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A53333 The blessedness of good men after death a sermon preach'd at the funeral of the Revd. Mr. Henry Cornish, B.D., who died on Sunday, Decemb. 18th, in the eighty ninth year of his age and was interred on Thursday, Decemb. 22d, 1698, in the Church of Bisiter, in the County of Oxford : with a preface to rectifie some misrepresentations &c. in a late pamphlet, entitled Some remarks on the life, death, and burial of the said Mr. Cornish / by John Ollyffe ... Ollyffe, John, 1647-1717. 1699 (1699) Wing O286; ESTC R7832 31,135 36

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shall ever come near to hurt them more For the Devil and Wicked Men as you have heard are all to be by themselves and there shall be a great Gulf fixt between them and the Servants of God so that they shall never be able to bring their Fire and Faggots their Wheels and Gibbets near them there There shall be nothing to hurt or destroy in all that Holy Mountain But if the Servants of God should be freed then from all these kind of Labours yet if there should be any of some other kind for them to undergo it could not be perfectly well with them not could they be said to be perfectly Blessed which yet it is designed they shall be So that we may well conclude that it is not only the Labour of Persecutions and Martyrdoms that then they shall be freed from but from all Labour and Pains whatsoever that should bring any Sufferings along with it First Most certainly Then there shall be no more Labour for or about the Body to nourish or feed to maintain or preserve it Because then there shall be no more weakness of the Body no more Sickness or pained Limbs or decay of Spirits to seek a Remedy for The Body indeed will not presently after Death be raised to this State of Life and Blessedness but must lodge a while in the Grave which is appointed for its Dormitory till the Judge shall come and the Trumpet shall sound to raise up all that are asleep in Jesus But when once it hath been strained thro' the Grave then it shall leave all its Corruption behind it And it shall be a weak and natural Body no longer It is sown indeed in Weakness but it is raised in Power it is sown in Corruption but it is raised in Incorruption it is sown in Dishonour but it is raised in Glory it is sown a Natural Body but it is raised a Spiritual Body 1 Cor. 15.42 And therefore it shall not need those Supports and Refreshments then as now it doth Then there will be no need of Meats and Drinks to maintain it Meats are now for the Belly and the Belly for Meats but God shall destroy both it and them 1 Cor. 6.13 For the Body then shall be Hale and Well and Strong without them all Phil. 3. Ult. For He shall change our Vile Bodies saith the Apostle and shall make them like unto his Glorious Body When our Saviour himself saith Mat. 13.41 That the Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father So that tho' they shall have the same Body for Substance yet not of the same Constitution or all its parts for the same Offices and Purposes Our Bodies then will be no more such Dead and Lumpish Things as they are now but Active and Vigorous even as Spirits themselves and therefore without Fainting and Weariness Therefore all those Trades and Callings which are here so necessary to provide for their Support or to secure and defend them from Cold and Ill Weather shall then be at an end There we shall have a Building of God an House not made with Hands 2 Cor. 5.1 Eternal in the Heavens It shall never decay or grow leaky more There will be no Winds or Storms to annoy no ill Airs or bad Weather no dirty Roads or painful Travelling no Darkness or Night For there is the Throne of God all Lightsome Pure and Blissful there shall be no Night because no need of Rest and yet no Weariness in the perpetual Day where the Servants of God tho' they are always at Work yet are never tired they shall be so Holy and Strong and their Work so Good Rev. 48. Cap. 5.13 that they rest not Day nor Night saying Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come but are singing Halleluja's to God and to the Lamb for ever and ever Secondly Moreover not only Bodily Labour but the Labour of Study and Mortification for the improvement and refining of our Souls shall then be over likewise it is a great deal of Pains and Labour we must be at here for a very small Improvement We must read many Books and much Reading is a weariness to the Flesh Eccl. 12.12 as it is in the Margin It tireth the Spirits and impares the Health And yet this we must endure in the getting of Knowledge we must go through many Studies and spend many wearisome Nights and Days and be a long time either in making Observations of our own or gathering from others before we can come almost to any thing And in this we must sustain many times a great expence of Spirits For the Intense Exercise of our Minds will draw our Bodies into consent And the Spirits being so much taken up one way there are hardly enough left many times to discharge the Vital Offices of Nature So that the Blood becomes Impoverish'd the Face Pale the Limbs Languid and Weak and the Vessels obstructed within that are the very Channels of Life And yet after all this it is but a little Knowledge for the most part that we are able to attain unto of any kind whatsoever That which we get indeed is very Pleasant as little as it is For Wisdom exceedeth Folly as far as Light excelleth Darkness Eccl. 2.13 Yet in much Wisdom is much Grief too and He that encreaseth Knowledge encreaseth Sorrow Eccl. 1.18 And after all a great deal of that Knowledge which we spend so much of our Time about I doubt is hardly one degree above Folly it self But in that State hereafter there will be none of all this Toil for the improvement of our Minds For there is the Land of Vision where we shall see God the chief Good as He is and shall with open Face behold his Glory 1 Cor. 13.12 Now we see but through a Glass darkly saith the Apostle but then Face to Face now we know but in part but then shall we know even as also we are known And if we shall have such a Vision or Sight of God himself then we may be sure the Knowledge of no other Thing shall be hid from us as far as it may be of any use to us for our Comfort and Happiness For he that giveth us the greater will not withhold from us the less Then we may expect to see and behold many Things by an immediate Intuition and to have a clear and plain Introspection into their Natures and Properties Or at least the longest train of Reasoning will be easie and quick Principles will be open and plain the Impressions deep the Connexion between Things clear and apparent so that the Mind will be no more in Pain or lose it self in long or tedious Deductions For the Powers of the Minds will be advanc'd and perfected the several Objects distinct and manifest Idea's of Things will be present to us or ready at a Call so that the turn of the Mind to its several Objects
