indeed an Essential part of man yet it is the less principal part since the Soul can act and live as well out of it as in it And therefore it is from the Original of the Soul that the birth of man is chiefly to be reckoned rather than from the formation of the body Now if accordingly we compute the birth of a Saint we are led to a Threefold Birth which results from the Consideration The 1st is by Creation when the Soul of Man is at first created and placed in the body Which indeed carries along with it the formation of the body also for we can't conceive the body to be formed as to its due perfection with respect to union with the Soul till the moment of the Souls infusion therein if with the Schools I may be admitted to use such a word who tell us of the Soul that creando infunditur insundendo creatur But that the Soul derives its original from Gods immediate creating it and not ex traduce I speak with all deference to learned and worthy Persons of another judgment may seem plain if it were but from that one Scripture Zech. 12. 1. especially if we duely consider its connexion with what precedes I say then that the first birth of man to speak properly is to be reckoned from the union of the Soul and body in the womb which as to priority of time seems to be instantaneously upon the Creation of the Soul rather than from the Egress of the child from thence But since we are most taken with what is most sensible to us I shall not contend about words if the thing be understood Especially seeing the Scripture is so calculated in its Expressions as to use words commonly in use understood by the lowest form of Christians Only howsoever we use words I am confident to say that the Birth of Man may very well be reckoned from the Vnion of Soul and Body in the womb For whatever hath these two constituent parts of man can be assign'd to no other class but that of Mankind The 2. Birth of Man according to the Soul is in Regeneration or Conversion Of which Christ speaking Joh. 3. Calls it the birth of a man from above v. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The 3. Birth is in Glorification And this admits of a Twofold Period viz. 1. As to the Soul only at Death when it separates from the Body and becomes from that moment perfectly freed from sin and misery and admitted to the enjoyment of true happiness above For the Souls of just persons even then are said to be made perfect Heb. 12. 23. 2. As to Soul and Body when re-united at the Resurrection which is called the Adoption and Redemption of the Body Rom. 8. 23. Now from all this we may arrive to make some tolerable Estimate of that which we commonly call the Birth and Death of a Saint For 1. that which we commonly call Birth is nothing else but mans Egress from the womb and his Ingress into the Society of Mortals here Now what is this but a kind of Death since we being our selves Mortal see and converse only with Mortal Objects as all things external here are Whence it is that all mans time on earth even from the Evening of the Worlds Creation to the Morning of the Resurrection is esteemed but as one Night as is imported Psal 49. 14. When the Resurrection is Emphatically Termed the Morning both with respect to the night of time preceding and the day of eternity about to succeed And hence also our Life on earth is called a Sleep wherein we rather dream of things than really apprehend them and out of which we are first thorowly awaked by Death We may see this plainly hinted Psal 17. 15. Whereas 2. that which we call commonly Death is nothing else but the unpinning our mortal Tabernacles and the manumitting us into the immortal Regions of Light Love and Liberty Of which the great Saints in Scripture speak no otherwise than in the familiar Dialect of putting off a suit of old Apparrel for new and more glorious ones Thus Paul calls it a being unclothed as to the Body and clothed upon by having Mortality swallowed up of Life 2 Cor. 5. 4. And Peter calls it a putting off this his Tabernacle 2 Eph. 1. 14. Again 2 let us consider Death the right notion whereof will become more facile to our apprehensions by what we have said of Life All therefore that I shall say of it is that besides that which we commonly call so there is a Twofold Death in a Spiritual sense which falls under consideration here The 1. is a Death in Sin which is entered into at our Birth into the world For then it is that we come to enter upon the Stage of a sinful world We are shapen in sin and conceived in iniquity And our Birth into the world is rather a kind of Death than Life since we are exposed thereby to sinning and suffering to vanity and vexation of Spirit The 2. is a Death to Sin which is entered upon at the dissolution of the tye between Soul and body upon which account it is called Death But tho' it disunite soul and body for a time yet it may rather be called the Birth of the Soul in as far as it translates it from all manner of sin and misery It is true indeed as was said before Regeneration is a kind of new Birth to the Soul in as far as it delivers us from the death of sin in a great measure Yet since that is but a deliverance in part therefore it is by death only that we come totally to dye to sin Tho' I grant that this death to sin comes to be more illustriously display'd at the great period of the Resurrection When the last enemy Death comes to be Totally destroyed and swallowed up in Victory 1 Cor. 15. 54. So that from hence we may see that our Birth into this world is a Death in Sin whereas our Dissolution or the separation of soul and body is properly a Death to Sin or a manumission and freedom given us both from Sin and misery Wherefore from all that hath been said in the Premises as to both these Terms of Birth and Death we may not injustly invert the notion of them with respect to the Saints and say That the day of our Birth into this world was the day of our Death in sin ignorance vanity and misery Whereas the day of our Death may be justly reputed to be the day of our Birth into the world of purity knowledge light and rest But 2dly I come now to consider what that thing we call Life is which the two Periods of Birth and Death enter us upon and with respect to which we can only pass a right judgement of the preferableness of either of them And truely as to this matter we are very much in the dark taking that to be life which hath little more of
