consisting of Soul and Body and our Bodies Sanctified by him and are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and therefore shall be raised by him Yea we are said to rise with him and to be set down in heavenly places in and with him It is not more true that he died for our sins than that be rose again for our Justification and if for that he rose for our Resurrection too For the guilt of sin being removed which is the meritorious cause of Death Death which is the Punishment shall not remain but be swallowed up in Victory whereas it lives and reigns and keeps the Field till the Restirrection But we are assured that The Sea and Death and the Vniversal Grave shall give up their Dead Rev. 20.13 And then not only the sting of Death but Death it self shall dye and cease for ever for there shall be no more death Rev. 21.4 Our dead Bodies shall then live so as to dye no more For if we believe on him that raised Christ from the dead the same Spirit that raised Christ shall be the Author of our Resurrection Rom. 8.23 And if we believe that Jesus dyed and rose again even them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 He that was dead is now alive and behold he lives for evermore and he hath the keys of Death and Hell Rev. 1.18 And he has expresly told us that the hour is coming in the which All that are in their graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth They that have done good unto the Resurrection of Life and they that have done evil unto the Resurrection of Damnation John 5.28.29 And this is the will of God that sent him that every one who believeth on him shall have everlasting Life and he will raise him up at the last day John 6.40 The like he declares afterwards to Martha I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me tho he were dead yet shall he live John 11.25 He is the First born from the dead and Believers are the Children of the Resurrection Colos 1.18 His Resurrection not only proves the possibility of ours but it is the pledge of the performance God having raised him up hath loosed the pains of Death since it was impossible he should be holden by them Naturally impossible because of his Divine Power and legally impossible because Divine Justice after such a Satisfaction as the Death of Christ required that he should be raised to Life and receive a Discharge and Reward We could hardly believe the Dead should rise to Life if Christ by his own Resurrection and by raising others had not proved it possible and already done But he hath not conquer'd Death for himself alone but for his Members too and to them he has promised that they shall * John 11.26 never see Death or come within the Prospect or Danger of it And not only shall not but cannot dye any more after the Resurrection for they shall be equal to the Angels Luke 20.36 His Victory over Death was declared by his Resurrection and his entrance into Glory did Compleat the Conquest Now as Christ hath carried his Humane Nature into Heaven we are to be made like him and bear the Image of the Heavenly Adam and therefore our Flesh shall be raised too He is the first-fruits of them that sleep 1 Cor. 15 20. And it is * Bishop Vsher observable tha the Rose from the Dead on that Day whereon the Jews observe their Feast of First-fruits That Feast was not stinted to any day of the Month as other Feasts were but was to be always on the Morrow after the Passover Sabbath that so it might fall always on the First day of the Week the Day of Christ's Resurrection Well therefore might the Apostle say Christ being Risen is become the First-fruits of them that sleep As the Offering of the First-fruits amongst the Jews Consecrated all the rest SECT IV. Neither can we suppose our Happiness would be compleat without the Resurrection of the Body As Soul and body concur to the Constitution of man the Soul is in a State of widowhood till reunited to the Body And in this Life the Body has a share in the work and service of the Man which is to be rewarded or punished as executing the designs of the Soul And the members of the Body serve as members of Righteousness or Sin The Law of God commands the intire Man composed of Soul and Body and this Law is obeyed or violated by both though the moral good or evil of our Actions be chiefly attributed to the Soul as the principal Agent But on this Account the Body shall partake in the rewards or Punishment of the next Life if the intire Person be to be recompenced And it is with respect to the Body that seemed to be lost that the Resurrection is promised the Body resolved into dust or swallowed in the Sea or consumed by fire Such promises of the Resurrection are made to Believers for their encouragment and hope Besides there are many Objects in the heavenly State that do suppose a Body and are to be discerned by our bodily senses as the glorious beauty and magnificence of the blessed mansions and the Humane Nature of our glorious Redeemer c. On which and many other accounts the Body shall be raised and changed and glorified SECT V. Reason it self would make this Probable Man being created with a Body and a Soul which have so natural an Inclination to one another that there is an appetite and desire as it seems to be united and co-operate together and many of our Capacities of Joy and Comfort as well as of Sorrow and Grief result from and depend upon this Union In order therefore to the full and final Felicity that God will confer on some and for the greater Misery wherewith divine Justice will punish others it is very probable from principles of Reason that God will raise the Bodys of men That being united to their Souls they may be better capable of enjoying the promised Happiness or suffering the threatened misery of the next World This seems to be the sense of Job 14. Chap. 14. ver where he says that all the days of his appointed time I will wait till my change come Speaking of the Resurrection of the Body There is hope of a Tree he saith if it be cut down that it will sprout again but man dyeth and where is he he lyeth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more If a man dye shall he live again All the days of my appointed Time c. * Mr. Howe of Blessedness p. 210. According to common Apprehension and Appearance the State of man at death is hopeless But he professeth his Expectation that at a set and appointed Time God would remember him so as to recall him out of the Grave And therefore puts the question If a man dye shall he
