PEACE and REST FOR The Upright. BEING A SERMON PREACHED At the FUNERAL of the REVEREND D r. john Bryan, sometime Minister of Trinity in Coventry, By that Worthy Preacher of God's Word, Mr. NATH. WANLEY, Master of Arts, Deceased, and Successor to the said Doctor in the aforesaid Parish. LONDON, Printed for john Smith, Bookseller in Coventry, 1681. Peace and Rest for the Upright. Esaiah 57 Verse 2. He shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. THE Life of Man is compared in Scripture unto sundry things upon different and various accounts in respect of the brevity and shortness of it. St. james tells us it is a vapour that appears for a little while and soon vanisheth away. And in this respect it may be said of every one of us as Virgil once did of his Marcellus, God shows him to the World only, and so recalls him. God presents us here a while upon the Theatre of the World for to act our parts, and then sends us into the retiring Room the Grave, the place appointed for all that are living. So short is Man's stay in the World, that job allows him none at all, Naked came I into the World, and naked shall I return, saith he. Here is coming and returning out, but not a word of tarrying here. The time of life is so inconsiderable, that Solomon the wisest of men would grant him none at all. There is a time, saith he, for every thing under the Sun, a time to be born, and a time to die. As if he would have us to understand, that the middle time betwixt our birth and our death (that is the time of life) was not to be reckoned upon at all. So that you see not only every man's life is a Vapour, but less in respect of its shortness. But the good and holy man hath his Life compared to other things upon other Considerations. Upon the account of his hardship and perpetual fight and watching; his frequent encounter with enemies, and his continual obligation to duty. A good man's life is called a warfare, 2 Cor. 10. 4. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. And upon the account of his toil and trouble, weariness and continual travel; upon the account of his absence from the Lord, and his daily tendency to Heaven, which is his proper home. So the Life of a good man is called a Pilgrimage, saith the Patriarch jacob, Few and evil have been the days of the years of the life of my pilgrimage. But as the Warrior fights not without a prospect of Peace, Pax quaeritur bello, Peace is the end of War. And as the weary Pilgrim doth not Travel but in hopes of an after-rest, So God almighty for the encouragement of his Soldiers in the Fight, and his Pilgrim in the Journey, he hath set before him (as in the glass of the Promse) these two most suitable things for him, Peace, and Rest, for so saith the Text, He shall enter into peace, etc. Where we have, 1. A Promise or Privilege, they shall enter into peace, they shall rest in their beds, like Issachar the Son of jacob here they do couch under the double burdens of War and Weariness, of Want and Weakness; but peace and rest, these will ease them of all they suffer, supply all they want, recruit them with new additions of strengths, They shall enter into peace, etc. And now I have but named that word Peace, methinks I may say as Leah concerning her Son Gad, Behold a Troop cometh. For under this name are couched all those Favours and Blessings of God, which have the Sweetest Significations. All the Joys and Beatitudes that are so numerous and full bloomed here, but ripe in Heaven. They shall enter into peace, Some read it, and so your margin, Go in peace, depart the World with Serenity and Satisfaction, with inward Quiet and Repose. But, 2. Others read it, He shall go into peace, (that is) shall be received into Heaven where the God of Peace is, the righteous man shall be there; he shall enter into peace, that is to note, it is the privilege of the Soul (especially) First, for this is the man, the He; the Soul is the Jewel, the Body is but the Caskinet; the Soul the principal, the other but the appurtenance: and they shall rest in their beds, that is the privilege of the Body, (not Soul) it shall be laid down to repose itself in the Grave which Jesus Christ hath perfumed as in a bed, till such time the Morning of the Resurrection begin to dawn, and the Trump of the Archangel to sound, than it shall rise from thence and enter into the Souls Peace. 