abundantly Bees do suck Honey out of sweet Flowers whatever it be that Spiders do extract Sixthly The very Essence of this Joy is holy Obedience And is not Obedience the Womb of Obedience as Sin is the Womb of Sin What carries to obey God more than obeying him doth Naturally Acts do strengthen Habits and institutively also God of admirable Love rewards Grace with Grace The Believer's Joy answering a known Precept prepares his Ear and Heart to answer all the Divine ones In a word how fruitful of Holiness is the Joy of Saints in Heaven Believers Joy is of the very same Nature and why should it not be their holy Strength also Seventhly The constant visible Concomitants of this Joy are extraordinarily holy Satan's Delusion it is and not divine Consolation which sheweth not out of an excelling Conversation its Works with Meekness of Wisdom Holy Joy hath these Jewels shining in the Crown of it High Esteem of Christ Jesus No Star leads to Christ more than Joy in him doth Profound Humility The most joyful Apostle stiled himself least of Saints chief of Sinners Spiritual Flame is herein like natural the higher it rises the more it trembles Sorrow for Sin after the most godly manner No where are so bitter Herbs eaten and so sweetly as in this joyful Feast of Passover Strictest Watchfulness against Sin The more Joy in a Treasure the stronger Guard is set upon it against the Robber Because Joy breeds Jealousies omnia tuta timet the Disciples for very Joy believed not Luke 24.41 and Jealousy suffers not to sleep or to slumber Thoughtfulness of Heaven The joyful Israelite had Canaan in his Mind all the while he was in the Desart True Contempt of this World's Gaudies What are Candles or Stars when the Sun appears When the Good of all the Land of Egypt was before Jacob and his Sons they regarded not their Stuff Exod. 45.20 The Joy of Paradise stains the Glory of a Paris Sweet Content in the most bitter worldly State The Joy of Faith finds Meat in the Eater and Sweetness in the Strong The God whom we serve is able and he will deliver us say the Hebrew Heroes And what follows Vpon their Bodies the Fire had no Power not a Hair of their Heads is singed they walk in the midst of the Fire and have no Hurt Lions Dens are quiet Rooms to Daniels Prisons are Musick-houses to such as Paul and Silas Exquisite Pleasure in all holy Services Being full of holy Joy St. Paul was well pleased to be kept out of Heaven for a time to serve Christ's Interest on Earth And joyful Luther professed he had rather honour God with his Service than be honoured by God with any Gifts which made great and noted in the World Mallem obedire quam miracula facere Lastly A real Indifferency towards this present Life It is only the joyful Christian that can possess this but the Heart of every one that is such doth say as his Lord Father not my Will but thy Will be done Concerning his stay in the Body it thus saith most sincerely To conclude Is God to be thought now a Loser and not a Gainer in his Glory by Believers Joy Or is it possible that Holiness should languish in a Joy wherein these Fruits do flourish In a Joy that so evidently maketh God to be the Centre of the rejoicing Heart the Centre toward which it moves and in which it rests There are many Inferences of most humbling instructing and comforting Truth which do here offer themselves and I presume will be darting in their Beams upon Minds not shut up against them Their Light is such as is ready for every prepared Eye It is therefore a tripartite Exhortation wherewith I conclude 1. To those who have not ever sang Triumph over Death 2. To those who have sung it but have lost that Voice of Joy and Gladness 3. To those that have for any time sung it and are still singing it I must have leave to think that all three Sorts are present among us Unto the first I first address my self §. 1. To such of you as have not yet sung Triumph over Death If now you believe the Truth which hath been irrefragably proved I exhort as follows First Acknowledg your selves to have no Saving-Faith if you have no stirring Desires to attain a joying Faith It hath been said by what Means a Child of God may be kept it may be all his Days from the Joy of Faith but it cannot be said whereby he should be so kept from desiring it and from pursuing it Nothing but a reigning and damning Presumption or Despair is able to keep a Soul from these Review my seven Arguments which I may not repeat and assure you it is no Child of Light that sits unconcernedly in the dark as if nothing ailed him and unto whom it is not as Death it self that he cannot triumph over Death who travels not from Ordinance to Ordinance for the Power and the Act and follows not Heaven with unutterable Sighs and Groans until he gains them Comfortless Believers are represented so doing Cant. 3.1 2 3. and Cant. 5.6 7. Secondly When you bestir your selves for the Joy of Faith be not impatient if it doth not presently become triumphant To be using the Means appointed for getting it is your unquestionable Duty but to fret against God as though he wronged you if he made you wait long for it is your certain Sin and Folly Doubt not but God will give it as soon as he sees you fit for it And nothing save Ignorance and Pride can make that wild Question Why should I wait on the Lord any longer In a word Let him not go till he bless you with it but let him take his own time to bless you with his richest Gift It is Unbelief that makes Haste and that Haste makes Woe Thirdly When you are waiting for the Joy of Faith be praising and blessing God for putting you upon the Pursuit of it and enabling of you to wait therein This Grace well deserveth your best Thanks Had you ever ran after it if Grace had not drawn you or had not you laid violent Hands on your selves as others have done under their Terrors if Grace had not restrained you Thanks are Sacrifices with which God is well pleased And who was ever known to be thankful for Twilight but he had e're long a shining Noon-day On the contrary from him who is unthankful Sun Moon and Star-light is full often removed and he is left as without Hope Fourthly When you are blessing God for drawing you to seek the Joy of Faith fail not to multiply the two first Acts of Faith That which prepareth for Union to Christ and that which uniteth unto him Plainly thus Night and Day tell your Souls that God propitiated by Christ will surely save them if they truly repent and believe on him Proceed also and perpetually be saying to your God that as far as
