Perfection of Degrees Perfection is still required otherwise our Defects were nothing and we might allow our selves in our Failings and no great Harm would come of it And then to strive after Perfection or to press towards the Mark would not be a necessary Duty but only a Work of Super-errogation No it doth invite us to the highest Degree of Godliness and makes the Endeavour after Perfection a necessary Condition of our Happiness as Perfection it self to be our proper Happiness And so our Duty and Felicity do agree that we may not have any liberty to be bad and miserable But yet it accepteth of Sincerity if our Hearts be upright with God and our whole Mind and Desire be set to obey please and glorify him and we make it our main Work so to do God will not enter into Judgment with his Servants nor be strict and severe to his Children nor condemn those that love and fear him for lesser Failings and Infirmities nor take that Occasion to ruine and destroy them Indeed as the new Covenant commandeth Perfection it noteth our Infirmities to humble us in order to our Cure Christ as a Physician looks to our Infirmities to rid us of them and free us from them but not as a Judge to condemn us for them But yet because of the multitude of our Errors the holiest and humblest and most penitent believing Soul is scarce able to abide the Trial. Therefore when we have done our utmost Mercy in that Day is our greatest and surest Support 4thly With respect to the Day of Judgment 1. The Preparation that is necessary Since Christ is ready to judg and we know not the Day and Hour of his Coming we should be ready to be judged A sad Meeting and Greeting there will be between Christ and an unprepared Soul Therefore it concerns us deeply to see whether we be ready to give up our Account to God Now there is a twofold Readiness when you are in a safe Condition and when you are in a comfortable Case with respect to that Day All that are in a safe Case know not that they are in a comfortable Case know not that it shall go well with them in the Judgment Our Safety is known by the Law of Grace for Christ will judge according the Gospel Rom. 2.16 Whom the Gospel doth justify they shall be justified and whom the Gospel doth condemn they shall be condemned The Rules of judging are in the Word but every one cannot apply them Now the Gospel justifieth all that repent and believe By Repentance meaning a Turning in Heart and Life to God and by Faith a believing what Christ hath done for the Restauration and Salvation of Sinners and an accepting and making use of him to this End But these things are not wrought in us as easily as they are spoken of And when they are wrought in us they are not so soon evidenc'd that we have Repentance unto Life and Faith unfeigned Now then is it not a necessary Prayer whilst we are in the midst of our Doubts and Conflicts that we may find Mercy in that day 2. The strict Trial that we must undergo The Day of Judgment is the greatest and most dreadful Day that ever was when it is Matter of Sense as now it is Matter of Faith If a Man had it he would give all the World for Mercy in that Day For then the Judg will come from Heaven with a shout and the Books shall be opened Rev. 10.12 the Book of Conscience and the Book of God's Remembrance and every thing must be produced in the Judgment whether it be Good or Evil Eccles 12.14 Now the thought of this should make us humbly to sue out our Pardon Then intreaty is of no use but now it may steed us and no request becomes us so much As Mercy Lord in that Day If we miscarry then we are undone for ever but if accepted then we are blessed indeed to all eternity 3. The greatness of the Blessings we expect which beyond all proportion excel our best Endeavours Eternal Mercy is at the bottom of all God's proceedings with us Now the least comfort that he bestows upon us comes from his Mercy and Grace and should work a deep sense of it in our Hearts Gen. 32.10 I am not worthy of the least of all thy Mercies and of all thy Truth which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant But then there will be the fullest and largest manifestation of God's Love and Favour to us 1 Pet. 1.13 Hope to the end for the Grace that is to be brought to us at the Resurrection of Jesus Christ There is Grace brought to us now by the Revelation of Jesus Christ in the Gospel in some measure but hereafter by that Revelation we shall see his Grace and Mercy more fully and perfectly We see his Grace in the pardon of Sins and that measure of Sanctification and Renovation which we attain unto that he is pleased to pass by our Offences and to take us into his Family and give us a taste of his Love and a right to the Heavenly Kingdom and will any way imploy us in his Service But then it is another manner of Grace and Favour Indeed when our Pardon and Approbation shall be pronounced and ratified by our Judg's own Mouth Acts 3.17 Then times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. When he shall not only take us into his Family but into his Presence and Palace that we may dwell with him for ever John 12.26 Not only give us a Right but Possession Matth. 