The Cross Crowned OR SHORT AFFLICTION Making way for ETERNAL GLORY Opened in a SERMON Preached at the Funeral of DANIEL WALDOE Esq in the Parish-Church of Alhallows Honey-lane May 9. 1661. By JAMES NALTON Minister of the Gospel and Pastor of Leonards Foster-lane London 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 London Printed by D.M. for SA GELLIBRAND at the Golden Ball in St Pauls Churchyard 1661. To my Honoured Christian Friend Mris Anne Waldoe Relict of Mr Daniel Waldoe lately deceased IT was the desine of your dear Husband while yet living that I should perform the last Office of Love to a Deceased Friend in preaching his Funeral Sermon The honour that I bore to him not the ambitious humor of appearing in Print ha's made me willing against my own inclination to expose these poor worthless Meditations to publick view This I have done the rather that thereby I might be an Instrument to perpetuate the memorial of so worthy and mitable a Christian and to commend his practise to posterity And for so doing I look't on that passage of Solomon as a sufficient warrant Prov. 10.7 The memory of the just is blessed yea the righteous saith David shall be had in everlasting remembrance Psal 112.6 Wicked men though they be like Nimrod mighty hunters before the Lord Gen. 10.9 he great Oppressors and dare do this before the Lord as if they would provoke him to his face and though they have been the terror of the mighty in the land of the living as the Prophet speaks Ezek. 32.27 Yea though they use all means possible to perpetuate their memorial calling the lands after their own names Psal 49.11 as Absolom reared up a pillar and called it Absoloms place 2 Sam 18.18 and Cain built a Citie and called it after the name of his Son Enoch Gen. 4.17 and some men at this day can build Hospitalls with the money which they have got by force and fraud and crushing the needy Yet all this will not make their memory last the name of the wicked shall rot and their Remembrances shall be like ashes Job 13. 12. that is Those things by which they would be remembred and mentioned among the Sons of men as Wealth and Honour and Power and Greatness shall be but as ashes of no value but trodden under the foot of men but the remembrance of the godly even when they themselves are dead shall still be kept alive with men to be renowned and with God to be rewarded How precious is the memorial of Moses and Aaron though dead so many hundred years ago The Spirit of God sets a Star of Honour upon them Exod. 6.27 These are that Moses and that Aaron And certainly among all those Christian Vertues which do en balm the memorial of the dead there is none of a more sweet and fragrant savour then the Grace of Charity Witness the Speech of our Saviour concerning the woman that annointed his feet with precious ointment Matth. 26.13 Verily I say unto you Wheresoever this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her Maries name now smells as sweet in all the Churches of Christ as her ointment did in the house where it was poured out such an honourable remembrance did blessed Paul leave as a Legacy to Onesiphorus and his family on the same account 2 Tim. 1.16 The Lord give mercy to the house of Onesiphorus for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain And Greg. Nazianzen speaking of Rahabs entertaining the Spies has this remarkable Passage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Her charitable hospitality conduced not only to her commendation but to her eternal salvatition I knew not to whom the Dedication of this Sermon so properly belonged as to your self who was so nearly related to that eminently charitable Citizen whose death occasioned the preaching of it Such as it is I here present unto you not that the view of this Monument should renew your sorrow but that the frequent Commemoration of those vertues wherewith God was pleased to enrich him and the pious fruitful and exemplary conversation wherin he walked before you might not only moderate your grief for the loss of so dear a Husband but also provoke you and all that knew him to tread in the same steps according to the counsel of the Holy Ghost Heb. 6.12 Be followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises The Lord Jesus reveal himself more fully and graciously to your soul fill your heart with joy and peace in believing sweeten your outward loss with those inward comforts of his Spirit which may enable you feelingly to say with the Psalmist In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul Psal 94.19 And this will be better to you then the comfort of all Relations yea it will be Marie's portion that shall never be taken from you And that it may be so is and shall be the hearty prayer of Your much obliged Friend and Servant in the Gospel James Nalton â—HORT AFFLICTION Making way for ETERNAL GLORY 2 COR. 4.17 â—â—r our light affliction which is but for a moment The Text. worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory THe holy Apostle in the fore-going Verse layes down an excellent Lesson for us all to learn by his â—â—ample though there be sew very 〈◊〉 that have learnt to write after 〈◊〉 Copie in these words For this cause â—…faint not as if he should say Though 〈◊〉 meet with sorrows and sufferings 