2. Here is a description of the Persons to whom these privileges appertain; We need not say as the Eunuch of Queen Candace, when he read a passage out of this Prophet, Of whom spoke the Prophet this, of himself, or some other man? For the Prophet hath told us, Each one walking in his uprightness. Whosoever he is that doth deal justly with Man, and walks equally, that is, Conscientiously, with God, he shall have this privilege of Rest and Peace, He shall enter into peace, and rest in his bed. 3. When this Privilege and Promise shall be imparted to them; When shall they be instated and put into the actual possession, and enjoyment of this privilege. It is true, that this is not expressed in the Text, but strongly employed, and is fairly to be taken notice of as the words of the Text have relation to the words going before, The righteous perishing, (that is, dying) and merciful men taken away, that is by death out of the World. Then it is told what Death takes them from, They are taken from the Evil to come. And here follows in the Text what death brings them to, They shall enter into peace. So the intent is this, That as death comes to a good man with a Dart in one hand to kill him, and a Spade in the other to bury him; So he brings him Flowers that shall be able to keep him sweet, Peace for his Soul, and Rest for his Body; and this is the time he shall be put in enjoyment of it. From all the Point is this, That when a Righteous man dies, he enters upon the estate of Peace and Rest. I will only give you two Scriptures for this, which two Scriptures may be instead of a Thousand, Psalm 37. Verse 37. Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace. His end is as his death is, at that time he hath peace. It may be not at the beginning, not in the middle of his life, but at the end. It's possible that his morning may be cloudy and overcast; his Sun may suffer an Eclipse at Noonday, a darkness may come upon his Meridian glory; but his Night, his End, this shall be Clear and Fair, Still and Quiet, Pleasant and Delightful, that's the first place. The other is in Revelat. 14. 13. And I heard a voice from Heaven, saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth, yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them. They have at death both Peace and Rest. And now this Point will require these things to be spoken to. 1. Who or what the Righteous is. 2. What Peace they shall have and be privileged with at the time of their death. First, Who is the Righteous man? The Text saith, he that walks in uprightness. Alas, where is he to be found? A man must have very good Eyes to find him out. Especially if we consider what is said Psal. 53. 1, 2. There is none that doth good. God looked down from Heaven upon the Children of men, and saw none righteous, no not one. Then farewell Privilege, for where is the Person? To answer this. There is indeed none that are strictly legally Righteous, but there is in a larger Evangelical sense. None that are righteous in themselves, but in another. We have the Righteousness of Justification from Christ, and of Sanctification from Christ; And they are the men that shall enter into peace and rest. Those men, I say, that are men of Sincerity, though not in Perfection. Those men that are righteous in the aim and desire of their hearts; And in comparison of others, Righteous by God's acceptation, and by imputation of the Righteousness of Christ; These are the Persons that shall partake of this privilege, He shall enter into Peace, they shall rest in their beds, etc. But then, 2. What Peace and Rest shall these men be privileged with at the time of their death? There are Singular Properties of this Peace. For, 1. It's a Peace that is unconceivable. Man's Eye hath bored the Spheres, and hath penetrated into the very depth of the Ocean; it hath searched into the very Bowels of the Earth, and into the wild Bellies of the Clouds above; it hath traveled through all the expanded Firmament in all places of the World, and hath rifled the Cabinet of Nature below, but it could never grasp the nature of this true Peace and Rest here spoken of: for as to this, Eye hath not seen, nor Ear heard, nor hath it entered into the Heart of Man to conceive the Peace of God. The Apostle tells us, it passeth knowledge. The Beatitudes of Heaven are only known to us as Solomon's Wisdom was to the Queen of Sheba, of which she said, Behold, I have not heard the tenth part. The glorious Inhabitants of Heaven, the Angels and Souls of Just Men made perfect, these indeed understand more the nature of it than we, because they live in it: Yet so, as the Apostle discoursing of God's Counsel was forced to cry out, Rom. 11. 33. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgements, and his ways past finding out! So do these bright Spirits ravish and lose themselves in the depth of Contemplation; The Provision he hath made for them in Heaven, doth excel even their own admiration. 