worldly sorrow causeth sicknesse and death 2 Cor. 7. 10. and to the opening of the mouths of the wicked who scorn them and Religion for it saying These are your Professours that make Idols of their children and friends and mourn for the losse of them as if they had lost their God They are like Rachel that wept and lamented for her children and would not be comforted because they were not Such forget the exhortation which speaks to them as unto children My son despise not thou the chastening of the Lord nor faint when then art rebuked of him Heb. 12. 5. Prov. 3. 11. Indeed we are sometimes in danger of setting light by Gods corrections saying with those sturdy persons It is my burthen and I must bear it Jerem. 10. 19. But more frequently we are impatient either outwardly fretting at the rod like those plunging horses which will not indure their Rider or inwardly repining like those horses which digest their choler by biting their bridles And if we neither despise nor impatiently murmur against the dispensation of God yet our weaknesse is such that we are ready to take the affliction too much to heart so that our spirits droop and faint and this is so much the worse because it 's commonly accompanied with a wilful indisposition which will not suffer us to entertain such things whereby we might be truly comforted and the hearts of such many times like Nabals die within them that they are not capable of counsel so that all consolatory exhortations are to them like water spilt upon the ground whereas we should take our correction and humble our selves under the smart of it but withall we should look to Christ and beg of him that he would not suffer our Faith Hope and Meeknesse of mind to be overturned Again consider that it 's not love to them when we are perswaded that they are with the Lord which makes us excessively grieve when they are taken from us It is indeed self-love and carnal affection Our Lord Christ told his Disciples If ye loved me you would be glad because I go to the Father And what measure then do we offer to God herein We can many times send our children far from us where it may be we shall never see them again if we are but well perswaded that it will be for their good and preferment and yet we cannot indure to have them taken out of our sight by the Lord though we are perswaded that their souls are with him in the highest glory We ought to labour for such tractable and obedient hearts as may not be content perforce to let him take them but may willingly resign even our children if it were by sacrificing them with our own hands as Abraham to him who hath not thought his onely begotten Son too dear for us but hath delivered Him to death for our sakes Once more remember that it 's a sign that we felt not Gods love in them nor received them at his hand as we ought to have done if we do not thankfully give them back to him when he calls for them Hannah having received Samuel as a gift gotten by prayer from God did readily part with him to God again and she lost nothing by that loan which she so cheerfully lent to the Lord as you may see 1 Sam. 2. 20 21. and so dealt Abraham with his onely Sonne Isaac whom by faith in the promise he had obtained of the Lord Hebr. 11. 17. This is true indeed but yet Parent-like affections cannot easily part with and yield up children so dearly beloved But take heed lest whilst you plead love to your children or friends you do not bewray and discover unkindnesse unto God Dare any of you say Lord if I did not so love them I could be content to give them to thee Surely if with a calm spirit you think of this you would blush for shame that your heart should be so cold towards God as not to be willing to part with any thing you love when he calls for it To part with that which you much care not for is not at all thanks-worthy It 's said of Abraham that when God commanded him to sacrifice his own and only son that he arose early in the morning Gen. 22. 3. to do it he consulted not with flesh and blood nor with carnal reason nor with fond affections but as David said He made hast and delayed not to keep Gods commandments How should this shame our backwardnesse and our many reluctancies against the will of God when he hath declared it in taking away a dear child or relation from us How much better were it for us to do as David did that man after Gods own heart who when he heard that his child was dead arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his apparel and went into the house of the Lord and worshipped and then came into his own house and called for bread and did eat 2 Sam. 12. 20. Again the consideration hereof may minister singular consolation First To every godly person when he lies upon his sick bed and sees death approaching and his friends standing about his bed weeping and wringing their hands and that upon a twofold ground First Because himself hath hope in his death Prov. 14. 