your Redeemer when he shall lead us to God in a full troop and goodly company and say Behold I and the little ones which thou hast given me Heb. 2.13 What a blessed sight will that be Then the Angels what welcom will there be between you and them when Christ entered into heaven Psal. 24. they entertained him with applauses and acclamations stand open you doors stand open here is the King of glory the Lord strong and mighty in battail So will they welcom the Saints to heaven with acclamations They delight in the good of men when man was created the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy Job 38.7 that is the Angels rejoyced and praised God when Christ came to Redeem man an heavenly hoast fell a praising of God Luke 2.13 14. When man is converted the Scripture tells there is joy in heaven Luke 15.7 So when we come to be glorifyed Christ shall come with troops of them to conduct us into those everlasting Mansions The Saints your acquaintance with whom you prayed suffered familiarly conversed memory is not abolished in heaven but perfected those whom we knew here we shall know agaâ—n A Minister shall see his Crown and the fruâ—t of his labours 1 Thes 2.19 you are our crown c. And those that have been relieved by us shall wellcom us into heaven who therefore are said to receive us into everlasting habitations Luke 16 9. Yea we shall know those whom we never saw why else is it made a part of our priviledge to sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob Mat. 8.11 As Adam knew Eve and in the transfiguration Peter knew Moses and Elias dead many hundred yeers before so shall we know one another we shall not go to a strange people where we know no body As men at a Feast are social and familiar one with another we shall be discoursing of Gods wisdom mercy justice in the work of Redemption So did Moses and Eâ—ias with Christ Luke 9.31 of the wonderful Providence of God in conducting us to glory as travellers in their Inn take pleasure to discourse with one another of the dyrtiness and dangers of the way And these Saints are cloathed with Majesty and Glory more lovely objects then ever they were upon earth and there is an innumerable company of them they were rapt for joy when they saw but two Prophets Moses and Elias Mat. 17.4 but heaven is not onely called a Palace but a City a world to come there is a multitude which none can number 3 Whence it is that they who dye in the Lord are sure to be thus blessed 1 From their union with Christ 2 From the Covenant of God with them First From their union with Christ which can never be dissolved death severeth body and soul but not Christ and the soul From this union there result two things Conformity with Christ in every estate and the Communion of the Spirit both which do imply the blessedness of the Saints even after death They that are united with Christ do share with him in every estate in grace here and in glory hereafter as to both they are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ Rom. 8.29 And where the Spirit once dwelleth there he dwelleth for ever and therefore from the indwelling of the Spirit of holiness doth the Apostle infer our Resurrection to a glorious estate Rom. 8.11 And that losing nothing which Christ speaketh of Joh. 6.39 I would interpret of his not losing one member or joynt of his mystical body Secondly From the Covenant of God with them Christ proves the Resurrection from Gods being the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Mat. 22.32 the Argument stands upon three feet 1 To be a God to any is to be a benefactor for the tenor of the Covenant on Gods part is I will be thy God as on our part you shall be my people 2 That God would be an everlasting benefactor it implyes an eternal communication of grace and glory as Christ proves from Exod. 3.6 that God assumed this Title after their death 3 This Covenant was made with the whole man not onely with the soul but the body and therefore they bore the mark and the sign of it which was Circumcision in their bodies And in Heb. 11.16 the Apostle saith that because God had a heavenly inheritance to bestow upon the Patriarchs therefore he was not ashamed to be called their God implying that if they had no other reward then what they injoyed in the present life God could not with honor such was the slenderness and contemptibleness of their present condition have owned such a glorious Title and Appellation as to be called the God of Abraham What needs further arguing the phrase it self imports what we assert When God promiseth to be a God to any he maketh over his whole self his eternity and infiniteness for their comfort and use and so in effect saith that he wil be an everlasting benefactor to their whole persons in the way of an infinite power Let us now apply all 1 Because this priviledge is exprest with a limitation it informeth us that the wicked are excluded they must expect a quite contrary estate as they that dye in the Lord are in a blessed so all others in a cursed condition It is a sweet close when the body and soul part but God and the soul meet when Conscience shall become our compurgator and bear us witness that we