2. It is a most Perfect and a most Complete Peace; Great peace have they that love thy Law, and nothing shall offend them, saith David. And saith the Prophet Esay, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose Mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. Both these are in this Life, that which the Psalmist and Prophet spoke of. Oh that great Peace, and perfect Peace! And if the glean of Abiezer be such, what will be the Vintage of Ephraim? If this is the Righteous man's Privilege here upon Earth, much more in Heaven; For it must needs be a perfect Peace there, seeing no enemy shall appear in the face of them, all shall be conquered and subdued, overcome, escaped from, for there, there will be a Peace from Sin. Whilst we are alive, the best of men are pulled and pained by Sin; they are under the continual Solicitations of the corruption of their own Nature. There is a body of death, that by the noisome stench of it we are miserably molested and disquieted, and to that height, that each of them is ready to cry out, Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? While they are here, there is a Law in the members rebels against the Law of the mind. What willingness soever there is in the spirit, they find the flesh is weak. A treacherous Party dwells in their very bowels, and is continually undermining those Fortifications they vour to raise, and set open and to widen the Portals, and to let in our worst enemies; These Sons of Zerviah are too hard for us: but when once a holy man cometh to die, no more shall Corruption solicit, no more have they depraved Natures to struggle with; No weights of Sin to weigh us down, no more shall they complain of the hardness of their hearts, their indisposition to holy duties, of the weakness of the flesh, the power of Corruption; No more complaining of the usurping power of sin upon the Soul. Then, 3. It is a peace and rest from the Temptations of Satan. Here it is that we are in Arena, We wrestle not only with flesh and blood, but with Principalities and Powers, and spiritual wickednesses in high places. Here it is that Satan doth desire to have us that he may sift us as Wheat, as it was said of the Apostle Peter. It is not David alone that Satan stands up to provoke to that that is evil, but his fiery darts fly fast and thick, his messengers are not only sent to buffet Paul, but all the rest of God's People; but being once in this rest, they are out of the reach of the roaring Lion. And they may say of Heaven as Lamech of his Son Noah, Gen. 5. 29. This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the Lord hath Cursed. So this Peace shall save us and keep us in freedom from the Temptations of Satan. 4. Death giveth them peace and rest from the violence of men. Read that of Heb. 11. 36, 37. And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourge, yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment; they were stoned, they were sawn asunder, and what not. Here you find the footsteps of the world's usage of the Saints. But as when jonah was asleep and at rest in the bottom of the Ship, the blustering storms and death-threatning Tempests were as nothing to him. So it is with these, job 3. 17. That holy man speaking of the Grave, There the wicked (saith he) cease from troubling, and there the weary be at rest. In this Life it is as Solomon observeth, Eccles. 4. 1, 2. So I returned and considered all the oppressions under the Sun, and behold the tears of such as were oppressed, and they had no Comforter, and on the side of their oppressors there was power, and they had no Comforter; Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead, more than the living which are yet alive. As much as to say, These have escaped, these are sensible of no such matter, but are Quiet; they are at Peace and Rest. 5. At peace and rest from inward Troubles, which a man is liable unto upon sundry occasions in this Life; such as the death and departure of ones best Friends, chiefest Relations. Here you see a great King in the bitterness of his grief crying out, O Absalon, my Son, my Son, would God I had died for thee, O Absalon my Son, my Son. In Ramah you hear a lamentation and voice of weeping, Rachel weeping for her Children and would not be comforted, because they are not. Here you have Mary bewailing Lazarus her Brother; And the Sons of jacob mourning over their Father. But in Heaven there is Peace and Rest; once there, we shall lose them no more: For then, saith the Apostle, we shall ever be with the Lord. Earth only and Hell is the Territory of death; but Heaven is the Land of the Living, and there we shall find them again. And this is something of the nature of that Peace which Righteous men shall by death be instated in, and made Possessors of. I hasten to the improvement of this Point, wherein I shall be short. Use. If Peace and Rest is to be our Privilege hereafter, Then, 1. It should be our desire here; So the Apostle commandeth, Follow peace with all men. Such Salamanders as delight to live in the fire of Contention, these of all other men are most unfit for Heaven, for that is a Place of Peace. 