The Christians Uictory over Death A SERMON AT THE Funeral of the Most Honourable GEORGE Duke of ALBEMARLE c. In the Collegiate Church of S. Peter WESTMINSTER On the XXX th of April M.DC.LXX BY SETH Lord Bishop of SARUM Preached and Published by his Majesties special Command LONDON Printed for Iames Collinsat the Kings-headin Westminster-hall M.DC.LXX The Christians Uictory over Death I. COR.XV.57 But thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. WHosoever he was who first said of Wisdom or Philosophy that it is Contemplatio Mortis hath recommended a considerable document to the World Not that the continual Poring and meditating upon Death precisely and nakedly considered is a matter so much becoming a Philosopher But because the true Theory of the consequents of Death is not only the most excellent but also the most concerning part of humane Knowledge It is that Theory which influences the Actions of all living men which steers their courses and gives rules and measures to them in all their concernments As for instance The true determination of the Question betwixt the Christian Theory and others especially that of Epicurus concerning the state after Death the Mortality or Immortality of the Soul the Account and Iudgment after Death the Resurrection of the Body and the Rewards of Eternity will decide the Questions of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good or Evil Prudent or Imprudent Brave or Contemptible in the Lives or Actions of Men. If Death have Dominion over the Whole man and if it be an Extinction of the Soul as well as a Corruption and Dissolution of the Body If there be no Rewards or Punishments to follow and could we be sure of all this Then to deny our present Affections and appetites or to put our selves upon hazardous and difficult designs upon the Contemplation of something to betide us after death is very Imprudent Foolish and Ignoble If on the other side the end of this mortal life be the beginning of another state a state of happiness or misery to be dispensed according to the Christian Theory Then to prefer things light and Temporal before those which are weighty and eternal is Beastly sottish and Contemptible It is the business of our most Learned Apostle here in this Chapter under the Comprehensive Title of the Question concerning the Resurrection to compare and to examine the Christian and Epicurean Theories in reference to the State of the vitâ functi The Corinthian Epicurean Philosophy had begun like a Cancer to eat out the Doctrine of the Resurrection and here he labours earnestly to retrive it He proves the truth of the Christian Doctrine and because veritas est una in so doing he shews the falshood of the Epicurean Hypothesis From the Resurrection of Christ he infers the truth of the General Doctrine of the Resurrection and for the truth of Christs Resurrection he appeals to more than 500 Witnesses He shews the many Absurdities of Epicurizing under a Profession of Christianity and answers that fond Objection about the manner of the Resurrection and the body that shall arise He weighs the Physical and Theorical opinions and the practical Corollaries of them The Natural Philosophy of one Opinion is That We shall die to morrow toti moriemur Of the other That we must all live for ever Of these Opinions One tends to corrupt good manners the other to rectifie and ennoble them One inclines and leads men to the Work of the Beast in Man the other to the Work of the Lord. The Logick of One is this Let us eat and drink for to morrow we shall die The Inference of the other is this Let us be stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as we know that our Labour is not in vain in the Lord. The Epicurean Imposture by the assistance of a violent Lust an ungovernable rage Actuated and Heightned by provocation or inflamed by the spirit of Wine may furnish out a Hector to a Duel and prompt him on to die as a fool dieth But the foundation of Great and Heroical Performances the just and rational the Considerate and Sedate the constant perpetual and uniform contempt of Death in all the shapes thereof is only derived from the Christian Principle This inspires passive valour into the hearts of men and furnishes invincible Martyrs for the Stake This excites Active Courage and Equippes and furnishes Heroical Souldiers and Generals for the Field To this the World is indebted for the Glorious Example of this day and to this we are indebted for this Triumphal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Text O Death Where is thy sting O Grave Where is thy Victory The sting of Death is sin the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God that giveth us the Victory through Iesus Christ our Lord. The words of my Text resolve into two General parts 1. A Proposition or Christian Principle God through Christ giveth us the victory over death 2. An inference to Christian practice 1. In reference to God Thanks be to God 2. In reference to our selves Let us be stedfast unmoveable As for the Inference I shall only be permitted to Conclude with it and am forced to be very contracted in my Observations The Proposition may be considered two ways 1. Objectivè and in Thesi and so it lays down the general Case of Believers as it stands 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the truth of nature and so it gives us this universal Theorem or Observation viz. Every true Christian is through our Lord Christ victorious over Death Or God through Christ gives to every Christian the victory over Death 2. Subjectivè and in Hypothesi as it bears a part in St. Pauls Triumphant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then it affords us this more restrained and particular Observation viz. Through Christ it is given to some Believers even here in this Life to attain to a setled contempt of Death enabling them to triumph over it Of these two Observations very briefly I. Christ has procured to every true Christian or Believer the Victory over Death Now the Assertion of the truth of this Proposition the Explication and particular tractation of the Causes and the Deduction and enforcement of the Consequences of it in reference to God and Man is so Apparently the entire Argument of the Gospel that it is needless among Christians to insist on the proof of the Observation Briefly the Gospel hath delivered to us both the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it First For the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If either according to the Doctrine of Epicurus we suppose Death to dissolve the Soul as well as to corrupt the Body of a man Or if the Soul of a man shall survive and Death shall immediately enter it into a state of infelicity to be filled up and eternized by a miserable Resurrection under the
