Dr. Isham's SERMON At the FUNERAL OF Dr. SCOTT Imprimatur Carolus Alston R. P. D. Hen. Episc Lond. à Sacris Martii 19. 1694 5. A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF THE Reverend JOHN SCOTT D. D. Late Rector of S. Giles in the Fields March 15. 1694 5. By Z. ISHAM D. D. Rector of S. Botolph Bishopsgate London LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-Head in S. Paul's Church-Yard 1695. A SERMON ON PHIL. iii. 20 21. Our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself I. WHen a pestilential Distemper was raging in Africk the holy Father S. Cyprian takes occasion from thence to encourage the Christians against the fear of Death and to set before them such Consolations as were proper for this Calamity he assures them that * Amplectamur diem qâ—i assignat singulos dâ—micilio suo qui nos istinc ereptos laqueis secularibus exsolutos paradiso restituit regno coelesti De Mortal The day of their decease would restore them to Paradise and to the Kingdom of Heaven and the concluding Argument that he useth is to remind them of the excellent Company they should meet with in the other world immediately upon their departure from hence There is waiting for us above saith he a great number of our dearest Friends our Parents and Brethren and Children are all desiring our access to them and being now secur'd of their own immortality they are still solicitous for our Salvation and what a common rejoycing will it be both to them and us to have the sight and embraces of one another And then he goes on to speak of the Apostles and Prophets and Martyrs and Virgins that we shall find in the heavenly Mansions as if nothing could be more desirable than to hasten thither with all possible speed Quis non ad suos navigare festinans ventum prosperum cupidiùs optaret ut velocitèr caros liceret amplecti Thus we see this glorious Martyr discoursing with such earnestness of the next life as if he were then hoisting up his Sails and lanching forth into the Ocean of Eternity and he is the more to be hearkned to because he had receiv'd as he tells us immediate ‖ Nobis ipsis minimis quoties revelatum est ut publicè praedicarem fratres nostros non esse lugendos accersitione Dominicâ de seculo liberaâ—â—s nec accipiendas esse hic atras vestes quando illi ibi indumenta alba sam sumserint Ibid. revelation from God concerning the happiness of departed Souls and from what he hath said in conjunction with others we may gather it to have been the more approv'd Opinion of the Primitive Church that the Spirits of righteous Men go directly to Heaven and the Fathers who speak otherwise and favour an intermediate Estate seem to have done it upon their own peculiar Notions as they might inoffensively do in a Matter not clearly decided by the light of Scripture The comfort which that admirable Father gives to the Christians of his Age is very seasonable for us at this time when God in his unsearchable Judgment hath remov'd from us so many eminent Persons and particularly within the space of a week * Mr. Wharton March 5. Dr. Scott Mar. 10. Dr. Dove Mar. 11. three of the greatest Ornaments of our Church as it were in attendance upon the untimely Obsequies of that blessed Queen that bright Luminary of Religion and Vertue whose delight it was to protect and adorn it However we must with humble submission adore the Justice of God and we hope that he intends not War against us by calling his Servants home that he will now accept of a Sacrifice and that some of these holy Prophets will prevail with him to stop the hand of his destroying Angel Turn us O God of our salvation Psal â—xxxâ— 4 5 6. and cause thine anger towards us to cease Wilt thou be angry with us for ever wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoyce in thee Doubtless he will revive us and speak peace unto us if we attend to what he hath spoken to us and turn not again to folly and what he speaks to us upon this mournful occasion what thoughts and resolutions he expects from us and what our Eloquent Brother would speak to us if he were not now silent we may hear from the Apostle Our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself II. In which words I shall desire you to consider these two Points First A duty represented and that is to have our Conversation in Heaven And secondly an incitement to it from the Consideration of our future bliss I begin with the Duty which is intimated in my Text namely the having of our Conversation in Heaven for the Explication whereof I shall briefly insist upon these two Heads First What is imported hereby And secondly How reasonable it is to act accordingly First let us observe what is imported by having our Conversation in Heaven the word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and seems here to signifie the Rights and Immunities of a Citizen and to intimate that we are by Profession Citizens of that glorious Corporation which is above and ought to demean our selves as such that we may not lose the Freedom and Privileges belonging to it this is a continuing City Heb. 13 1â— and 〈…〉 Câ—â—m 〈◊〉 and a City which hath foundations as the Apostle calls it and a very learned Father tells us that the Stoicks would allow Heaven only to be properly a City no Community upon Earth deserving that name * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jud. p. 196. 