A Funeral Sermon PREACHED Upon the Death of the Reverend and Excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton Who deceas'd the 18th of October 1677. By WILLIAM BATES D. D. LONDON Printed by J. D. for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons in Cornhil over against the Royal Exchange 1678. 1 THES 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 tbird Heaven where he was by extraordinary Priviledg rais'd and saw and understood how great a 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 13 Verse I would not have you be ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not as others which have no hope 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 vvhiles 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 vvith him shall be brought in Chains before his dreadful Tribunal and after the great Act of the Universal Judgment shall be compleated then shall the Saints 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 while 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 highest ascent of our thoughts than the Marriage-Feast of a great Prince exceeds in splendor and magnificence the imagination of one that has alwayes 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 concondition 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 abolisht 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 buffets 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 reliques 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 cease The Tempter was cast out of Heaven and none of his poison'd Arrows can reach that Purified Company Glorious Liberty here ardently desir'd but fully enjoy'd by the Sons of God above And as Sin so all the penal consequences of it are quite taken away The present Life is an incurable disease and sometimes attended with that sharp sense that Death is desir'd as a
faculty Thus some have been strangely transported with the pleasure of a Mathematical Demonstration when the evidence not the importance of the thing was so ravishing for what is more dry and barren of delight than the speculation of Figures and Numbers Solon when near his end and some of his Friends that visited him were speaking softly of a Point of Philosophy by a sound of Wisdom was awaken'd from the sleep of Death that was just seizing on him and opening his eyes and raising his head to give attention being ask'd the reason of it answered That when I understand what you are discoursing of I may die Such was his delight in Knowledg that a little of it made his Agony insensible But here are many imperfections that lessen this intellectual Pleasure which shall cease in Heaven Here the acquisition of Knowledge is often with the expence of Health the flower of the Spirits necessary for Natural Operations is wasted by intense thoughts How often are the Learned sickly As the Flint when 't is struck gives not a spark without consuming it self So Knowledge is obtain'd by Studies that waste our faint sensitive faculties But then our Knowledge shall be a free emanation from the spring of Truth without our labour and pains Here we learn by circuit and discern by comparing things our Ignorance is dispell'd by a gradual succession of Light But then Universal Knowledg shall be infused in a moment Here after all our labour and toyl how little Knowledg do we gain Every Question is a Labyrinth out of which the nimblest and most searching Minds cannot extricate themselves How many specious Errors impose upon our understandings We look on things by false Lights through deceiving Spectacles But then our Knowledge shall be certain and compleat There is no forbidden Tree in the Celestial Paradise as no inordinate Affection But suppose that all things in the compass of the World were known yet still there would be emptiness and anguish in the Mind for the most comprehensive knowledg of things that are insufficient to make us happy cannot afford true Satisfaction But then we shall see God in all his Excellencies the supream Object and End the only Felicity of the Soul How will the sight of his Glory personally shining in our Redeemer in the first moment quench our extream thirst and fill us with joy and admiration 'T is not as the naked conception of Treasures that only makes rich in ideas but that Divine sight gives a real Interest in him The Angels are so ravish'd with the Beauties and Wonders of his Face that they never divert a moment from the contemplation of it 2. The pure Love of the Saints to God is then fully satisfied Love considered as an affection of Friendship is always attended with two desires to be assured of Reciprocal Love and to enjoy the Conversation of the Person beloved the testimony of his esteem and good-will This kind of affection seems to be inconsistent with that infinite distance that is between God and the Creature But though 't is disproportionable to the Divine Majesty 't is proportionable to his Goodness Accordingly our Saviour promises He that loves me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self unto him And to confirm our belief of this astonishing Condescention repeats it If a Man love me my Father will love him and we will come to him and make our abode with him In the present state the signs of God's special Favour are exhibited to his Friends Now he bestows on them the Honour of being his Sons the Graces and Comforts of his Spirit the