Part 15
yet none can doubt but it may be discovered to us by revelation from God ; and that one way or other it will be discovered, is highly probable, because nothing will be denied to that perfect
which may contribute to, or complete the joy and happiness thereof, as we cannot but think this knowledge will do If Adam knew Eve to be esh of his fleth, and bone of his bone, in the state of innocence ; and if the apostles knew Moses and Elias upon the mount, yea, if Dives in hell knew Abraham and Lazarus in heaven; sure we may well allow that knowledge to the glorified saints in heaven, which we find in the state of innocence, or in the sinful state on earth, or in the state of the damned in hell.
And if fo, then the covenanted parents shall be able tofay in that day, this was our child for whom we prayed and travelled again, till Christ was formed in him; this is he whom we educated for God, and trained up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord ; and now we fee the fruit of our prayers, counsels, catechisings ; a child of fo many prayers perished not. And the covenanted child shall say, this was my pious Father, who took such care for my soul; and this my tender mother, who, like another Monica, was zealously concerned for my eternal happiness. These are they that sowed so many prayers, which God gave them not time to reap the fruits of on earth, but now they shall reap the fruit and comfort of them for ever. O joyful meeting in the kingdom of God ! The joy of such a meeting abundantly recompenfes for all the tears and groans of adolorous parting. Now, put all this together, and value the arguments producedtomake good the first thing propounded, namely, the fufficiency of the covenant to relieve and remedy all the sorrows and losses of believers, be they never so many, or so great ; this cannot be doubted, since it hath been proved, that it difarms all their afflictions of the only sting by which they wound; alters the very nature and property of their afflictions, turning them from curses into blessings ; ranks and disposes them into their proper class and place of service, so as the counsel of men and angels could never laythembetter to our advantage; engages the gracious and special presence of God with you in all your troubles ; secures all your essential and substantial mercies from all hazards andcontingencies; discovers a consistency, yea, Ggg 2
420 The Balm of the Covenant aconnectionbetwixt therodandthe love of God; andaffuret you, that whatever temporal mercy you ever enjoyed, in and by virtue of the covenant, shall be restored to you again with an admirable improvement, and singular advantage. It is by all this, I say, abundantly proved, that the covenant is a fove reign and effectual remedy to all the sorrows of God's people; and that it was no hyperbole in David's encomium, when he cal led it hisfalvation, and all his desire. But then, as hinted before.
II. It must be able to do these things at all times, and in all ages, or else it will be but a temporary relief to fomeonly, and not to all. Now, that the covenant hath this ability in all ages, and is as able to relieve us now, as it was to relieve David in his day, fully appears by the epithetgiven it in the text, it is an EVERLASTING COVENANT . " Yet hath " he made with me an everlasting covenant."
Time is the measure of other things; but everlastingness is the measure of the covenant. When the Lord espouseth a people to himself in covenant, "he betrothes them to himself for " ever," Hos. ii. 19. And from that day forward they may fay ongoodgrounds, "This God is our God for ever and ever; " he will be our guide even unto death," as it is in Pfai. xlvii.
14. Nothing in nature is so firmly established as the covenant is. Hills and mountains shall sooner start from their basis and centre, and by like wandering atoms up and down in the air, than this covenant shall Hart from its sure and stedfaft foundation, Isa. liv. ιο, The causes and reasons of the immutability of the newco venant, are,
1. The unchangeable purpose of God, which isa sure and stedfast foundation, 2 Tim. ii. 29. " Nevertheless, the found a " tion of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth " them that are bis." The first act of God's love to the crea ture, is that by which he chuseth suchaone to be his, and is therefore called the foundation of God, as being that on which he lays the superstructure of all other mercies. And this stands sure, there can be vacillancy or flipperiness in such a foundation; for he knows who are his ; he knows them as his creatures, and as his new-creatures in covenant with him; as his by election, and his by covenant-trap faction and compact. The purpose of hisgracebefore time, gave being to the covenant of grace in time, and is the foundation of it.
2. The free grace of God in Christ, is that which gives immutability to this covenant. It is not builtuponworks, bat
applied to afflicted Saints. 42 grace: " Therefore it is of faith, that it mightbebygrace ; to " the end the promise might be sure to all the feed," Rom. iv.
16. This covenant is not founded as the first was, upon the variable and inconstant obedience of man, but upon grace, which is a steddy and firm foundation of it.
3. The furetiship of Christ gives everlasting stability to this covenant, Heb. vii. 22. " He was made * the surety of abetter testament," or covenant : For διαθηκη signifies both; he struck hands, or engaged himself for the whole covenant, and every condition in it, and that both on God's part and ours ; to undergo all our punishments, to pay all our debts, and to work in us all that Godrequiredof us in the covenant of grace : And all this under the penalty that lay upon us to have undergone. And this not as other sureties, who enter intooneand the fame bond with the principal, so that the creditor may come upon which he will: but he lays all upon Christ, and relies wholly upon him for satisfaction, knowing he was able to perform it ; and so under the type of God'scovenantwith David, Christ is brought in, Psal. lxxxix. 19. "Thou spakest in vision " to thy holy One, and saidst, I have laid help on one who is " mighty:" q.d. I know thy ability, my Son, thou art able to pay me, and therefore I lay alluponthee.
It follows strongly from what hath been said, that the virtue of the covenant decays not by time, as other things do, but it is at this day, and will be to the end of the world, as potent and efficacious a relief to all God's people, as ever it was to David, or any of the believers of the first ages.
And if fo, certainlynothingcanbe more strongly supporting, or sweetly relieving in such a changeable world than this, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. WhatDavid speaks of the natural heavens, will be found true, of things over- spread and covered by them, Psal. cii. 26, 27. They shall " perish, but thou shalt endure and all of them shallwaxold " like a garment; and as avesture shalt thou change them, " and they shall be changed. But thou art the fame, and thy "years shall have no end." The creature was, and is not; but my covenant God is the fame; his name is I am, and his covenant isthesamethat ever it was , which is the secondpropertyor ingredient of this complete remedy to the saints afflictions. The covenant hath not only all power, virtue, and efficacy in itself to relieve a distressed Christian, but it hath it in * Εγτυος, from εγraw which signifies to strike hands, εν γυιούς
422 The Balm of the Covenant all ages, as well for one as for another. The third and last follows, namely, III. That it is afure covenant : So David stiles it in my text. The certainty of the covenant is the glory of the covenant, and the comfort of all that are in it. The certainty of it in itself is past all doubt, by what hath been said before. It is certain God did make such an everlasting covenant with his people in Christ, and it must remain an eternal truth, that such a covenant there is betwixt God and them. It is as impossible that this everlasting covenant should not be made with them, as it is impossible for God to lie, Heb. vi. 18. If he might make himself not to have covenanted everlastingly with them when oncehehadfo covenanted, such a supposition would destroy the foundation of all faith and certainty, and overthrow the apostle's consequence on which the faith and comfort of be, lievers is built. Nor is it any infringement of the Almighty power, to say,God himself cannot do that which implies a plain contradiction, as factum infectum reddere, to make that which was done, not to be done.
But of this there is no doubt ; it is a sure covenant in itself. That which makes to my purpose here, is to prove it capable of personal security and certainty to us. David had, and all the federates, as well as he, may have a subjective or personal certaintyalfo. He speaks categorically and positively in the text, " Yet hath he made [with me] an everlasting covenant."
