commodious and fitter for the uses of a glorified Soul which hath its own more inward clothing peculiar to it self in respect whereof that of such a Body would be an additional one a superinvestiture as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports his desire is thus limited and modified for this reason In as much as being thus clothed we shall not be found naked or without any Body at all which the Law of our Creation admits us not to affect or aspire unto And therefore in qualifying our desire thus we shall contain our selves within our own bounds and not offer at any thing whereof humanity is by the Creator's pleasure and constitution uncapable Therefore he inculcates the same thing over again We groan not to be unclothed but only to be clothed upon Where that unclothed the thing he desired not must signify the state and not the act only is evident in that being clothed the thing which he did desire must plainly be so understood For was it only an entrance into Glory he desired and not continuance in a glorified state Nor can this being unclothed much less refer as an act to the present clothing of this earthly Body as if it were our being divested of that which he intended in this 4 th Vers. as the thing he desired not for then the 4 th Verse would contradict this 8 th where he tells us he did desire it The meaning then is that he did not desire to be exempted from wearing a Body or to be without any at all He did only covet to be absent from this Body gross and terrene as now it was that he might be present with the Lord with which he found being in such a Body and in the several accompanying Circumstances of this bodily state to be inconsistent Wherefore it was a terrestrial Body the earthly House of this Tabernacle as 't is Vers. 1. which he was now better pleased to quit upon this account And I say it is the genuine temper of an holy Soul to be like-minded not their constant explicite discernible sense We must allow for Accidents as we shall note afterwards but when they are themselves and in their right mind and so far as the holy divine Life doth prevail in them this is their Temper And now that I may more fully open this Matter to you I shall 1. Endeavour to unfold somewhat more distinctly the state of the Case in reference whereto good and holy Souls are thus affected 2 ly Shall shew you what is their true and genuine temper or how it is that they stand affected in reference to that case 3 ly Shall discover how agreeable this temper is to the general frame and complexion of an Holy Soul And then make such reflections upon the whole as may be more especially useful to our selves 1. We are to take as much as we can a distinct view and state of the case We see the Apostle speaks by way of comparison 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are willing rather We are therefore to consider that we may comprehend clearly the true state of this Case what the things are which he compares And between which his mind might be supposed as it were to have been before at least in order of Nature before in some suspence till at last it come so complacentially to incline and be determined this one way Take the account of the whole Case in these particulars 1 st There are here two principal terms between which the motion and inclination of such a Mind lies from the One to the Other The Lord and The Body Both do as it were attract and draw or are apt to do two several ways The Lord strongly draws on the one hand and the Body hangs on and holds and draws in as strongly to it self as it can on the other The Body as having us present in it And how not locally only but in the way of vital union and communion with it And that shews how we are to understand being present with the Lord too not by a meer local presence but of more intimate vital union and commerce Where as in the union between the Soul and Body the more excellent communicates Life the other receives it so it must be here Though now The Lord is present thus in some measure which this attraction supposes Yet speaking comparatively that presence is absence in respect of what we are to look for hereafter Both these Vnions are very mysterious and both infer very strong and powerful drawing or holding together of the things so united There is no greater mystery in Nature than the union between the Soul and Body That a Mind and Spirit should be so ty'd and link'd with a clod of Clay that while that remains in a due temper it cannot by any Art or Power free it self It can by an act of the Will move an hand or foot or the whole Body but cannot move from it one inch If it move hither and thither or by a leap upward do ascend a little the Body still follows it cannot shake or throw it off We cannot take our selves out By any allowable means we cannot nor by any at all that are at least within meer humane Power as long as the temperament lasts While that remains we cannot go if that fail we cannot stay though there be so many open Avenues could we suppose any material bounds to hem in or exclude a Spirit we cannot go out or in at pleasure A wonderful thing and I wonder we no more wonder at our own make and frame in this respect That we do not with reverent submissive adoration discern and confess how far we are outwitted and overpowred by