25.34 Not see Christ by Faith but by Sight 1 John 3.2 See our Persons admitted into the nearest fruition of God that may be and we are capable of Not only have some remote Service and Ministration but everlastingly imployed in loving and delighting in God and praising of God with all those Heavenly Creatures who are our Eternal Companions in this Work This is Grace and Mercy indeed The Grace of God or his Favour to Sinners is never seen in all its graciousness till then Then the praise of his glorious Grace doth shine forth Ephes 1.6 We cry Grace Grace now when we taste his Love but then we have the full and uninterrupted communion of it We have much of his Mercy now For we are justified freely by his Grace Rom. 3.24 Of his abundant Mercy he hath begotten us to a lively hope 1 Pet. 1.3 Grace is as free now as then but then it is more full No more trouble with Infirmities or Necessities The consideration of these things should press us to three things To be Serious Humble and Thankful 1. Serious in our preparation for our great Account The Judgment is so exact and impartial that the choicest of God's Servants are fain to refer their whole claim to Mercy The Business is weighty we are to be judged to Life or Death and both are Everlasting we have need to be serious in it The
A Funeral Sermon PREACHED Upon the Death of the Reverend and Excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton Who deceas'd Octob. 18. 1677. By William Bates D. D. To which is now added The Last Publick Sermon Dr. MANTON preached LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons in Cornhil over against the Royal Exchange 1678. The Bookseller to the READER INtending to reprint this Funeral Sermon it was judg'd convenient to annex to it a Sermon of Doctor Thomas Mantons suitable to the Subject that was treated on and being the last he publickly preached This will shortly be followed with a Volumn of the Doctor 's Sermons now in the Press 1 Thess 4.17 the last clause And so shall we ever be with the Lord. THE Words are a Consolation brought by the Apostle from the third Heaven where he was by extraordinary Priviledge rais'd and saw and understood how great an Happiness it is to be with Christ And they are addrest to Believers to moderate and allay their sorrows for the death of those Saints who by their conjunction in Blood or Friendship were most dear to them Thus he speaks in the 13th Verse I would not have you be ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that yè sorrow not as others which have no hopè The Heathens that were strangers to a future state and thought that after a short course through the World Mankind would be lost for ever in the Dead-Sea might with some pretence abandon themselves to the extremity of their Passions But Christians to whom Life and Immortality are reveal'd by the Gospel who believe that as Jesus died and rose again so all that sleep in Jesus that persevere in Faith and Holiness to the end God will bring with him are forbid upon the most weighty Reasons to indulge their Grief in excess The Union between Christ and Believers is inviolable and from thence it follows they shall be partakers with him in his Glory The Soul immediately after Death shall be with Christ Whiles the Body reposes in the Grave 't is in his Presence who is Life and Light and has a vital joyful Rest in Communion with him And in the appointed Time the Bodies of the Saints those happy Spoils shall be rescued from the dark Prison of the Grave and be sharers with their Souls in immortal Glory This consummate Happiness of the Saints the Apostle assures from the highest Authority the Word of the Lord and describes his glorious Appearance so as to make the strongest Impression on our Minds For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a Shout with the Voice of an Arch-Angel and with the Trump of God and the Dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Then Death the last Enemy so fearful and feared by Men shall be destroyed And the Captive Prince of the World with all the powers of Darkness and all other Rebellious Sinners that obstinately joyn'd with him shall be brought in Chains before his dreadful Tribunal and after the great Act of the Universal Judgment shall be compleated then all the Saints shall make their triumphant Entry with the Captain of their Salvation into his Kingdom and shall ever be with the Lord. The general Proposition from the Words is this The Saints after the Resurrection shall be Compleatly and Eternally happy in the Presence of Christ To make this supernatural Blessedness more easie and intelligible to us the Scripture describes it by sensible Representations For whilst the Soul is cloath'd with Flesh Fancy has such a dominion that we can conceive of nothing but by Comparisons and Images taken from material things 'T is therefore set forth by a Feast and a Kingdom to signifie the Joy and Glory of that State But to prevent all gross conceits it tells us that the Bodies of the Saints shall be spiritual not capable of Hunger and Thirst nor consequently of any refreshment that is caused by the satisfaction of those appetites The objects of the most noble senses Seeing and Hearing the pleasure of which is mix'd with Reason and not common to the Brutes are more frequently made use of to reconcile that glorious State to the proportion of our Minds Thus sometimes the Blessed are