World can witness when he saw occasion he used various Ways and Methods that his great end your Happiness might be attained 2. Be sure to follow his very good Example What kind of Children should the Children of such a Father be there would be a kind of monstrousness in being very grosly unlike to him As to his youngest Son who is a Minister of the Gospel I heartily wish tho it be an hard thing which I wish that a double portion of his Fathers Spirit may be vouchsafed to him 3. Be encouraged by this That your deceased Father has treasured up a stock of Prayers for you and you may expect a gracious return If you give your selves to Prayers God may answer his Supplications after his death in bestowing Temporal Spiritual and Eternal Benefits upon you To others that hear me this day I shall only give two words of Counsel Think much of your later end Let it be your great care that your end may be peace 1. Be all of you wise to consider your later end Death did set out against you as soon as you were born and it makes still nearer and nearer approaches to you every day and hour and moment of your lives Every step you take is a step towards the Grave Every moment of your time which passes away brings you nearer to Eternity God wishes you wise to consider your later end he will be much pleased to see you very earnest with him to make you so he is ready to teach you so to number your days that you may apply your hearts unto wisdom Psal 90. 12. The serious thoughts of death will quicken you in your Duties and break the force of Temptations Think of the time when you must leave the World that eagerness after the World may be abated To how good purpose will you live if with the Apostle you dye daily 1 Cor. 15. 31. 2. Let it be your care that your end may be peace Believe in Jesus the great Peace-maker between God and Man that you may joy in him because by him you have received the atonement Rom. 5. 11. Let your Faith be accompanied with Obedience and Love to the Laws of God Psal 119. 165. Great peace have they that love thy law and nothing shall offend them Value the inestimable Jewel of a good Conscience and take heed of every thing that may defile and wound it When the Apostle had the sentence of death in himself the testimony of his Conscience that by the grace of God he had had his Conversation in the World in simplicity and godly sincerity did fill him with Peace and Joy 2 Cor. 1. 9 12. Never be weary of well-doing that your Lord when he comes may find you so doing 'T is labour best bestowed when you are diligent that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless Several Passages concerning Mr. Lawrence out of Two Letters which were sent by Two Ministers Eminent for Learning and Godliness and both of them intimately acquainted with Him The First LETTER concerning Mr. Edward Lawrence MR. Lawrence was admitted into Magdalene Colledge in Cambridge in the Year 1645 and was Studious a Promoter of serious Godliness among the young Scholars and was so noted also for his Parts and Learning that we would have made him a Fellow But when he had taken his Degree of Batchellor of Arts some Years after he took the Degree of Master of Arts he being some ways engaged went into the Countrey and began to preach having been of a good Age when admitted about 18 as I remember and with much Acceptance He took up with Baschurch a Vicaridge of about 60 l. a Year where though if he had sought great things he might have been removed to a greater Place considering the Love and Esteem he had he continued till Bartholomew 1662 and then left his Station and Subsistence though he had a Wife and seven or eight Children and no Estate and oft used to say He lived upon the sixth of Matthew About the Year 79 the Quakers rising thereabout he Disputed with one of their Chief Ring-leaders and shamefully baffled him in the Judgment of the Multitudes of the Hearers and as appears by the Relation of it put out by the Quaker He was dangerously ill and upon his recovery put out his useful Book Of Christ's Power over bodily Diseases which though very good I then told him was below most of his Sermons he usually preached of which I had heard many How he was driven from Whitchurch Mr. H. who was then in those parts will I suppose punctually inform you and for these last four or five and twenty Years his Brethren in the City can give a good account of Him The Second LETTER AFter Mr. Lawrence his remove by the Bartholomew Act from Baschurch where he had been many Years a Faithful Minister of the Gospel of Christ he sojourn'd while with his Wife and Children at a Neighbouring Gentleman's House within the Parish who had a great Respect for him and was very Kind to him and he accounted it a great Mercy that though the Law had silenced him that he must not preach to his beloved Flock yet he had his Abode amongst them and might be many ways useful to them But when the Five Mile Act so called was to be put in Execution in March 66. he went to Tilstock a Village in Whitchurch Parish in the same County to sojourn there and there the Power of the Lord was with him greatly and made him Instrumental of much Good both to the Town and in the Neighbourhood the remembrance whereof is still sweet to many who are yet living As he had opportunity he preach'd to them both in Season and out of Season and which was more his Prudent Pious Conversation was