Death a Deliverance OR A Funeral Discourse Preach'd in Part on the Decease of M rs MARY DOOLITTLE Late WIFE of Mr. THOMAS DOOLITTLE Minister of the Gospel in London Who Departed this LIFE the 16th of Decemb. 1692. By JOHN SHOWER Eccles 7.1 The Day of Death is better than the day of one's Birth LONDON Printed for Abr. Chandler at the Chyrurgeons-Arms at the Entrance into Bartholomews-Close in Aldersgate-street And Samuel Wade at the Bible under the Piaza of the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1693. TO HIS Reverend and Honoured Friend and Brother Mr. DOOLITTLE SIR IF you did not know how little time I have to command I should need an Excuse for not having sooner finisht the Transcription and Enlargment of the following Discourse which was preached at your Desire on the Death of your Wife and now on the same Motive is made publick If it may any way Contribute to allay your Sorrow for your great Loss or be useful to any Others especially the Relations and Acquaintance of the Deceased I shall not Repent it The Text recommended to me is every way suited to the Occasion and to your Design of my instructing the Living from it however defective the Prosecution and Performance be You will not expect from me at least you cannot that a Subject so often treated on by Others should be beautified with new notions Neither do I fear to have displeased you by the citation of some Passages out of the practical Writings of the Excellent Mr. Baxter For whose Memory I know you have so dear a Value and by whom while he Lived you had the Honour and Advantage to be esteemed and loved For my own part I think my self obliged to take all Occasions to express my Thankfulness to God for the Ministry and Acquaintance the Books and Counsels of that Great and Holy Man whom I reckon to have been a Publick Blessing to the Nation and the Age and am confident that more Impartial Posterity will acknowledg it I cannot doubt but that you with many thousand Others do Joyn with me in Praising God for his long Life That One so often near the Grave and so fit for the upper better World and living in such delightful Fore-thoughts of Everlasting Rest should be spared and continued among us for so many years May he that hath the Residue of the Spirit fill surviving Ministers Younger and Elder with greater measures of Holy Light and Love to furnish us for our work and to assist and suceed us in it May we all learn to carry it with greater Indifference to this present Animal Life and dayly advance in our Desires and Preparations for the Heavenly one The Removal of any of our Friends who were made meet for Heaven may be many ways improved to this Purpose for whom you know we are not to Sorrow as others who have no Hope Doubtless your late Sickness and Indisposition since the breach God hath made in your Family will be regarded as an additional Call and help to such Thoughts and Affections as this Discourse is designed to promote And if the many Prayers of those who have reason to Bless God for you may be heard as in some Instances they have been we may hope your Life and Serviceableness shall be yet prolong'd In which request to God I heartily concur who am Sir Your Respectful tho most Unworthy Fellow-Servant in the Work of the Gospel John Shower London Febr. 13. 169◠THE Contents CHAP. I. THe Introduction Paraphrase and Explication of the Text. CHAP. II. The Method and Design of the following Discourse Good Men in the Present State are burdened with their Sins and Sufferings so as to groan for Deliverance p. 13. CHAP. III. They have a Certain Expectation of a Better State and Life after this and may be comfortably perswaded of their own Title in particular p. 25. CHAP. IV. To Desire and Long for this Blessed State beyond the 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 the Temper of a Christian Spirit p. 33. CHAP. V. Of the Resurrection of the Body It is Possible Probable and Certain Where were the Souls of those who have been raised from the Dead during their separation from their Bodies Our Resurrection by Christ Illustrated and proved p. 50. CHAP. VI. The same Body for substance is to be raised again at the last day What the Change will be of these Bodies hereafter from what they are at present p. 68. CHAP. VII Inferences of Truth and Duty from the preceding Discourse The Soul doth not perish when the Body dies The Felicity of the Soul is that which we principally desire Our Faith should be confirmed about it Our Affections and Carriage should correspond to such a Belief p. 79. CHAP. VIII Of the Characters of such who may and ought to long for this Glorious Change who they are who have a Title to this desired Blessedness p. 60. CHAP. IX How Few Christians live in the Exercise of such Desires What may be the Reason Some fear of Death consistent with Vprightness Elder Christians and the Sickly and Infirm should quicken such a Desire of Deliverance Reproof and Exhortation in reference hereto p. 94. CHAP. X. Our Holy Friends Departed obtain their Desires by Dying this should moderate our funeral Sorrows A short Account of the Exemplary Character of Mrs. Mary Doolittle with some Passages of her last Sickness Conclusion p. 112. A Funeral Sermon 2 COR. V. 4. We that are in this Tabernacle do groan being Burdened not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life CHAP. I. The Introduction Paraphrase and Explication of the Text. SECT I. NOtwithstanding all the difficult Exercises of St. Paul from Enemies on every side upon the account of his Faithfulness to Christ in the Discharge of his Ministry He bears up with an invincible courage and resolution by the expectation of an Eternal Recompence in the other World This is the Tenor of his Discourse throughout the foregoing Chapter he begins and ends with it and repeats it at large in the three last Verses For this cause we faint not c. That is however perplexed and persecuted cast down and troubled yet neither he himself nor any of those ingaged in the same cause and work with him did faint in their minds because their present Sufferings did only prepare the way for a more glorious Reward For our light Affliction says he which is but for a moment worketh for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory while we look not at the things which are seen which are but temporal but at the things which are not seen which are Eternal And supposing the worst that these Afflictions should end in Death yet such a case would admit of comfort For we know says he verse 1.2 of this chapter we are confidently perswaded upon very good grounds that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a better dwelling provided an happier Condition in
hope and view We have a Building of God an House not made with hands eternal in the Heavens And for this we groan earnestly for this state of immortal Happiness desiring to be cloathed upon with our House that is from Heaven A Blessed State so fitted for us and we for it that no Apparel for the Body can be more SECT II. He was not only content to Dye and ready with Patience to receive a Summons out of this World but so unspeakable was the difference in his Judgment between his present State in the Body and that which he expected beyond the Grave that he reckoned a Translation was every way preferable and rather to be chosen even by intervening Death that so instead of this little House this mean and poor Dwelling which we now inhabit we may come to a better Building that is of God formed and prepared by him to the more spacious Mansions which the blessed God has provided for us above that instead of this movable Tent This earthly Tabernacle continually liable to so many changes dangers and inconveniencies we may have a House not made with hands that is of God's immediate Work more excellent and more lasting more safe and more abiding That instead of this earthly House of dirt and clay into which it will shortly be dissolved we may have a building in Heaven suited to the Heavenly State and Life a more commodious Dwelling fitted for the Offices of a Glorified Soul and which shall not molder but be Eternal that when this Tabernacle is dissolved which needs every day to be repaired and with all our care cannot long be