Objection. If it be said, he might have a personal certainty of it, because it was revealed to him in an extraordinary way by the prophet Nathan, 2 Sam. vii. 12, 13, 14. and extraordinaria non currunt in exemplum, this was a peculiar favour, which we may not expect.
Solution. I reply, andwhymaynot we know it with as foll a certainty to whom God is pleased to make it known in his ordinary way ? Think you his word and Spirit cannot ratify it as fully and firmly to our souls, as Nathan's discovery of it did to David'sfoul ? God give me but such a seal of it in his ordinary method and way of confirmation, and I will desire no more of him in this world for my relief and comfort, whatever afflic tions it thall please him to lay upon me.
And thus you fee all the properties of a complete remedy in the covenant, and of it every believer may say, " This is all 66 my salvation, and all mydefire, though he makenotmyhouse " to grow." And nowwhathinders, but that all God's afflic ted shouldfay from henceforth, "Return unto thy rest, O my " foul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee," Psal.
applied to afflicted Saints. 423 cxvi. 7. I have all the desires of my heart in the covenant of God, though he take away the desire of mine eyes upon earth with his stroke. In this covenant my soul is at rest, and my very heart is cent red. No affliction can be great enough to make the consolations of the Almighty sem small in mine eyes, Worldly sorrows may swallow up worldly comforts, but no sorrows upon earth can swallow up the confolations of the covenant.
I know many Christians droop and are dejected under the rod, notwithstanding such sovereign cordials are prepared for them in the covenant; but this is not for want of efficacy in the covenant, but for want of faith to clear their interest, and draw forth the virtue of it to their relief. Some are ignorant of their privileges, and others diffident about their interest. It is with many of God's children, as it is with our children in their infancy, they know not their father, nor the inheritance they arebornunto.
That which remains, is the improvement of this truth to our actual comfort and relief in the day of trouble. And this I shall assist you in, as God shall assist me, byway of,
1. Information. 2. Exhortation. 3. Examination, and 4. Consolation.
USE 1. For information, in three corollaries.
Corollary 1. By what hath been discoursed from this text, it appears, That God governs the spiritual part of the world by faith, and not by sense. He will have them live upon his covenantandpromises, and fetch their relief and comfort thence, underalltheirforrows and distresses in this life.
God never intended temporal things for his people's portion, therefore from them they must not expect their relief in times of trouble. He will have us read his love to us by things within us, not by things without us. He hath other ways of expreffinghis love to his people, than by the smiles of his providence upon them. How would earthly things be overvalued and idolized, if besides their conveniency to our bodies, they should be the marks and evidences of God's love to our souls ! A Christian is to value himself as the merchant, or the husbandmandoth. The merchant values himself by his bills and goods abroad, not by the ready cash that lies by him. And the hufbandman by his deeds and leases, and so many acres of corn he hath in the ground, and knows he hath a good estate, though sometimes he be not able to command twenty shillings. Chri-
424 The Balm of the Covenant
lies in good promises, and new-covenant securities, whether thou haft more or less of earthly comforts in thy hands.
Every creature feeds according to its nature; the fame plant affords food to several forts of creatures : The bee feeds upon the flower, the sheep upon the branch, the bird upon the feed, and the swine upon the root. One cannot live upon what the other doth . So it is here : A Christian can feed upon the pro mises, and make a sweet meal upon the covenant, which the carnal mind cannot relim. " The life that I now live, I live " by the faith of the Son of God;" faith the apostle, Gal. ii. 21. This is that mysterious and excellent life of faith, and the test of true Christianity, to relieve ourselves by our hopes of things to come, against present evils; to balance the sorrows and losses of this life, with the promises and expectations of the next. Thus did the renowned believers of the first age ; whenever they felt a pang or qualm upon their hearts, under their trialsandforrows from the world, they would presently run to their cordial, the promises, and, by faith, from thence would refresh and invigorate their souls with new life and power. " We faint not, whilst we look not at the things which are " seen, for they are temporal ; but at the things which are not " seen, for they are eternal," 2 Cor. iv. 16, 17, 18. And tru ly so must we also, when our hearts are faint within us in days of affliction, or our spirits will fail, and we shall go away in a faint fit of despondency.
Corol. 2. Learn hence the sovereign efficacy of the word, and what a choice privilege it is to have theje lively oracles of God in our hands, in a day of distress and trouble.
It is no ordinary mercy to be born in a land of Bibles and ministers; to have these choice supports and reliefs at hand, in all our fainting hours. " This is my comfort in my affliction, for " thy word hath quickened me," Psal. cxix 50. It was no small mercy gained by the reformation, that it put the oraclesof God into our hands. It affords us many cordials for the support of our souls. For this, among other great and excellent uses, the scriptures were written, " That we, through patience, " and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope," Rom xv. 4. In other parts of the world, it is a sealed book ; bless God it is not so to you. All creature-comforts have a double detect, they are neither suitable nor durable ; but the word is so. Compare the arguments that have been urged from the covenant, with such as these. It is in vain to trouble ourselves about
applied to afflicted Saints. 425 what we cannot help : We are not alone in trouble, others have their loss's and afflictions as well as we. Alas ! what dry and ineffectual comforts are these ! they penetrate not the heart, as pardon of fin, peace with God, and sanctification of troubles to our salvation do.
And no less is the mercy of an able New-testament ministry, to open, apply, and inculcate the confolations of the scriptures, to be esteemed. It is no common favour to the afflicted foul, to have with ornearhim an " Interpreter, oue among a thou- " sand, to shew unto him his uprightness," Job xxxiii. 23. O England, prize and improve these mercies, and provoke not thy God to bereave thee of them.
I can find no such settlement made of the gospel and ministry upon any place or people, but that God may remove both upon their abuse of them and it he do, sad will the case of such a people be, especially when a day of distress and trouble shall be upon them. It is sad to be in a storm at sea, without a compass or pilot to direct and advise the distressed passengers. Much so is the case of the afflicted, when deprived of the word and ministry.
Let it therefore be your care to hide the word in your hearts, and get the teachings of the Spirit; that whatever changes of providence be upon the world, you may have the light and comfort of the scriptures to direct and cheer your souls. Sanc- -tification is the writing of God's law in your hearts ; and what iswrittenthere is secure and safe. The word within you is more secure, sweet, and effectual, than the word without you.
Jerom faith of Nepotianus, that by long and affiduous meditation of the scriptures, his breast was at last become the library of Christ. Othat the breast of every Christian were so too. Corol. 3. How fadand deplorably miserable is their condition, who have no title to, nor comfort from the covenant of God, when a day of affliction and great distress is upon them!
Unrelieved miseries are the most intolerable miseries . To be over-weighed with troubles on earth, and want support and comfort from heaven, is a dismal state indeed; yet this is the case of multitudes in the world. If a believer be in trouble, his God bears his burden for him, yea, he bears up him and his burden too ; but he that hath no covenant-interest in God, must say as it is, Jer.x. 19. " This is my affliction, and I alone " must bear it."
