Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom And Christ hath made all his Members Kings and Priests Rev. 1.6 A Royal Priesthood 1 Pet. 2.9 And therefore a Crown or Diadem which is the Ensign of Majesty and Royalty is very aptly used to express their future Estate by which is an Allusion to the Political use of the Crown 2. Eternal Bliss is called a Crown in allusion to those Crowns or Garlands which were used in rewarding such as conquered in the Olympick Contentions which was an Agonistical Use of the Crown to which St. Paul seems here to have alluded Those who conquered in Fighting or overcame in Running or in Wrestling had their several Crowns bestowed on them Now Paul had fought a good Fight and had finished his Course and therefore his Reward shall be a Crown not like theirs a corruptible Crown of Flowers or Herbs which are soon wither'd but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that never fades 1 Cor. 9.25 Which is called by our Saviour a Crown of Life Rev. 2.10 And by St. Peter a Crown of Glory 1 Pet. 5.4 And here by St. Paul a Crown of Righteousness and that not as if it were merited by his Righteousness as some would have it but 1. Because it is a Reward of Righteousness not of our deserving but of God's free giving The Crown is given to such and such only as are Righteous though not for the merit of their Righteousness God rewards and crowns his own Graces in his Children Godliness hath the Promises of this Life and that which is to come 2. Because it is a Crown due unto the Righteousness and Merits of Jesus Christ who hath merited it for us and hath made us Kings and Priests unto his Father 3. Because it is a Crown which God in Righteousness will give unto us as merited for us by Christ Jesus Hence it is said emphatically here which the Lord the Righteous Judg shall give me Christ shall give it adjudicando by adjudging it to us and his Father tradendo by delivery Christ by Sentence the Father by actual Execution So much be spoken of the first Particular the Reward it self The second follows which is II. The Certainty of this Reward laid up for me Wherein we have a double Certitude expressed 1. Objecti sive Rei 2. Subject live Spei Fidei 1. Here is a Certitude of the thing it self the Crown shall certainly and really be bestowed and conferred upon Paul in the Issue he shall not miss of it Thus much is intimated in the word laid up which implies 1. That it is appointed and set apart for him and so it was Designatione Patris by the Father's election Merito Filii by Christ's purchase and Promissione Verbi by the word of Promise 2. It is prepared and provided Hence it is called a Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World Mat. 25.34 And our Saviour tells his Disciples John 14.2 3. I go to prepare a place for you And surely great must that needs be which He prepares and which hath been so long in preparing 3. Laid up implyes that this Crown is kept safe and preserved hence said to be reserved for us in the Heavens 1 Pet. 1.4 whither none can break through to steal it away 4. Laid up also out of sight to be seen only by the Eye of Faith Hope which is laid up for you in Heaven Col. 1.5 Not seen but nevertheless sure because safely laid up and being discerned by the Eye of Faith it ministers abundant cause of Joy and Comfort as may be inferred from 1 Pet. 1.8 2. Here St. Paul professes a Certitude or Assurance which he had in his own Soul that he should receive the Crown For me for him in particular David saith Verily there is a Reward for the Righteous but Paul saith for me by a particular application to himself A true Believer then it seems may attain unto an assurance of his own salvation He may be assured of his present state that he is passed from Death to Life and he may be assured also that he shall persevere and be kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation And therefore St. Peter exhorts to give all diligence to make your Calling and Election sure 2 Pet. 1.10 Our Election by our Calling observe the order And St. Paul speaketh expresly Rom. 8.38 39. I am perswaded that neither Death nor Life shall separate us from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. There he declares his assurance of Perseverance and he speaks for others as well as himself separate us And so here in the Text Not to me only but unto all them also that love his appearing And the way to attain unto this assurance of Perseverance and Salvation St. Peter hath shewed us 2 Pet. 1.5 8 10. Add unto Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledg c. 1. Get true Grace into your hearts a Principle of spiritual Life and grow in Grace 2. Act Grace vigorously For if these things be in you and abound they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful for if ye do these things ye shall never fall And surely they may know that they do them In like manner St. Paul argues here I have fought a good Fight c. Henceforth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word in the Greek hath the force of an Illative therefore ergo or igitur and so we may find it translated in H. Stephan as if Paul had here said more expresly Hence I conclude and infer it remains and follows not only in sequence of Time but by consequence and force of Argument relinquitur tanquam emergens è praemissis it follows from the premisses of an holy Life There is laid up for me a Crown of Life Where St. Paul's way of arguing himself into his Assurance is very observable and deserves to be taken notice of as the best and most usual way whereby all Believers may come to be assured of their Salvation And thus he argues All those that