have spent our time well in fearing God and obeying God then may the body and soul take leave of one another with an expectation to meet again in Glory But it is a sad parting when Conscience falls a raving and the body and the soul accuse one another the body accuseth the soul as an ill guide and the soul the body as an unready instrument And at the day of their death which is the time of separation they curse the day of their birth which was the time of the first union between them both when they shall wish that they had been stifled in the womb and had never seen the light rather then to have lived together in such a fashion and to part in such manner Now this many times is the case of wicked men at their death death cometh to them as a double evil as a natural evil striking the body and dissolving the confederacy and union between it and the soul and as a penal evil or the curse of the first Covenant wounding the Conscience and reviving their bondage and fears of a worse judgement to ensue And then though Physitians and Ministers be sent for they may both prove of no value either to prevent the dissolution or to give ease to the Conscience 2 It presseth us to provide for this hour that when we come to dye we may dye in the Lord Get an interest in Christ that you may dye in the Lord as to your estate Security will not hold
THE Blessed Estate Of them that die in the Lord Opened in a SERMON At the FUNERALS Of Mistress Jane Blackwel Wife of Master Elidad Blackwel Pastor of Andrew Vndershaft LONDON By Tho. Manton B. D. Minister of the Gospel at Covent-Garden LONDON Printed for Robert Gibbs in Chancery-Lane near Serjeants-Inne 1656. To my Reverend and much Beloved Friend and Brother Mr. Elidad Backwel Preacher of Gods Word at Andrews Undershaft LONDON SIR I Have at length sent you the Copy of the Sermon Preached at your Wives Funerals dispose of it as you shall think good either to your Closet or the Press My Judgment is for the former but my Affection will not suffer me to oppose if you resolve upon the latter If it may be any allay of your sorrow for your great loss or of any use to the Publick I shall not repent of the Transcription of it This I may say with modesty enough That the Subject is useful and proper to the occasion At the Interment of my godly friend who had so long waited on my Ministry with savor and profit what could I insist upon more seasonably for your comfort and mine own then the Blessedness of those that live and die in the Lord Now the Blessing of the Lord go along with this Discourse whatever becometh of it and make up this great breach to you with the more abundance of Spiritual Refreshings Which is the unfeigned desire of Sir Your true Friend and Fellow Servant in the Lords Work THO. MANTON Rev. 14.13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me write Blessed are the dead which dye in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them THe chief wisdom of a man is to live well and dye well to live godly and dye blessed the same corruption of nature that makes us unwilling to live well makes us unwilling to dye To forsake our corruptions and go out of the world are both displeasing to flesh and blood therefore we need to be prest often both to the one and the other for the one maketh way for the other Upon this occasion I know not a more seasonable Argument in Autumn when we see one lease or a few leaves fall we conclude the rest will follow afterwards every Funeral should put us in minde that our death is not far off Some of us have cause to expect the next turn Old men in Scripture account are as good as dead already Heb. 11.12 Those that lived longest dyed at last Enos lived 905 Kenan 910 Seth 912 Adam 930 Jared 962 Methuselah 969 yeers but they all dyed All must dye the great care should be to dye well none can dye well but those that dye in the Lord for they are blessed so it is proclaimed from heaven Every divine truth comes from heaven but some are more solemnly proclaimed from thence as the mortality of man and the blessedness of the dead the mortality of man Isa. 40.6 our affections are against the thought of that The blessedness of the dead in this place against which carnal reason opposeth Nature will so hardly belâ—eve that the dead can be blessed that we need a voice from heaven to confirm it The context speaks of many troubles to try the patience of the Saints now the comfort propounded is the blessed estate of the departed the worst that wicked men can do to the Saints is but to help them the sooner to heaven In the words observe a Preface and a Doctrine The preface shews it is a matter of weight here is a voice from heaven and a command to write for the more assurance an open publication 2 In the Doctrine you have an assertion and an amplification in the assertion the qualification the dead which dye in the Lord the priviledge are blessed In the ampâ—ification you may observe 1 The season {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} from henceforth 2 The confirmation saith the spirit the Holy Ghost maketh Affidavit 3 The parts of this blessedness which are two a release and a reward a release they rest from