There are but two ways they can take for relief, either to divert their troubles by that which will inflame them, or reft
VOL. VII. Hhh
426 The Balm of the Covenant their burdened spirits upon that which will fail them. To run to the tavern or ale-house, instead of the closet, is to quench the fire by pouring on oil ; and to run from one creature which is smitten and withered, to another which still continues with us, is to lean upon a broken reed, which not only deceives us, but wounds and pierceth us What a miserable plight was Saul in, and how doleful was his cry and complaint to Samuel, I Sam. xxviii. 15. " I am fore distressed, for the Philistines " make war against me, and God is departed from me, and an " swereth me no more." Heaven and earth forsook him at Reader, if this be thy case, I advise thee to rest no longer in fo miserable a condition. Thy very distress seems by an happy necessity to put thee upon God, and drive thee to him forte fuge; and it seems to be the very aim and design of God in blasting all thy earthly comforts, to necessitate thee to come to him, which thou wouldst never be persuaded to do, whillt thou hadst any creature-prop to stay and rest upon. And think not that thou shalt be rejected, because thou art brought bya plainneceffity to him ; come sincerely, and thou shalt not be upbraided, because a necessity threw thee upon him. USE II. Seeing then that the covenant of God is the great relief and support of all his afflicted people, let the afflicted toul goto this blessed covenant; study and apply it in all distresses.
It is in itself a sovereign cordial, able to revive a gracious spirit at the lowest ebb; but then it must be studied and applied, or it will never give forth its confolations to our refreshment. Ex treme sorrows are apt todeafen our ears to allvoicesofcomfort. The loud cries of affliction too often drown the sweet still voice of spiritual consolation ; but either here or no where our redress is to be found. Why seek we the living among the dead! Comfort from things that cannot yield it ? The covenant can discover two things which are able to pacify the mostdiscom posed heart, viz.
2. The end } of affliction .
1. It will discover to us the good of affliction, and so rectify our mistaken judgments about it. God is not undoing but con
our interest and happiness in all these difpenfations, It will satisfy us, that in all these things he doth no more than what we ourselves allow and approve in other cases. It is not merely from his pleasure, but for our profit, that these breaches are made upon our families and comforts, Heb. xii. 10. Who blames the mariner for casting the goods over-board to lave ship and life in a storm ? or the surgeon forlancing, yea,
applied to afflicted Saints. 427 orcuttingoff a leg or arm to preserve the life of his patient ? or soldiers for burning or beating down the suburbs, to save the city ina siege? And why must God only be censured, for cutting off those things from us which he knows will hazard us in the day of temptation ? He sees the less we have of entanglement, the more promptness and fitness we shall have to go through the trials that are coming upon us ; and that all the comforts he cuts off from our bodies, are for the profit and advantae of our souls.
2. Here you gain a fight not only of the good of affliction, but also of the comfortable end and issue of affliction. This cloudy and stormy morning will wind up in a serene and pleasant evening. There is a vast difference betwixt our meeting with afflictions, and our parting from them, " You have heard of " the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord." O get but Job's spirit under affliction, and you may fee as happy an end of them as he did.
HadNaomi seen the end of the Lord in taking away herhufband, and starving her out of Moab, she would not have changed her name, or said the Lord had dealt bitterly with her, in grafting her daughter by that providence into the noble line, out of which the Saviour of the world was to rife; and could you but see that good in order to which all this train of trou- -bles is laid, you would not murmur ordespond as you do.
Objection 1. O but this is a grievous stroke; God hath smitten me in the apple of mine eye, and written bitter things against me. No sorrow is like my sorrow ; it is a mourning for an only son ; I have lost all in one.
Solution 1. You can never lose all in one, except that one be Christ ; and he being your's in covenant, can never be lost. But your meaning is, you have lost all of that kind in one, no more sons to build up your house, and continue your name.
2. But yet religion will not allow you to say that your dead children are a lost generation. Praemittuntur, non amittuntur : They are sent before, but not lost. For they are a covenant seed, by you dedicated to the Lord: They were children of many prayers ; a great stock of prayers was laid up for them ; in them also you, and all that knew them, discerned a teachable spirit, pious inclinations, and conscience of secret duties, some good things towards the Lord God of Israel, as was said of young Abijah, 1 Kings xiv. 13. So that you parted from them upon far easier terms than good David parted from his Am non, Abfalom, or Adonijah, who died in their fins and open rebel Hhh2
428 The Balm of the Covenant lions. There was a sting in his troubles which you feel not and if he comforted himself, notwithstanding, in the covenant of his God, in this respect you may much more.
Object. 2. Obut my fonwas cut off in the verybud,just when the fruits of education were ready to disclose and open.
Sol. Let not that consideration so incense your sorrows ; God knows the fittest time both to give and to take our comforts; and seeing you havegoodgrounds to hope your child died inte rested in the covenant of God, you have the less reason to in silt upon that afflicting circumstance of an immature death. He that dies in Christ,hath lived longenoughboth for himself and us. That mariner hath failed long enough that hath gained his port; and that soldier fought long enough that hath won the victory; and that child lived long enough, that hath won heaven, how early soever he died.
the sooner he died, the less sin he hath committed, and the less misery he saw and felt inthiswretchedworld, which we are left to behold and feel. And it is but a vanity to imagine that the parting pull with himwouldhave been easier, if the enjoyment of him had been longer : For the long enjoyment of defireable comforts doth not use to weaken, but abundantly to strengthen andfaftenthe ties of affection.
Submit your reason therefore, as is meet, to the wisdom of God, who certainly chose the fittest season for this affliction. Obut, No more buts and objections, I beseech you. Enough hath been offered from the covenant of your God, to Silence all your objections, and to give you the ease and pleasure of a resigned will. And what are all our buts and objections, but a spurning at divine sovereignty, and the thrusting in the affliction deeper into your own hearts, which are wounded but too deep already ?
Iperfuadeyou nottoputoff, but to regulate natural affec tions : To be without them, would deservedly rank us among the worst of heathens; but rightlytobound and manage them, would set you among the best of Christians.
I cannot imagine what ease or advantage holy * Basil gained by such a particular and heart-piercing account, as he gave ofa like affliction with this ; nor to what purpose it can be to you, to recal and recount thosethingswhich only incense and aggravate your troubles : Doubtless, your better way were to tura your thoughts from such subjects as these; to your God in co
I once had a son (said he), who was a young man, my only successor, the solace of my age, the glory of his kind, the prop of my family, arrived to the endearing age, &c.
applied to afflicted Saints. 429 venant, as David in the text did, and to recount the many great and inestimable mercies that are secured to you therein, which death shall never smite, or cut off from you, as it doth your other enjoyments.
Quest. But yet unless we can in some measure clear our covenant-interest, all these excellent cordials prepared, will signify no more to our relief, than water spiltupon the ground : Help us therefore to do that, or else all that hath been said is in vain? How may a person discern his covenant-right and interest ?
Anfw. This indeed is worthy of all consideration, and deserves a serious answer, foraimuch as it is fundamental to your comfort, and all actual refreshment in times of trouble; and will bring us to the next use, which is for trial of our covenant interest.
