hope and view We have a Building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens And for this we groan earnestly for this state of immortal Happiness desiring to be cloathed upon with our House that is from Heaven A Blessed State so fitted for us and we for it that no Apparel for the Body can be more SECT II. He was not only content to Dye and ready with Patience to receive a Summons out of this World but so unspeakable was the difference in his Judgment between his present State in the Body and that which he expected beyond the Grave that he reckoned a Translation was every way preferable and rather to be chosen even by intervening Death that so instead of this little House this mean and poor Dwelling which we now inhabit we may come to a better Building that is of God formed and prepared by him to the more spacious Mansions which the blessed God has provided for us above that instead of this movable Tent This earthly Tabernacle continually liable to so many changes dangers and inconveniencies we may have a House not made with hands that is of God's immediate Work more excellent and more lasting more safe and more abiding That instead of this earthly House of dirt and clay into which it will shortly be dissolved we may have a building in Heaven suited to the Heavenly State and Life a more commodious Dwelling fitted for the Offices of a Glorified Soul and which shall not molder but be Eternal that when this Tabernacle is dissolved which needs every day to be repaired and with all our care cannot long be supported we may have a permanent unchangable building eternal in the Heavens In short that our bodies as well as our Souls may be glorious and blessed and unchangably so in the other World After such a State and Life as this so elegantly described in the beginning of this Chapter he declares his earnest Desire in this Text not in his own name only but as the common sense of all the Followers of Christ This he amplifies and limits by several expressions unto which some following verses in this chapter will give further light For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan being burdened not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life SECT III. In which words we may consider two Parts 1. The State and Temper of the Followers of Christ or of all real Christians That while they are in the Body they are burdened and groan for Deliverance 2. A Judicious Stating the matter of such Desire of Deliverance Or what it is that they groan and long for set forth in three expressions 1. Negatively It is not Simply to be uncloathed But 2. To be cloathed upon And 3. That Mortality may be swallowed up of Life 1. The state and Temper of good men or real Christians while they are in the Body They are burdened and therefore groan for deliverance We that are in this earthly Tabernacle Or as the expression is ver 8. While we are at home in the Body present in the Body or While we converse and Sojourn in the Body Which he calls an earthly House ver 1. But because it is no certain fixed Dwelling he adds the other term of a Tabernacle While we dwell in this little Fabrick framed at first out of the dust of the earth as were the Worms who are therefore our Kindred and Relations and they were formed before the Creation of man While we are in this earthly Tabernacle whose foundation is in the dust Whose matter is not more excellent than that of the Beasts that perish An earthly Tabernacle not only as to its original but is sustained and repaired by earthly things 146 Psalm 4.12 Eccl. 7. and ere long to be resolved into Earth again This dust shall be turned to earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God While we are in this earthly House we groan and long for a removal we earnestly covet desire and wait for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a better Dwelling and a better State we pant and breath and long for it from the Faith and Hope of what God has revealed concerning the upper better World and the future Felicity of all that believe in Christ where we look for another sort of Bodies and another kind of Life this is that we aspire and groan after and would fain obtain SECT IV. 2. He describes the matter of such a Desire and the just limits of it in three Expressions 1. Negatively Not for that we would be uncloathed i. e. 1. Not Simply to dye for dying sake Not meerly to be rid of the Body and to live without any As we are a sort of Creatures made up of Soul and body the separation of these two cannot in it self for its own sake be desirable we have a natural innocent unavoidable Aversion to Death as such And as it is a Penalty and the fruit of Sin as even to the best man it is there cannot but be some unwillingness to dye however fit it be to be desired otherwise on the account of the Consequences of Death All the Faith and Reason in the world cannot make Death to be no penalty So neither is it possible that any man can reason or believe himself into a love of Pain and Death as such Therefore it is not simply to be uncloathed to have Soul and Body separated that is here desired It is not a perpetual state of being without a Body For he desires to be cloathed upon and not found naked Our case is so stated that our Souls are to be cloathed upon with a Body and we cannot but desire that the union of the Soul and body should be preserved and in the state of Separation there is some hankering of the Soul after the body Some such Desire of regaining that Reunion SECT V. 2. Neither is it meerly a Weariness of this present Life by reason of the Burden of sorrows and Sufferings which the Apostle and other Christians met with in it that makes them thus to groan For if he might be further serviceable to the interest of Christ and therein be accepted and pleasing to him he declares ver 9. that he was willing to live He professes his readiness to prefer the Salvation of many Souls and his being instrumental to their happiness before the hastening of his own He knew that God may have as much Service in our Lives in an afflicted suffering State as in a prosperous Condition he knew That we may glorifie God in Sickness and in a Prison as much or more than in health or liberty And that to bear any of our Trials and Burdens well and to honour God by a Christian Deportment under them is better than to be delivered His Desire therefore to the blessed State which was in expectation was not to the Act of Dissolution it self without reference to what would