their labours a reward implyed their works follow them Death to the godly is not onely an end of misery but a beginning of glory and happiness Philosophers could look upon it as the end of misery but Christians look upon it as a beginning of Glory and happiness Because I shall not be able to discuss the amplification let me open some of the Circumstances {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} from henceforth Those that dyed in the Lord in former ages were blessed but these times did require this singular comfort because of the dreadful persecution and that from those who carryed the name of Christians Now saith the Holy Ghost not onely those that suffered by heathens are blessed and counted the Lords Martyrs but those that suffer also under Pseudo-Christians Some indeed carry it in another sense as if it were said before Antichrist can down it will cost the Church such a world of trouble that from henceforth you will count the dead happy as being taken from the evil to come Isa. 57.1 Others thus from henceforth that is after salvation offered to the Gentiles in the Gospel the dead shall be known to be happy as the Apostle saith that 2 Tim. 2.10 Life and immortality is brought to light in the Gospel Others apply this from henceforth to the time of their death as if the Saints were here asserted to be immediately happy upon their dissolution But I think the fiâ—st Exposition most simple and genuine Rest from their labours troubles services the labours of their callings the troubles of their condition The godly are taken away from evil and the wicked are taken away to evil From glorifying and serving God they never rest but from wearâ—ness in serving God from weakness sin and distraction Their works follow them As it is said of wicked men their iniquity shall finde them out We carry nothing out of the world with us but the Conscience and comfort of what we have done for God their wealth doth not follow them into the other world but their works do Doct. The point which I shall prosecute is the assertion of the Text That they that dye in the Lord are in a blessed condition I shall inquire 1 What it is to dye in the Lord 2 Shew you how they are blessed 3 Whence it is that they who dye in the Lord are sure to be in a blessed condition 1 What it is to dye in the Lord {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} may be rendred for the Lord or in the Lord as Ephes. 4.1 Paul a prisoner in the Lord we render it of the Lord or for the Lords sake 1 Thess. 4.16 We render the dead in Christ shall rise first and ver. 14. those that sleep in Jesus Which is to be preferred I answer neither is to be excluded whether a godly man
are presently blessed upon the departure of the soul out of the body but more blessed at the general Resurrection of the just 1 Presently the soul is where Christ is carryed by Angels to Christ and by Christ presented to God as the fruit of his purchase That the soul is where Christ is appears by that of Phil. 1.2 3. I desire to be dissolved and be with Christ to be with him in glory otherwise it were a loss not a happiness for St. Paul to be dissolved it is a sorry blessedness to lye rotting in the Grave and onely to be eased of present labours for Gods people are wont to reckon much of their present service and enjoyment of God though it be accompanyed with troubles and afflictions Paul was in a straight and he saith it was {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} much more better to be with Christ A stupid sleep without the injoyment of God is not much more better then our present condition but far worse what happiness were that to be in such a condition wherein we do nothing for God injoy nothing from God Surely Paul would never be in such a straight if this drousie Doctrine were true that the soul lyes in such an unactive state of sleep and rest till the Resurrection This is to be no more blessed then stones and inanimate creatures that feel nothing Again Luke 23 43. This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise saith Christ to the good thief Some to evade that place refer {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as if it were I say to them this day but the pointing in the Greek Copies contradicts it as also the sense of the place {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} this day answers to the Thieves when thou shalt come into thy kingdom Christ promiseth more then he asks as God doth usually abundantly for us above what we can ask or think He hath reference to Christs words to the High-Priest the Son of man shall come in his glory now saith Christ I will not defer thy desire so long for presently shall heavenly joys attend thy soul Others seek to evade it by the word Paradise it is a Persicke word but used by the Hebrews for Gardens and Orchards and by allusion for heavenly joys and possibly the allusion might be taken not from the delights of an ordinary Garden but from Eden or that Garden in which Adam was placed in innocency That by Paradise is meant heaven and not those secreta animarum receptacula beatae sedes some secret places for the repose of souls departed which