The Church's Triumph over Death A Funeral-Sermon PREACHED Upon the Decease of Blessed Mr. Robert Fleming Late Pastor of a Church in Rotterdam By DANIEL BVRGESS Miseri Infideles appellant Mortem Fideles vero quid nisi Pascham Bern. de Divin Amor. Mors Christianis Ludus est Vinc. Lirinens London Printed by J. D. for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside and Andr. Bell and J. Luntley at the Pestle and Mortar in Chancery-lane 1694. To the Right Worshipful Sir Henry Ashhurst Baronet SIR THERE is a Frenzy abroad of which Men do together Adore the Pipes and Neglect the Fountain Make great court to his Ministers and slight the King the King eternal Worshipping the Stars that do lead to Christ and crucifying to themselves afresh the Christ that they lead unto yea by Unbelief and Disobedience putting him to open Shame But I must Hope better things of You. And believe it to be your Love of Christ that constrains you to receive a Paul and an Apollos as an Angel of God yea as Christ himself Wherefore as your extraordinary Kindness to another renowned Saint hath been told to the World by incomparable Pens By Mr. Baxter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by Dr. Bates in Dedicat. Epistles I do resolve that wheresoever this Sermon shall be read your like Affection to our heavenly FLEMING shall have its Memorial Very deeply I am impressed with your Favours done unto both For their Love was eminent and much exceeded the Fame of it to a Man Born to Reproach And not pretending to be Richer than his Brethren in any other Treasure A Love to be wondered at had it not been so known that God is Love And that therefore Love is Godliness And where Godliness abounds Loving-kindness overflows As we see in Angels that do flagrantly Love the least of Abraham's Children And highly honour the meanest of sanctified Worms As for the Former Jonathan must needs have known his David and the World will by and by have his Life in Folio to read And as concerning the Latter as little as any Man do you need to be told with what a Fulness of God he was filled Sir Your wondring Eyes were your Witnesses The great Love he bare you gave you more than common Knowledg of him whose Humility and Modesty hid him so that he was not much known unto those who knew him most As Ezekiel speaks of other Angels his Wings so covered his Feet However so much you saw that as very well you might you singularly loved him And esteemed his Love unto you to be of that Kind which is most valuable next unto God's own Love For the Information of others somewhat is said of this Man of God in the following Pages Whereto I can add this which was said of the famous Antonine He hath this Praise crowning all the rest that he hath no Gain-sayer of his Praises I hear not of any Dust to be blown off from this Diamond Honoured Sir Two or three of your Letters to me bewailed the World's Loss the Church's and Your own in the Departure of holy FLEMING Nor do I doubt but the best of the Church and World do lay it to heart Even generally all that hear how much Light and Salt and Balm is taken from a needy Age. For your Relief and others this is all in this Place to be said It is elsewhere shewn how we may hold Departed Saints in our Sight and in our Service Commemoration of Saints departed on Heb. 13.7 If the Course there prescribed be duly followed I am certain that this Saint's Death shall not be only his own Gain But his Ascension to Heaven shall be made to further our Conversation therein And notably contribute unto the Victory Joy and Triumph of Faith which this Sermon describes Thereto I dismiss you without any Sallies of Flattery the common Sin and Scandal of Dedications It must be confessed that if all Praise of Sir Henry Ashhurst be Flattery Old England and New are overrun with that Leprosy And the Israelites are much more sick of its Plague than the Egyptians be The Name of ASHHURST was left richly perfumed by your excellent Father And I hear not but it is so kept by your Self and your Right Honourable Brother Sir William A. Lord-Mayor Otherwise you had before this time loudly heard of it For they do sink deepest who fall from Pinacles highest they who were at first the best Angels are now the worst Devils saith Du Moulin And by the Old Law you had been condemned to be burnt for the Profanation of such a Father's Name Comprehenditur cum filiâ filius c. Calv. Lev. 21.9 Surely the Sun must have looked Pale and the Spheres have cast out their Stars if such as You and my Lord had forsaken your God and the God of your Fathers And had left no better to be said of you than Philostratus says of Perinthius Barely that he was the Son of Rufus But Sir as you very well know my Office is to bring low all Mountains and Hills not the contrary And as my own Heart sweetly knows my Ambition is to Edify not Magnify you to serve your Faith not your Fame which as it less needs it doth less deserve it Much rather would I provoke you to one good Work than make known all that ever you did And be the meanest Instrument to make you a better Man than a Trumpet to proclaim you a good one Plain dealing is a Jewel and will appear so one day though now there be much more of it at the Mill than about the Throne And I do account that Earthly-Gods themselves are seldom so richly treated as my Friends that be entertained with these Complements Sc. That BARONETS must perish without the New-Birth That A Repenting Lazarus is of better Estate than a Jovial Dives That A Grain of holy Faith is worth more than a Mountain of pure Gold That In the Day of Judgment Christ will be Ashamed of the Greatest that are now Ashamed of Christianity That Royal Heads Honourable and Worshipful Ones must worship God's Majesty or bear his Fury That There is no Safety for the Highest on Earth without Trust in the most High in Heaven That They shall suffer eternal Death who Love not Christ Jesus above the richest Life That No Greatness can save them from Vengeance who deny Christ Reverence That Whatever their Rank is in this World their Portion shall be everlasting Shame who do not all that they do to God's Glory That The most Prosperous who will not submit to God's Afflicting-hand shall not escape his Revenging-hand That If they Love not their Enemies and Bless them that Curse them and Do good to them that Hate them and Pray for them that Despitefully use them and Persecute them they shall not be the Children of God Finally that Whosoever of them shall Live without Dying Thoughts he shall Die without Living Comforts SIR My
