The Christians Advantage, Title page – Dedication
THE CHRISTIANS ADVANTAGE BOTH BY Life and Death.
Discovered in a SERMON PREACHED At the Funeral of that Faithful and Eminent Servant of the LORD, JOSEPH JACKSON, late Esq and Alderman of the City of Bristol, On the 17. day of January, An. Dom. 1661.
By Fran. Roberts D. D. Rector of the Church at Wrington in the County of Somerset.
Phil. 1.21.
— To me to Live, is CHRIST: and to Die, is GAIN.
Hieronym. ad Eustoch, in Epitaph. Paulae, tom. 1.
Non moeremus, quòd talem amisimus: Sed gratias agimus, quòd habuimus, imò habemus. Deo enim vivunt omnia: & quicquid revertitur ad Dominum, in familiae numero computatur.
Hieronym. ad Theodor. in Epitaph. Lucinii, tom. 1.
Nos dolendi magis, qui quotidie stamus in praelio peccatorum, vitiis sordidamur, accipimus vulnera, & de otioso verbo reddituri sumus rationem.
LONDON, Printed by Edw. Mottershed. 1662.
TO My much Honored, and entirely beloved Friends, in the LORD, The Children, Brethren, Sisters, and others in near and dear Relation to JOSEPH JACKSON, late Esq and Alderman of the City of Bristol, now sleeping in Jesus, yea living and triumphing in bliss with IJSUS: Grace, mercy and peace in this life, and eternal glory in the life to come.
My dear Christian Friends,
HOw brittle, frail and fading is the most flourishing Life of Man here on Earth! The Holy Scriptures compute it, By 70 or 80 years, Psal. 90.10. by a few years, Job 16.22. by moneths, Job 14.5. by dayes, Job 14.5. by a few dayes, Job 14.1. by one day, Job 14.6. by all, denoting the extreme brevity of it. And they compare his life and time of abode here below, To a vanishing vapour, Jam. 4.14. to a transient wind, Job 7.7. to a perishing puff of breath, Psal. 146.4. Isa. 2.22. to a fading flower, Psal. 103.15, 16. Job 14.2. to a momentary meditation, thought, or tale told, Psal. 90.9. to withering grass, Psal. 90.5, 6.1 Pet. 1.24. to a speedy irrevocable flood, Psal. 90.5. to yesterday, when past and gone, Psal. 90.4. to an hastening Post, Job. 9.25. to a swift Weavers shuttle, Job 7.6. to short handbreadths, Psal. 39.5. to a Weavers web, soon brought to the thrum to be cut off, Isa. 38.12. to a Watch in the night, but three hours long, Psal. 90.4. to a vanishing shadow, Job 4.2. & 8.9. Psal. 102.11. to crumbling dust, Psal. 103.14. to a sleep, insensibly passing, Psal. 90.5. to an Apparition, or image, Psal. 39.6. And (as if all these reached not home,) to meer Nothing,(a)These Resemblances I am wont to express in this ensuing Memorial: Vita, vapor, ventus, flatus, flos, fabula, faenum, Flumen, heri, cursor, radius, palmaria, textum, Excubiae, umbra, cinis, somnus, imago, nihil. Psal. 39.5. By all these emphatically describing the extreme lubricity, uncertainty, and vanity of Man's life. VVhereupon we may with the Psalmist justly conclude; Surely, every man, at his best state, is altogether vanity. Selah. Psal. 39.5. Not only man, but every man: not in some state only, as of childhood, sickness, old age, &c. but at his best state, Heb. when setled: Is not only vain, but vanity it self: Not only vanity in part, or in some regard, but in whole, altogether vanity: And all this with a [Surely] prefixed, for the more undoubted certainty; And with a [Selah] suffixed, for the greater observableness.
It is not long since his late dear Yokefellow was by Natures dissolution divorced from him: And now Himself … by Death separated and removed from you. Oh what is man! Little did I think to have preached at the Funeral of either: And lo, so hath the LORD disposed things, that I have (not without much reluctancie and grief) performed this last office for them both, not many years interposing. (b)Mary his late wife deceased April 24. and was buried May 5. 1657. Joseph Jackson himself slept in the Lord Jan. 5. and was interred Jan. 17. 1661.They have prevented both you, and me: Our work is to prepare to follow after. The good Lord teach us so to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to wisdom, Psal. 90.12. To true spiritual wisdom; To wisdom for our selves, for our souls, for our eternal estate with our dearest Saviour IESUS CHRIST in Heaven. We have here no continuing City: Let us diligently seek one to come; A City that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, Heb. 13.14. & 11.10. Let us so manage our Earthly Pilgrimage, that we may make sure of the Heavenly Heritage: Let us so improve this Mortality, as not to miss of that Immortality: And so live on Earth a while, that we may undoubtedly live in Heaven for ever.