supported we may have a permanent unchangable building eternal in the Heavens In short that our bodies as well as our Souls may be glorious and blessed and unchangably so in the other World After such a State and Life as this so elegantly described in the beginning of this Chapter he declares his earnest Desire in this Text not in his own name only but as the common sense of all the Followers of Christ This he amplifies and limits by several expressions unto which some following verses in this chapter will give further light For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan being burdened not for that we would be uncloathed but cloathed upon that Mortality might be swallowed up of Life SECT III. In which words we may consider two Parts 1. The State and Temper of the Followers of Christ or of all real Christians That while they are in the Body they are burdened and groan for Deliverance 2. A Judicious Stating the matter of such Desire of Deliverance Or what it is that they groan and long for set forth in three expressions 1. Negatively It is not Simply to be uncloathed But 2. To be cloathed upon And 3. That Mortality may be swallowed up of Life 1. The state and Temper of good men or real Christians while they are in the Body They are burdened and therefore groan for deliverance We that are in this earthly Tabernacle Or as the expression is ver 8. While we are at home in the Body present in the Body or While we converse and Sojourn in the Body Which he calls an earthly House ver 1. But because it is no certain fixed Dwelling he adds the other term of a Tabernacle While we dwell in this little Fabrick framed at first out of the dust of the earth as were the Worms who are therefore our Kindred and Relations and they were formed before the Creation of man While we are in this earthly Tabernacle whose foundation is in the dust Whose matter is not more excellent than that of the Beasts that perish An earthly Tabernacle not only as to its original but is sustained and repaired by earthly things 146 Psalm 4.12 Eccl. 7. and ere long to be resolved into Earth again This dust shall be turned to earth as it was and the Spirit shall return to God While we are in this earthly House we groan and long for a removal we earnestly covet desire and wait for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a better Dwelling and a better State we pant and breath and long for it from the Faith and Hope of what God has revealed concerning the upper better World and the future Felicity of all that believe in Christ where we look for another sort of Bodies and another kind of Life this is that we aspire and groan after and would fain obtain SECT IV. 2. He describes the matter of such a Desire and the just limits of it in three Expressions 1. Negatively Not for that we would be uncloathed i. e. 1. Not Simply to dye for dying sake Not meerly to be rid of the Body and to live without any As we are a sort of Creatures made up of Soul and body the separation of these two cannot in it self for its own sake be desirable we have a natural innocent unavoidable Aversion to Death as such And as it is a Penalty and the fruit of Sin as even to the best man it is there cannot but be some unwillingness to dye however fit it be to be desired otherwise on the account of the Consequences of Death All the Faith and Reason in the world cannot make Death to be no penalty So neither is it possible that any man can reason or believe himself into a love of Pain and Death as such Therefore it is not simply to be uncloathed to have Soul and Body separated that is here desired It is not a perpetual state of being without a Body For he desires to be cloathed upon and not found naked Our case is so stated that our Souls are to be cloathed upon with a Body and we cannot but desire that the union of the Soul and body should be preserved and in the state of Separation there is some hankering of the Soul after the body Some such Desire of regaining that Reunion SECT V. 2. Neither is it meerly a Weariness of this present Life by reason of the Burden of sorrows and Sufferings which the Apostle and other Christians met with in it that makes them thus to groan For if he might be further serviceable to the interest of Christ and therein be accepted and pleasing to him he declares ver 9. that he was willing to live He professes his readiness to prefer the Salvation of many Souls and his being instrumental to their happiness before the hastening of his own He knew that God may have as much Service in our Lives in an afflicted suffering State as in a prosperous Condition he knew That we may glorifie God in Sickness and in a Prison as much or more than in health or liberty And that to bear any of our Trials and Burdens well and to honour God by a Christian Deportment under them is better than to be delivered His Desire therefore to the blessed State which was in expectation was not to the Act of Dissolution it self without reference to what would
follow He desires not so much the end of this Life whatever he now suffered as the blessedness of the next Life which he hoped for It was not an Annihilation to put a period to his present sufferings but a happy Change which he groan'd for Not a Ruin but a temporary dissolution of this earthly House in order to an Eternal Advantage Not a bare privation of this Life but a passage to a better He doth not groan so much from the Sense of present Evil as by reason of the Absence of his most desired Good He was not so much burdened by what he felt and could not avoid or remove as by what he foresaw and expected and could not yet Enjoy He must dye first and have the old House pull'd down before he could reach that compleat Felicity which he so earnestly aspires after SECT VI. 2. It is therefore further exprest as that which he groaned and longed for viz. to be Cloathed upon To lay aside this mean and little troublesome Garment for a more beautiful and commodious one To have this earthly House dissolved and moulder into dust with the Expectation of reassuming Another or the Same with a glorious Change And in that sense the Expression verse 3. may be understood That being thus cloathed that is with such a glorified Body we may not be found Naked or without any Body at all Though * A. B. Cant. 3. Vol. Serm. 6th some carry the expression Desiring to be cloathed upon as wishing not to put off this Body at all but to be in the number of those who shall be found alive at the coming of Christ to Judgment which some of the Disciples of Christ expected by a mistake of what he said concerning St. John If I will that he tarry till I come And so the words may be read If so be that we shall be found cloathed and not naked That is if at Christ's coming we shall be found Alive and not Dead and so have this mortal corruptible Body changed into a Spiritual Glorious and Immortal one without Dying Whether that was the sense of the Apostle or not I shall discourse of these words as the common Sentiment of real Christians who have no hope of Living till the end of the World but expect to dye e're it be long and carnestly desire a future Blessedness for Soul and Body in another Life and therefore when they lay down this Body in the Dust they groan to be cloathed upon to have these vile Bodies made like the glorious Body of Christ or as the Apostle himself expresses