concerning the short continuance of these things that are seen and the stability or continuance of those things that are not seen affirming that he himself and others of the faithful did certainly know that after this short and transitory life was ended they should enjoy an estate Heavenly Glorious and Eternal And this Assertion and Article of Christian Faith he cloaths with variety of sweet and significant Metaphors helping the soul by the body the understanding by the sense saying We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God c. Where he compares this miserable body as it now is in this life to an earthly house and that not a Sumptuous Palace Impregnable Castle or other strong and well framed Building but to a Tabernacle a weak frail brittle Cottage of Earth or Clay We know if this earthly house wherein the soul d wells for a Time if this Tabernacle were dissolved Then He opposeth to this the state or condition of the body glorified in the life to come which he resembles to a building firm durable and lasting yea of Eternal continuance and duration the beginning of which is the blessed Estate of the Soul at Death and the perfection of it is the glorious Estate of Soul and Body reunited at the Resurrection We know we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Where you have these Two Considerables recommended by the Holy Ghost to our Meditation seasonable to the sad occasion of this great Assembly 1. What our Body is in respect of the frailty of it in this Life an earthly house a brittle Tabernacle that must down must be dissolved 2. What house or building the souls of the faithful have after the dissolution of this earthly Tabernacle A building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Both these together are a brief and full Metaphorical description of our Mortality and Immortality of our weak and frail Condition in this life and of our Eternally Blessed and Glorious Estate after Death 1. First What our body is in respect of its frailty in this life an earthly house a brittle Tabernacle that must be dissolved and go down to the dust These bodies wherein our souls take up their residency for a time are but earthly Tabernacles of short and uncertain Continuance The body is so called elsewhere 2 Pet. 2. 1 14. Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle and Job 4. 19. 't is termed an house of clay whose foundation is in the dust Eliphaz in the foregoing Verse speaks of Angels here of men and these Words are a description of Man opposed to Angels those Inhabitants of Heaven those Courtiers of the New Jerusalem called therefore the Angels of Heaven the place of their special residency being the Heavens in and with which they may seem to have been created Whereas men are said to be on the Earth on the surface only as a tabernacle ready to be shaken off as having no foundation Having here no abiding place no continuing city no setled abode till we come to Heaven where the Angels are Some Huts we have rather than houses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a clayie cottage an earthly tabernacle as St. Paul and Plato call the body of man which is made up of a little dust or clay somewhat sublimated and refined by art or nature What is man saith Gregory Nazianzen but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Soul and Soil Breath and Body the one a puff of wind the other a pile of dust no certainty no solidity in either Pulvis umbra sumus We are dust and a Shaddow no more 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Greek Proverb Man is but an earthen pot no better The first man Adam was of the earth earthly and no more are the best of men Quas ex meliore forsan lato finxit Titan who are made of the first common Mold somewhat refined And the finer the Glass the slighter the Tabernacle the more subject to break and fall and so are we to dye Mans flesh will fail him saith David Psal. 73. 26. Those whose spirits are noble will find their bodies brittle The highest the holiest mans heart will not ever hold Princes and Peasants are of the same flesh which saith the Prophet Isaiah is but grass it soon withers and fades away they are alike dust and to dust they must return What man is he that liveth and shall not see death The Psalmist here challengeth all the World to find out one man that could procure a protection from dissolution Holy Hezekiah could beg his life and compound for his death for fifteen years but could not obtain an exemption for ever No this earthly house is subject to many storms that shake it to variety of Diseases the least of which is sufficient to overthrow it So that what St. Paul said of himself in a proper sense we may say every of us in a common I dye daily My earthly Tabernacle declines and wastes daily Such is the frailty and corruptibility of the body that tho some are more curiously painted than others and tho all are fearfully and wonderfully made full of accuracy and curiosity like a Spiders Web yet like that we have no stability And thanks be to mans Apostacy for this frailty his falling from God by neglecting his duty hath brought him to the dust so the Apostle Rom. 5. 