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
to a Prison than to their God and had rather be Panished to a Land of Strangers than sent to Heaven O Lord must I that am called thy Child and an Heir of Heaven and a Co heir with Christ have no more Acquaintance with my Glorified Lord and no more Love to thee who art my Portion before I go hence and come to thee Must I go hence so like a Stranger to my home O what do I beg for so frequently and so earnestly for the sake of my Redeemer as the Spirit of Life and Consolation that may shew me the pleased face of God and unite all my Affections to my glorified Head and draw up this dark and drowsie Soul to love and long to be with thee O God forbid that this sinful Flesh should be more powerful to draw me downward than Faith and Hope and Love to carry my Desires up to God O thou that freely gavest me thy Grace maintain it to the last against its Enemies and make it finally Victorious It came from thee it hath been preserved by thee it is on thy side and wholly for thee O let it not now fail and be conquer'd by blind and base Carnality or by the Temptations of a Hellish conquered Enemy It is thine Image which thou lovest it is a Divine Nature and Heavenly Beam VVhat will a Soul be without it but a Dungeon of Darkness a Devil for Malignity and dead to Holiness and Heaness O rather deny me the Light of the Sun than the Light of thy Countenance Less miserable had I been without Light or Being than without thy Grace O forsake not a Sinner in his extremity who consents to thy Covenant and would not forsake thee My God I have often sinned against thee but yet thou knowest I would fain be thine I have not served thee with that Resolution Fidelity and Delight as such a Master should have been served But yet I would not forsake thy Service nor change my Master or my Work I can say with thy Servant Paul Act. 27.23 That thou art the God whose I am and whom I serve And O that I could serve thee better For to serve thee is but to receive thy Grace and use it for my own and others good and so to glorifie thee and please thy Will which being Love it self it pleased best when we receive it and do most good Nothing in this World is more my Grief than that I love thee no more Forsake not then a Sinner that would not forsake thee that looks towards thee that feels it as his trouble to be so dark and strange unto thee that groaneth and gaspeth after thee feeling to his greatest sorrow that while he is present in the Body he is absent from the Lord. My Lord I have nothing to do in this World but to seek and serve thee O pardon all my Carnal Thoughts and all my Unthankful Neglects of thy precious Grace and Love and let the fuller Communications of thy forfeited Grace now tell me by experience that thou dost forgive me When I have said VVill the Lord cast off for ever And will he be favourable no more My Conscience has replyed That this is mine Infirmity I never wanted Comfort because thou ever wantedst Mercy but because I wanted Faith and Fitness to receive it and perceive it But hast thou not Mercy also to give me even that Fitness and that Faith My God all is of thee and through thee and all is to thee and when I have the Felicity the Glory of all for ever will be thine If I can live and dye in trusting in thee surely I shall not be confounded * See a more full Example of the Acting of Holy Desires towards the Blessed Change in the Close of his Saints Everlasting Rest These be some of the Dying Thoughts of that Excellent Person SECT II. And yet my Friends mistake me not I say not that all are Graceless that are afraid of Death For Nature desires Life even under Sufferings that are but tolerable rather than dye And this is from meer natural necessary Inclination which Free-will hath not full Power against Death as the Dissolution of our frame as the Separation of Soul and Body cannot for it self be loved The putrifying of this Body in the Grave the greatness of the Change of Death the darkness of our Minds and the weakness of our Grace the remaining Sense of Sin with the dreadful Majesty of that God before whom we must appear joined with our Natural Averseness to Dye may make us shrink and tremble But the Faith of the Invisible VVorld the Love of God and Christ and a desire to enjoy him and please him and be with him should do much to overcome these Fears and make us willing Though some remaining Fear be consistent with Vprightness yet remember that not to desire and long for this Blessed State though mix'd with a Fear of intervening Death is highly criminal and faulty For the Love of God and Christ and earnest Desires to be like him and to be with him seems to be the better half of all Religion 2 Tim. 4.8 2 Tit. 13. 