precious Earnests of his Love and Seal of their Redemption But in eminency of degrees the effects of his Love are incomparably more glorious in Heaven Here the Saints are adopted there crown'd There he opens all the bright Treasures of his Wisdom the Riches of his Goodness the Beauties of his Holiness the Glories of his Power and by the intimate application of his Presence makes his Love most sensible to them O the mutual delights between God and glorified Souls God looks on them with an engaged Eye as his own by many dear titles and is well pleased in his own Goodness to them and ravish'd with the reflex of his own Excellencies shining in them As the Bridegroom rejoyces over the Bride 't is the language of Divine Love so their God rejoyces over them And what a blessed Rest do they find in the compleat fruition of their Beloved All their desires quietly expire in his Bosom What triumphs of Joy follow Can we frame a fuller Conception of Happiness than to be perfectly loved by infinite Goodness and perfectly to love him 3. The most perfect Joy of the Saints is for the Felicity and Glory of God himself For as the holy Soul feels no more powerful motive to love God than because he is most worthy of it as he is God a Being of infinite Excellencies and therefore to be loved above the dearest Persons and Things even it self so the highest Joy it partakes of is from this consideration that God is infinitely blessed glorious For in this the supream desire of love is accomplish'd that the most beloved Object is perfectly honour'd and pleased In Heaven the Love of the Saints to God is in its highest Perfection and they see his Glory in the most perfect manner which causes a transcendent Joy to them And this is one reason why the Saints though shining with unequal degrees of Glory are equally content For their most ardent Love being set on God that he is pleas'd to glorify himself by such various communications of his Goodness is full satisfaction to their desires Besides in those different degrees of Glory every one is so content with his own that there is no possible desire of being but what he is 4. The full joy of Heaven shall continue without diminution or end The number of Possessours cannot lessen it The Divine Presence is an unwasted Spring of Pleasure equally full and open to all and abundantly sufficient to satisfy the immensity of their desires Envy reigns in this World because earthly things are so imperfect in their nature and so peculiar in their possession that they cannot suffice nor be enjoyed by all But in Heaven none is touch'd with that low base passion for God contains all that is precious and 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
in such an entire Union that by Complacence and an intimate Joy the Blessedness of all is as it were proper to every one as if every one were plac'd in the Hearts of all and all in the Heart of every one If in the Church of the first born Christians in the earthly Jerusalem the Band of Charity was so strict that 't is said the Multitude of Believers were of one Heart and one Soul How much more intimate and inseparable is the Union of the Saints in Jerusalem above where every one loves another as himself 'T is recorded of Alexander that entring with Haephestion his Favourite into the Pavilion of Darius his Mother then his Prisoner she bowed to the Favourite as having a greater appearance of Majesty thinking him to be Alexander but advised of her Errour she humbly begg'd his Pardon to whom the generous King replied You did not err Mother this is also Alexander Such was their Affection that whoever was taken of them the other was taken in him the less ascending in the greater without degrading the greater in the less This is a Copy of the holy Love of the Blessed but with the same difference as between the Description of a Star with a Coal and its Beauty in its proper Aspect And where all is Love all is Delight O how do they enjoy and triumph in the Happiness of one another With what an unimaginable tenderness do they embrace What Reciprocations of Endearments are between them O their ravishing Conversation and sweet Entercourse for their Presence together in Heaven is not a silent Show In the Transfiguration Moses and Elias talk't with Christ. With what excellent discourses do they entertain one another If David felt such inward pleasure from the sence of God's favours that he could not restrain the expression of it but invites the Saints Come and hear all ye that fear the Lord and I will tell you what he has done for my Soul Certainly in Heaven the blessed with overflowing affections recount the Divine Benefits the admirable Methods whereby the Life of Grace was begun preserv'd and carried on in the midst of Temptations the continual Succession of Mercies in the time of their Hopes and the Consummation of all in the time of their Enjoyment How joyfully do they concur in their thanksgivings to God for the goodness of Creation in making them reasonable Creatures capable to know love and enjoy Him when they might have been of the lowest Order in the whole sphere of Beings for his compassionate care and providence over them in this World But especially for his sovereign Mercy in electing them to be vessels of honour for his powerful Grace in rescuing them from the cruel and ignominious bondage of Sin for his most free Love that justified them