Christians concerning the state of their deceased Friends But I would not have you to be ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep These words seem to import that the Apostle apprehended divers of these Christians to be under some mistakes with respect to their dead Friends And 't is thought that their Persecutors had shock'd 'em in their Faith about the Resurrection of the Body For we know that the Greek Philosophers as well as the Sadduces among the Jews did explode and ridicule this great Doctrine which they perform'd with so much art and subtilty that some Members of the Primitive Church doubted whilst others affirm'd there was no Resurrection And this seems to be the occasion of their excessive Sorrow they looking upon their dead Friends not only as remov'd out of the World but as lost for ever as to their Bodies at least And their Persecutors that they might increase their Infidelity and their Sorrow at the same time when they put the Christians to death for the Cause of Christ did it in such ways as might have the appearance at least of destroying and annihilating the Matter that compos'd their Bodies Sometimes committing 'em to the Flames and scattering their Ashes in the Air and in Rivers that their surviving Friends might conclude it was impossible they should ever rise again At other times they were devour'd by wild Beasts or else thrown as a Prey to the Fish of the Sea and all this to suppress the belief of the Resurrection Now whether these Enemies to the Christian Doctrine did imagin by these methods to annihilate the Matter of the Human Body or so to scatter or confound these Particles of Dust as to render it impossible for God to recollect and range 'em in their due place and order so as to compose the same Human Body 't is equally absurd The former is very unphilosophical for 't is impossible by any method in the World to annihilate Matter indeed its form may be destroy'd and it may receive a variety of new Figures it may be differently modified ten thousand times but cannot be annihilated by the Arts of any Creature under Heaven With respect to the latter 't is impious and atheistical for it supposes a defect either in the Knowledg or Power of God or both which is as vain as to say there is no God for we cannot frame a becoming Idea of a Deity without conceiving him clothed with every Perfection and as possessing of 'em infinitely So that allowing there is such a Being as God that is Omniscient and Almighty 't is as rational to believe he can recollect these dispersed Atoms again as unite 'em in their first Production for all things are possible to God who can if he please impress a kind of natural force upon the disunited Parts and cause 'em to move to one another as readily as the filings of Iron to a Loadstone tho mingled with millions of Particles of Sand. The infinite Knowledg together with the irresistible Power of God answers all Objections against the Resurrection of the Body the same Being having plighted his Faithfulness for this Event promising that the Dead shall be raised And this is one great Doctrine which St. Paul in the Text aims to set in a clear and certain light that the Thessalonians who seem'd to be shaken might be confirm'd in their belief of this important Article of the Christian Creed Brethren I would not have you to be ignorant concerning them that are asleep for them that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him q. d. 't is true your Friends are fallen asleep but 't is not an eternal one for they shall be awaken'd from it they are dead but they shall revive and rise again for God our Saviour shall bring them with him when he comes in the Clouds of Heaven Here I might make several very profitable Remarks upon the Apostle's care to correct and remove the Mistakes those Christians had imbibed to whom he wrote but my time will not suffer me to stay upon this Head I proceed therefore to the II. General which is a disswasive from immoderate Sorrow upon the death of those that are pious I would not have you to be ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others that have no hope The design of these words is very obvious viz. to temper our Grief to regulate and bound our Sorrows for those religious Friends that are snatch'd from us by Death St. Paul does not disswade from all kind of mourning but from that which is excessive a moderate Sorrow is due to the Memory of our deceased Friends And we find some whose Characters shine brightest in the Scripture-History under a Cloud of Sorrow when their Relations have been remov'd by Death yet 't is no where that I know of charg'd upon 'em as a Crime that they wept for the Dead Abraham who has an honourable mention among the Old Testament-Worthies for his great Self-denial as well as the strength of his Faith in being ready to offer up his only Son at the Divine Command yet gave a vent to his Grief and pour'd out a flood of Tears when Sarah the delight of his Eyes was taken away with a Gen. 23. 2. stroke and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and wept for her Job 1. 