USE III. The great question to be decided, is, whether God be our covenant God, and we his people ? A question of the most tolemn nature, and such as requires awful attention. We cannot expect satisfaction in this matter by such an extraordinary way as David had it, but we mayknowitby, First, Our covenant-engagements. Secondly, Our covenant-impressions, Thirdly, Our covenant-conversations. First, By our covenant-engagements, or dedications of ourselves to God ; sometimes called our joining ourselves to the Lord, Zech. ii. 11. our yielding ourselves to him, Rom. vi. 19. our giving ourselves to him, 2 Cor. viii. 5. The soul that freely and deliberately consentstotakeorchusethe Lord to be his God, may warrantably conclude the Lord hath taken or chosen him: for our choice of God is but the result of his choice of us, John xv. 16. " You have not chosen me, but I have chosen " you ; " (i. e.) you could never have chosen me, but inconsequence to, and by virtue of my first choice of you .
Well then, let it be seriously considered, whether you have duly consented to take the Lord for your God, and Chriftfor your Redeemer. This includes two things in it. 1. Your relinquishing of all things inconsistent with him. 2. Youracceptation of all that promotes the glory and enjoyment of him.
1. Your relinquishing of all things that are inconsistent with an interest in him. Except we let these go, God cannot be our God, nor Christ our Redeemer. The things to be relinquished for Christ are, in short, both ourfinful, and our righteous Jelf. Sinful-self must be disclaimed and renounced : For we cannot be the servants of fin, and the servants of Christ too,
430 The Balm of the Covenant Rom. vi. 14, 18. And righteous-self mult be renounced also, or we can have no part or interest in his righteouiness, Rom. x. 3. These are two difficult points of self-denial, to part with every beloved lust, and to give up our own righteouiness. Thousands chuse rather to be damned for ever, than to do either of these.
2. Your acceptance and embracing of all things that promote his glory, and further the enjoyment of him. As all the painful ways of duty, hearing, praying, meditating, and all this with the intention of the inner-man, and offering up of the soul to God in these duties; and the more painful ways of suffering for God, and enduring all losses, reproaches, torments, and death for him, if his glory requires it, and you maybe thereunto called. All this is included in your chuling God to be your God. And upon our understanding and free consent, and sealing to these articles, we have right to call him our God. Matth. xxi. 24. " If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me." Now, have you considered the terms of the covenant, weighed and balanced all the conveniencies and inconveniencies of godliness, and then determined for Christ and holiness, let the cost be what it will ; then you have chosen him aright for your God. Many think they have chosen God for their God, that never under- stood or deliberated these terms. But non confentit, quinon fentit: He that neither knows nor ponders them, is not capable of giving adueconsent.
Secondly, We may discern our covenant-interest, in the covenant-impressions that are made upon our souls. All God's covenant-people have a double mark or impression made upon them, viz.
J. Upon their minds. 2. Upon their hearts. 1. Upon their minds, in a more spiritual and efficacious knowledge of God, Jer. xxxi. 33. "They shall all know me, " from the greatest of them, even to the least of them." This knowledge is said to be given, not acquired by mere strength of natural abilities and human aids ; and given as in the face of Christ, not by the footsteps of the creatures only, as he speaks, 2Cor. iv. 6. It is the choice teaching of the anointing, 1 John ii. 27. A knowledge springing from inward experience and spiritual sense ; as we know the sweetness of honey by tasting, better thanbyallthe descriptions and reports that can be made of it.
2. Upon their hearts, in that gracious tenderness and melt-
applied to afflicted Saints. 431 ingsof it for fin, or the discoveries of free-grace in the pardon of it. So you read in Ezek. xxxvi . 26. " A new heart also " will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and " I will take away the stonyheart out of your flesh, and I will " give you an heart of flesh."
It is as easy to melt the obdurate rocks into sweet syrup, as it is to melt the natural heart into apenitential and tender melting for fin ; but now there is a principle or habit of tenderness implanted in the soul, whereby it is disposed and inclined to relent and thaw ingenuously upon any just occasion.
Thirdly, Our covenant-interest may be evinced in and by our covenant-conversations. All the knowledge which is communicated to our minds, and all the tenderness given to our hearts, do respect and tend to this : Ezek. xxxvi. 27. " I will " put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my sta-- " tutes." Habits and principles are for action and practice : Grace in the heart is for obedience and holiness of life.
It is true, that as our graces are imperfect, so is our obedience also. Perfect working is not to be expected from imperfect creatures. God's own covenanted people do often grieve him, and provoke him to bring them under the rod of affliction ; but those their infirmities break not the bond of the covenant, Psal.
Ixxxix. 30, 31, 32. Care and watchfulness ordinarilygo before them, conflicts and resistance accompany them, and shame, grief, and renewed care, usually follow them, 2 Cor. vii. 11 . By these things (which deserves a more copious discourse than mypresentdesign can allow) we may be helped to clear our interest in the covenant of grace : Andthatbeingdone, it should be out of the power of all the afflictions in the world to fink your spirits. Let me therefore in the last place add, USE IV. A word of consolation to your dejected and drooping hearts, upon this fad and mournful occasion. Why are you so troubled ? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts ? Methinks there hath been so much of support and comfort already discovered to you in this blessed covenant, that could your faith but once fix upon it, and realize and apply it, I might lay down my pen at this period, and say, The work is done, there needs no more ; but knowing how obstinate deep sorrows are, and how difficult a task the comforting of an afflicted mind is, I will, for a close, superadd a few considerations more, to all that hath beenurged and argued before .
Consideration 1. Confider how small and trivial the comforts, whose loss you bewail, are in comparison with Jet us Christ, who is still your own, under the bond of a sure covenant. A
432 The Balm of the Covenant son, an only and a promising son, is a great thing, when he stands in comparison with other creature-comforts, but surely he will seem a small thing, and next to nothing, when set by, or compared with Jesus Christ. Behold the Father, Son, and Spirit ! Pardon and eternal salvation are this day presented in the covenant of grace before your souls, as your own. " even our own God, shall bless us," Psal. lxvii. 6. you feel your hearts wounded with such a thought as When this, I cannot embrace my children in my arms, they are now out of my reach ; then bless and admire God, that the arms of your faithcanembrace so great, so glorious a Saviour, and that you can say, "My beloved is mine, and I am his."
Confid. II. Consider what evil days are coming on, and what a mercy it is to your dead, that God hath taken them away from the evil to come, Ifa. lvii. 1, 2. There are two forts of evils to come, viz. Evils off in, and evils of sufferings ; and it is no small favour to be set out of the way of both. The grave is the hiding-placewhere Godsecuressome fromthedangersofboth. We are apt to promise ourselves times of tranquillity, and then it cuts us to think that our dear ones shall not partake with us in that felicity: But if we wisely confider the fins or the signs of the times, we have more cause to rejoice that God hath set them out of harm's way.
All things seem to conspire and work towards a day of great temptation and tribulation. Now as Christ told his disciples, who were so dejected, because he was to leave them, John xiv.
