A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF Mr. THOMAS GRIGG B. D AND Rector of St. Andrew-Vndershaft Septemb. 4. 1670. By Symon Patrick D. D. HEB. 13. 14. Here we have no continuing City but we seek one to come LONDON Printed by Robert White for Francis Tyton at the Sign of the three Daggers in Fleet-street 1670. Imprimatur Rob. Grove R. P. Humfr. D no. Episc Lond. Ã sac Dom. Octob. 4. 1670. To the RELATIONS and FRIENDS of the DECEASED TO satisfie your desires I have transcribed this Discourse as soon as my other occasions would suffer and exposed it to the publick view The main Body of it is printed just as it was delivered but I have taken liberty to add the Preface and some part of the Application which then I was constrained to omit If it prove effectual to the furtherance and joy of any ones Faith I doubt not but that very thing will help to mitigate the sorrow which you have conceived for the loss of so worthy a Person A man of so amiable a temper such an unbiassed judgement prudent simplicity unfeigned charity and discreet zeal that it is not to be expected you should ever think of his departure from us without a sigh But the more useful he was to the world and delightful to you the greater will your vertue be in humbly submitting to the will of God by whose order he is removed to a better place We must not teach him how to dispose of us nor repine at his wise appointments no nor suffer the just grief which we feel on such sad occasions to extinguish quite our joy in him who would have us rejoyce in the Lord alwayes What cause we have to do so the ensuing Meditations will in some measure demonstrate Which are plain but solid truths able to support and satisfie our Spirits if we lay them up not only in our Memories to keep safe but in our Understandings to consider and our wills to love and imitate Let us but often ruminate on them and press them on our hearts and live by the faith of the Son of God and there is no disaster in the world so great but we shall be able at least to possess our souls in patience when it threatens to overwhelm us Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father which hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through Grace comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work Covent-Garden Octob. 15. 1670. Yours to serve you S. P. A Funeral Sermon UPON II CORINTH V. I. For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens THE Apostle being at the time of his writing this Epistle in great troubles and dangers for the Testimony of Jesus professes himself notwithstanding so abundantly satisfied with the Ministry he had undertaken that he did not faint at aIl nor grow weary of it as you read in the first Verse of the foregoing Chapter That which made him so courageous as to preach under so many discouragements which he mentions V. 8 9. was the same Spirit of Faith which had ever been in the people of God but was now more lively and strong in him through the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead as he tells us V. 13 14. For this cause saith he we faint not c. V. 16. It was no fool-hardiness that made them expose themselves to so many calamities but the belief of some better things which would reward their sufferings For our light affliction saith he V. 17 18. which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory While we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen c. And if any one should think that these sufferings might end at last in death and bring them down to their Graves he would have them think withal that it was no great matter Let these Miseries proceed so far as to take away our lives this is the worst of it the best is We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens These sufferings it is true may pull down our present habitation but that is all they can do there is a better building which they cannot touch Besides we shall be no great losers by the demolishing of this dwelling for it is but an Earthly House Nay we shall be great gainers for we shall the sooner enter into the coelestial and eternal mansions THis is the sense of the words In which we may consider these three Things 1. The description which the Apostle makes of the present state in which we now are it is in our earthly house of this tabernacle which must be dissolved 2. His description of the future state in which the faithful shall be hereafter they have a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the heavens 3. The Certainty of that happy state It is a thing as evident in its kind as the other is As we know that this house of ours is to be dissolved so we know there is a building of God when it is thrown down which stands for ever The one is certain as well as the other Of the two first I have discoursed elsewhere upon the like occasion with this that hath now brought us together Shewing how poor and mean the dwelling is in which our souls lodge while they remain in this world and what goodly preparations our Lord hath made for them in the next There seems to be an opposition here of the one state to the other in five respects 1. We are here only in an house but there is a building for us 2. This is an house of ours but that is a building of God 3. We are now but an house of a Tabernacle then we shall have an house not made with bands 4. And this is an earthly house whereas that is in the Heavens 5. This is to be dissolved but that is eternal in the Heavens As much as to say We are here confined to a very strait and narrow room in which the nobler thoughts and affections of our souls are apt to be choak't and stifled And no wonder considering the meaneness of its original and the poorness of its beginning Our body was once a very small pile so small that it could be inclosed in our Mothers Womb. Then and a long time after our souls were so pent up that they could not find themselves They were forc'd to stay many years before they could gain so much liberty as to turn about reflect on themselves and know that they had a Being Nay so pitifully were they cooped up that the rational Spirit could not breathe or give any sign at all of life And though now