it 1 Cor. 15.53 To have this Corruptible put on Incorruption and this Mortal put on Immortality The putting off there is the same with the being cloathed upon here That is they groan to have this present State changed for the Felicity and Glory of that future State which Christ hath given them to expect both for Soul and Body in another Life SECT VII 3. There is yet another Expression which riseth higher That Mortality may be swallowed up of Life That which is Mortal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This our mortal Life which is subject to Dangers Afflictions and Death it self That this may be Swallowed up of Life as is that which is Imperfect by that which is Perfect as Infancy and Childhood by Maturity and Manhood or as Darkness is swallowed up in Light The meaning is that our low Animal Life may be changed into an Heavenly one that our frail short and transitory Life may be changed into an Immortal Eternal one that the Corruption and Mortality which our Bodies are liable to and which remain in them while they are in the Grave may be removed Or according to the Apostles Phrase That Death may be swallowed up in Victory may be finally perfectly and for ever Destroyed For so the expression does import and is often rendered in other places * See Dr. Hammond 1 Cor. 15.54 g. for ever And that includes the Resurrection of the Body to an happy State as one part of this Desire For if by Dying we are more miserable than before Death is not swallowed up in Victory it rather is too hard for us and gains a Victory over us But if our state be bettered by Death not only as to our Souls but our very Bodies are also to be raised again to a glorious Life if when Death hath done its utmost our Souls pass into a State of Rest and Bliss to be compleated in a glorious Resurrection of the Body and to be continued and increased to all Eternity we are then Victorious over Death Death may be said to be swallowed up in Victory or Mortality swallowed up of Everlasting Life CHAP. II. The Method and Design of the following Discourse Good men in the present state are burdened with their Sins and Sufferings so as to groan for Deliverance SECT I. After this Paraphrase and Explication of the words that which I design as the Ground of my following discourse is this That it becomes the State and Frame of real Christians while they are burdened in these mortal Bodies earnestly to desire a better an Immortal Life wherein the Body as well as the Soul shall be gloriously Changed In discoursing of this I shall first show That such is the present State of good men in these Bodies that they groan under manifold Burdens that may well make them long for Deliverance II. That they have the certain Expectation of a better State and Life after the dissolution of this earthly Tabernacle by Death III. That it is agreeable to the Temper of a Christian Spirit so far as renewed and sanctified to long for that better State and Life beyond the Grave IV. That it is not such a State and Life wherein they expect to be without any Body at all but to have their Bodies raised and changed and glorified To be cloathed upon with an House from Heaven and to have mortality swallowed up in Life The consideration of these particulars will make way for the practical Application suitable to this solemn Occasion on which I am desired to preach on this Text. SECT II. First That such is the present state of good Men in these Bodies that they groan under manifold Burdens which may well make them long for Deliverance I need not run far into the common Theme of the Miseries of humane Life which every one feels or knows of those that do Our Sufferings and our Sins while in this earthly Tabernacle will be sufficient to be considered under this head 1. Our Sorrows and Sufferings while in the Body Our early Tears when we come into the World prognosticate a good share of these to be expected Not to mention the Vexation of disappointment in our Temporal Injoyments as a great part of this Burden the actual Sorrows and Afflictions which all partake of are very many and great heavy and afflictive they are such as extort the Cries and Tears and
upon another Principle he groaned while in this Tabernacle for the glorious State which he believingly foresaw And every renewed Soul has a diposition so to do in his new Nature he is born from above and his very principles have a tendency to Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is attempered and suited to the heavenly State by that very Grace whereby we are made Christians we are instructed to look for and wait for the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ at which appearance we hope to be cloathed upon with an House from Heaven For when he who is our Life shall appear he has promised that we also shall appear in Glory They cannot but desire and long for this if they had no burden of Afflictions and Sorrows in the World that made them groan for deliverance For I am perswaded that all the Conflicts and Exercises of the Apostle Paul either by bodily pains or with enraged malicious Enemies never wrung such a sigh from him as the conflict with his own Corruptions O wretched Man that I am All the pressures that he ever met with in his earthly Tabernacle never made him groan so much as the burden of his own impure Flesh and his lamented distance from the Lord. Therefore consider SECT II. First The Disposition of a sanctified Soul as renewed by the holy Spirit does incline and fit for this II. The want of full Conformity to Christ III. The Sense of our Distance from Him while we are here IV. The unequal Communications of Light and Grace and Comfort from God and Christ which a real Christian doth now Experience will assist these Desires and make him groan for Deliverance First There is such a Disposition in the Soul sanctified by Divine Grace from whence such Desires must needs result They have received the first Fruits of the Spirit as the Earnest of more and therefore groan within themselves waiting for the Adoption even the Redemption of the Body Rom. 8.23 They are now taken into Gods Family as his Children are born from above But the most solemn Act of their Adoption is at the last day when there shall be a full and final Deliverance from all penal and afflictive Evil. Called the Redemption of the Body as Death is the last Enemy to be destroyed and the Body till the Resurrection is under the power of Death Called a Redemption because it is done by vertue of the price and ransom which Christ hath paid for us Having received the first Fruits of the Spirit they groan for the Adoption this Redemption of the Body And by this Spirit they are said to be sealed unto the day of Redemption Eph. 4.30 The holy Spirit assures us of such a day We are now the Temples of the holy Ghost and he will not leave his own Dwelling continually in the dust And by this holy Spirit all our Desires and Hopes of a blessed Resurrection are wrought in us And the mighty Change which is made by the Spirit on the Souls of Believers will evidence the possibility of that Change which is expected as to their Bodies For to raise a dead Soul to spiritual Life is at least an equal Instance of glorious Power as to raise the Body from the Grave This they may well groan for as the most solemn act of their Adoption in conformity to Christ their Head who as some