follow He desires not so much the end of this Life whatever he now suffered as the blessedness of the next Life which he hoped for It was not an Annihilation to put a period to his present sufferings but a happy Change which he groan'd for Not a Ruin but a temporary dissolution of this earthly House in order to an Eternal Advantage Not a bare privation of this Life but a passage to a better He doth not groan so much from the Sense of present Evil as by reason of the Absence of his most desired Good He was not so much burdened by what he felt and could not avoid or remove as by what he foresaw and expected and could not yet Enjoy He must dye first and have the old House pull'd down before he could reach that compleat Felicity which he so earnestly aspires after SECT VI. 2. It is therefore further exprest as that which he groaned and longed for viz. to be Cloathed upon To lay aside this mean and little troublesome Garment for a more beautiful and commodious one To have this earthly House dissolved and moulder into dust with the Expectation of reassuming Another or the Same with a glorious Change And in that sense the Expression verse 3. may be understood That being thus cloathed that is with such a glorified Body we may not be found Naked or without any Body at all Though * A. B. Cant. 3. Vol. Serm. 6th some carry the expression Desiring to be cloathed upon as wishing not to put off this Body at all but to be in the number of those who shall be found alive at the coming of Christ to Judgment which some of the Disciples of Christ expected by a mistake of what he said concerning St. John If I will that he tarry till I come And so the words may be read If so be that we shall be found cloathed and not naked That is if at Christ's coming we shall be found Alive and not Dead and so have this mortal corruptible Body changed into a Spiritual Glorious and Immortal one without Dying Whether that was the sense of the Apostle or not I shall discourse of these words as the common Sentiment of real Christians who have no hope of Living till the end of the World but expect to dye e're it be long and carnestly desire a future Blessedness for Soul and Body in another Life and therefore when they lay down this Body in the Dust they groan to be cloathed upon to have these vile Bodies made like the glorious Body of Christ or as the Apostle himself expresses it 1 Cor. 15.53 To have this Corruptible put on Incorruption and this Mortal put on Immortality The putting off there is the same with the being cloathed upon here That is they groan to have this present State changed for the Felicity and Glory of that future State which Christ hath given them to expect both for Soul and Body in another Life SECT VII 3. There is yet another Expression which riseth higher That Mortality may be swallowed up of Life That which is Mortal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This our mortal Life which is subject to Dangers Afflictions and Death it self That this may be Swallowed up of Life as is that which is Imperfect by that which is Perfect as Infancy and Childhood by Maturity and Manhood or as Darkness is swallowed up in Light The meaning is that our low Animal Life may be changed into an Heavenly one that our frail short and transitory Life may be changed into an Immortal Eternal one that the Corruption and Mortality which our Bodies are liable to and which remain in them while they are in the Grave may be removed Or according to the Apostles Phrase That Death may be swallowed up in Victory may be finally perfectly and for ever Destroyed For so the expression does import and is often rendered in other places * See Dr. Hammond 1 Cor. 15.54 g. for ever And that includes the Resurrection of the Body to an happy State as one part of this Desire For if by Dying we are more miserable than before Death is not swallowed up in Victory it rather is too hard for us and gains a Victory over us But if our state be bettered by Death not only as to our Souls but our very Bodies are also to be raised again to a glorious Life if when Death hath done its utmost our Souls pass into a State of Rest and Bliss to be compleated in a glorious Resurrection of the Body and to be continued and increased to all Eternity we are then Victorious over Death Death may be said to be swallowed up in Victory or Mortality swallowed up of Everlasting Life CHAP. II. The Method and Design of the following Discourse Good men in the present state are burdened with their Sins and Sufferings so as to groan for Deliverance SECT I. After this Paraphrase and Explication of the words that which I design as the Ground of my following discourse is this That it becomes the State and Frame of real Christians while they are burdened in these mortal Bodies earnestly to desire a better an Immortal Life wherein the Body as well as the Soul shall be gloriously Changed In discoursing of this I shall first show That such is the present State of good men in these Bodies that they groan under manifold Burdens that may well make them long for Deliverance II. That they have the certain Expectation of a better State and Life after the dissolution of this earthly Tabernacle by Death III. That it is agreeable to the Temper of a Christian Spirit so far as renewed and sanctified to long for that better State and Life beyond the Grave IV. That it is not such a State and Life wherein they expect to be without any Body at all but to have their Bodies raised and changed and glorified To be cloathed upon with an House from Heaven and to have mortality swallowed up in Life The consideration of these particulars will make way for the practical Application suitable to this solemn Occasion on which I am desired to preach on this Text. SECT II. First That such is the present state of good Men in these Bodies that they groan under manifold Burdens which may well make them long for Deliverance I need not run far into the common Theme of the Miseries of humane Life which every one feels or knows of those that do Our Sufferings and our Sins while in this earthly Tabernacle will be sufficient to be considered under this head 1. Our Sorrows and Sufferings while in the Body Our early Tears when we come into the World prognosticate a good share of these to be expected Not to mention the Vexation of disappointment in our Temporal Injoyments as a great part of this Burden the actual Sorrows and Afflictions which all partake of are very many and great heavy and afflictive they are such as extort the Cries and Tears and