2 Pet. 3.12 Not to desire this Blessed Change is directly a sin against the Gospel whereby we are * 2 Thes 2 12 1 Pet. 1.12 called to the obtaining of the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ VVithout such Desires we comply not with the Design and VVill of God who hath called us to his eternal Glory by Christ Jesus For how can his Call be answered without an Inclination of Heart to such a State and a Desire after it For a real Member of Christ and Heir of Heaven to be only Content to see the Lord to be Content to be for ever in his Blessed Presence and perfectly holy and freed from Sin is a very hard and harsh expression Men are covetous eager and ambitious after earthly good And shall a Christian's Desire be less earnest after the Heavenly Glory I grant some remaining Fear of Death may consist with Integrity when it is not God and Heaven we are averse to but Death that stands in the way or when it is because of our Doubts of God's Acceptance of us For I question not but most upright Christians would rather dye than live might they but hope to be with Christ and enjoy the Divine Presence As others would be glad of a Removal might it be without Dying because they fear the Pains and Terrors of a dying Hour Might they not be uncloathed but cloathed upon by an immediate Translation they care not how soon it were For there be many such who desire the Second Coming of Christ unfeignedly and the Blessed Consequences of it to whom all the parts of the Heavenly State and Life are sweet and grateful who live and walk in their Integrity before God though their Grace prevail not against this Fear of death VVhereas you ought to consider that the Throes and Pangs of Travelling VVomen in
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
Complaints of all sorts of Persons The little pleasure and joy we meet with is mixed with an alloy of Sorrow but our Sorrows are more numerous weighty and unmixed many sad Occurrences vexing Passions painful and afflictive Diseases every week disquiet us Cares consume us Fears devours us Grief scizeth us every way and sometimes from such Evils as nothing but the Hope of Heaven can support us under No other balm can cure some of our Wounds So that evil as well as few are the days of the years of our Pilgrimage and the present World on thisaccount 47. Gen. 7. 1. Gal. 4. may well be called an evil World The very Necessities Infirmities and Pains of the Body are a continual Burden even such as belong to our Humanity and are common to Men besides the many more and greater we are often exposed to as Christians for the sake of Christ and the Profession of the Truth to Indignities and Injuries of all sorts from the Malice of the Devil and the Perverted World whom he useth as his Instruments But we need not other Creatures to fail us and Friends to grieve us or Enemies to hate us or Satan to molest us or the World to deceive us this very Body this earthly House is subject to so many Calamities as may make us weary of it and groan to be delivered How much of our time must it take up How much pains and labour must we be at about it How much grief and sorrow must it undergo How many ways do pain and sickness enter By every Member and every part of the Body and this is communicated to the Whole and we cannot but feel it If the body be pincht with hunger and thirst the Soul is restless till it procure a supply If the one be sick the other is sad The Soul is affected with the wants of the Body and for the most part Inordinately and sinfully Thoughtful and calls out the Soul to attend upon the several Passions of the Body filling it with Desires Pleasures Griefs Fears Anger 's c. Which hinder our Knowledg of God service of him and Communion with him Is it any wonder if they that do so groan to put off the Shooe that pinches them that they may be Weary and Pained and cold and thirsty afflicted and grieved no more Can we find this present dwelling so very inconvenient and not desire to have something better Do we not find the * See Mr. S. S. Farewel to Life p. 145. c. Body a clog to the Soul when it would run a Manacle to the Soul that would work a snare to the Soul that would be free a Fetter to chain it to Earthly and Material things c. Do we not own these and the like Burdens to be innumerable heavy and inevitable and is it strange we should long for Ease How small a Portion of Time is it wherein our own Sickness or that of our Relations and Frends doth not disquiet us Their Afflictions Sorrows and Sufferings or our own are continual Burdens and the more we love them the more we are interested in what concerns them and the greater part we bear in their Sufferings as being the more affected with their Miseries And yet God knows all this is needful to keep down the Love of this World take off our undue Affections to Earthly things and raise our Thoughts to something other and better than is here to be had O! How many do we know and have known who groan under these Burdens from the