Section 20
(3.) Because God has done greaU things for m, and we may take encouragement from bis worb. which are a part of his name, Ps. Ixtlw. 1. God dM for his own name's sake bring about tbe Revolatioa: keep our head above water through the last vir, and ended it not to our disadvantage. The Lord has now of late done great things for as in tbe begis-ning of this reign. Our land is still peaceable s; home, and considerable abroad. Oar liberties cod-tinued, and many other benefits yet with oa.
(4.) Because we call upon bis name. Thoogh «e cannot say. Do it for our prayer's sake, yet we oav say. Do it for tliat name's sake which we call np@ in our prayers and praises. God manifestly garr answer to the prayers of the last fast day, in the una-nimoos resolves of the parliament for the poblir good, and the preventing of the heats that were feai-ed, and the guiding of the counsels upon the dead of the king.
Show, 4. What is our duty upon the whole matter. Now we have prayed that God will </o f>, what mast we do?
(1.) Let us be daily earnest with (vod in prayc. for the peace of our English Jerusalem, and tbc prosperity of our brethren abroad. Would yon approve yourselves true friends to the queen and naticis, preserve and improve your interest at the throne of grace. Cry day and night, Luke xviii. 7«
(2.) Let us patiently bear the inconveniences of the war we are engaged in. It is a calamity, bet much less than we have deserved, and necessary tc prevent a greater calamity. Better be taxed tbas plundered by the sword of war, or our estates confiscated by the sword of persecution.—It is a hinder-ance to trade; those that have effects at sea, faar? now more need than ever to live by faith, that Urn may bear losses vrith an even mind, and laj up treasure above.
(3.) Let us every one take heed of sin, and reform our own hearts, lives, and families. It is but a mock fast, if it be not like Nineveh's, Jonah iii. & \ot we have special dependence upon God, we should take special care to please him. Dent xxiii. 9. Keep from sin, which is God's enemy.
(4.) Let us prepare for troubles, and get ready fi>r the worst. What God may yet do with ns we knov not; he can secure his own name, and yet niaie us a desolation, Hcb. xi. 17.
(5.) Let us encourage ourselves and one aoothfr in God, when we hear evil tidings.
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1267
SERMON IV.
[ Preached May 26/A, 1703, on occasion of the Na-mat Fast for success in the war with France and
Mark xiii. 7.
nd when ye shall hear ofwars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled.
Y this word of Christ we are both forewarned and (rearoied; for what he here says to those who were len his disciples, he says to all, v, 37. he says to s, for oar learning.
f. We are here forewarned to expect trouble, Ye \aU hear of wars and runuturs of wars; and it fol-)ws, such things must needs be ; look for no other, i not our life a warfare ?
1. This points immediately at those wars which ro Qght on the final ruin and overthrow of the ewish church and nation. The struggles that were etween the conquerors and the conquered. The ews resolute in their resistance, and the Romans 1 their conquests. This occasioned many bloody attles, and a long war for several years. Josephus's listory of the Wars of the Jews largely relates the jlfilling of these prophecies. Never was there such desolation. At the same time the Romans were t war with other nations.
2. It looks further, and is intended as an intima-on to us all, and to all Christians, to count upon rouble in this world ; particularly to expect that in very age, more or less, there will be wars and ru-tours of wars: see v. 8. nation risiny against nation.
When ye hear wars, (so the word is,) when ye ear war at home, the noise of it, for war in a country lakes a noise ; never more than since the invention f guns, the most noisy way of fighting; yet of old iiey complained of the noise of war, Nahum iii. 2. !xod. xxxii. 17, 18. Some alive have heard much f this noise in our own land; not nation against ation, but neighbour against neighbour. Bntbless-d be God, it is not our case at this day; we hear ot the noise of foreign invasion or domestic insur-(^ctioQs.
When yp .hear the rumours of wars, the reports or idings of wars. We commonly call uncertain re-orts rumours, and in time of war we often hear uch, but the original word signifies intelligences, bat of which we hear.
Doctrine. That though it be very sad, yet it is ot at all strange in this world, to hear of wars and amours of wars. There are three sorts of wars:
1. Law-wars among neighbours and relations, bad noagh, and very common, through too much love of be worid, and too little of our brother. While there s so much folly and covetousness, so much envy md malice, among neighbours, no marvel if there
4 m2 be strife. There are few of the spirit of Abram, Gen. xiii. 8. We hear much of these contests; would to God we heard less! for tiiere is utterly a fault among men, 1 Cor. vi. 7.
2. Book-wars among scholars and Christians. Different sentiments maintained by each side with great heat, too often greater than the' occasion demands. We must not by these be shaken in mind. Such things must be. They are needful sometimes in defence of plain truths, and for the discovery of doubtful and controverted ones.
3. Sword-wars among nations and public interests: of these the text speaks. The first war we read of was, Gen. xiv. though probably Nimrod the mighty hunter was a soldier. As to these, we have reason upon some accounts to think it strange. Whence is it that so much mischief should be done in the world by wars ? considering,
(1.) What principles there are in the nature of man. Is there not such a thing as humanity ? One •would wonder that ever the wit of man should be employed to invent instruments of cruelty and death; that men should be so prodigal of their own blood, and so covetous of the blood of their brethren. Man is not bom for war, but naked and unarmed ; not fierce, as birds and beasts of prey.
(2.) What promises there are in the word of God. It seems hard to reconcile this text with Isa. ii. 4. and with Isa. xi. 6, &c. The Jews object it. Christ himself has said otherwise, Luke xii. 51. and in the text. How shall we reconcile these two? I reply.
Those promises are in part fulfilled already. Christ was bom at a time of general peace. The gospel has prevailed much to the civilizing of the nations, and as far as it is received, it disposes men to peace. The primitive Christians were of a peaceable disposition.
They will have a more full accomplishment in the latter days. Though contrary events come between, that word shall not fall to the ground.
Yet the commonness of war in every age takes off* the strangeness of it. It is what we must expect in our day. A few years ago we had peace proclaimed, but war again quickly; and that crown which was then the mediator of the peace, was first itself engaged in another war. What do we hear of at this day so much as of wars ? Several countries are the seats of war; cities are besieged and fields overspread with armies. Now this we are not to think strange.
Because men are so provoking to God, and he does thus in a way of righteous judgment punish them for their sins. It is the sword of the Lord bathed in heaven, that lays waste on earth, Isa. xxxiv. 6. War is one of God's sore judgments, with which he corrects the people of his wrath, Ezek. xiv. 17, 21. Sometimes God thus makes wicked men a scourge one to another, as Nebuchadnezzar was to the nations. Sometimes a scourge to
FAST SERMONS.
his oii»n people, Isa. x. 6. It is sin that draws the sword, removes the defence, and sheds blood. The Lord has given the sword a charge, Jer. xlvii. 6, 7. Ezek. V. 2. But let us not judge uncharitaiily of those nations that are the seat of war, as if we were better than tliey: are there not with us, even with us, sins ?
Because men are so provoking one to another, and they do thus give way to their own lusts, James iv. 1, 2. No war carried on but there is certainly a great deal of sin on both sides, as 2 Ghron. xxviii. 9. But as to the cause of war,
1. Sometimes men's lusts on both sides begin the war, and where there may be a right and colour of reason on both sides, yet not such as on either to justify the taking up of arms, and while there are such follies set in great dignity, Eccl. x. 6. no marvel if we hear much of wars; punctilios of honour, inconsiderable branches of right, to which lives and countries are sacrificed by jealous princes; the mouth justly opened to denounce war, but the ear unjustly deaf to the proposals of peace.
2. Where the war on the one side is just and necessary, it is men's lusts on the other side that make it so. And if we see it, we need not marvel at the matter. Here is the original of war and bloodshed.
(1.) Men's pride and ambition sometimes make a war just and necessary. By pride comes contention, Prov. xiii. 10. He that said, I will be like the Most High, was the man that made the earth to tremble, Isa. xiv. 13, 16. Proud and haughty men, that aim at a universal monarchy, that will set up and depose at their pleasure, entail war upon the nations. Every sheaf must bow to theirs; either bend or break. Did men know themselves to be but men, they would not think themselves gods, and prove themselves beasts.
(2.) Men's covetonsness and injustice sometimes make a war just and necessary. It is not strange to hear of wars, when there are those that would be placed alone in the midst of the earth, Isa. v. 8. and would command the territories and treasures of all their neighbours. This is a provocation not to beJi>orne : see Hab. ii. 6—8. 1 Kings xx. 3, &c. The injured rights of nations must be asserted, &c.
(3.) Men's treachery sometimes makes war. No marvel we hear of wars, when all men are liars, and no confidence is to be put in them. When the public faith of princes and nations is pawned in vain, and the most Sacred cords broken, like Samson's bands, only because a man thinks himself a Samson for strength. This is one thing that justifies our national engagement at this day. War is an appeal to God's providence against those who would not stand to an appeal to his ordinance, see Ezek. xvii. 18, 19. It is a quarrel God will avenge.
(4.) Oppression and persecution sometimes make war just. In this case sometimes the law of nations comes in for a timely and seasonable relief, as in ogt own land in the late happy revolution, on the fooiH dation of which the present government stands, in which we are so happy. However, in the last extremity the very law of nature helps, as in the case of our brethren in France, the province of Langae-doc, last and least enslaved. However, if Nebacbad-uezzar be driven from among men, must oiea be a prey to him? Christianity teaches patient suffering, but the God of grace is the God of nature. Since the empire became Christian, perhaps the case is altered. The infraction of civil edicts is a disease which may be remedied by a method of cure of the same nature. We know what oppression does, Eccl. vii. 7. Thank God that we are not in their temptation, and pray to God that we never may, lest the remedy be worse than the disease.
II. We are here forearmed against the troable we are bid to expect.
When you are yourselves disturbed with the alarms of war, he not troubled, i. e. be not inordinately dejected and cast down, be not terrified, whatever happens; keep trouble from your heart, John xiv, 1. if war come to your door.—When you hear of war abroad, hear of war proclaimed, hear of war pushed on, hear of the direful effects of war, hear of sieges and battles, marches and countermarches, famine and plunder, cities burnt, and countries laid waste ; in the midst of all, be not ye troubled. It is both for caution and comfort. Yoa need not be troubled, therefore give not way to it.
Doctrine. That the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ ought not to be inordinately troubled, when there are wars and rumours of wars.
1. As for others, they have reason to be troubled. Those that are not the disciples of Jesus Christ, and are not interested in his merit and grace, have cause for trouble when God's judgments are abroad: see Isa. xxxiii. 14. Terrors belong to them, and as for comforts, they have no part nor lot in the matter, see Luke xxi. 25, 26. Those that have the most cause to be troubled commonly put trouble furthest from them. Have not they reason to be troubled that lie under the guilt of all their sins, and the wrath and curse of an angry God, to whom the sword is like that flaming sword. Gen. iii. 24. As men are, so God's judgments are to them, I Cor. iii. 12, 13. To such these are indeed but the beginning of sorrows.
2. There is cause for the disciples of Christ themselves, upon some accounts, and in some degree, to be troubled. Christ would not have his followers to be without feeling. God calls to mourning at such a time. This is a doctrine that needs explication and limitation. When you hear of wars be ye troubled after a godly sort. There is a threefold tronlU commendable:
(I.) Sympathy with the sufferers. Even the guilty
PAST SERMONS.
1269 de partake of the same nature. Much more should e sympathize with the innocent countries that are e seat of war, and the righteous undertakers of a St and honourable cause. Feel for their griefs that ; exposed to spoil, and hear the voice of the op-essor, and that have their lives jeoparded in the gh places of the field. Think of the sufferings of isoners, and the alarms of besieged cities;—these ifferers are our bone and our flesh. (2.) Sorrow for sin. It is sin that makes all the ischief. Mourn for the sin that is the cause of the ar, and the sin that is the effect of it. How is God ishonoured! how are arts of sin taught and propa-ited ! It should trouble us to think of the wicked-3ss of the wicked ; it is a thing for which horror lould take hold on us, Ps. cxix. 53. (3.) Solicitude for the ark of God. For this our sarts should tremble, lest religion in its various in-irests suffer damage; lest the protestant religion d weakened, and antichristian powers be strength-3ed. We should be concerned, as EH was, 1 Sam. \ 13. The desolations of the sanctuary should ouble us more than the desolations of the earth: lis is a holy fear.
3. Christians ought not to be inordinately troubled, ^hen ye hear this, be not troubled, t. e. (1.) Be not disquieted, but make the best of it. It
I not our wisdom to aggravate to ourselves the causes f trouble, nor to make them worse than they are. >ur Saviour has here told us, such things must be; lere is no remedy. God is doing his own work in
II events. Thus it was before we were born, Eccl. ii. 10. and so it will be. Let us not magnify the vents of our own time, as if there never were the ke; there is nothing new under the sun. The his-)rics of former times make our own less formidable.
(2.) Be not affrighted, but hope the best from it. Vhen we hear the rumours of war, we must not be f doubtful mind; not as Ahaz, Isa. vii. 2; viii. 11, 2. We mu.st not give up all for lost upon every isaster and disappointment. When rumours of f'ars are abroad, we have great need to watch against tie prevailing fear of evil tidings, and to keep the eart fixed. Courage is an excellent virtue in time f war, and needful at home as well as abroad. Make lot your brethren's heart to fail as your heart, Deut kX. i3.
(3.) Be not amazed, but prepare for worse after it. rhere seems to be this also intended in the caution ; ompare v. 8. these are the beginnings of sorrows. Be tot troubled for this, but rather arm yourselves with christian courage and patience against the assault )f the next trouble. Weep not for this, but get ready or the next, Luke xxiii. 28, 29. Faint not in these esser conflicts, for then what will you do when yreater come: see Jer. xii. 5. Several considerations vill be of use to keep trouble from the heart of good Christians, when we hear of wars.
[I.] The righteous God sits in the throne judging right, therefore be not troubled. War is an appeal to him, and he will determine those appeals injustice, and execute the determinations by an overruling power, Ps. ix. 7, 8; xcvii. 1; xcviii. 0. God is King of nations, and presides in the affairs of nations. He has not only a negative voice, but a guiding hand, in councils of war, and treaties of peace. Men talk of the fortune of war, but it isnot a blind fortune, the issue is determined by a wise God. If it be doubtful to us on which side the right lies, it is not so to God. Leave it to him, therefore, to govern the world.
[2.] The church is built upon a rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, therefore be not troubled. We must be concerned for the church, but we have this to comfort us, God has espoused the cause of his church, and will plead it with jealousy. Whatever revolutions there are in the nations, God will secure the interests of his own church and people. Matt. xvi. 18. The Lord has founded Sion, Isa. xiv. 32. jChrist will have a church, a kingdom in the world in spite of all the oppositions of the powers of darkness. The protestant cause is the cause of God, and shall arise, though it be small.