of his glory here can make me brook so long a separation otherwise whatever the League be between me and this Body I had rather be with Christ though that be dissolved If there be no way to come to Heaven but by Dying I would rather dye to be there than live in this absence from Christ my Saviour that I may doubt of his love no more and feel no more effects of his displeasure that he may hide his Face from me no more but with everlasting Compassions receive and imbrace me And what is there in Death that I should fear it that is half so frightful and grievous as my Absence from Christ What is there in this earthly Tabernacle or in this present World that I should so love an abode in it and not be willing to quit it that I may be present with the Lord O let him call me when he will if he will receive my departing Soul Let him draw me through the dust of the Earth if he will draw me nearer to himself and bring me to his blessed Presence 'T is there I long to be 't is that my heart is set upon that is it I groan for I am desirous of his Presence to behold his Glory and receive the Communications and Reflections of it Henceforth I would not be unwilling and backward to go unto him but rather say O when shall I come and appear before him But there is a fourth Particular to which I hasten SECT VI. Fourthly The Vnequal Communications of Light and Grace and Comfort from Christ while in the Body make them thus groan to be uncloth'd There is not that steddiness and Constancy in such Communications from God in our present State as hereafter there will be neither is it suitable to the Character and Condition of Strangers and Travellers that there should Sometimes therefore we may have better Entertainment than at other times we may not expect to have the same Sunshine and Fair weather during our whole Pilgtimage The Light of God's Countenance may be sometimes cover'd and overcast The inward state of things between God and our Souls may be often alter'd But when we shall be at home in our Father's House in the presence of our Lord there will be a fulness of uninterrupted Joy and unchangeable Pleasure Christians are now sometimes in the Mount and then again in the Valley Sometimes they can Rejoyce soon after they are Mourning and Dejected Sometimes the Love of God is strong and vigorous soon after the Love of the World prevails again in some sad Instance or other to grieve the Holy Spirit of God and cause him to withdraw Sometimes they can apply the Promises with Comfort and go to God with Holy Confidence as to their Father and think of Eternity and another World with transporting Joy and of the Heavenly Inheritance as their own with raised Desires and Delight within a Day or two it may be they are again plunged in the Mire and sunk into the depths of Darkness and Discouragement so as not to be able to hold up their heads Sometimes at the Table of the Lord they have Refreshing Views of the Glory of Christ in his Love and Grace as bearing the Curse which they deserv'd as manifesting his special Kindness and Sealing his Love with particular Application to their Souls as Interested in all the Benefits of his Meritorious Death Hereby they are Reviv'd and Quickned and Strengthned and enabled to say I am as one who hath found favour in his sight My Beloved is mine and I am his He led me into his Banqueting-House his Banner over me was Love He called to me as to the Unbelieving Disciple Come reach hither thy hand thrust it into my side and heart see how I have loved thee Come feel the print of the Spear and of the Nails in my Hands and Feet see what I suffer'd for thee to express my Love What can I deny thee after this Upon this an exulting Joy must needs ensue but it did not last And it may be the next Month they bewail that it is quite otherwise with 'em Sometimes their hearts are enlarged and delighted in Prayer Thansgiving Sabbaths Sacraments c. 'T is their Joy sometimes to go to the House of God and call upon his Name and be employed in Heavenly Work to Sing the High Praises of God in the Solemn Assemblies But this is not constant and equal not always alike Could a Christian Act Faith at all times as sometimes he is enabled to do could he every day feel the Love of Christ and express his own as sometimes could he always resign devote yeild himself to the Lord with that entire Adoration Submission and Satisfaction in the divine Will and Glory Goodness and Wisdom as sometimes and on some Occasions he would hardly believe himself a stranger and Foreinner in this world he would be tempted to take Earth for Heaven and say t is Good to be here But whatever Influences of Grace and Comfort we now receive they are not steddy equal and constant and t is but fit that we who are only Passengers through this World and are not at home should be thus made sensible of our true Character and Condition and not find the Way or Weather alike good or our own Health equal or our Accommodations Provisions and Entertainment here This helps to make as long for a Better State and Life CHAP. V. Of the Resurrection of the Body It is Possible Probable and Certain Some have been raised from the Dead Where were their Souls during their Separation from their Bodies Christ's Resurrection of the Body farther illustrated and proved SECT I. The Fourth thing proposed is to prove that this Blessed state and Life which Christians desire and long for is not such a one wherein they are to be alway without a Body but to have their Bodies raised changed and glorified or to be cloathed upon with an House from Heaven The Possibility of the Resurrection of the Body the Probability and the Certainty of it have been often and largely * See Dr. Peirson Dr Towerson c. on the Creed Art XI of the Resurrection of the Body And Mr. Baoeter's Saints Rest Part 1. Chap. 5. and Self-denial Chap. 38. proved That it is possible both on the part of the Agent and Patient Who that considers the Divine Omniscience and Power can doubt but that God can remake an Humane Body of that Dust into which it is resolved and however it be dispersed find out and rally the several parts together and unite them one to another What Impossibility is it that the despersed parts of a Man's Body should be disposed into their due Scituation and Order and reduced to a Temper fit to discharge the Functions and Operations of Life and that the Soul should be Re-united to a Body thus Restored How is it impossible Or why should it be Difficult to him who did at first frame and temper this Body
