your Redeemer when he shall lead us to God in a full troop and goodly company and say Behold I and the little ones which thou hast given me Heb. 2.13 What a blessed sight will that be Then the Angels what welcom will there be between you and them when Christ entered into heaven Psal. 24. they entertained him with applauses and acclamations stand open you doors stand open here is the King of glory the Lord strong and mighty in battail So will they welcom the Saints to heaven with acclamations They delight in the good of men when man was created the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy Job 38.7 that is the Angels rejoyced and praised God when Christ came to Redeem man an heavenly hoast fell a praising of God Luke 2.13 14. When man is converted the Scripture tells there is joy in heaven Luke 15.7 So when we come to be glorifyed Christ shall come with troops of them to conduct us into those everlasting Mansions The Saints your acquaintance with whom you prayed suffered familiarly conversed memory is not abolished in heaven but perfected those whom we knew here we shall know agaâ—n A Minister shall see his Crown and the fruâ—t of his labours 1 Thes 2.19 you are our crown c. And those that have been relieved by us shall wellcom us into heaven who therefore are said to receive us into everlasting habitations Luke 16 9. Yea we shall know those whom we never saw why else is it made a part of our priviledge to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob Mat. 8.11 As Adam knew Eve and in the transfiguration Peter knew Moses and Elias dead many hundred yeers before so shall we know one another we shall not go to a strange people where we know no body As men at a Feast are social and familiar one with another we shall be discoursing of Gods wisdom mercy justice in the work of Redemption So did Moses and Eâ—ias with Christ Luke 9.31 of the wonderful Providence of God in conducting us to glory as travellers in their Inn take pleasure to discourse with one another of the dyrtiness and dangers of the way And these Saints are cloathed with Majesty and Glory more lovely objects then ever they were upon earth and there is an innumerable company of them they were rapt for joy when they saw but two Prophets Moses and Elias Mat. 17.4 but heaven is not onely called a Palace but a City a world to come there is a multitude which none can number 3 Whence it is that they who dye in the Lord are sure to be thus blessed 1 From their union with Christ 2 From the Covenant of God with them First From their union with Christ which can never be dissolved death severeth body and soul but not Christ and the soul From this union there result two things Conformity with Christ in every estate and the Communion of the Spirit both which do imply the blessedness of the Saints even after death They that are united with Christ do share with him in every estate in grace here and in glory hereafter as to both they are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ Rom. 8.29 And where the Spirit once dwelleth there he dwelleth for ever and therefore from the indwelling of the Spirit of holiness doth the Apostle infer our Resurrection to a glorious estate Rom. 8.11 And that losing nothing which Christ speaketh of Joh. 6.39 I would interpret of his not losing one member or joynt of his mystical body Secondly From the Covenant of God with them Christ proves the Resurrection from Gods being the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Mat. 22.32 the Argument stands upon three feet 1 To be a God to any is to be a benefactor for the tenor of the Covenant on Gods part is I will be thy God as on our part you shall be my people 2 That God would be an everlasting benefactor it implyes an eternal communication of grace and glory as Christ proves from Exod. 3.6 that God assumed this Title after their death 3 This Covenant was made with the whole man not onely with the soul but the body and therefore they bore the mark and the sign of it which was Circumcision in their bodies And in Heb. 11.16 the Apostle saith that because God had a heavenly inheritance to bestow upon the Patriarchs therefore he was not ashamed to be called their God implying that if they had no other reward then what they injoyed in the present life God could not with honor such was the slenderness and contemptibleness of their present condition have owned such a glorious Title and Appellation as to be called the God of Abraham What needs further arguing the phrase it self imports what we assert When God promiseth to be a God to any he maketh over his whole self his eternity and infiniteness for their comfort and use and so in effect saith that he wil be an everlasting benefactor to their whole persons in the way of an infinite power Let us now apply all 1 Because this priviledge is exprest with a limitation it informeth us that the wicked are excluded they must expect a quite contrary estate as they that dye in the Lord are in a blessed so all others in a cursed condition It is a sweet close when the body and soul part but God and the soul meet when Conscience shall become our compurgator and bear