[3.] Christ is his people's peace, therefore be nqt troubled. This may comfort us in reference to others that are in the midst of these wars. The remnant of those that fear God, find rest in Christ, even in troublous times: sec Micah v. 5. John xvi. 33. If trouble should ever come within our own border, here is our Noah, here is our ark, this same shall comfort us. In him we have peace with God, Rom. T. 1.—all clear and calm between us and heaven; peace in our own bosoms; all sedate and quiet there, no rumours of wars.
[4.] The name of the Lord is a strong tower, therefore be not troubled. Into this citadel the vanquished may retire and find shelter, and a refuge that they cannot be beaten out of, Prov. xviii. 10. This is a strong hold, inaccessible, insuperable, and which cannot be taken. The power and providence of God are fortificatidns which cannot be scaled, nor battered, nor undermined. What need good people fear ? Ps. xlvi. 1,2. they have always a God to whom they may go.
[5.] Men are God's hand, therefore be not troubled, God is doing their own work by them all this while, and they are accomplishing his purpose, though they mean not so, Isa. x. 5,7,15. Ps. xvii. 13, 14. They are not only restrained by his hand, that they can do no more than he will suffer them, but they are used by his hand to do what he appoints them, what his hand and his counsel determined before to b done, Ps. Ixxvi. 10. Isa. li. 13.
[6.] There will come a reckoning day, when all these things shall be reviewed ; therefore be not troubled. The seeming disorders of providence shall all
FAST SERMONS.
be corrected at that day, when God will come and make inquisition for bloody from the blood of righteous Abel. Innocent blood shed by the sword of war, as well as by the sword of pretended justice, shall be required. Behold, the Judge standeth before the door, and the mighty men shall shortly stand at his bar, Isa. xxvi. 21. Rev. vi: 10.
[7.] The wars of the nations perhaps may end in the peace of the church. God can bring light out of darkness, and meat out of the eater. The greatest perplexities of the children of men may introduce the joys of the people of God : see Luke xxi. 28. Heb. xii. 2. compare Rev. xiv. 20. with xv. 3. and see chap. xix. 17, IB. Glorious times we hope are reserved for the church.
[8.] However, we are sure in heaven there are no wars nor rumours of wars, therefore he not troubled. All will be well there. Make that world sure, seek mansions in a heavenly Fathers house, and that will keep trouble from the heart At such li@d, blessed are the dead, that die in tbe Lord, Er xiv. 13.
To conclude: 1. Let us thankfalljr own Goi< great goodness to us in this nation—^that we ksn peace at home, a happy government, peaceable k-bitations, a defence on our glory, Isa. xxxiii. 20.
2. Let us not complain of the incon Tcniences tliai attend our being interested in the present war; tk expense of it, or the abridging and exposing of oa trade and property.
3. Let rumours of wars drive as to our kzet*. Pray, pray, and do not prophesy. Spread the mxOa before God, and you may greatly help the caiue h your supplications.
4. Patiently wait the issue with a hamble ssb-mission to the will of God. Do not limit him, vx prescribe to him. Let him do his own work is ha own way and time.
A FUNERAL SERMON
PREACHED AT HACKNEY, JULY I 1th. 1714,
ON OCCASION OF THE MUCH-LAMENTED
DEATH OF THE REVEREND MATTHEW HENRY,
LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL THERE.
BY W. TONG.
John xiii. 36. latter part.
Whither I go thou canst not follow me now; hU thou thalt follow me afterwards.
These words are tbe answer our Lord and Savioar gave to a hasty question proposed by the apostle Peter, Lord whither goest thou ? The occasion of that question was a dark saying that par Saviour dropt, ver. 33. Little children, yet a little while I am with you : ye shall seeh me; and, as I said to the Jews Whither I go ye cannot come, so now I say to you.
This affectionate disciple was so struck with that expression, that he seems not so much to mind what oar Saviour added, that they should love one another as he had loved them all; but, as one whose heart was full, and could hold no longer, he breaks in abruptly upon his Master with this inquiry. Lord, whither goest thou?
Our Saviour thought fit to give a gentle check to the forward temper of his disciple, by answering as in the text. Whither I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards. Yet this did but raise his zeal the higher, and produced that warm expostulation, Lord why cannot I follow thee f I will lay down my life for thy sake. Our blessed Lord, who knew Peter better than he knew himself, saw so much spiritual pride and self-sufliciency in that resolution, that he thought fit to take him down, and tell him of his approaching scandalous fall, V. 38.
In the temper and language of this disciple there was a remarkable mixture of good and evil, grace and corruption, much love to Christ, and too much confidence in himself; and in the rcly that Christ makes to him in the words of the text, there is a wise mixture of reproof and encouragement suited to Peter's case.
1. Our Saviour checks the apostle's cariosity and self-confidence. Whither I go thou canst not follow me now. I am going to the cross, and thence to the crown and kingdom; but though thou hast been so long in my family, heard my doctrine, seen my miracles, and conversed so freely with me, thou canst not yet follow me; thy work is not yet done, thy soul is not yet ready, thou art not fully prepared for death and heaven.
2. He encourages the hope of his disciple, and his honest zeal; *' But thou shalt follow me afterwards. Thou canst not follow me now, and therefore thou must be content to be left behind in this evil world; but my grace shall be working in thee and by thee, and thou shalt in due time be made ready to follow me both to the cross and to the kingdom. Thou shalt not be lost, though thou be left behind; thou shalt follow me afterwards.**
I cannot but observe something in the countenance of this great assembly, that tells me it is expected I should take some particular notice, as others of my brethren have done before, of the surprising, lamented, long to be lamented, death of the late excellent pastor of this church.
And indeed it is upon that account that I have fixed my thoughts upon this text, these words of Christ to Peter, Whither I go thou canst not follow me now ; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. I believe I am not the only person here who feels in himself a secret regret, that so dear, so faithful, so every way desirable, a friend has got the start of me, is gone to heaven before me, and left me behind him in this valley of sin and tears; but when my
A SERMON ON THE DEATM
heart is masing apon this unexpected parting, and wishing I had been so happy as to have gone to heaven with him, he seems to me to look back upon me, and bid me, for a while, farewell, in these words of the text, Whither I go thou canst not follow me now; hut thou shalt follow me afterwards.
I hope I shall not be thought to presume too far, in accommodating these words of our blessed Lord to an}' mere man. I intend not hereby to compare the servant to his Lord, so as to set him upon a level with him, either in the excellency of his person, or the nature of his death; in both these respects I know and believe our Saviour was alone, and of the people there was none with him. Nor do I intend to compare myself to this blessed disciple, unless it be in those things in which he was least like himself. But certainly, conformity to Christ is every Christian's duty and honour; and where we see this conformity wrought up to a very eminent degree, our love to Christ will oblige us to esteem such persons the excellent of the earth, precious both in life and death; and we hope we may, without offending God, wish that we might have our lot with them living and dying.
That man must be worse than Balaam, who does not desire to die the death of the righteous, and that his latter end may be lihe his. Numb, xxiii. 10. Good men will be ready to carry their desires further, not only to die like the righteous, but, if it were the will of God, to die with them; especially with those of them, to whom their souls have' been long united by the sweet and sacred bonds of an intimate and religions friendship : having been lovely and pleasant in their lives, they would have thought it a favourable providence, if in death they had not been divided, 2 Sam. i. 23.
When Christ told his disciples that his beloved friend Lazarus was dead, Thomas was so affected with it, that he made a sudden motion to the rest of the disciples, Let us also go, that we may die with him, John xi. 16. You will find that affectionate proposal so excellently opened and applied by the late Reverend Mr. How, in his funeral sermon for Dr. Bates, that I cannot but recommend it earnestly to your review on this occasion. I have not the least doubt but that extraordinary person was able to speak the words of Thomas from his very heart at that time, though with a due subjection to the Father of spirits. I am confirmed in this persuasion, by what I myself had the opportunity to observe for some years together, of those stedfast hopes and holy desires with which he waited for his great change. And I very well remember what I have beard from an eminent, wealthy, and religious citizen, (alderman Rodbert,) in whose house that venerable person Mr. Richard Fairclough died, that when Mr. How visited him on his death-bed, and they discoursed together in a very affectionate manner upon the glory of heaven, Mr. How familiarh said to him, ^' To this glory you are hastening; be why will yon not take me along with jou f*' AM then answered himself, " But we must, with good old Simeon, have leave to die from him who i tk Lord of life."
I could mention some other sacb iostanees. which, how much soever they may be derided bj men of defiled consciences and earthly niii plainly show there is something in the temper « a serious, godly person, that suggests soch desires sod wishes as these, when he sees his dear companiiss in the kingdom and patience of Jcsas Christ gois; to heaven before him. What do I do loitering sd4 lingering here ? why could I not have gone aloa; with them?
What I shall offer to your thoughts upon this affecting and important subject, will be ander these two general heads:
I. To consider, what it is that makes it so desirable to go along with our godly friends into liie other world. And,
II. What reason we have to be quiet and patient in continuing here a while longer, even when osr best friends are gone before us.
I. What is it that makes it so desirable to p along with our faithful godly friends into aootber world ?
If a man would give his affectionate thoogbu their full scope, many things might be mentioned hj this purpose; but I shall confine myself to these three:
1. Had we gone along with such deceased friends we should now have been delivered with them Crea the evils of this world, which they have lefL
2. We should have been now pot into possessita with them of the blessedness of that world to which they are gone.
3. The sorrow of parting by this means wooM have been prevented.
1. Could we have gone along with our godly deceased friends, we should now have been detivered. as they are, from the many evils of this worid, wbiei they have left.
The present world is an evil worlSl, God freqaenilT tells us so in his word, the faithful servants of God find it so, and even the men of this world themsehes. when they come to leave it, confess it is so, thoob they would not believe it before.
It is so evil a world, that our blessed Lord was resolved he would deliver his people out of it at any rate; and, rather than fail, he would give bis lifif, he would give himself, to accomplish the great de> sign; and God the Father approved of the resolo-tion, as worthy of the wisdom and grace of Christ and exactly correspondent to his own mind and frill: Who gave himself for us, that he might deliver us frm the present evil worlds (or out of this present eifl
OF MR. MATTHEW HENRY.
1273 world,) according to the will of God and our Father, Gal. i. 4.
The evils of this present world are innumerable, but the chief of them may be reduced to these three beads; sin, ai Siction, and the danger we are in of miscarrying for ever.
(1.) Sin: this indeed is the greatest evil, and the procuring cause of all the rest; and it is no small bartben to those whose hearts are tender and upright with God.
Tbey are grieved to see so much sin committed in the world, their righteous souls are vexed at the liltbj conversation of those among whom they live; the bare-faced*atheism and infidelity of some, the ^ross and scandalous profaneness and immoralities of others, are a trouble and a terror to them. To see the glorious gracious God so much dishonoured and provoked, to see precious souls in such numbers so desperately destroying themselves, good men have much ado to bear the beholding of it with their eyes, it makes them weary of the world; they think themselves unhappy thus to dwell in Mesech, and to sojourn in the tents of Kedar, Ps. cxx. 5.
They are grieved yet more to see so much sin in their own families, among their near relations; and how few are there who have not this cause of sorrow, less or more! The daughters of Heth were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebekah, so great, that Re-bekah declared, she was weary of her life because of them. Gen. xxvii. 46.
They are most of all grieved to feel so much sin still remaining and working in their own souls, they have known the evil of it, it has been to them more bitter than death, and yet they are not free from it; it makes them loathe themselves, to think there should be still so much in them of that abominable thing that the soul of God hates, and that they should by in-dwelling sin, be so often hindered in that which is good, and drawn into that which is evil; they High and groan for a foil deliverance, and a sinless immortality, where they shall never say or do a foolish thing any more, never entertain a foolish sinful thought or desire any more.
Now, in the multttude of those thoughts which tliey have about their good friends deceased, this presents itself readily to them. They have now ceased from sin. While they were with us, they had their complaints as well as we, they often bewailed the deceitfulness of their own hearts, their unbelief, formality, deadness, %pd distractions in holy duties; but now all is well with them, all their complaints over; sin is abolished, it has no place, no being, with them: and if we might have had leave to have gone along with them, our complaints of this kind had been over too, and all had been right and well in our souls; but, alas! we are left behind in a sinful world, and which is worse, are ourselves daily sinning in It.
Affliction: this is another kind of evil with which the world abounds; sin has filled it full of sorrow; men are every where walking contrary to God, and God is justly walking contrary to them. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, especially where men hold the truth in unrighteousness, Rom. i. 18. Not only revealed by his word, but by his providence.
The best of Christians not being here free from sin, cannot expect to be free from affliction; they sufier from the hands of men, because they are better than others, and often sufier from the hands of God, because they are not so good as they should be; they are God's children, they are of his family, and he will correct them; judgment usually begins at the house of God, and their spirits being tender, and broken, and impressed with an awe of God, afflictions go nearer their hearts, and make a deeper wound in them than in other men.
Now as for these, our godly friends who are de* parted, all these calamities are overpast, they are entered into peace, the wrath of their enemies cannot reach them now, and their heavenly Father will never frown upon them any more; he receives their departing souls with this most sweet and gracious welcome. In a little wrath I hid myself pom thee fbr a moment, but with everlasting loving-kindness will I now have mercy on thee, Isa. liv. 8.
And if we could have gone along with them to heaven, our troubles would have been over too, and all tears wiped away from our eyes by the tender hand of our Lord Jesus Christ; but we still remain in an evil world, and seem to be reserved for yet greater trials. Since so many that stood in the gap are removed, we can conclude no other, but that they are taken away from the evil to come; that they are safely housed before the storm comes; they are gone to a good home, and gone home in a good time ; henceforth, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord; and it had been happy for us, if it had been the will of God, that we had died with them; especially considering,
(3.) The danger that we are yet in of miscarrying for ever. And this is not the least of the evils we groan under in this world, fightings without, and fears within: dangerous temptations are daily assaulting our souls, and these occasion sad misgivings of heart, lest we should one day fall by our spiritual enemies.
The serious Christian has his hopes, and though they are often but weak and wavering, he would not be without them for a thousand worlds; but he has his fears too, and not without cause; the concern is vastly great, the battle is not yet over, he has not yet reached the mark, nor won the prize; a disappointment would be fatal and irrecoverable. The heart is deceitful; many have flattered themselves to their
A SERMON ON THE DEATH
own ruin; and the humble Christian thinks with himself, What if I should do so too? The very possibility of being deceived in a matter of endless consequence, is enough to shake the firmest mind, and to make it tremble.
The case of a Christian in his journey to eternity, is like that of a man that is to go over a narrow and long bridge, that lies upon high and rugged rocks, from whence there is a mighty precipice to the deep waters; though the bridge be strong, and his hold sure, yet he cannot forbear looking down to the rocks and river so far below him, and he is ready to shiver and tremble when he thinks, If I should fall, what a dreadful fall would this be! Though the Christian has the strong bridge of the covenant to go over, yet he cannot avoid meditating terror, when be thinks what it is to fall into the bottomless pit, and lake that bums with fire and brimstone ; he is upon a sure foundation, he has sure hold of Christ, or rather Christ has sure hold of his soul, and yet he trembles when he looks down and thinks. If I should fall, what a desperate fall would that be!
