Selected quad for the lemma: death_n
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A45685
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A funeral sermon on Mordecai Abbott Esq. preach'd at Lorimers Hall, April the 7th, 1700 / by Thomas Harrison.
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Harrison, Thomas, fl. 1700.
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1700
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Wing H910; ESTC R40131
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13,432
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55
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Principle of spiritual Life A corrupt Tree cannot bring forth good Fruit Mat. 7.18 We may as well suppose that Grapes should be the Product of Thorns oâ— Figs of Thistles as that an unsanctified Person should bring forth Fruit unto God They that are in the Flesh cannot please God Rom. 8.8 Their Persons cannot therefore their Actions cannot because they are the Products of a Nature at variance with him a Nature that is not nor cannot be subject to his Law The faithful Servants of Christ are conform'd to his Image The Law of God is first written in their Hearts and then copied out in their Lives 2. I shall describe them from their Actions Only I would premise this we are not to suppose that they are altogether free from Sin The most faithful Servants of Christ offend in many things their Errors are so many and so great that they cannot fully understand them Their best Performances are imperfect being tinctur'd with the remaining Corruption of their Natures Should God be strict to mark the Iniquities of their holy things they could not stand before him But 1. They design the Honour of Christ in that Service which they do for him Many carnal Persons do several things that are agreeable to the Reveal'd Will of this glorious Lord and have a proper tendency to serve his Interest but they have no eye to his Glory in any of these Actions they only aim at the advancement of their own Reputation the promotion of some Secular Interest or the quieting of their own Consciences But they who sincerely serve the Blessed Jesus fix upon his Glory as their ultimate end and what Good they do is propos'd by them as a means subservient to it The grand reason of their practical Holiness and Obedience is that they themselves may not only acknowledg the Glory of their great Master but likewise proclaim it to others 2. They have a regard to all his Commandments The Character which Christ gives of his Friends Joh. 15.14 agrees to his faithful Servants they do whatsoever he commands them They do not slight any Precept on which they can discern the stamp of his Authority They make conscience both of first and second Table Duties of those that are Personal and those that are Relative of the least as well as the greatest of the most difficult as well as the most easy They will not say of any Divine Command This is a hard saying who can bear it They are ready to do any sort of Work their Master sets them about however toilsom and laborious however mean and contemptible in the eyes of the World however costly or hazardous They mind the Duties of every place and station wherein the Providence of God hath set them whether Civil Domestic or Ecclesiastical They discharge their Duty towards their Country their Families and the Church to which they are related with Integrity and Diligence And this they do not by constraint but willingly 1. They lay out all the Talents with which they are intrusted in his Service As they are Stewards they improve what he hath put into their hands to those Ends and Purposes for which they receiv'd it Have they a plentiful Estate they do not spend it in making provision for the Flesh nor do they covetously hoard it up but imploy a considerable part of it in supporting the Worship of God propagating the Gospel of Christ and relieving those that are in distress They honour God with their Substance and with the first-fruits of their Increase Are they advanc'd to any Station wherein they are capable of serving Christ or his People with their Interest they improve it to the utmost for such a purpose They serve the Lord with those Parts and Abilities with those Gifts and Graces which he hath bestow'd upon them II. I proceed to give you an account of that joyful and happy State whereof those faithful Servants shall be hereafter possest And since it is exprest by Joy in my Text I shall mention some things which render that State very joyful or excite a triumphant Joy in those that enter into it and then give you the Properties of that Joy which results from these Fruitions 1st I shall mention some things which render that State very joyful or excite a triumphant Joy in those that enter into it 1. A freedom from those Infelicities which attend a mortal State As the privation of Good is cause of Sorrow so a deliverance from Evil gives a natural rise to Joy Will not a Prisoner rejoice when reliev'd from that Dungeon to which he was confin'd and freed from those Fetters wherewith he was shackled How joyful is a Man when recover'd from a languishing Sickness and eas'd of racking Pain Surely our Mouths will be filled with Laughter and our Tongues with singing when we shall be perfectly freed from that mighty train of Evils which Adam's Fall brought into this lower World How will our Spirits exult when we shall be set at a vast distance from those things which often made us sigh groan and weep When we enter into the other World we shall be freed from all sorrowful and from all sinful Evils 1. From all sorrowful Evils There is no more Death nor Sorrow nor shall there be any more Pain for former things are past away Rev. 21.4 There is no Infirmity of Body no Poverty no Disgrace no Treachery of pretended Friends no Persecution of open Enemies there are no perplexing Cares or tormenting Fears no Temptations from within or without no Divine Withdrawings How will the Soul rejoice when it can say I felt abundance of Pain by reason of the disorder of my Body but now I enjoy perfect Ease I was rack'd and tortur'd with many Cares and Fears but now they are all chas'd away as the Shadows of the Evening by the rising Sun I was violently buffeted by the wicked one but he is now bruised under my Feet I have obtain'd a compleat and final Victory over him I am got out of the reach of his fiery Darts and malignant Suggestions 2. From all sinful Evils These are most grievous to a renewed Soul when in a right frame no Pressure so heavy as that Body of Death which he continually carries about with him Of this the Apostle Paul made a very doleful Complaint Rom. 7.34 And from the fountain of indwelling Sin many actual Sins do frequently stream But all vitious Habits are entirely rooted out of Believers when translated into another World No unclean thing can enter into the holy place above The rags of mortal Defilement drop from them as Elijah's Mantle did from him when mounting up to that lofty Region And none of those Sons that are brought to Glory ever wander from God's Commandments There is no more disconformity to the Divine Will in their Actions than there is in their Hearts And how will the holy Soul exult when freed from those Fetters of Corruption which so often kept it at a distance