our wise and great Creator that we not only cannot undo his Work upon us in this respect but that we cannot so much as understand it What so much a-kin are a Mind and a piece of Earth a Clod and a Thought that they should be thus affiix'd to one another or that there should be such a thing in Nature as thinking Clay But hereupon what advantage hath this Body upon the Soul and Spirit In the natural Vnion is grounded a moral One of love and affection Which on the Soul's part draws and binds it down with mighty efficacy Again How mysterious and ineffable is the Vnion of the Lord and the Soul and how more highly venerable as this is a Sacred Mystery And who would not admire at their proud disdainful folly that while they cannot explain the Vnion between the Soul and Body are ready to jeer at their just humble and modest Ignorance that call this other a Mystical Vnion Or because they know not what to make of it would make nothing and will not allow there should be any such thing or would have it be next to nothing Have those words no sense belonging to them or not a great sense 1 Cor. 6.17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit And upon
own Creature and it hath its end and rest in him 5 thly We see the admirable power of Divine Grace that it prevails against even the nature love of this bodily Life Not where discontent and weariness of Life contribute but even where there is a willingness to live too upon a valuable consideration as this Apostle doth elsewhere express himself viz. in the place before noted and how easily the Divine Pleasure could reconcile him to Life notwithstanding what is said in the Text is sufficiently signified in the words immediately following it And the Effect is permanent not a sudden transport wherein many are induced to throw away their Lives upon much lower Motives This appears to be an habitual Inclination At distant times we find the Apostle in the same temper That is not surely from the power of Nature that is so much against it as the stream of Nature now runs i. e. that a Man should be willing to be plucked in pieces and severed from himself And we see Vers. 5. whereto it is expresly ascribed He that hath wrought us to the self-same thing is God 6 thly How black is their Character and how sad their State that are more addicted to the Body and this bodily life than to the Lord and that holy blessed Life we are to partake in with him Their Character is black and horrid as it is divers from that which truly belongs to all the People of God that ever liv'd on Earth and so doth distinguish them from such and place them among another sort of Men that belong not to him such as have their portion in this Life their good things here and who are to expect nothing hereafter but woe and wailing And who would not be affrighted that finds a Mark upon him that severs him from the whole Assembly of the Just and the Blessed Their state is also therefore sad and dismal And in as much as what they place their highest felicity in their abode in the Body they know will continue but a little while Who could ever by their love of this bodily Life procure it to be perpetuated or by their dread of Mortality make themselves Immortal Have not others in all former Ages lov'd the Body and this World as much and what is become of them Hath not Death still swept the Stage from Generation to Generation and taken all away willingly or unwillingly To have all my good bound up in what I cannot keep and to be in a continual dread of what I cannot avoid What can be more disconsolate How grievous will it be to be torn out of the Body not to resign the Soul but have it drawn forth as a rusty Sword out of the Sheath A thing which our utmost willingness will make the more painful but cannot defer No Man hath power over the Spirit to retain the Spirit nor hath he power in death Eccles. 8.8 How uncomfortable when the Lord's Presence the common joy of all good Souls is to me a dread By the same degrees by which an abode in the Body is over-desired is that presence dreaded and disaffected And how deplorate is the case when this Body is the best shelter I have from that Presence Would I lurk in the Body and lie hid from the presence of the Lord How easily and how soon will my Fortress be beaten down and laid in the Dust and I be left naked and exposed and then how fearful things do ensue But what now doth this fearful Case admit of no remedy It can admit but of this only one which therefore I would now recommend and press The serious effectual endeavour of being to a just degree alienated from the Body and of having the undue Love represt and wrought down of this bodily Life Mistake not I go not about to perswade all promiscuously out of hand and without more ado to desire Death or absence from the Body The desires of reasonable Creatures should be reasonable the product of valuable Considerations and rational Inducements The present case of too many the Lord knows admits not they should be willing to die Who are they that they should desire the Day of the Lord a Day of such gloominess and darkness as it is likely should it now dawn to prove to them No but let all endeavour to get into that State and have their Affairs in such a posture that they may be upon good terms reconciled to the Grave and that