Now, those holy ones who are got safe over the narrow bridge of death, haye nothing more to fear; they are safe landed, the risk is run and over; the matter is fixed, they are in heaven already. They are where they would be, and where sometimes they were afraid they should never have come; but those fears have now no room in their souls; the battle is won, the victory gained, the day is their own, and they are safe for ever.
And if we had gone along with them, our dangers and fears had been over too; but we have not attained, we are not already perfect; we know not what deep, what dark and dangerous, steps we have yet to take, how often our feet may slide; we know our blessed Saviour is able to keep us from falling, and we hope he will do so, hut hope defended maketh the heart tick; and when such a one as Paul was at so much pains to keep under his body and bring it to subjection, lest while he preached to others he himself should be a cast-away, (I Cor. ix. 27.) we cannot think ourselves above all fear: we are admonished to fear, lest a promise being 'left us of entei'ing into his rest, any ofuss/iould seem to come short of it, Heb. iv. 1. It was from this text that your deceased minister preached the Lord's day before he died; and I doubt not but it was with a serious concern upon his own soul, that he might not come short of the promised rest; but now all the care is over, he enjoys that everlasting rest that he so unweariedly pursued and pressed after; but we are left to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. This is one consideration that renders it desirable to have gone to heaven with our godly acquaintances, that we might with them have been fully delivered from all the evils of this present world.
2. We should have now possessed with them the blessedness of that world which they are gone td-How great that blessedness is, none among the Gf> ing can tell; we understand but as children, aad speak but as children, when we think and speak m the glories of heaven. Though we have now tW evidence of our adoption, and know that we are tbe children of God, yet we know not what we shall be; but this we are sure, to be dissolved and to be vith Christ, is far better than to be in the most prospo-ous condition in this world. Permit me here u» give a few short hints.
(I.) In heaven the principles and habits of grace in the soul are all perfected. Those who arc airired safely there, know as they are known ; their apprehensions are clear, distinct, and as adequate to their objects, as a created mind can admit of, in itshigb-est improvement and most enlarged capacity ; their love to God is now without any coldness or incoo-stancy, it is most pure, and perfectly refined froe all sinister and selfish ends and interests. Their delight in God is now full, the top-stone is nov brought forth to crown the building, and grace is ripened into glory.
(2.) The operations of these perfected graces are perfect too; their knowledge, love, and delight is God, are in continual exercise without any interruption ; they are in more easy and pleasant exercise, without any opposition ; they are in the most lively and vigorous exercise, without any weakness or weariness; they worship God day and night, and their work is their felicity, their rest and reward.
(3.) The blessed objects of their graces are nov near to them, viewed by them, and fully enjoyed ; they are made like to the angels of God, and with them by a spiritual sight they see God face to face; they behold him in his glory; that which Mosa desired, but was not then able to bear, they enjof with infinite pleasure; God shows them his glMj, Exod. xxxiii. 18. They look with stedfast pleasure and wonder upon the Lord Jesus Christ; they walk with him in white in the heavenly paradise: and what soul can imagine the delightful conversatioo they have with him in those most pleasant walks; with what mutual joy and satisfaction their Redeemer and they record the wonderful steps of that rich grace, that found them in such depths of mif^^ry. and raised them to such a height of glory ? Thej have the fullest, sweetest, and most satisfying scbs, relish, and assurance of the free, unchangeable, peculiar, distinguishing love of God to them ; God rejoiceth over them, and rests in his love towards them, and they rejoice and rest in him and bis favour for ever.
I am persuaded none will blame me, if I here insert some passages, which your deceased minister has gathered up out of a sermqn preached by his excellent father, on the death of Mr. William Laa-rence. Addressing himself to the widow and father-
OF MR, MATTHEW HENRY.
1275 children, he uses the words of Christ in Lnke ii. 28. Weep not far me, &c. and thus enlarges n them: *' It is said of Ahel, that being dead, he speaketh; if oar deceased friend and brother » is dead, conld be heard speaking, this is what would say, My dear wife and children, my r brothers and sisters, my dear neighboars and nds, weep not for me, for yoo have something to do with yonr tears. And having described evils he was freed from, he proceeds thus: Consider the happiness I am entered into, •uld 3^oa know where I am ? I am at home in my ber's honse, in the mansion prepared for me re. I am where I woald be, where I have long [ often desired to be; no longer on the stormy , bat in a safe and quiet harbour: my working e is done, and I am resting; my sowing time is le, and I am reaping; my joy is as the joy of the vest.
' Would you know how it is with me? I am dc perfect in holiness, grace is swallowed up in ry, the top-stone of the building is brought forth. )uld you know what I am doing? I see God, I him as he is, not as through a glass darkly, : face to face, and the sight is transforming, it kes me like him. I am in the sweet enjoyment my blessed Redeemer, my Head, and Husband, om my soul loved, and for whose sake I am ling to part with all. I am here bathing myself the spring-head of heavenly pleasures and joys atterable: I am here keeping a perpetual sabbath; at that is, judge by your short sabbaths: I am ne singing hallelujahs incessantly to him that sits on the throne, and rest not day and night from lising him. ' Would you know what company I have? Blesscompany, better than the best on earth: here ; holy angels, and the spirits of just men made rfect. I am set down with Abraham, and Isaac, d Jacob, in the kingdom of God, with blessed lul and Peter, and James and John, and all the lots ; and here I meet with many of my old ac-aintances that I have fasted and prayed with, 10 have got before me hither. " And, lastly, Will you consider how long this is continue? It is a garland that never withers, ;rown of glory that fades not away; after millions millions of ages it will be as fresh as it is now: d therefore weep not for me." I have taken only so much as relates to the bless-oess of heaven ; and it is described in such sweet, 'ely, and unaffected strains, so suitable to the ex-llent, heavenly spirit of him that spoke it, I am re it deserves to be often read over, and seriously nsidered by us all.
If we had gone with our godly friends to hea-D, the sorrow of parting had been prevented; and need not tell some of you, that is no little sorrow j the experience of those who have lost such relations and friends will speak for me, and speak much more emphatically than I can. It is hard parting with a faithful minister, who naturally cares for the spiritual state of his people. It is hard parting with a tender, faithful, affectionate yoke-fellow, who has been for many years helt)ingyou forward in the way to heaven; with an affectionate parent, who was as compassionate to the souls of his children, as careful of their bodies and outward welfare. To part with such, is like cutting off a right hand: when such a one leaves us, he takes part of our very life and soul along with him, and we feel ourselves only to survive. Such a parting, such a loss, imbitters every thing in the world to the sorrowful survivors. Nothing is now to them what it was before; life itself is less valuable; house, family, food, raiment, rest, conversation, none of these things are what they used to be. There is a kind of blast and death upon every thing, an emptiness in every thing, when we can no longer enjoy the endeared friend who made every thing else pleasant to us. To souls united, not only in the bonds of nature, but of grace too, a separation, though it be but for a time, is hard to be borne. Now all this trouble and sorrow had been prevented, if we could have gone to heaven with them/
Such considerations as these represent it to us as a desirable thing, if it had been the will of God, that we had died with our excellent departed friends, and gone to heaven in company with them.
I now proceed,
II. To consider what reason we have to be quiet and patient in continuing here a while longer, even when our best friends are gone before us.
To men of carnal minds, who have their portion in this world, this will appear very needless; they are willing enough to stay here, whoever goes before, and would rather be left alone upon the earth, than leave a world they love so well, to enter upon a state their hearts are wholly strangers to. When they hear that death is to the righteous a deliverance, and that Christ gave himself to procure for his people such a deliverance, the secret language of their souls is, *' God deliver me from such a deliverance.'*
But as for those who have laid up their treasure in heaven, and whose hearts are there, they find it more difficult to be content to live, than willing to die, and especially when they see one intimate faithful Christian friend after another, go before them.
But yet, even these, if they would recollect themselves, and consider every thing with a calm, composed, and dispassionate mind, may see sufficient reason to acquiesce in the will of God, who has ordered it so, that when others are taken they should still be left in a sinful calamitous world : and that they may be enabled in holy patience to possess
A SERMON ON THE DEATH
their own soals, I would suggest a few things to them.
1. Consider, that in dying work, every one must expect to be alone; though yon should die in the same place, and at the same time, with your best friends, yet both they and you most be alone in dying. It is a work by itself, and every one must die for himself, and enter into eternity as much alone, as if none else had died besides him. Departing souls cannot help, cannot comfort or counsel, one another in the article of death; it does not appear that they can have any communion with each other in dying. While they lived, they could converse together about death and eternity, and comfort and encourage each other about those awful concerns ; but though they should enter together into the valley of the shadow of death, they must expect to part there, and lose the sight and society of each other there, and each of them must have to do alone with God, the Father of their spirits, in that important moment of dying. And why then should any be impatient, because they are left behind their godly friends, since there must have been a parting in death, though they should have died in the same moment? But,
2. You would do well to inquire, whether you are yet so thoroughly prepared for death and heaven as those who are gone before you. If you arc not, you have not only reason to be patient, but to be thankful to God that he has given you a little more time. Dying work is hard work; it requires not only an habitual but an actual preparation ; and there needs a great deal to actual meetness for death and heaven : it is not a passionate wish for death, or weariness of life, that makes the soul ready for another world. You sometimes think you would be glad to be gone, but are you as ready as you are willing ?
Are you sure there is not yet something wanting in you, which you cannot so well die without ? Is there no breach between God and your souls, that you have not so seriously considered, and endeavoured that it might be made up by a particular application to the blood of Christ ? If there be, you cannot imagine how difficult that very thing might have rendered your dying work to you.
Yon seem to be very much weaned from the world since your best friends are gone out of it; but is this weanedness as great in reality as it is in your present opinion ? For all your haste to be gone, if the world and you were just now to part, it may be you would find your hearts cleave faster to it, and come with more difficulty from it, than you imagine.
It may be your house is not yet set in order; something is omitted, that both in prudence and in conscience ought to be done; and if that defect be not supplied, it may prove a great distraction to your dying thoughts.
Perhaps there is some latent corroption in iQk.a yet sufficiently lamented and subdued. Thbr the very case of Peter; his self-cuinfidcoce naM*-discovered to him, and repented of, and tDMJKl before he was fit to die; perhaps it may be so i4i some others, who in a warm and affectiooate itm may seem to themselves very willing to be goBc.
Now if any of these things be your case, joa bi cause to bless God, that he has been so teiukr ( you and indulgent to you ; he has given yoa &:« time, that you may be better prepared to cncogpiE your last and great enemy, and to make the ^ and concerns of your souls more sare and clear. V fore you go to that place where .there is no fsri! work to be done for eternity.
You are ready to think God has been more to your deceased friends than he has been to} but if you better consider the matter, you aaj cause to be very thankful to him, that he had ir regard to the real wants of your seals, than to: hasty wishes. Jonah was impatient to live wben gourd was withered, he wished for deaths cndsaid is better for me to die than to live ; (ek. iv. 8,9 he was not so ready to die; that was no good fi to be found in at death; he must be more cala cool, and better reconciled to the will of God; therefore God condescends to reason the car ■: him in a most kind and compassionate mao Der bring him to himself; God would not let bia in that peevish humour; and doubtless JoDah made sensible before he died, that his God had tenderly with him, in giving of him time to rrcefi a better frame of soul than that which he was when he so passionately wished for death.
3. But though you are ever so well prepared ^ death and heaven, yet if God has any more vork you to do in the world, it becomes yon to stay ^ patience till you have done it.
You are Christians, and you have been ofteo t&'<j that Christians do not live to ihetnselres nor dti themselves, but whether they live they live to th Lm or whether they die they die to the Lord: and ihisi have been very seriously and very seasonably pfit mind of, but a few days ago, on this very occaios It is not for yon peremptorily to choose either ii or death, but to refer it to him who is the Lord i life, to appoint that for you which may be moU his own glory. You arc serving your heavenlv ?i ther and your blessed Redeemer, to whom yoa o^\ all you are, and have, and can do, and yoa are .«en| ing your generation according to the will of ti and you should be well pleased with it, both («^ work's sake, and for his sake who has called j to it
If others have done their work before yoa, itvs fit they should go to heaven before you; it wilt ^ time enough for you to rest, when your work isdoacl
* By the Rev. Dr. Williama, on Rom. xiv.7,&
OP MR. MATTHEW HENRY.
1277 lid you leave any part of it undone? This very c is well stated and determined by the apostle il, in Phil. i. 21, &c. To me to live u Christy and Vr is gain: but if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit fiiif labour ; yet what I should choose I know not: I am inn strait betwixt two, having a desire to de-t unci be ibith Christ, which is far better: never the-to abide in the flesh is more needful for you, t becomes you as the servants of the Lord, reined by him, to be willing that your rest and hap-ess should be deferred for a while, if in the mean-e you may bring more glory to God and your riour, and do more service to his interest in the 'Id ; and if jou are doing his will on earth, while ers are beholding his face in heaven, you must ik yourselves well employed, for his glory should dearer to you than any interests of your own. fou are servants to your Creator and Redeemer, 1 you must stay till you have leave to die. He
0 called you to your work, expects you should de by it with obedient patience till he also call
1 from it, and in due time he will call, and then 1 may give a cheerful answer, knowing that he I have a desire to the work of his own hands, Job r. 15.
[t is not for want of love to his disciples, that rist keeps them in this world sometimes longer in they could wish ; he has a desire to them, and the work of his hands in them, but yet he will not ve them (like your season birds) all to take wing d fly away together; for what then would become bis cause and interest in the world ? In the same ijer where he declares it to be his will that all »sc the Father had given him, should be with him lercver he is, to behold his glory, yet he also de-ires it is not his desire they should all leave the rid now, or all at one time: I pray not that thou uldst take them out of the world, but that thou uldst keep them from the evil, John xvii. 15. 1. You complain that some of your best friends vc got the start of you, and reached heaven before II; but pray consider, is it not well for you, if ;y left you in the way to heaven, following after as u arc able ? All travellers are not of the same sed, some have more strength, more activity, and i better furnished for their journey, and meet with ver hinderances, and so move faster, and get sooner their journey's end; but it is some comfort to )se who cannot keep pace with them, that those lo are gone before can tell their friends at home, It they have left them upon the road, in the right ^y, and making what haste they could after. You find it is some exercise of your patience, to ^ that those who did not set out for heaven before u, but some of them perhaps after you, have quite tjone you, and have got home before you, but if cy can carry this good report of you to heaven, at you are in the ready road thither, that you are not loitering, that you are not gone the wrong way> but that they left you in the King of heaven's high road, making the best speed you can, walking in the same spirit, in the same path of the just; this will cause joy in heaven, and may afford you comfort in the land of your pilgrimage. Are you moving God-ward and heavenward ? It is well, thank God, and take courage; remember how great a support this was to the blessed Paul, even while he was bemoaning himself that he had not yet attained to sinless perfection; Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehend" ed of Christ Jesus, Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I dof forgetting the things that are behind, and reaching forth unto those things that are before, I press forward toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, Phil. iii. 12,13.