〈◊〉 all sorts temptations afflictions persecutions reproaches fightings without and fears within yet we do not sit down in despondency and despair but we bear the burden that God hath laid upon us without fainting and without fretting It is true indeed our outward man doth perish that is our body together with our bodily health strength and welfare doth decay and decline but yet our inward man that is our soul together with the powers and faculties of it being renewed by the spirit of grace and strengthened by the graces of the spirit is in the midst of all these troubles and tryals more and more repaired and revived day by day this is strange may some say But would ye know how it comes to passe The Apostle answers in the words of the Text and renders a reason of his not fainting under all his sufferings For our light afflictin which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory The Text contains in it the twofold state or condition of a believer One in this life The other in the life to come And both these ballanced or compared one with the other in a threefold computation First The state of a Beleever in this life is a state of affliction his condition in the life to come is a condition of glory Secondly The afflictions of a beleever in this life are light and
easie the glory of beleever in the life to come is a weighty glory Weighty did I say Yea It is an hyperbolical or transcendent glory The Apostle useth such a high-flown expression here in the Text as is not to be found in any other Author sacred or prophane 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an exceeding excessive weight He could not find a word high enough to express the greatnesse of it Deus coeâ—um non patiuntur hyperbolen God is so â—nfinitely great and heaven is so unconceiveably glorious that we cannot either think or speak too highly of them for eye hath not seen nor ear heard neiâ—her have entred into the heart of man then things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. 2.9 Thirdly The Afflictions of a Beleever in this life are but for a moment the glory wherewith he shall be invested in the life to come is an everlasting glory The words being thus opened and cut out there are three points of Doctrine especially observable in them which will draw out the strength of the Text Viz. Doctr. 1 1. The Afflictions which the godly meet with here on earth make way for that glory and happiness which is laid up for them in heaven Doctr. 2 2. The Afflictions of this life are but light and eafie The glory of the life to come is a weighty and transcendent glory Doctr. 3 3. The Afflictions of this life are but for a momenty The glory prepared in the life to come is an everlasting glory To begin with the first Doctrine which is this The Afflictions which the godly meet with here on earth make way for that happinesse which is laid up for them in heaven For the explication and confirmation of this truth there are three Queries would be satisfied 1. What those afflictions are which the godly meet with here on earth 2. Why God will have his children exercised with those afflictions 3. How or in what respect these afslictions make way for that glory and â—appiness that is laid up for them in â—eaven For the first Querie What those afâ—lictions are Ans The godly meet with afflictions of all sorts both inward and outward â—roubles 1. They are exercised often with inward troubles viz. temptations and spiâ—â—ual desertions the tumblings tosâ—ings and disquietments of their own pirits which lye as a heavy burden upâ—n the soul far more afflictive and inâ—upportable then any outward crosse or â—ffliction on the body or estate can be for a wounded spirit who can bear Prov. 18.14 Thus ye hear Heman that godly wise man complaining Psal 88.3 My soul is full of troubles and David crying out Psal 42.5 Why art thou cast down O my soul and why art thou disquteted within me yea it sometimes falls out that the terrors of the Almighty do set themselves in battel array against them Job 6.4 and come upon them with that violence that they are distracted under them Psal 88.15 While I suffer thy terrors saith Heman I am distracted so that a godly man ye see may be brought to the condition of distraction and a child of light may for a time walk in darkness without the least sense or apprehension of peace or comfort Isa 50.10 Secondly The godly are exercised with outward troubles such as the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the five terrible things that Aristotle speaks on Viz. Ignominy poverty persecution sickness and death For the first of these viz. Ignominy the best of Gods children have been reproached and reviled counted troublers of Israel as Elijah was 1 Kings 18.17 and men of contention is Jeremy was Jer. 15.10 and pestilent fellows and movers of sedition as Paul was Acts 24.5 Yea they are counted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the scum and off-scouring of all things to this day 1 Cor. 4.13 Was not the lord Jesus reviled to his very face John 8.48 Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan and hast a Devil Yea accounted an Impostor or deceiver Matth. 27.63 a blasphemer Matth. 26. 