might have adjudged and sent us to hell as our own place We are at best but as VVorms and Grass-hoppers Job 25. last Isa 40.20 compared with God and did a King ever build a Palace to entertain Worms and Grass-hoppers in By sin we were become as Rebels and Traytors and do Emperors use to build Royal Houses to Treat and Entertain those that have struck off their Authority and sought their lives O wonderful Mercy that God should build and furnish a Palace for us that might have been shut up in the eternal Prison and Dungeon Vse 2. Exhortation From this Truth I would draw several Exhortations 1. Hath God prepared such a house Oh labour and strive to be prepared for it Col. 1.12 seek to the Father to make you meet to partake of this inheritance Hath God built such a glorious house and will he take Swine and Lepers into it hath he laid out such curious workmanship on the Place and must not the Persons be Refined Perfumed Beautified and Adorned that shall inhabit it As the Place is the work of God so must not those that shall enjoy it be in a peculiar manner his Workmanship Eph. 2.10 Rev. 19.7 8. The Spouse of Christ is said to have made her self Ready and to come to the King in Raiment of Needle-work Psal 5.14 15. That Israel that is Gods glory Isa 46. last shall only enter into this house that is the habitation of his Holiness and of his Glory Isa 63.15 2. This should make the People of God willing to die and long to remove from hence Do we profess that so many years we have been seeking a City and Country Above and shall we be unwilling to find and enjoy what we have been so long seeking Shall we not long to possess the inheritance that is reserved for us should our Mansions above still stand empty should that house God hath built remain Un-Tenanted Why like worms are we so in love with our holes why do we go to the Threshold and door of our Fathers house with Sorrow and Tears with Moans and Complaints as if we were rather entring into the Prison than stepping into the Palace of God Oh! why do we dote so on an Earthly house why are we so Fond of a Frail Tabernacle why is our love so inordinate to a vile Cottage and our desires so weak and languishing after our Fathers house is the Footstool better than the Throne are our Hutts and Sheds to be preferred before the Mansion House of the Lord of Heaven and Earth 3. Moderate your sorrow for the death of godly Friends and Relations Our loss is their gain Phil. 1.21 To me to live is Christ and to die is gain they gain a better House better Company a better Country as they were Heirs in Reversion by the death of Christ so they are Heirs in Possession by their own death 2 Sam. 10.37 As Barzillai willingly parted with Chimham his Son sending him to live with King David in his Royal City and Palace at Jerusalem so we should freely dismiss our Christian Friends when they are to cross the Jordan of death enter into the True Canaan and live with the King of glory in heavenly Jerusalem If a man should strip our Children or Friends of Rags and cloth them with Royal Robes pull down their Cottages and give them strong and stately Houses in the place of them would we complain Our godly Friends do make a better Exchange may not we then command our Souls to return to their Rest because the Lord hath dealt so bountifully with our Friends which he hath taken to himself Their Souls enjoy a present Harvest though it be yet but seed-time with their Bodies and these very Bodies that now are sowed in the dust shall spring up again to life and immortality As the Tabernacle was taken down in the Wilderness but set up again in Canaan so this Tabernacle of our Bodies that is taken down by death shall be set up again and being turned into a strong house shall stand for ever in the heavenly Canaan God favours the dust of his spiritual Temples and will build them out of their Ruins that his Spirit as well as our Souls may inhabit them for ever Doctrine 4. Saints do or may know that when their earthly House and Tabernacle is dissolved they have a building of God an Eternal House in the Heavens But how can they know this have they a door opened to them into Heaven can they see their Names written over the Mansions taken up for them have they a window into the Breast of God can they read the book of Life search and peruse the Mysterious Rolls of Eternity Is not this a vain Boasting or foolish Bragging of things that cannot be understood or known I Answer True Christians are not mistaken or deluded they have ground for what they assert and they may come to know this 1. By Believing Faith is one kind of knowledge It is the knowing of things by the Testimony and Record of God and his Word is a sure Foundation to build Faith on God hath left us a Promise of the Everlasting Rest Heb. 4.1 he hath set matter of Hope before us in his Testimony and Oath Heb. 6.17 18. he that believes takes God at his Word he that comes in with his Eccho and Amen of Faith to the offers of God sets to his Seal that God is true John 3.33 Joshua and Caleb believed Gods Promise that he would give them the Earthly Canaan and it befell them according to their Faith Other Israelites distrusted Gods Power and rejected his Promise and it happened to them according to their Unbelief they were shut out of the Earthly Canaan Numb 14.8 9 28 29 30. So those that by the mouth of Faith do kiss the mouth of God speaking in the Promise Heb. 11.