5. Though you are left behind for a little while, yet if you keep close to God, and maintain communion with him through Christ, you may have even a heaven here upon earth: communion with God will make life comfortable, at the same time that it makes heaven so desirable. You think it long till you be joined to the general assembly and church of the first-born in heaven, and till you begin your everlasting sabbath. Come, sirs, thank God through Jesus Christ, that you have a nail in his house here, and a place in the assemblies of his saints, and such comfortable sabbaths and sacrament days; that God thus vouchsafes to come down to you, before he thinks fit to take you up to himself.
The presence of God is the highest happiness of heaven itself; Whom have I in heaven but thee? Ps. Ixxiii. 25. If you have the presence of God with yon on earth, though it be not in so immediate a manner, and in so high a degree, yet it ought to be greatly valued by you, and should not only keep you quiet, but cause you to rejoice : you cannot have the presence of deceased friends any longer with you, and that makes you weary of the world, but yon may have the presence of God even here, and is not that infinitely more ? Good old Jacob left this with his children as a sufficient support to them. Behold I die, but God shall be with you. Gen. xlviii. 21. Is the gracious presence of God nothing to you ? Is it not a great thing that the tabernacle of the Lord should be with men, and that he should dwell with you here on earth ?
You say this is something, but it is not heaven: it is true, but it is the next door to heaven. Wherever we meet with God, we may say of that place. This is no other than the house of God and the gate of heaven, Gen. xxviii. 17. Have you communion with God in secret and solemn acts of worship? Why then you are got within the borders, and even in the suburbs, of heaven. You are in the very gates of the
A SERMON ON THE DEATH
city; and their God is preparing your sonls, and making them ready for his more immediate glorious presence. Here is no room for discontent, but abundant cause for holy love and thankfulness.
6. You lament it that you are not yet in heaven; but know this for your comfort, that if yon be in Christ Jesus, you shall as sure be there in a little time as if you were there already. I speak here of the objective certainty, the certainty of the event; not of the subjective certainty, the assured persuasion of your souls concerning it In this respect, you may be in doubt, and apprehensive of the danger of missing your way, and being lost for ever, as I have already observed ; but if you be in Christ, there is no condemnation to you, Rom. viii. 1. Your state is safe, and your end shall be peace. You are kept by the mighty power of God through faith unto salvation. Your spiritual life is hid with Christ in God; it shall not be lost. Your salvation is nearer than when you first believed, Rom. xiii. 11. It will not be long but you will overtake your friends who are gone before ; you will come up to them at your Father's house; though death has separated you for a while, yet that same death shall bring you together again; when they died, then you parted for a while, and when you die you shall meet them again. The great boat that carried them over Jordan, to the land of promise, will, in a little time, come back again and fetch you, and bring you together. This Christ assured Peter of. Thou shall follow me after-wards.
The same grace that has brought them to glory is ready for you,' and sufficient for you. If your hearts be right with God, you and they are built on the same foundation; you have embarked in the same vessel; you have the same skilful pilot to steer you; and after you have been tossed to and fro on a tempestuous world a while longer, you also shall come safe to the desired haven. They once had their fears, as you now have; but the foundation of the Lard stands sure having this seal. The Lord knows who are his, 2 Tim. ii. 19. The same evidence you have of the sincerity of your faith and holiness, the same you have of your eternal happiness; for it is unalterably settled between the Father and the Son, that of all that are given to Christ, none should be lost, but all forthcoming at the last day; that every one that believeth in Christ should have everlasting life, John vi. 39, 40. You are in the hands of Christ; all his saints are in his hand; and none shall be able to pluck you out of that safe and powerful hand.
7. And lastly. When you are once got safe to heaven, you will have as long a term in your happiness as those who are gone thither before you. Yours is everlasting, and theirs can be no longer. If the blessedness of the saints in heaven were only for a limited season, though ever so long, yon would have some excuse for envying those who are goM before; for they would enjoy more of heaven than you; their lease would be longer than years, becaose it commenced before yours. But in eternity tbe is not properly a longer or shorter term; one day is «i a thousand years, and a thousand years as tme day. When you have been a thousand years in heaven, your happiness is as much beginning, and as far from ending, as it was at the first moment of your entrance there.
The apostle observes, (I Thess. iv. 17.) that the different circumstances of dying before Christ's second coming, or remaining alive at that day, would make no material difference in their happiness, because they shall all he for ever with the Lord. This being for ever with the Lord makes up all; it swallows up all lesser distinctions of the time and manner of going to heaven: this will effectuallj silence all emulous complaints, and perfectly unite the sons of God in holy love and joy; they shall eU be for ever with the Lord,
I have now considered both what it is that prompts ns to wish we had died with our holy acquaintance who are gone before us; and what reason we have patiently to wait here, till our great Lord shaJl give us a kind dismission.
It remains that we should bring these things home to ourselves by a close and serious application. 1 can but give you a few hints, and must leave you to enlarge upon them yourselves, depending upon iht help of God's Holy Spirit to make all effectual.
1. Instead of repining that our best and most beloved friends are gone before us, let us set ourselves to improve their life and death for the establishment of our souls in the belief of an unsees eternal world, and of the blessedness of the saints in that world. If you say. Who does not believe this ? I am sure I may say. Who is there that does not need to pray, Lord, help my unbelief? We are dull of understanding, and slow to believe the invisible realities of the other world. A strict observation of wise and good men is a great establishment to our faith. Let us remember their holy conversation, their zeal, their diligence, their self-denial, their fervent desires after God and Christ, and the delightful hopes they had of the glory to be revealed ; how they fetched their comforts from heaven by faith and hope, when this world frowned most upon them. What shall we think ? Were they deceived ? Is all this come to nothing ? Was their faith a mere fancy, and their lively hope only a pleasant dream? It can never be: there is a life beyond this; they knew it to be so; they had tasted of the powers of the world to come, not in a superficial manner, but by deep and satisfying experience; they had heavenly affections, excellent designs, and delightful expectations, all which centred in a world of everlasting rest with God. Are all these perished with
OF MR. MATTHEW HENRY.
1279 heir dead bodies ? No, jiarcly : who that believes ^ jvod, can thick he would suffer the wisest, the most loly, and every way the best men in the world, thas ;o flatter themselves; and that only the foolish, dcious, onthinkin part of mankind should happen :o be in the right ? It can never be. Verily, there is a 'award for the righteous, and his expectation shall not be cut off*.
2. Let the death of our godly friends teach us to think of heaven more frequently, and with greater affection and delight Indeed, when we consider beaven as the glorious throne of God, and the seat j£ the blessed angels, we should for that reason raise our thoughts and our hearts thither; but no man hath seen God at any time; we have little acquaintance with the holy angels; but we have seen and known many of the blessed saints who are now io heaven ; we Juid familiar acquaintance with some of them, our souls were knit to them. Now though we should chiefly value heaven for the sake of the Divine Presence that shines most gloriously there, yet we may ascend in our thoughts to God by the scale of the creatures; and what we saw in good men of God, of Christ, and heaven, while they lived with us here, should make us to love God, and Christ, and heaven more, and meditate more upon them, since so many who bore the image of the heavenly are now gone thither.
It has been often observed, that when Esther was taken into the court of Ahasuerus, Mordeeai took a walk every day before that gale, ch. ii. 11. We should follow our friends in our thoughts and desires, to that blessed state into which they are entered.
Nature teaches us to love the place of our fathers* sepulchres; we look with affection upon the very graves of our friends, and take pleasure even in their dust Should we not then much more frequently and aff'ectionately meditate upon the glorious world to which their precious souls are gone ? By this means, we not only show our affection to them, but we maintain some kind of communion still with them.
3. Instead of passionately wishing that wc had died with our friends who are gone to heaven, let us be followers of them, as they were of Christ: if we ever expect to come to them in heaven, we must be such as they were upon earth. Natural conscience and natural affection may put us upon wishing we had gone with our pious acquaintance into the other world, because we believe they are happy. This amounts to no more than Balaam's wish; but we mast be found walking in the path of the just, if ever we arrive at their happiness; and whenever we think of them with affections of love and sorrow, we should presently charge ourselves not to be slothful, but followers of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises, Heb. vi. 12.
Let us consider with ourselves, we have heartily wished that we had died with those excellent ones; but if God had taken us at our word, and death had found us out of Christ, out of the covenant, out of the way of good men, it would have separated us from them; though we had died with them, our souls and theirs would have taken a quite contrary way; we should have lost their company not only in dying, but after death, and never have met them again, till we had met at the judgment seat of Christ, they on the right hand, and we on the left; and if indeed we loved them so well, let us think with ourselves what a woful meeting that would be to us I The very sight of them would add to our confusion and misery.
4. Since we must not yet enjoy their company in heaven, let us converse more with their surviving labours here on earth: these are like the mantle that Elijah dropt when he left this world, and Elisha so carefully preserved and used. Some of the servants of Christ who are gone, live still in their excellent works; and by these, being dead, they continue to speak to us. This is the case now before ns: your laborious, faithful pastor has left behind him most excellent remains, such as shall never die. I am persuaded, as long as the Bible continues in England, those admirable expositions of his upon it will be prized by all serious Christians. In them you have his clear head, his warm heart; his life, his soul appears to be in them: prize them more, read them more than ever you have done; and while you are seriously perusing those excellent books, besides many others published by him, you will seem to yourselves to have Mr. Henry still with yon. It is in vain for us to pretend that we had a great value for the lives of such as he, if we neglect their labours, in which so much of their life was spent
5. Since it is the will of God that we should be still alive when our best friends are gone, let us endeavour to fill up their places as well as we can here on earth. Their death is a public loss, and leaves a wide breach in our fence: let us all, according to the duty of our several places, stand in the gap, and endeavour to turn away the anger of God from the land. Are so many of our humble, praying, wrestling Israels gone? Let those who remain pray more, and pray better. Are so many diligent ministers gone ? Let those who remain be more than ever intiant in season, out of season, and look up to him who has the residue of the Spirit, to pour it forth afresh, that the church and nation may be as little losers as possible. If we do not so, the churches of Christ will have sorrow upon sorrow; sorrow for the loss of those who are gone, and sorrow for the sloth of those who are left behind.
6. And lastly. Let us live in the well-grounded hope of following our godly friends to heaven, and meeting them there, and being together for ever
A SERMON ON THE DEATH
with the Lord; lay the ground-work of such hope sure and strong, for the saperstructare is to reach as high as heaven; and when you have done this, then rejoice in hope. I know nothing that can better support your spirits under the loss of such excellent ones, than a lively hope of a speedy meeting again in a better world; the time of separation is but short, yet a little while and you shall see them again; you parted in sorrow, you shall meet in joy. Perhaps you had not the opportunity of seeing some of them die, of closing their eyes, and bidding them farewell : but that shall not hinder your joyful meeting; and how will you then welcome each other into a world of bliss, and wonder to see how much you are all changed for the better, since your last parting! How will you congratulate each other in the favour of your blessed Lord, who has washed your souls so clean, and made them so glad ! But I must stop my thoughts here, that are ready to run out beyond bounds. Comfort yourselves and one another with these things.
I know I speak to many this day who need such comforts. Here is a great congregation, bereaved of a most faithful, wise, laborious minister; here is a disconsolate family, bereaved of one of the most exemplary and useful relations that 1 ever knew any family blessed with. How is a great blow given to us all! The death of Mr. Henry is an universal loss I It is and will be universally lamented.
Expect not, sirs, that I should enter upon the particulars of his excellent character; very much has been said of him already in a little compass, by that worthy aged minister who first preached to you on this mournful occasion.
I hope this will be more fully done in an account of his exemplary life: that constant diary he kept, will furnish out proper and excellent materials, besides what may be added from the observation of others.
But that which chiefly restrains me now is, that it is needless to do it in this place; for thoagh you have not enjoyed him much above two years, yet in that time you have knoum his doctrine, his manner of life, his purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, and patience, 2 Tim. iii. 10.
And who has not known him ? His works praise him in the gates, and will do so; his great and good works from the pulpit, from the press, his immense labours, his incredible diligence in preaching, in expounding, in writing, his care of all the churches: he, like Demetrius, had a good report of all men, and of the truth itself; and we also hear witness, and ye know that our witness is true, 3 John 12.
He had in him that happy mixture of excellent gifts and graces that seldom meet in the same person, and they made him very amiable to all who knew him. In him you had the happy mixture of great strength of judgment and fervour of spirit. Some art very zealous, but not so judicious; others jadiciofLS but not so zealous: he was both a baming and a shining light.
In him you had a true greatness of soai, mixed with exemplary modesty and humility; notbiog in him appeared sordid and abject, notfaini;^ vain and supercilious.
In him you had a most agreeable cbeerfalness.
with a due temperament of solidity and serioosness.
In him you might observe a strict regard to ihe dictates of his own conscience, joined with a most candid tenderness to those who differed from him.
In his preaching you had a very jas( and close way of thinking, with the most plain, proper, natural and easy expression, and a great regard to the honour of Christ and free grace, joined with a constast endeavour to beat down sin, and ^ive the power and practice of godliness.
It was this happy conjunction of excellent gifU and graces, that made him live so mnch desired, and die so much lamented.
I am a witness of that tender and conscientioa« concern with which he left his old and dear friendj at Chester, and of that comfort and satisfaction be had in his acceptance and usefulness in this part cf the vineyard. I am persuaded, these last two years of his life and labours have been a great blessing to many souls in and about the city of London.
My own intcrestin his acquaintance and friendship for the space of above twenty-eight years,is a thing of too private a nature to mention upon so solemn an occasion ; but it must never be forgotten by me. I own it as a precious talent put into my hand, and to be accounted for. He was a most cordial, prudent faithful, unalterable friend: and if a passionate affection does not deceive me, I think verily I shall less value this life and world, since he is gone from it The death of this faithful servant of Christ at this time is a very dark and threatening providence: God calls us to more than common sorrow by it; he expects we should lay it to heart; and, all the circumstances of it considered, both those of a private and public nature, we should lay it nearer to our hearts than ordinary. We should not suffer it to pass over us lightly; we should feel our loss, and fear the displeasure of our God, and tremble because of the ark of God.
But yet we must not abandon ourselves to inconsolable grief, nor quarrel with God, nor despair of his mercy to us.
As for the broken family, I am persuaded there are great mercies in store for them: the fatherless children are left with God, and he will keep them alive; and let the widow trust in him. Though God in this sad providence seems to have spoken against them, I believe he will earnestly and affectionatelr remember them still.
OF MR. MATTHEW HENRY.
1281
[ knoiw DO family in which the entail of the cove-Dt from one generation to another has more evi-Dtly appeared. I know no family more enriched tb a large stock of treasure of prayers by religions idecessors on both sides. And a family that is IS rich in prayer, is rich in the promises too, while i present branches of it adhere to the covenant, d live op to their education; and we rejoice to ) tbat it is thus with them, and daily pray for their >wth and establishment in wisdom and grace. And for this afflicted broken congregation, though •y oaghtto be sensible what they have lost, askilgaide, and a faithful helper of their souls; one o, they hoped, wonld have been the happy instra-tnt of great good, not only to themselves, but to dr families; one that was wonderfully fitted to id the lambs of the flock, and took great delight that part of his work.