'T is a fair conjecture that our Apostle doth here more particularly allude to the dignity of the Freemen of Rome which in his days was mightily esteem'd and enjoy'd by many that were not born there and liv'd in Countries very remote and this resembleth the condition of Christians who are Naturaliz'd and Incorporated into another City even while they remain at such a distance from the place of their Liberty and are labouring under the servitude of this present Life III. To explain the compass of the Duty before us we may take notice that it includes the three following steps First a due Esteem of the Happiness of the next Life Secondly the kindling of our desires and affections towards the attainment of it and Thirdly a Conversation answerable thereunto First we are to esteem the Felicity of the next Life suitably to
Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Secondly Heaven is the place for which we are created and God in forming Man after his own Image design'd him for the everlasting fruition of himself innocent Men would have been Translated to a much higher Paradise and we that are fallen know it to be the end of our Redemption Heb. xii â—2 that we should come to the city of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and that we should inherit the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world Mat. xxv 34. Thirdly Heaven is the place of the greatest happiness attainable by us and not only inexpressibly beyond all these lower satisfactions but also above our comprehension for till we know the most extended capacity of the Soul and what degrees of blessedness what proficiency what illuminations 't is capable of and till we know moreover how far God will discover himself in filling all the dimensions of it and in raising it to the highest pitch of created Perfection we cannot have a just and proportionable Idea of that ineffable happiness which is purchas'd for us by the blood of Christ So much however God hath reveal'd to us concerning our future reward as is sufficient to quicken our most active endeavours for it Joh. iii. 2. It doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when God shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and certainly the Vision of God's Essential Glories which are unapproachable to us here and the resemblance to his transcendent Nature the beholding of him Face to Face the dwelling within the Circle of his Throne and the seeing of the Mysteries of Faith unvail'd together with the consequential ardency of Affection towards God and the loving and admiring and adoring of him proportionably to the light of the understanding all this is infinitely more worthy of our Ambition than all the fading enjoyments of the World and may engage us to be diligent in our Christian Race and in working for Eternity VII This will be further Evident from the second Point which I offer'd namely the incitement given by our Apostle from the consideration of our future bliss Our conversation is to be in heaven because we look for our Saviour's coming from thence in glory to raise us up to an immortal life and to change our vile and infirm and mouldering bodies into such as will be of a noble and lasting Frame and fashion'd after the pattern of his own Resurrection In this Argument of our Apostle we may take notice of two Assertions the first of them is That this vile Body which we carry about here is to rise again and to be re-built after the likeness of the glorious Body of Christ and if it were otherwise 't is not easily conceivable how the Doctrine of the Resurrection can be properly maintain'd For that only can justly be said to rise again which is fallen and buried in the earth but the Soul is uncapable of dying and therefore unless the same Body be reviv'd unless there be a Resuscitation of that which was asleep in the Grave we are in danger of losing the Resurrection Did not Christ arise with the same Flesh that was Crucified and retaining the very Print of the Nails and are we not to be raised after the same model and he hath told us that all that are in the graves shall hear his voice Joh. 5.28 29. and shall come forth unto the Resurrection either of life or of damnation And his Apostle hath taught us that this corruptible must put on incorruption 1 Cor. 15.53 and this mortal must put on immortality It shall put on a new Garment and by consequence