consisting of Soul and Body and our Bodies Sanctified by him and are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and therefore shall be raised by him Yea we are said to rise with him and to be set down in heavenly places in and with him It is not more true that he died for our sins than that be rose again for our Justification and if for that he rose for our Resurrection too For the guilt of sin being removed which is the meritorious cause of Death Death which is the Punishment shall not remain but be swallowed up in Victory whereas it lives and reigns and keeps the Field till the Restirrection But we are assured that The Sea and Death and the Vniversal Grave shall give up their Dead Rev. 20.13 And then not only the sting of Death but Death it self shall dye and cease for ever for there shall be no more death Rev. 21.4 Our dead Bodies shall then live so as to dye no more For if we believe on him that raised Christ from the dead the same Spirit that raised Christ shall be the Author of our Resurrection Rom. 8.23 And if we believe that Jesus dyed and rose again even them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 He that was dead is now alive and behold he lives for evermore and he hath the keys of Death and Hell Rev. 1.18 And he has expresly told us that the hour is coming in the which All that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth They that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation John 5.28.29 And this is the will of God that sent him that every one who believeth on him shall have everlasting Life and he will raise him up at the last day John 6.40 The like he declares afterwards to Martha I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me tho he were dead yet shall he live John 11.25 He is the First born from the dead and Believers are the Children of the Resurrection Colos 1.18 His Resurrection not only proves the possibility of ours but it is the pledge of the performance God having raised him up hath loosed the pains of Death since it was impossible he should be holden by them Naturally impossible because of his Divine Power and legally impossible because Divine Justice after such a Satisfaction as the Death of Christ required that he should be raised to Life and receive a Discharge and Reward We could hardly believe the Dead should rise to Life if Christ by his own Resurrection and by raising others had not proved it possible and already done But he hath not conquer'd Death for himself alone but for his Members too and to them he has promised that they shall * John 11.26 never see Death or come within the Prospect or Danger of it And not only shall not but cannot dye any more after the Resurrection for they shall be equal to the Angels Luke 20.36 His Victory over Death was declared by his Resurrection and his entrance into Glory did Compleat the Conquest Now as Christ hath carried his Humane Nature into Heaven we are to be made like him and bear the Image of the Heavenly Adam and therefore our Flesh shall be raised too He is the first-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15 20. And it is * Bishop Vsher observable tha the Rose from the Dead on that Day whereon the Jews observe their Feast of First-fruits That Feast was not stinted to any day of the Month as other Feasts were but was to be always on the Morrow after the Passover Sabbath that so it might fall always on the First day of the Week the Day of Christ's Resurrection Well therefore might the Apostle say Christ being Risen is become the First-fruits of them that sleep As the Offering of the First-fruits amongst the Jews Consecrated all the rest SECT IV. Neither can we suppose our Happiness would be compleat without the Resurrection of the Body As Soul and body concur to the Constitution of man the Soul is in a State of widowhood till reunited to the Body And in this Life the Body has a share in the work and service of the Man which is to be rewarded or punished as executing the designs of the Soul And the members of the Body serve as members of Righteousness or Sin The Law of God commands the intire Man composed of Soul and Body and this Law is obeyed or violated by both though the moral good or evil of our Actions be chiefly attributed to the Soul as the principal Agent But on this Account the Body shall partake in the rewards or Punishment of the next Life if the intire Person be to be recompenced And it is with respect to the Body that seemed to be lost that the Resurrection is promised the Body resolved into dust or swallowed in the Sea or consumed by fire Such promises of the Resurrection are made to Believers for their encouragment and hope Besides there are many Objects in the heavenly State that do suppose a Body and are to be discerned by our bodily senses as the glorious beauty and magnificence of the blessed mansions and the Humane Nature of our glorious Redeemer c. On which and many other accounts the Body shall be raised and changed and glorified SECT V. Reason it self would make this Probable Man being created with a Body and a Soul which have so natural an Inclination to one another that there is an appetite and desire as it seems to be united and co-operate together and many of our Capacities of Joy and Comfort as well as of Sorrow and Grief result from and depend upon this Union In order therefore to the full and final Felicity that God will confer on some and for the greater Misery wherewith divine Justice will punish others it is very probable from principles of Reason that God will raise the Bodys of men That being united to their Souls they may be better capable of enjoying the promised Happiness or suffering the threatened misery of the next World This seems to be the sense of Job 14. Chap. 14. ver where he says that all the days of his appointed time I will wait till my change come Speaking of the Resurrection of the Body There is hope of a Tree he saith if it be cut down that it will sprout again but man dyeth and where is he he lyeth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more If a man dye shall he live again All the days of my appointed Time c. * Mr. Howe of Blessedness p. 210. According to common Apprehension and Appearance the State of man at death is hopeless But he professeth his Expectation that at a set and appointed Time God would remember him so as to recall him out of the Grave And therefore puts the question If a man dye shall he
to a Prison than to their God and had rather be Panished to a Land of Strangers than sent to Heaven O Lord must I that am called thy Child and an Heir of Heaven and a Co heir with Christ have no more Acquaintance with my Glorified Lord and no more Love to thee who art my Portion before I go hence and come to thee Must I go hence so like a Stranger to my home O what do I beg for so frequently and so earnestly for the sake of my Redeemer as the Spirit of Life and Consolation that may shew me the pleased face of God and unite all my Affections to my glorified Head and draw up this dark and drowsie Soul to love and long to be with thee O God forbid that this sinful Flesh should be more powerful to draw me downward than Faith and Hope and Love to carry my Desires up to God O thou that freely gavest me thy Grace maintain it to the last against its Enemies and make it finally Victorious It came from thee it hath been preserved by thee it is on thy side and wholly for thee O let it not now fail and be conquer'd by blind and base Carnality or by the Temptations of a Hellish conquered Enemy It is thine Image which thou lovest it