body which in the Platonical opinion is but a Prison in the Apostolical is a Temple when it is in Christ When our Lord possesses and governs it he elevates the condition of this vile body even while it is upon the earth He makes it a place where God dwells where God is worshipped and glorified where God appears and manifests himself What a strong invitation is this to all that believe to turn from every evil way and to be holy as he that hath called us is holy in all manner of conversation Whereby they will be turned into such beautiful and glorious Tabernacles as to become the habitation of God through the Spirit 4. And what can more powerfully move us than all these considerations to be stedfast and unmoveable in the work of the Lord if any temptation assault us and begin to shake the constancy of our Christian resolution The Apostle might well beseech us to stand fast as a body doth that is firmly seated upon a good basis and foundation for we know saith he that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. As we know that the temptations which flatter us are very inviting to our fleshly appetites as we feel the allurements of the pleasures and advantages of this world so we know if we be believers that there are infinitely better things to counter-ballance and weigh down the fairest of all the temptations which sollicite us We are assured if we keep our station and preserve our selves holy and undefiled that we have a building with God that is unmoveable and cannot be shaken Let us keep our selves therefore in our seat let us not be moved by any of the enticements of the world nor by any shock which violent hands may give us for we are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets who were sent by the will of God according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus Ephes 2. 20. 2 Tim. 1. 1. Our hope stands fast let us do so too and building up our selves in our most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost keep our selves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life Jude 20 21. There are but these three things my beloved to be done for the attaining of this heavenly condition First Strongly to believe that there is such an happy state Secondly To believe that they only shall enjoy it who love God and live in obedience to the Gospel of Christ And Thirdly To be led by this faith and act according to the necessary direction of it Now how easie is that when we have convinced our selves thoroughly of the two former All the difficulty and labour is to believe seriously and stedfastly to perswade our selves of the truth of those things which God hath prepared for those that love him When they are become sensible to us and we look constantly for the mercy of our Lord unto eternal life we cannot chuse but endeavour to attain them more than the best condition that this world affords And when we see that they cannot be possessed without an holy life what should hinder us from having our fruit unto holiness whose end is everlasting life It is manifest that as the nature of man is formed to chuse that which is deemed good and to leave and eschew that which is apprehended to be evil so it is made to preferr a great good before a little and to abandon a trifling enjoyment if by that means we may escape a sore mischief and gain a more noble and illustrious happiness Now it is no less apparent that a Royal Pallace is more desirable in all mens eyes than a little hovel of Turf and Straw an everlasting building that will need no repairs nor ever fall to the ground to be chosen before a tottering frame which every gust of wind shakes and must shortly tumble into the dust upon which it stands What is the matter then that men preferr the condition of a Beggar before that of a Prince That they set their hearts upon that which is built upon a dung-hill before that whose foundations are in Heaven and stands upon the immutable Promise and Power of God I mean that the pleasures and enjoyments of this life gain an higher esteem in their thoughts than the delitious joyes of the world to come And the dull entertainments of this body are advanced and lifted up to an higher place in their affections than all the entertainments of the soul yea and those which God hath provided for the body it self if we would manage and order all its desires according to his holy will There can no cause be assigned of this preposterous choice but only this that they feel these present things but have no feeling of those that are to come They let sense prevail above faith and what here addresses it self to them they receive with a greater affection than they do the reports of those heavenly things which our Saviour hath brought to light by his Gospel They taste the pleasures of meat and drink and all the enjoyments of a fleshly Nature but have little or no rellish at all of those delights which are spiritual for the hope of which our Lord and his Apostles despised the other as not worthy to be compared with the pleasures that are at Gods right hand for evermore They feel this Body wherein they now are and though it be heavy and burdensome in some conditions of life yet it is better a great deal than none at all And such the heavenly building seems to be because our souls are not united to it and have no sense of it but look upon it as a thing that is not and never shall be bestowed on them We must perswade our selves then of the reality and certainty of the state which is to come we must labour to touch it and live in a constant sense and expectation of it By faith we must bring our minds to some such union and conjunction with that house not made with hands as they have with this tabernacle wherein they now inhabit We must let our thoughts as they say dwell upon it for though a thing be never so certain in it self yet if we do not apprehend it so to be it will no more move us than if it were not at all And according as the reasons and motives that we have of faith are little or great so will our perswasisions be weak and feeble or strong and powerfull If we would have our Faith then do any thing worthy of the Gospel and produce any good effects in our hearts we must firmly lay the grounds of it and keep them alwayes visible naked and bare to our eye and we must often look upon them and diligently consider them else all that we build upon it will shake and waver and be apt upon every temptation to be overthrown That is we must constantly represent to our selves the Lord Jesus as