As for you that are surviving, My Conscience and Affection (I cannot but affectionately love those that belong'd to him, whom I so intensively affected for Christ in him,) prompt me to present a few requests unto you by way of Advice: And I hope you will resent them with Christian acceptation.
1. Be pleased to peruse and practise those Ten Instructions or Practical Directions, published in my Instructive and Hortatory Epistle prefixed to my Sermon (c)The Sermon is entituled, The Checquerwork of Gods Providences towards his own people.— London, 1657.preached at the Funeral of Mary Jackson, his late religious Yokefellow. You have the printed Books and Directions: I need not mention any Particulars, but compendiously refer you to them. I heartily recommend them to your faithful practice; beseeching the God of all wisdom to give you salvifical understanding in all things.
2. Endeavour to comfort your selves in this your great loss of him, and deep affliction for him, by Christian considerations. And what Consolatory Arguments may you not readily suggest unto your selves? His Life was so Christian, that his Death must needs be comfortable. (d)Qualis vita, finis ita.Of a good life there cannot come a bad death; As of a bad life seldom comes a good death. Life and Death were his, for all manner of spiritual advantages. He liv'd to the Lord, and died to the Lord: both living and dying, he was and is the Lords, Rom. 14.8. His body (as Hierom said of Nepotianus) is returned to the earth; but his soul is restored to Christ. (e)Corpus terra suscepit: Anima Ch…isto reddita …st. Hi…ron, in Epitaph. N…potian. p 29. B. tom. 1.His Sins and Sorrows are all ended; his Graces are perfected; and his eternal Joyes are begun. VVhile you are lamenting in black, He is triumphing in white. Are we born (that I may use Hierom's words to Paula upon the death of her daughter Blesilla,) that we should here abide eternally? Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Peter, James, John, Paul the chosen Vessel, and above all, the Son of God, died: And are we grieved, that one depart the body, whose soul was so accepted of God, as to be snatched out of the midst of iniquity and error? Let that dead person be lamented, whom Hell receives, whom the Infernal pit devours, for whose punishment everlasting fire doth burn. As for us whose End the Angels accompany, whom Christ meets, let us rather grieve, that we are kept so long in this tabernacle of Death, [and may not meet Christ sōoner:] seeing while we are present in this body, we are absent from the Lord. (f)Ad hoc enim nati sumus, ut maneamus aeterni? Abraham, Moyses, Esaias▪ Petrus, Jacobus, Joannes, Paulus electionis vas, & super omnia filius Dei, moritur: Et nos indignamur aliquem exire de corpore, qui ad hoc forsitan raptus est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus? Placita v. Deo erat anima ejus. Propter hoc properavit educere eam de media iniquitate, ne longo vitae itinere, deviis oberraret aufractibus. Lugeatur mo… tuus, sed ille, luem gehenna suscipit, luem tartarus devorat, in cujus poenam aeternus ignis aestu at. Nos quorum exitum Angelorum turba comitatur, quibus obviam Christus occurrit; gravemur magis, si diutiùs in tabernaculo isto mortis habitemus; q…ia quamdi… hie moramur, peregrinamu… à Domino. Hi…o…ym. ad Paulam super obitu Blesill…e filiae, p. 158. D. Tom. 1. Basil. 1553.Let Faith, Hope, and Love be your comforters: (as Augustine (g)Consol…tur autem te Fides, & Spe…tua, & ipsa Charitas.—Non enim te desolatam puta…e debes, cui in interiore homine habeas praesentem Christum per fidem in corde tuo. Aut sic te contristari oporter quemadmodum Gentes quae spem non habent, cùm veracissima promissione speremus nos de hac vita, unde migraturi quosdam nostros migrantes non amisimus, sed pr…misimus.— Aug. I…licae. vid. Epist. 6. ad init. tom. 2.sometimes advised an Italian widow, upon the death of her Husband.) Faith; For you are not desolate, so long as Christ dwells in your hearts by Faith. Hope; For you cannot but confidently hope, That he is not lost, but only sent before you; That he is in Heáven with Christ, which is far best of all, Phil. 1.23. That at the last day his body shall rise again, to be glorified together with his soul for ever. And, The Dead's Resurrection, is the Christians confidence and consolation. (h)Fiducia Christianorum, Resurrectio Mortuorum. Tortul. de Resur. carnis. c. 1.Love; For the more entirely you loved him while he was with you, the more exceedingly should you rejoyce at his happiness, now he is with the Lord. And the time is hastening apace, when all that are Christ's shall meet again, and never part more.