it than the very shew and appearance Life is a more noble thing than we imagin when considered in its right notion and idea We talk of a vegetative and sensitive Life But if in Philosophy these must needs creep in as distinct species thereof Yet Divinity will refine our thoughts of it a little further For since Life is one of the glorious Attributes of the supreme Being who designs himself oft-times the Living God we must needs conceive somthing high and sublime therein And as God is the fountain of all Life to others so it is only in him that We live So that to speak properly we have no life in our selves our breath being in our nostrils and we depending every moment on God for new supplies thereof Therefore we find it the Property of God only to have Life in him-self yea and such a Property as is only communicable to Christ Joh. 5. 26. For as the Father hath Life in himself so hath he given to the Son to have Life in himself And therefore this is spoken of with respect to Christ with a special mark of Observation Joh. 1. 4. In him was Life But I shall not run further than the Text for the Ground of my notion of Life For we may plainly perceive by the very Terms of Birth and Death in the words that there is some Life here imported with respect to which as plainly and necessarily presupposed these periodical terms are made use of Now this Life herein presupposed must either be the present Life or that which is to come If it be the present Life then it is apparent that Solomon had very mean and low thoughts of it since he prefers the destruction of it by Death to the commencing it at first by Birth And those very mean thoughts which he hath of it are a plain Indication that it doth not deserve the noble designation of Life as being rather a shadow thereof than the thing it self But if it be the Future Life that is here imported then it presents us with a noble Idea of true Life indeed as inclusive of true Happiness and Felicity and lets us see with what good Reason Death is here preferred to Birth But tho' this last sense gives us the fairest prospect of Life and the most solid ground of the wise Solomons determination of this case yet I think we are to include both these sorts of Life as presupposed clearly in the Text. For as Solomon runs the parallel expresly between Birth and Death So his doing thus doth manifestly presuppose that he had run the parallel also between the Present and Future Life for except the Periods of Birth and Death have respect to these they must be reckoned to stand as Cyphers here without any significancy But tho' it is indubitable that Solomon runs the parallel here between Life Present and Future Yet we are not to imagine that he compares them as being both included in the true notion of Life and so as species under the same Genus but rather as two Opposites so as to consider that which we call the present Life under the notion of a kind of Death or state of Death and so to vendicate the notion of true Life to the future only For as I said before when I explained the terms of Birth and Death that our Birth into this world was rather our Death in Sin and Misery Whereas our death out of this world is more properly our Birth into Happiness and felicity So I say now of the Present and Future Life that the Present Life is rather the state of the dead that we die into when we are born Whereas the Future Life is that only which deserves the name of Life as being that state that we are born into when we come to that period which we call death And tho' this invertion of Terms may seem strange at first to such who are so immersed in sense as not to reflect on things as they are indeed in themselves Yet if once we come to entertain genuine conceptions of time and eternity and what concerns these we will see sufficient reason for such a rectification of vulgar opinions wherein men are oft detain'd contrary to reason it self from a misapplication of meer words Wherefore since I take Life for that which either is proper to God or which derivatively is communicated to subjects capable of it I mean made so by himself it is therefore to be laid down as the basis of our ensuing reflections that Life and Happiness are the same thing tho' the words express this differently to us But it is only the consideration of true Life or Perfection as peculiar to the Saints that I am here to consider Which that it may the more distinctly appear it may not be amiss to run the Parallel a little between the present and future Life as we call them that we may the more easily admit of the Conclusion here in the Text as to the preferableness of the latter to the first Which methinks the Apostle expresses well when he calls the future Life by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Life assigning to the present Life the designation of Mortality only 2 Cor. 5. 