32. Death is to him as the valley of Achor It 's a door of hope to give entrance into Paradise and to translate him into a state of blessednesse whereas to the wicked it 's a trap-door through which they fall into hell It 's an excellent saying Improbi dum spirant sperant Justus etiam cum expirat sperat wicked men hope whilst they live but a godly man when he breaths forth his last hath hope He is like unto that dying Swan of which Aelian tells us that sang most sweetly and melodiously at her death though in her life-time she had no such pleasant note There is some truth in that saying of the Heathen Optimum est non nasci proximum quam celerrime mori For wicked men it had been best for them never to have been born or being born to die quickly seeing that by living long they heap up sin and thereby treasure up wrath against the day of wrath but as for good men the day of death is best to them because here to live is but to lie a dying and eternal life which they are now taking possession of is the onely true life as saith Saint Austine Secondly because as they have hope themselves in their death so they leave a good hope to their friends to quiet their hearts in their losse Oh what a cutting grief is it to a godly heart to see a child or kinsman or other dear relation taken away and cut off in the midst of his sins so that he can have no hope of his blessed estate in another life But on the contrary if self-self-love be not too prevalent with us we cannot
of comfort be your comforter and give you a large measure of prudence patience self-denial with a full and free resignation of your self to the absolute disposal of the All-wise and All-merciful God that you may as well in heart as in words say Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven which is the servent prayer of From my Study in Thred-needle-street Jan. 14. 1658 9. Your affectionate friend to love and serve you S. CLARKE AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST Immoderate Mourning for the DEAD 1 Thes. 4. 13 14. But I would not have you ignorant brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him THe Apostle Paul by Gods blessing upon his Ministry had gathered a large Church in Thessalonica the chiefest City of Macedonia For besides that some of the Jews believed there were also multitudes of the Greeks and of the chief women not a few that readily entertained the Gospel and conforted with Paul and Silas Act. 17. 4. whereupon the Devil moved with envy raised a great persecution against them by the Jews that dwelt there and other lewd fellows of the baser sort that they adjoyned to them upon which occasion Paul and Silas were forced to fly to Berea and from thence Paul went to Athens And after a while Silas and Timotheus coming to him thither he not being unmindful of his flock that he had left at Thessalonica sent Timothy to confirm them in the faith that he before had preached and they had received At Timothy's return to him at Corinth being informed by him of their estate he thought fit and expedient to write to them this Epistle as appears 1 Thess. 3. 1 2. wherein after the Apostolical salutations c. 1. v. 1. the Epistle consists of two principal parts In the first the Apostle indeavours to confirm and strengthen them in the faith received to the end of the third Chapter From thence to the end of the Epistle he exhorts them by a Christian conversation to beautifie and adorn their profession and this he doth First in general ch. 4. v. 1 2. Secondly in particular by perswading them to the practice of sundry Christian Vertues and Duties as 1. To chastity v. 3 4 5. 2. To justice and equity in all their dealings v. 6. 3. To brotherly love v. 9 10. 4. To a quiet life and attending their own businesses v. 11 12. 5. To be moderate in their sorrow for their deceased friends seeing they shall be raised up again by Christ v. 13 14. and thereupon he takes occasion largely to describe the glory of Christs coming to Judgment and the order of the resurrection of the dead declaring the certainty of it though the time was uncertain and this he doth to the fourth verse of the fifth Chapter In these two verses of my text the chiefest scope of the Apostle is to perswade them to keep a mean in their mourning for the dead wherein are considerable First the friendly compellation that he uses Brethren Secondly An information concerning the state of the dead set down negatively I would not have you ignorant as if he should say I would have you well informed of this Doctrine the knowledge whereof will conduce much to your comfort Thirdly the end why he was so careful to inform them of it that they might not sorrow as did others which had no hope viz. as the Heathen did For although they believed the immortality of the soul yet they were never able to comprehend or believe the resurrection of the bodies and re-uniting them with the souls whereof he speaks in the subsequent verse as appears Acts 17. 32. and 26. 23 c. Fourthly a strong argument to inforce his exhortation for their moderate mourning for the dead ver. 14. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again c. Thus having heard the occasion and scope of these words and the principal parts of the Text I will make no other curious division of it but proceed to shew you how many useful observations may be gathered out of these verses and First from the friendly compellation used by the Apostle Brethren Whence note first that All Gods children are brethren so saith Abraham to Lot Gen. 13. 8. Let there be no strife I pray-thee between me and thee c. for we are brethren so Col. 1. 2. 1 Thes. 5. 26 27. 1 Tim. 6 2. For First they are the adopted children of the same Father Ephes. 4. 