Prayers cease not to Ascend for You your Pious Consort and eminently Hopeful Branches May You ever be more and more Honours to them and They be more and more Joys unto You. May neither of You now sleep in the Afternoon for to that Time of Day it is come in your Lives And may both of Them have their Noon and Evening answerable to their fair Morning May Self-denial be Your and their Business without which all Religion is but your Play May your Prosperity neither slay or so much as wound you in your Eye may the Paradises which have no Tree of Life in them be contemned though they are possessed May great Roots under Ground make you great Trees above it rich Truth in the inner-parts make you rich in good Works May you prefer Heaven above Earth as manifestly as others prefer it above Hell Not accounting your selves to have much profited in Christianity till you count that you have nothing else to profit much in And always remembring that if you take not the Kingdom of Heaven by force the Kingdom of Hell will take you by it May the Mercy of the Lord rest upon the Family of the Ashhursts and his Righteousness be to their Childrens Children Under many Obligations and in sweet Hopes thus prayeth SIR Your Honourer and Humble Servant DANIEL BURGESS BOOKS published by Mr. Robert Fleming 1. THe Fulfilling of the Scripture In three Parts 2. The Confirming Work of Religion 3. The Treatise of Earthquakes 4. The Epistolary Discourse Dedicated to the Queen's Majesty 5. The One thing Necessary 6. The Survey of Quakerism 7. The Present Aspect of the Times 8. The Healing Work written twelve Years ago upon the account of Divisions among Professors in Scotland A SERMON on the Death of Mr. Robert Fleming 1 COR. XV. 55 56 57. O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory The Sting of Death is Sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law But Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ubi est Aculeus tuus O Mors Ubi est Victoria tua Inferne Syriac Ubi suprema Vis tua O Mors Arabic Ubi igitur Mortis Victoria Ubi igitur Mortis Stimulus Aethiopic UPON this mournful Occasion I present this Text as a Pearl-Cordial and the most Restorative that I could find in the Divine Dispensatory Wonderful Words it consists of such as seem too high to be uttered below Heaven and too soon-spoken before the Resurrection But what Heavenly Scribe wrote them you do all know and with how like a Boldness and Bravery of Faith our holy FLEMING did use to sing them all of you are not ignorant They are made the Theme of this Discourse for this end that they may also become our Song in the House of our Pilgrimage There are obvious in them A triumphant Song v. 55. A justifying Reason v. 56. A holy Gratulation v. 57. A triumphant Song wherein Rhetorick hath even exhausted it self such is the Melody of its Prosopopaeia speaking to Death and the Grave as Persons and not Things Such is the Pungency of its Interrogation which doth not here doubt but upbraid and insult Such the Elegancy of the Meiosis covering the biggest part of its meaning asking no more than what is become of their Power to hurt though meaning that both are made to work for Good Such is the Glory of the Celeusma and Shout wherein Victory Faith and Joy as above Expression are published in Form of Admiration O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory O Death O Grave our one Enemy bearing these two Names once so strong as to conquer all and so cruel as to spare none once a Dragon that swallowed up the World an Abaddon and Apolluon of Jewish World and Gentile Christian Faith now dares look thee in the Face and ask in Zebul's Words to Gaal Where is now thy Mouth It proclaims thee to be as the Beast in the Revelation which was and is not yea as a corrected Viper of an horrid Poison to be made a sovereign Medicine of a King of Terrors to be made a gracious Prince of Peace the loathsom Prison of thy Grave to be turned to a quiet Bed-chamber and thy Sepulchers to be no more Hell's Gates Camero in Myrothec in Mat. 16.18 but Heaven's Porches It is true thou retainest Power to kill the Bodies of Saints but having so done thou canst do no more and what is it that thou dost therein Thou killest but makest not an end of them Thou curest them of Sin their loathsom Disease and art a real Saviour and but a seeming Destroyer Power indeed thou hast sometimes to affrighten Souls Abraham our Father was affrighted by thee Gen. 12. David the valiant was also scared 1 Sam. 21. Miserably thou didst terrify upright Hezekiah Isa 38. And Peter's Magnanimity vanished at a Shadow of thee Mat. 26. But egregiam laudem spolia ampla Is this thy Praise To affrighten is no more than every Shadow can do and what is more inglorious than a Bugbear that is harmless Thy affrightning Believers speaks much Weakness in them but not any Strength in thee It is confessed as for thy Appearance it is as of a Curse and not a Blessing Thou comest with a Warrant in thy Hand from the supreme King and irresistably turnest all Flesh into Destruction Upon thy devouring Sword Christians do read Sin 's terrible Mark though Socinian Eyes see nothing but mere Nature's Puncturâ peccati morimur is the Saints Motto They believe thee sent from their God to execute Wrath on their Sins and full often do fear thee sent to inflict it on their Souls so much do thy cruel Hands look like God's vindictive ones but simillimum non est idem And what art thou O Death but as the End of Plants and Brutes and the Ruine of Sinners so the Gain of Believers such a Gain as passeth Understanding and maketh their holy Faith to proclaim thee more than a spoiled Spoiler even a good and faithful Servant become unto them a Servant unto thy old Servants who were all their days subject to Bondage through fear of thee all the days of their Christless Estate subject to Bondage But now that they are Christ's thou O Death art theirs Thy Name hath a Place in the Inventory of their Goods 1 Cor. 3. Feed on then upon thy Egyptians Psal 49.14 But know O Pharaoh and thy Princes O Death and thy Harbingers the Heads of Leviathan are broken in pieces they are given to be Meat to Israelites inhabiting the Wilderness Psal 74.14 If it be insolently said that this Triumph is too loud that Death is the great Fear of none but little Souls and deserves not so lofty a Song or that it is not yet so dead but that it has Sting enough left to pinch and pain and poison its most