4. And in doing this I must first consider what those Qualifications of Life are that denominate it excellent happy and desirable And as to this I shall express my self in words common and known to all that the impressions may be the more clear and cogent And now as to this matter I cannot think of any Conveniency or true Qualification of Life wanting where these seven Things Concur viz. 1. Perfect Health 2. Full enjoyment of all Good 3. Vnmixed and undisturbed Peace and Joy 4. The most pleasant place of abode 5. The most excellent Company 6. An untainted Good Name 7. The perpetual Duration of all these Wherefore let us consider these Qualifications or Properties of Life with respect both to the Present and the Future that we may see whether our Passage by Birth into the one or by death into the other be to be preferred 1. Perfect Health By this we understand perfect rectitude both of Soul and body and all the faculties and powers of them And if so our Inquiry must be where this rare Jewel is to be found without which all our other comforts are insipid and tastless Surely it cant be acquired in this miserable World either as to Mind or Body For as to our Minds how uncultivated are our judgments as to our apprehensions of spiritual things How vain are our thoughts How perverse our wills How irregular our affections How treacherous our memories And how lame and defective are our actions and performances even to the most spiritual duties And as to our Bodies do we not carry about with us the Principles of Diseases and the seeds of death it self And what innumerable pains and maladies are we here subject to every day to most bringing along with it some new exercise or other
saw meet to lay upon her Yea in the very midst of her weariness and pain when her eyes have been held waking and her sleep hath fled from her she would often express the grateful sense which she had of the singular Mercy of God towards her in the many instances wherein it pleased him to intermix it with her Affliction Considering how much better it was with her under her severest exercises than with many others of Gods dear Children who by reason of their mean Circumstances in the World could not be furnish'd with those external helps accomodations which by the distinguishing Goodness of God she enjoyed Which she would often speak of with great compassion to others and no less thankfulness to God upon her own account and especially in the late cold and pinching season wherein such were exposed to very great hardship as had sickness added to poverty And thus the excellent Character that the Apostle gives us of the Heirs of Heaven in the Text was in every part of it eminently found in her who was indeed One who by patient continuance in well-doing sought for glory and honour and immortality And then I may add That 5. Agreeably hereunto her Faith and Hope were for the most part strong and lively except at such times as she was under clouds of Melancholly arising from bodily distemper which made all things look dark unto her while it prevailed But most perceptibly did she improve in their strength and vigour for some months before the expiration of her Time whereby she did not only obtain a comfortable victory in a great degree over the Fear of Death which had formerly been a very grievous exercise unto her but was also greatly supported and encouraged under her continued remaining Troubles of Life For as there were many comfortable Words in the Holy Scriptures whereon God had caused her to hope so by strengthening and encreasing her Faith he enabled her more closely to apply them to her self and so to take the comfort of them when she needed it most As under one of the last Returns of her Distempers she did very frequently revolve in her mind those words of afflicted but believing Job Chap. 23. v. 10. When he hath tryed me I shall come forth as gold And God inabling her to mix that word with faith made it both at that time and afterwards very useful to her And so in her last sickness even the night before her death after she had been exercised with grievous pain the whole night and day preceding having a short interval of â—ase for a few moments while I was with her I observed her to repeat unto her self several times with great complacency as I apprehended from the pleasant tone of her voice tho' but low those encouraging words of the devout Psalmist Psal 42. 8. The Lord will command his loving kindness in the day-time and in the night his Song shall be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life Adding in the close Lord thou art the God of my life natural life spiritual life yea eternal life and therefore my prayer is unto thee After which her pain and sickness again returning she grew more and more apprehensive of her near approaching dissolution and after a short space said to me as I stood by her bed-side I have a dark valley to pass through Whereupon encouraging her to hope in God I said to her The Father of lights will be with you there and he will enlighten your darkness to which she very sweetly replyed and turn the shadow of Death into the morning And not long after she spake to me in these or the like words I bless God I do not at all doubt my eternal Interest but it is some trouble to me that I have yet so little of the Joy of Gods Salvation As at another time which whether it were before or after the former I do not exactly remember she said with some apparent Concern to a dear Friend standing by What! Come so near to the confines of a glorious eternity and yet have no clearer prospect of the glory of it But altho' that unspeakable and glorious Joy which doth sometimes attend the lively exercises of Faith in the children of God in their last hours was as you may perceive by these hints withheld from her She was not without Solid and great peace in believing which of the two the more substantial tho' not the more delectable enjoyment