7. And Job that mirror of Patience and Probity that had none like him in the Earth as God himself testifies to Satan yet as Ver. 20. we read rent his Mantle shav'd his Head fell upon his face to the ground when he heard of the death of his Children these were the Ceremonies then in use as the signs of a deep mourning yet we are Ver. 21. told that in all this he sinned not nor charged God foolishly But that Instance which is best suted to my purpose and free even from the suspicion of a Crime is that of our blessed Saviour who tho never guilty of the least Excess yet joins with the Jews in their Sorrow for Lazarus for when he saw Mary and those that attended her weeping for her dead Brother the Text says he groaned in the Joh. 11. 33. Spirit and was troubled but when he came nearer to the Grave his Grief flow'd out at his Eyes for the blessed Jesus is said to have Ver. 34. wept Now whatever might be the occasion of his Grief whether his love to Lazarus or the Jews Infidelity or any other reason 't is plain that those that stood about the Grave took it in the first sense therefore they presently cry out Behold how he loved him Ver. 36. Thus you see from the brightest Examples in Scripture that a moderate Sorrow for the dead is allowable Moreover let me remark that the contrary Carriage under the loss of our Friends would look like a Contempt of the Divine Hand for as we are not to faint under the Rebukes so we are not to despise the Chastening of the
speak of the Resurrection of the Body I assert that there shall not only be rais'd the same specifical but the same numerical Body not only the same Body for kind but for substance not that I affirm that every individual Particle that compos'd the Body when it died shall be rais'd up again but so much of the Matter that made up the necessary constituent parts of it Now of what is necessary I think an ingenious Modern gives a very probable account his words are these By necessary Dr. Hody Parts says he I mean those which remain after the utmost degree of Maceration without which the Body would not be integral but imperfect And these are chiefly the Bones the Skin the Nerves the Tendons the Ligaments and the substance of the several Vessels As long as these and all that are necessary to Life remain the Body is truly whole tho never so much macerated But before I go off from this Head I would make a remark upon one Phrase which is within the compass of my Text and I think proves the Identity of the dying and rising Body and that is Death's being set forth by Sleep which would be very improper if the very Bodies that sleep in Jesus and are dead should not be awaken'd and reviv'd in the morning of the Resurrection There is but one thing more I shall stay to mention farther to support this important Article and 't is the instance given by the Apostle of those that shall be alive at Christ's second coming 1 Cor. 15. 51. he tells us they shall not all sleep but they shall all be chang'd Now this Change must refer to the qualities of their Bodies not to the substance of 'em we cannot imagine that by being chang'd he means that the whole substance of their Bodies should be annihilated and that they shall have quite new Bodies form'd out of other matter Moreover let me observe that should those very Bodies be destroy'd and new ones united to those Souls the destruction of the Body and the breach of the union would be Death whereas the Apostle asserts all shall not die So that upon the whole I argue thus That if those Persons that are found alive at Christ's second coming shall retain their old Bodies only with new Qualities then those that are rais'd from the Dead shall have the same Bodies which were formerly join'd to their Souls only with the addition of new Qualities For what reason can any man assign that the Saints that shall be alive when Christ shall come to judg the World should be caught up into the Air with their old Bodies only ennobled and refin'd and those that died should have Bodies intirely new and such as were never united to their Souls before such as never were the Instruments either of sinning or serving of God Now the Apostle do's not barely tell us of the Saints being brought with God our Saviour at his appearing and Kingdom which implys their Resurrection but he shews that their Resurrection depends upon the Death and Resurrection of our Blessed Saviour for says he If we believe that Jesus dy'd and rose again even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him Heb. 2. 14. First Upon his death for thrô death Christ hath destroy'd him that had the power of Death that is the Devil When men were doom'd to death for the breach of the Law Christ changed conditions with 'em and offer'd up his precious 1 Pet. 1. 19. Blood as a Ransom to God for 'em so that our Saviour was victorious in dying and conquer'd as he expir'd on the infamous Tree He bruis'd the head of the old Serpent and silenc'd the Anathema's of a broken Law when in the sharpest Agony and amidst a thousand torments he bowed his head and gave up the Ghost I confess that his own Exaltation and Triumphs began with his Resurrection but if there had not been an infinite satisfying Merit in his Death he had been so fast fetter'd with the bonds of Death that he could never have burst 'em but having offer'd a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour to God which was of infinite worth and consideration the pains of death Acts 2. 