65. he hath spoken blasphemy and a sad-man John 10.20 He is mad and â—ath a devil why do ye hear him For the second of these Viz. Poverâ—y it hath been the condition of the Saints here on earth God hath kept them very low that by the poverty of their condition they might be brought to poverty of spirit God usually keeps his soundest sheep on the shortest Commons Ye read of poor Saints 〈◊〉 Jerusalem Acts 15.26 They were precious Saints yet very poor yea some of whom the world was not worthy yet wandred about in sheep-skins and goat-skins being destitute wanting some necessaries for a time afflicted and tormented Heb. 11.37 For the third particular viz. Persecution it hath been the portion of Gods most eminent servants as our Saviour has foretold Matth. 10.23 They shall persecute you from one City to another yea all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution 2 Tim. 3.12 Christ himself was no sooner born then banished Matth. 2.13 It was the Motto of famous Mr. Rothwel who was called the Apostle of the North Persecutio est pignus futurae gloria Persecution is the pledge of that eternal glory which we expect For the fourth viz. Sickness the best of Cods servants are exercised with it Timothy was a rare yong man eminent for piety nourished or nursed up in the words of faith and of good doctrine 1 Tim. 4.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if he had sucked piety with his mothers milk yet he was much acquainted with bodily sickness and distempers as appears by Pauls counsel to him 1 Tim. 5.23 Drink no longer water but use a little wine for thy stomacks sake and thine often infirmities He had not onlyone infirmity but divers infirmities and those not once but often disturbing his health yea God will have it so that the sickness of the body may conduce to the health of the soul A very Heathen could say Tunde Anaxarchi manticam nam Anaxarchi minime teris Beat my sack saith he meaning his body but thou canst not hurt my soul So here God will have the body which is but the sack for the soul is the treasure in the sack beaten and bruised with sickness aches and infirmities that the soul may be preserved and kept without hurt till the day of the Lord Jesus For the fifth particular viz. Death The best of Gods servants are not exexempted from it for what man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his soul h. e. his life from the hand of the grave Psal 89.48 It is true the Lord Christ has delivered his members from the sting of death but he hath not exempted them from the storke of death and the reason may be this because he will have his members conformable to their head that as the Captain of our salvation was made perfect by sufferings Hebr. 2.10 and by the gates of death entred into glory so must all his
me if I have done iniquity I will do no more If thou canst say with David who had been trained up in the School of affliction My flesh trembleth for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy judgements Psal 119.120 Burnt child we say dreads the fire If it be so with thee that thou canst say I dare not be bold with those sins for which I have formerly smarted I dare not be bold with the fire wherewith I have been scorched nor stumble on the same stone whereon I have been bruised then thou mayest conclude thy affliction is sanctified to thee and thou art sanctified by it But now on the contrary If after God has made thee smart under many rods and exercised thee with various afflictions in thy body or in thy soul or in thy estate or in thy relations and yet thou be as proud and self-confident as ever as carnal and earthly-minded as ever as stubborn and inflexible to Gods commands as ever as unthankfull in the use of mercies and as ready to abuse them as ever as hard hearted and unbroken as ever and as fearless of offending God and careless to please him as ever thou hast been heretofore doubtless thy afflictions are not at all sanctified to thee neither art thou one jot made better by them they are but the fore-runners of thy everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power whereof the Apostle speaks 2 Thes 1.9 they are but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prelibations or foretasts of the punishments in Hell fire I have dealt somewhat plainly and freely with you in this Use of Examination O that you would deal freely and unflatteringly with your own souls Oh that you would be true to your own spirits and that ye did but love your selves so well as not to beguile your own souls in the latter end Vse 3 The third Improvement that may be made of this Doct in is for Exhortation To put us upon the practice of three needful Duties Duty 1 The first is this If afflictions make way for glory we should justifie the Lord in all his providences and proceedings toward us Though the rod be never so sharp and the burthen we groan under be never so heavy yet let us keep up good thoughts of God and say with the godly Levites in their confession Neh. 9.33 Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us for thou hast done right but we have done wickedly Lord thou smitest not without cause thou seest we stand in need of such sharp physick else thou wouldst deal more gently with us It was the speech of Mauritius the Emperour when that bloody and treacherous phocas slew his children before his eyes