indeed this house is raised and advanced to a greater bigness yet besides that it is of no huge dimensions and a great many years were spent in rearing it to such an height it is but like a Tabernacle A place subject to continual changes the Scene of perpetual alterations by which it hath both its subsistence and destruction It is lyable also to outward violence as well as inward pains and diseases And at its best state is but a vile and forbid habitation An house of Clay or Dirt into which it will at last be resolved It cannot stand long though we under-prop it never so much but as it calls for daily repairs so in the end it will utterly fall to ruine This is the miserable condition of souls in their present abode which should make them one would think not very fond of it nor to set an high esteem on those pleasures which are limited to so small a space and crowded into such a narrow compass Nunquam magnis ingeniis chara in corpore mora est No great Minds ever held their bodies in great esteem nor would purchase their stay in them at too great a price They rather groan earnestly as the Apostle speaks in the next Verse when they feel the burdens and pressures of this state to be translated to that blessed Countrey where they shall be better entertain'd For there all faithful souls shall feel themselves in fairer and more spatious Mansions and possess a building of greater capacity and larger reception In which they shall enjoy as much liberty and freedome as heart can desire spreading themselves in a vast and unbounded blessedness It cannot be otherwise seeing it is a building of God a Fabrick wholly of his own rearing And therefore must needs be a beautiful and stately work that shall bear some marks of the excellency of the Builder and declare the Greatness Wisdom and Magnificent Goodness of our Creator and Redeemer There can be no time conceived there wherein we shall be to seek for our happiness but at our first entrance into that blessed place we shall find our thoughts full of God our hearts exceedingly ravished with his love and all our troublesome Passions turned into joy that we have made such a gainful change Nor shall we meet with any thing either to trouble our delights or to divert and interrupt those happy enjoyments We shall not stand in need of so much as meat and drink and clothes whereby we support and repair this present Tabernacle but as that house is made without hands so it will subsist unchangeably without those helps which we now require For it is a building in the Heavens the dwelling place of God himself Who will one day refine our very body and make it like the purest Sky so that it shall have no spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing but be of a clear and transparent beauty like that of the Glorious Body of our Saviour This will secure the incorruption and eternity of it There will be no heaviness in it to incline it to this dull earth again no such weight as shall sink us down to these lower Regions But being translated to the Countrey of Spirits it will become in a manner a spiritual body which shall neither grow old nor suffer any decay but remain in a constant youth and freshness eternally in the Heavens These are great and glorious things as I then distinctly shewed So great that they who do not believe them cannot but wish they should be true For men naturally abhor to think that any thing of them should perish and dye for ever and they as passionately desire to be in a better condition than now they find themselves They would all be more happy if they knew how than the whole world can make them and never by their good wills have any period put to their enjoyments Which is the very thing that the Apostle here gives us hope of the General sense of whose words is this That there is a never ending felicity for good Christians not only for their souls but their bodies too in the other world For their souls presently in those heavenly Mansions which our Lord spoke of in his Fathers house and for their bodies at the day of his appearing again when he that raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus as the Apostle speaks in Ver. 14. of the former Chapter But what certainty is there of such things may some say May we not abuse our selves if we look for that which no man ever saw Is not this to build Castles in the Air as the common saying is and to feed our selves with vain and empty Promises out of our own imagination Why should we hope for any such Glorious state who are so unworthy even our present Being What made it enter into the heart of man to think of being so happy and to entertain their minds with the expectation of such matters as seem too good and too great to be true The Apostle answers to such surmises here in my Text. We know that we have a building of God c. We have good reason for what we preach we do not flatter our selves and you when we speak of these things our hopes are not built on the Sand or the Air but stand on a firm foundation We have solid grounds for this perswasion and such certain arguments on which to found this belief that it amounts to a knowledge We doubt no more of it than of those things of which we have a certain assurance but as we know that we must dye so we know by other means that after we are dissolved there is a better dwelling for us This shall be the subject of my Discourse at this time And here are five things worthy of our notice which make up the evidence which the Apostle had for this building and eternal possessions in the Heavens I. He saith it was a thing known a matter that was demonstrable by proper Arguments II. A thing generally known for he speaks in the Plural Number Not a private Doctrine but the common sense of all the followers of Jesus III. They knew this so that they made it the scope of all their endeavours That the Particle FOR bids us consider which refers to the words immediately foregoing IV. More than this they were so sure of it that for its sake they quitted their present dwelling and ventured their very lives to come at it For so he will tell you if you look but a little further back to the 16. 11. and 10 â—h Verses of the fourth Chapter of which he here also gives the reason V. Lastly They were so perfectly perswaded of it that they esteemed themselves in a sort possessed of this building For he saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 WE HAVE a building of God in the Heavens I. I begin with the first the knowledge which the Apostles had of this happy state in a greater freedom