And I make no question but that now she hath the other also in a better way as well as in a greater proportion than ever any had it in this World even fulness of Joy in the divine presence and pleasures for evermore For faith and patience having both had their perfect work in her she is now gone to inherit the promises in Eternal Life And now my Christian Friends the greatest honour and respect that we can pay to her blessed Memory which I hope will yet live among us is to follow her Worthy Example every one seeking for glory and honour and immortality in that way wherein she sought and hath now obtained all Let me therefore earnestly recommend this unto you all as I desire also to charge it upon my self And more especially to you her nearest surviving Relatives who had a greater advantage than any others by your nearness to her most exemplary course of life as an excellent pattern for you to imitate And therefore as she hath done worthily in serving God and her Generation according to his Will and now Rev. 14. v. 13. Heb. 4. v. 9. rests from her labours in that everlasting Sabbatism which remaineth for the People of God into which she entred on the close of that day of the week which is not unfitly called by us the Christian Sabbath Let it be your care every one to do likewise And more particularly let me address my self unto you her hopeful Off-spring her dear Children for whom she put up many a Prayer to God that he would make you all his Children And let me earnestly exhort you never to forget what a Mother you had what excellent instruction and wholesome counsel she often gave you and what a teaching Example she set before you by which being now dead she yet speaks to you And surely it is your great Concern as you love your souls to hearken to the Voice to understand the Language of it There are some things which Actions do speak out louder than any Verbal Expressions and certainly if you have the heart attentively to consider and understand it you cannot be unapprehensive that your Mothers Example calls aloud upon you all to mind the great Concernments of your Souls with serious care and diligence as she did to get your thoughts and affections abstracted and drawn off from this World and fixedly set upon things above as hers were to be diligent and industrious in the careful and conscientious performance of all Christian Duties
both relative and personal as she was to be constant and serious in attending upon Ordinances there seeking the appointed food of your Souls where she both often sought and found it to dedicate some part of your Pretious Time every day to reading the Scriptures and other good Books devout Meditation and secret Prayer which you know was her constant Course as long as her health and strength would permit in a word to make serious Religion your main business as it was most manifestly hers And if you will hearken to this Call in conjunction with the Calls of GOD's Word and that Monitory Providence that you are now under so as heedfully to tread in your pious Mothers steps as Dear Children following her in those things wherein shew was a follower of God and persisting in this Course to the end of your Life Then let me tell you for your Comfort that altho' Death hath at present made a separation between her and you it shall be but for a short season and then you shall again live together in the glorious and bright Mansions of Heaven and in the beatifick Vision and Fruition of God and Christ for ever and ever Amen FINIS A Funeral Sermon By Robert Fleming V. D. M. Preach'd in the Afternoon Eccles vii 1. Better is the Day of Death than the Day of ones Birth AS all the Faculties of Mans Soul are become miserably depraved and corrupted by reason of Sin So in particular the leading and directive Faculty the Mind or Intellect is signally so For besides the blindness and ignorance of men in things natural there is nothing more apparent than that universal darkness and stupidity which they are under as to their apprehensions of things spiritual and eternal For altho' there seems to be remanent upon the minds of all men naturally some 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or imperfect râ—dera of the true impressions of good and evil and some secret Perswasions of a soveraign Being to which all things owe their original and continuance yet alas what sad Conceptions do men entertain of things of an immaterial and and spiritual nature as appears not only from the Writings of the more learned and ingenious Heathens but from innumerable and dayly Instances even in the midst of the Meridian Light of the Gospel So that constant Experience doth in this matter sufficiently confirm Scripture-Testimony that the natural man knows not the things of the Spirit of God as requiring a subjective as well as objective spiritual Light to discern them by However this is one of God's ends in Revealing his Word to us that we may thorow his Blessing upon pains and industry attain to rectified Notions and Idaeas of things so excellent in themselves and so momentous to be rightly known by us And as this is the scope of the whole Scripture to bring Life and Immortality to Light unto us so particularly of this Book of the wise and in quisitive Solomon who having undertaken a speculative Journey into all the Regions of sublunary Enjoyments returns an experienced Ecclesiastes or Preachers of those things that he thought might be of universal use to be known And therefore having rubbed off the fine Varnish and gaudy Paint of Earthly Objects with which they insinuate themselves at first view as beautified to our vain imiginations he here represents them impartially to our Reason as they are in their own natures and usefulness to us Of this we might adduce many instances if need were But we go no farther than the Words before us wherein we may observe a Rectification of a twofold Mistake that we are apt to fall into For first whereas men usually prefer Riches to a good Name we are here instructed that a good Name is better more valuable than precious ointment i. e. than the fatness of the world and the affluence of all earthly wealth and riches For thus I take the word according to Prov. 22. 