stinging of a worm that dies not and the tormenting rage of a Fire that never shall be quenched In either of these Cases in the Figurative Language of the Scripture which speaks of Death as of a Person it may be properly asfirmed That Death is too hard for such a man that it gets the victory and holds the Dominion over him But if on the other side the state of a man be advanced and bettered by his Dissolution So that upon good Consideration it be desirable to him to be Dissolved If when Death shall have done its utmost the Essential part of man The Man that is in Man shall be surviving surviving in joy unspeakable to be compleated in a Glorious Resurrection to be continued and increased to all Eternity Then he who doth not perish by the hand of Death nor is thrown by it into a state of infelicity but passes through death into endless Life this man is properly victorious over Death Now this is the Effect and Summary of the Gospel to this every part of it one way or other doth relate it every where assures us that this is the condition of every true believer Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish i. e. shall not cease to be much less do worse but have everlasting Life viz. he hath the victory over Death Secondly Again for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The whole series of this affair is per omnia Causarum genera from the first occasion of the difference to the last performance of the Victory abundantly delivered in the Gospel This tells us that by the Law sin entered into the World and death by sin i. e. death temporal and death eternal So that the sting of death is sin or the Consequent of sin and the strength of sin is the Law It tells us that death reigned over all in as much as all men had sinned That by the Law no flesh could be justified though it was in its nature holy just and good Yet it was become the ministry of condemnation That to take away the strength of sin which is the Law God sent his Son made under the Law to redeem them that were under the Law that to disarm death by taking away the sting thereof He who knew no sin was made sin That sin might not reign in us and death might no more have the Dominion over us That we might not be under the Law but under Grace He humbled himself to Death even the Death of the Cross. There He his own self bare our sins in his own body There he abolished in his flesh the Law of Commandments slaying the enmity thereof There He blotted out the hand-writing and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross. There he died that by his death he might destroy him that had the power of death even the Devil There he spoyled Principalities and Powers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 â— ostentavit eos triumphing over them in it Thus Christ the Captain of our Salvation obtained the Victory over death and hell obtained it for himself and for all his faithful Souldiers and followers Thus all of them have certitudinem objecti Every true believer is victorious over death in truth and in rei veritate But every one hath not in this life certitudinem subjecti This is not a general Interest to which men are entitled by Christianity but a special Grace and priviledge dispensed according to the peculiar prerogative of Gods Will and Pleasure Though Christianity and a just power of Contemning Death may be reciprocal yet Christianity and the actual exercise of the contempt of Death do not by necessity evince one another There are Children of light which walk in darkness working out their Salvation with perpetual fears and tremblings There are on the other side some that having no Charity are yet so far transported as to give their Bodys to be burned There is a way that seemeth right unto a man but the end thereof are the paths of death So that the second Observation is limited and particular viz II. Through Christ it is given to some Believers to attain in this life to a settled contempt of death and enabling them to triumph over it This was the Case of St. Paul in the Text and the Case of many others He giveth us the victory saith St. Paul To clear this Observation I ought to shew how Christians come to obtain this priviledge 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by and through Christ. To perform this fully it would be requisite to lay before you the Doctrines of the Merits of Christ and of the Grace of God and of the Application of them by Believers But being restrained by the occasion I shall only endeavour to shew that Christ and He indeed alone hath given his followers such a System of principles as is apt and able to bring them to a Rational contempt of Death Now this he hath done 1. By the Theory which he hath left the World concerning the State of the Vitâ functi or Deceased 2. By the assurance which he hath given the World of the truth of that Theory No other Theory supposing it to be true is in its nature able and apt to bring men to this heroic state No other dissenting Theory is or can be true Annihilation and misery Nature abhors and the only ground of a rational Contempt of death is a just expectation to advance and better a mans estate by dying This expectation arises only from a good Conscience To reduce a man to a good habit of Conscience nothing is powerful enough beside the powers of the World to come a right understanding and a deep Consideration of the Peâ—sonal Rewards and Punishments of the World to come Now the true Theory concerning Personal Rewards and â—unishments was first of all clearly delivered to the World by our Lord Iesus Christ For 1. He it is that hath cleared the personal capacity of the rewards of the World to come 2. He it is who hath delivered plainly and clearly the Administration of the Rewards themselves 3. Christ has cleared the Capacity of personal rewards and this he hath done by his Doctâ—ine concerning 1. The Immortality of the Soul and 2. Of the Resurrection of the body First For the Immortality of the Soul Although the simple Apprehension of spiritual Beings The judging things contrary to the representation of sense as in the distance and magnitude of the Sun Moon and Stars The forming universal Prâ—positions The Reasoning and Reflecting power of men The strugling betwixt the Sensual and Intellectual part of man The Lashes of Conscience in Wicked men always forecasting gâ—ievous things Although these and many other indications of Nature do evince that there is in living men something incorporeal and immortal And although beside and above these Indicaâ—ions there are many passage in the Law and the â—rophets from whence the immortality of