represented plac'd on Thrones with Crowns on their heads sometimes cloathed in White with Palms in their hands sometimes singing Songs of triumph to Him that sits on the Throne and to their Saviour But the reality of this Blessedness infinitely exceeds all those faint Metaphors Heaven is lessened by Comparisons from earthly things The Apostle who was dignifi'd with the revelation of the successes that shall happen to the Church till Time shall be no more tells us it does not appear what we shall be in Eternity The things that God has prepar'd for those that love him are far more above the higest ascent of our thoughts than the Marriage-Feast of a great Prince exceeds in splendor and magnificence the imagination of one that has always liv'd in an obscure Village and never saw any Ornaments of State nor tasted Wine in his Life We can think of those things but according to the poverty of our Understandings But so much we know that is able to sweeten all the bitterness and render insipid all the sweetness of this World This will appear by considering that whatever is requisite to constitute the perfect Blessedness of Man is fully enjoy'd in the Divine Presence 1. An exemption from all evils is the first condition of perfect Blessedness The sentence of wise Solon is true in another sense than he intended Dicique beatus Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet No Man can be named happy whilst in this valley of Tears But upon the entrance into Heaven all those Evils that by their number variety or weight disquiet and oppress us are at an end Sin of all evils the most hateful shall be abolish'd And all Temptations that surround us and endanger our Innocence shall cease Here the best Men lament the weakness of the flesh and sometimes the violent Assaults of Spiritual Enemies St. Paul himself breaks forth into a mournful Complaint O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death And when harrass'd with the buffetings of Satan renews his most earnest Addresses to God to be freed from them Here our Purity is not absolute we must be always cleansing our selves from the relicts of that deep defilement that cleaves to our nature Here our Peace is preserv'd with the Sword in our hand by a continual Warfare against Satan and the World But in Heaven no ignorance darkens the Mind no passions rebel against the sanctified Will no inherent pollution remains The Church is without spot or wrinkle or any such thing And all Temptations that war against the Soul shall then
Heaven none is touch'd with that low base passion for God contains all that is precious desirable in the highest Degrees of Perfection and all partake of the influence of his Universal Goodness without intercepting one another In the Kingdom above there is no cause for the Elder Brother to repine at the Father's Bounty to the Younger nor for the Younger to supplant the Elder to obtain the Birth-right The Heirs of God are all rais'd to Sovereign Glory Every one enjoys him as entirely and fully as if solely his felicity God is a Good as indivisible as infinite and not diminish'd by the most liberal communications of Himself We may illustrate this by comparing the Price of our Redemption and the Reward The Death of Christ is an universal benefit to all the Saints yet 't is so applied to every Believer for his perfect Redemption as if our Saviour in all his Agonies and Sufferings had no other in his Eye and Heart as if all his Prayers his Tears his Blood were offer'd up to his Father only for that Person The common respect of it the Apostle declares in those admirable words that signifie such an excess of God's Love to us He that spared not his own Son but deliver'd him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things But to imagine that * Et totum se dedit universis totum singulis Ac per hoc quicquid passione sua Salvator praestitit sicut totum ei debent universi sic singuli nisi quod prope hoc plus singuli quam universi quod totum acceperunt singuli quantum universi Salvian the propriety of every Believer is thereby prejudiced is not only false but extreamly injurious to the Merit and Dignity and to the infinite Love of Christ Therefore the same Apostle tells us The Life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me as if he were the sole Object of Christ's Love the End and Reward of his Sufferings And this appropriating of it to himself is no prejudice to the rights of all others St. John describes himself by that truly glorious Title The Disciple whom Jesus loved Could he speak this of himself without the injury and indignation of the other Disciples Certainly he might For if we consider that incomprehensible Love of Christ exprest to them all at his last Supper after Judas was gone forth As the Father hath loved me so have I loved you We may easily understand that every one of them might justly believe that he was singularly beloved of Christ They were all received in the Heart though with John they did not all lean on the Breast of their Divine Master Thus in Heaven God is the Universal Treasure of all the Saints and the peculiar Portion of every one * Si audiat multitudo silens non inter se particulatim comminnunt sonos tanquam cibos sed omne quod sonat omnibus totum est singulis totum August in Epist