The Beloved Disciple, Title page – Dedication
foreign. OR, The Beloved Diſciple.
A SERMON PREACHED At the Funerall of the Honourable Sir ROBERT HARLEY, Knight of the Honourable Order of the Bath; at Brampton. Brian in Hereford-ſhire.
December 10. 1656.
By THOMAS FROYSELL, Miniſter of the Goſpell at Clun in Shropſhire.
CANT. 4. 9. Thou haſt raviſhed my heart, my Siſter, my Spouſe, Thou haſt raviſhed mine Heart, with One of thine Eyes, with One chain of thy neck.
Chap. 7. 6. How Faire and how Pleaſant art Thou, O L…ve, for Delights.
London, Printed by M. S. for Thomas Pa…khurſt at the three Crowns over againſt the Great Conduit at the lower end of Cheapſide, 1658.
Imprimatur, Edmond Calamy.
Academiae Cantabrigiensis Liber.
TO Colonell Edward Harley, Eldeſt Son of the Famous Sir Robert Harley, Knight of the Honourable Order of the Bath.
SIR,
THough your Own Vertues Spring you Rivers of Honour in the Hearts of Gods people, yet the Tyde of your Fathers Worth flowing in brim's the banks: Much of your Honour lyeth in being the Son of Sir Robert Harley. aforeign Prov. 17. 6.'Tis your Honour to be the Son of ſuch a Father, and 'twas his bforeign. Menan. apud Stob.Joy to be the Father of ſuch a Son: Truth is, a good Father is Gods Gift to the Son, and a good Son is Gods Gift to the Father.
§ 2. Yet you muſt not think to lye ſo Freſh and Orient in the opnion of Many Chriſtians of theſe Times: They have changed their Opinion of Truth it ſelfe, and therefore much more of Her Children: cVer… a… mo… conſtantiâ probatur. Ambroſ Epi. 40. Quos amor verus tenuit, tenebit. S… in Thyeſ….They are not Now, what they were before: They forſake the Light, and then ſay, that Others are in the Dark. They that change their Principles, Stella c…dens non eſt ſtella, Cometa fuit.will change their Judgements of you, and all that are like you: I conceive, the Death of Prophane men is Indigeſtion, through a mortall Coldneſſe in their ſtomack not turning the food of life at all into Nutriment: The Death of theſe Men is over-digeſtion. dFit etiam aſſa…io a calore praeternaturali in epace, cum nutrimentum aduritur, Humidum que ſine modo extrahitur, &c. unde lepra, lichene…, ſcabi…s &c. Rod. Goden.As immoderate Heat in the bodily digeſtion, exhauſting and burning up the humid moyſture of the nouriſhing matter, breeds Leproſies, Ringworms, Tetters, and Scabs: So in Religion, a preter-naturall Heat heightning the Concoction into aduſt Choller of Pride and zeal, begets Leaprouſies of Opinions, Errours, Separations, Contentions, and Scabs of Rayling againſt the Ordinances and Miniſters of Jeſus Chriſt: eƲti ne que qui… ex alimento fit ſanguis, ex ſanguine ſpiritus, eò hauriendus eſt ſanguis: nam quae jam eò perfectionis de…ênere, ut ſint ſanguis vel humor roſcidus, u…eriori concoctione ſiunt deteriora. Ger. Joh. V…ſſi…s.When Religion is come to its Due Perfection or Digeſtion, ſo as to become bloud and ſpirits in us, by farther Concoction is made worſe: Every Degree beyond that tends destructive to the ſpirituall Eſtate: Theſe Men are as inflamed Enemies to the Growth of the Goſpell, as thoſe that are Prophane; and truly their Reproaches fA malis vituperari, laud… …i…eſt Sen. foreign, …ixit Anaxag.are our Honours: but I hope you will tread in your gforeign Greg. N…z.brave Fathers ſteps, and stick cloſe to the Good old way of Truth and Godlineſſe.
§ 3. Sir, This Sermon ſuch a one as it is, You had …ved it long ago, as ſoon as You …lled for it, had not God given me other worke, Paſſive work, to undergo: The Cloud of God upon me and my Family (which hung long upon us) wrapt me up in ſad Diverſions: I hope the hHeb. 1…. 1…. foreign. Chryſoſt.Reſult of it will be the Peaceable fruit of Righteouſneſſe.