28. " If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go " to the Father :" So truly you would much better express and manifest your love to your children, in your satisfaction in the will and appointment of God, in taking them into rest and safety, than in your dejections and sorrows for their removal Surely they are better where they are, than where they were, whom God hath housed in heaven out of the storinand tempest. And could your dead friends that are with Christ, have anymore intercourse with this world, and fee your tears, and hear your sighs for them, they would say to you, as Christ did to those that followed him wailing and mourning, Weep not for us, but for yourselves, and such as remain in the world with you, to fee and feel the calamities that are coming on it. Confid. III. Confider how near you are to that blessed state yourselves, where God shall be all in all, and you shall feel no want of any creature-comfort, I Cor XV 28. Creature-comforts are only accommodated comforts to this animal life we now live, but shortly there will be no need of
applied to afflicted Saints. 433 them; for God will be all in all; That is, all the saints shall be abundantly satisfied in and with God alone. As there is water enough in one sea to fill all the rivers, lakes, and springs in the world: And light enough in one fun to enlighten all the inhabitants of the world : So there is enough in one God eternally to fill and satisfy all the blessed souls in heaven, without the addition of any creature-comfort. God is complete satisfaction to all the saints in the absence (I cannot say want) of wives and children, meats and drinks, estates and sensitive pleasures : There will be no more need of these things, than of candles at noon-day. You shall be as the angels of God, who have no concernment for relations.
Your fulness of years, infirmities of body, and, I hope, I may add, your improvements in grace, speak you not far short of this blessed state: And though you mayfeem to need these comforts in the way, your God thall supply all your wants.
Confid. IV. To conclude, Whatfoeveryour troubles, wants, fears, or dangers are, or may be in your passage to this blessed slate, the covenant of grace is your security, and by virtue thereof your troubles shall open and divide, as Jordan did, to give you a safe passage into your eternal reft.
Look, as when the fraelites came near the land of promise, there was a swelling Jordan betwixt it and them, which seemed to forbid their farther passage and progress ; but it is said, Josh. iii. 17. " The priests that bore the arkof the covenant of the " Lord, stood firm on the ground in the midst of Jordan ; and " all the Ifraelites passed over on dry ground, until all the peo- "plewere paffedclean over Jordan " Just so it is here: The covenant of grace stands on firm ground, in the midst of all the deep waters of tribulation you are to pass through, to secure unto you a safe passage through them all. Rejoice, therefore, and triumph in the fulness and firmness of thisblessedcovenant, and whatsoever affliction your God shall please to lay upon you, or whatsoever comfort he shall please to remove from you, still comfort and encourage yourselves, as Davidheredoth, " hath he made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all " things, and sure : For this is all myfalvation, and all myde " fire; although he make it not to grow."
VOL. VII.
Preached for the FUNERAL of that Excellent and Religious
GENTLEMAN, JOHN UPTON OF LUPTON, Esq;
Hisfervants therefore took him out of that chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had ; and they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in one of the fepulchres of his fathers : and all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Jofiah. And Jeremiah lamented for Fofiah, andallthefing. ing-men, and the singing-women spake of fofiah in their la mentations to this day, and made them an ordinance in Israel: and behold they are written in the lamentations.
INN this context we have the historyofthepious life, and tra gical death, of good king Jofiah. The history of his life gives us an account of both what he was, and what he did. As to his personal endowments and qualifications, they were singular and eximious, as appears by the fourfold character by which he is described in the context : For, First, He espoused the interest of religion betimes, even in his youth ; chap. xxxiv. ver. 3. " For in the eighth year of his " reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the " God of David his father:" And that under the great disadvantage of an ill education, such a morning promifeda glorious day.
Secondly, He hated all corrupt mixtures in the worship of God, and was answerably zealous for reformation ; "And in " the twelfth yearhebegan to purge Judah and Jerusalem from " the high places, and the groves," &c. as knowing well he and his people might expect no more of God'sblessing on the ordinances, thantherewasof his presence in them ; and no more of his presence can rationally be expected, than there is of his own order and institution.
A Sermon preached, &c. 435 Thirdly, Hewasofa very tender and impressive heart, mourningforpublicfins and dangers ; chap. xxxiv. 26, 27. "Because " thyheartwas tender, andthoudidsthumblethyselfbefore God, " when thou heardeft his words against this place, and against " the inhabitants thereof; and humbledst thyself before me, and " didst rend thy cloaths and weep before me," &c. He was not sointentuponhisown pleasures, (though in the sprightly vigour of youth) nor on the weighty concerns of the kingdom, as to forget the interest of God,and the greater concerns of his glory.
Fourthly, He was exceeding careful to propagate the interest of religion, and spread it far and wide among his people. Though he could not infuse the inward principle, (that was the work of God) yet he did enjoin the external practice of it upon all his subjects ; which was his part and duty: chap.xxxiv. ver. 33. " He made all that were present in Israel to serve, even not from the Lord their God. And all his days they departed
06 " to serve following the God of their fathers."
But yet good Josiah had his mistakes and failings. The best ofmenarebut men at best: He was too rash and hastyin resolving, and too stiff and obstinate when resolved ; and this was the occasion of his ruin. The case was thus : Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt, was at that time making war upon Charchemish, a place that belonged to him, but was taken from him by the king of Affyria , so the war of Necho was a just war ; and Judah lying between him and Charchemish, and being at peace with Judah, he requests leave of Jofiah to march his army peaceably through his country to the feat of war : Josiah takes an alarm from this message, and arms against him. - Hereupon Necho sent ambassadors to Josiah, chap. xxxv. ver.
21. saying, " What have I to do with thee, thou king of Ju- " dah? I come not against thee this day, but against the house " wherewith I have war : For God commanded me to make " haste; forbear thee from meddling with God, who is with " me, that he destroy thee not."
conceive Necho had this discovery of the mind of God, from the prophet Jeremiah, Per oraculum non fcriptum, fedviva voce editum * : even byword of mouth. If so, no doubt Jeremiah alsodiffuadedJosiahfrom going out against him : however, this is clear, Jofiah did not consult the mind of God about that expedition, as he ought, and was too hastyand resolute therein; chap. xxxv. 22. " Nevertheless Josiah would not turn
Jerom. a Lapide, Just. Mart. liiz
436 A.Sermon preached at the "his face from him," &c. By this means this excellentmancame to a tragical end, and that in the very flower of his days. He diesinthatunhappy expedition, from which he would not be diverted; is brought home to Jerusalem in the second chariot; dies, and is buried in the fepulchre of his fathers, totheuni vertal sorrow of allgoodmen in Israel, as you read in the text; wherein we have these two parts toconfider;
1. The nature and quality of the lamentation. II. The cause and ground of it. 1. For the lamentation here made, it was extraordinary; ne ver tuchcries heard before in Ifraelat any funeral, whether we consider it either,
1. Extensively, 2. Intensively, or, 3. Protensively. 1. Extensively, All Judah and Jerusalem, that is, city and country mourned that day ; not every individual, but all that had any fenfeof the worth of the man, the good that he did, or the evils that followed upon his removal. No doubt the priests of Baal, their abettors and associates, secretly rejoiced at his fall ; but all good men mourned. But among all the mourners, one is only specifiedbyname, and that is Jeremiahthe prophet, in whom all the faithful ministers of God were includ ed. To them he was a true and faithful friend; and in him they lost a father, and a famous instrument of reformation.
2. Confider it Intensively, as to the degree of the sorrow, it was a bitter lamentation; so pungent, intense, and deep, that the mourning of the Jews for Christ, at the time of their conver
is compared to this mourning for Jofiah, Zech. xii. 11. " In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jeru "falem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of " Megiddon." This Hadadrimmon was a little town in theval leyof Megiddon near the place of this fatal battle, whose inha bit ants receiving the first tidings of the fall of Jofiah, made the town ring with doleful cries and lamentations.