24. were loos'd for 't was impossible he should be held by 'em naturally impossible because of his irresistible Power as God legally impossible because he had paid the full Demands of the Law and Justice Secondly Our Resurrection from the Grave depends on the Resurrection of Christ Christ's Resurrection from the dead proves that ours is not only possible but infallibly certain And this St. Paul reasons upon in a very convincing manner Now if 1 Cor. 15. 12. Christ be preach'd that he rose from the dead how say some among you that there is no Resurrection of the dead q. d. How can any deny either the possibility or certainty of the Resurrection of the Body since Christ has evidenced both by his own Resurrection from the Dead Christ has remov'd both the moral and natural impossibility of our revival after death the one by his abundant Merit and the other by his own triumphant Resurrection for having taken away the guilt of our Sins which is the cause of Death Death which is the consequent of Sin shall be destroy'd and swallow'd up in victory And our Lord declares That he is the Resurrection and the Joh. 11. 25. Life he that believeth in me says he tho he were dead yet shall he live q. d. I am and shall be the principal cause of the Resurrection my voice shall break the silence of the Grave and cause those that sleep in the dust to awake and live again He is also said to be the first fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor 15 20 â—â— 22. And says the same Apostle For since by man came death by man came also the Resurrection of the dead For as in Adam all die even so in Christ shall all be made alive From all which we may collect that our Saviour's Resurrection is the Pledg and Assurance of ours Rom. 8. 11. For if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that rais'd up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you In a word Christ rose from the dead as a publick Person as the Surety and Head of his Church and because he lives we shall live also And being called the first-born among the dead he owns all that have dy'd in the Faith as his Brethren who shall be restor'd to Life according to his excellent Pattern for his Resurrection is not only the Pledg but the Model of ours Therefore we are expresly told That he shall change Phil. 3. 21. our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious Body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself How glorious our Lord is in his
the mutiny of our Passions sends up such Vapours as thicken into a Cloud which sitting on the Understanding do so confound the Apprehension both with regard to the actings of these Graces and the Objects upon which they are to terminate that they are like a musical Instrument that is unstrung and so unfit for use Indeed there is no time more proper for the acting our suffering Graces than a day of gloom and thick darkness But alas this cannot be perform'd while the Mind is under Confusion and Horror and the animal Spirits exhausted by continual sighing Therefore when we give so large a vent to our Sorrows as to impair the health of our Bodies and impede the exercise of our Graces we sorrow like those that have no hope 3. When our Grief for our deceased Friends is greater than for those Sins which might be the occasion of God's removing 'em so suddenly from us There is hardly any afflictive Providence but is properly a Reproof and Correction for Sin Now if the smart of our Afflictions gives a deeper accent to our Sorrow than the guilt of our Sins if we are more griev'd for the loss of our Friend than for the visible tokens of the Divine Anger then our mourning is criminal Indeed that Person must be very Stoical that can bear the loss of an agreeable Friend without dropping a few Tears and sending some Sighs after him but he is no less to blame that can conceive a greater Sorrow in his Soul for the loss of an outward Comfort than for Sin the sad cause of God's snatching it from him Moreover 't is a certain sign that God was not valu'd by such a one as the supreme all-comprehending Good if any temporal loss does more afflict his Soul than the Sins that occasion'd it 4. We sorrow as those without hope for our departed Friends when our Grief is more pungent and afflictive for the loss of them than for God's withdrawing his gracious and quickning Presence and hiding his Face from us in an angry Cloud The Smiles of God are better and more to be valued than the best Life of any Creature therefore to be less concern'd when he frowns upon our Souls than when he removes from us the Comforts of Life does not only discover the disorderly excess of our Grief but the defect of our Judgment in setting a higher value on a dying Creature than an everliving God But I hasten to the second Head Secondly They may be said to sorrow as those without hope that exceed in the continuance of their Sorrows rejecting all solid grounds of Comfort as did several whose Names are inrol'd in sacred Story I 'll instance in a few Good old Gen. 37. 