shall remain entire and from hence the Identity of the corrupted and the rising Body seems to be clearly reveal'd If it be so 't is in vain to contradict it by Philosophical Cavils for to support our belief the Apostle minds of us Gods omnipotent strength whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself The Power of God is but a weak Argument for the Truth of an Article of Faith unless the Revelations of his Will be clear and convincing for otherwise by this Plea the most absurd monstrosities in Religion may be defended but where the Divine Will is perspicuously declar'd as in the case of the Resurrection the Omnipotence of God comes in for a seasonable and sufficient reply to all the astonishing difficulties that our Reason can muster up 'T is I confess not easy to conceive how the Members that have been consumed in the Grave and scatter'd into a thousand places and travell'd through all the Elements should after many Ages reassemble their broken pieces and shake off their rottenness and reassume their antient Figure and rise up into a beautiful Frame But who can prescribe Limits to an Almighty Being The thunder of his power who can understand Job 26.14 and since he hath promis'd to raise up Mankind who can say to him that it cannot possibly be We know the infinite Power of God in building this vast Universe when he had no matter to work upon and in fashioning Man the Image of himself out of the dust of the ground and we cannot but admire the daily Miracles of his Providence in continuing the successive Generations of Men and Forming them all in the Womb And then we may conclude that he who hath done all this is likewise able to recollect and reanimate our putrify'd Bodies and to over power all the obstacles that stand in his way Act. xxvi 8. And why should it be thought a thing incredible with us that God should raise the dead VIII The second Assertion in our Apostle is this That there is to be a change in our Bodies at the Resurrection and a likeness to the glorify'd Body of Christ they are to be substantially the same but cloth'd with a Robe of unknown Glory and with new Endowments and Qualities suitably to that Heavenly Life which they must enter into The question was made in the days of our Apostle How are the dead raised up 1 Cor. xv 35. and 42 43 44 and with what body do they come and he not only clears the certainty of our Resurrection but also the conformity of it to that of Christ and it was an old * Hieron Ep. 27. Tradition in the Church that every Christian shall be raised up in the same ripeness of Age as our Saviour was of at the time of his Passion The body is sown in corruption and raised in incorruption that is in this Life it hath the Seeds of dissolution and upon the withdrawing of the Soul must of necessity fall into dust and rottenness but hereafter it will be subject to no decay no frailty and no misery being fram'd of such a durable substance as to prove an immortal Habitation to the returning Soul It will not be pinch'd with necessities and pains
and diseases nor troubled with daily repairs and with providing against the ruins of Mortality Luk xx 35 36 for they that shall be counted worthy to obtain the Resurrection of the dead cannot die any more as being equal to the Angels and the Children of God Again The body is sown in dishonour and raised in glory that is a brightness and lustre and Majesty will over spread those Bodies which are here of a despicable and mean aspect especially when they are committed to the ground with the pale and frightful Visage of Death which turns the fairest Countenance into a spectacle of blackness and horrour but in the Resurrection a fresh and unperishing Beauty shall dwell upon the exalted Body Mat. xiii 43. and then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father they shall be surrounded with beams of perpetual Light resting upon them and such a Resulgency there was in the face of Moses when he came down from conversing with God in the Mount and in the Transfiguration of Christ when his face did shine as the Sun and his raiment was white as the light Matt. xvii 2. Again The body is sown in weakness and raised in power that is those Indispositions and Infirmities which beset the Flesh in our present Estate and make it a dull and sluggish and cumbersom lump shall then be removed and there shall be no clogs and fetters of the Soul to obstruct her operations Here we are too sensible how backward the Flesh is to obey the Spirit and even in our approaches to God we find a heaviness and deadness upon us from the reluctancy of it and we are soon tir'd even by the best performances but the glorify'd Body will be an equal Companion to the Soul and nimbly execute whatever is fitting for it and fly with the wings of an Angel upon any superiour call and joyn with unwearied delight in the never ceasing work of the