a continual Sermon He had many Children and all with him and no visible Income wherewithal to buy them Bread yet the Lord was graciously pleased to make Provision both for him and them so that they did not want The sixth of Matthew as he was used to say did maintain him During his Abode there he buried a dearly beloved Daughter named Sarah which was a great Grief to him for she was grown up and began to be useful but it Comforted him that she finished Well and God gave him two Sons instead of her which repair'd the loss Another remove he had to Whitchurch Town and while he was there in May 1670 when the severe Act against Conventicles commenc'd in the same Month upon a Sabbath-day in the Afternoon he preach'd in a private House only to four and the Family where they were disturbed by the Minister himself Dr. M. F. in his own Person with others attending him and the Week following Convicted and Fined the Minister 10 l. because Poor the Master of the House 20 l. and two other of the Town 5 l. a piece and one Woman 5 s. Upon each of which Distress was made shortly after with the greatest Rigor They judging themselves wrong'd made their Appeal according to Law and in March following had a Tryal at Salop before Judge Twisden The Pretence against them was That a Daughter of the Family who was sixteen Years of Age but a few Days before coming home from Chester from an Uncle the had there was one present and being none of the Family of her Father made a fifth The Case was argu'd by Council and the Prosecutors made no other account but that the Jury would give their Verdict for the Justices who were the Defendants and lay treble Damages upon the Plantiffs which were intended to be made very great to their utter undoing But it pleased God in whose Hands are the Hearts of all Men without any Motion or Procurement of theirs to incline one of the Jurors to differ in the Verdict from the rest saying He would rather dye than say the Girl was none of her Father's Family This occasioned their stay together all Night and in the Morning being accused of some words spoken by him in their heat of Arguing to one of his Fellow-Jurors he was severely Rebuked and Fined 10 l. and the Cause referred to two Lawyers who never made any Decision of it so that each side sat down with his own Loss and not long after such of their Goods as were taken from them they had again but much demnified 'T was observed That one of the Prosecuting Justices dying during the Prosecution his Houshold-Goods were Proclaimed in the Town to be Sold and were Sold before Chapmen could be found that would buy the Distrained Goods The Informer that told he saw the Persons going into the House did afterwards beg his Bread from Door to Door This Event occasioned the remove of this Excellent Person out of his own Native Countrey where he dwelt among his own People to seek a Habitation elsewhere among Strangers and to London he went where God gave him Favour in the sight of many who sat down under his Ministry and with whom he ended his Days FINIS Lately Printed THe Cure of Distractions in attending upon God In several Sermons from 1 Cor. 7. 35. That we may attend upon the Lord without distraction The Love of the World cured In several Sermons preached upon 1 John 2. 15. Love not the world c. Both by Nathanael Vincent
in peace for my eyes have seen thy salvation 4. When the perfect and upright man dies what a glorious and perfect Peace does he enter into in the other World In those blessed Regions unto which he goes there is Light without Darkness there is Love without the least Discord there is Joy without any Sorrow and secure Possession without any Disturbance or fear of Deprivation The gulph that is fixed Luke 16. 26. as it for ever banishes Hope out of Hell so it leaves not the least room for Fear in Heaven It is much to be lamented that Saints at this day discover no more of love and of a peaceable Temper but when they are all come to the same Heaven God who is Light and Love will be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. and they all will be perfectly One in Him I come now to the Application And here I shall speak First Concerning the perfect and upright Man who is lately taken from us Secondly A few words to you that survive him First Concerning the Person deceased And truly I speak not only my Affection but my Conscience when I say I do believe there was not a Man upon Earth that better deserved to be called a perfect Man than our Mr. Edward Lawrence A Man more free from all the tricks of fleshly Wisdom more free from petty Revenges and petty Designs against any Party I confess I knew not any Upright he was towards God downright in his Dealings with Men. An even and well-spun Thread of Truth and Honesty and Faithfulness ran through the whole Course of his Conversation in the World Several things more particularly worthy of our notice I shall mention concerning him 1. He had attained to a great strength and perfection of Faith As he saw the invisible God and his Faith was the substance of things hoped for and he mainly minded the invisible World so he could trust in God for the things of this World when Sense being judge there was no probability of supply He 〈…〉 had a numerous Family when he left his Living on the Black Bartholomew-day and being asked how he hoped to be provided for He answered That the Sixth of Matthew should