The Laboring Saints' Dismission to Rest

Preached at the 1652 funeral of Henry Ireton, Parliamentary general and Lord Deputy of Ireland, this sermon from Daniel 12:13 meditates on God's sovereign timing in dismissing his servants from their labors. Owen draws a searching parallel between Daniel and Ireton — wisdom, love of people, and fidelity in office — to argue that even the most eminent saints receive their appointed dismission before completing their work. He then expounds the rest that awaits the dismissed saint: freedom from sin's restlessness and full satisfaction in God, who calls his servants home precisely because he has prepared something better than their greatest earthly aims.