ad Volusan As by his Essence he equally fills the whole World and every part of it and by his Providence equally regards all and every particular Creature so in Heaven he dispenses the Riches of his Love to all that they cannot desire more if every one of them were if I may so express it the only begotten of the only begotten himself the sole Heir of all the Merits of his Son Every Saint may with the inflamed Spouse break forth in that Triumph of Love My Beloved is mine and I am his Nay the great number of the glorifi'd Saints is so far from lessening their Joy that it unspeakably encreases it The innumerable Company of Angels and the General Assembly of the Church of the First-born next to the happiness of enjoying God are a chief part of Heaven An unfeigned ardent Affection unites that pure Society Our Love is now kindled either from a relation in Nature or some visible Excellencies that render a Person worthy of our choice and friendship but in Heaven the Reasons are greater and the degrees of Love incomparably more fervent All Carnal Alliances and Respects cease in that Supernatural State The Apostle tells us If I have known Christ after the flesh I know him so no more By the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ he was transported into another World and had communion with him as an Heavenly King without low regards to the temporal priviledge of conversing with him on Earth The Spiritual relation is more near and permanent than the strictest band of Nature The Saints have all relation to the same Heavenly Father and to Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace and Head of that happy Fraternity The principal motive of Love here is for the inherent Excellencies of a Person Wisdom Goodness Holiness are mighty Attractives and produce a more worthy Affection a more intimate Confederacy of Souls than propinquity in Nature David declares that all his delight was in the Excellent But there are allays of this Noble Love here For 1. There are reliques of Frailty in the best Men on Earth some Blemishes that render them less amiable when discovered Here their Graces are mixt Infirmities and but ascending to Glory Accordingly our Love to them must be regular and serene not clouded with Error mistaking defects for amiable qualities But in Heaven the Image of God is compleat by the union of all the glorious Vertues requisit to its perfection Every Saint there exactly agrees with the first Exemplar is transformed according to the primitive beauty of Holiness No spot or wrinkle remains or any such thing that may cast the least aspect of deformity upon them 2. In the present state the least part of the Saints worth is visible As the Earth is fruitful in Plants and Flowers but its Riches are in the Mines of precious Metals the veins of Marble hidden in its bosom True Grace appears in sensible Actions but its Glory is within The sincerity of Aims the purity of Affections the impresses of the Spirit on the Heart the interiour Beauties of Holiness are only seen by God Besides such is the humility of eminent Saints that the more they abound in Spiritual Treasures the less they shew As the Heavenly Bodies when in nearest conjunction with the Sun and fullest of light make the least appearance to our sight But all their Excellencies shall then be in view The Glory of God shall be revealed in them And how attractive is the Divine Likeness to an holy Eye How will it ravish the Saints to behold an immortal Loveliness shining in one another Their Love is mutual and reflexive proportionable to the Cause of it An equal constant Flame is presery'd by pure materials Every one is perfectly amiable and perfectly enamour'd with all Now can we frame a fuller Conception of Happiness than such a State of Love wherein whateyer is pleasant in
Soul is as it were all Act continually exercising its most noble faculties on the best Objects Does the Soul sleep in that all-enlightned World that sees with open face the infinite Beauty of God that hears and bears a part in the Hymns of the Angels and Saints encircling his Throne that drinks of the Rivers of Pleasure that flow from his Presence that freely and joyfully converses with all the Celestial Courtiers the Princes of that Kingdom the Favourites of God Then it truly lives This reconciles Death to a Christian who has nothing more in his wishes than to be with Christ and knows that Diseases and Pains the fore-runners of it are but as breaking down the Walls of this earthly dark Prison that the Soul may take its flight to the happy Region and for ever enjoy the Liberty of the Sons of God And for his Body that shall be re-united to the Soul in Glory Methinks God speaks to a dying Believer as he did to Jacob when he was to descend to Egypt Fear not to go down into the Grave I will go down with thee and I will bring thee up again The same Almighty Voice that gave being to the World shall awake those who sleep in the Dust and reform them according to the Example of Christ's glorified Body O how should we long for that triumphant day and with most ardent Aspirings pray Thy Kingdom come in its full power and glory I Shall now come to speak of the Mournful Subject the Cause of my Appearing here at this time the Deceased Reverend and Excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton A Name worthy of precious and eternal Memory And I shall consider him both in the quality of his Office as he was an Embassador of Christ declaring his Mind and representing his Authority and in the holiness of his Person shewing forth the Graces and Vertues of his Divine Master God had furnish'd him with a rare union of those parts that are requisite to form an excellent Minister of his Word A clear Judgment rich Fancy strong Memory and happy Elocution met in him and were excellently improved by his diligent study The Preaching of the Word is the principal part of the Minister's Duty most essential to his Calling and most necessary to the Church For this end chiefly the severral Orders in the Ministerial Office were instituted Ephes 4. and upon our Saviour's triumphant ascent and reception into Heaven an abundant effusion of the Spirit in Graces and Abilities descended upon Men. Now in the performing this Work he was of that conspicuous Eminence that none could detract from him but from ignorance or envy He was endowed with extraordinary knowledg in the Scriptures those Holy Oracles from whence all Spiritual Light is derived And in his preaching gave such a perspicuous account of the order and dependence of Divine Truths and with that felicity applied the Scriptures to confirm them that every Subject by his management was cultivated and improved His Discourses were so clear and convincing that none without offering voluntary violence to Conscience could resist their Evidence And from hence they were effectual not only to inspire a sudden Flame and raise a short Commotion in the Affections but to make a lasting Change in the Life For in the humane Soul such is the composition of its Faculties that till the Understanding be rectified in its Apprehensions and Estimations the Will is never induc'd to make an entire firm choice of what is necessary for the obtaining perfect Happiness A sincere persevering Conversion is effected by weighty Reasons that sink and settle in the Heart His Doctrine was uncorrupt and pure the Truth according to Godliness He was far from a guilty vile intention to prostitute that sacred Ordinance for the acquiring any private secular advantage Neither did he entertain his Hearers with impertinent Subtilties empty Notions intricate Disputes dry and barren without productive Vertue But as one that always had before his Eyes the great End of the Ministry the Glory of God and the Salvation of Men his Sermons were directed to open their eyes that they might see their wretched condition as Sinners to hasten their flight from the Wrath to come to make them humbly thankfully and entirely receive Christ as their Prince and all-sufficient Saviour And to build up the Converted in their most holy Faith and more excellent Love that is the fulfilling of the Law In short to make true Christians eminent in Knowledg and Universal Obedience As the Matter of his Sermons was designed for the good of Souls so his way of expression was proper to that end Words are the Vehicle of the Heavenly Light As the Divine Wisdom was incarnate to reveal the Eternal Counsels of God to the World so Spiritual Wisdom in the Mind must be clothed with words to make it sensible to others And in this he had a singular Talent His Stile was not exquisitely studied not consisting of harmonious Periods but far distant from vulgar meanness His Expression was natural and free clear and eloquent quick and powerful without any spice of folly and always suitable to the Simplicity and Majesty of Divine Truths His Sermons afforded substantial food with delight so that a fastidious Mind could not disrelish them He abhorr'd a vain ostentation of Wit in handling Sacred things so venerable and grave and of eternal consequence Indeed what is more unbecoming a Minister of Christ than to waste the spirits of his Brain as a Spider does his bowels to spin a Web only to catch Flies to get vain applause by foolish pleasing the ignorant And what cruelty is it to the Souls of Men Suet. 'T is recorded as an instance of Nero's savage temper that in a general Famine when many perish'd by hunger he ordered a Ship should come from Egypt the Granary of Italy laden with Sand for the use of Wrestlers In such extremity to provide only for delight that there might be Spectacles on the Theatre when the City of Rome was a spectacle of such misery as to melt the heart of any but a Nero was most barbarous Cruelty But 't is cruelty of an heavier imputation for a Minister to prepare his Sermons to please the foolish curiosity of Fancy with flashy Conceits nay such light Vanities that would scarce be endured in a Scene whiles hungry Souls languish for want of solid nourishment His fervour and earnestness in Preaching was such as might soften and make pliant the most stubborn obdurate Spirits I am not speaking of one whose Talent was only in Voice that labours in the Pulpit as if the end of Preaching were for the exercise of the Body Si sudare aliter non potes est alind and not for the profit of Souls But this Man of God was inflam'd with an Holy Zeal and from thence such ardent expressions broke forth as were capable to procure attention and consent in his Hearers He spake as one that had a living Faith within