separation from the Body may be the matter with them of a rational and truly Christian Choice And since as hath been said there are two terms between which the inclination and motion of our Souls in this case must lie from the one to the other viz. the Body and the Lord life in the Body and with the Lord. Let such things be considered on both hands as may justly tend to diminish and lessen our inclination and love to the one and increase it towards the other So as that all things being considered and upon the whole this may be the reasonable and self-justifying result to be well pleased rather to be absent from the Body and to be present with the Lord. And 1. On the part of the Body and this bodily Life consider 1. How costly it is to you you lay out upon it the most do most of your Time Thoughts Cares The greater part most or even all of their Estates All the Callings you can think of in the World and which all help to maintain at no little expence are wholly for the Body What costly Attendants must it have of Cooks Bakers Brewers Mercers Physicians Lawyers and what not One only excepted that refers to the Soul And again when all is done how little serviceable is it when you would employ it sometimes it is sick sometimes lame sometimes lames the mind and intellect too that it cannot do its Office meerly thorough the distemper of bodily Organs is at all times dull sluggish indisposed The Spirit is willing but the Flesh weak Yea moreover how disserviceable hinders your doing good prompts to the doing much evil What a world of mischief is done among Men meerly by bodily Lusts and to serve fleshly Appetite These fill the World with confusion and miseries of all sorts All catch from others what they can for the Service of the Body Hence is competition of Interests and Designs No Man's Portion is enough for him to serve the Body or the mind as it is depraved by bodily Inclinations And so the World is torn by its Inhabitants Countries wasted and laid desolate Religion it self made subservient to fleshly Interest and thence is the occasion of many a bloody Contest of Oppressions Persecutions and Violences whereby many times it so falls out that such as are most vigorously engaged in a design of serving the Body destroy it their own as well as other Mens And which is most dreadful Souls are numerously lost and perish in the Scuffle Yea and very oft
Why are we afraid of what we are so nearly allyed unto Can we not endure to see or think of a Man at liberty suppose it were a Friend or a Brother if we our selves were in Prison The more easy you make the apprehension to your selves of a disembody'd Spirit i. e. free I mean of any terrestrial Body the better we shall relish the Thoughts of him who is the Head of that glorious Society you are to be gathered unto For the Lord is that Spirit the Eminent Almighty and All-governing Spirit to be ever beheld too in his glorified Body as an eternal Monument of his Undertaking for us and an assuring endearment of his Relation to us The better your Minds will comply with the preconceived Idea we are to entertain our selves with of the Constitution Order Employment and Delights of that vast Collection of Heavenly Associates we shall dwell with for ever And the more will you still incline to be absent from this Body that among them you may be ever present with the Lord. And if you thus cherish this pleasant Inclination think how grateful it will be when it comes to be satisfied How natural is that Rest that ends in the Center to which a thing is carried by a natural motion How pleasantly doth the departed Soul of that good Gentlewoman whose decease we lament solace it self in the presence of her Glorious Lord I shall say little concerning her You will have her just Memorial more at large e're long I had indeed the opportunity by an occasional abode some days under the same Roof several Years before she came into that Relation wherein she finish'd her Course to observe her strangely vivid and great Wit and very sober Conversation But the turn and bent of her Spirit towards God and Heaven more remarkably appear'd a considerable time after Which when it did she shew'd how much more she studied the Interest of her Soul than the Body and how much more she valued mental and spiritual Excellencies than worldly Advantages in the choice of her Consort whom she accepted to be the Companion and Guide of her Life She gave proof herein of the real greatness of her Spirit and how much she disdain'd to be guided by their vulgar Measures that have not Wit and Reason and Religion enough to value the Accomplishments of the Mind and inner Man And to understand that Knowledg Holiness an heavenly Heart entire devotedness to the Redeemer a willingness to spend and be spent in the Service of God are better and more valuable things than so many Hundreds or Thousands a Year And that no external Circumstances can so far dignify a Drunkard an Atheist a profane Wretch as that compared with one that bears such Characters he should deserve to be simply reckon'd the better Man And that meer sober carnality and ungodliness suffice not to cast the Ballance Or that have so little of these Qualifications for the making a true Judgment as to think that Calling dishonourable and a diminution to a Man that refers