§ 4. Sir, The Subject of the Sermon is the Gracious Saint, as the Object of Gods Love: Who the more lovely, the more beloved; becauſe he hath the more of God in Him, for God to love. iforeign; Chryſoſt.Gods Love to man is the Wonder of the World, and ſhould be the Stupefaction and Ecſtacy of the Saints: What is Man that thou art mindfull of him! Man laid himſelfe ſo low, that He was not worthy of one thought of God: kA Deo Amari exuperat omnem mundi favorem: a Deo Inhabitari exupera… omnem mundi Splendorem & magnificentiam. Salom. Glaſſius.The love of God is the Saints unvaluable Treaſury; Their Joy here, their Heaven hereafter. If the Early Glimmerings of Gods love upon a ſoul ſhroud ſo much Joy within their beams, what will the Meridian Rayes of Glory be when they ſhall be revealed? lQuomod… poſſemus illum diligere, niſi prior ille diligeret? ſi pigri eramus ad amandum, non ſimus Pigri ad redamandum. Auguſt. foreign. Plutarc.If God love us ſo much, How ſhould we love God! Oh then! how ſhould Our End be his Honour, which is All he hath from us for All we hold of him. None know his Love, till they feel their Love to him.
§ 5. If it were Poſſible, we ſhould live above repentance; ſo to Act that we need not to Repent: Though Repentance be a great Grace, yet tis greater Wiſdome mforeign. Epicharm. apud Stob.not to ſin, that we may not need the ſalve of Repentance: a Medicine is very Precious, yet not to wound our ſelves is far better, that ſo we may not need the medicine: Repentance is nforeign, dixit Pindar.a Grace of After-wiſdome: oh, let us be the Sons of Prometheus, rather than of Epimetheus; Not to ſin is better than to Repent when we have ſinned.
§ 6. How Choyce ſhould we be, how we Act our life ſince we have but One life to Act! We have not a oforeign. Epic. foreign. Eurip.brace of lives here, that we might Correct in the other, what we have done amiſſe in the firſt; that we might Recover in the latter, what we have lost in the former: We have but One Arrow of life to hit the Mark with; and if we ſhoot that at Random, we looſe All; God will not put a ſecond Arrow into our bow again: we had need then be good Archers with One Arrow.
§ 7. Yet alas! how little of our time do we live? Ourwhole Volume of Time is but a ſhort Compendium, a Moment to Eternity; yet how little of this little do we live to God, or to our ſouls! The Heathens obſerved, that pforeignour Sleep divides half our life with us, and takes half from us; Sleep is the dead part of our life: qforeign A…. Ethic. l. 1. c. 8.He that ſleeps is doing nothing, 'tis the Privation or Parentheſis of action; and yet (oh the miſery!) the living part of our life is in moſt of us but a ſpiritual Sleep of Careleſneſſe and Security: He that is not upon action, ſleeps while he is awake.
§ 8. OnelyOnly the gracious man doth enlarge his life, he enjoyes a double life; He that ſpins a Gracious life, draws out a double threed, He lives twice, rAmpliat atatis ſpatium ſibi vir bonus; Hoc eſt vivere bis, vitâ poſſe p…ime frui. Ma…t.for he joyeth in what is ſpent, and enjoyeth what is preſent: A wicked life paſt is loſt; but, to live, and Review our former part of Life with joyfull Reflections on it, is to live Twice.
§ 9. Our work here ſhould be to live above the world: Our deſign in the world, ſhould be to live above the world: We that are travelling beyond the world, ſhould walk above the world: Why ſhould we be taken with Riches, ſeeing we ſhall be taken from Riches? and taken with Honours, who ſhall be taken from the Honours of this world?
§ 10. Our Body is but Dirt handſomely temper'd, and sforeign, Epict. foreign. Xenoph.artificially formed, a little moyſtned Earth: We derive our Pedigree from the dirt, and are a kin to Clay: The poor and beggerly Elements are our Materials; as they are the Seeds of our being, ſo of our diſſolution: How ſhould this humble us! we that are but duſt, ſhould lye as low as duſt in our own eyes: What is lower than Earth? He that riſeth out of the Earth, hath no Ground why he ſhould be lifted up: What Pride ſhould there be in Mud walls? How ſhould we dye dayly! for we moulder and diſſolve dayly; we are no ſooner touch'd, but we are crack'd.