us witness that we have spent our time well in fearing God and obeying God then may the body and soul take leave of one another with an expectation to meet again in Glory But it is a sad parting when Conscience falls a raving and the body and the soul accuse one another the body accuseth the soul as an ill guide and the soul the body as an unready instrument And at the day of their death which is the time of separation they curse the day of their birth which was the time of the first union between them both when they shall wish that they had been stifled in the womb and had never seen the light rather then to have lived together in such a fashion and to part in such manner Now this many times is the case of wicked men at their death death cometh to them as a double evil as a natural evil striking the body and dissolving the confederacy and union between it and the soul and as a penal evil or the curse of the first Covenant wounding the Conscience and reviving their bondage and fears of a worse judgement to ensue And then though Physitians and Ministers be sent for they may both prove of no value either to prevent the dissolution or to give ease to the Conscience 2 It presseth us to provide for this hour that when we come to dye we may dye in the Lord Get an interest in Christ that you may dye in the Lord as to your estate Security will not hold
fall as a peace-offering or as a burnt-offering he is still in a happy condition To dye in the Lord may relate either to the cause for which or to the state wherein or to the manner how we dye 1 The cause for which we dye So the Martyrs dye in the Lord or for the Lords sake and are blessed of God though it may be cursed of men The Text relates to the time of Antichristian persecution when usually they dyed excommunicate or accursed by the Roman Synagogue God hath a special regard to his Champions that love not their lives to the death 2 The state wherein we dye so to dye in the Lord is to dye in the favour of God in a state of peace with him as members of Christs mystical body they dye in the bosom of Christ sleep in Jesus 1 Cor. 15.18 are reconciled to God in and through him There are two notable expressions which I shall commend to you upon this occasion One is in the 2 Pet. 3.14 That we may be found of him in peace To dye before the quarrel be taken up between us and God that is sad When a Town is surprized by force they that are taken with their weapons in their hands dye without mercy but blessed are they that dye in peace The other is in the 2 Cor. 5.3 that I may not be found naked To be summoned to come before God and to have nothing to cover our nakedness that is sad it should be our care to be wrapt in Christs righteousness that is the best shroud for a dying Christian 3 As to the manner they are said to dye in the Lord who dye in a gracious manner it much concerneth us and the glory of God that we dye well a Christian is not onely to live to the glory of God but to dye to the glory of God for living and dying we are the Lords Rom. 14.7 8. As to the manner to dye in the Lord signifyeth 1 Our perseverance in communion with him to continue our blessed fellowship with Christ to the death and in the death Into the Vineyard Mat. 20. Some were called sooner some later but all continued to the end Elisha would not leave his master till he was taken from him into heaven So till all be finished we should follow our work close Let us take heed saith the Apostle lest we seem to come short Heb. 4.1 As we should not come short we should not seem to come short Enoch lived a long while but all that while he walked with God 365 yeers a long age but spent in communion with God! Gen. 5.22 2 It implies the solemn actings of grace at death the Scripture takes notice of the last words of Saints 2 Sam. 23.1 the last words of David Death is a special season wherein to make use of Grace of faith love zeal and obedience 1 Faith Heb. 11.13 All these dyed in Faith it is not enough to live by Faith but we must also dye by Faith This is a Grace always of use on this side the Grave in the other world there is no need of it when we come to injoyment Faith ceaseth at death it doth us the last office we see what it is then to put the soul into Gods keeping 2 Tim. 1.12 Luke 23.46 Act. 7.59 Then do we dye in faith when we can resiâ—n our souls to God and send our bodies to the Grave in hope While we are alive we finde it harder to depend upon God for daily bread then for eternal life for herein faith is put upon a present tryal but when we come to dye the strength of our confidence is tryed about the blessed recompences This then is to dye in the Lord when we can look beyond the grave and within the veil into the glory of the world to come 2 Love In our readiness and willingness to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ The Spirit and the Bride say come now God takes you at your word and you draw back Let him be afraid to dye that would not go to Christ 3 Zeal for Gods glory It is the last time you can do any thing for God in the world put in a word for him commend him to those about you as Jacob doth the Mediator or