love Christ's appearing shall receive a Crown of Righteousness But I am one of those who love Christ's appearing Therefore I shall receive a Crown of Righteousness The Major or the first of these Propositions is express in the end of this 8th Verse which Paul was assured of by Faith in the Promises made in general in the Word of God Whosoever believeth shall not dye but hath everlasting Life c. The Minor or second Proposition he gives us the Proof of in that his Profession I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith which whosoever do do also love Christ's appearing And therefore they are put here by Paul as Characteristical of the same Persons If you will have the Argument in form take it thus All that have fought a good Fight love Christ's appearing But I have fought a good Fight Therefore I love Christ's appearing How St. Paul came to be
To assure him of a Crown of Righteousness and by that Assurance mediately to comfort him against the Fear of Death of which I shall speak afterwards 2. By this consideration to comfort himself immediately and next way against the Fear of Death The Testimony of a good Conscience Conscientia rectè factorum doth arm and support a man against the gastly aspect of approaching Death For What is it that makes Death so terrible unto Mortals that the very mention of it makes them tremble like an Aspine-leaf The Apostle tells us The Sting of Death is Sin 1 Cor. 15.56 The guilt of Sin upon the Conscience is that which puts the Heart into such a palpitation For the Conscience knowing that for all those Impieties whereof it keeps the Register it must come to judgment and the Books must be opened and every one must be judged according to what is found written in the Books it dreads Judgment to come as Felix did and cannot but look upon Death as on the grim Serjeant that comes to arrest us and to summon us to judgment This is the Sting in the Tail of Death But now a good Conscience sprinkled with the Blood of Christ that sincerely reports unto us that we have by Faith in the Blood of Christ received him for the Pardon of Sin and gives us in an holy Life in evidence of the Truth of our Faith doth thereby shew that the Promise of the Gospel which was made conditionally is now become absolute unto us and that therefore we are already passed from Death to Life And then being once assured that our Debts are pardoned and the Hand-writing cancelled we fear no longer Death's Arrest but may say with this Apostle O Death where is thy Sting Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through Jesus Christ our Lord 1 Cor. 15.55 56. Thus we see that the Testimony of a good Conscience and nothing else without it can give us true and solid Comfort when we come to dy A wicked man may through the hardness of his Heart and searedness of his Conscience be sensless and stupid in his Death and so fall down like a Log into Hell-flames An erroneous Conscience may make a man brave it out and with Curtius leap desperately into the Gulf of the Bottomless Pit An Hypocrite's Conscience may set a fair outside upon it and dy possibly with seeming Joy but in the midst of Laughter his Heart is sad his Joy is but like the risus Sardonius when Men seem to dy laughing but 't is rather a Rictus than a Risus a grinning of the Teeth than Laughter and shall end in gnashing of Teeth in another World 'T is only the Testimony of a good and pure sincere and enlightned Conscience that can yield a man good ground of true and solid Comfort And therefore St. Paul being now as it were at Death's door takes this Cordial before he knocks hath recourse unto his own Conscience for his Letters Testimonial drawn up from a Survey of an holy and well-led Life and here he finds support And the like he had done before 2 Cor. 1.12 For our rejoycing is this the Testimony of our Conscience that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity we have had our Conversation in the World This also hath been the Practice and Method of other Saints and Servants of God in Scripture who when they were under the apprehension of their approaching Departure have fetcht their Comfort from the lame Topick which St. Paul here made use of viz. the Testimony of a good Conscience concerning their passed Lives and Conversations Thus good Hezekiah Isa 38.1 c. having received that doleful Message the Sentence of Death pronounced by the mouth of the Prophet Set thine House in order for thou shalt dye and not live whence does he look for his Comfort but from the secret witness of his own Soul testifying unto him the Sincerity of his former Course which he is willing to have tryed by the Sun-beams of God's own Knowledg v. 3. Remember now O Lord I beseech thee how I have walke I before thee in Truth and with a perfect Heart and have done that which is good in thy sight Thus Elijah sitting under the Juniper-tree 1 Kin. 19.4 could not with any comfort have desired seriously as he did that God would take away his Life from him had he not had this assurance written on the Table of his own Heart that he had been very Zealous or Jealous for the Lord of Hosts as himself professeth v. 10.1 And how could good old Simeon with joy have sung his Nunc dimittis had he not known in his Conscience what the Gospel reports of him that he was a just and devout Man waiting for the Consolation of Israel Luk. 2.25 As ever therefore we desire to find Comfort in our Death let us lead holy Lives and keep good Consciences as Paul and these other Servants of God did There are scarce any so profligate and given up to all Impiety but do desire Comfort when they come to dy But alas by their wicked Lives they have stop't