exulting Victors and Strength enough to hold them in its Dungeon till the Resurrection This Mouth of Infidelity is presently stopped Here follows A justifying Reason such as clears the Triumph from the Charge of Absurdity It is confessed if Death were but it self and not Pars minima sui it would be unworthy of the Honour of being insulted over it would be an Insect of an inconsiderable Sting if not a perfect Drone An Enemy too despicable to be triumphed over with Harp and Psaltery nor would Christians blow a Trumpet for the Overthrow of a Wasp But Death's Name is Legion and as it 's an Host of Enemies in one it is a formidable one The Sting of Death is Sin q. d. Sin is the whole Element of Evil it is all the Evil of Doing Nothing beside is Evil essentially or meritoriously This Hell of Sin being infused into Death makes it like it self even the whole Element of Misery and all the Evil of Suffering where then if not here shall be found a Trophy for Faith Here in Death envenomed by Sin By Sin whereof a Spark made Devils of the most blessed Creatures And no more than the imputed Guilt made the ever-living God to sweat Blood Seems this to be a Paradox Hear then The Strength of Sin is the Law q. d. No wonder that Sin is so pernicious a thing for the Curse of the Divine Law is on it And who can think what is God's Power or his Law 's Terror His Law must be like himself as in its Precepts and Promises so in its Threats The Punishments of so great a King must necessarily be great The Breach of his Law 's Duty can deserve no less than Extremity and Eternity of Misery and the Curse laid upon it is no less No marvel then that Sin 's Guilt maketh a Hell of Death being the Law 's Curse maketh Sin a worse thing than Death or Hell an Evil that Hell it self must have all Eternity to punish But over both Law and Sin God giveth us the Victory As fiery as this Law is Christ's Blood quencheth it As boiling a Furnace as it makes of Sin it cannot make Sin to be the Death of a Believer's Soul These the worst of Enemies are first slain For upon our first believing Christ's Righteousness is imputed and by that Imputation the Law 's Curse and Sin 's Condemnation are removed Over them we have Triumph sounded Rom. 7.4 Ye are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ And ver 24 25. Who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death's Dominion is therefore at an end though its Power to kill the most holy Body and to detain the most sacred Dust for a time be not taken from it In short the Grace of Christ hath made Sin a broken Enemy the Law a kind Friend and Death a useful Servant Doth the Saints Triumph therefore precede or exceed Victory let the Wise judg When Israel was brought through the Red Sea what Songs of Praise were straitway sung though they had a howling Desart to be passed through and were not presently in Canaan Their Songs injected Terror to the Dukes of Edom and the mighty Men of Moab Yea the Greeks no sooner heard the Articles of Peace purchased for them by Titus Flaminius but they cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Saviour a Saviour Plutarch in vit T. Flam. And with such Shouts of Joy as made the Air to ring and the Birds to drop down astonished A deep Lethargy it is that maketh Christians Joy to be less while their Reason for it is infinitely more That restrains them from such Triumph as would make the Infidel World to tremble But O where shall Offerings and whole Burnt-offerings be found For this Victory this Inchoate one Lebanon is not sufficient or the Cattel upon a thousand Hills But as Jehoshaphat in Berachah the Saints throughout the Earth do bless the Captain of their Salvation and Conquest The next Verse and Breath is An holy Gratulation A lovely Heaven of it in a little Globe of Words Thanks be to God! To the Father Son and Spirit our One God be all holy Obedience Whereof Gratitude is the principal Part that which contains and animates all Laws bind to Obedience and Benefits unto Thankfulness But God our Law-giver is in all things our Benefactor His very Laws all are Benefits To him be therefore all Obedient Thankfulness and all Thankful Obedience To him Who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Of his Saints Victory we publish the Truth We declare his Gift of Grace to be the Original We testify the Limitation of this Gift unto Believers only and the Extent of it unto all Believers As well to Babes in the Cradle of Christianity as the oldest Mnason's in God's Kingdom We proclaim the never to be forgotten Purchaser of it the Lord Jesus Christ Whose Death gave the Angel of Death his mortal Wound Whose Resurrection certified and exemplified Believers Whose Righteousness by Faith received instateth them in the Power of an endless Life Whose Sanctifying Spirit mortifieth sinful Lusts which be not the least Stings of Death Whose Comforting Spirit takes out the Pain and Anguish that Sin sticketh into our Souls And whose Glorious Appearing one day will fulfil his old Word to a tittle O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Waving all others the Argument I take hence is this Holy Believers on Christ do rejoice in their Victory over Death Truly Righteously and Holily they rejoice in their Salvation by Christ They sing O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory c. The Plural Number in which he speaks may assure us that the Apostle sung in Consort Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory And it shall be shown that this Text is all the Holy Catholick Church's Song Which while Militant is so far triumphant We may say of Death and of all Enemies in Combination with it as St. John saith of the World Whosoever is born of God overcometh them And this is the Victory that overcomes them even our Faith Consequently he that overcometh and shall not be hurt of the second Death must take it for his Duty and make it his Practice to joy in the Lord and rejoice in the God of his Salvation But lest with the Dogs I should shut Children out of the Church-Doors and wound any that have already the Arrows of the Almighty sticking in them I must premise two things Obstructions are allowed for It is not affirmed that all or any Believers do always rejoice Full oft they are hindred by Bodily Maladies by Mental Mistakes by Satan's Buffetings and by Divine Desertions Under which their Harp is turned to Mourning and their Organ into the Voice of them that weep And Secondly Degrees be wondrously different Of them that sing Triumph the Voice of some is as Thunder which all