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greâ—k word signifies to salute and that by Kissing the Patriarks thus saluted the Promises by the mouth of Faith shall not be disappointed according to their Faith it shall be to them As in the division of the World of old he that as the first occupant did set his foot on a Country did thereby get a Right to it even by his taking Possession of it therefore Land was passed from one to another among the Hebrews by taking off the shoe thereby as it were disclaiming and renouncing the right that he had gotten by setting his Foot first on the Land Ruth 4.3 7. So truly whatever we can set the foot and lay the hand of Faith on we make to be our own we Claim Challenge and et a Right in the Promise by believing This is the Record that God hath given us Eternal Life and this Life is in his Son he that hath the Son hath Life 1 Joh. 5.11 12. Receiving Christ the greatest gift of God we become intituled to all the other gifts and Promises of God that in him are
The FAITH of the SAINTS As to a Future HOUSE and HAPPINESS in the other WORLD Set forth in A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL of that Worthy Servant of CHRIST Mr. WALTER MARSHAL By S. TOMLYNS M.A. LONDON Printed by John Richardson for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers Chappel 1680. To the Honourable the Lady Anne Constantine and to the truly Religious Mrs. Mary Fiennes the Author wisheth increase of Grace and the enjoyment of Glory through Jesus Christ Madam Mistress IT hath pleased the Lord to afflict and exercise you both with Bodily Distempers and every Fit of a Disease every Paroxism of Pain is a blow that contributes to the Felling of the Tree these Van-curriers of Death do undermine the Vigor and strength of Nature and help forward the Ruin of a frail Tabernacle As there are Flowers that blow and wither in the Spring as well as others that flourish and fade in the Summer and Autumn so many of Mankind do fade and die in the Spring of Youth as well as in the Summer of Riper Years and in the Autumn of Old Age. God can make our Night and Deaths Harvest to come whenever he pleaseth our Sun may set when we think it is not yet Noon Deaths Harvest may come when our Spring seems not yet to be past Our Breath is in our Nostrils and may soon pass out the Judge stands at the door and may quickly enter in It concerns us therefore always to be ready for the coming of our Lord that he may not surprize us as a Thief in the Night but may Visit us as a Bridegroom that we have long looked and waited for It is or should be the work of our whole Week-day to prepare for the Everlasting Sabbath As by your Bodily Distempers the great Landlord warns you out of your Earthly Tabernacle so the Text I insist on teaches you whither Saints must Remove and what a House God hath built to entertain the separated Souls of Believers I have therefore thought fit to Tender this small Treatise to you as a Testimony of my Respect and Observance towards you if it may in any degree prove a Light to your Feet a Lamp to your Paths a Staff to your Faith and a Cordial to your Souls it will be very acceptable to him who is Your Obliged and Humble Servant S. T. To my Well-beloved Friends the Inhabitants of Gosport in the County of Southampton the Author wisheth Grace and Peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ Christian Friends IT hath seemed good to the Sovereign Lord of Heaven and Earth to make a Breach upon you by snatching away from you a faithful and laborious Servant of Christ who fed you with his Doctrine and edified you by his Example He wooed for Christ in his Preaching and allured you to Christ by his Walking Though the Seedsman be dead yet the Doctrine he preached is Incorruptible Seed the Word of God that lives and abides for ever And though his service by vocal preaching among you is past yet your Account for your profiting by and growth under his Ministry is to come Look therefore diligently to it that the Word of God dwell richly and root deeply in your souls that it be the sword of the Spirit to slay your lusts a spiritual Mould to fashion your hearts aright and Bread to feed and nourish you up to everlasting Life Walk while you have the light and work the works of him that sent you into the World while it is day build up your selves on your most holy Faith and walk in love towards each other as Christ hath loved you Your souls came into this World on a Trading Voyage to buy Gold tried in the Fire white Rayment and Eye-salve Neglect not your spiritual Traffick the longer the Merchants ship stayes out the richer Lading should it bring home Lade your selves with Treasures that Death shall not spoil you of Adorn your souls with Ornaments that it shall not strip off It will be sad if any of you should go out of the World and carry nothing