Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
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A48444
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A funeral sernom [sic] delivered upon the sad occasion of the much lamented death of John Gould, late of Clapham, Esq; who put on immortality, Aug. 22, 1679 / by P. Lamb ...
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Lamb, Philip, d. 1689.
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1679
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Wing L207; ESTC R41395
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22,449
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89
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going thither for many times we step from the Womb into the Tomb or in the midst of our days drop into the Grave but 't is called our Long home because of our long stay there 3. Death is called the end of man because it puts an end to all the troubles temptations fears and pains of life it is the Out-let of all Misery and the In-let to all Happiness When Death cometh to put an end to the days of the Upright he then begins his Triumphs and may go away with Colours flying and Trumpets sounding O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory From the whole Observ I shall give you this Doctrinal point That He that is Perfect and Upright in his Life shall certainly have Peace in his Death When the Question is asked Who shall be admitted into the Mount Zion below or enter into the new Jerusalem above the Answer from Heaven is Psal 15.1 2. as you may see Lord who shall abide in thy Tabernacle Who shall dwell in thy holy Hill He that walketh Uprightly and worketh Righteousness and speaketh the Truth in his heart That great Gospel-promise Isa 26.2 3. Open ye the Gates that the Righteous Nation which keepeth the Truth may enter in Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee It is also promised in Isa 57.1 2. The Righteous perisheth and no man laies it to heart and Merciful men are taken away none considering that the Righteous is taken away from the evil to come He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their Beds each one walking in his Uprightness In opening and confirming this Doctrine I shall shew you three things First What is meant by these terms Perfect and Upright as they are understood sometimes in the same and sometimes in a different sense sometimes they are taken Conjunctim and as Synonymous signifying one and the same thing and sometimes divisim severally First As they are taken divisim so the word Perfect here seems to relate to the Upright mans Inside and to the pure frame of his heart especially and the regular motions of all the faculties of the soul In this sense it is taken chiefly in that command of God to Abraham Gen. 17.1 I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect And in that holy Profession of David Psal 101.2 I will walk in the mid'st of my House with a perfect heart There are two other respects also in which men are said to be perfect First In respect of their Justification by the compleat Righteousness of Christ every true Believer in this respect may be said to be Perfect having all his imperfections covered and done away by him whose Name is the Lord our Righteousness As in Heb. 10.14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified Secondly Men may be said to be Perfect with respect unto their Sanctification though the work it self be yet Imperfect First In respect of the Spirit of God the Author of that Glorious work who will certainly perfect what he hath begun according to that Prayer of the Apostle 1 Thes 5.23 And the very God of peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ Secondly In respect of the work it self which is a tendency unto perfection a direct tendency to the future perfect state of Saints in Glory Where ever it is begun the gracious heart is always breathing longing and working in continual motion towards that perfection and content with no state measures or degrees short of it As we may see in that Blessed Apostle Paul Phil. 3.13 14 15. Brethren I count not my self to have apprehended but this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Let us therefore as many as be Perfect be thus minded Secondly When these terms are severally understood this word Upright seems more specially to relate to the regularity of a mans outward deportment in a just exact and holy Conversation according to the rules of Righteousness prescribed in that Royal Law the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ when he is holy in all manner of Conversation without Deceit and Guile in all his commerce and dealing with men both in Commutative and Distributive Justice in his private and publick capacity They that Defraud and Cheat and deal Unjustly with their Brother are strangers to Uprightness the Shame and Reproach of their Holy profession Thirdly Here in this place I conceive both Perfect and Upright signifie the same thing and are exegetical as if one Epithete had been too little to express the worth of such an excellent and incomparable Person That you may see the excellency of that perfect Man First we will hear what the Scripture saith of him not to say any thing of Noah Lot Job and others who were perfect and upright in their Generation who were the glory of the places and days in which they lived Gen. 25.27 there is a description of the Righteous and the Wicked the Perfect and the Profane as Learned Authors observe Esau was a cunning Hunter a Man of the Field and Jacob was a plain Man dwelling in Tents Esau was like Nimrod a mighty Hunter before the Lord like the Hectors of our times a man of a rugged ranting spirit But Jacob was Ish Tam a plain Man sine fuco fallaciâ without Welt or Guard as we are wont to say non acutus ad fallendum not cunning to deceive though once he did supplant his Brother which was more his Mothers contrivance than his own and another time which was more his Brothers folly than his own fraud There is so much excellency in a Perfect and Upright man that the Lord commands Moses Exod. 28.30 Thou shalt put on the Breast-plate of Judgment the Urim and the Thummim and they shall be upon Aarons heart when he goeth in before the Lord And Aaron shall bear the Judgment of the Children of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually That the words Urim and Thummim were ingraven on the pretious Stones of the Breast-plate is agreed upon by the most and some are of opinion that they were done by the Finger of God himself Urim signifieth Lights Thummim which comes from the same root with that word by which Jacob was expressed is rendered Perfections both in the Plural number to imply that abundance of Knowledge and Holiness that should be in the Priests of the Lord. Uprightness i. e. upright towards God and upright towards Man and to teach the Spiritual Priests of God if they will enter into the Holy of Holies and ask Counsel of God they must have this Urim and Thummim this light of Knowledge and Perfection Uprightness is called Perfection because