Saints and in the adorations of God Lastly the body which is sown is natural that is invested with such Faculties and Appetites and Inclinations as are peculiarly fitted to this lower World but it is raised a spiritual body that is adorn'd with celestial Qualities and accommodated to that Divine Employment which is to entertain us everlastingly in the next Life Here the unruly headstrong Body is very difficult to be manag'd but when it shall be Spiritualiz'd and purified and adapted to the Joys of Heaven it will be at perfect amity with the Soul and tun'd for ever to the Hallelujahs of the Spirits above IX This is that blessedness which is to inspire us with vigour in all the exercises of a Christian Life and to prepare us with alacrity for a Christian Death but lest it should be objected that this is not an adequate encouragement in our fears and losses and calamities for if we must wait for happiness till the second coming of our Lord and the reassumption of our Bodies what is there to rebate the apprehensions of death why should we not be unwilling to quit our present satisfactions for those which are not to come till after a long and uncertain period and what ground is there of thanks to God for the departure of our friends for the preventing of such objections I shall subjoin this Consideration to what hath been said That Righteous Souls depart from hence into a State of Felicity We cannot trace the motions of the naked Soul nor see the Angels that conduct it but an intelligent and immortal Substance wherever it is must undoubtedly have a suitable Habitation and live and think and contemplate and probably with more freedom and vivacity than in these Cottages of Clay But to suppose it in a slumbering and unactive Estate and much more to suspect the vanishing of it is to degrade our selves below the conceptions of the Heathen World and to resist the natural Impressions of Conscience Natura ipsa de immortalitate animorum tacita judicat Cicero saith the Roman Orator Wherefore we justly believe that the Spirits of Righteous Men are in some active and joyful Repose sensible of their present bliss and expecting fuller degrees of it they know themselves to be deliver'd from the troubles and sorrows of mortality from the tossings of the World and the entanglements of Sin they enjoy God with more familiarity than they could here in the most exalted raptures of Devotion and looking beyond the circle of time they behold a brighter Eternity moving towards them and a triumph of Glory preparing for them and then how can we doubt of their having a present Reward how can we attend upon them and not congratulate their Joy What Communication they have with us God hath been pleased to hide from us and probably to prevent our Addresses to them but we may presume their Love towards us is equally enlarg'd with the rest of their Graces and possibly they * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Orig. de Orat. §. 34. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Id. Ex. ad Mart. p. 192. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil Hom. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Greg. Nyss Orat. in XL Mart. Speramus quòd liberis suis apud Christum praeful aâ—â—stat Ambros de obit Theodos Pro te Dominum rogat mihique veniam impetrat peccatorum Hieron Ep. 25. intercede for us though not in a sacerdotal way as Christ alone can doe yet in the way of Charity as Members of the same Body with us We acknowledge to God in our Publick Prayers that the spirits of just men made perfect do live with him after they are deliver'd from their earthly prisons and the souls of them that sleep in the Lord Jesus are receiv'd into the heavenly habitations and enjoy perpetual felicity and if Lazarus was carried to Abraham 's bosom Luk. xvi 22. if the penitent Thief went from the Cross with our Saviour into Paradise Luk. xxiii 43. Act. vii 59. if S. Stephen had reason to pray Phil. i. 23. Lord Jesus receive my spirit if the Apostle was willing to depart that he might immediately be with Christ and if the souls of the Martyrs are under the heavenly Altar Rev. vi 9 10 11. clothed in white robes and Communicating with God then we may be confident of the delightful rest of * Confecto itinere virtutis ac fidei ad complexum osculum Domini venerunt Cyprian Ep. 37. edit Oxon. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. 1. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil Ep. 188. Fruitur nunc Theodosius luce perpetuâ tranquillitate diuturnâ munerationis divinae fructibus gratulatur Ambros de obit Theod. Testor Jesum quem Blaesilla nunc sequitur testor sanctos angelos quorum consortio fruitur Hieron Ep. 25. Saints departed and follow them with acclamations to the seat of blessedness X. This is the proper Consolation for us upon parting with that excellent Man in whose place I now stand who