to them by all these means that he that hath the Son i. e. effectually believes in Christ and is his faithful follower hath life And these things they have written unto us that believe on the Name of the Son of God that we may know that we have eternal life 1 John 5. 12 13. For faith is a certain and sure way of knowledge as well as any else And our Faith relies you see on the Testimony of the Men of God who did not follow cunningly devised fables when they made known the power and coming of our Lord Jesus but were eye witnesses of his Majesty c. 2 Pet. 1. 16 17. And as St. Paul speaks in Ver. 2. of the fore-going Chapter had renounced the hidden things of dishonesty not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully but by manifestation of the truth commending themselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God There appeared nothing of fraud and guile in any of their speeches or actions but the greatest simplicity ingenuity and singleness of heart that can be imagined They abominated all dishonest dealing and did not pretend to receive things from the Lord when they were but the devices or dreams of their own brains But as the Apostle tells them in this Epistle Chap. 12. 12. the signs of his being sent of God were wrought among them in all patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds That which they had heard which they had seen with their eyes which they had looked upon and their hands had handled of the word of life they declared unto the world For the life was manifested saith St. John and we have seen it and bear witness and shew unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us 1. John 1. 1 2 3. Let us not therefore be faithless but believe the testimony of men so well assured For to think that there is no habitation for us in the Heavens after we depart from these earthly houses because we were never there is as foollish and senseless as if a man but poorly bred and that had never stirred beyond the door of his Cottage should imagine that all the goodly buildings he hears of at London or which are shown him from the top of an Hill some Miles distance from it are but so many Clouds and phantasms in the Air and have no real being Let us but a little awaken our souls to look beyond this house of clay Let us but go out of doors in our thoughts and meditations stretching our minds further than the things of sense and we shall clearly discern in this light of God which hath shone from Heaven upon us that there is a far more glorious state in a building not made with hands eternal in the Heavens For these things saith the Amen the faithful and true witness the beginning of the Creation of God Rev. 3. 14. These things say the Servants of Christ the Stewards of the Mysteries of God in all things approving themselves to be his Ministers 1 Cor. 4. 1. 2. 6. 4. We ought therefore to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard lest at any time we should let them slip How shall we escape if we neglect such great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders and with divers Miracles and Gifts of the Holy Ghost according to his will 2 Heb. 1. 3 4. II. And that you may be moved to the greater attension to these things and not to slight the report of our Lord himself and of men chosen of God to be his witnesses give me leave to speak a few words of the other remaining Heads mentioned at the beginning which will add some strength and force to what you have heard It is considerable then that this was a matter generally known a thing wherein they were all agreed They had a knowledge as I have told you of them and not a meer opinion It was not only a probable but a certain truth which they preached to the world And yet an opinion that is not private but common is very much respected and carries no small Authority with it We are all very much over-awed by that which is universally received and inclined to follow that which is every where had in reverence How much more then is this to be regarded and worthy of all acceptation which stands upon such solid foundations and to which there was also a common consent They were all satisfied that this was the very truth of God there was no dispute or division among them about this Doctrine It was the thing which they had heard from the beginning that this is the promise which he hath promised us even eternal life 1 John 2. 24 25. This was every Apostles sense this they all preached this every Christian believed It was the common Faith of Gods elect the common hope of their heavenly calling and in one word the common salvation Titus 1. 1 2 4. Ephes 4. 4. Jude 3. It was not the belief of St. Paul alone he was not the only man that published this glad tydings to the world But they all heard the voice of Christ they all beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father they all were witnesses of his resurrection and all felt the same miraculous change wrought in their souls and as our Lord prayed that they might be one as he and the Father were John 17. 9. so they unanimously delivered that which they received 1 Cor. 15. 3. 11. and preached this hope of the Gospel to every creature which is under heaven Col. 1. 23. teaching every man in all wisdom that they might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus Whereunto I also labour saith the same Apostle striveing according to his working which worketh in me mightily Ib. V. 28 29. This shews that they had no slight and superficial thoughts of the life to come but that they were exceeding serious in the belief of it being rooted and grounded in this truth Which will more fully appear if you go on to consider III. That they knew these things so clearly and were so abundantly satisfied in the certainty of them that they made them their scope and their aim to which they directed and at which they levelled all their desires and endeavours This the Particle FOR puts us in mind of which sends our thoughts back to the words before and gives us an account of that character which we there find of the Apostles of our Lord who looked * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not at the things which were seen but at the things which were not seen They were so perswaded of this happy state hereafter that it was alwayes in their eye and they made it the mark to which they bent all their thoughts