1. which seems to be a comment on this or a plain account of what is here figuratively imported For precious ointment was esteemed of old amongst the most valuable things of the Treasures of Princes as we see Isa 39. 2. And hence it is that Prov. 15. 30. A good name is said to make the bones sat And again whereas Men generally prefer Life to Death Solomon here tells us that we are greatly mistaken in the Case for that upon the contrary the day of Death is much to be prefer'd to the day of ones Birth According to which Position he goes on to shew that the house of Mourning is better than the house of Feasting and sorrow preferable to Laughter v. 2 3 c. It is the second of these only that I am directed to consider at this time viz. That the day of Death is better than the day of ones Birth A strange Paradox and enough to amaze the minds and thoughts of all such as mind earthly things and who have not attained to have their interior Senses spiritually exercised to discern spiritual things Nay I am apt to think that many even serious Christians may find it difficult to reconcile their thoughts to this Doctrine And therefore on all hands I foresee Objections What! will the Atheist and Antiscripturist say is it better not to be than to be Is it possible will the carnal Philosopher and Rationalist object that the destruction of nature it self should be preferable to its Being and Continuance Nay even many poor Christians will be ready to tell me that it seems very strange to them to prefer Death which owes its Original to Sin and is our enemy and the last to be destroyed to prefer I say this to Life it self wherein we have opportunity to serve God and do good to our selves and others And methinks I hear a multitude cry out at the hearing of this and many such Worldlings there are What! Death better than Life Here 's strange Doctrine indeed What! Leave all our Earthly Comforts Friends and Possessions and that for Death and the Grave who can have Faith to believe such Doctrine as this Well Friends here 's that which may silence all your Doubts and answer all your Questions as to this matter if you will give ear to God himself that Death is preferable to Birth But I must supersede the satisfying you as to your particular Scruples in this matter till I shall have come to the Improvement of the Doctrine which I must now lest I act preposterously previously inquire into And here though the Words are in themselves so very plain that I see no momentous Variation among Criticks in the translating of them Yet I find some considerable difference in the Sentiments of Expositors as to the meaning of them For some understand the Text of all Mankind with respect only to this present Life laying aside all Consideration of the future State as many Passages in this Book are undoubtedly to be understood And if so then the meaning only is That
we prefer Death to Birth and consequently to Life Since even Solomon himself ch 9. v. 4 5. Doth plainly give the preference to Life for a living Dog is better says he than a Dead Lion c. Answ It is not strange or uncommon for one and the same thing to come under different considerations at some times And when it does so it may be very proper accordingly to deduce quite different yea and opposite conclusions from thence And therefore it needs not seem strange that Solomon speaks of Life in ch 9. in another Dialect than he does here in my Text Since he reflects here and there upon the same things under quite different considerations For 1. in ch 9. he compares Life and Death in their own natures and therefore hath all the reason in the world to give the preference to Life as being so illustrious an effect of divine Wisdom and Power But here Solomon doth not compare these Opposites in themselves but in an accidental consideration only with reference to the troubles and miseries our Lives here are exposed to by reason of sin And therefore makes such an Inference hence as we have explained 2. Solomon in ch 9. does not only consider Life in it self but under the Notion also of being the way and means thorow the right improvement whereof men may attain to happiness hereafter Whereas those that are dead are put out of capacity of doing any thing further for their Soul For says he to him that is joyned to the living there is hope but the dead have no more portion in any thing that is done under the Sun Which therefore seems to be nothing else but that which he more clearly unfolds v. 10. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do it with all thy might because there is no work c. But now in this place Solomon speaks of life abstracting from its relation and use this way and considers it meerly in reference to its miseries and troubles And therefore his Inference here is nothing but what natively results from such a consideration thereof 3. Solomon in the 9th ch seems to me to speak of Life and Death with respect to wicked men chiefly if not only And in this respect it is certain Life is far preferable to Death since as he says v. 10. There is no preparation work to be done after death for the good of the Soul whereas whilst there is life there is still hope that wicked men may repent and reform before it be too late as he intimates v. 4. and according to the old saying Sperandum est vivis non est spes ulla sepultis But now as was said before it seems not obscurely to be hinted here that we are to understand the words of my Text as refering if not only yet specially to the Saints who thorow grace and holiness have attained worthily to deserve a good name And this leads me to a Transition from the first to the second and as I judge more native Meaning of the words which I lay down to be distinctly considered in the following Thesis Second Proposition The Day of Death is far preferable to the Day of ones Birth with respect to the Saints when the parallel is not only in reference to this Life but inclusive also of the Future I don't say that at all times and upon all accounts the day of Death is actually to be prefered to the day of Birth and to Life Since sometimes it may be our duty to chuse Life before Death For even Paul himself after a struggle with himself on this account whether he should prefer death or life Phil. 1. 23. 24. having impartially weighed the reasons on both sides concludes v. 25. That considering the usefulness of his life to the Church on earth it was for the present to be preferred to death Neither do I say here that the Saints attain always to prefer death to life No alas there are but few comparatively that get this length Even an Hezekiah will weep sâ—re at the thoughts of death and chatter like a crane or swallow and mourn as a dove on that account Isa 38. 3 14. And a David also will on this account at sometimes be made to cry out Psal 39. 13. O spare me that I may recover strength c. But that which I assert here in the Proposition laid down is That the Death of a Saint is preferable to his Birth because of the misery of this present Life and the happiness of the Life to come For if as we shewed before death be preferable to birth meerly because the comforts of this life are so over-ballanced and weighed down by the sorrows of time Then surely the conclusion is much more strong when we consider the glory and happiness of the future Life and lay it also in the scale over and above For who then can withstand the force of this Truth that the entry upon happiness which is by Death is much to be preferred to the entry upon a miserable life here which is by Birth And as this Proposition so expresly Asserted in the Text thus explained seems so clear in it self So a more distinct consideration of things will put it beyond all further doubt and controversy And therefore I came now to Prove the Point further Which being done I shall proceed to Improve it The Proof And now to Prove this Point I shall endeavour to do it by shewing the preferableness of the one to the other upon the account given and that in two things viz. 1. By explaining the Terms here used of Birth and Death 2. By considering more directly the Present and Future Life that these two Periods of Birth and Death enter the Saints upon And first I shall briefly reflect upon the Terms of Birth and Death And here as in many other things I find a lameness and defectiveness in Words by which the true Notions of Things are often clouded and almost lost And therefore tho' I take not upon me to rectifie these terms as vulgarly used Yet the present subject necessarily leads me to some rectification of the notions of the things themselves which we have it may be from education too easily imbibê°d For if in ordinary converse it be a Rule quod loquendum cum Vulgo I think we may well subjoyn in serious Inquiries into things quod sentiendum cum Dâ—ctis And tho' I pretend not to such rectified notions of things as others may have reacht yet since this falls in my way it may not be amiss to consider what estimate we are to make of Birth and Death with respect to a Saint And 1 as to Birth tho' we must consider a Saint as all other men to be made up of a Soul and Body as his two constituent parts Yet it is the Soul which chiefly denominates the man Whence it is that in Scripture our bodies are called our Tents or Tabernacles wherein we lodge for a time so that tho' the Body be
and infinitely the best company There we shall be admitted to lean our heads on Christs bosom and tell him all our most concerning secrets and have him to be our dear friend and companion for ever There we shall be equal to the Angels and become their fellow-servants and fellow-worshippers And there shall we enjoy the company of all the glorified Saints the Patriarchs Kings Priests Prophets Apostles Evangelists Martyrs and eminent Ministers and Christians that as bright clouds of witnesses have got to heaven before us And there among others we shall meet with endeared Embraces our loving and dear Friends and Relatives that were so acceptable to us on earth We shall all meet together in the Celestial Regions and in the streets and Mansions of the new Jerusalem and as we shall be ever with the Lord so shall we be ever also with one another 6. An untainted good Name This is yet another blessing that attends the true life For to be exposed to reproaches and to underly calumnies and evil reports is inconsistent with the notion of this tho' I grant God can turn this as other evils to the advantage of his own But alas this is one superadded misery to the many that we meet with here that we are tossed to and fro with the various censures of men Even the Apostles themselves were so far from escaping this Contagion that they were esteemed as the dross and refuse of mankind as the very vilest of miscreants by a blind mad world Fame hath been for a long time the Goddess of ambitious and high Spirits But it is the greatest nonsense to talk of perpetuating ones name here since the furthest that the fame of any can go is but to the