from all their guilt by the Death of his only Son and glorified them with himself They are never weary in this delightful exercise but continually bless him for his Mercy that endures for ever We may judge by the Saints here when they are in a fit disposition to praise God what fervours they feel in their united Praises of him in Heaven The Psalmist in an Extasie calls to all the parts of the World to joyn with him The Lord reigns let the Heavens rejoyce and the Earth be glad let the Sea roar let the Fields be joyful and all that dwell therein He desires that Nature should be elevated above it self that the dead parts be inspir'd with Life the insensible feel Motions of Joy and those that want a Voice break forth in praises to adorn the Divine Triumph With what Life and Alacrity will the Saints in their blessed Communion celebrate the Object of their Love and Praises The Seraphims about the Throne cryed to one another to express their Zeal and Joy in celebrating his Eternal Purity and Power and the Glory of his Goodness O the unspeakable Pleasure of this Concert when every Soul is harmonious and contributes his part to the full Musick of Heaven O could we hear but some Eccho of those Songs wherewith the Heaven of Heavens resounds some remaines of those Voices wherewith the Saints above triumph in the Praises in the solemn Adoration of the King of Spirits how would it inflame our desires to be joyn'd with them Blessed are those that are in thy House they always praise thee 2. The fulness of Joy in Heaven is undecaying for the causes of it are always equal And those are the Beatifick Object reveal'd and the uninterrupted Contemplation of it Whilest we are here below the Sun of Righteousness as to our perception and sence has ascensions and declinations accesses and recesses And our Earth is not so purified but some Vapours arise that intercept his chearful refreshing Light From hence there are alternate successions of Spiritual Comforts and Sorrows of Doubts and filial Confidence in the Saints 'T is a rare favour of Heaven when an humble Believer in his whole course is so circumspect as not to provoke God to appear displeased against him When a Christian as those tutelar Angels spoken of in the Gospel always beholds the face of his Heavenly Father and converses with him with an holy Liberty And what a torment the hiding of God's Face is to a deserted Soul only they know who feel it External troubles are many times attended with more Consolations to the Spirit than Afflictions to Sense but to love God with a transcendent Affection and to fear he is our Enemy no Punishment exceeds or is equal to it As his Loving-kindness in their esteem is better than Life so his Displeasure is worse than Death How do they wrestle with God by Prayers and Tears and offer as it were a holy Violence to the King of Heaven to recover their first serenity of Mind the lost Peace of Heart How passionately do they cry out with Job in the Book of his Patience O that I were as in months past as in the days when God preserved me when his Candle shin'd upon my head and when by his Light I walk'd through darkness As I was in the days of my youth when the Secret of God was upon my Tabernacle And sometimes God delays the revealing himself even to his dearest Children not that he does not see their Necessities and hears their Prayers or is so hard that till their Extremities he is not moved with Compassion but for wise and holy Reasons Either that they may not return to folly if by any presumptuous Sin they forfeited their Peace or if they have been careful to please him yet he may deprive them of Spiritual Comforts for a time to keep them humble and that with an obedient resignation to his Sovereign Pleasure they may wait for his reviving Presence And then Joy returns greater than before For thus God usually renders with interest what he suspended only for tryal But the Saints above are for ever enlightned with the vital splendor and dear regards of
his Countenance always enjoy his beamy smiles A continual effusion of Glory illustrates Heaven and all its blessed Inhabitants And their Contemplation of God is fixed If the Object though extraordinary glorious were transient or the Eye so weak that it could only see it but by glances the heighth of Joy would not be perpetual But the mind is prepar'd with supernatural vigour to see the brightness of God's face and by the most attentive application always converses with that blessed Object so that the Joy of Heaven is never intermitted for a moment They always see and love and rejoyce and praise him 'T is possible a carnal suspition may arise in some as if the uniform perpetual vision of the same Glory might lose its perfect delightfulness For those who seek for happiness in the vanity of the Creatures are always desirous of change and have their Judgments so corrupted that while they languish with a secret desire after an unchangeable Good yet they conceive no good as desirable that is not changed But to correct this gross errour of Fancy let us a little enquire into the causes of Dissatisfaction that make the constant fruition of the same thing here to be tedious Sensible things are of such a limited Goodness that not any of them can supply all our present wants so that 't is necessary to leave one for another And the most of them are Remedies of our diseased Appetites and if