Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A60128
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Death a deliverance, or, A funeral discourse, preach'd (in part) on the decease of Mrs. Mary Doolittle, (late wife of Mr. Thomas Doolittle, minister of the Gospel in London) who departed this life the 16th of Decemb. 1692 by John Shower.
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Shower, John, 1657-1715.
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1693
(1693)
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Wing S3661; ESTC R184223
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53,028
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143
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live again And till the appointed time when God should revive him out of the dust he would wait for that glorious Change when God shall have a desire to the work of his hands i. e. not allways forget to restore and perfect his own Creature There are many Images and Resemblances of this As in the Corn by which we live when it is cast on the earth and buried in the ground that it may corrupt after it is corrupted it revives and multiplies Our Bodys are fed with this constant Experiment And the Apostles similitude of a grain of Corn Sown in the ground that it riseth multiplied augmented and adorned sets out the advantagious difference between the Qualities of our Bodys when they dye and when they shall be raised And herein he imitates the manner of the Jews who were wont familiariy to illustrate the business of the Resurrection by the similitude of leed sown in the ground and springing up again And what can we discern in a small corn or litle seed of a Tree with Body Bark Branches Leaves Flowers Fruit and yet afterwards we behold them when the seed hath been sown in the ground The Apostle at large Insists on this similitude of seed to explain the manner of the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.35 So also is the Resurrection of the dead * Dr. Scot of the Christian Lise part 2. chap. 7. So is this mortal Body to be the seed and material Principle of our Resurrection For that which is sown is not quickened except it dye And so is this Seed of our mortal Body to dye and be corrupted before it shall be raised again And Sois this dead corrupted Body to be raised and quickened by the power of God For God gives to every Seed a Body as it pleases him And so are our dead Bodys to be raised again into the proper form and kind of humane Bodys for unto every seed God giveth his own Body And Lastly So is the Resurrection of the Dead that is So are those humane Bodys to be changed and altered by the Resurrection as that which is but bare Seed when it is sown when it is quickened it springs up into a long stalk and ear So the raised Body shall be changed for the better This is further Illustrated by * Mr. Baxter of Self-denial p. 206. another That the dead Body of a man may be supposed to have a living Root as truely as the plants in winter The Soul is the Root of the Body and the Soul is still alive And Christ is the Root of the Soul and he is still alive For though we are dead our Life is hid with Christ in God and when he who is our Life shall appear at the Spring of the Resurrection we shall also appear with him in Glory Colos 3.3 4. There is a Relative Union between Soul and Body and a deep rooted Love of the Soul to its Body and Inclination to it so that it is mindful of it and waits with longing for that hour when the Command of God shall send it to revive that Body Why may not the Living Soul that is the Root and Life of the Body in the dust be the Instrument of God to inform its own Body as it will be the Principle that shall re-inform it The Body in the Grave hath its own Relation to Christ who is still Living and resolved and ingaged by Promise and inclined by Love to revive that Body And when the Hour comes for this Soul that waits to be sent again into the Body what can hinder The very Love of the Soul to its Body and its desire to be re-united is a kind of Natural Cause of the Resurrection A Candle not lighted is as far from Light and as much without it as a dead body is without Life and yet one touch of a lighted Candle will light that which never was lighted before And so may one touch of the living Soul that is now with Christ put Life into the body that lies in the dust And as the lighted Candle makes the other like it and Communicates of its Nature to it so does the glorified Soul Communicate a new kind of Excellency to the Body which it never had before even to be a Spiritual Glorious Incorruptible and Immortal Body And God takes the Soul to Heaven before hand that it may be first Glorified and so be fit to communicate Glory to the body So that there is more reason for the Resurrection of the body though it be turned to Earth than there is reason that a Candle that is gone out should be lighted again by another or than there is reason that I should put on my Cloaths in the Morning which I put off at Night For Nature disposeth me to abhor nakedness and desire my Cloaths and therefore in the Morning I will put them on So Nature teaches the Seperated Soul to desire a re-union with its body And therefore when the Resurrection-Morning comes it will gladly take the word from Christ and give that vital touch to the body that shall revive it and so put on its antient Garment but wonderfully changed for the better c. CHAP. VI. That the Same Body for Substance is to be Raised again at the last day And what the Change will be of these Bodies hereafter from what they now are SECT I. IF it be inquired How can the same Body after so many Changes be raised and re-united to the Soul And what need is there of Asscrting That it shall be the same It ought to be consider'd that the very word Resurrection doth suppose or imply this That the Bodies of Men shall hereafter be truly the same with those that died It is the Body falls to the ground when the Spirit goes upward That Body that then fell is to be raised again and no other Body than that This Mortal Body shall be quickened by the Spirit of Christ that now falls to the ground The same Flesh that was separated from the Soul at death shall be united to it again The same Temple that was destroyed shall be re-built The same Tabernacle that was dissolved shall be raised We are bid to fear God who can destroy Soul and Body in Hell Mat. 10.28 What cause of fear if this very body be not to be raised * Resurgere non est nisi ejus quod cecidit Tert. advers Marc. l. 5. c. 9. This Corruptible must put on Incorruption this Mortal put on Immertality As the Body of Christ which is our Exemplar with which he rose was the same that he deposited in the Grave and as the bodies of those whom our Saviour raised when he was on Earth were the same with those in which they died And how shall the Graves and Sea give up their Dead at the Last Day Rev. 20.13 What need of this if the same Bodies are not to be raised for they can give up no other Bodies than what they received These