limits of time and space Fame and good name then are Jewels of the Eternal Crown of Happiness wherewith God doth adorn such only as he admits to the everlasting enjoyment of himself He then that conquers the Vniverse hath but the shaddow of true Fame which God bestows only on such who have thorow grace attained to overcome sin Satan and the world And he also who hath left his name behind in the frontis-piece of an hundred learned Volumns hath yet fallen short of a perpetual fame except he hath also attained to have his name ingraven and inrolled in the eternal Registers and Records of Heaven 7. The Perpetual Duration of all these Had we all the forementied Qualifications of true and perfect Life yet if we did but admit of a suspition in our thoughts as to their continuance and permanency This one suspicious thought would be enough to dump all our satisfaction with respect to so many blessings And therefore to make Life every way happy and perfect this superadded Qualification of the Eternity of all must of necessity come in And therefore we are hence led to see that there is no true Life here since all our comforts and enjoyments are transitory and fading as being momentary and confin'd within the narrow limits and precincts of years days hours and minutes And no wonder since even that which we call Life here is it self but a vapour that appeareth for a little and then vanisheth away yea such a vapour as has not so much a being as the shew and appearance thereof For to this purpose doth James ch 4. v. 14. Point it forth very expressively when he says it is a vapour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But on the other hand this adds to all the happiness of the future Life that all the enyoyments and blessings there are permanent and eternal No rust doth there corrupt them nor Thief steal them nor age wast them nor death devour them They that once enter upon the actual fruition of such Enjoyments do ever retain their possession of them And thus I have run thorow the Qualifications and Properties of true Life as briefly as I could Which since they only quadrate with the future Life of perfection I suppose it is easy to conceive what Reason we have to conclude with Solomon that Death to a Saint is far preferable on all accounts to his Birth or to speak it in his very words Better is the day of such a ones Death than the day of his Birth The Improvement In the next place I come to bring home the Doctrine to our selves by a serious Improvement thereof Which I design shall be Judgment and Regulative of our Practice with respect to our Duty as to both 1st The Information of our Judgments Although all that hath been said was with this design to rectifie our thoughts as to the Doctrine which is the subject matter of the Text Yet there are these things farther that we may rationally and indeed necessarily Inferr hence 1. Infer We see from what hath been said not only the certainty of a Future Life and state but of an immediate Happiness and Glory also which the Souls of the Righteous pass into at Death When the poor Beggar dyed he was carried by Angels into Abraham's bosome Luk. 16. 26. And the poor penitent Thief was on one and the same day in misery on the Cross with Christ and in paradise with him Luk. 23. 43. And St. Paul the great Columbus of the upper world who first made a voyage and returned again in time as we see 2 Cor. 12. 1 4 c. Could never reflect afterwards upon that paradise which he then saw but with earnest breathings to be there again as we see 2 Cor. 5. 1 2. c. Phil. 1. 23. And indeed if there were not a future state we could never give any rational account why God should make so Noble a Creature as Man but might then cry out with the Psalmist Psal 89. 47. Wherefore hast thou made all men in vain And were not this glorious life and state to be entered upon by the Souls of Believers Immediately at Death it would greatly damp the sweet and comfortable reflections which they are called to have thereof then 2. Infer We have hence also a rational and satisfactory Answer to give to all the scruples and Objections that can be put up by any against this Doctrine And now since we hinted before some Doubts that naturally might arise in mens minds from the first proposal and idea of this Doctrine I shall therefore in this place briefly Answer the same from what hath been already said Wherefore 1. Since Atheistical and Anti-scriptural Persons cry out upon this Doctrine as ridiculous from a fond imagination that the Soul has no existence when separate from the body I Answer 1. That such an imagination is not only contrary to Scripture but Reason it self For how is it possible for us to conceive that such a noble active and intelligent being as the Soul of Man should be meerly dependant on the body and have only its duration for a short space in this vain world Especially 2. since we see that this present life is rather an appearance than a reality as all things