Yet let them not distrust the care of the great epherd and Bishop of their souls. This place d people have been signally owned and favoured
Gody from one time to another. In the mount it s been seen that God has provided; and we hope will have the same care and concern for you still, id the great respect you always had for your faith-[ ministers while they were with you, and the true iristian generosity with which you have treated sir families when they have been gone, gives us od encoaragement that the presence of God shall the glory in the midst of you; and that you all yet have a pastor according to his own heart, lo shall carry on the same work, feed you with the me sincere milk of the word, and be a great bless-^ to yon, and the rising generation among you. And though the church of God in general feels is loss, and laments it greatly, that this your minister was taken away before he had finished the great undertaking, his noble, delightful task, the Exposition of the Bible; yet we have all cause to bless God, who spared him so long, and helped him to carry it on so iVir.
It is the observation of a worthy'minister, on the death of a person of great note in all the churches, who had a heart enlarged for God, and bent upon doing more eminent service, that '* no one ever finish- • ed all the great designs he had for the glory of God in this world, excepting the Lord Jesus Christ. He indeed could say, // is finished'* As for others, their good desires and purposes go beyond the limits of their time and life; but they have finished all that God designed to do by them: and he is able to carry on his own work by other hands, and thereby to make it evident that he is to his people all in all
And I hope those who have attended long upon the ministry of good Mr. Henry, and taken down his expositions upon that part of the Bible that yet remains, whether in the public assembly or in his family, will carefully gather up those precious fragments, that none may be lost; and will communicate them to the world in the best way they can, that this gp-eat work may be finished, and be as much as possible his own performance.
To conclude: We must flee to this as our last resort ; though ministers, the best of ministers, die, the gospel does not die with them. 1 Pet i. 24,25. All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass ; The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: but the word of the Lord endurethfor ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached tmto you.
A FUNERAL SERMON
PREACHED AT NAN! WICH, JUNE 26th, 1714,
ON OCCASION OF THE
DEATH OF THE REVEREND MATTHEW HENRY,
LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL.
BY JOHN REYNOLDS.
TO HIS TRULY HONOURED FRIEND
MRS. MARY HENRY,
LATE PIOUS RELICT OF THE DECEASED.
Madam,
Little coald I suspect that the report of such a discourse (meditated in such haste, and amidst such tumultuary thought and passion) would so soon have reached London ; and be, from thence, so solicitously desired to the press ; and that, as a piece of further respect to the worthy memory that occasioned it. While that is pleaded, I must resign it, that it may sensibly appear (to those that will not otherwise be persuaded) how incompetent it is to serve so great a name and memory. And while I resign it, I must present it unto you, that I may take occasion thereby to beg of you, Madam, to dry up the falling tears, and put on, now, a sympathizing spirit: Rejoice wit A him that rejoiceth: the heavenly mind is got within the heavens ; far beyond mortalilf and the mournful contingencies of it. Since the divine Good-will ordered your so long converse together in pious, pleasant harmony, let not the disposal of the same will occasion present discord. Rejoice that he has been (by grace) so good, so faithful unto death, and that he is now added to the triumphant communion. As yon bless that God that gave him to you, bless him also that he lent him to you so long; and by him gave you so much cheerful assistance and encouragement in the way to heaven. Good Madam, do all you can to refuse the importunity of debilitating grief. Regard your hetb, even fat' sake of those dear, living remains, that are do« k upon your care. You know time is short. Rrj/. in hope of that glory to which he is gone, and v^^^ yon will find him more loving, more amiable, u. more happy than ever; and where (though tbe $<> ciety of perfected saints will be an iDcoDceinlr felicity, yet) the blessed God and the Redeemeri be the supreme portion and delight. That the G • of all grace would please to enlarge yonr padm. to your trial, and sanctify the important af Bictioe-. you, and the young bereaved mourners with y-* and proportion his strong consolations thereto, an-be, jointly, your everlasting inheritance, is tbe se.-cere prayer of.
Madam, Your truly sympathizing friend. And real servant in sacred offices
John REY^<?Lr'^
DID our rcrerendy honoured, faithful brotkfrfx-withdrawn) act by prophetical instillatimi, vkeu. ■ the obsequies of the late piovs minister of tkisplip he chose to treat upon that passage Sorrow api' sorrow ? This day are these words fulfilled in ywr em before your eyes. He himself is now become the ocft sion of our successive sorrow ; of multiplied, «|f vated sorrow; sorrow to city and country ; torrf* to the church of God. Bui I would call 19 f meditation upon this sorrowful day, a few ckartt!'
• See his aernion at Mr. Lawrence's TuneraL
A FUNERAL SERMON, &c.
1283 tcords, which, I am apt to thinh, would occur st to every mind, upon the hearing the tad, sur-\ttg newt of this decease.
MaTTHEIH XXV. 21. Veil done, thou good and faithful servant, &c.
f can we choose bat suppose, that, on last Toes-morning, this sentence was sensibly pronoanced ? ifa//y, by the God of heaven, while he remanded servant of his from the pulpit; gave him his tut here, and ordered his entrance into heavenly and joy: actually, by the good angels of hea-, while they met him on the other side the river of tal life; received him with a Well done, good faithful fellow-servant I You have, in your world, gently served your Lord and ours. We are now ly, at his command, to conduct and introduce into his presence and glory. yell done, good and faithful tervant I Can such a racter fall from such lips ? such an encomium issigned by the Son of God, the impartial Judge the world, to any of the fallen, apostatized race nan kind ? It must argue, that reconciling dels have been a-foot; that recovering grace has Q at work; that in and with some, it has pre-led ; that, of accursed enemies and malignants, las raised them to the honour and office of good I faithful servants.
4me allows not to look into the contents of this 'ul chapter; or into the peculiar paragraph to ich these words belong. Supposing, therefore, that
1, in some competent measure, remembered, whose se words are here represented to be, to whom ken, and when ; we take these observable truths our process, as supposed, intimated, or included rein.
. The Lord Jesus designs to come again. For, he st take cognizance of all human affairs. His vants shall be considered and regarded. He has at work to do, that requires his own hand and tscnce. He will put an end to this world, and all '• transactions of it; will wind up the work of re-nption, gather his servants together, and pass an iversal judgment. O the unconceivable day of return ! How little do the world think of it! How soured and joyful will his servants be ! How des-rate and confounded, the opposers of his gospel d kingdom!
2. The illuminated part of the vrorld is a stage, ere persons are called to be servants, and service to be done for the Redeemer. We cannot but say, U all the inhabitants of the earth are under ob-aliens to the blessed God, to love him and be de-ted to him; yea, so far as any of their indulgence d benefits depend upon and flow from the Re-eraer*s mediation, they are obliged to him for them. It they cannot expressly believe on bim, or cleave to him, as long as they have not the means of being acquainted with him, with his mediation and grace. But in the enlightened lands, persons are called to be taintt; called to be expressly devoted to God in Christ, and to act and walk according to such devotion. They are the people called here to an account ; concerning whom the ultimate judgment proceeds, and among whom the Lord Christ expects to find his servants. There he has left work to be done. There he gives light and time for the doing of it; gives advantages and opportunities for the doing of it well; sends motives, alarums, and counsels, for making haste in doing of it. The church of Christ should be a busy place. All hands and hearts at work there. The service is important and sweet. Time hastens to its end. The negligent and loiterers will find themselves in a doleful condition at the Lord's return. It is an unanswerable question. Why ttandye here, all the day, idle? Here, in the Lord's vineyard, where is so much work to be done ? where so many talents are continually distributed ? where the Lord himself is so constant an inspector? and where idleness will be attended with so much absurdity and ingratitude ? The enlightened world is a theatre for sacred service.
S. The Lord Christ hath his servants in this world of ours, and good and faithful ones too; though they are but few, indeed, now; and one the fewer by Tuesday's blow and breach. But as bad as the world is, there have been in it, there are and will be, those, that are intent upon the Redeemer's service. Where else will be the kindly issue and effect of his redemption? By the same right that be hath a seed, be must have servants; for his seed shall serve him, and shall reckon it their honour so to do. His spouse shall be his servant, and shall think her dignity consistent with her office, for he it thy Lord, and worship thou him. They that are good and faithful in this world, are peculiarly the servants of the Lord Christ. The Father's, that is, the Creator*s, are fallen and lost. The grace, or the sanctity, given by the law of creation was soon forfeited and removed; the obligations that lay on man, on the account of original creation, were soon rejected and deserted. The exterminating curse of the law, and the devil, (by the temptation first, and the curse afterward,) soon prevails over the world. So, the Creator, as such, is like to have no servants here. It is a Redeemer must raise and regain them. The Lord Christ comes to purchase, hire, and persuade them. He comes to purchase them. To purchase them out of the bands of legal, vindictive justice; out of the various thraldom and captivity in which they lay. He gave himtelf for ut, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself (and to his own service) a peculiar people, zealous of good worhs; to hire them for himself and his service. He is the householder, that went out early in the morning to hire
A FUNERAL SERMON,
laboarers into his vineyard. He hires them by proposing and promising to them an anconceivable re-compence of reward. He sets before them a crown of righteousness, a crown of glory. He says to them all. Be ye faithful to the death, and I will give you a erown of life. And not only so, but he persuades into his service. Persuades not only by moral motives, and intellectual incentives, but by the power of his determining grace, sweetly concurring therewithal. He so persuades as to prevail with souls to be good and faithful unto him. And so, the good and pious are peculiarly the Lord Christ's servants. They are his, not only by this efficiency of bis love and grace, but by the disposition and inclination of their minds. They are sensible of their numerous and vast obligations to him. The love of Christ (the contemplation of his love to us) eonetraim ne to judge, that we must live to him. They are desirous, in and by all their services, to be more acquainted with him : That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection. They resign up themselves to his command and conduct, cleaving to him with purpose of heart. They love him with an incorruptible affection ; love the service he requires, and particularly, what is suitable to redeemed ones. They are concerned for his interests on earth, desire the support and enlargement of his kingdom here, and breathe after his presence and glory. Well, therefore, may he take cognizance of them, as those that have been his own servants; faithful to himself.
4. Our Lord hath, among his servants, those that are eminently good and faithful. Such, that by way of discrimination, shall hear that applauding sentence, Well done, good and,faithful servants! At least, some are faithful in the employment and improvement of more talents than others, having received more. Were we, indeed, to insist upon the accuracy and rigour of the parabolical account here, we might say, that all that are found faithful, are equally so. For he that well improves two talents, is as faithful as he that well improves five: the disparity lies not in the improvement, but in talents communicated and received. But, (not to intimate, that proportionably there may be a greater improvement of two talents by some than of five by others,) we may justly suppose, that it is not the design of our Lord's parabolical representation of things here, to signify that all his faithful servants are, with exact equality, so, in proportion to what they received ; but only that, in general, of his servants (that are so by his trust, and their obligation) some are faithful, and some are not so. Of those that are faithful, some have received more than others, and have accordingly improved and gained more than others. As their stock hath been greater, so they have had their heads, and heart, and hands full of business, in order to manage and advance their stock. They have wrought hard; they baTc rctko ed time; they have traded far; they have beeacssj cerned that their Lord should receive bis ova ^ much as it was) with proportionable ioterdt^^ usury. And so there is room and reuon to ^ them, in the first place, the remonerant appioba^-^ Well done, good and faithful servants ! And sorr.j experience will testify, that all that are sictrj faithful under equal talents, are not jet eq»l faithful. Nay, have not many of onr Lord's scnas intrusted with few talents, been much more kst'\ than others, intrusted with more? May not dsij spoken to our shame ? How eminently faitiifil wfii they that lived in the dawning of the gospel aid i formation among us! There are of those, to rM the Lord will in a distinguishing manner saj. ^t done, good and faithful servants !
5. Our goodness lies especially in faithfalofsi the Lord Jesus. Then we are good, wbeo ve faithful servants to him. The disciples have, wise, much sin. Should they be compared witi Father's, that is, the Creator's, law, they will be foi miserably corrupt, defective, and guilty. M pollution runs through all their powers. Mar transgression they commit, and many an efi defection they make from God, and tfadr dotrt him. His original law would condemn them ail ^ their faith in, their faithfulness to, the Redeem' may be styled their evangelical goodness. Tbej good in his eye, while they heartily abide villi As amidst the exercise of moral virtue, sod f servance of those laws that secore the peace ie. order of this world, something is still wantie:. there is not a sovereign respect to the Lord Cb Mark x. 17. So, if that dwell in the heart,!: habitually and denominatively good, wbatererea ruptions and disorders may also dwell there, believers are, at present, far enough from perfeetk! But this sovereign respect to the Lord Christ, d in all the sanctified. The saints vaefaithful in Christ, This faithfulness, in mind and heait tinues with them, amidst their falls and failind Though temptations, sometimes, make a prev (j them ; yet they would not, for all the world, Kwaa their Lord and Master. They are desirous to foJ him still, though .sometimes they are faint, vean discouraged, or sometimes stumble in tbeir nij They may fall out sometimes among theouielvrs ^ Paul and Barnabas,) yet neither fall out with t Lord, nor with his service ; but resolve to ^ ^'^j and maintain their contract made to sene biai Should, in an hour of temptation, the propos) i made, as once it was. Will ye also go away .* U tc*^ be refused with the same distaste. Whither shai^^' go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life, Aod vkilr this disposition and choice abides, thy Lord ^^ acknowledge thy goodness. Thou art good as i<^ as thou art faithful to him.
BY THE REV. JOHN REYNOLDS.
1285
6. The Lord Christ will call all his ser Tants together, when he comes again. His faithful ones shall all be collected and united. He has something to say to them; something to do with them. Something to say to them, that will be to their utmost transport and joy. Something to do with them: to receive them to himself, and to conduct them to the felicity he has prepared for them, and promised to them. What a noble congregation will that be! The universal assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven ! Oh holy, happy society! Holy, without blemish and mixture. Without blemish in their own persons. Incorporated spirits made perfect! made like to the angels of God! without mixture of any other persons among them. No goats then among the sheep, or tares among the wheat. Sinners shall not dare to stand in the congregation of the faithful. Happy society! Joyful in the love and smiles of their Lord, and in their love to each other! We know not how the transactions of that day will be so accurately managed as they are to be, without the knowledge of those we have known and conversed with before. We shall see those that we have offended, and that have offended us; those we have done good to, and those we have received good from. An account is to he given either with joy or with grief. As ye have acknowledged us in part, that we are your re-joieinffy even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus* Then shall these tears be wiped from your eyes. Ye shall see the faithful Henry again ; see him rejoicing in and with all those, to whom his love and friendship, his ministrations and sacred services, have been savingly beneficial here.