the Angel of the Covenant of whom he had such experience in the course of his pilgrimage Gen. 48.16 and Joshua 23. Josh. 14. I am going the way of all the earth and you know in all your hearts and all your souls not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God hath spoken all is come to pass not one thing hath failed thereof Words of dying men are of most efficacy and authority as being spoken out of all their former experience with most simplicity without self-seeking or sinister ends with most seriousness for men entring upon the confines of Eternity are wiser and more serious it is no time to dally and dissemble at the last gasp speeches of living men are suspected of partiality to their present interests or neglected as having no weight in them but the speeches of dying men are solemnly observed therefore Josephs brethren to ingage him the more urge him with his fathers dying charge Gen. 50.16 Thy father when he dyed said c. Men as they are returning {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to the original Divinity as Plotinus speaks are supposed to be more divine and therefore their dying words are much regarded Put in then a word for God an Amen to the Promises Carnal men cannot honor their Principles when they dye the world fails them when there is most need Job 27 8. what hope hath a hypocrite when God comes to take away his soul When they are going out of the world then they fall a complaining how the world hath deceived them but a Christian when he dyes he may honor his Principles commend the Promises give an account of the faithfulness of the Mediator and plead for God at the last gasp 4 Obedience A Christian is not to dye like a beast to be meerly passive his soul is not taken away but yielded up there is a resignation and consent on his part A carnal man suffers death but a Christian gives up the Ghost The Scripture useth this distinctness of speech concerning them as concerning the wicked God takes away their souls Luke 12.19 Job 27.8 they would fain keep them longer but the Lord puts the Bond in suit and per-force they are dragged into his presence but now death to the godly it is a sweet dismission Luke 2.26 When they see the will of God they hold out no longer their souls are not taken away but yielded up to God Thus you see Grace stands by us when all things else fail it makes us live with comfort and dye with comfort When wealth fails Grace fails us not So much of the first question 2. How they are blessed They
are presently blessed upon the departure of the soul out of the body but more blessed at the general Resurrection of the just 1 Presently the soul is where Christ is carryed by Angels to Christ and by Christ presented to God as the fruit of his purchase That the soul is where Christ is appears by that of Phil. 1.2 3. I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ to be with him in glory otherwise it were a loss not a happiness for St. Paul to be dissolved it is a sorry blessedness to lye rotting in the Grave and onely to be eased of present labours for Gods people are wont to reckon much of their present service and enjoyment of God though it be accompanyed with troubles and afflictions Paul was in a straight and he saith it was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} much more better to be with Christ A stupid sleep without the injoyment of God is not much more better then our present condition but far worse what happiness were that to be in such a condition wherein we do nothing for God injoy nothing from God Surely Paul would never be in such a straight if this drousie Doctrine were true that the soul lyes in such an unactive state of sleep and rest till the Resurrection This is to be no more blessed then stones and inanimate creatures that feel nothing Again Luke 23 43. This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise saith Christ to the good thief Some to evade that place refer {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as if it were I say to them this day but the pointing in the Greek Copies contradicts it as also the sense of the place {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} this day answers to the Thieves when thou shalt come into thy kingdom Christ promiseth more then he asks as God doth usually abundantly for us above what we can ask or think He hath reference to Christs words to the High-Priest the Son of man shall come in his glory now saith Christ I will not defer thy desire so long for presently shall heavenly joys attend thy soul Others seek to evade it by the word Paradise it is a Persicke word but used by the Hebrews for Gardens and Orchards and by allusion for heavenly joys and possibly the allusion might be taken not from the delights of an ordinary Garden but from Eden or that Garden in which Adam was placed in innocency That by Paradise is meant heaven and not those secreta animarum receptacula beatae sedes some secret places for the repose of souls departed which some of the Fathers fancyed appeared by Pauls expression in the 2 Cor. 12.4 speaking of his rapture I was saith he caught up into the third heaven which he