observe though he were the Son of God by his marvellous Conception and owned to be so during his Life yet had the highest Declaration of it at his Resurrection Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee In like manner though be Followers of Christ are now owned and treated as Children yet the most publick Declaration of the Divine favour towards them will be at the last day when their Bodies shall be raised and all the Children of the Resurrection shall be born in a day They are now made meet by the Spirit to be partakers of the heavenly Inheritance 1 Coloss 12. they are now changed into the divine Image prepared and fitted for the heavenly State their Spiritual Life is supported by the delights and comforts of the other World as the Animal Life is by those of the present World They know somewhat of the Excellency of it they find something in themselves that makes them value and desire it and by the little Experience they have had of the Pleasure and Joy of obeying God and conversing with him they conclude how unspeakably better it will be hereafter when their Union and Communion shall be compleat The holy Nature they partake of by Regeneration as mindful of its divine Original doth mount the Soul to Heaven tends to the place from whence it came works towards its Center and makes them restless in their desires after it and by frequent lively believing thoughts of the heavenly Inheritance they gradually enter into it and ripen for Glory the nearer they come to the full Possession We read of being changed from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3.18 by partaking of the divine Image So that as Grace increaseth Glory hasteneth on and every degree of Grace is a step nearer to Glory For the more conformable we are to the divine Image the more meet are we to dwell with God And he that hath fitted the new Nature to the heavenly Life will not fail to bring his Children to it when he has wrought them for this felf same thing and given them the Earnest of his Spirit 2 Cor. 5.6 The new Nature saith one does as naturally ascend to Heaven when uncloathed of Flesh and hath left all the Relicks of Corruption behind it as the pure flame aspires into the Air and seems to long to inbody it self with the Sun the Fountain of Light By this they have a fitness for Heaven and a Disposition for that blessed Life which as it daily increaseth must make their desires stronger to enter upon it For there is a Beauty in the divine Image and a sweetness in our imperfect Graces in the present Actings of 'em that must make us value and desire Perfection There is an Heavenly Sweetness in every Act of love to God and Christ that may make the Soul cry out oh how happy should I be could I but love as much and as long as I would could I be all Love and alway Loving might my God and Saviour be my constant desire delight and Joy I would not envy the Honours or Pleasures of any in this World what then is that blessed State which I now hope for with persocted Graces in the presence of Christ SECT III. If our Faith be true so as to unite us to Christ and make us soundly believe the Gospel Revelation and consent to be his our Affections must needs be kindled to a willingness and desire to be with him And if our Hope be of the right kind it must be an Expectation with desire and pleasure of the great and glorious things
of his glory here can make me brook so long a separation otherwise whatever the League be between me and this Body I had rather be with Christ though that be dissolved If there be no way to come to Heaven but by Dying I would rather dye to be there than live in this absence from Christ my Saviour that I may doubt of his love no more and feel no more effects of his displeasure that he may hide his Face from me no more but with everlasting Compassions receive and imbrace me And what is there in Death that I should fear it that is half so frightful and grievous as my Absence from Christ What is there in this earthly Tabernacle or in this present World that I should so love an abode in it and not be willing to quit it that I may be present with the Lord O let him call me when he will if he will receive my departing Soul Let him draw me through the dust of the Earth if he will draw me nearer to himself and bring me to his blessed Presence 'T is there I long to be 't is that my heart is set upon that is it I groan for I am desirous of his Presence to behold his Glory and receive the Communications and Reflections of it Henceforth I would not be unwilling and backward to go unto him but rather say O when shall I come and appear before him But there is a fourth Particular to which I hasten SECT VI. Fourthly The Vnequal Communications of Light and Grace and Comfort from Christ while in the Body make them thus groan to be uncloth'd There is not that steddiness and Constancy in such Communications from God in our present State as hereafter there will be neither is it suitable to the Character and Condition of Strangers and Travellers that there should Sometimes therefore we may have better Entertainment than at other times we may not expect to have the same Sunshine and Fair weather during our whole Pilgtimage The Light of God's Countenance may be sometimes cover'd and overcast The inward state of things between God and our Souls may be often alter'd But when we shall be at home in our Father's House in the presence of our Lord there will be a fulness of uninterrupted Joy and unchangeable Pleasure Christians are now sometimes in the Mount and then again in the Valley Sometimes they can Rejoyce soon after they are Mourning and Dejected Sometimes the Love of God is strong and vigorous soon after the Love of the World prevails again in some sad Instance or other to grieve the Holy Spirit of God and cause him to withdraw Sometimes they can apply the Promises with Comfort and go to God with Holy Confidence as to their Father and think of Eternity and another World with transporting Joy and of the Heavenly Inheritance as their own with raised Desires and Delight within a Day or two it may be they are again plunged in the Mire and sunk into the depths of Darkness and Discouragement so as not to be able to hold up their heads Sometimes at the Table of the Lord they have Refreshing Views of the Glory of Christ in his Love and Grace as bearing the Curse which they deserv'd as manifesting his special Kindness and Sealing his Love with particular Application to their Souls as Interested in all the Benefits of his Meritorious Death Hereby they are Reviv'd and Quickned and Strengthned and enabled to say I am as one who hath found favour in his sight My Beloved is mine and I am his He led me into his Banqueting-House his Banner over me was Love He called to me as to the Unbelieving Disciple Come reach hither thy hand thrust it into my side and heart see how I have loved thee Come feel the print of the Spear and of the Nails in my Hands and Feet see what I suffer'd for thee to express my Love What can I deny thee after this Upon this an exulting Joy must needs ensue but it did not last And it may be the next Month they bewail that it is quite otherwise with 'em Sometimes their hearts are enlarged and delighted in Prayer Thansgiving Sabbaths Sacraments c. 