7. When the Lord Christ comes, he will call his servants to an account; to an accurate, severe account: all bis servants, good and bad, faithful and unfaithful. The words themselves, indeed, only bespeak an account of the good; but that account must suppose a discrimination of them from the bad ; and the context extends the account further. The world is his; the church is his. The dwellers there are, by profession and obligation, bis servants. The sacred advantages they enjoy, are talents committed to them by him. He sets them in a state of probation. He calls them to work, intrusts them with goods, and says. Occupy till I come. Negotiate, merchandize, trade and traffic, till I return. Intimating, that he will come to call to an account. And how strict is that account! He knows very well, to whom he has committed ten talents; to whom five; to whom one single one. O how little do we remember this account! how little do we study to give it up with joy!
8. When our Lord comes, his good servants shall appear in all their faithfulness before him. They shall come attended with all their faithful services to bim. The servant here approved, shines in the improvement of his ten talents. The Lord takes notice of it all. Of their faithful offices it may be said, as well as of their persons, that none of them shall be lost; but the Lord will raise it up (to light and to remembrance) at the last day. He will have it so; for there was but little faithfully done for him in the world ; and that, that was so, he will not forget. He has had but few real servants, though many pretenders to his house and family. It may be, few of the seeming great and pompous works of religion have been done seriously and sincerely for him. Many corrupt principles have founded monasteries, colleges, churches, hospitals and almshouses. A great many famous, splendid works will be lost at the fiery day. Many will appear such, as for which the authors have either already received their reward, or must expect no other, than the wages of sin. Nay, possibly, the good servants were not good in all their services, but roust lose some at the day of fiery trial; as seems intimated in that of the apostle, 1 Cor. iii. 15. If any man's works shall be burnt, he shall suffer loss ; but he himself shall be saved, yet so, as by fire. Since little has been well done, evangelically done for him, he designs that his faithful ones shall appear attended with all their faithful services. The Gaiuses, the Henrys, shall be illustrious in all that they have done faithfully, both to the brethren and to strangers. Also, wherein faithful service has been done, therein was dutiful, honourable regard paid to the Lord: it was done for his name*s sake; out of love to him, and respect to his glory. And will he not consider what has been so done? Will not his love to himself and to his own name, engage him to remunerate such sacred regard to himself? Sure it will. In that ye did it unto the least of these, ye did it unto me. And he is not unrighteous, (or ungrateful,) to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have showed to his name. And then, he hath promised remuneration to each piece of faithful service. None of their labour to him and for him shall be in vain, or shall be thought to have been so, at the great day of account. Happy they, that come loaded with faithful services for the Redeemer! Happy (we must needs say) the three Henrys most nearly related, and last deceased ! the present object and occasion of our grief, with both his parents. The father gave himself up to the active life, and was eminently skilful and faithful therein. The mother (as the son hath informed me) was as eminent in her place, as the father in his. The son, the present object and occasion of our grief, was (as is well known) t» labours more abundant. Singular vessels of mercy here, of glory now, and especially at the great day of their joyful account!
9. The Lord Jesus means to commend his faithful servants at the day of his return: he will openly, solemnly commend them, at the day of their ac-
A FUNERAL SERMON,
count. ADgcIs, men, and devils shall be witnesses of the complacential suffrage and approbation that be will then give them. It shall appear how be loved them, how he was pleased in them and with them, when heaven and earth shall hear the loud, commendatory sentence, Well done, good and faithful servants !
We know not now the nature, the parts, the organs of a spiritual, glorified body; we know not what voice is among spirits, or how, without voice, they communicate their intentions and sentiments one to another. We know not how the spiritual body of the Redeemer, far transcendent to, and more glorious than, those of his saints, will differ from a spirit. We know not particularly, how his approbatory mind and good-will will be reported to them. It is sufficient to us, at present, that he will so represent to them his acceptance of them and their faithful services, as will amount to an abundant commendation, and to their abundant satisfaction, exultation, and joy. Our Lord, we may say, commends his servants now, in his intercession and advocacy for them; while he recommends them to his Father's favour, protection, and grace. This we may see in his last prayer for them, which seems to be the pattern and substance of his intercession above. Though in his converse with his disciples, he had had occasion enough to find fault with them, and to chide them for the dulness of their minds and earthi-ness of their apprehensions; for their unbelief and hardness of heart; the deficiencies of their love and courage, and readiness to forget his word and works; yet, when he is leaving the world, and willing to leave them, thereupon, to his Father's care, he has nothing but good to say of them ; no mention of their faults; but— T/iey have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me, are of thee; and-*/ have given them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, (though they had received them at a slow rate,) and have known surely, that I came out from thee ; and they have believed that thou didst send me. Endearing Lord ! how good and kind is he, thus to make the best of bis servants' case! And does he commend them now, and will he not do so when he comes again ? That is the day of retaliation and reward ! The day, in which he will be admired and glorified in his faithful ones. The day of account is the proper season for approbation; and that he will afford in and with an open commendation, Well done, good and faithful servants !
In the reason or reasonableness of this generous transaction of his, his public commendation of his faithful servants, we may satisfy ourselves by such considerations as these:
He will commend them, we may suppose,
1. For his Father's honour. From him they obtained mercy to be made and to be found faithful. His grace was displayed in leading them unto the
Mediator, and confirming them in him : in Icadi them to him : No man can come to me (by reason ^ the predominant corruption of nature) exttpt thf Father, who hath sent me, draw him. As the Fatbc' sent him into the world, so, by potent persaaisioa, kr draws disciples to him ; and confirms them in bia. and in a holy faithfulness to him. iVov, he riti establishes us with you, in Christ, and kmtk aueimM us, is God. He pours on them the same unction a5i on the Redeemer; and so implants and enlivei them in him unto all fruitfulness. Their faithfo'-ness honours him as the prime root and cause of it; and not only as such, but as the final cause, and olb-mate end, of it The Redeemer's serrants were the Father's also : they were restored and retarcd unto the eternal God. As none came to the Fatiic;. but by the Son ; so none come to the Son, hot tbcr come to the Father also. We come to him as Mediator ; and coming to him in that ofl Scc and notiot. we cbme on purpose to be directed, led, and united by him unto the blessed God. The trne worshippers, and those that are ^represented, by the apostle, as the object of his intercession, are styled* Those tkti come to God by him. At that efajf, says he, tiz. wbea the divine Spirit shall be plenteously poured out ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in mt, and I in you, John xiv. 20. Ye shall be certified then, that as I act by the concurrence of the great God with me, so I conduct you to him, and join yoi with him. The faithful servants of the Lord Jesnu are the faithful servants of the eternal God. All mim are thine. They that belong to me, and are devoted to my name, are devoted to thine also. And where else, truly, are the servants of the eternal God to be found, but among the disciples of Jesus ? We msr talk of natural religion, but where is it to be found in the life and practice, but within the church of Christ ? We may talk of moral virtue, but what aa empty shadow is it, if not founded on the lore of God ? And where is that to be found, but among the servants of Jesus ? It is he that opens to them the nature and excellences of the eternal God, the counsel, law, and love of the eternal God. It is he that calls them unto the worship and obedience of the eternal God ; that, by his heavenly revetation5 and Spirit, kindles in their hearts the love of theeter-nal God. His servants then are, and must be, the servants of the eternal God. In being faithful to him, they have been faithful to God. In tbeir faithfulness, they glorified God ; and demonstrated thereby their true discipleship to him. Herein it my Father glorified, that ye bring forth much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. Having by their faitb* fulness glorified the eternal God, according to tbe law of disci[^eship to him, he will be ready (almost to thank, but sure) to commend them, when he comes again. Well done, good and faithful servants !
BY THE REV. JOHN REYNOLDS.
1287
2. Kor his own honour. His grace has been dis-ayed in their faithfulness. Without him they aid do nothing. He was the vine, from which eir life, their fruitfulness, and faithfulness was de-?ed. He is the second Adam; and he appears, them, much more potent and successful than the St was. The first was, indeed, a living soul; but t secured neither himself, nor his posterity: he on proved unfaithful, and entailed unfaithfulness >on his race. The second Adam is a quickening y\ rit; not only continued faithful himself through-it the whole course of his obedience, but teaches id enables thousands to be faithful too; thousands ' old Adam'i apostate race. He transferred them himself, ingrafted them Into his vital body, shed ucti Tying virtue and Spirit upon them; in recount-1^ the products of which, he may well, to his own raise, say to his faithful ones, Well done, good and lithful servanitl
3. To manifest his approbation of their active, di-gent holiness. The righteous Lord loveth right-9usness, and bath promised to crown it at the last ay. By the same rule, that sin is offensive to him, bedience must be acceptable and grateful. He ectified their nature, that it might be capable of, nd intent upon, regular and sancti Ged operations, le purified his people, that they may be zealous of ood works: and when they are so, they answer a Teat design of his redeeming, purifying grace. In heir holy faithfulness, they act most suitably to he original law of creation and integrity. They Qost nobly employ the native powers bestowed ipon them; they act most rationally, spontane-msly, and agreeably to heaven-born spirits. Most -ationally. Their pious faithfulness is dictated by he highest reason. They must needs serve him, hat serred them to the death, served their chief nterests and eternal salvation. They see, that all >ther service, separate from his, is folly and madness. They see, that time is short, the world is vanity, and death approaching: that it is his ser. vice, faithfully performed, will give them peace find satisfaction then. Most spontaneously as the scales are dropped from their eyes, the ill bias and load is removed from the heart and will. They run the way of their Lord's commandments with an enlarged heart; and are sorry that they can run no better, and do no more. They gladly design and meditate the ways wherein they may serve him. Most agreeably to heaven-born spirits. As those that, in their first formation, came from the Father of spirits ; and as those that have been anew created by him. They now show that they are returned to God, to his law and love. They please him, and are aspiring towards the enjoyment of him. To this, the Mediator called them ; and this must be delightful to him. If the steps of moral virtue, and observance of the secondary table of the law, be pleasing to him, (as in the young man, whom, upon the assertion of such virtuous observation from his youth, our Lord is said to love, Mark x. 21.) much more will the zealous exercise of his own sanctifying grace, in his faithful servants, be approved and commended by him. The exercise of their integrity and love, of their faith and faithfulness, will be found to their praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Therein they have endeavoured to conform themselves to their Lord himself.
4. To vindicate them from the vile aspersions cast upon them by a blind, malicious world. Holy faithfulness has seldom here appeared in its true light and colour. The servants of God, and of his Christ, have, in all ages, had their abuses, reproaches, and misrepresentations. Their innocence and integrity have been usually clouded and obscured. Thence, they have not been able (o do the good they might and would, nor have been such an honour to their Lord and his cause as they should have been. They were not of the world, and so the world hated and reproached them. They were opposers of the devil's kingdom ; and the devil hath found ways enough to vilify and blacken them, and make deluded miscreants believe, they were his complices and friends. Do any of them come in the severe, abstemious spirit of the reformer, John the Baptist; they are melancholy, or have a devil. Do they come in the familiar, sociable mind and conduct of the Redeemer himself; they are then friends of publicans and sinners. An irreligious world will not be pleased with any of their deportment and conversation, as long as they walk according to the great rules and end of divine religion. In modern times they are loaded with the scandalous names of liei-etics and hypo-cnies; of schismatics, jrrecisians, and fafiatics: and under such names they are sent to exiles and galleys, stakes and prisons. But he that knows their integrity, will bring forth their righteousness as the light; will vindicate his cause and them; will silence and confound all their implcaders, and particularly the great accuser of the brethren, by one public sentence of his, Well tioite, good and faithful sei'vants !
5. They were his honour here. That little honour that he had in and from this world of ours. As they were called and culled out of the world to be a people to his name, so they lived to the honour of his name. They were witnesses for him, for his truth, and oflice, and glory, in the several generations in which their lot was cast. On this account he recommends them to his Father's tuition, when he was leaving the world: Thine are mtne, and I am glorified in them, John xvii. 10. They speak him, preach him, exemplify and commend him to an ignorant, unbelieving world, and in kind
A FUNERAL SERMON,
retaliation, he will commend them at his retain. / say unto ye (and ye may depend upon my word for it,) that whosoever shall confess me before men him shall the Son of man confess before the angels of God Luke xii. 8. Since, then, the name of the Lord Jesus was here glorified in them, they shall be glorified by him, and particularly receive the glory of a solemn acknowledgment and commendation from him, at the day of their account, and appearance before him.
6. To set them on admiring at his surprising condescension and love. Unutterable grace is to be poured out at that day. The Redeemer resolves to do every thing, by which he may be admired and glorified in his saints, at that astonishing day. And this shall be a piece of the wonder of the day, that he will take notice, approving notice, of such servants and such services. Such servants, that were in themselves so sinful and defective! sinful in nature, to their own continual shame and grief! so dark and destitute of .spiritual light! so impenitent and hard-hearted! so unbelieving, remiss, and cold in their love, and grateful resentments of his goodness ! Alas ! they knew not how to bear themselves and their own hearts, while they were here. They were their own continual disease and burthen. So defective in what they did, and in the omissions of what they should have done. Had they done all that was required, they were, at best, but unprofitable servants. And will the Lord of life so kindly regard such impertinent ones as they ? He needed them not. And how much did they omit of their duty? Lord forgive my sins of omission! said the pious, famous Vsher, when he came to die. How oft did the laziness of the flesh, the temptations of the world, the discouragements of the times, divert them from plain and excellent services! And then, how 'defective in those they wrought! And will he respect and recount such services as theirs ? proceeding from such imperfect principles, and so darkly levelled at his glory? O the unspeakable goodness, and favour! Will he approve what they had forgotten, or what they thought would never have been forgiven ? Surprising grace! This must needs overwhelm them with wonder, and set them upon the reflection and inquiry, when ever such works were done by them: Lord, when saw we thee hungry, or naked, or in prison, and did so minister unto t/iee ? But he knows the times when, the persons to whom, the cases in which, they ministered, in all their services, to him. They are recorded, and shall be recounted at that day, to their surprise, and unconceivable amazement at his grace and love. With what rapturous astonishment will the strange but charming accents strike their souls, when the blessed Judge shall say, Well done, good and faithful servants !
7. To show to all, the reason of the diffeit&ef he makes among the natives of this world at Ik day. Vast distinction be makes among them. Sok he raises with such horrid, yet deathless bodies, e devils would have, were they to wear any. Tbea he sets at his left hand, frowns upon with otais disdain and indignation, and then dooms to ife region and flames designed and prepared for ^ implacable rebels against heaven, the devi Utk& selves. Others he raises in honour, pover, sad glory; clothed with immortal bodies, glorioas hU his own. Them he sets at his right hand, the pl of reputation and renown. Them he adjadts, u to the mansion of angels only, bat to an eodiei blessedness with himself and his Father io thtj glory. In so doing, he acts not merely at a d«-potical, arbitrary rate; it is not the office of i judge to do so. For then he might as well coafs this glory on the opposite black rank and cob-pany. But it is the function of a judge to do yit tice, to administer law, and pat in execotion ^ rules of government. However arbitrary oar Lorij may seem now in distributing his grace, to pre{&7 persons for the honour of the day \ As he ttiU hst\ mercy on whom he will have mercy ; yet, tbeo ki appears as the righteous Judge. And as soch, kj must execute gospel sanction, and fulfil the tbmt-j enings and promises he himself hath made. Be hath promised to his faithful ones the cromiotj life, and he will be sure to bestow it. AccordJodj. he will find out all his faithful ones; will recogstj their faithful services; will let the world ki^^ that though they have no merit, they have das the work he commanded and approves; thej baie cleaved unto him and his service, when otWn would not; they are the persons to whom bis promises of life and glory appertain ; to wbois,» righteous Judge, he is obliged to give the crof£ of righteousness; whom therefore in opeo ccart before men and angels, he mast pronoo Dce %d commend as his good and faithful servants.