away with you but the guilt of Sin and the fear of punishment a bitter remembrance of past iniquity and a dreadful expectation of Wrath to come Death is called the way of all the Earth 1 Kings 2.2 and in this way you must shortly tread and by it depart from all Friends and Enjoyments below O look up to and take fast hold of Christ that is the Ladder that reaches up to Heaven and so is the way to the best Country and Inheritance You cannot decline the way that will carry you off from all Earthly Relations Pleasures Possessions O be sure that you enter into and walk â—n in that way that will carry you to an invisible World of Happiness and Glory Time hastens days post away and will you stand idle You are carried a-pace down the River of Time towards the Ocean of Eternity and will you not as spiritual Racers press forward towards the Mark for the price of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus Let not by business divert you from your principal and most noble work Mary chose the one thing necessary David desired one thing Paul saith this one thing I do Read those three Scriptures Luk. 10.42 Psal 27.4 Phil. 3.13 14. This argues sincerity and fervency iâ—deed when you choose desire and do one thing as Necessary and are Conversant about other matters but as indifferent things Be watchful against the old man that stoops you towards this Earth beware of Satan that wrestles with you to throw your minds and â—earts down to this World Lay not those snowy-creatures in your bosomes that will not only melt away themselves but also chill your Hearts to better and more Noble Objects Be not guilty of such folly to magnifie what you are but Stewards of and to despise what you may be Heirs of Take hold of the Hope set before you and then when others shall be put away as dross you shall be made up as Jewels and shine for ever in the kingdom of your Father This Sermon as it was Preached at your desire so now it is Printed with some enlargement at the Request of some of you the Lord accompany it with the teaching of his Spirit and the efficacy of his Grace that it may conduce to your spiritual Good which is the carnest desine and Prayer of Aug. 23. 1680. Your affectionate Friend and Servant for Jesus sake S. T. The Faith of the SAINTS 2 COR. 5.1 For we know that if our Earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God an house not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens THE Words of the Text are a reason of somewhat discoursed and asserted by the Apostle in the foregoing Chapter in the 2 Cor. 4.16 he saith we faint not And in the 2 Cor. 4.18 We look not at the things that are seen but at
that kills the gourd of this Natural Life Rom. 8.10 The body is dead by reason of sin the Plague of Spiritual Leprofie infects this house and provokes God to pull it down The heavenly Husbandman is displeased with that Soil that will still nourish and feed Satans Tares The Righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth is resolved and bent against the old Frame of Nature he will pull it down and destroy it and that in his own and best People God hath ingaged in and is pursuing of a most gracious and excellent design and hath drawn an exact draught and idea of the New Creation viz. Rev. 3.14 Jesus Christ to which all the Saints must be conformed This Natural Frame was destroyed and utterly abolished in his own Son by Death and God will not uphold that in the Members which he hath taken down and abolished in the Head The Spiritual and Glorious Body of Christ is the great Pattern and Example according to which all the Bodies of the Saints must be Framed and Fashioned Vse 1. Information From hence we may learn Gods Hatred of and Severity against Sin God threatned the first Adam that if he did offend and transgress he should surely die and he will not repeal his Sentence or reverse his Decree The Righteous Judge is fixed in his determinations and inexorable as to the Doom he hath passed on the Natural bodies of sinners As Numb 14.29 30 31. God sware against the old Men that came out of Egypt that they should die in the Wilderness but the New and Young generation they should enter into and possess Canaan So God hath resolved that the Old Man shall Perish 1 Cor. 15.50 that Flesh and Blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God it is the New Man that shall enter into the heavenly Canaan and be heir of the Eternal inheritance Vse 2. If this House and Tabernacle must be dissolved reckon upon it and expect it The Master will shortly take away your Stewardship your great Landlord will warn you out of this Earthly house The Lord of Hosts will call you to March out of this into another World live in expectation of that fatal word Return you sons of Men to your earth and dust Ps 90.3 Isa 38.12 13. Hezekiah says that he had as a weaver cut off his Life and that he reckoned that God would shortly make an end of him Consider you are upon the brink of the Pit and on the borders of Eternity Is it not past high-water with some of you doth not your strength and vigour Ebb do not your Lamps burn dim doth not Death make its near