'T is their Joy sometimes to go to the House of God and call upon his Name and be employed in Heavenly Work to Sing the High Praises of God in the Solemn Assemblies But this is not constant and equal not always alike Could a Christian Act Faith at all times as sometimes he is enabled to do could he every day feel the Love of Christ and express his own as sometimes could he always resign devote yeild himself to the Lord with that entire Adoration Submission and Satisfaction in the divine Will and Glory Goodness and Wisdom as sometimes and on some Occasions he would hardly believe himself a stranger and Foreinner in this world he would be tempted to take Earth for Heaven and say t is Good to be here But whatever Influences of Grace and Comfort we now receive they are not steddy equal and constant and t is but fit that we who are only Passengers through this World and are not at home should be thus made sensible of our true Character and Condition and not find the Way or Weather alike good or our own Health equal or our Accommodations Provisions and Entertainment here This helps to make as long for a Better State and Life CHAP. V. Of the Resurrection of the Body It is Possible Probable and Certain Some have been raised from the Dead Where were their Souls during their Separation from their Bodies Christ's Resurrection of the Body farther illustrated and proved SECT I. The Fourth thing proposed is to prove that this Blessed state and Life which Christians desire and long for is not such a one wherein they are to be alway without a Body but to have their Bodies raised changed and glorified or to be cloathed upon with an House from Heaven The Possibility of the Resurrection of the Body the Probability and the Certainty of it have been often and largely * See Dr. Peirson Dr Towerson c. on the Creed Art XI of the Resurrection of the Body And Mr. Baoeter's Saints Rest Part 1. Chap. 5. and Self-denial Chap. 38. proved That it is possible both on the part of the Agent and Patient Who that considers the Divine Omniscience and Power can doubt but that God can remake an Humane Body of that Dust into which it is resolved and however it be dispersed find out and rally the several parts together and unite them one to another What Impossibility is it that the despersed parts of a Man's Body should be disposed into their due Scituation and Order and reduced to a Temper fit to discharge the Functions and Operations of Life and that the Soul should be Re-united to a Body thus Restored How is it impossible Or why should it be Difficult to him who did at first frame and temper this Body
live again And till the appointed time when God should revive him out of the dust he would wait for that glorious Change when God shall have a desire to the work of his hands i. e. not allways forget to restore and perfect his own Creature There are many Images and Resemblances of this As in the Corn by which we live when it is cast on the earth and buried in the ground that it may corrupt after it is corrupted it revives and multiplies Our Bodys are fed with this constant Experiment And the Apostles similitude of a grain of Corn Sown in the ground that it riseth multiplied augmented and adorned sets out the advantagious difference between the Qualities of our Bodys when they dye and when they shall be raised And herein he imitates the manner of the Jews who were wont familiariy to illustrate the business of the Resurrection by the similitude of leed sown in the ground and springing up again And what can we discern in a small corn or litle seed of a Tree with Body Bark Branches Leaves Flowers Fruit and yet afterwards we behold them when the seed hath been sown in the ground The Apostle at large Insists on this similitude of seed to explain the manner of the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.35 So also is the Resurrection of the dead * Dr. Scot of the Christian Lise part 2. chap. 7. So is this mortal Body to be the seed and material Principle of our Resurrection For that which is sown is not quickened except it dye And so is this Seed of our mortal Body to dye and be corrupted before it shall be raised again And Sois this dead corrupted Body to be raised and quickened by the power of God For God gives to every Seed a Body as it pleases him And so are our dead Bodys to be raised again into the proper form and kind of humane Bodys for unto every seed God giveth his own Body And Lastly So is the Resurrection of the Dead that is So are those humane Bodys to be changed and altered by the Resurrection as that which is but bare Seed when it is sown when it is quickened it springs up into a long stalk and ear So the raised Body shall be changed for the better This is further Illustrated by * Mr. Baxter of Self-denial p. 206. another That the dead Body of a man may be supposed to have a living Root as truely as the plants in winter The Soul is the Root of the Body and the Soul is still alive And Christ is the Root of the Soul and he is still alive For though we are dead our Life is hid with Christ in God and when he who is our Life shall appear at the Spring of the Resurrection we shall also appear with him in Glory Colos 3.3 4. There is a Relative Union between Soul and Body and a deep rooted Love of the Soul to its Body and Inclination to it so that it is mindful of it and waits with longing for that hour when the Command of God shall send it to revive that Body Why may not the Living Soul that is the Root and Life of the Body in the dust be the Instrument of God to inform its own Body as it will be the Principle that shall re-inform it The Body in the Grave hath its own Relation to Christ who is still Living and resolved and ingaged by Promise and inclined by Love to revive that Body And when the Hour comes for this Soul that waits to be sent again into the Body what can hinder The very Love of the Soul to its Body and its desire to be re-united is a kind of Natural Cause of the Resurrection A Candle not lighted is as far from Light and as much without it as a dead body is without Life and yet one touch of a lighted Candle will light that which never was lighted before And so may one touch of the living Soul that is now with Christ put Life into the body that lies in the dust And as the lighted Candle makes the other like it and Communicates of its Nature to it so does the glorified Soul Communicate a new kind of Excellency to the Body which it never had before even to be a Spiritual Glorious Incorruptible and Immortal Body And God takes the Soul to Heaven before hand that it may be first Glorified and so be fit to communicate Glory to the body So that there is more reason for the Resurrection of the body though it be turned to Earth than there is reason that a Candle that is gone out should be lighted again by another or than there is reason that I should put on my Cloaths in the Morning which I put off at Night For Nature disposeth me to abhor nakedness and desire my Cloaths and therefore in the Morning I will put them on So Nature teaches the Seperated Soul to desire a re-union with its body And therefore when the Resurrection-Morning comes it will gladly take the word from Christ and give that vital touch to the body that shall revive it and so put on its antient Garment but wonderfully changed for the better c. CHAP. VI. That the Same Body for Substance is to be Raised again at the last day And what the Change will be of these Bodies