12. By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin Sickness and Death had never touched our bodies had not sin first tainted our souls Man in his Innocency was immortal but now in his state of Apostacy he is determined to death Had he stood he should like Enoch have been translated and not seen death he should have entered into his Fathers house but not through the dark entry of the Grave but now I know thou wilt bring me through the grave the house of all the living Now the body must die before the soul can as it were begin to live Man must now put off his house of Earth before he can possess his house in Heaven When this earthly house of our Tabernacle is dissolved then not before we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens Thus you see by this Metaphorical Expression what a lively resemblance the Apostle gives of our frail Condition in this world or in respect to our bodies We dwell saith he in Tents or Tabernacles 1. And a Tabernacle or Pavilion is not made of any strong matter having only a few slight Poles for Timber and painted Cloths for Walls a weak Lodging quickly taken down easily removed or overthrown Such is the body of man a fair Fabrick but frail the bones are its Timber-work the flesh its walls all of Clay and Dust one blast mars it a little pain or grief shakes it an Ague Fever Dropsie or as the Prophet speaks
be There is an everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels ' This is my desert how shall I escape it And there is a rest to come Heb. 4. 9. an inheritance incorruptible that fades not away a building of God eternal in the heavens 1 Pet. 1. 4. This I desire how shall I obtain it Such thoughts as these would make us as prudent for Heaven as we are for the Earth as provident for our Souls as we are for our Bodies quicken us to lay up a Treasure in Heaven Or as the Apostle exhorts 1 Tim. 6. 19. To lay up to our selves in store a good foundation against the evil day that we may lay hold on eternal life Especially if you consider as the certainty of the dissolution of these Tabernacles so that death is daily stealing upon them as ruin upon an old building Here falls a Wall there a Door here a Tyle there a Rafter till at last the whole tumbles Thus the dimness of thine Eye the deafness of thine Ears the trembling of thine Hand the stifness and coldness of thy Limbs all these tell thee Death and Dissolution steal upon thy Earthly house of the body and loudly call upon thee by Faith Repentance good Works and an holy Life to prepare for it Remembring what horror and fear will seize upon our Souls when we behold Death coming or marching upon us Jehu-like furiously Men may talk wantonly of Death and make a light matter of it while they think it at a great distance but when the Sun of Life grows low when sickness shakes their tabernacle when the shades of the Grave appear when as the Wise man elegantly speaks Eccles. 12. Those that look out at the windows are darkned the strong men bow themselves the keepers of the house shall tremble the silver cord is loosed and the golden bowl broken when the mourners stand about our Beds When the grim Serjeant Death lays one hand on their heads and in the other hand holds a Writ of remove that cannot be Reversed and yet they are uncertain whither they must go and what place or state they shall have in the other World Now I say that which seemed before but a trifle will appear the King of terrors to their doubting to their despairing and departing Souls 'T is a question that many ask when they are dying Whether they shall be saved or damned Whether they shall be happy or miserable when they go hence The resolution of which they never seriously minded while they lived and so continue uncertain in this great concern till Death resolve them and they are entered upon that state in which they must abide to all Eternity be it a Paradice of Felicity or Dungeon of Misery And this great uncertainty is that that makes the apprehensions of an approaching disfolution so exceeding formidable to them How happy therefore are those persons who have made their future state so much their concern in life that with our Apostle they are able to say when Death comes We know when this earthly tabernacle is dissolved we have a building of God not made with hands eternal in the heavens Which leads me 2. To the Second General in the Text namely the Blessed Estate of the Faithful after this Life after the dissolution of the Body expressed in these words We have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens Of which briefly And here you have the habitation or dwelling place of Faithful Souls of Saints departed set forth or commended to us by these specialities 1. The Efficient Cause or Founder of it God a building of God the Great Jehovah of Heaven and Earth whose Glory and Greatness we cannot comprehend but only in his Works is the Builder of it And as great men love to do things like themselves so doth God If Ahasuerus make a Feast for his Nobles and Servants it shall be such as becomes a King If the King of kings make an House an Habitation for his Servants and prepare Mansions of rest for his Children he acts like himself answerable to his Infinite Goodness Mercy and other Attributes And what a goodly what a glorious Habitation must this House in the Heavens be which hath Infinite Wisdom to contrive it Infinite Power to erect it Infinite Treasure to inrich it Infinite Glory to beautify it and the Omnipotent God the Founder of it 2. 'T is set out by the manner of its Framing Created not made with hands Termed an House 1. For the Spaciousness of it not a Cottage but an House Room enough for the Inhabitants both for necessity and delight an House wherein there are many Mansions John 14. 