3. Lastly, Confider it Protenfively, in its continuance and duration, it was " made an ordinance in Israel;" and accord ingly " the singing-men and singing-women spake of Jofiahin their lamentations to this day: " i. e. Whenever anyfolema funeral or public calamity was solemnized in Israel, those persons that were skilful in lamentations, brought in the story ofJo fiah's death, as the burden of that doleful song or fuperal elegy.
Funeral of John Upton, Efq;
1. Let us confider the cause and ground ofthislamentation, which certainly was great and weighty enough to juflify that sorrow, as great and bitter as it was : for in him they lost a faithful, public, useful, zealous, and tender-hearted instrument, whose life had been eminently useful to the church of God, and whose death opened the gap to all the following calamities upon Judah.
Now, considering Josiah here, especially in his religious capacity, as fo faithful, industrious, and useful an instrument for the church of God, rather than in his political capacity as a king, the note from it will be this, Doct. That faithful, active, and public-spirited men in the church of God, should not be laid in their graves without great lamentations. When Jacob was buried, am an famous for religion, a great and fore lamentation was made for him, Gen. 1. 10. And when Aaron died, all the house of Israel mourned for him thirty days, Numb. xx. 29. When Stephen the pro to-martyr died, devout mencarriedhim to his grave with great lamentations, Acts viii.
2. and indeed for any good man to be laid in his grave without lamentation, is lamentable. The living faints have ever paid this respect and honour to dead saints, as men sensible of their worth, and how great a loss the world sustains by their removal.
I know the departed fouls of saints have no concernment in these things, yet respect is due to their very bodies, as the temples wherein God hath been served and honoured, as they are related to Christ, who will one day put great glory and honour upon them.
In the explication and confirmation of this point, I will shew you,
1. Negatively, On what account the death ofgoodmen is not to be lamented. 2. Positively, On what account tears and lamentations are due to them, with the grounds and reasons thereof. 1. Negatively, There is not a tear or sigh due to the death of any good man, upon the account of any real loss or detriment that he sustains thereby. No, no, in this case all tears are restrained, all sorrow prohibited, by the principles and rules of Christianity, I Theff. iv. 13, 14. Religion differences the sorrows, as well as the joys of its professors, from the common joy sand sorrows of the world. Dead saints are better where they are, than where they were ; to be with Christ is far better; death to them is gain and infinite advantage, Phil. i. 21 , 23. This world is the worst place thatever God designed h
438 A Sermon preached at the people to live in; for if a state of perfect holiness and purity, be better thana state of temptation and corruption ; if a state of rest and peace,be better than a state of labour and sorrow; if it be better to be triumphingabove, than sighing and groaning beneath ; then it is better for departed Christians to be where they are, than where they were. And could they now communicate their minds to us by words, as they lately did, they would say to us as Christ said, Luke xxiii. 28. " Daughters " of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and " for your children." Or, as he spake to his disciples under their sad resentments of his departure, John xiv. 28. " If ye " loved me, ye would rejoice, because I go to the Father." So then no tears or sorrows are due to them, or becoming us, upon the account of any real loss or detriment they receive by death.
2. Positively. But the true grounds and causes of our lamentation, are upon divers other weighty accounts : as, First, Because so much of the SpiritofGodas dwelt in them, when amongst us, is now recalled and gathered up 1. Reason. from this lower world. Those precious graces which they exercised among us, in prayer, conference, and other beneficial duties, are now gone with them to heaven.
The church had the benefitofthemduring their abodewith men, butnownomore, except onlywhatthe remembrance of their holy words and instructive examples (whereby they still speak to us, though dead) may afford unto us.
There are choice effusionsof the Spirit, at the time of our fanctification, of which the church reapeth the benefit whilst we live ; but all these are recalled at our dissolution,andthenceforthwe can be no farther useful in this lower world : for as the soul is the subject in which these precious graces inhere, fo theyaccompanyandgo along with the soul into glory.
Now, as it is a real lofstoacompany, when any merchant withdraws a great stock he had running in trade, out of the bank; fo certainly it is a great loss to the church of God, when the precious gifts and graces of the Spirit, dwelling in the faints, are drawn out by death; so as the churchcanhave no farther benefit by them, their prayers for us, and with us, are now ended; Abraham,knoweth us not, and Israel is ignorant of us.
Secondly, The death of the saints deserves a bitter lamentation, because thereby a breach is made, a gap open2. Reason. ed,toletinthejudgmentsof Godupontheremnant
that is left. It is said of Moses, Psal. ovi. 23. " Therefore " he said, that he woulddestroythem, had notMoses his cho- " sen stood before him in the breach, lest he should destroy " them." A metaphor from a besieged city, when a breach is made in the walls, and an enemy ready to enter; but some champion stands in the breach to defend the city. Such a champion was Moses, who by his constant and fervent prayers, put a stop to the inundation of God's judgments against Israel. And such another was Lot, Gen. xix. 22. whose prayers for that wicked place he lived in, bound up the hand of judgment, info much as the Lord told him, I can do nothing till thou art gone. But when the Lord by death removes such men, he therebymakesa way to his anger, as the expression is, Psal.
Ixxviii. 50. Hence the death of eminent faints, especially when many are taken away at or near the fame time, hath been ever looked upon as a direful omen, and dreadful presage of ensuing judgments, and that not without good scripture-authority, Isa. lvii. 1. " The righteous perish, and no man layeth it " to heart ; and merciful men are taken away, none consider- " ing that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come."
Thus Methuselah, whose very name signified a flood cometh, died the year before the flood: Augustine, a little before the sacking of Hyppo : Paraeus, a little before the taking of Hydelberg: And Luther, before the wars broke out in Germany. Death, as a pioneer, clears the way to a troop of miseries following after. This, therefore, isa just and weighty ground of our lamentations for the death of useful and godly men.
Thirdly, The beauty and ornaments of the places they lived in, are defaced and removed by their death ; they look not like themselves, whenthegodlyare removed out of them : for as wicked men are the spots and blemishes, so good men are the beauty and ornaments of their country. A good man was wont to say of Mr. Barring ton of Barring ton-hall, in Essex, Methinks the town is not at home, when Mr. Barring ton is out of town. How desolate and dismal doth a family look (whatever other ornaments be about
3. Reason. it) when the religious governor of it is gone ! Take away good men from their families and country; and what are they but like a vineyard when the vintage is past ? as the prophet speaks , Micah vii . 1.
Fourthly, The death of good men deserves a bitter lamentation, because thereby the passage of the gospel, and propagation of religion, is obstructed in the places 4. Reason. fromwhencetheyareremoved. Of how great use
440 A Sermon preached at the ina country may one zealous public-spirited man be ? Hud dredsmay have cause to blessGodfor such am an. It was the apostle's desire to the Theffalonians, " to pray that the word of " the Lord may have its free course, that it might run and be " glorified," 2 Theff. iii. 1. The removal of such a person as naturally took care for the souls of those that were about him, to provide food for them, is no small loss, nor lightlytobepassedover.