using the words of David Psal 119.137 Righteous art thou O Lord and upright are thy judgments And it was the Legacy that Mr. Ezekiel Culverwel an ancient grave Divine in this City gave to his daughter after he had been many years bed-rid and sore afflicted with the Gout and Stone Be sure saith he in every condition that God casts you into keep up good thoughts of God and speak well of his name Wicked men in the day of their calamity are ready to dispute the cross which they should take up and quarrel with every rod that God laies on them Though their condition be above their worth yet their pride is above their condition and therefore they are ever murmuring in such language as the Israelites used Numb 14.3 Wherefore hath the Lord brought us into this Land to fall by the sword that our wives and our children should be a prey to our enemies the Canaanites were it not better for us to return into Egypt And when the Prophet Jeremy threatned them with the Caldean Army that should even in their dayes and before their eyes take away the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness the voice of the Bridegroom and the voice of the Bride Jer. 16.9 10. All that they replyed was this Wherefore has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us What is our iniquity or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord our God But the godly have another spirit and a better language for they say with holy Ezra chap. 9.13 After all this is come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespasse Thou O our God hast punished us lesse then our iniquities do deserve Yea saith David Psalm 119.75 I know O Lord that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me This is the first Duty Du ∣ ty Second Secondly We should learn to bear every rod not only patiently but also thankfully 1 Bear it patiently because we have sinned so did the Church Mic. 7.9 I wil bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me It was a savoury and submissive speech of Jo Brown a Martyr in Q. Maries daies Lord I will bow and thou shalt beat me 2 Bear the rod thankfully because God can order it to our advantage for all the paths of the Lord all the passages of his providence are mercy and truth to them that keep his Covenant and his testimonies Psal 25.10 Even paths of severity are paths of mercy and we know saith the Apostle we can speak it by experience Rom. 8.28 that all things shall work together for good to them that love God c. Though the passages of providence taken singly by themselvs alone seem to work against us as Jacob said on a sad occasion Gen 42.36 Me ye have bereaved of my children Joseph is not and Simeon is not and ye wil take Benjamin away also All these things are against me yet take these providences together they are all for us not against us As Letters in a Printers shop if ye take them singly by themselves they will make never a word but if you put them together they wil make first one word and then another one line and then another till the whole book be printed A needle woman if she take one colour alone can make no curious work of it but if she put many colours together then she makes an excellent piece So here we must put all providences both of goodness and severity as the Apostle phraseth it Rom. 11.12 together and not judge of Gods working by one act but by many acts together and then we shall find them all tending to our salvation and ending in it For 1. Either by a Temporal evil God will work a Spiritual Good to make us more holy humble and heavenly-minded 2. Or secondly By a lesse temporal evil God will work a greater temporal Good as Josephs imprisonment was the way to Josephs advancement Jobs great losses were recompenced with far greater gain for he lost but seven thousand sheep and three thousand Camels and five hundred yoak of oxen Job 1.3 14 16. But God
ever know a man more eminent in Grace than Blessed Paul And was there ever any man more humble I am saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 less than the least of all Saints Ephes 3.8 Thus was it with this dear Brother of ours he so hated Pride and that vain and sinfull excess in apparel so much affected in this luxurious wanton age that he chose rather his own Children should be cloathed beneath their rank than above it And though he kept not a penurious Table yet he professedly declined that delicacy and profuseness which many delight in that in both he might not onely avoid the scandal of the Gospel and offence the Godly but that the superfluity in dyet and apparrel might be improved to the better advantage of cloathing the naked and refreshing the bowels of the hungry 2. He was very Industrious in his Calling and doubtless that is very acceptable and well-pleasing unto God especially when this diligence ariseth not from a covetous desire of heaping up riches but from an obediential respect to Gods Command because he has enjoyned us that duty Prov. 27.23 Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks and look well to thy herds and again Prov. 10.4 The hand of the diligent maketh rich yea God has annexed a promise to it Prov. 22.29 Seest a man diligent in his business he shall stand before Kings he shall not stand before mean men And indeed God was pleased singularly