Approaches to you and begin to seize on the Posts and Out-works of your Senses is it not entred already at your Eyes and Ears as Posts did run to tell the King of Babylon that his City was taken at one end so Jer. 51.31 may I not say that this City of the Body is already taken at one End hath not Death already invaded and possessed the Cinque Ports of your Senses and shall your thoughts settle and your affections Centre on that place from whence you are removing will you not provide a better habitation being warned out of this house of Clay will you not seek out a New World to plant and settle in are there not numerous Colonies of healed and sanctified Souls already seated in it and will you not desire a Lot and Place among them you have no abiding City here and will you be wholly destitute by neglecting to seek one to come are you setting in the Horizon of Time and will you not make sure that you shall Rise and Shine for ever in the Horizon of Eternity Send out Faith as a Spy into the Heavenly Canaan Labour to enter into Rest Lay hold of the Hope set before you Improve Time before the spiritual Market is done before the Ladder that joins Earth and Heaven be drawn up and the door of the Bride-Chamber be shut for Ever Doctrine 3. When Saints depart out of their Earthly House they have a Building of God a House not made with hands Eternal in the Heavens Two things I shall here insist upon First What this house is Secondly What grounds there are to conclude that departing Saints have and shall enjoy this House First Quest What is to be understood by this house I Answer these two things I. The glorious Place * Of this place I did speak before but I shall now speak something of the state as it is comprehended in the word House and blessed State of the Souls of Saints separated from their Bodies II. This house comprehends the Recovery and Happiness of their Bodies 1. By this house we are to understand the glorious Place and State of the Soul it shall mount up to the highest Heavens and dwell there with God and Christ 1 Thes 4.17 We shall be for ever with the Lord. The glory of God is as a Covert and House over the Spirits of Just men Rev. 22.3 it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he shall dwell with them but Rev. 7.15 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He shall dwell or tabernacle over them Oh what a happy change is this to go out of a vile Tabernacle of flesh into a Place where the excellent glory of an infinite Majesty will be as a Tabernacle or Tent over us The immediate Presence of God will be as a Tent and House to guard us and keep off all Evils and as a living Fountain to derive all good to us Rev. 7.15 17. 2. This house takes in the Body and its happy State Saints do groan earnestly and desire to be clothed upon with their house from heaven and by a house from heaven the Apostle means the Recovery and Resurrection of the Body when the Lord from heaven 1 Cor. 15.47 shall beget it from the dead When by the arm of the second Adam stretched out from heaven it shall be plucked out of the Jaws of Death The Soul shall not live still as a naked ejected Spirit as dis-seized of its habitation but it shall be housed in the body and seated in its former and ancient dwelling Though Soul and Body be divorced yet they shall be joined together again these two Friends though long parted shall have a joyful meeting The grave is a Womb that must Travail and bring forth the bodies of the Saints their seed-time shall be followed with a harvest Death shall vomit up its Morsels this Whale shall spue out God's Jonah's and then it shall itself be swallowed up for ever The body that lies in the lowest grave shall sit in the highest heavens that which dwells for a time in darkness shall dwell in glorious Light for Eternity that which fed Worms shall feast with Angels on the delicious Fruits of the heavenly Paradise and though this was to be accomplished at the distance of some hundreds if not thousands of Years yet the Eagle-Eye of Faith seeth it as
is now possessed and enjoyed by Christ and he that receives Christ and hath propriety in him hath also Title to it Will you suffer Satan to wrangle you out of such Clear and wrest from you such Comfortable and Reviving Texts of Scripture will you not Echo your Assent of Faith to this good Word of God and take hold of the Hope that is set before you We have more food and abundant supports for Faith in this new Testament dispensation and therefore Faith is now said to be come Gal. 3.23 25. and Hope in a more excellent way is said to be set before us Heb. 6.18 And is it not a dishonour to this glorious new Testament dispensation for Christians to walk in darkness and to live in continual Doubts and Fears about their Everlasting Condition The Testament of the Son of God is Ratified and Established by his Death God hath promised and sworn to bless the Heirs of Promise and why should you not apply the Comfort of both to your selves and say as the Psalmist the Lord hath been mindful of us and he will bless us Psal 115.12 God hath spoken in his Holiness take him at his Word and you shall find that he will not deny his Promise or go back from it Let not Satan darken your minds or unbelief perplex your souls with needless Objections it is by Grace that you must be saved Matth. 