Sorrow Upon Sorrow, Part
APPLICATION.
I now come to Application. If this be true, that it ought to be the Practiſe, and is the Property of the Saints, and the People of God to bewaile the final departure of their Preachers and Teachers. Then I infer this, that where God continues faithful Teachers, where God reſtores ſuch faithful Teachers, or where God ſends ſuch faithful Teachers, it is cauſe of great Joy. Secondly, is it ſo ſore an Affliction to looſe and finally to part with a powerful Preacher, then beloved we ſhould exceedingly ſtir up our ſelves to deprecate theſe evils, that is, to pray to God to prevent ſuch evils as this is: I remember Jabez in 1 Chron. 4.10. calls on God, Oh that thou wouldst bleſs me indeed, and enlarge my Coaſt, and that thy hand might be with me, and that thou wouldſt keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me, and the Lord grant him that which he requeſted: We ſhould go to God and ſay, Lord don't take theſe and theſe from us, that will be a very great evil to us, ſurely if God hath taught us to pray, That the Lord of the Harvest ſhould ſend Labourers into his Harveſt, then we have cauſe to pray that ſuch ſhould not be taken out. Thirdly, if it be of concern for thoſe to mourn that are the People of God, then this ſerves to reprove two ſorts of hearers. 1. It reproves them, who when faithful Teachers are taken away, it glads their hearts; aye ſay they, would they were all there; The Saints they mourn becauſe they ſhall ſee their faces no more; and you are nothing more glad then that you ſhall ſee their faces no more: Theſe are like them in Judges 16.23. That gathered themſelves together to offer a great Sacrifice unto Dagon their God, and to rejoyce for that our Enemy is delivered into our hand: And in Rev. 9.10. And they of the People and Nation, and Kindred, and Tongues, ſhall ſee their dead Bodies, and they that dwell upon the Earth, ſhall rejoyce over them, and make merry, and ſhall ſend guifts one to another. O Sirs, I ſend you away with this, and much good it may do you if it can, you that thus ſend guifts, and rejoyce when ſuch Teachers go; you go the way to Hell, and none ſaith, whither go you. Secondly, they are to be Reproved too, though not ſo much as theſe; they are to be Reproved, I ſay alſo, that are not affected at all at the Death of faithful Teachers: there is ſuch a one dead, alas ſay ſome, I never heard he was ſick: what diſeaſe did he Die of, how long was he Sick? how hath he left his Family? and ſuch things as theſe; and that he was a good Preacher, but no Tears at all; They are like the Gadeurens of old that liked not to part with a Hogg as with a Saviour: They are like them in Zach. 11.9. who ſaid, That that dieth, let it die; and that that is cut off, let it be cut off. If ſuch a man be ſick, let him be ſick; if he die, let him die: Come, come, if you had learnt any good by his Miniſtry, you could not have parted with him ſo looſly. Let me call upon this Congregation this Evening, that we would be in the Eph…ſians Practiſe; they Mourned when Paul was going, and they ſhould ſee his face no more: Your Preacher is gone, And you ſhall ſee his face no more. I would I could raiſe you to their height of Mourning; it is ſaid of Scipio, that when he was gone out of the City, the wall of the City were fallen; ſo I may ſay of London, thy walls are fallen: Truly Beloved, I could, when I ſee what God hath done, and is a doing, I could cry out, Come out for your walls are fallen. I ſhall only propoſe three things, 1. This is not a ſingle blow, this lot of the Servant of God, taken from this people, is not a ſingle blow; it is not the firſt Miniſter that God hath taken away, nor is it like to be the laſt; we may ſay Joſeph is not, nor Simion is not, and Benjamin is gone alſo. I have obſerved how many God hath taken ſince a black Bartholomew; that ſince men hath taken away their livelyhoods, God took away their lives; how could you think that he, he that Preach'd bleſſedneſs ſo little while ſince, ſhould be ſo ſoon gone to bleſſedneſs. Secondly, conſider this blow, a Saint, yea, a Miniſter, one of the many, one that excelled moſt, an able Miniſter of the New Teſtament, a workman that need not be aſhamed: Beloved, whoſe ears was not taken with his Language? that one that but once heard him, but muſt come again.
He begat you in Chriſt Jeſus, though none of his own, but Chriſts; and you may get one to ſucceed him, but not to exceed him, but I deſire that man to tell me where.
Beloved, I find the Death of Chriſt, to differ from the death of the Saints, in Joh. 16.7. for ſaith our Saviour, It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will ſend him unto you: It was well for Chriſt to go from us, becauſe we ſhould have the Comforter ſtill, but it is not ſo with us when Miniſters part, Paul ſaith not, Its good for you that I go, though it be beſt for me; Let us pray then to God that hath taken away a Moſes, to ſend us a Joſhua; and if he take a Joſhua to ſend us a Caleb, and if he takes away a Caleb to ſend us an Eli, and if an Eli go, we may have a Samuel; Let us pray the Prayer of Moſes, in Numb. 27.16, 17. Let the Lord, the God of the Spirits of all fleſh, ſet a man over the Congregation, which may go out before them, and which may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in, that the Congregation of the Lord be not as the Sheep which have no Shepherd. Let us Pray, that God would be pleaſed to ſend ſome to go in and out before us. Amen.
FINIS.
End of the text · William Beerman, Sorrow Upon Sorrow (1674)