to bless his endeavors and to enrich him with a Temporal estate For though a large estate was not his design yet was it part of his Reward and a pledg of future and far better hopes laid up for him in heaven 3. He was a Pious man He did not so mind his particular Calling as to neglect his General but he drove a Trade for heaven not onely in his holy and religious observation of the Sabbath but also in a carefull Attendance at the Posts of Wisdoms house on the week dayes as his occasions and bodily infirmities would permit Neither was he an idle and unprositable Hearer but like the Industrious Bee he gathered honey to carry home to his Hive for the feeding of his Family as well as the refreshing of his own Soul witness those heapes of Sermon Notes that are found in his Study 4. He was a Faithfull man one that filled his Relation faithfull a tender hearted Husband to his Wife a loving carefull Father to his Children one that knew how to love them without fondness and to rule them without rigour A prudent Governour towards his Servants minding the good of their Souls as well as the fruit of their Service 5. He was a Charitable man nay I may considently say Eminent and Exemplary in the Grace of Charity being a real Cordial faithful friend to a godly Ministry as appeared by his great bounty manifested on every occasion for to my knowledg he has given very considerabe Sums of Money towards the encouraging of those that were painfull Labourers in Gods Vineyard Never any Minister or Godly man came to propound any work of Piety or Charity publick or private that needed to do any more than to propund it For his heart was so dipt in Charity and so set upon works of mercy that he prevented Importunity by his Christian and Heroick Liberality I do not speak rashly but advisedly He made no more of giving 10 l. to a work of Charity than some of you and those of the richer sort make of giving 10 s. Yea there are divers here present that can witness this Truth Few did match him none that I knew did surpass him in works of Charity His Charity had two singular Concomitants which made it the more Remarkable and praise-worthy 1. He did good while he lived He carried his Lantern before him He made his own hands his Executors and his own eyes his Overseers Some will part with their riches when they can keep them no longer This is like a Cutpurse that being espied or pursued will drop a Purse or gold because he can keep it no longer But to be doing good in our life-time while we have opportunity this is an act of Faith and an evidence that we can trust God with our Estate and our Children that he will provide for them when out heads are laid in the grave according to that of the Psalmist A good man is mercifull and lendeth and his seed is blessed Psal 37.26 2. He dispensed his Charity so secretly without any self-seeking or pharisaical vain-glory that his left hand did not know what his right hand did In brief He did so much good while he lived as if he meant to have nothing to do when he died and yet he gave so largely when he came to die as if he had done no good when he lived Now wherefore is all this spoken Not as if this Funeral Elegy could be any advantage to him No no Funeral Sermons are vivorum solatia not â—â—â—tuorum subsidia saith Austin They are no helpfull advantages to the dead but wholesom Instructions to the living The dead praise not thee O Lord nor any that go down into silence Psal 115.17 Look as the dead return no praises to the Living God so neither do they regard any praises from Living men It is not therefore spoken so much by way of Commendation as to propound him a pattern of Imitation This deceased friend as it is said of Abel Heb. 11.4 Though he be dead he yet speaketh And what is the language that he useth Surely it is the same that Gideon used to his Souldiers Judg. 7.17 Look on me and do likwise If ye do as he did ye shall speed as he sped Remember you and I must answer for Examples as well as Precepts Ye know what is laid of Noah Heb. 11.7 By building an Ark he condemned the world His piety condemned their impiety His faith condemned their infidelity his uprightness their hypocrysie So this good mans Charity will condemn your want of Charity at the Great day If ye say You have many Children so had he He has left 9. Children alive but the providing for them was no obstruction to his Charity To conclude Blessed is that man that so lives as that he is desired and so dies as that he is missed This Nathaniel so I may call him for his Sincerity as well as a Job for his Charity He lived desired and will be exeedingly missed Missed I say in his family where he was a faithfull Governour In the City where he was a bountifull Benefactor In the Parish where he was a usefull Neighbour In the Company where he was an honoured Member Missed among the Poor especially Widows in necessity to whom he was a Father Oh that God would humble us for our stupidity That the righteous perisheth and no man layeth to heart and mercifull men are taken away and no man regards it Isa 57.1 Oh that God would make his example powerfull and influential on all the Rich men that hear me or shall read this Sermon and the testimony that is given to this Worthy man Oh that God would send us many such WALDOES FINIS