State of Grace but verbis mentalibus by secret spiritual Words by internal mysterious Whispers testifying unto them that they are in that blessed State For the Matter of Witnessing is more than Enabling a Person to read his Evidence In Westminster-hall he would not be taken for a Witness who should do no more than hold a Candle to one reading his Evidence But the Holy Ghost the Comforter is expresly named a Witness to Believers of their being taken into the Number and being bless'd with all the Privileges of the Sons of God Ordinarily therefore I say that Believers do know the Cause of Joy that they have Though as hath been foresaid Times of Desertion there are in which they know it not And it is most certain the heavenly Comforter doth not at all times comfort Nor is joyful Assurance of the very Essence of justifying saving Faith But by reason of fore-named Obstructions Children of Light may sit all their days in the Dark and in the Deeps And ascend to Heaven at last in a thick Cloud Otherwise we do all generally believe and teach that the Spirit of Adoption being given unto Sons as Sons of God he is given unto every Child of God And commonly they do know themselves Conquerors who are in Christ and are not reprobate unsound Christians This being admitted they must be dead and not lively Stones as St. Peter calls them if they Rejoice not They must cease to be Men if they become not joyful Ones They must be stupified as soon as Justified and Adopted For the Humane Nature hath an inseparable Instinct and Power which on good Tidings heard doth transport Minds and Bodies into Expressions of Gladness Diffusing Spirits and by them sending forth the News trying as it were by communicating to multiply it Gaudio cogendi vis inest The Roman Orator says and all Men feel it Joy enters with a Violence and with a grateful Violence that we are not able to resist breaks forth from us Who thinks that David was able to forbear his Dance before the Ark Or that the healed Cripple could contain himself from Running Leaping and Praising God We have read of them who have died of Joy and it is true which one saith Should Believers have the Degrees of Assurance which imprudently they do sometimes desire they must presently Die for Joy or be kept Alive by Miracle In short then Believers must put off Nature if they rejoice not in Christ's Grace They must be without natural Affection if they be without any spiritual Consolation if ordinarily they be so Secondly Believers are wise Men And it is Wisdom to rejoice in such Felicity as Victory over Death In the Day of Prosperity Nature necessitates Joy and Reason enforces it For Happiness is a Feast made for Mirth and how monstrous a Folly must it be to frustrate so kind a Design upon us Wisdom is a true Gust and right Relish of things Sapit cui res sapiunt ita ut sunt But how far be they from it who taste no Sweetness in the Milk and Honey that flow in this Victory Hearts delighting not themselves in Substances do most certainly delight themselves in Shadows And what a Delusion is that what a gathering together of all Folly and a very Sea of it The Laughter of Wretches laden with Irons or standing on the Ladder ready for Execution seems not greater Madness than the Disconsolateness of them when they are both pardoned and advanced Should the Saints and Angels in Heaven cease rejoicing it were to be asked What Wisdom is in them They would be to be charged with extreme Folly Unreasonable it would be for them to give over Rejoicing as it would be for Devils and damned Ghosts to begin And yet it is most certain that Justified and Adopted Believers have as true Cause of Joy as Angels and glorified Spirits are in a State only in Degree less blessed consequently have as true Reason to sing Hosannah's here below as they to sing Hallelujah's above and cannot but hold on Songs of Joy in the House of their Pilgrimage without first becoming sensless of their Conquest Joyful Praise is comely for them Nor is Triumph on the way to Hell more unreasonable than on the way to Heaven it is discreet In a word To think that Saints did ordinarily incur and indulge the Guilt of its Neglect would be to think them what the World stiles them Men besides themselves This Guilt would be a dead Fly in their Ointment and make it to send forth so stinking a Savour of the most loathsom Folly Thirdly Believers are Righteous Men and it is their Justice to be glad and triumph in their Victory over Death Justice witholds not what is due when it is in the Power of its Hand to repay To repay Vengeance to Evil-doers and Praise to them that do well Death and its Complices the Law Sin Satan and Hell are Enemies that have tragically used Believers made them to bear God knows what shamed them and tempted them to curse the Day of their Birth held them subject to Bondage through Fear all the time that they laid under their Power A holy Revenge is now owing to Sin and to Satan and now that through Christ they are taken out of those cruel Hands they are able to pay it able to expose them and put them to open Shame to shew abroad how they themselves have been used by one mightier than they how the Law as damning is abolished Sin is condemned Satan's Head is bruised Death is plagued the Grave is destroyed and Hell hath its Mouth stopp'd On the contrary there is no finding out to Perfection the Breadth and Length the Depth and Height of God's Grace The Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord passeth all Vnderstanding His Grace and his Gift by Grace unto Believers are ineffable infinitely free without Merit in us or any Motive Astonishingly rich while we were Enemies most defiled and deformed ones and equally without Power to resist damning Justice and without the Prudence to ask Saving-Mercy Angels our Elders and Betters were not pitied but irreversably doomed to Destruction More than Angels and all the Creation was worth was given to redeem us even as much more than they are worth as God by Essence exceedeth the mere Creature Christ is God by eternal Essence and yet God spared not that his Son but gave him up to redeem Rebels whereat Hell envies and Heaven wonders A vast Tribute of Praise must hence rise due so due that if Believers be silent the Stones must needs cry out Believers that now are no longer Mutes have the dumb Devil expell'd and their Mouths opened for Praise their Tongues touched with a Coal from the holy Altar and qualified to lift up the Name of their Redeemer But what save Triumph in their Victory through him can render to Death the things that are Death's or to Christ the things that are Christ's If Faith doth not now play