for it I conceive the latter word faithful may be explicative of the former Epithet good the Goodness and Excellency of a Servant chiefly consisting in his Fidelity to his Master The things wherein he had been faithful are call'd few in comparison of what should be intrusted with him and bestow'd upon him The most that we receive from Christ at present is very little compared with what we shall receive from him hereafter There is a vast disproportion between what we have in hand and what we have in hope I may say of the Enjoyments as the Apostle doth of the Sufferings of the present time that they are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be reveal'd in us Rom. 8.18 God will deal more bountifully with his own Children when they come to Heaven than he ever doth while they remain upon Earth 2. The Happiness to which he adjudges him I will make thee Ruler over many things enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. We must not be solicitous to accommodate every word in a Parable to that spiritual Truth that is taught us by it I will not determine whether these words I will make thee Ruler over many things do purely serve for the setting off the Parabolical Narration or are to be taken in a spiritual sense According to the former Notion they are expressive of a kind Master's treatment of a faithful Servant having experienc'd his Fidelity in smaller matters he entrusts him with greater and advances him to a higher Station According to the latter Notion they are expressive of that great Felicity which Christ will confer upon his faithful Servants in another World This is further held forth in the following words Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord whereby is certainly intended the Glory and Blessedness of the Heavenly State This is exprest by Joy because the fruition of it will produce a triumphant and unspeakable Joy in those that enter into it Thus Psal 16.11 In thy Presence is fulness of Joy and at thy right-hand are Pleasures for evermore 'T is call'd the Joy of his Lord and that probably on a double account 1. Because in the Vision and Enjoyment of Christ the greatest part of their Felicity will consist Tho there be many Jewels in that never fading Crown of Glory which shall be set upon the Heads of Believers in another World this is the brightest and most sparkling When our Lord prays for the final Happiness of his People he thus expresses himself Father I will that they be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me Joh. 17.24 The Apostle therefore desir'd to depart that he might be with Christ Phil. 1.23 2. Because his Glory in Heaven is the Exemplar and Pattern of that which his People shall enjoy They shall enter into that Joy which he as their Forerunner is already enter'd into Not that they shall possess the same Glory in all respects that Christ hath for his personal Glory as the Son of God and as Mediator are incommunicable but they shall partake of his Glory according to their Capacity We are told that they shall reign with him 2 Tim. 2.12 and that when he shall appear they shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.2 Their Souls shall be perfectly conform'd to his human Soul in Purity and Felicity and their Bodies shall be fashion'd into the likeness of his glorious Body An entering into this Joy may denote the plenitude and abundance of it Here Joy enters into us but hereafter we shall enter into Joy we shall be swallow'd up in a fathomless Ocean of pure and unallay'd Pleasures I proceed 4thly To consider the Time when this Speech was deliver'd If we look back into the 19th Verse we shall find it was when the Lord came to reckon with his Servants Hereby our Lord's second Coming in visible Glory to judg both Quick and Dead is evidently intended Of this we have a particular account in the latter part of the Chapter The Heavens must contain our ascended Lord till the times of the restitution of all things and then he shall descend from thence in the Glory of his Father with all his holy Angels to convene the whole Race of Adam before his Judgment-seat to call them to an account for the Deeds done in the Body and to pass a definitive Sentence upon them according to their Works 'T is true there is a particular Judgment which immediately follows after Death When the Soul is separated from the Body it appears before the Bar of the supreme Judg to give an account of its Stewardship and then receives an irreversible Sentence of Condemnation or Absolution But I conceive our Lord chiefly respects the General Judgment when the Trial will be public the Sentence pronounc'd with the most awful Solemnity and the Happiness or Misery of every Man compleated Having gone thro the words by way of Explication I might raise several Observations from them But that I may comply with my time I shall only speak to this Proposition Doct. That they who are faithful Servants of Christ in this Life shall be possest of a very joyful and happy State in the next In prosecuting this Point I shall I. Describe the faithful Servants of Christ II. Give an account of that joyful and happy State of which they shall be hereafter possest III. Show the certain Connexion between serving Christ faithfully in this Life and the Possession of that blissful State in the next IV. Make some Application I. I am to describe the faithful Servants of Christ who they are that shall be own'd as such by the Supreme Lord when he comes to Judgment They may be described 1. From their State 2. From their Actions The former is necessarily presuppos'd to their serving Christ with Faithfulness and Acceptance The Service which they do for Christ consists in the latter 1. Their State may be describ'd â—n two Particulars 1. They are justified by the Righteousness of Christ 'T is impossible that any good Fruit should be brought forth by a Person till he be ingrafted into Christ as is plainly taught us by our Lord himself Joh. 15.4 5. Now being found in Christ and â—aving on his Righteousness are conjoin'd because they are inseparable Phil. 3.9 They who are mystically one with Christ must â—eeds be interested in his Mediatory Righteousness and so perfectly justified in the sight of God Tho according to the Tenor of the Covenant of Works the Servant was to be first accepted and then the Person on that account yet according to the Tenor of the Covenant of Grace the Person must be first accepted and then the Service Nothing short of an Investiture with Christ's perfect Righteousness can render our Persons acceptable to the most High and till they become so our most splendid Services will be abominable in his sight 2. They are renew'd and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ Every acceptable Service flows from a