2. Called an House 2. For its conveniency for its security as a mans House is termed his Castle where he is safe from all assaults and dangers such is this House of the Saints a place of security from all evils penal and sinful and from all Enemies bodily and ghostly 3. An House not made with hands for its Glory and Excellency Solomon's Temple was a glorious Building and so many other Buildings in the World are but not comparable to this because made with hands and so subject to ruin and decay This being made without hands is perpetual as far transcending all Earthly glory and happiness as the curious Frame of Heaven and Earth excels these Clayie Cottages made by men or made with hands 3. Commended to us by the pleasant situation of it It is situate or placed in the heavens where God is where Christ is where the Holy Angels the Church of the first-born and spirits of just men made perfect are Where there is Heavenly Manna the Tree of Life Rivers of Pleasures and variety of fresh and overflowing Delights to make the Inhabitants continually and compleatly happy 4. By the durableness of it 't is eternal not subject to decay or dissolution but everlasting Our Saviour calls it a kingdom that cannot be shaken St. Peter an inheritance incorruptible and St. Paul here a building of God eternal Other buildings be they never so strong and stately are subject to decay by storms by fire by age but This and all relating to it is Eternal the Builder of it Eternal the Inhabitants in it the Joys and Glories of it all Eternal And the truth is when we have searched and said all we can of this Glorious estate of the Saints hereafter the Joy the Life the Glory of all is this That it is Eternal Heaven were no Heaven the happiness of it no happiness if it were not endless Eternity is that that heightens all Miseries and all Mercies 'T is this makes Hell and all the torments of it so intolerable That they shall never end Mark 9. 44 46 48. And 't is this sweetens all the Joys and Felicities of the Saints in Heaven that they are everlasting This 't is makes this Building of God the Habitation and Dwelling-place of Faithful Souls so pleasant and delightful
That 't is Eternal 5. And lastly That which is the chief of all you have here the Believers Right and Title to it we know 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very top of Faith we are sure As certainly assured by Faith that we shall have it as if we did now possess it So sure is it so certain are we of it that the Apostle speaks in the present Tense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not we shall have but we have an House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens Thus you have in the Terms and Epethites which the Apostle gives this Building in the Text a shadow or glimpse of Heaven of that Blessed and Glorious Estate which the Faithful enjoy after this Life The fulness whereof no Tongue can utter or Words express for saith the Apostle Eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what things God hath prepared for them that love him O! Who then would be an Atheist who would be irreligious or prophane and so at once cut himself off from all hopes of all this Glory Surely Religion is not an idle empty Thing that brings such rewards to all the serious Professors and Practisers of it 'T is not in vain to be holy and to serve God in good earnest There is a reward for the righteous and our labour in the Lord shall not be in vain to us The wicked indeed may be said to have an house and an eternal house too prepared for them in another world but 't is a sad one Tophet is prepared for them of old saith the Prophet the pile whereof is fire and much wood and the breath of the Lord as a river of brimstone continually kindling it A state of Sorrow weeping and mourning for ever and ever But the House or Dwelling-place of the Righteous hereafter is in the Heavens an House of Light of Joy and Rejoicing wherein they shall sing Praises and Hallelujahs to the Lamb that sits upon the Throne for evermore O how should the belief and hope of this push us on to the greatest perfections of Holiness and severities in Religion if thereby we may attain to an assurance of our right to this heavenly Habitation How should this make us contemn the world with all its inconsiderable nothings How should this bear us up under and chearfully carry us through all Afflictions and Troubles all reproaches and scorns in this World In a Word How should the hope and prospect of this Glory of this Coelestial Palace and Eternal life to come steal us against death vanquish from our souls all slavish fears of the dissolution of these bodies and moderate our Sorrow forour departed Frien ds and Relations who have given us any hopes that they have but changed this earthly house for that glorious Building of God Eternal in the Heavens where we hope one day to meet and enjoy them and they us without Sin Sorrow or Fear of parting more for ever and ever I have said what I intended on the Text But I have now another Subject to enter upon of which it is but fit and necessary somewhat be spoken that is Sir HENRY JOHNSON whose Remains lye yet before us And here I could be large but both the Time and the particular Acquaintance which most of you had with him commands Brevity Nor is it so much my design in what I have to say to praise the Dead whom our Praises can neither reach nor profit as to provoke you that are living to imitate him in what is good and praise-worthy And to let you see 't is possible for a man to be great and good too I shall omit to speak of him as he once stood in those Relations of an Husband Father or Friend in every of which there