the Feavour that snatch'd him from us But if that may seem too remote a Metaphor I know I can truly say that his soul still soared higher and higher in raptures of fervent and devout desires of being dissolv'd and being with God his exceeding great Reward This indeed was most like the fire in which Elijah ascended unto Heaven A fire that needed no fewel but the devout mind that kindled it A fire that burn't but consumed not Such a fire as warms and heats the Holy Angels themselves and kindles those Divine Ministers into a flaming fire And perhaps They were the Chariot and the Horses in the Text. Prompt and ready they are to execute all the commands of their great Maker and most cheerfully do those Triumphant spirits of Heaven fly down to succour and assist Holy men on Earth and promote the happiness of Militant Saints But Angels or clouds or whatever it was fiery it did appear a fit embleme of that Heroick Zeal that did so illustriously discover it self and shine forth in the life of that great Prophet A zeal for the honour of him that sent him like that which afterwards in a more Divine manner appear'd in our blessed Saviour of whom Elias himself was a type and in some sence a forerunner as well as the Baptist who came in his Spirit and Power A zeal it was that even consum'd him stuck nearer and closer to him then any earthly concern of his own A zeal that He durst own and stand to before the Searcher and Judge of hearts 1 Kings 19. 10 14. I have been very jealous saith He more then once for the Lord God of Hosts It vex'd his righteous soul to see the Apostacy of a whole nation as He reckon'd from God and all goodness The children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant thrown down thine Altars and slain thy Prophets with the sword the desolation of the Church lay heavy on the Good man's heart For Ahab walked in the sins of Jeroboam 1 Kings 12. 28 c. who for fear the heart of the people should turn again to their Lord the king of Judah that he might secure his usurpation and establish himself thought it necessary to invade the Religion as well as the Government of the Nation And so he sets up Gods of his own and made Priests of the lowest of the people such as were not of the sons of Levi and therefore having no lawfull Ordination uncapable to succeed in the holy Function Verse 33. and he ordained Feasts and made Sacrifices according to his own fancy even as he had devised in his own heart Ecclus 48. 1. Then stood up Elias the prophet as fire and his word burnt like a lamp as it is express'd by the son of Sirach Even then when there was not a man on Earth to second him did he couragiously keep his ground assert the Church and its cause and made stout and vehement protestations against the Schism and all their unreasonable and irreligious Innovations Full of God and the Commission that He had from Him He put himself in the gap withstood the torrent of Apostacy that had overrun the land boldly rebuk'd vice and called often and aloud both to Prince and People to return to God and his Holy Church The haughty and bloody Jezebel with all her cruel instruments and the many hundred Prophets of Baal and of the groves that did eat at her table could not persuade or fright him from his integrity still the holy fire was kept alive in his religious breast and flam'd brightly out on all occasions into acts of devotion and zealous undertakings for the
Champion of the Church Militant Chariots anciently were and Horsemen still are a main strength and protection to a people to defend them from and prevent as also to repell and suppress the insults and invasions of their enemies Formidable was the force of Chariots of war in the land of Canaan when the Israelites came to dispossess the former inhabitants and to plant themselves in that fruitfull countrey Insomuch that the house of Joseph Josh 17. 16. Verse 17. tho' a great people and of great power excepted against the portion allotted to them by Joshua because the enemy that was in possession had chariots of Iron and so all along we find the power of those Princes express'd by the number of their Chariots and Horsemen both before and after the conquest of the Countrey by the Israelites Accordingly it is particularly observed in the description of King Solomon's strength 2 Chron. 1. 14. that he gathered Chariots and Horsemen and had a thousand and four hundred Chariots and twelve thousand Horsemen which he plac'd in the Chariot-cities and with the King at Jerusalem Nay the invincible force of the armies of the Lord of Hosts is express'd by the inspired Psalmist with an allusion to this powerfull provision for war where he sings that the chariots of God are twenty thousands even thousands of Angels Psalm 68. 17. of which perhaps as I noted before a party were commanded out to fetch Elijah and were the same that convoy'd that great Prophet in his ascension unto Heaven For they are sent forth to minister for them Heb. 1. 