Fifthly, The confiderationof the time in which good men die, aggravates the loss, and justly incenfes the for5.Reason. row of them that remain, and that upon a threefold account. ( 1.) That it falls out in the declining state of religion, when the spirit and power of godliness is so much weakened and impoverished. This is like the loss of good blood in a confumptive body, which must bring itverylow. (2.) That it falls outalfo in a time when the numbers of the godlyare somuchthinned and lessened, not when the church's children say in her ears, the place is too strait, give place thatwemaydwell : but when they are every where lamenting the paucity of goodmen, as the pfalmist did, Psal. xii. 1. Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth, for the righ66 teous fail from among the children of men." At a time when they are bewailing themselves in the language of the prophet, Micah vii. 1. " Woe is me, for I am as when they have ga.
" the red the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the first ripe fruit. " Alluding to a hungry man that goesintoavine yard to refresh his spirits with the fruit thereof; but, alas! there is not one pleasant bunch to be found, none but four grapes, to increase his hunger, and set his teeth on edge.
(3.) And that which more aggravates the loss, is this ; when it falls ina time wherein the spring and succession of good men is obstructed. In this case death, like a storm of wind, overturns the fairest, pleasantest, and most fruitful trees in the orchard, when there is no nursery, from whence others maybe taken to plant in their rooms.
Lastly, There is justcaufe to lament the removal of public and pious men, when we consider what incuence 6.Reason. our finsandprovocations havehaduponthosejudgments and calamities ; our unworthiness of them, unthankfulness for them, and non-improvements of such mercies, have bereaved us of them. I look upon every goodman, as a good book, lent by its owner to another to read, andtran. scribetheexcellentnotionsandgoldenpaffages that are in
Funeral of John Upton, Efq; 441 for his own benefit, that they may remain with him, when the owner hall call for the book again : But in case this excellent book shall be thrown intoacorner,and no use made of it, it justly provokes the owner to take it away in displeasure.
Thus you see upon what account our sorrows for the death of goodmen are restrained, and upon what accounts and reasons they are a due debt to the death of eminent and useful in- struments for God. What remains, is the application of this point. And, 1. Use. First, The point before us justlyreproves three forts of men.
1. The worst of men, such as secretly rejoice, and are inwardly glad at the removal of such men ; they took no delight in them while they lived, and are glad they are rid of them when they are dead. Those that persecuted and hated them when alive, maybe presumed to be pleased and gratified with their death. But, alas ! poor creatures, they know not what they do! The innocent preserve the island. Except the " Lordofhosts (faith the prophet) had left us as mall remnant, R we had been as Sodom, we had been like unto Gomorrah," Ifa. i. 3. It is a proverb among the very Jews, Sine fupplicationibus non Aaret mundus : The world stands by the prayers of thegodly Let the worldthinkwhat they will of them, I tell you these men are a screen, a partition wall, betwixt them and destruction .
2. It reproves the insensibleness of good men, who art apt too slightly to pass over such tremendous strokes of God : For this it was that God reproved his own people, Ifa. Ivii. 1. No man layeth it to heart. Where the want of affection is charged upon the want of consideration, none considering their worth, their use, or the confequencesof their fall. Such rebukes of God do certainly call for a deeper sense and sorrow, than is found in most men.
3. It reproves theverybest of men, who though they do bewail and lament the loss of such men, yet they do not lament it in the dite manner. They lament it one to another, saying, Alas! alas, such a worthy is fallen, such an eminent inftrumentin the church or state is dead; but they do not lament it in prayer to the Lord, they mourn not over the matter to him, as Daviddid, Psal. xii. 1. "Crying, Help, Lord, for the god- " ly man ceaseth." Help, Lord, the remnant that is left; help, Lord, to repair the breach made by their death; let the God of the spirits of all flesh raise up am an to fill the room, VOL . VII. Kkk
442 A Sermon preached at the and supply the want. Alas, how insignificant are the lamentations of most men upon this account.
Use 2. Secondly, This point invites us all this day to bewail the stroke of God that is upon us. I could with that he that looks upon this text, and then upon the countenance of this assembly, might be able to discern the agreeableness of the one to the other, on such a fad and solemn occasion. O let all that love Zion lament, this day, the fall of one of her true friends and lovers. I know funeral panegyrics are apt to be suspected of flattery; but as I want a rhetorical tongue for such a work, so if I had it, it should never be faleable for fobase a use and purpose. I am sure, by sending the generality that die to heaven, many are confirmed in the way to hell : Nor can I but think of that serious line in Chryfoftom, • What a poor comfort is it to be praised, where am an is not; and to be • tormented, where he is :' " But yet the righteous shall be had " in everlasting remembrance," Píal. cii. 6. Expect nothing from me on this occasion, but what may be spoken with the greatest assuranceoftruth, andthatintendedfor the benefit and imitation of all that hear it. Some may think it a strain too high, to compare a private person with such a glorious king as Jofiah was ; but if Christ compared and preferredthevery grass of the field to Solomon in all his glory, I know no reason why we may not compare and parallel the precious graces of a private person with a royal faint; especiallyfincethecomparison is made in the religious, not in the civil capacity.
I am sure the graces, and gracious performances of David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, with all the other dignified faints, were intended and propounded as patterns for our imitation ; and no doubt, but private Christians may measure by their patter a. Beside, it is abundantly more safe to relate the virtues of the saints when they are dead, than whilst they were alive ; for now there is no danger of provoking pride and vain-glory in them that are praised, but much hope of provoking a holy emulation and imitation in them that hear them.
Well then, Abfit invidia verbis : Suffer me this day to erect a pillar, to perpetuate the memory of this deceased worthy ; to pay the tribute of my tears due to that mournful hearse ; and to engage you to imitate those excellencies of his, which I shall, with equal truth and modesty, display this day; that we also may be duly affected with the rebuke of God upon us, and mourn over it before him.
If, when an eminent commander in any army falls, the whole army is affected with, and concerned at his death
Funeral of John Upton, Esq; 443 : Themourningdrum, the lance andensigns trail'd, The robes of honour all in fables vail'd.
Letitnotbe thought much, Christians should expresstheirsense and sorrow in sighs and tears, for so useful and worthy a man as God hath this day removed from among us ; whose character I
shall give you in the following imitable particulars.
1. That worthy man, whose fall we lament this day, was seasoned with religion in his youth, by God's blessing upon his pious education: In this he had the advantage of Josiah . His progenitors were men of piety, and himself a child of many prayers : and, as Monica said of her son Austin, it was not likely that a child of so many prayers should perish. How importunatelydid they request the fervent prayers of their pious - friends for him, in the time of his education ? Nor was it in vain, for they were manifestly answered in him : He to on difcoveredthat probity and piety in his youth, which, justly raised great expectations from him in his riper years.
2. Nor did he frustrate those hopes; for as soon as ever God had fixed him in a proper sphere of activity (I mean, a family of his own) those graces that were in him shone forth to the comfort and benefit of all that were about him: Josaua's pious resolution was his; " As for me, and my house, we will serve " the Lord."
He kept up the worship of God in his closet, as well as in his family : And truly, if religion languish in the closet, it will quickly die in the family. His house was a temple consecrated = to God ; there the morning and evening sacrifices of prayers and praises were offered up : He called his children and servants to those duties, not reckoning that time lost to him which was spent for God. The Lord had endowed him with an excellent spirit of prayer himself. I have sometimes accidentally heard him praying in his family, with such solidity of judgment, pertinency of expressions, and holy warmth of affection, that hath at once edified, refreshed, and reprovedme in hearing him.
He constantly read the scriptures in course before prayer, and oft-times with a commentary upon them, for his own and his 'family's edification.