or Decay For so it shall be 1 Thes 4. for as much as we shall for ever be with the Lord who will for ever Delight in his People ever take Care of them and be a Guard to them that no Evil shall come near them Oh Blessed Day and Blessed State when all this Good shall be imparted to them But when will all this be Thirdly I now proceed therefore to the Third Thing observable in the Words which is the time of the beginning or the Commencement of this Happiness which shall be Henceforth i. e. from the very Day or time of their Death or Departure out of this World Not that they shall be presently instated in all that full Possession of Good which I have mention'd which cannot be whilst their Bodies remain still in the Grave or before the Resurrection Therefore the full Possession or Perfection of Happiness is not to be expected till the Coming of Our Lord as the Scripture generally sets it forth to us Col. 3.4 But when Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall we appear with him in Glory But yet this Happiness is to begin on the Day of the Saints Dissolution Henceforth from the very time of their Death They shall Rest from all their Labours presently and their Reward doth then begin I know there are other Senses given of this Expression but I can see nothing but this that answers the Design of comforting the Afflicted Servants of God in their present Sufferings which this Text is intended for There is nothing but this Possession of the Reward at Death can denominate them Blessed from Henceforth If they might Glorifie God in this World tho' it were in Suffering yet they would rather desire to do so than be gone hence unless they may come to the present Enjoyment of their Happiness How are they Blessed from Henceforth in having the Reward of their Works if there be no such Reward yet to be enjoyed If the Soul were to sleep in the Grave in a lumpish and unactive State where then would be their Blessedness It were better to continue longer here in performance of their Master's Work and in the Service of their Lord as long as God shall be pleased to uphold them and enable them to hold out in it tho' it were in the midst of Labour and Suffering And they would chuse to do so because hereby they would further their Reward hereafter when God shall Reward Men not only according to the Nature but also according to the Measure and Degree of their Labour and Sufferings All the Troubles and Labours of this Life therefore would rather be endured a great deal than One would chuse to be put into an insensible and unactive State where there is neither Work nor Enjoyment no One that hath any thing of Christian Zeal and Magnanimity would be glad to be removed hence so long as God is pleased to give him Strength and Patience to hold out unless He might immediately pass to the Enjoyment of that Happiness which is the End of all his present Seeking and Striving and Labouring It was this that put St. Paul into such a Strait that he knew not which to chuse Phil. 1.21 For to me to Live is Christ saith he He being heartily devoted to him and being glad to be employed in his Service but then to Die was present Gain For that He must mean or else it had been better and more Gain to live still For if I Live in the Flesh this is the Fruit of my Labour to be serviceable to Christ in the Conversion of more to him Yet what I shall chuse I know not Why Would not the Apostle chuse to serve Christ in the Work of the Gospel rather than cease to be But I am in a Strait betwixt two having a Desire to deport and to launch out from this Body and this World and to be with Christ which is far better That was the Reason why He was willing to be gone from the Body because then he was to be with Christ and that would be far better for him For in this the Apostle is very Positive and Peremptory 2 Cor. 5.1 For we know saith he if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle the Body were dissolved we have a better Dwelling for our Spirit prepared a Building of God an Habitation in the Heavenly Glory an House not made with Hands of Mens or Mortal Facture or Procreation Eternal and undecaying there And in this therefore we Groan earnestly and desire to be clothed upon with that our House which is from Heaven Knowing saith he Ver. 6. that whilst we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord therefore are willing rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. So that it seems the Souls of Good Men at Death are to leave the Body and then be absent from it and then they are forthwith to be present with Christ So 2 Tim. 4.7 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the Righteous Judge shall give me at that Day And what Day was that But the Day of his Departure of which he speaks Ver. 6. and saith was then ready at Hand And that we may not think that this was only a Priviledge belonging to him or to such Excellent Persons as he was He adds and not to me only but also to all them that Love his appearing So that we see that this is a Blessing that all the Faithful Servants and Followers of Christ shall partake of as well as the Blessed Apostle himself Now the Enjoyment of this Happiness in the Regions above I do not only in Charity hope as I would of every ordinary Good Christian but do most firmly believe is the State and Condition of this Reverend and Good Man whose Relicks we have now before us and upon the occasion of the Interment of which we are here met Of whom therefore I cannot but say something tho' not near so much as his Character I believe doth deserve my Acquaintance with him having been so long Interrupted as for some Years He seemed to me to be an Aged Person when I first knew him but by Temperance and Wise Conduct and the Blessing of God thereupon and by the Divine Protection warding off Evil Harms and Accidents from him which might either have cut him off or broken his Health much sooner how hath his Life been prolonged to almost half the common Age of Man since that time It being now towards Thirty Years ago since I was first acquainted with him That which I had always observed in him was a great Kindness and Benignity of Disposition joined with an Undissembled Integrity and Uprightness whereby I dare say he wish'd Well to all Men and bore a Loving Respect in his Carriage to all and rejoic'd in all Men's Welfare and Happiness and was glad when He could himself any ways promote it This I doubt