hereafter from what they now are SECT I. IF it be inquired How can the same Body after so many Changes be raised and re-united to the Soul And what need is there of Asscrting That it shall be the same It ought to be consider'd that the very word Resurrection doth suppose or imply this That the Bodies of Men shall hereafter be truly the same with those that died It is the Body falls to the ground when the Spirit goes upward That Body that then fell is to be raised again and no other Body than that This Mortal Body shall be quickened by the Spirit of Christ that now falls to the ground The same Flesh that was separated from the Soul at death shall be united to it again The same Temple that was destroyed shall be re-built The same Tabernacle that was dissolved shall be raised We are bid to fear God who can destroy Soul and Body in Hell Mat. 10.28 What cause of fear if this very body be not to be raised * Resurgere non est nisi ejus quod cecidit Tert. advers Marc. l. 5. c. 9. This Corruptible must put on Incorruption this Mortal put on Immertality As the Body of Christ which is our Exemplar with which he rose was the same that he deposited in the Grave and as the bodies of those whom our Saviour raised when he was on Earth were the same with those in which they died And how shall the Graves and Sea give up their Dead at the Last Day Rev. 20.13 What need of this if the same Bodies are not to be raised for they can give up no other Bodies than what they received These
Earthly even all of us in our fleshly State having earthly bodies from an earthly Adam and natural bodies from the natural Adam And as is the Henvenly such are they that are Heavenly For Christ will make them like himself and as he hath an Heavenly Spiritual body and not an Earthly Natural body so shall his Members have that they may be like him And as we have born the Image of the Earthly in having a Natural Fleshly body we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly Adam in having a Spiritual Body not needing the use of Meats or Drinks or any of the refreshments or pleasures of the animal Life or be imployed in any of those Acts whereby the body is now denominated Natural and suited to this Earthly State But our bodies shall then be Spiritual suited to the Life that Angels and Saints live in Heaven every way greatly refined and the Activity of our Spirits improved without the defects and infirmities of flesh and blood shall be invested with Caelestial Qualities depending wholly on the Soul and yielding ready obedience and conformity to its desires and motions executing all its Commands with pleasure and Dispatch Yea the imployment and operations of the body shall be raised above those in the present state as much as the Imployment of a King exceeds that of a Scullion This Spiritual Body one represents by Organized Light as a torch or wood that looseth its drossy and foggy qualities when heightened into a pure flame or minerals heightened into Spirits 3. The Bodies of the Saints shall be changed from weak and passive into Active and Powerful Bodies Sown in Weakness but raised in Power They are now dull and sluggish but then they shall be nimble and active like the Body of Christ that at his Ascension into Heaven being done in one day moved many thousands of Miles in an hour the distance between the highest Heavens and this Earth being computed to be some hundred millions of Miles They shall be raised with Angelical Agility and Strength He that is weak among them shall be as David he that is as David shall be as an Angel of God moving without difficulty and without weariness Now we often find the Body cannot keep Peace with the Soul the Flesh is weak when the Spirit is willing but it shall be raised in Power It is now liable to Diseases and Passions can do little and suffers much but no Diseases or Infirmities shall hereafter hinder its motions or impair its Health A glorified Body will move without weariness and fast without hunger and wake for ever without need of refreshment Herein there will be a suitableness to the Activity of a glorified Soul and without this they could not bear the weight of the Heavenly Glory Besides they are to indure to all Eternity without reparation by meat and drink and fleep 4. They shall be Incorruptible and Immortal It is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption This mortal shall put on Immortality They shall dye no more but live for ever Therefore the day of the Resurrection is called the Redemption of our Bodies They shall not be liable to be put out of tune by infirmities and pains and numberless diseases as now which often make Life it selfe a Burden They shall be Immortal without needing that Labour by day or sleep by night which now we bestow to supply their Necessities and repair their decays and prevent Death Now the Body has the seeds of Mortality and Corruption but shall then be refined from all such Principles There shall not be a tendency to Death in the nature and constitution of the Body such will be the glorious Change that they cannot dye any more 20. Luk. 36. They that were raised by Christ when on Earth they dyed again their second Life was no more exempt from death than their First But at the Resurrection Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life it shall lose its power and force for ever CHAP. VII Inferences of Truth and Duty from the preceding Discourse The Soul doth not perish when the Body dies The Felicity of the Soul is what we principally desire Our Faith should be consirmed in the Believing Expectation of this Glorious Change Our affections and Conversation should be Suitable SECT I. First Let us not then imagin the State of the Dead to be a State of Non-existence or Annihilation that the Soul perishes with the Body and that we are without Hope of its Resurection Whereas when our Soul passes into a state of Rest and Joy with Christ our Flesh rests in Hope that these Bodys shall be raised and reunited to their glorious Souls We are to pass through the Valley of Death to a Blessed Life This is the Desire and Hope of all the Followers of Christ And these very Desires of a blessed Life beyond the Grave will prove the Certainty of it We must have strange Thoughts of the infinitely wise and holy God and of his Love and Goodness to imagin he should give his Creatures such a Knowledge of himself that makes them desire more even a Desire to know and love and injoy him perpetually and yet never intend an eternal Communication of himself answerable to those Desires Can we think the blessed God would deceive and mock those that desire to seek and please him by inabling them to aspire after a Happiness in his presence and by giving them a Capacity for it And then to frustrate and disappoint his own work Can we think that God would excite their Desires after another and a better state and yet never admit them to it Can we imagin that God would raise their Desires from sin and this World to himself and Heaven and that these shall never be answered in a happy Issue Shall the very Sanctification of our Nature prepare for our Torment and help to make us miserable Will the God of Love and Grace inable us by his Grace to hunger and thirst after Righteousness and after the blessed vision of his Face in Glory and yet never design our Satisfaction The more any partake of the divine Image we find that they groan and long the more earnestly after another sort of Happiness than is here to be had after another State and Life than now they enjoy And may we not conclude that such a State there is The natural Desire of Happiness in all mankind will do much to prove that there is such a thing But the holy Desires of the Sanctified influenced by the spirit of Grace will much more prove it That spirit of Christ that hath inabled thee to long and pray for a more perfect State that has conquered thy vain Desires after earthly things and raised them to seek the Knowledge and Love and Fruition of God That Spirit is the Witness of Christ in thy Soul that there is such a State after Death and that thou shalt share in the Blessedness of it He hath framed and wrought and fitted