merits and righteousness of Christ and fancy not that your own inherent Righteousness must go Partner with the Righteousness of Christ in the point of Justification lest thereby you impeach the all-sufficient Merits of Christ of defectiveness and claim the priviledge to be accounted your own Saviours But endeavour with the Apostle Phil. 3. 9. To be found in him not having your own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousness which is of God by faith 3. Mind the concernment of your Souls Salvation with all earnestness and diligence For what profit will it be untoyou to gain the whole world if you lose your Souls or what can you give in exchange again for them if once they be lost Therefore trifle not away precious time and golden opportunities in doing nothing or it may be things worse than nothing lest you be forced at length to cry out as the great Grotius did when dying Ah vitam perdidi operose nihil agendo Be not so besotted as to lay the stress of your hopes upon an imaginary Death-bed Repentance But since now you have a price put into your hands to get wisdom with beg and endeavour after that happy Part and Lot that shall never be taken from you when once attained 2. Direct Take heed how you carry with respect to your Bodies And as to this matter I will give you a tast of my Thoughts in these three things 1. Watch against your Bodies that they prove not snares to your Souls as they are I fear to many in more than one respect For 1. how oft do our senses deceive and cheat the Soul and presenting it with innumerable objects to distract and disturb it from the pursuit of more noble things And 2. the Fancy and unruely Imagination doth no less oft discompose the Mind and Reason by innumerable Chimera's in the forming and producing of which it is for the most part strangely fruitful Yea 3. the wants of the Body prove oft-times a great Remora to the Soul in its spiritual operations by giving occasion to sollicitude and anxious cares about what we shall eat and drink and wherewithall we shall be clothed and how we shall prevent such and such evils and troubles c. In all which respects we have great reason both to watch over and to watch against our Bodies 2. Live above your Bodies Let not your thoughts and cares terminate only there What! Shall a mortal fadeing Carcase swallow up our thoughts and inhance our affections when the time is coming that Death will at one blow cut down the same whereon we have bestowed so much pains in vain Yea the time is coming when this beautiful outside will stink and turn to corruption And then worms must nestle in those holes where sprightly eyes did once shine and all our graceful and well proportioned members and parts moulder down into deformity and rottenness Therefore let us hence learn to live above our Bodies 3. Be content to be unbodied for a time It is this way alone that we can expect to see God fully and to reach the happy Life and therefore it is our Duty to work up our hearts to an hearty contentment in and satisfaction with this way method and ordinance of Gods own appointment in order to consummate our felicity Nay let me say further that we ought to endeavour not only to be content to die but to be willing and desirous to depart that we may be with Christ which is best of all This was Pauls attainment Phil. 1. 23. And not his only but that which was very common to the Saints in those more heavenly times Rom. 8. 23. 2 Cor. 5. 4 5. Yea the very inanimate Creation hath an earnest propensity this way groaning for a dissolution as to its present form that it may be restored to its pristine glory and splendour before it became the stage of sin and theatre of misery This we may see Rom. 8. 19 21 22. Which is a consideration that may well shame us out of our earthly frame that we have sunk into for the most part in these depraved days I know indeed that we are apt to reckon it a great attainment in a Christian and comparatively indeed with the frame of most it is so to be content to die in submission to Divine good pleasure yet desirous to live But the excellency of the Christian attainment and frame of spirit in this matter stands in the inversion of the common order viz. In being desirous to die yet content to live in submission to Gods will and in regard of service to be done for God further And indeed when a Christian hath once tasted of the pleasure and delight of communion with God and thus been admitted to some fore-tasts of the future glory he can scarce any longer contain himself the love of God in Christ constraining him from crying out O Time be gone O Eternity make hast Why art thou so long a coming to those that are ready to burst with longing after the immediate sight and fruition of their God and Saviour forever Don't the Spirit and the Bride both Eccho forth with a sweet pathos come Lord Jesus And shall not our Souls joyn in the consort and ingeminat Amen even so come Lord Jesus come come 3. Direct Take heed how you carry with respect to your Souls Which Advice I take up also in these Three Things which I shall but very briefly propose First Be careful to cultivate your Souls that so you may grow dayly in a meetness and preparedness for Heaven and Glory And as there are two principal Faculties of the Soul the Vnderstanding and Will so accordingly let it be your great study to adorn these with what tends to render them more and more excellent And 1. Improve your Vnderstandings by dilating and enlarging them by further degrees of true spiritual Knowledge Grow in the Knowledge of God and Christ of the Vanity of the World and Excellency of Heaven and of the Worth of the Soul and in summ of all Gospel-Truths and Promises and the legal Precepts and Duties that are revealed as needful to be known 2. Improve your Wills and Affections also by more and more Grace that the Habits thereof may be strengthened by repeated Acts and that so these habits thus strengthened may be exerted put forth the more sweetly and freely in the out-going of the Soul in all its acts and operations 2. Employ your Souls always in Gods service This is and ought to be your chief and constant work and business Let us with complacency and chearfulness imploy our selves this way that it may be our meat and drink to do the will of our Father who is in Heaven What is our business in the world if it be not this For it is an opportunity to serve God here that alone can make a Saint content and willing to stay below in this Dung-hill world when