6. Secondly they are born of the same mother the Church 1 Pet. 1. 23. Thirdly They are brought up in the same Family Ephes. 3. 15. Fourthly They are nourished with the same food 1 Pet. 2. 2. Fifthly They have all the same inheritance Rom. 8. 17. Secondly Again consider who it is that calls them brethren the Apostle Paul the great Doctor of the Gentiles and a man endowed with more then ordinary gifts and graces and who they were that he calls Brethren the lately converted Thessalonians most of them of mean rank and mean gifts in comparison of him whence note They which have the greatest gifts and graces bestowed upon them by God must not superciliously overlook those which are meaner and weaker then themselves but must own them for and acknowledge them to be Brethren Hence 1 Cor. 4. 7. who makes thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive it why doest thou glory as if thou hadst not received it Thirdly in that the Apostle was so careful to inform them of this comfortable truth Observe Gods Ministers must be careful to inform their people of all such saving truths as may conduce to their edification and comfort that when they come to leave their people they may be able to say with the Apostle Act. 20. 27. I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God Fourthly It seems that till now the Thessalonians were ignorant of these things which made them to over-sorrow for their dead Hence observe Ignorance of the blessed estate of the Saints departed is the cause of excessive mourning for them Fifthly Paul speaking of the dead saith They were asleep Hence observe The death of the righteous is but a sweet sleep so it is often called in Scripture Christ speaking of dead Lazarus saith Our friend Lazarus sleepeth Joh. 11. 11. with 14. and when Stephen was stoned to death its said that he fell asleep Act. 7. 60. and in these two verses of my Text Paul twice calls it a sleep and hence the grave is called a Bed Isa. 572. and the Greeks called it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a Dormitory or sleeping place Sixthly I would not have you sorrow as do others c. He doth not say I would not have sorrow at all For
earth and walketh up and down in it Job 1. 7. yea as a roaring lion he walketh about seeking whom he may devour 1 Pet. 5. 8. No place can exempt us from his tentations whilst we live in this world He assaulted Adam in Paradise Lot in the Cave David in his Palace Josuah the high Priest in the presence of the Angel of the Lord Christ in the wildernesse Peter in the High Priests hall c. But when Death comes these Egyptians which you have seen to day ye shall see them again no more for ever Exod. 14. 13. Satan shall never more molest Gods children after this life is ended Hence saith Saint Ambrose Diabolus per quod potestatem habuit victus est The Devil who had the power of death Heb. 2. 14. hath by death his power abrogated and abolished Sixthly Death frees them from Gods frowns which sin often exposeth them to here and which to a child of God is more terrible than death it self For if in Gods favour is life as David affirms Psal. 30. 5. then in his frowns is death yea if Gods loving kindness is better than life Psal. 63. 3. then his frowns are worse than death There are no outward or corporal afflictions but a resolute and Roman spirit will stand under them the spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity Prov. 18. 14. but the frowns of God and tokens of his displeasure are intolerable A wounded spirit who can bear It made David roar Psal. 32. 3. Hezekiah chatter Isa. 38. 14. yea Christ himself to sweat drops of congealed blood and to cry out in the anguish of his soul My God my God why hast thou forsaken me But after death the light of Gods countenance shines perpetually upon them and shall never admit either of a cloud or Eclipse when Lazarus died he who lay groveling at the rich mans gate was found in Abrahams bosome in a place of warmest love For seeing by Death Gods children are freed from corruptions therefore after death they have no need of Gods frowns or corrections Seventhly Death frees them from the very being and existence of sin At death the spirits of just men are made perfect Heb 12. 23. The death of their body delivers them from the body of death Death and sin do not meet in a child of God but so part that when the one comes the other is gone for ever As when Sampson died the Philistines died with him so when a child of God dies all his sins die with him Hence Ambrose saith Quid est mors nisi peccatorum sepultura what is death but the grave of our sins wherein they are all buried Thus death doth that at once which grace doth by degrees Grace indeed when it is once wrought in the heart under the conduct of the spirit it resists and fights against sin and gives it such mortal wounds that it never fully recovers again It dejects it from its regency but cannot eject it from its inherency It frees us from the raigning of sin but cannot free us from the remaining of sin After regeneration sin hath not dominion over us But yet there is a law in our members warring against the law of our minds and many times leading us captive unto the law of sin that is in our members so that we cannot do the good that we would but the evil that we hate that do we Rom. 7. 19. 