is a Divine Nature and Heavenly Beam VVhat will a Soul be without it but a Dungeon of Darkness a Devil for Malignity and dead to Holiness and Heaness O rather deny me the Light of the Sun than the Light of thy Countenance Less miserable had I been without Light or Being than without thy Grace O forsake not a Sinner in his extremity who consents to thy Covenant and would not forsake thee My God I have often sinned against thee but yet thou knowest I would fain be thine I have not served thee with that Resolution Fidelity and Delight as such a Master should have been served But yet I would not forsake thy Service nor change my Master or my Work I can say with thy Servant Paul Act. 27.23 That thou art the God whose I am and whom I serve And O that I could serve thee better For to serve thee is but to receive thy Grace and use it for my own and others good and so to glorifie thee and please thy Will which being Love it self it pleased best when we receive it and do most good Nothing in this World is more my Grief than that I love thee no more Forsake not then a Sinner that would not forsake thee that looks towards thee that feels it as his trouble to be so dark and strange unto thee that groaneth and gaspeth after thee feeling to his greatest sorrow that while he is present in the Body he is absent from the Lord. My Lord I have nothing to do in this World but to seek and serve thee O pardon all my Carnal Thoughts and all my Unthankful Neglects of thy precious Grace and Love and let the fuller Communications of thy forfeited Grace now tell me by experience that thou dost forgive me When I have said VVill the Lord cast off for ever And will he be favourable no more My Conscience has replyed That this is mine Infirmity I never wanted Comfort because thou ever wantedst Mercy but because I wanted Faith and Fitness to receive it and perceive it But hast thou not Mercy also to give me even that Fitness and that Faith My God all is of thee and through thee and all is to thee and when I have the Felicity the Glory of all for ever will be thine If I can live and dye in trusting in thee surely I shall not be confounded * See a more full Example of the Acting of Holy Desires towards the Blessed Change in the Close of his Saints Everlasting Rest These be some of the Dying Thoughts of that Excellent Person SECT II. And yet my Friends mistake me not I say not that all are Graceless that are afraid of Death For Nature desires Life even under Sufferings that are but tolerable rather than dye And this is from meer natural necessary Inclination which Free-will hath not full Power against Death as the Dissolution of our frame as the Separation of Soul and Body cannot for it self be loved The putrifying of this Body in the Grave the greatness of the Change of Death the darkness of our Minds and the weakness of our Grace the remaining Sense of Sin with the dreadful Majesty of that God before whom we must appear joined with our Natural Averseness to Dye may make us shrink and tremble But the Faith of the Invisible VVorld the Love of God and Christ and a desire to enjoy him and please him and be with him should do much to overcome these Fears and make us willing Though some remaining Fear be consistent with Vprightness yet remember that not to desire and long for this Blessed State though mix'd with a Fear of intervening Death is highly criminal and faulty For the Love of God and Christ and earnest Desires to be like him and to be with him seems to be the better half of all Religion 2 Tim. 4.8 2 Tit. 13. 2 Pet. 3.12 Not to desire this Blessed Change is directly a sin against the Gospel whereby we are * 2 Thes 2 12 1 Pet. 1.12 called to the obtaining of the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ VVithout such Desires we comply not with the Design and VVill of God who hath called us to his eternal Glory by Christ Jesus For how can his Call be answered without an Inclination of Heart to such a State and a Desire after it For a real Member of Christ and Heir of Heaven to be only Content to see the Lord to be Content to be for ever in his Blessed Presence and perfectly holy and freed from Sin is a very hard and harsh expression Men are covetous eager and ambitious after earthly good And shall a Christian's Desire be less earnest after the Heavenly Glory I grant some remaining Fear of Death may consist with Integrity when it is not God and Heaven we are averse to but Death that stands in the way or when it is because of our Doubts of God's Acceptance of us For I question not but most upright Christians would rather dye than live might they but hope to be with Christ and enjoy the Divine Presence As others would be glad of a Removal might it be without Dying because they fear the Pains and Terrors of a dying Hour Might they not be uncloathed but cloathed upon by an immediate Translation they care not how soon it were For there be many such who desire the Second Coming of Christ unfeignedly and the Blessed Consequences of it to whom all the parts of the Heavenly State and Life are sweet and grateful who live and walk in their Integrity before God though their Grace prevail not against this Fear of death VVhereas you ought to consider that the Throes and Pangs of Travelling VVomen in
Christians before he takes them to himself And thus it was with our Deceased briend of which more presently But. SECT IV. Secondly Let us Consider her Carriage in each Relation There were many things Im table in her Example as a Wife a Mother a Mistress c Her Affection and Reverence to her Husband were very observable When he among many other of the faithful Servants of Christ was Silenced and forbidden to Preach though she had then Children and like to have more and a considerable Maintenance was thereby to be stopped and a growing Family to be cast upon the Providence of God and many urged her to perswade him to comply with the Imposed Terms she wholly declin'd it and would rather trust God in a Suffering State leaving him intirely to his Conscience as the fittest Judge of his Obligations Trust and Duty in that Case When afterwards of Consequents to his Nonconformity he met with any Difficulties by continuing to Preach she patiently submitted and took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods saying often when his Person was in hazard That she was ready rather to adventure her own Life then that his should be in danger as apprehending his to be more valuable to the World and the Interest of Souls than hers or Twenty such This Affection she continued all her Life advising her Children in her last Sickness to be careful of their Father and tender of him in her Absence for by so mild and good a word she spake of her Dissolution then in prospect Advising them withal to Love one