some of the Fathers fancyed appeared by Pauls expression in the 2 Cor. 12.4 speaking of his rapture I was saith he caught up into the third heaven which he presently calls Paradise Well then out of the whole we may conclude that the souls immediately upon their departure out of their bodies are with Christ Again it is said Luke 16.22 The beggar dyed and was carryed into Abrahams bosom presently in the twinckling of an eye or turning of a thought Thus it is with the Saints which is a great comfort when we come to dye in a moment Angels will bring you to Christ Agonies of death are terrible but there are joys just ready and as soon as you are loosed from the prison of your body you enter into your eternal rest the soul flyeth hence to Christ Once more as the wicked are in their final estate as soon as they dye and therefore they are called the Spirits now in prison 1 Pet 3.19 so do the godly injoy their glorifyed estate as soon as they dye the spirits of just men are made perfect Heb. 12.24 How can their spirits be said to be perfect if they lye onely in a dull sleep without any light life joy delight or act of love to God 2 They are compleatly blest at the Resurrection what their blessedness shall be then we cannot now know to the full we shall understand it best when the great voice calls us to come up and see Onely because our ear hath received a little thereof let me endevor to lay it before you In blessedness there must be 1 A removal of all evils 2 A coacervation and compleat presence of all goods 1 A removal of evil as long as the least evil continues a man is not blessed onely less miserable Haman had all things that a carnal heart could wish for he guided the affairs of 127 Provinces onely he wanted Mordecals knee therefore he saith all this avails me nothing Ahab had the kingdom of Israel and yet falls sick for want of Naboth's Vineyard In engines of war if one peg be missing or out of order all stops In the body of man if one humour be out of order or joynt broken it is enough to make us ill at ease though all the rest be sound and whole so if if there be the least evil a man cannot be a compleat happy man Well then from this blessed estate of the dead in the Lord All evil is removed Now evil is twofold either of Sin or Punishment In heaven there is neither 1 To begin with Sin that is the worst evil affliction is evil but it is not evil in it self but onely in our sense and feeling but sin is evil whether we feel it or no it is worst when we feel it not 2 That is evil which separates from the chiefest good Affliction doth not separate from God it is a means and occasion to make us draw neer to him many had never been acquainted with God but for their afflictions but sin separates from God Isa. 59.2 Your iniquities have separated c. Let a man be never so loathsom yet if he be in a state of grace he is dear to God the Lord takes pleasure in him though he should be roughcast with Ulcers and sores in a prison yet God will kiss him with the kisses of his mouth there is nothing loathsome and odious to God but sin This grieves the Saints most Rom. 7.23 Oh wretched man that I am c. if any man had cause to complain of afflictions Paul had in perils often in perils by Land in perils by Sea in perils by enemies in perils by false brethren whipped imprisoned stoned but he doth not cry out when shall I be delivered from these afflictions but this body of death Lust troubled him more then scourges and his captivity to the Law of sin more then chains and prisons This is the disposition of the Saints they are weary of the world because they are sinning here whilst others are glorifying God not onely that they are suffering here whilst others are injoying God A beast will forsake the place where he hath neither meat nor rest Carnal men when they are beaten out of the word have a fancy to heaven as a place of retreat but that which troubles godly men is their sin well
now in Heaven there is no sin there is neither spot nor wrinckle upon the face of glorifyed Saints Eph. 5.27 They were once as black as you but now Christ presents them to God as a proof of the cleansing vertue of his blood there they are freed from all sin here with much adoe we mortifie our lust and yet nature will be ever recoyling as the Ivy in the wall cut it never so much it will be breaking out again it is much here if the Dominion of sin be taken away there the being of it is abolished the glorifyed Saints displease God no more and are freed from all the immediate and inseparable consequences of original sin from distractions in duty here love is not perfect and therefore the soul cannot be fixed in the contemplation of God and that is the reason of wandring thoughts but there the heart cleaves to him without stragling from pride which lasts as long as life and therefore called pride of life 1 Joh. 2.16 we cannot have a revelation now but we grow proud of it nor an influence of grace but it lifts us up 2 Cor. 12.2 there is a worm in Manna but there when we are most high we are most humâ—le Christians is not this a blessed hope that tells you of a sinless state of being like Christ for purity and holiness 1 Joh. 