the Sâ—ul may be Concluded in Consequence whereof both before and during the tâ—me of Christ All the Sects of the Iews except the Sadduces And I think All the Philosophers except Epicurus did declare for the Doctrine of an Immortality Yet it is truly said of Christ that he did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he cleared or brought to light the Doctrine of Immortality The Opinions which ruled the World before him both of the Philosophers and of the Rabbins were not only false but pernicious They still made Death the King of Terrors and were so far from Establishingâ— that they overthrew the Capacity of Personal Rewards and Punishments after Death These are the Consequences of all those Hypotheses which either destroy the substance of the Soul with Epicurus Or the individual permanency of the Soul with the Platonists the Peripateticks and the Stoicks Or which assert the Metempsychosis of Souls passing from Men to Beasts or Men with the Pythagoreans and many of the Iews And these were the Imaginations which had possessed the World before the Ministry of Christ. If the Soul were a Crasis or Harmony a Modus or Motion of the Body it would then be dissolved in Death it would cease to be or sleep in the lifeless Atoms whereof the Body was composed But He hath taught us that men may Kill the Body and not be able to hurt the Soul from whence it follows that the Soul is a distinct and permanent subsistence If the Immortal part in man were a Delibation of the God-head or Intellectus agens or the Soul of the World and upon Death were back again refunded into them the Individual nature would be destroyed But He hath taught us that this is still preserved that the Souls of Abraham Isaac and Iacob are distinctly preserved in the hand of God If Souls did transmigrate from men to beasts or from one man to another who could be rewarded Pythagoras or Euphorbus he hath instructed us that the Soul doth not shift and flit from one body into another but in their departure when they go hence they pass into Everlasting Habitations Lastly He hath informed the World that not only the souls of the Righteous but of the Wicked also are Immortal That as the soul of Lazarus so also the soul of Dives was permanent and existent after Death Thus Christ hath cleared the Doctrine of Immortality and in respect of the soul the capacity of personal Rewards 2. Moreover to fill up and câ—mpleat the capacity of the whole person and so render it intire He hath delivered to the World the Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body namely that the time is coming when Death shall be finally swallowed up in Victory That He himself shall then descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch-Angel with the Trump of God and the Dead shall rise That the dead in Christ shall rise first That what is sown in Corruption shall be raised in Incorruption That all men shall rise with their own bodys both Just and Unjust that the hour is comingâ— that all that are in the Grave shall hear his voice and come forth That the Sea shall give up the Dead which are in it And Death and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall deliver up the dead which are in them That those that have done good shall go into the Resurrection of Life and those that have done evil shall go into the Resurrection of Condemnation Thus hath our Lord Christ cleared the Principle and foundation of a Generous Contempt of death by bringing to Light the Capacity of Personal Rewards in the World to come But 2. He hath clearly delivered the whole method and Administration of Rewards themselves Inchoate and particular in our decease 2. Vniversal Consummate in the great Day of Retribution at the time of the general Resurrection In the Gospel we are taught that immediately upon our Dissolution the Souls of the Righteous enter into a state of happiness and the souls of the wicked into a state of Infelicity For the former to be dissolved is to be with Christ for the latter to die is to become miserable Say to the Righteous it shall be well with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they die in the Lord they rest from their Labours their works follow them Say to the Wicked it shall be ill with him the Other is comforted but he shall be toâ—mented Lazarus died and immediately was carried by Angels into Abrahams Bosome The rich man died and was buried and presently we find him in Hell in Torments But the great and final distribution of Rewards the Circumstances and intire Oeconomy of the General Judgment as it is delivered only so it is delivered punctually and exactly in and by the Gospel This tells us That God hath appointed a Day wherein he will Judge the World That Christ is ordained of God to be Iudge both of Quick and Dead That he shall come in the Clouds and every Eye shall see him That the Powers of Heaven shall be shaken and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in Heaven and they shall see him coming in the Clouds with power and great glory That he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet and they shall gather together the Elect from the four Winds from one end of Heaven to the other That he shall sit upon the Throne of his Glory That all Nations shall be gathered before him We must all appear before his Judgment Seat to answer for the things done in the body whether they be good or evil That he shall separate the one from the other as the Shepherd divideth the Sheep from the Goat That the Books shall be opened and the dead shall be Judged out of those things which are written in the Books That every secret thing shall be brought to light the secret Counsels of the Heart the hidden Works of Darkness shall be revealed and he shall Render to every one according to his Deeds That this sentence shall be pronounced upon the blessed Come ye blessed of my Father c. And this upon the cursed Go ye cursed c. Finally that upon the sentence given the righteous shall enter into joy unspeakable and full of Glory And the Wicked shall pass into a state of everlasting torment where shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth These are those Powers of the World to come whereof the Apostle speaks As there are movimenta mechanica mechanical powers whereby the motion of bodies is excited and regulated So Rewards and Punishments are movimenta spiritualia those spiritual powers which excite and regulate the motions of the Soul and that which gives to these their utmost force and moment is this Consideration That they are to be Eternal This Consideration is able effectually to affright men from base and ignoble Actions and to inspire them with noble