another and be kindly affectioned to each other Praying particularly for her Son whom she had the Comfort to see setled in the Sacred Work of the Ministry that God would furnish him with suitable Strength of Body and Spirit and crown his Ministry with an abundant Blessing Not long before she died she thankfully owned the Goodness of God to her in the Spiritual Assistance and Comfort she received by such Relations who had an Interest in Heaven and could plead it for her in Prayer while she was languishing on a Sick Bed O what a Mercy is it said she when her Husband and Son had both been Praying for her with great Fervency and inlargedness of Heart What a Mercy is it that I should have such Relations to plead with God for me And at last when she took her Farewel of her Husband she thanked him for all his Love and all his Prayers as audibly as she was then able to speak Many Memorable things she said by way of Counsel and Advice to her Children As concerning the Deceitfulness of the Heart and the need of searching it again and again for God knows it and will not be mocked Exhorting them to seek God with their whole Heart to Pray fervently and importunately for his Grace and Favour and not in a slight and overly manner as if they were indifferent whether God did Answer or Deny I hope they will remember it and act accordingly At another time in her Sickness she cried out whilst her Children were about her O Love the Lord all ye his Saints Love the Lord ye my Children Love him Fear him She desired that they would Pray for her and she assigned a good Reason why they should For says she I have often Prayed to God for you when you could not Pray for your selves Under this Head I might add somewhat of her Carriage even to Servants to whom she gave the most Seasonable Counsel particularly in her last Sickness to the Servant that attended her to be much in Reading the Holy Scriptures to value Catechising and be diligent in learning the Principles of Religion to be faithful in her Place c. But this leads me SECT V. Thirdly To the Last Scene of her Life to speak of her deportment under Bodily Weakness and Pains under which her Patience and Submission were very becoming and truly Christian VVhen a day or two before she died her Relations seemed more than usually concerned She asked them why they were so saying It is not Death yet I may out-live this and be buffeted by Sathan as a Roaring Lion before I die When she could not sleep in the Night she said the next Morning I thought this would have been a Comfortable night to me but presently recollected her self saying So it is for it is a Mercy I am out of Hell when Ten thousands are cast into the bottomless pit that never sinned as I have done How well she bore her own Sickness and how little sollicitous she was about the Issue of it is evident from her own words O how comfortable is Death when sin is Pardoned and God Reconciled O that I might entertain kind and good Thoughts of God and trust him though he slay me When spoken to about her Recovery She could say I do not hope it and blessed be God I do not desire it When asked Are you not in a streight about it Are you willing to leave Husband and Children and all to be with Christ She declared her Willingness It is true sometime she complained that she had not such vigorous lively melting Affections in Sickness as sometime formerly in Health yet she depended on God still VVhen she was Asked VVhether she kept her Thoughts employed about Heaven She Answered I do what I can And the Night before she died after a little silence when she was questioned concerning her Thoughts VVhat she was thinking of She Answered Three things which are fit for all of us often to think of a Deceitful Heart a Painful Death and a Tempting Devil God restrained the last and carried her above the Fear and Feeling of the Second for though she said She feared a hard Death as many Holy Persons do Yet she added I submit to the will of God he will not lay upon me more than he will enable me to bear VVhen the 17th Chapter of John was Read to her where are those remarkable Consolatory words of Christ Father I will that those whom thou hast given me may be with me to behold my Glory though she could hardly speak so as to be heard she made a shift to say O Excellent Excellent expressing her Faith and Hope and Joy as far as her weakness would permit Her Humility and Thankfulness was very conspicuous during this Sickness O what a Mercy is it said she that such a one as I should have Hopes of Heaven of the Pardon of Sin and of an Interest in Christ And yet when any of those holy expressions she used were repeated in Praver to God by those who assisted her She desired no such Speeches of hers should be mentioned to God For says she my Frame is not equal and alike a way I cannot think and speak the same things at one time that I do at another An hour or two before she left this World she testified her desire to be with Christ saying How long O Lord how long if my Work be done Come and deliver me She begged they would pray for her that her Strength might hold out to the last that God would not leave her nor hide his Face in the Agonies of Death She defired rather to be dissolved than to continue in the Body saying I Look I Long I Hope O when will the hour come Must I tarry and endure another Night Come Lord Jesus come quickly Hast thou no Bowels for me Whilst thou wert on Earth thou wert full of Compassion to poor Sinners and art thou not the same in Heaven After this she owned her self refreshed by Prayer and that though her Body was weak her Heart was in a good Frame being much recruited and encouraged by Prayer And so she commended her foul to God calling on him to the very last for his merciful Assistance and Succour through the dark Valley and to accept and receive her departing Soul and so she died in the Lord and slept in Jesus God grant to us as he did to her saving Help in that hour of Darkness and Trouble and enable us to follow the Exemplary Faith and Patience of those who are gone before that with them at last we may receive the end of our Faith and Hope the Salvation of our Souls and the Resurrection of our Bodies in the day of Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life in whom whosoever believes shall never die the Second Death but the Spirit that raised Christ from the Dead shall quicken our Mortal Bodies and make them like to his most glorious Body that with Soul and Body we may be for ever with the Lord. To him be Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS Books to be Sold by A. Chandler of the same Author THe Mourners Companion or Funeral Discourses on Several Texts An Exhortation to Repentance and Vnion among Protestants The Present Correction and Reproof of Sin or a Discourse on 2 Jer. 19. Thine own Iniquities shall Correct thee and thy Backslidings shall Reprove thee A Sermon of St. Peter's Sin and True Repentance Printed for S. Wade at the Bible under the Piaza of the Royal Exchange in Cornhill