the Minister's mouth seared the Breasts of Consolation and cut off those Conduit-pipes which should have conveyed Comfort into their Souls There be many who will be ready to say with Balaam O let me dy the Death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his but they will not live the Life of the Righteous Mark the perfect Man and behold the upright for the end of that Man is peace Psal 37.37 But alas what Peace can thy Conscience or any other speak to thee while thy crying Sins and Impieties are so many Light is sown for the Righteous and Joy for the Upright in Heart Psal 97.11 A man may with as much reason expect to reap where he hath not sown as to reap Joy and Comfort in Death without sowing the Seed of it in an holy Life Sow then in thy Life-time what thou wouldest reap when thou comest to dy And thus I have done with St. Paul's First Meditation or his Reflexion upon his former Life well-spent I come to the Second Medit. 2. St. Paul's second Meditation is a Prospect into the Life to come and the Glory of it together with his own Share in it Wherein we have these Severals to be taken into our Consideration 1. The Reward it self called a Crown of Righteousness 2. The Certainty of it in those words laid up for me 3. The Bestower of it the Lord the Righteous Judg shall give me 4. The Time when it shall be bestowed at that day I. The Reward it self which is no other than Eternal Life the Glory and Joys of Heaven Which we have here set forth unto us under the Metaphor of a Crown of Righteousness The Joys and Glory of Heaven are called a Crown 1. Because Eternal Life and Blessedness are promised to us under the Notion of an Heavenly Kingdom Luk. 12.32 Fear not little Flock for it is your
Second Meditation wherein he expresses his Assurance of a glorious Reward a Crown of Righteousness Now let us only see what Use he makes of this Assurance and so conclude Assurance of Salvation is of use unto Believers to encourage them to set upon their Duty with zeal and cheerfulness by inflaming their Love to God the Principle of their Obedience Who will not be encouraged to fight couragiously that is assured of Victory And the Labourer works cheerfully when he is once assured that he shall receive his pay when his work is done And therefore St. Paul exhorts 1 Cor. 15.58 Therefore my beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your Labour is not in vain in the Lord. But the Use which St. Paul here makes of his Assurance is to comfort him against Death approaching The Testimony of his Conscience clear'd from the guilt of Sin did take away the Sting and Fear of Death but this his Certainty and Assurance of Glory doth make Death not only not formidable to him but desirable when once he could say as he did 2 Cor. 5.1 We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens It is no wonder if he said Phil. 1.23 that he had a desire to depart and to be with Christ And when he had said 1 Thess 4.17 So shall we ever be with the Lord he might well add in the next verse Wherefore comfort one another with these words This Consideration affords Comfort unto all faithful Souls in respect of themselves so also to the surviving Relations of such as have with St. Paul fought a good Fight and finish'd their Course and kept the Faith inasmuch as for all such there is laid up a Crown of Righteousness a Crown of Life and Glory which the Lord the Righteous Judg shall give them at that day In which Number we may confidently reckon that vertuous Lady and precious Servant of Jesus Christ the Lady Elizabeth Alston whose Funerals we now celebrate Concerning whom very much might with truth be spoken in her commendation but the suddenness of the Occasion and the time of the Night will not allow me to speak much yet something I crave leave to speak of her Not that she her self when alive desired the praises of men nor that she needs them now being already in the possession of heavenly Glory but that we by recounting to our selves some of her Vertues may become sensible of the greatness of our own loss and setting her eminent Graces before our Eyes may both make them the matter of our giving praise and glory to God and also the Copy and Example of our Christian Imitation She was descended of an eminent Family the Saint-Johns of Woodford in Northampton-shire But she was more highly descended than so and better born being born again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from above as some interpret the word and so neerly related unto him who is called the Branch or Day-spring from on high the Lord of life and glory the Prince of Peace and Saviour of us all By this Line she was a Child of God and born Heir apparent of the Kingdom of Heaven For God did even in her tender years season her Heart with Grace and thereby take possession of her bespeaking her as it were betimes and fitting her for that work which he afterwards made use of her in viz. the seasoning of others with Religion and the holding forth the power of Godliness in the midst of a crooked and perverse Generation among whom she did shine as a Light in the World and did let her Light so to shine before men as that they might see her good Works and glorify her heavenly Father She was towards her Conjugal Relation a most loving faithful and dutiful Wife an Help meet for him Towards her Children a most tender and careful Mother whom she did not satisfy her self to have once brought forth but as St. Paul saith he did of his Galatians Gal. 4.19 she travailed again of them that Christ might be formed in them She was to her Servants kind and merciful especially to their Souls Towards all her Friends true and