are many will testifie he deserved an Euge but shall consider him only as a Christian and here let his own works speak for him both living and dying Some of which I shall set before you from my own Observation and others from credible and undoubted Information All the Time I have known him now near fourteen Years I have observed him religiously inclined not only free from the gross debaucheries and sinful excesses of this Atheistical and corrupt Age wherein he lived from those open Vices and Immoralities which many of his rank are tainted with and are not at all ashamed of but very serious in his Discourses grave and exemplary in his whole deport No encourager of Faction or Rebellion no friend to or favourer of Prophaneness or Irreligion but the contrary a Countenancer of Religion and Loyalty this I know I doubt not to say without fear of Controul that Sir Henry Johnson was one who both feared God and honoured the King a pair of Vertues as inseparable as Commendable which I wish more were endued with that make as great a figure in the Word now as he once did As to the former of these his Religion towards God I need mention but this one Demonstration of it That commendable and Religious Order that he constantly kept up in his Family by Prayer reading the Scriptures and good Instructions to the members of it especially upon the Lords Day or Sundays which he was a strict observer of This I my self have sometimes seen and those of his Houshold can bear Testimony to the truth of it and I have often heard him say that those Servants that would not submit to and comport with this Discipline were no servants for him I wish more Gentlemen were of his mind so that he seemed to have taken up Joshua's Resolution As for me and my house we will serve the Lord. As to his good works his pious and charitable deeds both in his Life and at his Death I presume not to give an exact Account of them from my own knowledg but as I am informed and in recounting these I know no reason why that charritable Act of his to the Poor of Wapping in the late dreadful Fire there may not be remembred Since many of you know he was the first and chief Mover to obtain a Contribution to their present necessities and I know a liberal donor thereto himself which was a great a publick good work In the time of his life for divers Years last past besides his most private acts of this nature he every Sunday or Lords Day relieved Forty or Fifty poor Persons at his own house and that not with the Fragments of his own Table but with good and wholsome Diet provided on purpose for them and as he fed the poor in his life so he did not forget them at his Death having in his last Will bequeathed several Legacies to chairtable uses some of which I had an account of As To Two Hospitals Christ-Church and Bridewell To the Poor of Trinity House To the Poor of the East India Alms-house in this Hamlet To the Poor of Shipwrights Hall in Ratcliff To the Erecting and maintaining of an Alms-House for six poor Persons in Blackwall He hath also given Monies for the placing out of several Poor Children at Albrough in Suffolk and for the maintaining of a Weekly Lecture at Saxmundum in the same County By these Charitable deeds he hath built his own Monument more lasting than those of Brass or Marble And I wish every man to whom the Divine Bounty hath liberally given the good things of this World would but go and do likewise And now I shall commit him to his bed of rest when I have said this one thing more That during his last long and tedious sickness in which I was sevral times with him he had many excellent expressions of God and the state of his own Soul I could mention divers and the occasions of them but then I should be tedious I will only recall some spoken to my self I bless God saith he for this affliction I would not have been without it for all the world And again when I told him I should visit him oftner if his ilness would admit me He replied I thank God I am never alone God is always with me and Christ is my Visitant who is above all to me and who I trust will work all in me and for me He often spoke of the Vanity of the World and not withstanding the large share God had given him of it declared himself willing to leave it Adding this with great earnestness and vehemency of spirit being sensible he was not wholly without enemies and what good man is I sreely sorgive all the world In a word When he received the Holy Sacrament which I administred to him in the time of his sickness as he received it with good devotion so he afterwards expressed himself very thankful to God for that opportunity blessing him for the refreshment he found in his soul by it I could mention more expressions of this nature that fell from him but I forbear These with the manner of his delivering them begot in me I confess a belief that he had upon his mind a real sense of God and a savoury relish of the great things of Eternity yea and an hope too of a better inheritance in the other World than he hath left behind him in this even of a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens To which blessed and glorious Estate God of his Infinite Mercy in his due Time bring every Soul of us for the sake of his Beloved Son who died for us Christ Jesus the Righteous To whom with the Father and Holy Spirit be Glory for ever and every Amen ERRATA In the Epist. 1. 17. for gloss r. glose page 11. l. 7. for if r. of page 13. l. 4. for lato r. luto FINIS Hab. 2. 13. 2 Pet. 3. 11. Phil. 3.20 Joh. 3. 13. 14. 1 Cor. 15. lat end