34 35. Jacob upon the apprehension of Joseph's death rends his Clothes puts Sackcloth upon his Loins and mourn'd for his Son many days his Passion so got the start of his Reason that he refus'd to be comforted and resolv'd to mourn till he died abandoning himself to Jer. 31. 15. the most desperate Sorrow And thus Rachel is describ'd by the Prophet as weeping for her Children and refusing to be comforted because they were not And Rizpah continued 2 Sam. 21. 10. by the dead Bodies of her Sons and would not willingly be remov'd from ' em And there are not a few Christians who are too apt to slide into these Excesses upon the death of their near Relations as if all their Happiness was vanish'd and gone when the delight of their Eyes is sunk into a Grave out of their sight which immoderate Sorrow is a continu'd Reflection on the Divine Attributes as if a God of infinite Wisdom and immense Goodness were uncapable of making up the loss of a mutable mortal Creature Moreover let me remark that the invincible Patience and profound Submission of some Heathens under the most afflicting Providences condemn the Practice of those Christians who incessantly mourn for their departed Friends and refuse to be comforted I 'll mention but one in the room of several and 't is that of Stilpon the Philosopher who when the City where he liv'd was reduc'd to Ashes and his Wife and Children buried in the common Ruins himself escaping alone from the Fire being ask'd whether he had lost any thing replied * Senec. Epist 9. Omnia bona mea mecum sunt Justitia Virtus Temperantia Prudentia hoc ipsum nihil boni putare quod eripi possit All my Treasure 's with me Justice Virtue Temperance Prudence and this inviolable Principle not to esteem any thing as my proper Good that can be ravish'd from me An Instance that very much upbraids those Christians that are intemperate either in the degree or duration of their Grief Some time is necessary and decent for our funeral Sorrows but to walk softly all our days in deep mourning and anguish of Spirit because our Friends are taken from us and made more happy than ever they were with us is to grieve like stupid Jews or hopeless Heathens both which disbelieve the Resurrection of Christ which is the Foundation Model and Pledg of ours Therefore that this Disswasive of the Apostle may make a sutable Impression upon our Minds let us now consider the Arguments he uses to inforce it which is the III. General Head and here are two things to be insisted upon First The nature of their Death who die united to Christ 't is represented under the soft Character of a Sleep Secondly The great advantage that follows their Death such as sleep in Jesus will God bring with him First The nature of their Death who are united to Christ 't is call'd a Sleep Those that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him An excellent * Dr. Bates Author on this Text observes how the Apostle varies the Expression Jesus died but the Saints sleep in him for he sustained Death in all its Terrors that it might be a calm Sleep to his People Under the Old Testament we find the Death of the Saints frequently set forth by this soft and gentle Character David and Solomon Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah are represented at their Death to be fallen asleep And under the New Testament our Lord uses this Phrase upon the death of one whom he lov'd Our Friend Lazarus sleepeth Joh. 11. 11. And 't was St. Paul's usual Idiom to call Death a Sleep as appears from the Scriptures in the Margin * 1 Cor. 15. 6 18 20 51. Some indeed have been so weak as to imagine that this Sleep did equally seize Soul and Body and have asserted that at death the Soul passes into a state of Inactivity and sleepeth with the Body till the Resurrection an Opinion so repugnant to the true Principles of Philosophy and Divine Revelation that 't is seldom espous'd by any but Atheists Socinians and very ignorant Pretenders to Religion Our Souls are of an immortal nature they neither die nor sleep but immediately upon the death Eccles 12.
exalted humane Nature cannot fully be represented by the most graceful turns of Language and lofty figures of Speech therefore we must be content with very imperfect Idea's of his Glory till we have the happiness to see him as he is Yet we have enough reveal'd concerning it to invigorate our desires and raise our wonder His eyes are represented Rev. 1. 15. like a flame of fire his voice as the sound of many waters his feet like to fine brass as if they burn'd in a furnace his countenance as the Sun shining in its full strength Now after this bright Pattern shall the Bodies of the Saints be form'd in the Resurrection O what proportion of Parts what agreeableness of Colour how radiant an Air shall sit upon their Countenance Mark 1◠43 〈…〉 for they shall shine with a lustre exceeding the brightness of all the Lamps of Heaven The Apostle also assures us that tho they are sown natural they shall be rais'd spiritual Bodies i. e. the Matter of 'em shall be exalted and improv'd to an extraordinary degree of fineness for Matter is properly enough said to be spiritual when 't is much refin'd And how great a difference may we observe in material things for instance betwixt the