Earthly even all of us in our fleshly State having earthly bodies from an earthly Adam and natural bodies from the natural Adam And as is the Henvenly such are they that are Heavenly For Christ will make them like himself and as he hath an Heavenly Spiritual body and not an Earthly Natural body so shall his Members have that they may be like him And as we have born the Image of the Earthly in having a Natural Fleshly body we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly Adam in having a Spiritual Body not needing the use of Meats or Drinks or any of the refreshments or pleasures of the animal Life or be imployed in any of those Acts whereby the body is now denominated Natural and suited to this Earthly State But our bodies shall then be Spiritual suited to the Life that Angels and Saints live in Heaven every way greatly refined and the Activity of our Spirits improved without the defects and infirmities of flesh and blood shall be invested with Caelestial Qualities depending wholly on the Soul and yielding ready obedience and conformity to its desires and motions executing all its Commands with pleasure and Dispatch Yea the imployment and operations of the body shall be raised above those in the present state as much as the Imployment of a King exceeds that of a Scullion This Spiritual Body one represents by Organized Light as a torch or wood that looseth its drossy and foggy qualities when heightened into a pure flame or minerals heightened into Spirits 3. The Bodies of the Saints shall be changed from weak and passive into Active and Powerful Bodies Sown in Weakness but raised in Power They are now dull and sluggish but then they shall be nimble and active like the Body of Christ that at his Ascension into Heaven being done in one day moved many thousands of Miles in an hour the distance between the highest Heavens and this Earth being computed to be some hundred millions of Miles They shall be raised with Angelical Agility and Strength He that is weak among them shall be as David he that is as David shall be as an Angel of God moving without difficulty and without weariness Now we often find the Body cannot keep Peace with the Soul the Flesh is weak when the Spirit is willing but it shall be raised in Power It is now liable to Diseases and Passions can do little and suffers much but no Diseases or Infirmities shall hereafter hinder its motions or impair its Health A glorified Body will move without weariness and fast without hunger and wake for ever without need of refreshment Herein there will be a suitableness to the Activity of a glorified Soul and without this they could not bear the weight of the Heavenly Glory Besides they are to indure to all Eternity without reparation by meat and drink and fleep 4. They shall be Incorruptible and Immortal It is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption This mortal shall put on Immortality They shall dye no more but live for ever Therefore the day of the Resurrection is called the Redemption of our Bodies They shall not be liable to be put out of tune by infirmities and pains and numberless diseases as now which often make Life it selfe a Burden They shall be Immortal without needing that Labour by day or sleep by night which now we bestow to supply their Necessities and repair their decays and prevent Death Now the Body has the seeds of Mortality and Corruption but shall then be refined from all such Principles There shall not be a tendency to Death in the nature and constitution of the Body such will be the glorious Change that they cannot dye any more 20. Luk. 36. They that were raised by Christ when on Earth they dyed again their second Life was no more exempt from death than their First But at the Resurrection Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life it shall lose its power and force for ever CHAP. VII Inferences of Truth and Duty from the preceding Discourse The Soul doth not perish when the Body dies The Felicity of the Soul is what we principally desire Our Faith should be consirmed in the Believing Expectation of this Glorious Change Our affections and Conversation should be Suitable SECT I. First Let us not then imagin the State of the Dead to be a State of Non-existence or Annihilation that the Soul perishes with the Body and that we are without Hope of its Resurection Whereas when our Soul passes into a state of Rest and Joy with Christ our Flesh rests in Hope that these Bodys shall be raised and reunited to their glorious Souls We are to pass through the Valley of Death to a Blessed Life This is the Desire and Hope of all the Followers of Christ And these very Desires of a blessed Life beyond the Grave will prove the Certainty of it We must have strange Thoughts of the infinitely wise and holy God and of his Love and Goodness to imagin he should give his Creatures such a Knowledge of himself that makes them desire more even a Desire to know and love and injoy him perpetually and yet never intend an eternal Communication of himself answerable to those Desires Can we think the blessed God would deceive and mock those that desire to seek and please him by inabling them to aspire after a Happiness in his presence and by giving them a Capacity for it And then to frustrate and disappoint his own work Can we think that God would excite their Desires after another and a better state and yet never admit them to it Can we imagin that God would raise their Desires from sin and this World to himself and Heaven and that these shall never be answered in a happy Issue Shall the very Sanctification of our Nature prepare for our Torment and help to make us miserable Will the God of Love and Grace inable us by his Grace to hunger and thirst after Righteousness and after the blessed vision of his Face in Glory and yet never design our Satisfaction The more any partake of the divine Image we find that they groan and long the more earnestly after another sort of Happiness than is here to be had after another State and Life than now they enjoy And may we not conclude that such a State there is The natural Desire of Happiness in all mankind will do much to prove that there is such a thing But the holy Desires of the Sanctified influenced by the spirit of Grace will much more prove it That spirit of Christ that hath inabled thee to long and pray for a more perfect State that has conquered thy vain Desires after earthly things and raised them to seek the Knowledge and Love and Fruition of God That Spirit is the Witness of Christ in thy Soul that there is such a State after Death and that thou shalt share in the Blessedness of it He hath framed and wrought and fitted