world Joh. 16.33 These things I have spoken unto you that in me ye might have Peace In the World ye shall have Tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the World Thirdly It is a peace that springs up from Purity and Sanctification the heart being purged the Conscience refined the Soul is full of peace within by the help of the testimony of a good Conscience goeth triumphant into his Eternal rest Thirdly Reason Reasons I shall give you some grounds or Reasons why they that are Perfect and Upright in their life shall certainly have peace in their death Reason 1 Reas 1. Because the God of peace hath an infinite intimate and everlasting love for his upright ones he loves them and they love him above all the world Cant. i. 4. We will be glad and rejoice in thee we will remember thy love more than wine the upright love thee And he loves them as in Psal xi 7. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness his countenance doth behold the upright He bids us behold the upright yea he beholds them with delight himself And in Psalm iv 3. He hath set apart him that is godly for himself he hath made a Covenant with them a Covenant of Peace and because he loves them he will lodge them in his Bosom Though Death can break the Knot of all human love and friendship yet it can never loosen the Bond of Divine Love as the Apostle says in Rom. viii 37 38. Nay in all these things we are more than Conquerors through him that loved us For I am persuaded that neither Death nor Life nor Angels nor Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come Nor heigth nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Secondly Reason 2 Reas 2. Because he hath proclaimed and promised Peace Rest and Glory to such Isa lvii 2. He shall enter into peace they shall rest in their beds each one walking in his uprightness And Rev. xiv 13. And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them And Psalm lxxxiv 11. The Lord God is a Sun and Shield the Lord will give Grace and Glory no good thing will be withhold from them that walk uprightly His time of Life is his time of War at the instant of Death the Warfare is ended and everlasting peace proclaimed his life is his Seed-time his end is the beginning of Harvest a full Harvest of peace and joy Psalm xcvii 11. Light is sown for the Righteous and gladness for the Upright in heart When the body and soul of the Upright do part asunder the body betakes it self to rest in the Grave the soul flies into the regions of peace in the Divine Presence Thirdly Reason 3 Reas 3. Because God is righteous and he will recompence his Saints 2 Thess i. 6 7. It is a righteous thing with God to recompence tribulation to them that trouble you And to you that are troubled rest with us And thus you shall see Christ leading them into a land of peace Rev. vii 14 15 16 17. These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his Temple and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them They shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them nor any heat For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes It is great trouble that Saints undergo and a hard matter for a man to maintain his integrity amidst so many snares frowns and flatteries of the world This is their great comfort and encouragement and shall be their reward to inherit peace at the last As Lamech said Gen. v. 29. When the Lord gave him his Son Noah whose name signifies Rest and whose person was a type of Christ This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands because of the ground which the Lord hath cursed Which the Apostle also intimates 1 Cor. xv 19. If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable Implying 1. That Saints are not altogether hopeless in this life 2. That all their hope is not here Fourthly Reason 4 Reas 4. Because when a Perfect and Upright man dieth he is gone out of the reach of all those things that might annoy his peace where the wicked cease from troubling and the weary be at rest Job iii 17. and are wafted over into Emmanuel's Land where they have all those glorious enjoyments in which they shall eternally acquiesce 1. He is totally freed from all evil sin cannot be there Rev. 21.27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Here he is full of complaints Rom. 7.24 O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death But when he dies he sings this Epinikion I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2. When the Perfect and Upright man dies he and his Portion and Inheritance are brought together the Heir is restless in his expectations till he comes to the Inheritance but here the Portion is God himself which the Saint hath many times with much pleasure survey'd and hath had thereof many a delightful prospect of Faith rejoycing in it as sweet and full and satisfying and now doth possess that Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved for him in Heaven 1 Pet. 2.4 and shall ever be with the Lord 1 Thes 3.17 3. He comes to enjoy his Beloved in Glory of whom he said when he saw him by Faith Cant. 5.10 My Beloved is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousands and in the 16. verse Yea he is altogether lovely What will he say when he shall see him and be with him in his highest Exaltations in Glory 4. All his Graces shall be then compleated and there shall be no more place for desire for he shall sit down at that Fountain-head where is fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore Verse 1 Vse Informs that if the Perfect and Upright mans end be Peace then his life is full of trouble he hath trouble within and trouble without as the Apostle says of himself 2 Cor. 7.5 That he had no rest in the flesh but was troubled on every side without were fightings within were fears Saints in this life sail as it were upon a Sea of glass mingled with fire the Persecutions of men the Buffetings of Satan the Law in their Members make their present state unquiet How