animal Spirits in the Brain and the grosser parts of the Body betwixt a lump of Clay and the refin'd matter of the Air betwixt the Earth and the Sun that shines upon it yet all material Substances from which we may collect what Christ can do to exalt and refine our bodies in the Resurrection But farther they may be called Spiritual in that they will be much better fitted to serve our Spirits than they are now Here our Bodies are oftentimes a clog and a hindrance to us but in the Resurrection they shall be like Wings to our Souls or to use the Phrase of the Antients They shall be as a Celestial Chariot to the Soul they shall neither be the cause of our ignorance nor of our sinning as they are now they shall not hinder but rather help forward our Devotions In a word they shall never suffer nor die more for they shall be rais'd immortal and incorruptible the one respects a deliverance from Death the other a freedom from Diseases so that Incorruptibility is an addition to the happiness of immortal Creatures for if Persons should never die yet if they were often diseased their happiness would be incompleat but the rais'd Bodies of the Saints shall never know any more sorrow sickness or death it shall not be in the power of any Creature to disorder the curious Contexture of the rais'd Bodys Mortality then will be swallowed up of Life This corruptible shall 1 Cor. 4 15 53. put on incorruption and this mortal immortality Thirdly The Saints being brought with Christ at his second coming does not only suppose their Resurrection but that with their rais'd Bodys they shall ascend up into the Air. And so much the Apostle asserts a little 1 Thess 15 17. after my Text For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep For we shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Whether those that are rais'd from the dead and those that shall be chang'd who never died shall be caught up into the Air by the immediate attractive Power of Christ or by the ministry of Angels I will not determine but that they shall ascend in order to their coming with him is beyond all dispute and probably their Bodies may be so refin'd that they may be capable of treading Air and mounting upwards as easily as they now move upon the Earth Fourthly Being brought with Christ at his second coming shall be to illustrate the Glory of our incarnate God and to advance the happiness of his redeemed ones They shall attend their Lord's Triumph and make up a part of his magnificent Retinue for as he shall come to be admir'd 2 Thess 1. 10. in all those that believe so they shall all share in his Glory they will then know by experience what riches of Glory is comprehended in that Promise and Privilege of being Heirs of God and joint Heirs with Jesus Christ O what a glorious Procession will this be through the Air when he that suffered upon the infamous Tree shall appear at the head of so long and bright a Train when all that the Father gave to him shall appear with glittering Crowns and spreading Palms the Rewards of Grace and the Tokens of Victory I proceed now to make some improvement of what I have said And First This Doctrine that I have deliver'd discovers to us the excellency of the Christian Institution Life and Immortality is brought to light by the Gospel All that has been said by Heathen Poets and Philosophers concerning a Future State was but obscure Conjecture to the shining Revelation of the Gospel They understood not that the sting of Death was remov'd by the sufferings of the Redeemer or that the Body should be rais'd with a transcendent Lustre and Dignity to receive a Reward with the Soul Yea under the Mosaick Oeconomy a future State was but obscurely reveal'd but under the Dispensation of the Gospel we have a most charming Landskip of Heaven and the way to obtain it is set in the most clear and certain light Secondly This Doctrine may be improv'd to guard good men against the slavish fears of Death Why should the Righteous be afraid to repose upon a bed of dust Death is but a sleep from which we shall be awaken'd in the morning of the Resurrection and Christ as you have heard hath disarm'd Death of its Sting and alter'd it in its very nature to the Righteous I confess I do not wonder that the wicked and profane are afraid of Death for they know it puts a period to their Pleasures and begins their Torments it snatches them from the joys of Life and fixes 'em under the agonies of the second Death So that some not only fear Death it self but the very name of it is terrible which occasion'd a Prince that I have read of to forbid the mention of it in all his Court Yea so enslav'd are some by the fear of Death that they conceive an abhorrence at the sight of a Coffin the dress of Mourners and the solemnities of a Funeral which as one says are only the Outguards that make up the Retinue of the King of Terrors 'T is reported of Alexander who had often encounter'd the numerous Armies of the Asian Monarchs and despis'd the terror of Battels yet when he was seiz'd with a mortal Disease in Babylon he was so afraid of Death that his Court was fill'd with Diviners and Victims and all the little arts of Superstition were us d to preserve his Life