maintain him By Faith he rested on that promise that all other things shall be added to them who first seek the Kingdom of God and his Righteousness He said His Heavenly Father knew he needed these things and he made no question but what he needed would be given him There is I am perswaded an extraordinary Relish in the Meat and Drink when Faith spreads the Table and fills the Cup every day and Sense cannot perceive a Day before-hand how this should be done 2. How perfect a Work had Patience in him He was conformed to his Head Christ in being a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief He was exercised with Affliction in his own Person and with Domestick Troubles which went very near him yet he justified God in all he believed that Good would come out of the Evils he felt no Burthen tired his Patience for he knew how happy they are that endure In all Chastizements he perceived the Faithfulness and Love of his Chastizer and this made all strokes tolerable His sick Fits his Pains his wearisome and wakeful Nights 〈…〉 never made him that ever I could hear or hear of to break forth into Murmurings or Complaints unbecoming him whatever he wanted he still possessed his Soul in Patience 3. He was a Man of a most Publick Spirit and of a Catholick Charity He was troubled to see the Members of the Body of Christ divided so little consulting the honour of their Head or their own Interest He was stiffly for no Party very moderate towards all True Goodness he liked and loved where-ever he saw it and tho he had suffered very much from some bot Men of the Church of England yet he was not bitter in his Speeches against them where-ever he perceived usefulness an unblameable Conversation and a design for God carried on he did readily acknowledge it and rejoiced in it He was not in the Quarrels of this present Age he loved and followed after Peace as well as Holiness and shared in the Blessedness which is promised to the Peace-makers He was troubled to see roots of Bitterness bringing forth such bitter Fruits almost every where and in every Party And with such meekness of Wisdom with such calmness and sedateness of Spirit he carried it towards Men of all Perswasions and his Words and Ways were so inoffensive that I never heard any one speak ill of Mr. Edward Lawrence but all that knew him were ready to acknowledg that he was a Man of eminent Godliness of a most peaceable Temper and of a very great Integrity And as he loved all Saints as such by what Name soever distinguished so he vexed his righteous Soul from day to day because of the Vngodliness Infidelity and Debaucheries of this wicked Age. In his last Sermon which was upon that Text Isaiah 29. 6. When thy judgments are in the earth the inhabitants of the world-will learn righteousness with very great Zeal and warmth he pressed upon his Hearers the learning the loving the practice of Righteousness for the Nations sake and for their own Souls sake that it might be well with the one and with the other 4. He was a man of great Ministerial Accomplishments His worth was like the deep Rivers which run more silently whereas the shallow Brooks do make the greater Noise He was very able in Controversial Divinity his Judgment was sound his Arguments strong his Head and Notions very clear and having a clear Apprehension of Truths himself he could make them very plain to others understandings and in his arguings he was very free from Passion and when he saw he was likely only to stir up the Passion of others instead of rectifying their Judgments he would be silent In his Preaching he was very solid and substantial he had a great firmness in Memory which continued to the last He prayed and preached with such a Spirit as did evidence much of the presence of God with him How did he speak to God as one that saw him just before him And when he spake to man he spake as the Oracle of God with greatest seriousness and as about things of the highest and everlasting Concernment How firmly was he himself perswaded of those Truths he propounded to others He taught the Commands of Christ and himself obeyed them and was great useful in his Kingdom In the second place I shall speak a few Words to you that survive him And that both to his Relations And to Others To his Relations I shall say these three things 1. Take notice of his great Affection to you and how this Affection was spiritualized he loved you but especially your Souls the most precious part of you he was full of care that it might be well with you for ever and was faithful in reproving as the
Cor. 4. 16. 2. The perfect Man is made pertaker of every Grace Moral Philosophers have observed a Concatenation of all moral Virtues that they are inseparable where one is indeed there are all of them There cannot be truly any Vertue in any man where any one Vice is allowed to be predominant 'T is a great truth concerning the Graces of the Spirit that they are all linked together There is no Grace insincerity in that man who ordinarily and presumptuously does what he knows to be evil in God's sight and willingly suffers tho it be but one Iniquity to have the dominion over him The Spirit of God works like himself and all Grace he works where he works any The Stone or Kernel of the Fruit tree has vertually the whole Tree in it and if it be sown in the Ground a Tree with Leaves and Fruit at length grows up from it We read of the seed of God 1 John 3. 