Selected quad for the lemma: glory_n
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A31858
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Sermons preached upon several occasions by Benjamin Calamy ...; Sermons. Selections
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Calamy, Benjamin, 1642-1686.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing C221; ESTC R22984
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185,393
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504
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be affected with it it is impossible that we should enjoy much ease or rest or happiness in this life when it is in the power of so many thousand contingencies to rob us of it But our hope and comfort is that the time will shortly come when we shall be delivered from this burthen of flesh When God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow nor crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away When we shall hunger no more neither thirst any more neither shall the sun light on us nor any heat for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed us and shall lead us into living fountains of waters Oh when shall we arrive to those happy regions where no complaints were ever heard where we shall all enjoy a constant and uninterrupted health and vigour both of body and mind and never more be exposed to pinching frosts or scorching heats or any of those inconveniences which incommode this present pilgrimage When we have once passed from death to life we shall be perfectly eased of all that troublesome care of our bodies which now takes up so much of our time and thoughts we shall be set free from all those tiresome labours and servile drudgeries which here we are forced to undergo for the maintenance and support of our lives and shall enjoy a perfect health without being vexed with any nauseous medicines or tedious courses of physick for the preservation of it Those robes of light and glory which we shall be cloathed with at the resurrection of the just will not stand in need of those carefull provisions or crave those satisfactions which it is so grievous to us here either to procure or be without But they as our Saviour tells us St. Luke 20. verse 35 36. which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage neither can they die any more for they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 equal to Angels they shall live such a life as the holy Angels do Whence Tertullian calls the body we shall have at the resurrection carnem Angelificatam Angelified flesh which shall neither be subject to those weaknesses and decays nor want that daily sustenance and continual recruit which these mortal bodies cannot subsist without Meats for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them This is that perfect and complete happiness which all good men shall enjoy in the other world which according to an Heathen Poet may be thus briefly summed up Mens sana in corpore sano a mind free from all trouble and guilt in a body free from all pains and diseases Thus our mortal bodies shall be raised immortal they shall not onely by the power of God be always preserved from death for so the bodies we have now if God pleases may become immortal but the nature of them shall be so wholly changed and altered that they shall not retain the same seeds or principles of mortality and corruption so that they who are once cloathed with them as our Saviour tells us cannot die any more 2. Our bodies shall be raised in glory Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father Matt. 13.43 Our heavenly bodies in brightness and glory shall contend with the splendour of the Sun it self A resemblance of this we have in the lustre of Moses's face which after he had conversed with God in the Mount did shine so gloriously that the children of Israel were afraid to come near him and therefore when he spake to them he was forced to cast a veil over his face to cloud and eclipse the glory of it And that extraordinary and miraculous majesty of St. Stephen's countenance seems to be a presage of that future glory which our heavenly bodies shall be cloathed with Acts 6.15 And all that sate in the Council looking stedfastly on him saw his face as it had been the face of an Angel That is they saw a great light and splendour about him and if the bodies of Saints do sometimes appear so glorious here on earth how will they shine and glitter in the other world when they shall be made like unto Christ's own glorious body for so St. Paul tells us that Christ will fashion our vile bodies like unto his glorious body Now how glorious and splendid the body of Christ is we may ghess by the visions of the two great Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul The former of them when he saw the transfiguration of our Saviour when his face did shine as the sun and his raiment became shining and white as snow was at the sight of it so transported and overcharged with joy and admiration that he was in a manner besides himself for he knew not what he said When our Saviour discovered but a little of that glory which he now possesses and will in due time communicate to his followers yet that little of it made the place seem a paradise and the Disciples were so taken with the sight of it that they thought they could wish for nothing better than always to live in such pure light and enjoy so beautifull a sight It is good for us to be here let us make three tabernacles here let us fix and abide for ever And if they thought this so great a happiness onely to be where such heavenly bodies were present and to behold them with their eyes how much greater happiness must they enjoy who are admitted to dwell in such glorious mansions and are themselves cloathed with so much brightness and splendour The other appearance of our blessed Saviour after his ascension into Heaven to St. Paul as he was travelling to Damascus was so glorious that it put out his eyes his senses were not able to bear a light so refulgent such glorious creatures will our Lord make us all if we continue his faithfull servants and followers and we shall be so wonderfully changed by the word of his power from what we are in this vile state that the bodies we now have will not be able so much as to bear the sight and presence of those bodies which shall be given us at the resurrection Now this excellency of our heavenly bodies the Schoolmen fansie will arise in a great measure from the happiness of our souls The unspeakable joy and happiness which our souls shall then enjoy will break through our bodies and be conspicuous and shine forth in the brightness of our countenances and illustrate them with beauty and splendour as the joy of the soul even in this life hath some influence upon the body and makes an imperfect impression upon the countenance by rendring it more serene and chearfull than otherwise it would be as Solomon tells us Eccles. 8.1 That a man's wisedom maketh his face to shine
