Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
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A45685
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A funeral sermon on Mordecai Abbott Esq. preach'd at Lorimers Hall, April the 7th, 1700 / by Thomas Harrison.
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Harrison, Thomas, fl. 1700.
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1700
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Wing H910; ESTC R40131
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13,432
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55
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for it I conceive the latter word faithful may be explicative of the former Epithet good the Goodness and Excellency of a Servant chiefly consisting in his Fidelity to his Master The things wherein he had been faithful are call'd few in comparison of what should be intrusted with him and bestow'd upon him The most that we receive from Christ at present is very little compared with what we shall receive from him hereafter There is a vast disproportion between what we have in hand and what we have in hope I may say of the Enjoyments as the Apostle doth of the Sufferings of the present time that they are not worthy to be compared with the Glory which shall be reveal'd in us Rom. 8.18 God will deal more bountifully with his own Children when they come to Heaven than he ever doth while they remain upon Earth 2. The Happiness to which he adjudges him I will make thee Ruler over many things enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. We must not be solicitous to accommodate every word in a Parable to that spiritual Truth that is taught us by it I will not determine whether these words I will make thee Ruler over many things do purely serve for the setting off the Parabolical Narration or are to be taken in a spiritual sense According to the former Notion they are expressive of a kind Master's treatment of a faithful Servant having experienc'd his Fidelity in smaller matters he entrusts him with greater and advances him to a higher Station According to the latter Notion they are expressive of that great Felicity which Christ will confer upon his faithful Servants in another World This is further held forth in the following words Enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord whereby is certainly intended the Glory and Blessedness of the Heavenly State This is exprest by Joy because the fruition of it will produce a triumphant and unspeakable Joy in those that enter into it Thus Psal 16.11 In thy Presence is fulness of Joy and at thy right-hand are Pleasures for evermore 'T is call'd the Joy of his Lord and that probably on a double account 1. Because in the Vision and Enjoyment of Christ the greatest part of their Felicity will consist Tho there be many Jewels in that never fading Crown of Glory which shall be set upon the Heads of Believers in another World this is the brightest and most sparkling When our Lord prays for the final Happiness of his People he thus expresses himself Father I will that they be with me where I am that they may behold my Glory which thou hast given me Joh. 17.24 The Apostle therefore desir'd to depart that he might be with Christ Phil. 1.23 2. Because his Glory in Heaven is the Exemplar and Pattern of that which his People shall enjoy They shall enter into that Joy which he as their Forerunner is already enter'd into Not that they shall possess the same Glory in all respects that Christ hath for his personal Glory as the Son of God and as Mediator are incommunicable but they shall partake of his Glory according to their Capacity We are told that they shall reign with him 2 Tim. 2.12 and that when he shall appear they shall be like him 1 Joh. 3.2 Their Souls shall be perfectly conform'd to his human Soul in Purity and Felicity and their Bodies shall be fashion'd into the likeness of his glorious Body An entering into this Joy may denote the plenitude and abundance of it Here Joy enters into us but hereafter we shall enter into Joy we shall be swallow'd up in a fathomless Ocean of pure and unallay'd Pleasures I proceed 4thly To consider the Time when this Speech was deliver'd If we look back into the 19th Verse we shall find it was when the Lord came to reckon with his Servants Hereby our Lord's second Coming in visible Glory to judg both Quick and Dead is evidently intended Of this we have a particular account in the latter part of the Chapter The Heavens must contain our ascended Lord till the times of the restitution of all things and then he shall descend from thence in the Glory of his Father with all his holy Angels to convene the whole Race of Adam before his Judgment-seat to call them to an account for the Deeds done in the Body and to pass a definitive Sentence upon them according to their Works 'T is true there is a particular Judgment which immediately follows after Death When the Soul is separated from the Body it appears before the Bar of the supreme Judg to give an account of its Stewardship and then receives an irreversible Sentence of Condemnation or Absolution But I conceive our Lord chiefly respects the General Judgment when the Trial will be public the Sentence pronounc'd with the most awful Solemnity and the Happiness or Misery of every Man compleated Having gone thro the words by way of Explication I might raise several Observations from them But that I may comply with my time I shall only speak to this Proposition Doct. That they who are faithful Servants of Christ in this Life shall be possest of a very joyful and happy State in the next In prosecuting this Point I shall I. Describe the faithful Servants of Christ II. Give an account of that joyful and happy State of which they shall be hereafter possest III. Show the certain Connexion between serving Christ faithfully in this Life and the Possession of that blissful State in the next IV. Make some Application I. I am to describe the faithful Servants of Christ who they are that shall be own'd as such by the Supreme Lord when he comes to Judgment They may be described 1. From their State 2. From their Actions The former is necessarily presuppos'd to their serving Christ with Faithfulness and Acceptance The Service which they do for Christ consists in the latter 1. Their State may be describ'd â—n two Particulars 1. They are justified by the Righteousness of Christ 'T is impossible that any good Fruit should be brought forth by a Person till he be ingrafted into Christ as is plainly taught us by our Lord himself Joh. 15.4 5. Now being found in Christ and â—aving on his Righteousness are conjoin'd because they are inseparable Phil. 3.9 They who are mystically one with Christ must â—eeds be interested in his Mediatory Righteousness and so perfectly justified in the sight of God Tho according to the Tenor of the Covenant of Works the Servant was to be first accepted and then the Person on that account yet according to the Tenor of the Covenant of Grace the Person must be first accepted and then the Service Nothing short of an Investiture with Christ's perfect Righteousness can render our Persons acceptable to the most High and till they become so our most splendid Services will be abominable in his sight 2. They are renew'd and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ Every acceptable Service flows from a
