Funeral Sermon for Thomas Rosewell, Title page – To the reader
A Funeral SERMON Preached upon The ſad Occaſion of the Death of that Emiment and Faithful Servant of Chriſt, Mr. THOMAS ROSEWELL, Who departed this Life February the 4th. AND Whoſe Remains were Interred February the 19th. 1691/2.
By MATTHEW MEAD.
LONDON: Printed for John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey. 1692.
To the Flock of Chriſt in Rotherhith, over which the Reverend Mr. Thomas Roſwell was lately the Overſeer.
AS this Sermon had not been preached but to anſwer your Requeſt, nor this Text choſen for my Subject, but in compliance with the deſires of your now deceaſed Paſtor, and his worthy Relict, ſo if repeated Denials could have ſilenced your repeated Importunities, it had not been made thus publick: but if the Intereſt of our Lord may thereby be promoted, and the Salvation of Souls any way furthered by it, I ſhall have no cauſe to repent my Compliance with your Deſires; but ſhall bleſs God who makes it uſeful to thoſe ends, which I can truly ſay were mine in the preaching of it.
It is ſome Satisfaction to me that I have hereby an Opportunity put into my hand of giving a publick Teſtimony to that Honour and Reſpect I always had to that worthy Servant of Christ, for the Grace of God which was ſo manifeſt in him: As alſo of obviating thoſe reproachful Cenſures which profane Scoffers paſſed upon him, becauſe of the dark Diſpenſations which it ſeems good to the wiſe God, who gives no account of any of his matters, to exerciſe him with in his laſt ſickneſs: This I have endeavoured in the following Diſcourſe, which you have as it was preached; only I have added ſome few things which I could not, by reaſon of ſtraits of time, then deliver.
I am ſenſible (and ſo I hope are you) of the greatneſs of the loſs you have ſuſtained in him, who was (ſuch a one as the Text mentions) a Meſſenger, an Interpreter, one among a thouſand. A loſs which can never be made up, but by that hand that made the breach.
God often takes away his Miniſters as a puniſhment for the unthankfulneſs and unprofitableneſs of their hearers; who never knew how to prize and improve the injoyment of them: And it is juſt with God, when we play by that Light, which he ſets up to guide us in our work, to put it out, and leave us in the dark. As ſome Miniſters are guilty of the Blood of their Hearers, in not dealing faithfully with their Souls, ſo ſome Hearers are guilty of the Blood of their Miniſters in provoking God, by their obſtinate refuſals of Goſpel Grace, to call them home. And if any of you have had any hand in this guilt, how loudly doth God call you by the language of this Providence to a ſerious and ſpeedy Repentance, and making peace with him, who therefore waits that he may be gracious: for tho the Bucket be broken, yet the Fountain of Grace and Mercy is ſtill open, ever full, and always flowing. God hath the reſidue of the Spirit; and he who hath provided for the World, notwithſtanding the death of ſo many uſeful Perſons thus long, can do it ſtill: for his Arm is not ſhortened nor grown weary. Mercy runs as freely to this day, as at the firſt broaching of it. And therefore pray earneſtly (and ſo ſhall I) that this great breach which the wiſe God hath made upon you by this ſad ſtroke, may be mercifully healed by his own hand, in giving you a Paſtor after his own heart, that may feed you with knowledge and underſtanding. And when God ſhall anſwer your Prayers, do you give all diligence to anſwer his kindneſs in improving all the means of Grace ſo, as that Chriſt may ſee of the travel of his Soul in you, and be ſatisfied, and that thoſe Miniſters of Chriſt which you have had, or ſhall have, may have cauſe to rejoyce in the day of the Lord that they have not run in vain, nor laboured in vain. This is and ſhall he the Prayer of
Your Servant for Jeſus ſake, MATTH. MEAD.