23. But when death comes it wholly extirpates sin root and branch and not one or some few sins but all sin and that not for a time only but for ever when the souls of Gods children are dis-lodged from their bodies this troublesome and incroaching inmate shall be dis-lodged and thrust out of doors for ever Hence one saith Peccatum peperit mortem filia devoravit matrem Sin at first begat and brought forth death and death at last destroys sin as the worm kills the tree that bred it And as Bernard saith Death which before was porta inferni the trap-door of Hell is now introitus Regni the porch that lets us into heaven And Mr. Brightman saith what was before the Devils Sergeant to drag us to hell is now the Lords Gentleman-Usher to conduct us to heaven Thus I have shewed you in these seven particulars what are the evils that Gods children are freed from by death Now in the next place I will endeavour to shew you the priviledges that at death they are invested in and the good things that they are put into the present possession of But yet this must be premised that if I had the tongue and pen of men and Angels yet should I come far short of that which I aim at For whatsoever can be said of heaven is not one half as the Queen of Sheba said of Solomons magnificence of what we shall finde in that City of Pearl To expresse it saith a reverend Divine is as impossible as to compasse heaven with a span or to contain the Ocean in a nutshel And Chrysostom speaking of the happinesse of the Saints in heaven saith Sermo non valet exprimere experimento opus est words cannot expresse it we must have trial of it before we can know it But yet that which I shall say of it is contained in these six particulars First Death invests Gods children with perfection of all graces Here we know but in part we prophesie but in part But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part shall be done away 1 Cor. 13. 9 10. It 's true when God first regenerates and sanctifies us we have perfection of parts there is no grace wanting that is necessary to life and salvation For God doth none of his works by the halves But yet we attain not to perfection of degrees till death comes whilst we live here we are exhorted to adde grace to grace 2 Pet. 1 5 6 7. and one degree of grace to another We are commanded to grow in grace and in the knowledge of eur Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 3. 18. To make a daily progress till we come unto the measure of the stature of the fulnesse of Christ Ephes. 4. 13. But yet when we have done all that we can our faith is mixed with doubtings our love to God with love of the world our tears in repentance need washing in the blood of Christ our humility is mixed with pride our patience with murmurings and all our other graces have defects in them But in death they are all perfected and thereby we are put into a far better condition than we were capable of in this life Secondly Death puts the Saints into the present possession of Heaven a stately place into which there never did or can enter any unclean thing No dirty dog ever trampled upon this golden pavement It 's called Paradise Luke 23. 43. Indeed Paradise which God made for Adams palace though the stateliest place that ever the eye of mortal man
and affable nature and loving and courteous disposition Of his indefatigable diligence in his imployments and shunning yea hating of idlenesse I shall only adde one word more of his ingeniousnesse in and the usefulnesse of his recreations which were divers one while he exercised himself in the Art of Dialling another while he applied himself to Musick But I shall say no more of these because he attained not to any perfection in them that which he followed with most diligence and delight was the Art of Drawing Painting and Limning whereof he hath left many very good Pieces for so young a Practitioner and had he lived longer probably he would have attained to a great perfection therein He had also a Poëtical Vein whereof I shall give you a taste by and by His meditation upon the History of Christs Transfiguration Matth. 17. 1 c. Jesus Christ is so willing that we should have communion with him in this life that he takes us up into his most secret retirements Prayer is a divine ascention and whosoever would pray spiritually must have an holy elevation of spirit to meet God in that duty High Turrets of faith and mountains of graces are the real helps in prayer In prayer we are sure to enjoy Gods presence It 's a sure way to see God face to face and if I may so say in his natural complexion we may meet with God as Moses did in the Mount Sinai of Prayer It was in the Mount praying when the fashion of Christs countenance was altered It is in the mountain of prayer that Christs purity appeareth more and more to a believer Never more whitenesse do believers see in Christ then in their prayers to him In this life the Saints have a taste of the glistering and whitenesse of his out-side But in the life to come it is that they have immediate fruition of himself In this life we only see a sudden transfiguration to stay our stomacks as I may say till hereafter at what time we shall see him as he is and if this transfiguration appears white He began to write a Book in Verse which he calls Spuma Musarum which he purposed to dedicate to his Father and