3. Turn all your Lamentation for him,(i) Egregiae virtutis exempla, veluti lumen, in edito ponenda sunt, ut omnibus praeluceant, multosque ad sui emulationem accendant. Erasm. in Epist. ad Archi. Tolet. praefix. Augustini operibus, p. ult. into Imitation of him. He was a fair Copy to write after: Follow him, as he follow'd Christ, 1 Cor. 11.1. I have laid down here after my Sermon, a short touch at his Exemplary vertues: both you and I know more of his true Christian worth. Strive to be like him in Grace, that you may be like him in Glory. And you, that are sharers in his plentiful earthly Estate left behind him, you especially are to be put in remembrance of his great Charity, Bounty and Liberality, which with that Estate he was wont to exert upon all good Occasions; that you may tread in his steps. The backs and bellies of many and many poor distressed Creatures, had long and frequent occasions of blessing him: Let them have like causes of blessing you, and God for you. So shall they say; Our Almner is not lost, but changed, for the stream of charity is still continued. His Alms-deeds were doubtless one eminent way of sanctifying all his great Enjoyments on earth, Luk. 11.41. and of augmenting his Reward in Heaven, 1 Tim. 6.17, 18, 19. Luk. 16.9. And like charitable courses in you, shall doubtless be crowned with like happy advantages.
4. Endeavour, I beseech you, with all faithful care, the right Christian and gracious education of his Son and Daughter, his two small Orphans, left in trust among you. You are Trustees of the Dead, and you are intrusted with his choisest jewels, his Children; and that not only with their Estates and Bodies▪ but especially with their souls: Oh study to be faithful to the uttermost, Engage them in the true knowledge of God, Jesus Christ, and Christianity; as also in the right religious Practice of Godliness, betimes; That when they are old, they may never depart from it. (k)Quo semel est imbura recens, servabit odorem, Testa diu.—Horat.1 Chron. 28.9. Eccles. 12.1. Prov. 22.6. Ephes. 6.4. God hath, by his Providence, made you Pro-parents to them: Oh still express a Christian Parental affection towards them. That so at last, in this young Joseph the Son, old Joseph the Father may in a sort remain alive, by inheriting and exerting his Fathers vertues.
5. Finally, Vouchsafe, in reference to your selves, to reduce this ensuing Sermon into Practice. As here both Life and Death are discovered to be theirs, that are Christs: So in every point endeavour you, that both may be yours, as being Christ's. For particulars, I refer you to the Sermon it self. It was preached under some inevitable confinement to time, because the Assembly was very great: Therefore here and there I have interposed some few passages for the necessary illustration of what was then spoken briefly and more obscurely. Love, Hope, and Fear, have at last inclined me to consent to the Publication of it. Love, to many Christian Friends; whose importunities herein I could not well withstand: Hope, That being made publique, it may possibly, by Directing, Comforting, and Quickening in some measure, help some poor Souls onward in their Heavenly journey, even after my Decease: And Fear, lest by the help of some imperfect Notes taken at the preaching of it, it should have been (as was suggested to me) sent abroad into the world immaturely in an extraneous dress, to my prejudice, and others disservice. And now, such as it is, I present and dedicate it to you more especially, as a peculiar token of my great respect and love, both to Him that is departed, and to His that do remain. That his blessed Memory may yet live a little among you in these my ensuing Lines: (l)Illum nostra pagella decanter; Illum nostrae literae sonent. Quem corpore non valemus, recordatione teneamus: Et cum quo loqui non possumus, de eo loqui nunquam desinamus. Hieron. in Epitaph. Nepot. p. 27. in fin. tom. 1.And that you may yet further be incited so to Live and Die, as that after Death you may live with CHRIST▪ and with him, and with all that are Christ's eternally. Which is the earnest desire and prayer of—
Wrington, from my Study there, Feb. 2…. 1661. Your affectionate Brother, Friend and Servant in the LORD, for the furtherance of your ha…h and Joy, FRAN. ROBERTS.