8. To cast (as we may well suppose) a tonoei;!-ing reflection upon those refractory soals tbat would not be faithful. They shall see what tber have lost; what honour and approbation tbey ba^( forfeited and fallen short of. O the dismal itfnt that will seize unfaithful souls at that day! They shall bethink themselves how they were iDvitedaiiJ called unto like faithfulness. That the same cron of glory was pro'posed and promised unto them, as to others. The process of that day was opened to tko: the honours of the faithful were set before llies: the loss, the misery and shame, of unfaitfafal obcs were sufficiently represented; bat they wonld »t believe, would not be faithful. They regarded e the honours that were to be adjourned till tbe \^ day. They loved the praise of men and appro^' tion of the world. They would be of some ^
BY THE REV. JOHN REYNOLDS.
1280 ind figare here, whatever became of eternal glory, knd now they are debarred the Judge's commend-ttion. Horror and confusion must seize them» while bey are separated from the good and faithful company, and excluded their applauses and joys. ) what unspeakable honour and dignity have they ost, and what eternal, blessed consequences there-ipon !
9. To reflect a tacit honour npon faithful angels. Consequentially, to approve and commend hem also. They will stand by; and their faith-ulness cannot but redound to their honour, in the lay when faithfulness is publicly commended. We Lnow not that those unblemished spirits will be >rooght into judgpnent at that day. Know ye not9 hat toe ehall judge angels? is usually and plausibly estrained to those that are con Bned in chains of larkness. Though it may, perhaps, be thought, :hat there may be reason for a solemn judgment in 'eference to the one, as well as the other. Have :he evil angels, since their fall, been continually 3pposing the Redeemer and his kingdom ; the ;>ious ones have, on the contrary, ever since their conservation, been diligently serving the Redeemer md his kingdom. Have the evil ones been the tempters and opposers of the saints, and so capable )f being judged and condemned by them; the pious ones have been also their friends and ministers, and so as capable of being approved, thanked. And commended by them. But let us not be wise eibove what is written. Will the Mediator commend his faithful mortals ? those that were so imperfectly and defectively faithful? What respect must he have for his perfectly faithful servants! They that always rejoiced in his commands, and never failed in the complete execution of them. While the saints of earth are commended, the commendation must ascend, and affect the saints of heaven; their consciences, in the mean time, will applaud them ; and they rest assured of the Judge's good-will towards, and approbation of, them also. Saints on earth were faithful in few things. Their time was short. The saints of heaven (the natives there) were faithful in many things ; faithful in the great erish, when thousands of their brethren fell; faithful, each of them, through all ages of the world; faithful in all things. Commendation is much more due to them.
10. To cast shame and torture (as we may well suppose) on those angelical spirits, that refused to be faithful. Angelical spirits we may call them for distinction sake; though in refusing to be faithful, they refused to be angels; i. e. messengers and ministers to the heirs of God in the world. They soon renounced their allegiance, and faithfulness to their God and Creator. Yea, and some think to their Redeemer too; i. e. to the Son of God considered in the capacity of the Redeemer of this world. For it is apprehended by some divines, that the primitive sin of the angels lay here ; it was discovered to them, that this world of ours would revolt and fall from God; that the blessed Son of God would put on human nature and accomplish out redemption ; that this Redeemer (thus humanized, or incarnate) should be made head of men and angels; that by his redemption he should advance a great body of mankind to their seats, or seats superior to their own ; that now, some of the angelical tribe acquiesced in this discovery of the divine counsel, comported with it, and secured their station and the divine favour; that others, in their pride disliked the method of the divine purpose, stomached the superior advancement of the human nature in the person of the Mediator, and so, were thrown down from their illustrious habitations. But however plausible this sentiment may, at first, appear, yet, upon maturer thoughts, it will appear attended with irrational or unsupportable consequence. For should it be revealed to the angels, in the state of their integrity, that this world would apostatize, it must be revealed also by whose means and seduction we should be induced so to apostatize; viz. by the seduction of angels antecedently apostatized. At least, the revelatipn of the Redeemer must represent to them out of whose hands we must be redeemed ; viz. out of the hands of fallen angels ; the seed of the woman must be supposed to bruise the serpent's head, and destroy the power and works of the devil. And should it be known to the angels, before they sinned, that they should sin, and be thrown down to horrid darkness, be trampled upon by the Redeemer, and tortured for eyer, what a blast must that be to their happiness, what a beginning of despair, and desperate occasion of their sin and ruin 1 But in what instance and particular soever their sin was exerted, sinned, we know, they have, and fallen from their integrity and faithfulness. Faithful they would not be to their God, to the law of their creation and of the happy region where they dwelt. What sharp regret and envy will torment them, to see fallen mortals (such that were fallen by their instigation and inducement) raised to a noble, degree of faithfulness to their Lord! to hear them commended by the Lord of life and death, from a resolved faithfulness to him in the midst of a perfidious world ! yea, to hear them commended for their faithfulness in opposition to them and all their wiles and storms ! These revolted spirits were here grieved and vexed, that any of our race were recovered out of their hands; were reconciled to heaven; and walked faithfully with their great reconciler. They did all they could to reduce them from their sted-fastness. They laid snares, employed stratagems, and raised storms of persecution against them.
A FUNERAL SERMOM,
The devil shall cast some of ye into prison, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. But he thou faithful unto death. They woald neither be faithful them-seWeSy nor let others be so. And it may justly be determined that the faithful ones, that thus stood it out to the last against them, shall be solemnly commended in their hearing, for striking utmost shame and confusion into them. They see, with horror and despair, the glories they have lost. They see sinning mortals (such that were once so) raised to their happy seats. They see them received with joy, approved and applauded by the Judge; while themselves are hurled down to endless shame and contempt. O the direful lashes of their own conscience! O the reproach and disdain cast upon them by the great God, by the flaming Judge, by the faithful angels, and faithful saints! Away with such proud, rebellious, cursed miscreants, into the lake of inextinguishable fire!
Thus we see there may be reason enough, why the Lord Christ will publicly commend his faithful servants, when he comes again.
May this now prepare us for some application of tbis affecting truth. O that it may strongly affect our hearts I And may the application be taken in such inferences as these:
1. We see what a good Master the Son of God is. What condescension is here, not to admit only, or barely accept, but to commend such servants, such service! He knows very well what they are; be sees through their hearts; and sees all the corruption and corrupt principles there. And m discerns well enough, how impure they are, and how imperfect their services; and might justly disdain, them all. He is holy and jealous; his eyes are as a flame of fire. And the more holy and jealous he is, the more naturally and justly might he slight and abhor such servants. But here is an instance of gospel indulgence. He commends those whom he might condemn. Here is something more than mere pardoning grace. He does not only pass by their faults and follies, does not only forgive the iniquity of their holy things, but commends the work, applauds the service. Who dare say that he is an austere person, or a sour master? Can any one be more candid and generous? He knows the weakness, the failures, the defects of all the service offered him. He knows how indebted his servants are to him and to his grace; that without him they can do nothing, and yet he is resolved to commend them in the day of their account. O how happily deceived and disappointed will many of them be! They were continually poring on their sins, and thought that such as they should never be accepted. They were continually meditating the imperfection of their grace and holy principles, (if they could suppose they had any,) and could not believe that such blind, lame, cold services, could be pardoned, much less approved by their Judge. But be of good cheer, ye faithful ones! Your Judge is far better than you ; and better than yon can imagine. He remembers the work that you have forgot. Wherein or whereon ye are ready (and have reason in some respects) to say, or write. 111 done, he will say. Well done! What yon have given up for lost, be has laid up for your joy. How will you be transported, when you shall hear him say of such as you. Well done, good and faithful servants ! Admire his noble candour and generosity! ye arc thus glorified in him and by him, according to the grace of our Crod, and the Lord Jesus Christ
2. The Lord Jesus will himself be faithfal. He commends his servants for being so. And will he be defective in that, that he reckons, and declares before the world, to be their commendation ? No. he cannot; so far as that can belong to him. And faithfulness does. He is the faithful and true H'tl-ness. Depend then upon his word and covenant* Rest assured of the infallible accomplishment of all his promises. Intrust him with your souls, your bodies, and all the affairs of your salvation. Faithful is he that hath called you, who also will do it ; will do all that he bath called you to expect at his hands.
3. May it not seem strange, that he docs not take more care to vindicate his servants here; to wipe off the reproaches and opprobrious reflections cast upon them ? It would tend to his honour, as well as theirs. How is his glory eclipsed, while his servants lie under such clouds here! We are reckoned as the off-scouring of all things, (as the filth of the world,) says one of the most faithful of them. Will he commend them at last, and not commend now! or suffer them to lie under all manner of shame and ignominy ? Let us take it as a piece of his mysterious providence.
4. See what honour awaits the Redeemer's servants at the day of his return. None of the applauses of the world may be set in the balance with his commendation. Not all the trophies, triumphal arches, or ensigns of honour, on the globe, can give the fame, that attends the breath of his approving lips. He can soon make your name ring through the heavens, assumed and shouted by angels there. Let his holy servants be content with their obscurity at present; content with the scandalous names and imputations now falsely affixed upon them. They are not fit for great honour and applause now. They know not how to bear it When they are fit to bear it, they shall have it. When they are purged from all their pride and vanity; from all their self-conceit and self-assuming apprehensions, they shall have it in abundance. The King of saints will bring forth their names to open light, and fix it in the heavens. The Lamb that was slain, will make it appear, that their names were wrote in his adamantine book, before the foundation of the world. The prince of the kings of the
BY THE REV. JOHN REYNOLDS.
1291 earth, the Judge of quick and dead, will bring forth all their exploits in religion, all their achievements for bis cause, and in his service; will publish them before heaven and earth; will give the performers of them an encomium beseeming angels; and so, consecrate their name and memorial to eternity.
5. Is it not strange, that he will carry his servants to all this honour through all the obscurity of the grave ? Will he commend them at last, but slay them now ? Will he applaud them, when he comes again, but now lay their honour in the dust? What strange transaction is here ? Must now the head and heart, that so faithfully served him, be lodged where they can praise him no more ? Must the lips and tongue, that were so much our dear brother's glory, and with which he so faithfully glorified his Lord, be laid aside to crumble into dust? What sovereign determination is here ? How easily could his pleased Lord despatch for him (as for Elijah) an angelical chariot to fetch him home, as a presage of future applause ! If the minister and ministration of and under the law were so glorious, should not the minister and ministration of the gospel be much more so ? But we see that heavenly treasure is committed to earthen vessels; that the vessels must be broken, in order to be re-framed, and fitted for glory. Wc sec, that mysterious counsel governs the world.
6. Where is the belief of this great report? a report, that should vividly strike the power of our souls ? Where is the faith, that is due thereto ? Will the Redeemer commend his servants, at the end of the day, at the end of the world; what work would this believed make upon our minds! What a turn would it give to our souls, and all their faculties ! It would awaken the drowsy and lethargic; rouse the negligent and remiss; warm the frozen and benumbed ; resolve the slow deliberator; invigorate and inspirit the fearful and discouraged ; confirm and cherish the faithful servant; and instil new life and strength to all. Is so grand encouragement set before us? the Lord pardon and cure our unbelief!
7. Will our Lord commend his faithful servants, and will he take it ill, if we do so too ? Nay, docs he not expect we should ? Must we esteem them highly in our own minds, and may we not tell our estimation to others? Sure wc may. And that for the same reason for which he commends them, and for which he would have so much of the lives and acts of his faithful ones recorded in his own book, the New Testament; the honour of his own name and grace in them. They therefore have done good service, that have portrayed the holy lives and transactions of his zealous servants, and transmitted them to posterity. The lights of the world should be set up to be seen. The epistles of Christ should be read of all men. But who shall speak the excellences, the faithfulness of that servant, whose departure occasions this day's sorrow and solemnity ? It is a subject quite too big for me. I cannot satisfy myself (much less you, who knew him longer, and knew him more) in any representation I can make of his natural endowments, acquired ornaments, or sacred dispositions and virtues. I must leave it to some one better instructed, (and more akin to himself,) to tell yon the largeness of his mind, and of his heart. To tell you the strange readiness and fertility of his invention on any subject, to which he, at any time, applied his thought; the faithfulness of his memory amidst various studies and perusals; the solidity of his judgment both in secular and divine affairs. To tell you the various parts of learning into which he travelled, particularly languages and law. To tell you the sweetness of his disposition, in modesty and meekness, affability, candour, and love; and to tell you how all these were sanctified and consecrated by divine grace. Faith and love, you might see, instigated to such unwearied labours. Yon knew something of his eminent piety and devotedness unto God. His life was like a continued scene of actual devotion ; continually employed (besides the necessary repasts and converses of life) in prayer, exposition of Scripture, singing of psalms, instructing of catechumens, preaching the words of life, or meditating something for the service of his Lord and the benefit of souls, to be communicated from the pulpit or the press. A.nd all this was done with such spontaneity and cheerfulness, as if he would regularly prove the truth of the title of a discourse, (which he told .some of us was in the press, and which, now, must be the last he will send thither,) the Plea" sure or Pleasantness of Religion, The abundance of his public labours you pretty well know ; instant in season, and out of season (if such work could be so). The excellency of the subjects he treated on; the sweetness and spirituality of his management of them; the seriousness and affection of his spirit in treating with yon by them, you have often seen and experienced. His compassion and liberality to the poor and indigent: his extensive charity and love to all Christians, under their relation to their common Lord, and common character as saints: his sincere affection encouraging respect to his brethren in ministerial bonds, you cannot be altogether unacquainted with. His exemplary duty and faithfulness in his various relations, as son, (that was a crown to his parents,) husband, father, master, and pastor, (first at Chester, and afterward at Hachney^) may not now be insisted on. These many and more great things belonging to him, it is to be hoped, will, in due time, be reported to you. His singular acquaintance with holy writ, his dexterity in making it familiar and useful to meanest capacities, as well as to others, will, in his expositions, be published to the world, as
A FUNERAL SERMON, &c.