ordinary cases may be supposed to equal or exceed the Pains of Death And who knows the divine Supports that may make our Dissolution easie yet many a Mother has Courage and Patience by the Hopes of Life and of a living Child when all these Sorrows shall be soon forgotten And shall the Knowledge and Expectation of Heaven and Eternal Life be less powerful to influence thy Soul against the Fear of Death How many have been inabled to conquer the Fear of Death and been displeased with their Friends that talked of their Recovery as hopeful and have told them that such Discourse was not pleasing they had rather dye and be with Christ Is it thy Usefullness to Relations and Friends or to the Interest of Christ in this World that makes thee unwilling Think a little Are you fitter to Judge and determine of that than he Can he not do his own Work without thee Consider therefore Christians you that know you cannot have an House above without pulling down this earthly Tabernacle you that know you cannot get to Heaven but by dying and pretend to be related to the heavenly Country Are you desirous of nothing better than the Fruits of this Earth What a contempt of God and Christ What a gratification of the Devil what a contradiction to your belief and hope does this Backwardness carry with it yea a contradiction to the very End and Design of all Religion which is a dead and vain infignificant and trifling thing if it refer not to a blessed Eternity beyond the Grave and if it bring us not to desire and chuse it as our End You especially who are Old Disciples and have been long in the School of Christ should consider this You know you must ere long lay down this Tabernacle and be uncloathed you profess to hope shortly to enter into the World of Joy What a shame is it that your Sight is no clearer your Perception no quicker your Apprehensions no higher your Desires no stronger as to this expected Blessedness after Death though you are sensible you draw nearer to the things believed and hoped for and that within a little while you expect the Promises will have a full Performance as to you that you are almost there where Faith shall pass into Sight and Love You are almost ready to take your place in Glory where Millions are gone before you O how is it that you are no more Joyfully affected with these Hopes How is it that your Thoughts are so doubtful your Desires so sluggish That this Body and this present World is so unduely loved even though the pleasure of sensible things be almost gone though bodily Infirmities and Pains make this present Dwelling uneasie For they require your Patience and call aloud to you to hasten your work to set loose and prepare to come away God hath made you weary of this World and makes you often cry for divine Assistance and Grace He hath given you to know by experience that He alone must be the Portion of your Souls his Favour alone your Life and Heaven or nothing your happiness You find that the Hope of Heaven is your only Comfort For such as you to be unwilling to dye who by Age and Weakness have one soot in Heaven already is most inexcusable You have found that your Souls are usually worst when your Bodys have been best and when the Body is in the best State it is usually worst with the Soul should it not therefore be your care when the outward Man is decaying that the inward Man should be aspiring after God and grow better Has this vile and corruptible Flesh been so much your Friend that you are loth to be uncloathed What Entertainment have you had in this World that you should be so loth to leave it Have your Fears and Cares and Sorrows by reason of the Body been so delightful that you would not that they should have an end that you do not groan to be cloathed upon with an House from Heaven Methinks as every Pain and Ache and Trouble and Sickness should mind the wicked of their eternal Sorrows so the bodily Infirmities Decays and Sickness of good Men should raise their Desire to be with Christ O What a shame is it as to All of us that we no more desire and groan to be delivered when there is so glorious and blessed a State in view before us That the Thoughts of these things are so cold and seldom Our heavenly Affections so low and weak What can be the reason but that we look upon the heavenly Glory as at the distance of many Years to come if at all we believe and expect it But this is shameful to those that profess by Death to expect a freedom from all the incumberances of Flesh and Blood of bodily Passions and Appetites and of all the present Temptations of sensuality who expect that our Time of Sinning and Suffering shall shortly end together when we shall be released from all the sad Accidents of Mortality and this vile and corruptible Body be raised in Glory Shameful indeed for us who believe a blessed State so near when there shall be nothing from within nor from without ever more to intercept hinder or abate our compleat Felicity who look for the Light of Gods eternal Favour to shine upon us and the plentiful pleasant Streams of eternal Goodness flowing from God and the Lamb to make our delight and Joy perfect and everlasting And yet we do not as we ought desire and long to be Partakers of this blessed State CHAP. X. Our Holy Friends Departed obtain their Desires by Dying this should moderate our funeral Sorrows A short Account of the Exemplary Character of Mrs. Mary Dootle with some Passages of her last Sickness The Conclusion SECT I. Lastly HOW should all this moderate our Sorrow for the death of our holy Friends and Relations whose earthly House is pulled down to enjoy a Heavenly one Who groaned and waited and longed for that Disolution which we unduely Mourn for Who are pleased with that Translation and Removal which we bewail It is but what they desired and long have waited for They are now pleased in the Happy Change of their old Earthly Dwelling for a Building of God not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens They are uncloathed to be Cloathed upon Let us not then mourn for their Advancement to that Happy State which they earnestly aspired after and which we our selves should live in the Joyful Expectation of Let us rejoyce rather that they have finished their Course that their Souls are gone to Christ That their Bodys shall rest in their Graves for a Time and hereafter arise in Glory Let us think where our deceased holy Friends now are what they See and know and do and enjoy what the State and Life and Company and Employment above is and how much better it is with them now than when they were with us on Earth They have received
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