Gift so suted to a Creature 's Need as Believer's Victory is Herein being in themselves dead in Christ they are made alive Being blind they receive their sight Being weak they are made strong Being miserable they are made blessed Being mutable they are eternally established Joh. 6.57 As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me shall live by me They must therefore die for Joy who joy too much for their Victory And scarcely could that it self be called too much Fourthly So Sumptuous an One All the World rates high what is bought dear But was there ever such a Purchase as the Believer's Conquest It astonished the Angels Our Saviour mentions it not without Wonder Joh. 3.16 The Price was the very Blood of God And only the Mind of God can comprehend the Worth of the Blood of God Wherefore of the most triumphant Joy herein it is boldly to be asked Is there not a Cause Fifthly So Rare a Blessing Rarity doth extremely enhanse Value Diamonds would be no Idols if they were no Rarities Yea what would Crowns be if every Head wore one It is what few attain that all do admire Now of Believers Victory who knows not how little there is of Commonness to take away from the Comfort Alas of the Many called to it how Few are chosen how Few will come to Christ for it And of the lapsed Angels not so much as One recovered his Fall Believers highest Joy is then surely unblamable if Rarity makes good things delectable and adds Sweetness to Hony it self Sixthly So Present an One It is most true absent Good is the Object but of Desire it must be present before it can be embraced with Delight Infidels ask therefore of Believers Are they not mad Mad to pretend their Souls filled with the Marrow and Fatness of things far from them But they are to be told Believers are not drunken as they suppose It is in things present that they exult Present though to the World invisible And real though every where spoken against as very Chimera's The Glories of their Victory are present in the Eye of Faith seeing them in the Hand of Faith receiving them in the Mouth of Faith tasting them Or to speak more to the Capacities of Infidel Objectors it must be said that the Blessing wherein they rejoice is in their Minds in daily Contemplation is in their Hearts in constant Expectation is in their whole-Man in sweet Fruition And how are the things in which they themselves do triumph any more or otherways present to them Do natural things incur their natural Senses As truly do spiritual Ones incur the spiritual Senses of Believers Whose spiritual Sight and Taste do therefore make their Exultations as just No more Candles shall be lighted in this Sun I proceed to evince that the Souls so joyful and thankful are holy that §. 3. Believers do triumph Holily over Death Their Laughter is not Madness If it be asked of their Mirth what doth it it must be answered It doth on Earth what Saints and Angels Mirth doth in Heaven It gives Praise and Thanks to God and to the Lamb For O Death where is thy Sting never goes before but Thanks be to God follows fast after Thankful Repentance thankful Faith Hope and Love thankful New-Obedience Blind Seers are the Romanists and others who teach otherwise And would bear us in hand that Assurance of Victory over Death is a Wine too strong for the Head of any Viator any living Believer Such whose Mirth would be Madness and the Joy of it turn the Grace of God into Wantonness Dispose us to nothing but Sloth and Security Pride and Presumption But what do the Arguings of Men so sensual and void of the Spirit of Faith avail It is true there are Wretches of slight and frothy Spirits who will be boasting of a false Gift a Cloud without Water Proclaim their wondrous Joy and speak swelling words though their Cloven-feet do manifestly confute their flaming Tongues And not walking in the Fear of the Lord it is sure they do not walk in the Joy of the Holy Ghost No small stumbling Block this hath been to Men of Senses not exercised to discern But these following Particulars will convince or confound all Gain-sayers First The Efficient Worker of the Joy and Triumph we speak of is the Holy Ghost Expresly it is named his Whose Operations no doubt are holy and make for Holiness His comforting Work tending as much to sanctify as his sanctifying Work tendeth to comfort us A contrary Thought would be Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and plainly make him a Minister of Sin Secondly The Law of this Joy is the Holy Gospel Believers Joy is as surely by the Gospel's Warrant as by the Spirit 's Work For he never speaketh of his own never as a Judg speaks Life and Joy to any but those to whom the Gospel as the Law of Grace and Peace doth assign it There is a perfect Consent between Christ's Spirit and his Word The Joy given by one is given by both And to think that the Joy by them given is a Servant of Sin were fearfully to blaspheme both belying them with a Brow of Brass Thirdly The End of this Joy is holy Conversation Whereby is our heavenly Father glorified but by our bringing forth much Good Fruit Or what doth he either constitute in his Word or dispense by his Spirit but for the End that he may thereby be glorified If we imagine that this Joy of Believers so constituted and so dispensed for this End is no apt Means for it but for the contrary how foolishly must we charge him who is only wise Fourthly The Means whereby this Joy is wrought are holy Ordinances and vigorous Exercise of Grace therein The holy Spirit useth not to lift Souls out of the Hell of their Fears much less to lift them up to the Heaven of triumphant Joys but in this Way And is it likely that the Effect should be an Enemy to its Causes That the Believer's Joy like a Viper should be Death to its Parents That Communion with God should beget such a Delight in him as should make us by and by weary of him Fifthly The Subjects of this Joy are holy Souls others are uncapable of it nor need we say what Use they would make of it who make the worst use of all the Grace objective and subjective that they do receive Most sure it is the holy Spirit first worketh Grace then witnesseth it to be in a Man and so comforteth him and causeth him to triumph in his State of Grace Christ is formed in the Soul before the Soul rejoiceth in Christ and it is then a prepared Subject for Joy is it not And who can believe that then like a Dunghil it will be made the fuller of Stench and noisom Fumes by the Shines of Heaven on it and not like a Garden have its Spices flow forth the more