which he appealed for a proof of the truth of all his Promises They perceived a manifest difference in his condition now from what it was before and that his body was become more subtil and aiery than it was when he dwelt among them For on a sudden he appeared in the midst of them and again in a moment he vanished out of their fight His body was now in a preparation to an higher state and therefore though they felt really flesh and bones yet he shewed them by the hasty disappearance of it into what a pure substance it was shortly to be turn'd They saw it was to be so thin and rarified that it would be a Spirit rather than a body and was to suffer such a change that now it was not fit for them to converse withal while they were in this earthly tabernacle This was the reason that he came to them only at certain seasons and continued not alwayes with them and that he charged Mary not to touch him John 20. 17. as if she mean't to hold him fast and keep him with her For though he intended to afford them some of his company being not yet ascended to the Father yet he would have her know they must not expect his stay with them after his wonted manner but go to his Brethren the Disciples and say to them I ascend to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God IV. Accordingly they knew that he did ascend up to Heaven forty dayes after his Resurrection For they themselves saw him transported thither and had his own word for it that he went to prepare a place for them and would come again and receive them unto himself that where he was there they might be also John 14. 3. For this they had also the word of two of the Heavenly Court who stood by them in bright rayment as they gazed upon him when he was taken up saying This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven shall so come in like manâ—â—â— as ye have seen him go into Heaven Acts 1. 10. And how glorious his body was made after he came thither they also very well knew For St. Stephen at his tryal saw the Heavens opened and beheld the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God This he openly testified to the whole Council before whom he stood accused Acts 7. 55 56. and it signifies the illustrious condition wherein he was for as he was the Son of man he stood next to the Divine Majesty and was arrayed with the glory of God St. Paul also who so little believed Steven's words that he was consenting to his death as if he had been a Blasphemer saw our Saviour not long after this as he was journeying to Damascus But he beheld him in such an astonishing brightness that it struck him to the ground and put out his eyes which were not able to endure the glory of it Acts 9. 3 4 c. Which in his Apology to the people he calls a great light that shone round about him Acts 22. 6. and in his Apology to Agrippa a light from Heaven at mid-day above the brightness of the Sun Acts 26. 13. To these two you may add the Testimony of the beloved Disciple who when he was in the Isle of Patmos for the testimony of Jesus saw him in a Majestick shape and his countenance was as the Sun shineth in his strength And when he saw him he was so dismayed that he fell as dead at his feet Rev. 1. 16 17. By these means they knew to what an amazing glory they should one day be exalted a little glimpse of which in this mortal nature they were not strong enough to bear V. For they knew withal that their very bodies should be made like unto his 1. They remembred how he called them Brethren and told them that his Father was their Father and his God their God and therefore doubted not that what was done for him should be done for them 2. And how he prayed that they might be with him where he was and behold i. e. enjoy his glory which the Father hath given him John 17. 24. 3. And how he assured them it was the will of him that sent him that every one who seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and he should raise him up at the last day John 6. 40. Which made the Apostle say as you heard in the Chapter before my Text V. 14. they knew that he who raised up the Lord Jesus would raise us up by Jesus 4. And being raised up they knew that they should be carried into the air to meet the Lord 1 Thess 4. 17. Now these bodies which we wear at present are not of an aërial nature but altogether of an earthly They are not fit to be transported beyond this lower Region nor were made to live in any other Element than that in which they are Nay it would be a great terror to us in this body to be caught and lifted up above we should be in continual dread of falling down to this earth whether the heaviness of them doth incline us And therefore they must be changed if we go to meet the Lord in the air as he hath promised we shall For the Apostle saith he spake this by the word of the Lord V. 15. 5 And he promised by the same word that so we shall be ever with him Ib. V. 17. Which we cannot conceive how this earthly body should endure It would soon be weary of that strange place and groan and sigh there as much as the soul doth here It would be pined for want of meat and drink as the Spirit now is often too much stifled with them And therefore in pursuance of his Promise they must be made another kind of bodies fitted to that Countrey to which they shall be transported Where there is no earth nor water nor such creatures as live in them but pure light of unconceivable brightness Lastly they knew that the Members must needs be made conformable to the head and therefore his body being glorious so must this vile body of ours be made too as the Apostle tells us Phil. 3. 21. It would be but an ugly sight among us to behold an hansome beautiful face of the purest complexion joyned to a body black and sooty whose limbs were all deformed and dis-proportioned And much more ill-favoured to see an head of light glistering like the Sun and all the Members dark as pitch resembling this sluggish Earth They made no question therefore but that when he should appear again visibly with them attending on him they should be conformed to the condition and quality of his person to whom they related as members of his body that so he might be admired in his Saints and glorified in all that believe They look't for him to come from Heaven and fashion them after his own image i. e. to make them