The Lord's day he sanctified, not only in more public attendance on the ordinances, but in the duties of reading, repeating, singing, and catechising all his children and servants about him: And all this before he allowed himself or them any bodily refreshments, left the edge of their affections should be blunt-
Kkk2
444 A Sermon preached at the ed in duty, by the clogging of nature with creature-repafis. And thus did he, as Job, continually: to this course he was fevereandconstant; no incident occasions, how great or many soever, coulddiverthim from it.
3. Neither was his holy zeal and Christian care limited and circumfcribed within his own family, but was extended to the souls of all in his neighbourhood, who defiredhelps and means in the way of salvation.
His house was seldom without a godly minister in it; and loth he was to eat his pleasant morsels alone. It was the joy of his heart to fee his house filled on this account : How many witnesss to the truth of this are here this day! Like another Joseph, he provided food for your souls ; he loved, honoured, received, and encouraged the ministers of the gospel in their deepest sufferings; gave them opportunities of service, when fomedurst not own them, and others violentlyperfecutedthem.
4. When God called him to public employments inthecom mon-wealth, he neither purchased, nor abused that trust ; but with at rue English, rather a Christian, zeal and courage, he dedicated himself to the service of God and his country ; chearfullyquitting all domestic concerns, spent his estate, time, and pains, to heal the breaches of England. I know not a man, whose zeal for the commongoodwouldhave carried him nearer to the example of that noble Roman, who, when a chasm wasmadebyan earthquake, and the oracle had declared, that itcouldneverbe closed, except something of value was thrown into it, cast in himself to close it.
I could truly have said, had there been conveniency and opportunity for it, when he was laid in his grave, 'Here lies a man, that never betrayed nor deserted the public, for any private interest of his own."
5. He was am an that came as near Josjah in tenderness of heart, as ever I had the happiness to be acquainted with. The church's troubles were his troubles ; they all met in him as lines in a centre; hè even lived and died with the interest of religion : And of him I will say, as the apostle said of Timothy, Phil. ii. 20, 21. " I have no man like-minded, who will " naturally care for your state, for all seek their own, not the " things which are Jesus Christ's." Naturally, in this place, is not opposed to spiritually, but to artificially. Many can artificially act the part of a zealot, when their own interest lies in it ; but he naturally, and therefore, freely, chearfully, and constantly.
Funeral of John Upton, Efq; 449 6. But though these excellencies were in him, he had his noevi, blemishes, and imperfections. Elias was a man of like passions and weaknesses of spirit. All these, I doubt not, but God hath covered,and he is now perfectlyfreedfromthem all.
There is now no passion left within him to be stirred by temptation ; nodespondencies and sinkings of spirit underdifmal aspects of providence. His graces are perfected, and his corruptions finally eradicated.
7. To conclude; He was a man of great offlictions, as well as tender affections. And as the Lord greatly honoured him in the course of active obedience, so he greatly proved and tried him in a course of passive obedience. He not only gave the cross in his coat, but bare it upon his shoulders : For besides those troubles, which were properly Jympathetical, he had his idiopathetical sufferings also, and that both from the hands of men, and from the hand of God. His piety made and marked him for an object of persecution; the archers shot at him, and sorely grieved him; he and his family were hunted with a net:- The Lord lay it not to their charge ; Et hinc illae lachrymae. The fad effects thereof, I chose rather at this time to passover with a sigh, than in this place to commemorate.
And as the hand of man was upon him, so the hand of his God also: first lopping off allthepleasantbranches that sprang from him, and that one after another, when come to the endearing age, opening and disclosing the bud; and, as the complement and issue of all, breaking his constitutional strength with along languishing disease, which at last extinguished this bright lamp. and hath left his family and neighbourhood in darkness and sorrow. His poor heart was the anvil on which many hammers of affliction had been a long time beating; and no wonder it appeared relaxed and tumified, when it was inspected, having endured so many successive strokes of sorrow.
And now what the Lord spake of Israel, in Jer. xi. 16. is fulfilled upon this worthy person : " The Lord called thy name " a green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit : with the noise " of a great tumult he hath kindled a fire upon it, and the " branches of it are broken."
Use 3. Thirdly, I thall wind up the whole in several seasonable and necessary counsels ; some more general, others more particular, and some most particularly and especially.
First, Counsel to all in general, to awaken themselves, and recover a due sense of such fore rebukes of God as this is.
446 A Sermon preached at the When Saul fell, " David lamented it, saying, The beauty of " Israel was slain on thy high places."
God hath this'day stript off an ornament from this country. Suchdispensationsof Providence speak indignations coming on: It requires almost an age to breed and furnish a man with due qualifications for the service of the churchandcommon-wealth. England doth not so abound with pious, zealous, and faithful gentlemen at this time, but that itmaysensibly feel the loss of such am an.
Secondly, More particularly, let the ministers of Christ lament his fall, as Jeremiah did the fall of Josiah in the text. He was a true friend to Christ's faithful ministers, and had them in honour for their work's fake. It is true, he hath no more need of us, he is now wiser than his teachers; but we greatly need him, and men of his spirit, in such a dull degenerate age as we live in.
Thirdly, And most particularly, I hall apply and close all with a few words of counsel to the dear and now desolate relict of this worthy person, whose sad lot it is this day, to over-live the mercies and comforts the once enjoyed in him.
Madam, God hath this day covered you with sables, written bitter things against you, broken you with breach upon breach. Your sorrows need not be excited, but regulated. It is my trouble, that I cannot discharge my duty to the memory of your dear husband, without exasperating your griefs, which, alas, were too acute before ; but rods have their voices ; "Blessed is " the man whom God correcteth, and teacheth him out of his *" law." Hear you the rod, and who hath appointed it; and, oh! that your soul may this day take in these necessary counsels andcautions, without which your afflictions cannot be sanctified to the advantage of your soul ! And,
1. Learn from hence the vanity of the creature, the emptiness, and nothingness of the best things here below. How hath God made your best comforts on earth to shrink up and vanish into nothing ? How do our fancies varnish and gild over these empty bubbles ? What great expectations are we apt to raise from them ? How apt to fall asleep in the bosoms or laps of earthly enjoyments, and say, with Job, " I shall die in my nest, " and multiply my days as the sand ?" When lo, in a moment, the projects and expectations of many years are overturned. Owhat a difference will you find betwixt hope founded in Christ, comforts drawn out of the promises, and the flattering comforts and vain hopes founded in the creature, whole breath is in its nostrils ?
Funeral of John Upton, Efq; 447 It is time for you, and for us all, to we an off from this vain world; mortify our fancies and affections to it, and place them where they shall not be capable of disappointment.
2. Guard carefully, I beseech you, against those temptations which probably may accomplish this affliction. It may be Sat an will suggest to your heart, what he once putintotheir lips ; Mal. iii. 14. " What profit is it that we have kept his ordinan-
66 ces, and walked mournfully before him ?" Where is the fruit of prayer ? What good have I seen of fasting ? What hath religion availed ? Do not prayerless and ungodly families thrive and prosper ? Beware of this. Madam, I doubt not but you will acknowledge, there have been fins and provocations within your walls, yea, within your heart, for which God may as justly and severely judge your house as he did Eli's. Remember the rewards of religion are not in this world ; and