exalted to the glorious Joy that it promises Lazy Desires of Comfort on other Conditions will shame you much and profit you nothing Seventhly Ply all appointed Means for recovering your Loss Be much in the Ordinances wherein you first found Comfort Read much the Gospel which was written that Saints Joy might be full Hear it much as preached by Christ's Ministers who are given to be Helpers of your Joy Pray much our Saviour having said Ask and ye shall receive that your Joy may be full Look much to Christ in the Seals of the Covenant also until you are lightned Of all Ordinances they are the highest Restoratives Lastly Resolve to follow God though he never in this Life repair your Loss To follow him and persevere in his Service mournfully if you cannot comfortably Yea and labour to show all about you that you are so sensible of your Transgressions and of his punishing you less than they deserve that your Soul loves him and blesses him for his Essential Goodness and his Benignity even whilst he giveth you no Kid to make merry Thus Wait on the Lord and he shall renew your Strength He giveth Power to the Faint and to them that have no Might he increaseth Strength A few Words remain to be spoken §. 3. To those of you that are Singing O Death where is thy Sting c. First Forget not your envious Enemy Satan envies none so much as you who are mounted on the highest Pinacle of the Temple If he casts you down the Greatness of your Fall gives an Eminence to his Conquest And he will spare no Pains for his Glory in your Shame Secondly Remember your undoubted Duty i. e. Of doing more than others Walking more Holily Righteously and Soberly than other Saints even Saints more aged and more richly gifted For it is to you of all Saints on the Earth that much is given and from whom much is required Much more than was required from you before you were taken up into this third Heaven Thirdly Consider the Difficulty of kindling again the Fire that is easily quenched Your Joy is a holy Flame but it is extinguishable by one Sin of Presumption And then where are you That Measure of Repentance that fitted you for your first Consolation will not fit you for its Renovation Fourthly Bind the Gospel-Covenant about your Neck Write it on the Table of your Heart It hath been said He who understands this is a good Divine Sure I am he that shall not keep it as the Apple of his Eye is not like to be a joyful Christian very long Let the Terms hereof slip out of our Minds we are strait-way like the Waves of the Sea at the Mercy of the next Wind that blows Fifthly Fear Motes as truly as Beams Gnats as Camels Your greatest Danger is of incurring the Guilt of Sins comparatively least And Fear of falling into them is a Means of keeping free from them Bear it ever in your Minds then though Rapes do not violate Wedlock yet a wanton Glance which is a wilful Wickedness strikes at the heart of it And Bodkins do stab as mortally as broad Swords Sixthly Defer not to pay your Vows Few I suppose do come to the Joy of Faith without this natural Worship of Vowing to God But surely none that perfidiously break their Vows do long hold their Joys Jacob stiled usually the Father of Vows paid dear for his Unmindfulness of them Seventhly Be Eyes to the Blind Feet to the Lame and make the Hearts of your disconsolate Brethren to sing for Joy As much as in you lies this do For this End among others are you comforted that you might comfort others by the Comfort wherewith you are comforted of God If you neglect this Duty no wonder if your Sun be turned into Darkness and your Joy into Mourning No wonder if God withdraw from you and Sin and Satan getting advantage against you do again plunge you into the Pit where there is no Water He that withholdeth Corn the People shall curse him He that withholdeth spiritual Bread from the Poor and Needy his God will chastise him But the liberal Soul shall be made and kept fat he that watereth shall be watered also himself His Heart shall rejoice and his Joy no Man shall take from him To conclude Would you not lose the Sense of God's Love Would you not bear anew his hot Displeasure Would you not be loaded with oppressing Appresions of his temporal Judgments Would you not be scorched with Fears of being eternally rejected by him Would you not be perfectly dispirited unto Duty and be made to cry as David I am not able to look up These things then do and the God of Peace shall be with you God your Maker shall give you Songs in every Night Your Redeemer shall be a Prince of Peace as well as of Righteousness to you The Holy Ghost your Sanctifier shall make you to know him by his glorious Attribute the Comforter Wherefore be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the Work of the Lord for as much as ye know your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. Piety and Charity do require that somewhat be now said of the rare Servant of Christ whose Decease hath occasioned this Discourse Mr. ROBERT FLEMING a Name most worthy of precious and everlasting Memory A Saint in whose Life and Death the holy Triumph of my Text hath been admirably exemplified Piety I say requires it for Saints Characters are God's Praises more than theirs And Charity requires it for the Example of their Graces and Comforts more edifieth the Church than Doctrinal Arguments and Motives Very Sacrilege therefore it would be a Robbery of God and his Church to be silent of this Saint this One of a Thousand To cover his unexpressable Grace as Painters used to do Agamemnon's Grief with a Vail and to say nothing because the one half cannot be told would be but a proud Humility Panegyrick and Encomium indeed here needs not be any The Jews say true in this Just Men do find sufficient Stones for their Monuments All that is needed or intended is a plain Narrative what our FLEMING was and what he did What he was through the Grace of God and what he did or rather what the Grace of God did in him A copious Subject this is and lest the Multitude of things memorable overwhelm us in this Order they are presented His COUNTREY was Scotland Honoured by God the Fountain of Honour Honourable with Saints the next-best Judges of Honour And the more honourable for the Birth of this renowned Saint therein Which was An. 1630 at Bathens alias Easter the Seat of the Earls of Tweddale where his Reverend Father Mr. James Fleming was long a Minister of the Gospel Serpent's Hissings are despised if any thing less earthly stirs its Tongue against the Church of Scotland as sufficient to their Shame it is here told what is well known The most Learned Prince that ever