§ 11. Death is Neceſſary and In-evitable; it waits not our conſent, we muſt dye whether we will or no: Thou fool, this night thy ſoul ſhall be required Luke 12. 20.of thee: It ſhall be Required of thee: It ſhall be Required, that is, tforeign, eſt poſcere a volente▪ foreign a …olen…e. Caſaub. ad Theophr. Ch…. foreignfetch'd from thee, whether thou wilt or no; if thou wilt not deliver it up willingly, it ſhall be taken from thee againſt thy will: Death is an Inflexible Meſſenger, and Reſolves not to goe without that it comes for, it will not Deſire our ſoul of us▪ but Require it, This night thy ſoul ſhall be required of thee: We will and Require you, is the language of them that are in Authority, and will not be denied; and in this Commanding language ſpeaks The King of Terrours: Oh then, let us not ſo much deſire to live, as ſtudy how to dye; what a ſad thing is it to dye by force? When Death ſhall find us Eager to live, and not prepar'd to dye? Un-preparation makes our naturall Death a violent death; They dye miſerably, who dye deſiring to live.
§ 12. Our great Care uforeign.ſhould be not to blaſt the precedent Flower of our life with a Blot at laſt; not to blemiſh the fair Copy of a Good converſation with an Erratum in the End: There's many a famous Profeſſour hath gone off the Stage without an approbation, becauſe he loſt himſelfe in his laſt Act: nay, (which ſhould make us most watchfull, when we are drawing towards our Epilogue) Glorious Saints, many, if not the moſt of them, when they grow ancient in Religion, they take a nap before they go to Bed: The wiſe Virgins fell a ſleep, a little before the Bridegroom came: Moſes when he almoſt arriv'd at Canaan, within the ſight of the Land, yet for one ſin loſt it: a long Profeſſion makes many ſecure in the latter End; but the ſtone is ſwifteſt in motion, when 'tis neareſt the center: O Sir, Our Laſt ſhould be our Beſt, and the ſweeteſt at the bottome; the farther your day goes on, watch the more, Men are more prone to drop aſleep in the afternoon: and let me tell you, 'Tis not Outward temptations that overcome us, but Our own corruptions, not the moſt tempeſtuous temptations, but our ſuperficiall Profeſſions; ah then! let us build firme, aud lay our ſuperſtructure upon an unmoveable Foundation: Godlineſſe is the Great houſe that we are building: now ſome build (as Chriſt ſaith) upon the ſand, and that Houſe falleth, others build upon a Rock, and that Houſe ſtandeth, Mat. 7. 24, to 28. 'Tis not the ſtrength of Temptations, but the vanity of the builders that cauſeth the fal of the Houſe: 'Tis xforeign.Chryſoſtomes Obſervation, You ſee (ſaith he) 'tis not the Force of Temptations, but the Folly of the Builders that brings the Ruine, for There is Rain, and Here is Rain, There are flouds, and Here are flouds, There the winds blow, and Here the winds beat too, the one builds, and the other builds, The Building is the ſame, and the temptations are the ſame, but there is not the Same End, becauſe there is not the Same Foundation; ſo that 'tis not the Nature of the Temptations, but the Imprudence of the Builders that cauſeth the Ruine.
Sir, Whilſt I am writing theſe things, Our Glaſſe is running: Your Time and mine flieth faster then my Pen: We had need improve That Highly, which is posting from us ſo Swiftly: Our dayes are ſhorter then a Poſt; Lord! what Haſt then do they make! a Poſt is engaged to ride hard; and ſometimes he rides upon pain of Death, with a Halter about his neck: So doe we, (though the vain Sons of Men think not ſo) Every ſtep we take is upon Pain of Eternall Death; if either we loyter, or betray our Truſt, Negligence or Unfaithfulneſſe will be our Halter: Souls are choyce ware, Eternity a dreadfull Abyſſe, and God will not be Trifled with: oh then! let not us ſit ſtill, whilſt time is running: no time is ours, but what is preſent; and that is paſt as ſoon as tis preſent: Therefore to Jeſus Chriſt I commend you, with Him I leave you, through him deſiring All ſpirituall bleſſings in heavenly Places upon you, So Prays He, who is
Clun, Decemb. 22. 1657. SIR, Your moſt Obliged Kinſman, and moſt Humble Servant, THO. FROYSELL.