6.33 The Kingdom of Glory is Gods free gift to men and the Righteousness that qualifies for it is wrought in them by his Spirit A new Heart is freely Promised as well as Eternal Life both are the gifts of God through Jesus Christ Ezekiel 36.26 27. Rom. 6. last Receive therefore and trust on Jesus Christ for them both As the Christian Sabbath is the first day of the week and so our Resting-day is before our working-dayes so truly we must enter into a spiritual Rest by Faith in Christ our Consciences must be sprinkled purged and pacified by his bloody before we can serve the living God Heb. 4.3 Heb. 9.14 Christ died for sinners came into the World to save sinners and those that see themselves to be such must look to and trust on Christ for Healing and Sanctification for Grace and Glory or else all Mankind must be excluded Here is no fear of presumption or deceiving our selves provided that we desire and rely on Christ for his whole Salvation for deliverance from the Power as well as the Guilt of Sin Apply your selves therefore to Jesus Christ receive him and you shall in and with him receive an abundance of Grace and of the gift of Righteousness Rom. 5.17 and so Reign in Life for evermore If you believe in Christ Job 1.12 Rom. 5.16 17. God is your God and Father and if you are Sons you are Heirs the Kingdom of glory the heavenly Inheritance is yours Match with Christ get into him who is the true God and Eternal Life 1 John 5.20 and he will provide you a place and make you welcome in his Fathers house for ever If you have the Son you have life None that belong to him can be shut out of the Banqueting-house and glorious Bed-chamber 2. You that are true Christians be exhorted to rejoyce in your Habitation say to your Souls that your Lines are fallen to you in pleasant places and you have a goodly heritage have you not a Rest and House above the reach and rage of Satan and his instruments When they have done their utmost they can but consume you on earth Psal 119.87 they cannot quench your spiritual life or rase your heavenly house If you are thrust out of this World you have a better Country to enjoy if you are dispossessed of your houses you have a more lasting habitation to enter into When cruel Enemies stoned Stephen they could not hinder him from placing his Jewel in a safe hand from committing of his Soul to Jesus Christ Acts 7.59 Why are your Souls Clouded why do your Spirits droop why do your hands wax Feeble Let this Truth Chear and Incourage you that so great an inheritance is bequeathed to you so glorious a house is prepared for you in heaven 3. Do you know that you have an Eternal House built for you in heaven Oh then let this Truth raise your Minds and elevate your Hearts to Heaven Oh let your Conversation be in Heaven Phil. 3.20 Christ hath said where the Treasure is there the heart will be also Matth. 6.21 If this eternal house be prized as your Treasure will it not be a Loadstone to draw up your hearts to heaven Why do you weary and wound your selves among the Briars and Thorns of this wretched Wilderness when your Minds might Converse in the delightful heavenly Paradise Why do you grovel on the ground embrace the Dunghil and feed on Dust when you might soar up to the Throne and Feast with Christ at his Table satisfying your selves with the fatness of his house and drinking of the Rivers of his Pleasures Oh set your Affections on and seek the things that are above Col. 3.1 2. Let your Loins stand girt suffer not your Minds to get loose fall down and draggle on this low and dirty World Christ by his Ascension into Heaven hath fixed a new Centre towards which the Minds and Hearts of all Believers should move and in which they should stay and Rest Joh. 17.24 Joh. 14.2 3. Christ hath prayed that all his People may be with him and he hath prepared a glorious place to entertain them in and yet shall our Minds stay and our hearts dwell here below shall we despise that now that we must Feast on to Eternity shall we be strangers to our everlasting home and forget our heavenly Country Oh Christians why do your Minds so often and so much leave the Guest-Chamber and the upper Rooms of Immanuels house why do you so often come down and delight so much to dwell in the low Rooms and ground Chambers of this World can you not meet with sufficient delights and full satisfaction above Is the Air on the Mountain of Myrrh and the Hill of Frankincense too pure and fine for your gross and carnal hearts O seek to Christ to cure your spiritual disease and to recover your Appetite to spiritual enjoyments Oh beg him to take off your weights of Unbelief and Carnal Affections and give you wings to mount upwards that as Children you may live on the Fatness and Dainties of your Fathers house and as Citizens of Zion you may delight your Souls on the delicious Fruits of the Tree of Life and in the pure River of Living water that Flows from the Throne of God and the Lamb. FINIS