and made thee meet for it These Desires it is true are but faint and weak to what the promised salvation may Justly chalenge yet they are holy and sincere and have God and Christ and his blessed Presence above for their Object thou hast his Image and seal imprinted on thy Nature Mind and Will This Evidence and Experience in thy self shall no be deseated in its Tendency and Designt SECT II. Secondly In our Contemplation of this happy State which the saints desire beyond the Grave we ought to remember that though the Glorious Change of the Body be one part the Felicity of the Soul is the principal one Yea the Glory of departed Souls is one great Cause and Means of that happy Change which we expect for the Body To be with Christ and behold his Glory and partake of it does especially refer to the Soul We shall see him as he is and in that respect be made like him We are now the Children of God by free Grace and Adoption but his admirable Love will not desist till our Consormity to his Image be more compleat till we are brought to his Presence and partake of his Holiness to that degree as to be the objects of his eternal Complacence and Delight Father I will says Christ that those that thou hast given me should be with me to behold my Glory Then all our Sins and Failings all our Follies and Infirmities all our Wrinkles and Blemishes all our Transgressions and Imperfections shall be done away and our Souls shall be washed white in the Blood of the Lamb being conformed to our Divine Pattern The lesser Manifestations of the Spiritual Glory of Christ which we have sometimes here are highly valuable to a Saint but unspeakably short of that which we expect these hereafter will be more clear more transforming more satisfactory and more lasting We now see through a Glass but darkly but we shall know as we are known for we shall see him as he is We hope for an inlightened and inlarged Mind to behold the Excellency and Radiancy of the Divine Perfections shining in and through our glorified Redeemer This will oblige the most Improved Saint that ever left this Earth to cry out with the Queen of Sheba concerning Solomon that the one half was never told them was not known or believed before And if we are changed into his Image by beholding his Glory in the Gospel-glass the Vision hereafter will be more clear and so the Change will be greater and the Delight and Complacence resulting from it must needs be unspeakably more And this is our Comfort that it will be such as shall last for ever If we have any Glymps of him at present by the Light of Faith we quickly lose the sight again How soon does an interposing Cloud hide him from us But the Felicity of the Blessed Vision above will be permanent we shall dwell for ever in the joyful Light of his Countenance and abide with him continually in the Heavenly Mansions SECT III. Thirdly Let us then indeavour to confirm our Faith in the Expectation of this blessed State for Soul and Body after Death Let us keep the Grounds of Faith visible in our Eye let us imploy our Thoughts frequently and seriously upon the blessed Object Let us deeply and often consider the cogent Reasons upon which we believe and expect such things both the intrinsick Grounds of Faith and the Motives of Credibility that our Assent may be the more firm and lasting that our Christian Faith may influence us as present things are wont to do Did we not look upon the great things of the other Life as uncertain we could not but reckon them preferable to the best of our present Injoyments Did we believe them we could not but desire 〈…〉 for our not desiring that blessed State but our criminal Infidelity that we believe it not For were we but fully perswaded of the truth of the Promises we must needs imbrace them for their Goodness and Excellency and then we should long till Death did draw aside the Vail open the Gate of Heaven and bring us into the Divine Presence But we waver and doubt concerning the invisible future World and hence it is that we close with what is Present because we are not equally perswaded of the Truth and Cortainty of what is Future Let us then indeavour to strengthen and confirm our Faith SECT IV. Fourthly Let us regulate our Affections and Carriage in this Earthly Tabernacle as Persons who believe and expect such a glorious Change Let us pass the time of our Sojourning in this World as Pilgrims and Strangers Let us abstain from fleshly Lusts that War against our Souls Let us use both our Souls and Bodies answerable to the belief of such things Let us watch lest we are surprized into sin by our bodily Senses Appetites and Imagination Let us remember that the Soul and Body like two diseased Creatures bound together in one chain do now mutually infect corrupt and Poyson one another Let us take heed of sin by the inordinate Love of Bodily Pleasure or the undue fear of Bodily Suffering Let us imitate the Pattern of Christ while he dwelt in a Body and labour to have the same Mind which he had to be in this World as he was in it Lot the good and evil of this World have less powerful impression upon us Let us not be over fond of the Pleasures of the Animal Life may they every day be less considerable with us Let us not so love the Body as on that account to decline any present Duty much less so over-love it as to prefer the Comforts of the present Life to a future Felicity Let us not regret over much that such an earthly Tabernacle must fall into dust that such a perishing Body must dissolve and lye in the Grave We are sensible how weak and useless it was for a good while at first before the Body was fitted for the service of the Soul and we cannot but be sensible what a Trouble and Temptation it has been since Let the burdens and inconveniences of the bodily Life be more tolerable let us not be impatient under them let us be willing that the outward Man decay so that the inward Man be renewed let our Judgment and Esteem our Desires and Indeavours our Joys and Sorrows be rectified and moderated as to all that refers to the Body and this Present Life Let our Eyes and Hearts be fixed on the Heavenly State let us remember we are a sort of Creatures related to the other World though we dwell at present in an earthly Tabernacle In the midst of our earthly Comforts let us think of the Heavenly State and Lise as infinitely better Let us keep alive the Desires of the Presence of Christ and fuller Conformity to him in the height of our Temporal Prosperity Let the believing Thoughts of the Caelestial State be unspeakably sweeter to us than the best of all this