9. and this Seed vertually has all Grace in it And this Seed does remain and Grace of every sort as there is occasion in some degree or other is produced into act and exercise In the perfect man's breast plate or if you will in his breast there is Faith and Love and Righteousness It is Hope that is his Helmet It is Humility that is both his Cloathing and Ornament and Zeal is not so much one single Grace as an high degree of all The Spirit of the Lord dwels in the perfect man and where the Spirit is and abides all his Graces are with him This is plainly intimated John 1. 16. Of his fulness we all have received and grace for grace There are several Interpretations of these Words but the truest is this Of Christ's fulness all sincere believers have received 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace answerable to every grace that is in Christ himself as the Child receives Limb for Limb from the Parent How truly Rich and Happy is he who has no Grace wanting and what a satisfaction is it to perceive plainly in himself that every Grace is growing 3. The perfect man prises all the promises of the New Covenant and esteems himself highly favoured in being Heir unto them all Hypocritical Professors and Wicked Men may put a value upon some promises as when the Lord promises to bless in the City and in the Field to bless in the fruit of the Body and of the Cattle and of the Ground to bless in the Basket and in the Store Deut. 28. 3 4 5. when he promises length of days and long life and that peace shall be added Prov. 3. 2. Nay one that is ungodly designing to die the death of the Righteous may put a value upon the promises of deliverance from the wrath to come and from eternal condemnation But the perfect man though he sets an estimate upon any Blessing which God has promised and values Temporal Mercies and Salvation from the Vengeance of eternal Fire Yet there are also other kind of promises he gladly embraces as the promise of an heart to know the Lord. Jer. 24. 7. I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return to me with their whole heart That promise also of an heart circumcised to love God is much valued and rested on by the perfect man Deut. 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul that thou mayst live So is that promise Ezek. 36. 25. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your idols I will cleanse you There is good reason that the promises of sanctification should be look'd upon as exceeding great and precious for by these the perfect man is made a partaker of the divine nature and escapes the corruption that is in the world through lust 2 Pet. 1. 4. 4. The perfect man hath a respect unto all God's commandments he does not chuse some and pass by others but readily receives every precept Psal 119. 6. Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect unto all thy commandments He looks upon every Law with an eye to the Authority of the Lawgiver who has a right to rule him and has power to save and destroy John 4. 12. He looks upon the Law delivered on Mount Sinai as in force upon Mount Zion and that by faith the law is established Rom. 3. 31. The Apostle's manner of Expression carries in it a strong motive to Obedience 1 Thess 4. 2. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus Commands are given by his Authority who is Lord of all and Obedience is urged for his sake who himself has obeyed and suffered for us and who is so ready to strengthen us to obey and to make what we do acceptable The perfect man has his eye upon God and Christ and cannot find in his Heart to cast any Command of theirs behind his Back that 's his perpetual wish that 's his daily groan Oh that my ways were directed to keep thy Statutes Oh let me not wander from thy Commandments Psal 119. 5 10. Whereas the unsound Professor is not reconciled to every Command nor indeed to any Though his Obedience seem exact in many respects yet offending in one point or other he is guilty of violating the whole law James 2. 10. His partial Obedience to the Commands shews he is not sincere in keeping any one of them If any were kept upon a right ground then every one of the Precepts would be kept upon the same ground 5. The perfect man keeps judgment and does righteousness at all times Psal 106. 3. He sticks to the Lord's testimonies and cleaves to the Lord himself with an unshaken purpose of heart even in times of great Apostacy and falling away He will not leave the Ship of the Church and put to shore when a storm of Persecution arises 't is better to be in the Vessel where Christ is though the Tempest be never so fierce and sore than trust to a sinful compliance with the men of the World The perfect man's goodness is not like the morning Cloud and the early Dew that goes away but his Righteousness is like a River Labitur labetur in omne volubilis aevum It holds on its course and keeps running continually He shews himself a Disciple indeed by still following his Master and abiding in his word John 8. 31. If ye continue in my word then are ye my Disciples indeed 6. The perfect man wishes and longs for a sinless perfection He really and earnestly desires to be as good as the Law would have him to be every whit as Righteous as the Commandment requires and when through Infirmity he breaks the Law he is troubled When the Apostle says This we wish were