2. Let the Priviiedges of good men allure us to a resemblance of their Persons, and their Graces. All men like Balaam are ready to cry out, Let me die the death of the Righteous, and let my latter end be like his. Would fain die like them, with the same Hope, Peace, Serenity, and Quiet of Conscience. Let my latter end be like his, as Balaam said. But such as will die as they, must also live as they. 3. If death is the time of Peace and Rest with Righteous men, than it is to be understood that the time of Life is to be a time of Labour and Warfare. If so be Death is our Night to repose in, then sure Life should be our Day to work in. The best of men have business enough to do before them; headstrong Passions to quell, Corruptions to mortify, grace to grow, a race to run, a battle to fight, therefore let us up and be doing, and set about that that is our work; and that the rather, because, 1. They rest best that have laboured most. When a man hath ordered his business, and disposed of his affairs as he intended, than he hath charmed and subdued his Care, and hath no disquieting thoughts to disturb his repose. The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, saith Solomon: So he that busied himself in the Work and Service of God while he was alive, goes to his rest with the greatest calmness and serenity of Soul that may be. 2. We know not how soon we may be called off the Stage. For Man knows not his time, Eccles. 9 12. I am old, saith Isaac, and know not the day of my death. And as he said when he was old, so may every one say that is youngest, Though I am younger, or middle-aged, yet I know not the day of my death. The reason is, because it is Gods peculiar reservation; My times, saith David, are in thy hand. Then, 3. Our Natures are brittle, exceeding brittle, the Word of God tells us we are shadows, vapours and flowers, that whither of a sudden. Then considering the variety of accidents we are subject to, joseph had his Tomb in his Garden, to mind him, that Death might possibly meet him in that place of Pleasure. A Tile from the house, a Worm, a Hair, a little spital hath been as fatal to some persons, as if so be a Mountain had fallen on their heads. Therefore considering these things, it is but reason we set ourselves to work, to labour in the time of health, in the time of life. 4. If Rest and Peace be the Privilege of a Righteous man at his death, It shows us, That the death of Righteous men they are not to be lamented by us upon their own account. They may seem to call to us from Heaven, as Christ Jesus once did to the Women of judea upon the Cross, Ye Daughters of jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves. They are not to be lamented upon their own accounts. They are gone to Salem, the City of Peace, and why should we mourn for them as they without hope: Death is no Enemy of theirs, but as Noah's Dove returned with an Olive branch, the Emblem of Peace, so Death brings a good man (not an Olive branch) but the reality itself, which is far more desirable. As the Ark carried the whole Church of God to the Mountain Ararat, (the name of which signifieth, Take away fear) so Death shall waft us to Heaven, there where no fear is. It is true, in respect of ourselves we ought to follow them with tears, and to have our hearts deeply affected with their removal from us; and God himself doth blame the stupidity of our hearts, and insensibleness of this People, and such men that can part with such Jewels as these with indifferency, without Concern, in the Verse before the Text, The righteous man perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart. This is the great fault. As if he had said, For as to us they are dear losses. For, 1. We lose the benefit of their Example for our Guide. When a good man is gone, one of the Lights of Israel is Quenched. As David's Soldiers reckoned of him, Thou shalt go no more with us to Battle, lest thou quench the Light of Israel. Of these the Apostle saith, Amongst whom you shine as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. 2. We lose the benefit of their good Works for our Comfort. A good man is a useful man where he liveth. The Poor have the benefit of his Alms, and all that converse with him have the benefit of his Counsel. For he of all others will not suffer Sin to rest upon the Soul of his Brother (if he know it): so that we lose the benefit of their good works for our Comfort. 