Mother I shall only give you an account of the first Verses in it that by them you may judge of the rest Rete venatur ventos To hunt the winds with a net Thou that do'st strive the windes with net to catch Unfruitful labours to thy self do'st hatch What! catch the wind If caught thou 'lt not enjoy Thy dear times worth to purchase such a toy And when y' have done look in your net you 'l find All that remains is folly yea and wind Many littles make a mickle 'T is Unity brings strength if then you 'ld have Strong Noble Vertues Vices to outbrave Unite your weak-limb'd forces and you 'l see Many a little will a mickle be T. B. FINIS Upon the death of that pious young Gentleman Mr. Thomas Bewlije Thomas Beulije Anagram O beati humiles If either Fate or Fortune had Made such a breach among us I should have call'd them blind or mad Or envious thus to wrong us I should have in my showers of tears exprest A weeping eye with furious anger drest That when in all the garden did But one choice flower appear It should be thus nipt in the bud Who can with patience bear But most in that in this one flower alone The sole hope of the Root is overthrown But stay it was a better hand More sacred and more wise Then Fate or Fortune can command Those Heathen-Deities The root 's not dead the flower is but transplanted With added beauty which before it wanted And happy they who humbly can submit To Him whose Wisdom hath transplanted it Thomas Beulye Anagram Thy Love-beams THY LOVE-BEAMS Lord so strongly shone on me That I impatient was of more delayes But needs must leave the Earth to go and see The sacred Fountain of those glorious rayes Thomas Beulie Anagram The Smile above * * The posie of the Ring given at the Funeral Set your affections on things above Not things of sence It was THE SMILE ABOVE loadstone of love That drew me hence Ad Parentes Thomas Beaulie Anagram Leave me as I both LEAVE ME AS I BOTH you 't is for our gain When you know how I do you 'l not complain Thomas Bewlie Anagram I 'me well as both I 'ME WEL AS BOTH you can be nay I am Better because triumphing with the Lamb Yet I 'me not gone for ever our parting is Till Death unlock for you this door of bliss J. C. A. M. On the Death of that Ingenious industrious and pious young Gentleman Mr. Thomas Bewlie Junior OH death of terrors King could nothing move Thee to suspend this stroak no not the love Nor cries of Parents Tutor Friends and all That knew his worth and now bemoan his fall Nor 's age but eighteen years nor that estate To which this onely Sonne was destinate Not's active soul and hand nor 's nimble head Nor 's skill in Common-Law could thee out-plead Nor 's tongues nor 's Logick nor 's Philosophy Nor 's drawing Limning nor his Poetry Not disposition sweet nor 's gracious heart Not's love to God! nor that he did impart To Saints not's pity great to poor and such As age and chance with want afflicted much No! Servant like thou but to passe didst bring The Counsel wise of God his Soveraign King Who at this time and thus hath cropt this Rose With 's hand of love and giv'n't a safe repose In heaven above where he doth clearly see What in his Mountain thoughts he spied to be Then cease you Parents Tutor Friends to waile He is with God your grief cannot avail Another VIew underneath this stone a fancy choice Invention good a Sed'lous hand to poise The greatest things a mind made wise by grace And Tongues with Arts not Scantlingly t' embrace His Parents joy now grief his kindreds losse O' th' Bewlies Phoenix here remains the drosse On the Death of his dear Friend and cousen Mr. Thomas Bewley Junior Gent. ARt fled dear Soul and is thy purer breath Become a Victime ah too rich for death Could not the Riv'lets from thy Parents eyes Prevail for once to drown the destinies Or 's death so envious that th' art onely shown Cropt like a bud before thou wer 't well blown Envious indeed in that he doth deny Us the enjoyment of thy company Which joyn'd with goodnesse and a candid mind Must few Aequators no Ascendent find But here methinks injustice taints my will In that while worth'less I would take my fill In Traffique sure Divine of which each part Throughout thy Soul might make a sev'ral Mart. I envy thee that perfect happy shore To which on earth 't was thy desire to soaere Injust perhaps it seems yet let me say That though I could have wish'd a longer stay So great 's thy gain in thy friends greatest losse That wee 'l conjoyn the harp unto the crosse To thee thy parents greatest love did run A fit Meridian for affections Sun And nature will have vent perhaps immerse Their eyes in tears attending on thy Herse Yet should but an Impartial Judge stand by He 'd think your tears from passions contrary Proceeded that that seeming dismal sound Did not through sorrow but through joy abound That 's love indeed if Parents don't complain At their own losse if 't be their childrens gain 'Twixt Joy and Sorrow T. E. Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Dr Tuck Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Doct. Quest Answ Object Ans. Quest Answ Quest Answ Dr. Sâ—ought Dr. Tuckney Rev. 21. 2â— Rev. 22. 20. Dr. Hall Dr. Reynold Mr. Trapp Quest Answ Object Answ Gen. 37. 35. Object Answ Vse 1 Pet. â— 7. Vse Joh 14. 28. Mr. Baines Object Answ Psa. 119. 60. Vse Gen. 31. 53. Mr. Pat. Drummond