Disorders and Pains of the Body as the Harbingers of Death Especially under the weakness Languishing and decays of Old Age For even a Diseased and Consumed Body in that case tho it be less Tempting is not the less troublesome but the more so even to make them weary of Life Our days are grief and sorrow trouble and affliction that we may be made to know we are not at home but strangers here while Israel dwelt in a fruitful Goshen they might be Tempted to forget the Promised Land but their Difficulties Dangers and Conflicts in the Wilderness would not suffer 'em to mistake a Desart for a Canaan What is the daily condition of our Flesh as * Mr. Baxter of Self-denial Chap. 38 one well expresses it but Weakness and Suffering with Care and Labour to prevent much worse which yet we know cannot be avoided The Sorrow of many a Man's Life has made him wish he had never been born and why should he not be as willing to dye which doth ten thousand times more for him if he be a real Christian than to be unborn would have done Not a Relation so comfortable but hath its discomforts Not a Friend so suitable but hath some discordancy nor any so amiable and sweet but hath something troublesome and bitter not a place so pleasant and commodious but hath its unfitness and discommodities Not a Society so good and regular but hath its Corruptions and Irregularities And should we be loath to leave such a Life as this When the Fruit is Ripe should it not be Gathered When the Corn is Ripe would you have it grow there and not be Cut When we are begotten again to the hopes of Immortality should we be so desirous to stay in the Womb Is it not another kind of Life which we shall have with God Are they not purer Comforts that stay for us above But if you will not have the Grapes to be Gathered and Prest how can you expect to have the Wine Methinks our Flesh should have enough e're this time of Sickness and Pain and Want and Crosses and should be contented to lye down in hope of the Day when these shall be no more SECT III. II. Upon the account of Sin they are yet more burdened The frequent commission of sin the fears of unpardoned sin the remainders of Indwelling sin c. are a constant burden to a Christian while in the Body They are sensible how short and small how weak and low their Knowledg of God and Love to him are how imperfectly and defectively they serve him here in comparison of what their Bretheren above do And they are sensible that much of this arises from the Body that it is no wonder if they are willing to be Vncloathed They find it not only a troublesome but a dangerous Companion as that which hinders them from many hours Communion with God that clogs and diverts and interrupts their Service of God and Enjoyment of him So that even the best and * Mr. Baxter's Dying Thoughts p. 78. holiest Men have owned they had much ado to refrain from wishing they had never been born even when at the same time they knew that thought to be sinful The interest of this Body stands in such competition with God and our Souls since the entrance of sin we are exposed and tempted and drawn to sin so many ways by means of the Body by our Senses Appetites and
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
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
depart and be with Christ And how faulty are the Causes of it which in * See Mourner's Companion Discourse 3d. The Saints Desire to be with Christ another Discourse I have open'd How is it that so few can say with the Apostle I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ which is far better Have we not Experienced enough of the Vanity and Vexation of this World to make us willing of a better Abode Have we not sinned and suffered enough in this Body to desire to be uncloathed at least to wait patiently the Pleasure of God for our Removal And so glorious is the Change which Christians expect that one would think there should rather be need of Patience to make a Believer wait till then But whatever the exercise of this Patience under present Burdens may be we need not doubt but one hours Enjoyment will make amends for all our Waiting and Preparing It cannot be long with the Youngest of us Let us not put it at a great Distance for that will quench the Coal of Heavenly Desire if we look upon Heaven as Twenty or Thirty years off We know not how soon God may call us But have great Reason to lament the strangeness of our Thoughts to the Heavenly State and the faintness of our Desires when the Promised Felicity is so attractive Do we think we shall live ever the longer for being unwilling to Dye Can it enter into our Thoughts that our excessive Love of the Body will procure our Continuance in it Is it possible we should imagine that sincerity of Love to Christ is consistent with our Backwardness to go to him and live with him Why then do we not aspire