presently calls Paradise Well then out of the whole we may conclude that the souls immediately upon their departure out of their bodies are with Christ Again it is said Luke 16.22 The beggar dyed and was carryed into Abrahams bosom presently in the twinckling of an eye or turning of a thought Thus it is with the Saints which is a great comfort when we come to dye in a moment Angels will bring you to Christ Agonies of death are terrible but there are joys just ready and as soon as you are loosed from the prison of your body you enter into your eternal rest the soul flyeth hence to Christ Once more as the wicked are in their final estate as soon as they dye and therefore they are called the Spirits now in prison 1 Pet 3.19 so do the godly injoy their glorifyed estate as soon as they dye the spirits of just men are made perfect Heb. 12.24 How can their spirits be said to be perfect if they lye onely in a dull sleep without any light life joy delight or act of love to God 2 They are compleatly blest at the Resurrection what their blessedness shall be then we cannot now know to the full we shall understand it best when the great voice calls us to come up and see Onely because our ear hath received a little thereof let me endevor to lay it before you In blessedness there must be 1 A removal of all evils 2 A coacervation and compleat presence of all goods 1 A removal of evil as long as the least evil continues a man is not blessed onely less miserable Haman had all things that a carnal heart could wish for he guided the affairs of 127 Provinces onely he wanted Mordecals knee therefore he saith all this avails me nothing Ahab had the kingdom of Israel and yet falls sick for want of Naboth's Vineyard In engines of war if one peg be missing or out of order all stops In the body of man if one humour be out of order or joynt broken it is enough to make us ill at ease though all the rest be sound and whole so if if there be the least evil a man cannot be a compleat happy man Well then from this blessed estate of the dead in the Lord All evil is removed Now evil is twofold either of Sin or Punishment In heaven there is neither 1 To begin with Sin that is the worst evil affliction is evil but it is not evil in it self but onely in our sense and feeling but sin is evil whether we feel it or no it is worst when we feel it not 2 That is evil which separates from the chiefest good Affliction doth not separate from God it is a means and occasion to make us draw neer to him many had never been acquainted with God but for their afflictions but sin separates from God Isa. 59.2 Your iniquities have separated c. Let a man be never so loathsom yet if he be in a state of grace he is dear to God the Lord takes pleasure in him though he should be roughcast with Ulcers and sores in a prison yet God will kiss him with the kisses of his mouth there is nothing loathsome and odious to God but sin This grieves the Saints most Rom. 7.23 Oh wretched man that I am c. if any man had cause to complain of afflictions Paul had in perils often in perils by Land in perils by Sea in perils by enemies in perils by false brethren whipped imprisoned stoned but he doth not cry out when shall I be delivered from these afflictions but this body of death Lust troubled him more then scourges and his captivity to the Law of sin more then chains and prisons This is the disposition of the Saints they are weary of the world because they are sinning here whilst others are glorifying God not onely that they are suffering here whilst others are injoying God A beast will forsake the place where he hath neither meat nor rest Carnal men when they are beaten out of the word have a fancy to heaven as a place of retreat but that which troubles godly men is their sin well
away all tears from their eys and there is no more death nor sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for former things are passed away there is quite another change new dispensations no distraction of business our whole imployment will be to think of God and study God but without weariness satietie or distraction 2 In blessedness there is a confluence of all good necessary to the happiness of the creature our blessedness is full for parts full for the degrees and manner of injoyment and all this continues for ever without fear of losing it our Crown of Glory is a Garland that will never wither it is an eterâ—â—l state of actual delights we are blessed in our bodies blessed in our souls blessed in our company man is {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} a sociable creature and therefore to his compleat happiness it is necessary that he should not be onely blest in his person but in his company and relations we are brought into the presence of God who is blessedness it self and to the sight and blessed fellowship of his blessed son and into the company of blessed Angels and Saints 1 Let me speak of the happiness of his person and then both of his body and soul 1 For his body it is now a Temple of the Holy-Ghost he cannot leave his mansion and ancient dwelling-place and therefore he raiseth it up and formeth it again into a