from God and hinder'd it from doing his Will To what an extasy of Joy will it be raised when it finds it self without spot or wrinkle 2. The moral Perfection of our Souls The separate Spirits of just Men are made perfect Heb. 12.23 As the old Man shall then be destroy'd so the new Man shall come to its full growth to its highest pitch That moral Image of God which was imperfectly pourtray'd upon us at our Introduction into the Kingdom of Grace will be brought to its utmost Perfection upon our entrance into the Kingdom of Glory Now we may consider this moral Perfection both as it respects the Understanding and as it respects the Will the two supreme Faculties of the human Soul 1. As it respects the Understanding and so it consists in a Perfection of Knowledg Now we see thro a Glass darkly but then face to face now we know in part but then shall we know even as also we are known 1 Cor. 13.12 Then that which is perfect will come and that which is in part shall be done away Those things we have at present conceal'd from us shall then be unfolded to us Our Apprehensions of those things which we are now acquainted with will be much clearer and more distinct than they are while we dwell in this cloudy Region where so many Mists and Fogs arise to obscure our sight of Divine and Spiritual Objects and our Souls are apt to make a judgment of them as represented by the Senses What bright views shall we then have of the Nature and Perfections of the Deity of the glorious Mysteries than are contain'd in the everlasting Gospel of the eternal Counsel and Designs of the beautiful and harmonious Providences of the Eternal King Knowledg is so agreeable to the human Mind that Men take abundance of Pains and wade thro many Difficulties in the pursuit of it and are even transported with Joy when they have obtain'd it tho in a trifling inconsiderable matter What an elevation then will be given to our Joy by the clearest view of the most excellent Objects What Pleasure will result from those bright Idea's of God and Christ wherewith our Minds shall be filled 2. As it respects the Will and so it chiefly consists in a Perfection of Love which is a Grace very sutable to the triumphant State There is a vast difference between that Love which a militant Saint bears to his Heavenly Father and his Glorious Redeemer and that of a triumphant Saint Our Love when we come to Heaven will bear a just proportion to our Knowledg The Light wherewith our Minds shall be irradiated will be accompanied with a sutable warmth of Affection And as a Perfection of Love to God will mightily ennoble our Wills so it will produce solid and unspeakable Joy forasmuch as it renders the fruition of God and Christ exceeding delightful There can no satisfaction arise from the Presence of an unbeloved Object and the Pleasure that we take in the Enjoyment of any thing will be proportionate to its share in our Affections In short since Believers mourn at present to find their Love of the supreme Being but as smoking Flax how will they rejoice hereafter when it shall becom a triumphant Flame 3. The full enjoyment of God and Christ Tho the Divine gracious Presence be afforded to Believers in their way to Heaven yet the glorious Presence of God will not be enjoy'd by them till they enter into that blissful Habitation Our Fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ is but partial at present hereafter it will be full Since God is our chiefest Good the supreme Object of our Love we must needs rejoice in the compleat fruition of him What a triumphant Joy will spring up in our Souls when we shall lie in the Embraces of such a glorious Person as our Emanuel one who is the brightness of the Father's Glory and the express Image of his Person one who is very nearly related to us being our elder Brother our Head our Husband one who hath laid the most endearing Obligations upon us by what he hath done for us How pleasant will it be to dwell with Him who from Eternity undertook for us as our Sponsor who in the fulness of time took upon him our Nature stood in our Law-place redeem'd us from eternal Misery and purchas'd everlasting Happiness for us by his Obedience and Sufferings who lov'd us so as to give himself a Ransom for us of whose fulness we have receiv'd and Grace for Grace who hath succor'd us in our Temptations supported us under our Afflictions and conducted us to the Heavenly Canaan 4. The Society of glorious Angels and glorified Saints How joyful will that State be wherein we shall dwell and converse with the highest Order of created Beings who have perform'd many eminent Services for us in the house of our Pilgrimage being all ministring Spirits sent forth to minister to them who shall be the Heirs of Salvation How pleasant will it be to dwell and converse with the whole Assembly of triumphant Saints when free from all those Imperfections which attended them in their mortal State and very much abated the Comfort of their mutual Society There will be no Divisions or Animosities among them but perfect Unity and a flaming Love shall reign in all their Hearts 5. The glorious and blissful state of our Bodies When our great Master shall come again as a quickning Spirit he will raise the Bodies of his Members from their Beds of Dust and reunite them unto their Souls And tho for substance they will be the same that they were before their Dissolution yet the Qualities will be greatly alter'd The Bodies of Believers shall be reform'd with all glorious Perfections sutable to their Nature and partake with their Souls in consummate Blessedness in a glorious Immortality 1 Cor. 15. The Soul must needs have a great Affection for its Body and when separate from it desires a reunion How will it exult then when the Marriage-knot shall be retied and it shall find such a vast and happy change made in its dear Relative since the doleful Separation How will it rejoyce to possess an incorruptible a spiritual a glorious and an immortal Body 2dly I shall give you the Properties of that Joy which results from these Fruitions in two particulars 'T is endless and 't is undecaying 1. 'T is endless That fulness of Joy which is in God's immediate Presence lasts for evermore It must needs be so because that Happiness whence it results will be of a perpetual duration Those Evils from which the glorified Saints are freed shall no more return upon them they shall never be depriv'd of the Beatific Vision of God nor dislodg'd from the immediate Embraces of their dear Redeemer Tho the first Adam was soon expell'd the Earthly Paradise the Seed of the second Adam shall never be driven out of the heavenly Their Souls shall no more be