faithful Towards all with whom she conversed exceeding humble and courteous condescending very much towards them of low degree and especially loving those among them in whom she observed but any inclinations to God and Goodness But remarkable were her Charity and Piety Her Charity in supplying the wants of the Indigent not onely with Food and Physick for their Bodies wherein she expended not a little but also with Physick for their Souls by her wholsom counsel and advice vvhich she was ready to bestow on all that needed it Her Piety towards God was most eminent she being careful to walk closely and conscientiously with him and as he had blessed her with good natural Abilities so she was careful to improve them by diligent Reading and Meditation and thereby having gained a good stock of Knowledg she reduced it to practice the right end of knowing Witness her constant Closet-devotions and seeking God in private to vvhich she received many gracious Returns if not in kind yet in kindness if not in the particular things which she asked for yet in submission to God's Will and in the graces and comforts of his Spirit as she her self had made the observation Witness her conscientious care that the Duties of Religion might be maintain'd and kept up in her Family And how diligent she was in her attendance upon the publick Preaching of the Word of God most of you are Witnesses and how desirous she was that all others should do the like And it is well known to some how much she bewail'd the vvithdrawing of others from the publick Ordinance the means of their Salvation endeavouring to reclaim them This was the constant course and tenour of her Life vvhich vvas a living practice of Piety and a constant vvalking vvith God as Enoch's life vvas and God took her unto himself her vvho had lived to him here to live with him for ever her who had walked with him on Earth to rest with him for ever in Heaven Indeed her departure hence vvas very sudden as it has been of many others lately hereabouts yet it was more sudden unto others than to her self For Death is not sudden to those who expected it and provided for it That she vvas provided and prepared for Death I do not in the least question her holy Life vvas a continual preparation for Death so that she might say vvith St. Paul I die daily Those many Afflictions wherewith God was pleased to exercise her frequent sickness and many bodily infirmities loss of Children and other near Relations had weaned her from the World and taught her humbly to submit to God's will when ever he should call but the sense of God's Love in Christ to her Soul had made her more than vvilling to depart and to be vvith Christ As for her expectation of Death she had long expected that it would be sudden having been often heard to say that she should die of an Apoplexy which usually gives no great warning But for her expectation of death at that time when it came I have not heard it was of any long standing she being on Saturday last the eighth of September about ten in the morning surprized with an extraordinary coldness in her left hand which caus'd her hasten up into her Chamber where within a little time the disease took her Head the fountain of Sense and Reason and from thence sliding down into her Heart the Citadel of Life did vvithin the space of two hours put an end unto her days Watch therefore for ye know not what hour your Lord cometh But as sudden as her end was she was so far aware of it blessed be God that she vvas able to say vvith St. Paul in the verse before my Text The time of my departure is at hand for to that purpose did she express her self to one of her Servants saying My time is but short shorter than you imagine And then in the words of holy Job declar'd her firm trust in Christ I know that my Redeemer liveth And the last words which she was heard to speak were Jesus Christ into vvhose hands as we may well suppose she did at that time commend her Spirit The Lord Jesus Christ her Saviour vvhom she had in her heart while she lived she had in her mouth as she died and now doubtless hath him in her arms and shall be ever with the Lord. Indeed she had expressed formerly a desire that God vvould please to give her time to speak to her Friends at parting This he was not pleased to grant her but the actions of her life and those many good Counsels vvhich she gave in her life-time are still vocal and by them though dead she still speaketh And I hope her nearest Relations and others also will allow her living Counsel and Example the force of dying-words to be continually sounding in their ears and always thought upon in their minds to excite them to the practice of that which she thereby left recommended to them But in the easiness of her passage God granted if not prevented her desires The Jews say Moses died binshikah by a kiss from the mouth of God because it is said Deut. 34.5 that he died 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Mouth of the Lord or according to the Word of the Lord and that God drew his Soul out of his Body with a Kiss But thus much we are sure of that God said unto him Deut. 32.49 50. Get thee up and die in the Mount So did he seem to say unto this his Servant also Go up into thy Chamber and die there and so she did The Messenger of Death took her by the left hand and led her home unto her Father's House Where let us leave her to her eternal rest and pray earnestly to God That as she brought Religion and a Blessing along with her into this Worthy Family and this Unworthy Place so in answer to her many many Prayers the Blessing and good Presence of God may be continued to us now she is dead and gone FINIS