swayed the Scepter of these Kingdoms affirmed it to be the purest of all the Reformed Churches And the Divine to whom the Prelacy the Dissenters and the Foreign Churches do rise up with greatest Veneration as to a Theological Prince doth now name that Church the Morning-Star of the Reformation Of his PARENTAGE suffice it to be said He was the Seed of God's Friends His Family was Honourable in its Relations and most eminent for Religion His EDUCATION was first in the College of Edinburgh Wherein he ran through the Course of Philosophy with great Applause And made laudable progress in the Learned Languages Then translated to the University of St. Andrew's he travelled through Theology under the Conduct of the Learned and Holy Mr. Rutherford His NATURAL PARTS were excellent His Vnderstanding quick and penetrative His Judgment clear and profound His Fancy rich and fluent His Memory strong His Expression masculine and of a Grace that did take with those who were not unacquainted with his Idiotisms and Accents By which it was indeed clouded to us of England His ACQUIRED LEARNING was great Answerable to his happy Parts and their Culture Through the Divine Blessing on his pious Diligence it was Rathe-Ripe History the Eye of Learning he singularly affected Especially Sacred History the Right Eye But unto him all History was sacred for he considered God's Actions more than Man 's in all of it Nor valued he Man's but for the Knowledg of God's With whose holy Counsels and Ways he was so well acquainted that before he was 23 Years old he was called to a Pastoral Charge And was settled therein at Campuslang in the Shire of Cliddsdale Where he served his God till the Year 1661. In which the Storm rose that drave out thousands whereof the Age was not worthy He had taken in Marriage Christina Hamilton justly famed for her Person Gifts and Graces which were all eximious By her he had seven Children and with them and himself sweetly committed unto his God's Provision he humbly received the Honour of his Ejection Of the Children the Lord received to himself three of them before their Mother and two of them since Blessed be his Name two do still survive As for WORLDLY SUBSTANCE his Share seems according to Agur's Desire He hath told me that as Luther he never to his knowledg desired much of it or was very careful about it During the most tragical days his Table was spread and Cup filled and Head anointed with fresh Oil. Liberally his Children were educated and in good Works he was profusely rich Of his own Laying up I have good warrant to say he had no Treasure but in Heaven His own Testimony of his Life was this It was one made up of seeming Contraries Great outward Trouble and great inward Comfort And I never found said he more Comfort than when I was under most Affliction Touching his NAME and NOTE in the World this only shall be said Against all his Projects and Pains to restrain it his Fame hath flown thrô the Christian World His Conferences Sermons and Writings made it too big and too bright to be covered A Name more sweet and precious and more generally so to Christians of all Minds and Gusts I Hear not of nor Read I any one To the Praise of our English Court I write it the Sun and Moon as well as other rare Stars thereof admired holy Fleming and shone propitiously on him May the everlasting Love of his God be the Reward of their Love unto his faithful Servant But I am yet in the lower Hemisphere More high and honourable things remain to be said of this Man of God! His CONVERSION to his God was early and illustrious It was but a little while that he had dwelt in this World before God dwelt in him and he in God And that so evidently by the Exilience of all Christian Vertues that little more doubt was made of his being Born of God than of his being Born of a Woman His WALK with God was admirable And to the many of this Age will seem incredible It is certain not one Enoch of many doth walk so exactly So universally in all holy Ways and so humbly with Self-denial to Extremity It was extraordinarily that his Spirit was composed for Adoration and accordingly his Life was a Life of Worship extraordinary His Solemn Dedications of himself to his God were frequent His Soliloquies with him almost perpetual He was ever with Him And his always-serene Countenance spake it enlightned always by the Divine One. His always-gracious Speech shewed from what Altar the Coal touched his Tongue Not without cause it hath been a Fear that should his Diary come abroad most Readers would be too weak Vessels for his strong Wine His ACTIVITY for God in his Ministry was such as was to be expected from a Mr. Fleming From a large Soul comprehensive of the Interests of God and his Church and the World the present Age and future And from a Soul most enflamed with Love and thereby constrained to spend it self and be spent for no petty Faction or Party but for Certain and Catholick Christianity What a Writer he was needeth not here to be written In Preaching he was Boanerges and Barnabas also Nor knew any Man better how to use Law and Gospel without either opposing or confounding them For Converse and for all things useful what might Campuslang testify of him What might Edinburgh and adjacent Places wherein after his Ejection he lived and laboured What might Rotterdam say where from the Year 1678 to this present Year he burned and shined The Sun I think stood still all the time wherein he had no Design for God going on It is well known the Sun of his Life did set upon an excellent Design Which was of sending forth a Treatise concerning the Way of the Holy Ghost's working on the Souls of Men especially after Conversion in Communion between God and them His SUCCESS from God given in his Work was not ordinary He had a numerous spiritual Progeny And they are very many who have thankfully commemorated in my hearing their Benefit from his Writings The Holy Spirit that bloweth in whose Books he listeth hath singularly honoured his And I well know doth still continue to honour them Of both his surviving Sons it must be said though it be here a very high word they do Patrizare And do make it manifest that the holy Saint's Prayers were heard and his Pains richly prospered unto them His PEACEFULNESS in God's House is by no means to be omitted Controversies he declined not because of Insufficiency but of Dislike Seeing better than others do or will see that many Errors will be sooner struck to death by a Just Contempt than by a Full Confutation And will be less apt to revive after they have been generously disdained than after that they have been operously exploded Well he knew and oft he would say what a Servant the Bond of Love is