and made thee meet for it These Desires it is true are but faint and weak to what the promised salvation may Justly chalenge yet they are holy and sincere and have God and Christ and his blessed Presence above for their Object thou hast his Image and seal imprinted on thy Nature Mind and Will This Evidence and Experience in thy self shall no be deseated in its Tendency and Designt SECT II. Secondly In our Contemplation of this happy State which the saints desire beyond the Grave we ought to remember that though the Glorious Change of the Body be one part the Felicity of the Soul is the principal one Yea the Glory of departed Souls is one great Cause and Means of that happy Change which we expect for the Body To be with Christ and behold his Glory and partake of it does especially refer to the Soul We shall see him as he is and in that respect be made like him We are now the Children of God by free Grace and Adoption but his admirable Love will not desist till our Consormity to his Image be more compleat till we are brought to his Presence and partake of his Holiness to that degree as to be the objects of his eternal Complacence and Delight Father I will says Christ that those that thou hast given me should be with me to behold my Glory Then all our Sins and Failings all our Follies and Infirmities all our Wrinkles and Blemishes all our Transgressions and Imperfections shall be done away and our Souls shall be washed white in the Blood of the Lamb being conformed to our Divine Pattern The lesser Manifestations of the Spiritual Glory of Christ which we have sometimes here are highly valuable to a Saint but unspeakably short of that which we expect these hereafter will be more clear more transforming more satisfactory and more lasting We now see through a Glass but darkly but we shall know as we are known for we shall see him as he is We hope for an inlightened and inlarged Mind to behold the Excellency and Radiancy of the Divine Perfections shining in and through our glorified Redeemer This will oblige the most Improved Saint that ever left this Earth to cry out with the Queen of Sheba concerning Solomon that the one half was never told them was not known or believed before And if we are changed into his Image by beholding his Glory in the Gospel-glass the Vision hereafter will be more clear and so the Change will be greater and the Delight and Complacence resulting from it must needs be unspeakably more And this is our Comfort that it will be such as shall last for ever If we have any Glymps of him at present by the Light of Faith we quickly lose the sight again How soon does an interposing Cloud hide him from us But the Felicity of the Blessed Vision above will be permanent we shall dwell for ever in the joyful Light of his Countenance and abide with him continually in the Heavenly Mansions SECT III. Thirdly Let us then indeavour to confirm our Faith in the Expectation of this blessed State for Soul and Body after Death Let us keep the Grounds of Faith visible in our Eye let us imploy our Thoughts frequently and seriously upon the blessed Object Let us deeply and often consider the cogent Reasons upon which we believe and expect such things both the intrinsick Grounds of Faith and the Motives of Credibility that our Assent may be the more firm and lasting that our Christian Faith may influence us as present things are wont to do Did we not look upon the great things of the other Life as uncertain we could not but reckon them preferable to the best of our present Injoyments Did we believe them we could not but desire 〈…〉 for our not desiring that blessed State but our criminal Infidelity that we believe it not For were we but fully perswaded of the truth of the Promises we must needs imbrace them for their Goodness and Excellency and then we should long till Death did draw aside the Vail open the Gate of Heaven and bring us into the Divine Presence But we waver and doubt concerning the invisible future World and hence it is that we close with what is Present because we are not equally perswaded of the Truth and Cortainty of what is Future Let us then indeavour to strengthen and confirm our Faith SECT IV. Fourthly Let us regulate our Affections and Carriage in this Earthly Tabernacle as Persons who believe and expect such a glorious Change Let us pass the time of our Sojourning in this World as Pilgrims and Strangers Let us abstain from fleshly Lusts that War against our Souls Let us use both our Souls and Bodies answerable to the belief of such things Let us watch lest we are surprized into sin by our bodily Senses Appetites and Imagination Let us remember that the Soul and Body like two diseased Creatures bound together in one chain do now mutually infect corrupt and Poyson one another Let us take heed of sin by the inordinate Love of Bodily Pleasure or the undue fear of Bodily Suffering Let us imitate the Pattern of Christ while he dwelt in a Body and labour to have the same Mind which he had to be in this World as he was in it Lot the good and evil of this World have less powerful impression upon us Let us not be over fond of the Pleasures of the Animal Life may they every day be less considerable with us Let us not so love the Body as on that account to decline any present Duty much less so over-love it as to prefer the Comforts of the present Life to a future Felicity Let us not regret over much that such an earthly Tabernacle must fall into dust that such a perishing Body must dissolve and lye in the Grave We are sensible how weak and useless it was for a good while at first before the Body was fitted for the service of the Soul and we cannot but be sensible what a Trouble and Temptation it has been since Let the burdens and inconveniences of the bodily Life be more tolerable let us not be impatient under them let us be willing that the outward Man decay so that the inward Man be renewed let our Judgment and Esteem our Desires and Indeavours our Joys and Sorrows be rectified and moderated as to all that refers to the Body and this Present Life Let our Eyes and Hearts be fixed on the Heavenly State let us remember we are a sort of Creatures related to the other World though we dwell at present in an earthly Tabernacle In the midst of our earthly Comforts let us think of the Heavenly State and Lise as infinitely better Let us keep alive the Desires of the Presence of Christ and fuller Conformity to him in the height of our Temporal Prosperity Let the believing Thoughts of the Caelestial State be unspeakably sweeter to us than the best of all this