not temperately used are destructive Evils Eating and Drinking are to extinguish Hunger and Thirst but continued beyond just measure become nauseous Besides the Insufficiency of their Objects the Senses themselves cannot be satisfied all at once The Ear cannot attend to delightful Sounds and the Eye be intent on beautiful Colours at the same time the Satisfaction of one Sense defeats another of enjoying its proper good therefore the same Object is not constantly pleasant but the Heart is distemper'd from as many Causes as there are desires unaccomplish'd Add further all things under the Sun afford onely a superficial delight and miserably deceive the Expectations raised of them and many times there is a mixture of some evil in them that is more offensive than the good is delightful The Honey is attended with a Sting so that often those very things we sigh after through vehement desire when they are obtain'd we sigh for grief Now all these Causes of dissatisfaction cease in Heaven for God is an infinite Good and whatever is truly desirable and precious is in Him in all degrees of Perfection And in his Presence all the Powers of the Soul are drawn out in their most pleasant exercise and alwayes enjoy their entire happiness The fruition of him exceeds our most raised hopes as much as he is more glorious in Himself than in any borrowed Representations God will be to us incomparably above what we can ask or think The compass of our thoughts the depth of our desires are imperfect measures of his Perfections And as he is a Pure Good in Himself so he is prevalent over all Evil. 'T is evident therefore that nothing can allay the Joys of Saints when they are in God's presence 2. Novelty is not requisite to ingratiate every Good and make it perfectly delightful God is infinitely happy to whom no Good was ever new 'T is indeed the sauce that gives a delicious taste to inferiour things For Men relish only what is eminent and the good things of this World are so truly mean that they are feign to borrow a shew of Greatness by comparison with a worse estate preceding But an infinite Good produces always the same pure equal compleat Joy because it arises from its intrinsick perfection that wants no Foil to commend it The Psalmist breaks forth Whom have I in Heaven but Thee This is no vanishing Rapture but a constant joyful height of Affection God the essential happiness of the Saints is always perfectly lovely and delightful to them 3. The glorified Saints in every period of their happy state have as lively a perception of it as in the beginning To make this evident we must consider that the pleasure of Novelty springs from a quick sense of the opposite terms between our condition in the want of some desired Good and after our obtaining it Now the Mind is more intense on the advantage and more strongly affected at first One newly freed from the torments of a sharp disease feels a greater pleasure than from a constant tenour of health Those who are rais'd from a low state to eminent Dignity are transported with their first change but in tract of time the remembrance of their mean condition is so weakned and spent that 't is like the shadow of a Dream and proportionably their Joy is lessened Honours like Perfumes by custom are less sensible to those that carry them But the Saints above always consider and feel the excellent difference between their suffering and triumphant state They never lose that ravishing part of felicity the vivid sence of past evils Their reflections are always as strong on the Misery from whence they were rais'd to the pitch of Happiness as in their first glorious Translation In what an Extasy of wonder and pleasure will they be from the fresh memory of what they were and the joyful sence of what they are I was says the admiring Soul poor blind and naked but O miraculous and happy Alteration I am full of Light enrich'd with the Treasures of Heaven adorn'd with Divine Glory I was under the tyrannous power of Satan but he is bruised under my feet I was sentenc'd to an everlasting separation from the Presence of God my only Life and Joy but now am possest of my supream Good ' O how transporting is the comparison of these wide and contrary extreams How beautiful and pleasant is the Day of Eternity after such a dark tempestuous Night How does the remembrance of such Evils produce a more lively and feeling fruition of such happiness How strangely and mightily does Salvation with Eternal Glory affect the Soul This gives a spritely accent to their everlasting Hallelujahs This preserves an affectionate heat in their Thanksgivings to their Victorious Deliverer And thus their happiness is always the same and always new Their pleasure is continued in its perfection Lastly The Blessedness of the Saints is without end This makes Heaven to be it self There is no satiety of the present no sollicitude for the future Were there a possibility or the least suspicion of losing that happy state it would cast an aspersion of bitterness upon all their delights they could not enjoy one moments repose but the more excellent their Happiness is the more stinging would their fear be of parting with it But the Inheritance reserved in Heaven is immortal undefiled and fades not away And the tenure of their Possession is infinitely firm by the Divine Power the true Support of their everlasting Duration With God is the