14. who shall be heirs of salvation But there were many more of them appointed afterwards for a Guard to his successour Elisha against the Horses and Chariots of the Syrian King when at the Prayer of that Prophet 2 Kings 6. 17. the Lord opened the eyes of the young man his servant and he saw and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha And perhaps there were two armies of them incamp'd about Jacob to keep and conduct him and his in safety in his return to his own Countrey Gen. 32. 1 2. for it is said the Angels of God met him and he call'd the name of that place Mahanaim which dual word may imply that there were two Camps or Companies of that Heavenly Host So that this bright Militia of Heaven is always ready to execute the orders of their Soveraign Lord whether they be to honour and protect his Loyal Subjects or confound his Enemies And we know what dreadfull havock and slaughter has been made by a destroying Angel in the space of three days nay even in a night The Fire and Chariots and Whirlwind had orders as we find in the Text to attend assist and adorn the Triumphant ascension of Elias But in another case the very same are to be dispatch'd as messengers of Gods wrath the Instruments and Executioners of his vengeance Isa 66. 15. For behold the Lord will come with fire and with his chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire From what hath been said it is evident enough that when Elisha stil'd Elijah the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof he intended thereby to express him to be the great Strength Defence and Support of the Kingdom And so he was in a most eminent manner being extraordinarily commission'd and impower'd by God to protest against the abominations and Apostacy of that people and to endeavour the restitution of Religion the Reformation of manners and Establishment of Affairs in the whole Kingdom In this Office and Administration Elisha succeeded him and was accordingly when he lay on his death bed saluted and acknowledged as the chariot and horsemen of Israel by the King himself as I observed before But not these two extraordinary Prophets only but all the sons of the Prophets all that are sent by God and set apart to be Guides and Pastours of a people I say all and every of these as far as they are true to their trust and worthily discharge their duty are strengths and defences to the places where they live and so in some preportion the chariot and horsemen thereof Nay so is every virtuous and good man in some degree Sodom it self had escaped its so much merited and long provok'd destruction if ten righteous persons could have been found in the whole City And one single Just man might have been sufficient to have indemnifi'd all Jerusalem Jer. 5. 1. as appears from the Prophet Jeremiah Every good man is a publick good He helps to stave off Judgements and bring down blessings upon a people Just Lot saved Zoar and the prayers of Nehemiah rais'd up again and repair'd the ruines of Jerusalem They have an interest and favour in the Court of Heaven Psal 34. 17. The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open to their cry They who make most conscience of their own duty make the best Solicitours for others John 9. 31. If any man be a worshipper of God and doth his will him he heareth And therefore the Church hath always given thanks for them as Publick blessings praising Almighty God for the good Examples of all Holy men and women in general as well as for Bishops Priests and Deacons But such as by their very Function and office are Holy to the Lord such whose very business it is to bless and mediate for the people and to guide and teach them these I say are in a more especial manner Protection and Defence the Chariot and Horsemen unto the Church and Nation unto which they do belong And this they are chiefly on the account of their Prayers their Precepts and their Practice GOD is most likely to hear the Intercessions of those whom He Himself has appointed to intercede Abimelech King of Gerar was not presently to be pardoned on the account of the Integrity of his heart and the Innocency of his hands which he pleaded and was by God in some sort allowed but by the prayers of Abraham God would have his mercy and blessings descend in a regular way and what he might have given out directly and immediately from himself was not to be bestowed till the Prophet had prayed Gen. 20. 7. Restore the man his wife for he is a Prophet and he shall pray for thee and thou shalt live When God had denounced heavy Judgements by his Prophet Joel he prescribes it as one means to avert those impending evils that Prayers be made by the Priest Joel 2. 17. Let the Priests the Ministers of the Lord weep between the porch and the Altar Nor did St James think it sufficient to advise the sick man to pray for himself but remits him to Gods officers appointed for that purpose the publick Mediatours and Intercessours for the people James 5. 14. Let him call saith he for