for those celestial and glorious mansions which God hath provided for us an earthly sensual mind is so much wedded to bodily pleasures as that it cannot enjoy its self without them and is incapable of tasting or relishing any other though really greater and infinitely to be preferred before them Nay such persons as mind onely the concerns of the body and are wholly led by its motions and inclinations as do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it were embody their souls would esteem it a great unhappiness to be cloathed with a spiritual and heavenly body it would be like cloathing a beggar in princely apparel Such glorious bodies would be uneasie to them they would not know how to behave themselves in them they would e'en be glad to retire and put on their rags again But now by denying the solicitations of our flesh and contradicting its lusts and appetites and weaning our selves from bodily pleasures and subduing and mortifying our carnal lusts we fit and dispose our selves for another state and when our souls are thus spiritualized they will soon grow weary of this flesh and long for their departure they will be always ready to take wing and fly away into the other world where at last they will meet with a body suited to their rational and spiritual appetites 2. From hence we may give some account of the different degrees of glory in the other state For though all good men shall have glorious bodies yet the glory of them all shall not be equal they shall all shine as stars and yet one star differeth from another star in glory there is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars so also is the resurrection of the dead Some will have bodies more bright and resplendent than others Those who have done some extraordinary service to their Lord who have suffered bravely and courageously for his name or those who by the constant exercise of severity and mortification have arrived to an higher pitch and attained to a greater measure of purity and holiness than others shall shine as stars of the first magnitude Dan. 12.3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever It is certain that the purest and most spiritual bodies shall be given to those who are most fitted for them to the most heavenly and spiritual souls so that this is no little encouragement to us to make the greatest proficiency we can possibly in the ways of vertue and piety since the more we wean our selves from these present things and sensible objects the more glorious and heavenly will our bodies be at the resurrection 3. Let this consideration engage us patiently to bear those afflictions sicknesses and bodily pains which we are exercised with in this life The time of our redemption draweth nigh let us but hold out awhile longer and all tears shall be wiped from our eyes and we shall never sigh nor sorrow any more And how soon shall we forget all the misery and uneasiness we endured in this earthly tabernacle when once we are cloathed with that house which is from above we are now but in our journey towards the heavenly Canaan are pilgrims and strangers here and therefore must expect to struggle with many straits and difficulties but it will not be long before we shall come to our journeys end and that will make amends for all we shall then be in a quiet and safe harbour out of the reach of those storms and dangers wherewith we are here encompassed we shall then be at home at our Father's house no more exposed to those inconveniences which so long as we abide in this tabernacle of clay we are subject unto And let us not forfeit all this happiness onely for want of a little more patience and constancy but let us hold out to the end and we shall at last receive abundant recompence for all the trouble and uneasiness of our passage and be enstated in perfect endless rest and peace 4. Let this especially arm and fortify us against the fear of death for death is now conquered and disarmed and can doe us no hurt It separates us indeed from this body for a while but it is onely that we may receive it again far more pure and glorious It takes away our old rags and bestows upon us royal robes either therefore let us lay aside the profession of this hope of the resurrection unto life or else let us with more courage expect our own dissolution and with greater patience bear that of our friends and relations Wo is us who are forced still to sojourn in Mesech and to dwell in the tents of Kedar for how can it be well with us so long as we are chained to these earthly carcasses As God therefore said once to Jacob fear not to go down into Egypt for I will go down with thee and I will surely bring thee up again so may I say to you fear not to go down into the house of rottenness fear not to lay down your heads in the dust for God will certainly bring you out again and that after a much more glorious manner Let death pull down this house of clay since God hath undertaken to rear it up again infinitely more splendid and usefull 5. And Lastly Let us all take care to live so here that we may be accounted worthy to obtain the other world and the resurrection from the dead Let us rise in a moral sense from the death of sin to the life of righteousness and then the second death shall have no power over us A renewed and purified mind and soul shall never fail of an heavenly and glorious body in the other world but a sensual and worldly mind as it hath no affection for so can it find no place in those pure regions of light and happiness Since therefore we have this comfortable hope of a glorious resurrection unto life eternal let us purify our selves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit let us hold fast our profession and stedfastly adhere to our duty whatever we may lose or suffer by it here as knowing we shall reap if we faint not And this is Saint Paul's exhortation with which he concludes his discourse of the resurrection Therefore my beloved brethren be ye stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. A SERMON Preached before the House of COMMONS The Twelfth Sermon JOB XXVII 5 6. God forbid that I should justify you till I die I will not remove my integrity from me My righteousness I hold fast and will not let it go my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live THESE words may be considered as the resolution of a truly honest man whose vertue and goodness depends not upon any outward accidents or