3. And we lose the benefit of their presence too for our Safety, which is not a thing inconsiderable neither. When Elijab was ascended into Heaven in a Chariot of fire, the Prophet below cried, My Father the Chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof; As much as to say, His Presence was as great a Security as an Army of Chariots and Horsemen. These are they that stand in the breach when the Judgements of God like a mighty Torrent are ready to rush upon us. These are they that like so many Aaron's hasten with their Incense, when any Plague is begun with a People; And that stand betwixt the living and the dead. I have read of Philo judeus, and St. Ambrose, that coming to any Place and Town, if they heard of the death of any able Minister or godly Person, they would burst out into tears, as considering that place to have lost a considerable part of its defence. You know Sodom could not burn as long as Lot was in it; nor Hippo be taken as long as St. Austin was in it: But still they were a defence to the place where they were. In all these respects we have a considerable Loss in the death of this great and good man, whose Funeral we now Celebrate; Of whom I will say this in short: He was a Person of such Real Worth, as is as hard almost to express as imitate. Most of you knew him well, but perhaps few of you better than myself. And in Reverence to his Memory, To provoke myself and you to an imitation of his Exemplary Virtue and Grace, I shall give you this short account of it. He was a man of uncessant Labours, and indefatigable pains; as God had lent him a strong and able body for many years, So he spared it not at all, but made it serve him in that insatiable thirst and desire he had after Humane and Divine Knowledge. And this Diligence of his was Crowned with an answerable Blessing from above, being arrived in point of Ability as another Saul higher than his Brethren by the head and shoulders; Especially in Political and Polemical Divinity. He was like Nehemiah upon the Wall, a Sword to defend, as well as a Trowel to build up. So to this Eminency of Parts he adjoined an equal Humility, which set a lustre upon the former; upon all occasions he would own what the Hand of Providence had raised him up unto. This Humility made him even as a weaned Child; a high valuer and applauder of the least good that was in others, when he would own little that was worthy commendation in himself. This Humility made him mindless of the place where he sat, and made him willingly condescend to the meanest, when they stood in need of his help. And his Charity was such, he denied that help to none that sought it; a liberal hand he had, and yet a more liberal heart. The Tenth part of his Estate for many years he gave to the Poor; and had himself had more, they had not wanted their share. He was the Censurer, the Condemner of no man. If he saw a naked place, there was no man more ready with the Skirt of his Garment to cast upon it. He was a Censurer of no man for doing what he could not do; but wherein he differed in Circumstantials; in this his difference, it was his manner and custom still to bewail his own want of light. He was very circumspect and careful in the course of his life to manage it like a true Christian. Therefore he was constant in Christian Duties; For which he usually had his stated times, and then he would admit (by his good will) of no interruption. His discourse was a kind of continual Preaching; neither was he less careful of his Thoughts than Words. His manner was every day to run over a Catechism in Greek, Mr. Herbert's Poems, or some other of the Liberal Sciences: And the reason I remember why he did this, was to keep his Thoughts from roving and straggling to worse matters. His Patience was remarkable during the time of his Affliction, no repining, no murmuring words under his bodily pain, or the restraint he was under. He observed a particular hand of God in his Distemper, which (as he said) mocked the Skill of the Physician, and he cheerfully submitted to it, desiring Patience might have its perfect work. He was of a grateful spirit for the least office of Love or Kindness showed to him, whether in Health or Sickness; So that few that came to visit him, parted from him without a thankful acknowledgement of his Love to them, and Prayers that God would reward them with Blessings upon their Bodies and Souls; and not only so, but the greatest and worst of his Enemies had a share in his Prayers. As he was thus Eminent for Grace, so as the Crown of all he wanted not his share of Peace. His Conscience was Quiet, and his Evidences for a better Life undisturbed. He had that Hope which was as an Anchor of the Soul, Sure and steadfast, and enters within the vail. And he doubted not but as he was in a state of Grace, so he was within a step of Glory. And that when Death had done his work, he should yet for all that live for ever. He said of Death, That as to him the Sting of it was taken away. And truly as it seems so were the Terrors of it too. For Death came to him not as an armed man, with Convulsions, and bitter pangs, as upon many; but he parted from this World without a Sigh or Groan, And as one that was falling into a long but sweet sleep. This was the Comfortable End of this Reverend Person; According to that of the Psalmist, Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is Peace. Peace in death, yea and Peace after death too, for so saith my Text, He shall enter into Peace, they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his Uprightness. FINIS.