3.2 We shall see him as he is for we shall be like unto him What is it that you have struggled with and groaned under all your lives but sin Now that is blotted out when the days of refreshing come And as there is no sin so there are no temptations In Paradise there was a tempter but not in heaven Satan was long since cast out thence and the Saints fill up the vacant rooms of the Apostate Angels the world is a place of snares a valley of temptations it is the devils circuit where did he walk to and fro but in the earth But into heaven nothing enters that defiles Rev. 21.27 No Serpent can creep in there Christians lift up your heads you will get rid of sin and displease God no more here we cry Lord deliver us from evil and there our cries are heard at the full Grace weakneth sin but Glory abolisheth it and old Adam is left in the Grave never to rise more 2 The next evil is the evil of affliction whatever is painful and burthensom to nature is a fruit of the fall a brand and mark of our Rebellion against God therefore affliction must be done away as well as sin if we be compleatly happy As in hell there is an evil an onely evil a cup of wrath unmixed without the least temperament of mercy so in heaven there is happiness and onely happiness sorrow is done away as well as sin it is said he will wipe all tears from their eys The afflictions of the soul are gone there are no more doubtings of Gods love nor sense of his displeasure here though we are pardoned and the wound be cured yet the scarrs remain As Absolom could not see the Kings face when he was restored in wise dispensation God sometimes hides his face from us we need to be dyeted and to taste the vinegar and the gall sometimes as well as the honey and sweetness The world is a middle place standing between heaven and hell and therefore hath something of both a mixture of pleasures and sorrows both good and evil are to be received from the hand of God but there there is fulness of joy for evermore Psal. 16.11 here we complain that the candle of the Lord doth not shine over us with a like brightness but there our Sun remains in an eternal high-noon without clowds and the shadows of this night The afflictions of the body are done away heaven is a happy ayr where none are sick there is no such thing there as Gowts and Agues and the grinding pains of the stone The body here is called a vile body Phil. 3.21 as it is the instrument of sin and the subject of diseases we have the root of diseases in the soul and the matter and fewel of diseases in the body peccant humors and principles of corruption as wood is eaten out with worms that breed within it self so are there in our bodies principles of corruption that do at lengâ—h destroy them but there we are wholly incorruptible Yea because deformity in the body is a monument of Gods displeasure one of the inconveniences introduced by Adams fall it is done away the bodies rise in due proportion whatever was monstrous or mishapen in the first edition is corrected in the second And for violence without heaven is a quiet place when there are tumults in the world God is introduced Psal. 2. as sitting in the heavens a quâ—et posture There is nothing to discompose those blessed spirits the company of wicked men is a burthen Lots righteous soul was vexed with it 2 Pet. 2.7 but there they are bound hand and foot and cast into utter darkness as when men will not be ruled they are sent to prison here the children of God are subject to a number of infirmities hunger thirst nakedness cold want but there we have a rich inheritance as well as a glorious Eph. 18. the distinctions of poor and rich as understood in the world do not outlive time we have enough of true riches which is eternal glory and the full fruition of God Labour ceaseth though there be a continual exercise of grace all things rest when they come to their proper place so do those which dye in the Lord we still serve God but without weariness yea we are freed from the necessities of nature eating drinking and sleeping to which the greatest Potentates are subject though they are exempted from hard bodily labour they are not exempted from the necessities of nature meat is for the belly and the belly for meats but God shall destroy both it and them 1 Cor. 6.12 The use of meats and of the stomach and of the belly is abolished it is a piece of our misery that our life is patcht up of so many creatures as a torn Garment is pieced and patcht up with supplies from abroad here the sheep or the silk-worm afford us cloathing the beasts of the earth and fish of the Sea serve for food and all to support a ruinous fabrick ever ready to drop about our eares but then we are above meat and drink and apparel nakedness will be no shame for glory will serve instead of a robe and it will be meat and drink enough to do our fathers will the body will not be a clog to the soul but a help that mass of flesh we carry about us is but the prison of the soul where it looks out by the windows of the senses but then it is no longer the prison of the soul but the Temple In short all that I have said upon this branch is comprised in Rev. 21.4 and God will wipe