compleat fashion like Christs glorious body Phil. 3.21 for clarity agility strength incorruption Solomons Temple when it was destroyed the latter house was nothing so glorious as the former men wept when they saw it Ezr 2. but it is not so here it is raised quite another body for the present there is to be seen a beautiful fabrick wherein God hath shown his workmanship every member if it were not so common would be a miracle all is ordered for the service and comeliness of the whole but now it is a vile body subject to diseases fed with meat humbled with wants many times mangled with violence dissolved by death and crumbled to dust in the grave like a dry clod of earth this is the body we carry about us a mass of flesh drest up to be a dish for the worms but this vile body shall rise in another manner like Christs glorious body when the Sun appears the stars vanish their lustre is eclipsed and darkned but the Sun of Righteousness when he appears at the last day doth not obscure but perfect our glory More particularly If you inquire wherein our bodies shall be like Christs glorious body the Apostle will tell us that in another place 1 Cor. 15.40 41 42 43 44. Let me single out three expressions it is raised in incorruption it is raised in glory it is raised a spiritual body 1 It is an incorruptible body now it yields to the decays of nature and is exercised with pains and aches till at length it droppeth down like ripe fruit into the Grave but hereafter it shall be cloathed with immortality wholly impassible what a comfort is this to those that are racked with the Stone or Gout broken with Diseases or withered with age to think that they shall have a body without aches without decays that shall always be in the spring of youth the Trees of Paradise are always green 2 It shall be a glorious body here it is many times deformed at least beauty like a flower is lost in sickness daver'd or withered with age defaced by several accidents but then we shall be glorious like to Christs body the naked body of man was so beautiful in innocency that the beasts of the field admired it and thereupon did homage to Adam but we shall not be conformed to the first Adam but the second Christ in the Mount when he was transfigured they could not indure the shining of his garments it astonished the Disciples Mat. 17. His Garments could not vail nor their eys indure those strong emissions of the beams of glory Paul could not indure the light that shined to him when Christ appeared to him from heaven Act. 9. but was utterly confounded and struck blinde by this you may guess a little at the glory of the body when it is likened to Christs glorious body Moses by conversing with God forty days the complexion of his face was altered so that they were glad to put a vail upon it In this low estate in which we are we must make use of these hints 3 A spiritual body either for agility we shall not be clogged as now we shall be caught up in the air to meet the Lord or rather a spiritual body because more disposed for spiritual uses for the injoyments and the imployments of Grace Here it is a natural body an unready instrument for the soul we are not in a capacity to bear the new wine of glory but there we are made more capacious and stronger vessels to contain all that God will give out The Disciples fainted at Christs transfiguration Mat. 17.6 we cannot receive such large diffusions and overflowings of glory as we shall then have every strong affection and raised thought doth overset us and cause extasie and ravishment but there it is otherwise God maketh out himself to us in a greater latitude and we are more able to bear it 2 For the blessedness of the soul which is the heaven of heaven our happiness is called the inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 for which we must be prepared it is not for them that know no other heaven but to eat drink and sleep and wallow in filthy and gross pleasures It is an inheritance in light and for Saints that know how to value intellectual and spiritual delights Wherein you will say lyes the happiness of the soul in knowledge or love Ans. Divines are divided certainly in both our happiness consists in the love of God and knowledge of God from whence results union with God and fruition of God it is hard to say which is to be preferred to know God or love God in one place the Scripture tells us this is life eternal to know the onely true God Joh. 17. so that it seems to be the heaven of heaven to have the understanding satisfyed with the knowledge of God Psal. 17.15 When I awake I shall be satisfyed with thine image and likeness On the otherside 1 Joh. 4.16 he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him the imbrace of the soul is by love the possession of God is by acts of love one saith it may be not modestly enough libentius sine aspectu te diligerem quam te videndo non amarem That he had rather not see God then not love him here in the world the hatred of God is worse then ignorance of him and therefore it should seem love should have the pre-eminence but we need not make a faction between the Graces by knowing we come to