more earnestly after this glorious Change How is it that we groan under the Burdens of this Earthly Tabernacle and yet are loth to be delivered Will a Sick Man be afraid of his Recovery Or a Prisoner tremble at the News of a Goal-delivery No more should a real Christian be afraid of Death or unwilling of it For considering the Death and Resurrection and Ascension and Promise of Christ it is to a Believer a quick Passage from Sickness to eternal Health from Toil and Labour Captivity and Sorrow to everlasting Rest and Liberty and Joy I think says * Mr. Baxter of Self-denial p. 202. one God has purposely cloathed your Soul with so poor a Dress that you should be the less unwilling to be uncloathed and might learn to set more by your Souls than by your Bodies and make more careful Provision for them It seems he has purposely lodged you in so poor a Cottage that you should not be at too much Care for it nor be too loth to leave it You have its daily Necessities Infirmities and Pains and somewhat of its Filth and Loathsomness to tell you of its Meanness And why should you be so unwilling that so frail a Body should be turned to Dust Dust it is and to Dust it is Sentenced When the Soul has left it but a Week Men can scarce indure to see it or smell it And should the breaking of such an Earthen Vessel be so unpleasant a thing to you And for its Vsefulness though so far as it is obedient it was serviceable to your Souls and to God Yet was it so refractory ill-disposed and disobedient that it proved no better than your Enemy Many a Temptation it hath entertained and cherished and many a Sin hath it drawn you to commit Your Senses have let in a World of Vanity your Wandering Eyes have called in Covetousness and Pride and Lust Your Greedy Apperites have been so eager on the Bait that they have too often born down your Faith and Reason and drawn you to Excess in Meats or Drinks for Matter or Manner for Quality or Quantity or both Many a Groan these Sins have cost you and a sad uncomfortable Life you have had by reason of them in comparison of what you might have had and this Flesh has been the Mother or the Nurse of all You were engaged by your Baptismal Covenant to Fight against it when you entered into the Church and if you are Christians this Combate has been your daily Work and much of the Business of your Lives And yet are you loth to have the Victory and see your Enemy under your feet Have you fought your selves into Friendship with it that you are so tender of it Do you not know that when you are the greatest Friends to the Body it will be the most dangerous Enemy to you Do not think that it is only Sin and not the Body that is the Flesh which the Scripture calls your Enemy For it is the Body as inclining to Creatures from which the sinful Soul cannot restrain it It is the Body as having an inordinate sensitive Appetite and Imagination and so distempered as that it rebels against the Spirit and casteth off the Rule of Reason and would not be curbed of its Desires but have the Rule of all its self Was it not the very Flesh it self that Paul says he fought against and kept under and brought into Subjection lest he should be a Cast-away 1 Cor. 9.26 Why should Sin be called Flesh and Body but that it is the Body or Flesh that is the principal seat of those sins that are so called c. How earnestly should we beg of God that Faith and Hope in Vigorous Exercise that may kindle our Desires and Love towards the Heavenly State and make us long to behold the Lord in Glory when we shall put off this Body and our Souls be filled with Heavenly Light and Love Certainly if we do not now desire it we shall never enjoy it For we can never be happy by full satisfaction in that which we do not know enough of to make us desire But the little Knowledge and Love of God which a real Christian now hath must needs make him Importunate in his Requests for more and will make him value his Hopes of a better State beyond all the Pleasures of Sin and all the Possessions of this World O How Passionately have some excellent Persons lamented the weakness of their Desires and Love and cryed out for more of Heavenly Life and Light and Love to God! O * Mr. Baxter's Dying Thoughts p. 184. 212. where is the longing the rejoycing the triumphing Faith VVhere is the pleasant familiarity above that should make a Thought of Christ and Heaven to be sweeter to me than the Thought of Friends and Health or all the Pleasure and Prosperity in the World Do those that dwell in God and God in them and have their Heart and Conversation in Heaven attain to no more clear and satisfying Preception of that blessed State than I have yet attained Is there no more Acquaintance above to be here expected No livelier sense of future Joys No sweeter Fore tastes No fuller silencing of Doubts and Fears Alas How many Christians are less afraid to go