they had this house not made with hands in present possession They speak as men that belong to two Countreyes and have estates in this and in another Kingdom who if they leave one are owners of Lands Revenews and Houses elsewhere Such men may say we have a building and still go to their own when they have left or lost one of their habitations Though they cannot dwell in both their houses at once yet they call them both theirs And when they remain in one they reckon the other their own though it be at a distance from them and they must travell a great way before they can be in it In this manner the Apostle discourses of their habitation with God He made account it belonged to them and might be called theirs though they lived as yet in another place For 1. They had a right and title to it And 2. They had good Deeds and Evidences as I have told you to shew for it 3. Which proved that it was setled on them by the Will and Testament of Jesus Christ their Lord and Master 4. To which they had the witness of the Spirit in their hearts which was the Earnest of the inheritance whereby they were sealed to the day of redemption 5. So that in conclusion they might lay claim to it when they departed this world They might challenge it as their own and lay hold on eternal life by vertue of his Promise and that Testament of his which he had written and sealed with his own blood and further confirmed by his Resurrection from the dead and the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven And therefore our Lord himself uses the self-same language assuring his Disciples that his Doctrine being heartily received was a feed of immortal life in them and knit them so to himself that they could no more perish than He who lives for ever Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life Who so eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day He dwelleth in me and I in him As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me John 6. 47. 54 56 57. USE The proper Use of which Doctrine is contained in those words of this Apostle 1 Cor. 15. ult Therefore my dearly beloved Brethren be ye stedfast unmovable alwayes abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Which words instruct and put us in mind 1. That we must work in this earthly house wherein we dwell We are in a place of labour and not of idleness and sport There is some serious business in which we are to be imployed if we mean to approve our selves good Tenants to the great Lord of the world and be preferred by him to better possessions 2. And that this work is the work of the Lord which we must carefully attend or else our pains and travell is but a busie idleness We were not sent hither only to toil and sweat for the goods of this life Nor do we acquit our selves like honest men meerly by diligence in the works of our Calling and making a careful provision for our selves and families But our business is to mortifie all immoderate desires after riches or any other earthly enjoyments to purge our selves from covetousness from lust from intemperance from envy and wrath from pride and uncharitableness and all other sins to acknowledge the bounty of our Creator and Redeemer to live by faith in God to love him above all things to resign our selves intirely to his wise and holy will to imitate him in doing of good and faithfully to acquit our selves in all other duties which he expects from us For as he is a good Tenant who performs his contract and makes good the Covenant that is between him and the person of whom he holds so he is a good Christian who uprightly and sincerely endeavours to perform the duties wherein he stands engaged to our Lord by whose will he hath promised to be governed and not by his own We are all bound to him in a very sacred Covenant and stand obliged to him in several services If we desire then to have his favour and hope for a kind reception by him into a better habitation when we remove from hence let us tye our selves strictly to the work which he hath prescribed us and use our best diligence that we may never violate the bonds that are between us For which end it highly concerns us to remember the Vows we made at our entrance into his service to read often over the tenor of the Covenant which we then signed and sealed diligently to peruse those Sacred Writings to which we have consented and to understand compleatly the blessed Gospel of Christ which tells us that not every one who calls him Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but be that doth the will of his Father which is in Heaven Which will he hath faithfully reported to us and assured us that he is the way the truth and the life whose Doctrine and example if we follow not we vainly hope to inherit the Kingdom of God In short there is great reason we should work because we expect some reward and that we should do his work and live up to the Rules of his Religion because we expect this Reward from our Lord. Nay 3 We must be abundant in the work of the Lord labouring to purifie our selves as he is pure to be merciful as he is merciful and to be filled with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Christ Jesus unto the glory and praise of God The reason is because we expect such a great and plentiful reward from our Lord who hath given us exceeding great and pretious promises that by these we might be partakers of a divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust And therefore giving all diligence add to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temgerance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindedness and to brotherly kindness charity For so an entrance shall be ministred unto you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ And I may add that if these things be in us and abound they will highly raise and enoble our natures before we arrive at those heavenly places For this poor earthly house wherein we now are will by this means be turned into a goodly Temple So this Apostle calls even the body of holy Christians the Temple of the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 6. 19. What a glorious change is this What a strange alteration doth the new Creature make Corpus istud Platonicâ sententiâ carcer Apostolicâ Templum cum in Christo est as Tertullian speaks in his Book of the Soul This