long as time shall last, or the English language live. Happy man, that was touched with lethargic symptom bat one day, or part of a day, while it is the chronical disease of our lives! So ill could his zealous constitution comport with that drowsy disorder, that, next moniing betimes, he withdrew from it, and retired into that Incid, perfect world, where alone uninterrupted, sacred activity and unweariness concur together. In one thing mercifully disappointed ; whereas he expected to be ground to the dust by the stone, or dissolved by the diabetes; from the time of his last sermon (on the Monday here) he slumbered away without sickness or pain, (as he usually confessed, when asked how he did,) till the next morning, that he fell fast asleep in his blessed Master's arms. Happy servant, that had said and done so much in the proper season of life and health, that he had nothing to say or do, when he came to die, but silently retire to bed, and enter into his Master's joy! Yet, being dead, he loudly speaks. Speaks the monitory words he last insisted on at his beloved Chester, Let tu fear ! Let vs fear, lest a promite being left us (or, lest the promise being left, or deserted by us) of entering into rest, any of you should seem to come short of it! Prophetical, sure, in the choice of the last words he was allowed to preach upon ; the last opened to you in this place, in this pulpit; Surely I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself; when, the next day, all the country was in tears, and true Israelites were bemoaning themselves for loss of him. O what a friend have we, has the church of God, yea, the whole world, lost! The chariots of Israel! the horsemen thereof! In him we have, particularly, lost the sixth volume of Expositions on Scripture; (unless any apparatus be found, that will assist some compet<$nt hand to send it forth;) a seventh volume, that was to be critical on difficult places of Scripture; and an eighth, that was to be a body of divinity, in sermons; besides what other he would have occasionally sent into the world: these I know he intended. O let us bemoan the sins that have forfeited this light, and procured this loss! But this loss to us is gain to him. To be with Christ above is far better, in respect to his own felicity, than to be serving him here below. With what joy must such a servant be received into the heavenly regions! What solace and delight must overflow his active soul at the great day of his joyful account, (joyful, as concerning himself, however it be concerning you,) when his great Master shall receive him with these loud accents, (containing a character above all that flesh can say,) Well done, thou good and faithful servant! And this I speak with the more confidence, (for I would dread being swayed by party prejudice, especially in matters of such moment,) as being persuaded that not you only, but all the pious of all persuasions, that had opportonitf i{ being acquainted with him, with his spirit, life, asd labours, unanimously concur in this sentiiaeiit, tb: this must be his entertainment by his Judge ai Ik great day. Well done, thou good and faithful 9m^^ And since there will be subordinate judges tai. those that approve and applaud the determi&atNi of him that is supreme; we may well suppose, ty Chester, Cheshire, Lancashire, Shropshire, Heekm, London, and other places, will bring in theirfcf-diet, and add their concurrent suffrage to \ki Judge's sentence, Well done, thou pood and fedijid servant ! Yea, shall the stone cry out rf the wd, and the beam out oftltt timber ansuer it, agaisstti wicked and perfidious; and must we not saj. th-t the walls of his own house, and particularlj of fcb study therein, the pulpit, and the press, will all be ready to resound and echo to the Judge's applaodis accents. Well done, thou good and faithful jfrrcit.' 8. What a provocation and incentive, nov.."! here to holy faithfulness! Be faithful, bretiim. to the Son of God! His commendation will he your sufficient reward. Are you ambitioos? It j incident to polite, refined minds, so to be. Het is a mark for your highest ambition. Coret tk approbation, the applause, of the great Jud ef the world. One commending word from bb lips. will secure your glory and renown for ever. Ooe word of his will confound every accuser. Wi cancel or prevent any condemnation from sin, w the world ; from conscience or the devil. Ose such word of his will recommend 3'oa unto tbemo august, angelical spirits, and fix yon in their farosr and company for ever. Yea, it will recoromeed you to the eternal God, to his complaceocj ai endless communion ; you will, thereupon, be is-mediately presented before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. This sentence, then prt-nounced, will be sufficient retribution to oar dear brother for all his work of faith and labour of ht It would now be epitaph for bim, long aod lar enough, as good and as great as be was, supposiK it spoken by those sovereign lips. Well done, ti» good and faithful servant ! Do not the accents ckara your ears, and dissolve the heart, and instigate jos to a holy, ambitious aspiration after them ? Is tk faithful servant thus commended ? Have ye had sod a wonderful example of sacred faithfulness befoir your eyes; Go ye, and do likewise. Be faithful (brethren) to the Redeemer, to his interests and kiogdos in the world. Be faithful to the ministry ye have «-ceived, to the souls he hath redeemed, to the rocatien wherewith ye have been called, to your light, ^^ numerous talents and obligations: and wbea tlK opener of the graves shall come, the arbitrator of li^' and death shall appear in the clouds, he will make tie heavens ring with your praise and applauses; H*^ done, ye good and faithful servants ! A men, and J»*
A FUNERAL SERMON
PREACHED AT HACKNEY, JUNE 27th, 1714,
ON OCCASION OF THE
DEATH OF THE REVEREND MATTHEW HENRY.
LATE MINISTER OF THE GOSPEL.
BY DANIEL WILLIAMS, D. D.
TO MRS. HENRY,
LATE WIFE or THE
KEV. MR. HENRY.
Madam,
At the desire of your relations I sabmitted to make Down to yoa the sad and unexpected news of the eath of your late husband. The surprise of that Dictive stroke made this to me a very diflicult Qdertaking.
On the following day yon were pleased, by several orthy gentlemen of Hackney, to request that I ould preach there a funeral sermon on the next ay; the honour I had for the dead, and for you his tlict, conquered my backwardness to such a per-^rmance upon one day's warning. Your circum-ances not admitting yon to appear so soon in ablic, I was willing to send yon what I had slivered, with some additions of what I formerly reached on the same text. I heartily wish, that hat I have said of the deceased may contribute to )ur comfort, and conduct too. What I collected om the texty will show you not only your duty, but lat the happiness of saints is secure under all the ;currences of life and death. The surest mercies are ispensed in both. Yon have a great charge upon >u; viz. the education of many of the children of father so near to God. But you have also much I encourage your endeavours; they are dedicated to od, the pains taken with the capable have well icceeded, the rest are hopeful; many prayers for icm are recorded in heaven, they are children of le covenant, and of one well beloved by God and good men ; he has left many printed instructions for your assistance, which they will be apt to regard; and above all, you may, you ought, in all your good attempts, and in every pressing difficulty, to look to and depend upon the Almighty God, as the Husband of the widow, and Father of the fatherleu. May yon find constant tokens of his fulness, truth, and favour, and from him receive comforts by all your remaining mercies! I am
Your sympathizing brother. And faithful servant,
Daniel Williams.
Romans xiv. 8.
For whether we live, we live to the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's,
The scope of this chapter is to maintain peace, and urge moderation, among Christians, notwithstanding their different sentiments and practices in rituals and other matters, wherein the essentials of faith and godliness were unconcerned. The text assign-eth a convincing reason, why a charitable opinion of each other should obtain, although such differences remained; q. d, both parties are the Lord's in life and death, both parties live and die unto the Lord, and therefore they should neither despise nor censure one another; t. e. they are subject to the dominion and judgment of the Lord as their sole Proprietor, they are alsb received and accepted by him as devoted saints, and as such they serve him according to their different sentiments. It mnst
A FUNERAL SERMON,
then be unjust usurpation, and dangerous un-charitableness, to condemn such because of some inequality in their degrees of light. But more of this afterwards.
Observe, I. Sincere believers are the Lord's in life and in death.
Jesus Christ is the Lord, for, v. 9. it immediately follows, For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.
Life here expresseth man's present state, and connotes all the time, endowments, abilities, interest, oppo Kunities for improvements and service, with every talent possessed by us in this life.
Death puts a period to this present life by a separation of the soul from the body. Upon death the immortal soul passeth safely into the unseen state; which state is also referred to, because the interest of Christ in his saints is not interrupted by death, and his dominion is over the inhabitants of that world of spirits.
Christ is indeed Lord of all men, as truly as of believers; All being created for him and by him, they owe to him obedience in life, and must abide his judgment after death. All must appear before the judgment-teat of Christ,• But sincere Christians are the Lord's in a more peculiar sense; for they were assigned to him by the Father, Thine they were, and thou gavest them me. They are his by special redemption. He also apprehended them by effectual calling, whereby they dedicated themselves to Christ, and by mutual covenant they further became his own ; They are for him, and not for another.^ Upon such accounts it is justly said to all believers. You are Christ's ;^ nor is it a small part of their privilege that they can say, / am my Beloveds, and my Beloved is mine.^
Quest. 1. What is intended by a Christian's being the Lord's in life ?
1. He alone has authority to rule them, especially in what concerns religion. His will ought to be a rule to them; whatever power others can claim over them must be subordinate to his, and by delegation from him. He is Head of the church, to govern, as well as influence, bis members/ His propriety is of that sort as to be a foundation of such an absolute dominion, as admits no challenge or excuse. All his laws bind the conscience immediately; nor can any person dispense with, or authority control, them. Our Lord has reserved to himself to appoint officers in his church, sacraments, qualifications of ministers, and terms of communion, &c. To add to these is to usurp his rights; to alter or refuse these is rebellion against his crown and dignity.
2 Cor. V. 10. b Phil. iii. 12. « Ezek. xvi. 8. d I Cor. iii. 23. « Cant vi. 3. f Eph. ▼. S3. g Ps. cv. 15.
Ans. 2. They are his to use and dispose of Iks: whilst they live. Shall not be do what ke m'iZ wi:k his own? His justice and wisdom will preserve tk rules of equity in disposing of them, aod yet be ii so true to his own rights, as to claioi the disponl of all our circumstances, and the appointiDg bov <rar time and talents shall be employed. It is an uBJQ«t denial of his propriety to murmur at the work be ordains, be it never so mean or difficult. His title to his people is such as to serve his purposes by thei'^ health or sickness, prosperous or low estate, higler or lower station; they are not to choose or dispate. The interest of our Lord in us aathorizeth hid 10 effect his own ends by us, and by all that is ours, as his wisdom shall direct ' Nor is this to be in »aee cases, but in all; or at some certain times, but as Urn? as life endureth.
Ans. 3. The Lord is sure to be concerned for tbe good in all the occurrences of life.
The vicissitudes, wants, and dangers in this pn sent life are many; the Lord's people are exposec in this world to more distresses than others, becaoi? of their fidelity to him; but as their being bis briap on them the hatred of the wicked, so the same thbc is their security and relief under all their troublef He oft, on this account, restrains their enemies, saving, Touch not my anointed, and do my prophets %s harm.9 They find cause to say. We which live at? delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, tknt the lif* also of Jesus might he made manifest in our mens: bodies.^ He who saitfa. He is worse than an in&dd who provides not for bis own, cannot neglect to pn>> vide for his own, the care of whom he has undertaken when they became his: they are not sent u war at their own charges.^ His eye guides tbeia w the way he orders tbem to go; hy his strength tki are enabled to perform what he enjoins. His coats-lations abound with their troubles. When weak.br carrieth his lambs in his arms When they go astray. he brings them back as his own sheep; and vil! say. Of them whom thou hast given me I hate hst itone.i Their whole life shall evidence the tru(h g: that place; He will be our guide, even nnto deatkJ*
Quest. 2. What is it to be the Lord's in deatb, or dying?
Ans. 1. The time and the manner of a belte Ter's death are in his band.
He has the heys of hell and death.^ His »iots shall not die when their enemies please, but wkes he thinks it most for his glory, best for his serraati and in the fittest time. The weakest shall live t$ long as he has work for them; and commonly tbet who have been very useful, are taken away before a longer life shall prove dishonourable, useless, or intolerable to them. It belongs also to bin to prescribe, whether the death of his servants shall be h2Cor. iv. II. 1 John xviii. 0.
I I Cor. ix. 7. n Pb. xWiii. 14.
BY DR. WILLIAMS.
1206
(Iden or slow, easy or painful, natural or violent, youth or age, by what disease, and by what means .^y shall die. He has ends worthy of himself in this variety ; and what is so equal, as that those ds should be subserved by such as are his own ? rter bad no cause of repining, when Christ signi-d to him by what death he should glorify God, though was to be a violent death; and he asserts his ^ht to determine of such matters; when Peter ked. Lord, what shall this man do? i, e. Shall John Y beloved, die as I must? Christ replies. If I will tt he tarry till I come, what is that to thee ; follow
Tu me.'
A.ns. 2. When believers die, they are to appear fore the judgment-seat of Christ,^ He alone has a right to judge them. By his ntence their state will be determined, and not by e censures of men; or their own mistaken opinion themselves. His own gospel will be the rule of dgment f the great and convincing witness, will be s omniscient mind, to which the gracious secrets ' their hearts were known ; viz. their good desires, solves, contrivances, affections, and governing ms; these are better than what appeared oft, in eir actions and attainments. It is the same all-eing eye which observed those prayers, fasts, and aritahle worhs,^ which they concealed from the 9rld, to avoid ostentation, and to approve them-I\es to him as satis6ed with his sole approbation. Ans. 3. Precious in the sight of the Lord, is the ath of his saints,*
He who bottles their tears, cannot be prodigal of eir blood, for it is precious in his sight ;^ it shall )t be spilled but for valuable ends; as to attest s truth, and be the seed of his church; and they all pay dear who are guilty of shedding the least 'op of it. So the cry of this brought utter ruin )on Rome pagan. And in revenge, shall Rome ipal have blood to drinh, because she was drunk Ith the blood of the saints,^ She may shortly boast ose wounds are healed, which she received by the ord of Christ's mouth, but she will, after a short iuroph, find her plagues shall come in one day, and e be utterly burnt with fire ; for strong is the Lord odwhojudgethher ^ though the protestants will be o much reduced to effect it. Ans. 4. When dying, and when dead, he will deal ith them as his own.
The sting of death he will take away by an isured pardon, and full absolution. He sets them )ove its terrors, by a firm persuasion that he over-ime death, to deliver them from the fear of it;' id by some foresight and foretastes of that good bich follows their release. To render them meet o John zxi. 19—S2. P Rom. xiv. 10. q Rom. ii. 10 r Matt ▼i.4,5, IS • Ps. cxvi. V». t Ps. Ixxil. 14.
a Rev. xvii. c. » Rev. xviil. 7,8. w l Cor. xv. W.
X llcb. li. 14,15. f Luke zvi. 33.
for the upper world, their souls shall be set free from all that Is carnal and earthly, by their separation from the body; and the divine principle alone reigning in all ite faculties, his angels shall guide and defend the departed souls through the upper regions, till they arrive to the place of the blessed, where Christ will receive them to himself; to possess the mansions ha has prepared, and enjoy that perfect light, love, life, glory, and delights, which he purchased for, and becomes the members of such a head. Them he will bring to appear with him in his glory,^ when he comes to judge the world. Their bodies shall his Spirit raise,** as the bond of union betwixt him and them, which death could not dissolve; those bodies he will frame to that spirituality, as shall suit the heavenly regions, and the employment of exalted souls. These bodies will not only be freed from all blemishes, pains, weakness, listlessness, and weariness, but made like unto Christ's glorious body,<^ then their whole persons are solemnly absolved and vindicated, and Christ is glorified and admired in them, upon which they ascend, and be ever with the Lord, to be perfectly happy in a full conformity to Christ, and the beatific vision.