immediately to the Soul and the unseen World and that relates and sets him nearest to God She knew how to make her estimate of the Honour of a Family and a Pedigree as things valuable in their kind without allowing her self so much vanity as to reckon they were things of the most excellent kind and to which nothing personal could be equal And well understood of the personal Endowments of the Body and the Mind which were to have the preference Her Life might teach all those especially of her own Sex that a Life's time in the Body is for some other purposes than to indulge and trim and adorn the Body which is most minded by them who as that shows have in the mean time most neglected and God knows most depraved and deformed Souls I hope her Example more fully and publickly represented will more generally teach In the mean time this Instance of our common Mortality should teach us all We see this state of Life in the Body is not that we were finally made for Yet how few seriously look beyond it And it is amazing to think how little the Deaths of others signify to the making us mind our own We behave our selves as if Death were a thing only to be undergone by some few Persons here and there and that the most should 'scape and as if we took it for granted we should be of the exempted number How soon are Impressions from such occasions talk'd and trifled and laugh'd and jested away Shall we now learn more to study and understand our own Natures To contemplate our selves and our Duty thereupon That we are a mortal immortal sort of Creatures That we are sojourners only in a Body which we must shortly leave to Dust and Worms That we are Creatures united with Bodies but separable from them Let each of us think I am one that can live in a Body and can live out of a Body While I live in one that Body is not mine I dwell not in mine own That the Body must be for the the Lord as he will then be for the Body That we shall dwell comfortless and miserable in the Body if we dwell in it solitary and alone and have not with us a better Inhabitant That our Bodies are to be Mansions for a Deity Houses for Religion Temples of the Holy Ghost O the venerable thoughts we should have of these Bodies upon this account How careful should we be not to debase them not to alienate them If any Man corrupt the Temple of God him will he destroy 1 Cor. 3.16 Will a Man rob God break and violate his House how horrid a Burglary Shall we agree to resign these Bodies and this bodily Life Our meeting will have been to good purpose might this be the united sense of this dissolving Assembly Lord here we surrender and disclaim otherwise than for and under thee all right and title to these Bodies and Lives of ours We present our Bodies holy acceptable living yet living Sacrifices as our reasonable Service Let us do so and remember we are hereafter not to live to our selves nor to die at length to our selves but living and dying to be the Lord's FINIS Advertisement THere is lately printed A brief Exposition of the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments To which is added The Doctrine of the Sacraments By Isaac Barrow D. D. and late Master of Trinity-College in Cambridg And now since his death publish'd by Dr. Tillotson Dean of Canterbury Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons over against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil In Octavo Psal. 16. Vers. 2. Vers. 3. Vers. 4. 2 Kin. 4. Heb. 11.1 Ambros. de bono mortis 2 Cor. 4.16 * Epict. Socrat. Anaxarch * Julian Ep. ad Iamblic †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
thus with-held any longer from the Presence of our blessed Lord A thing whereof nothing but duty to him could make us patient We are not destitute of the fortitude to enable us even to rush upon Death without more ado if he did say the word But as yet he bids us stay and his supream and holy Will must in all things determine ours Therefore 't is immediately subjoin'd in the midst of this high transport vers 9. Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we might be accepted of him or well-pleasing to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We less mind the pleasing our selves than him We are indifferent to Life or Death being in the Body or out of it in comparison of that His pleasure is more to us than either Here the highest Fortitude yields and submits it self Otherwise and for his own part and as to what concern'd his own inclination singly and in the divided sense the Apostle to his confidence doth 2 ly add complacency We are better pleased 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is a distinct thing a valiant Man will venture upon wounds and death but is not pleased with them but in reference to so excellent an Object and Occasion they must mingle and the latter runs into the former We are willing rather as we read it to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. The word which we read willing signifies to approve or like well not a meerly judicious but complacential approbation The word whence comes the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often ascrib'd to God in Scripture which signifies the high satisfaction he takes in all his Purposes and Determinations The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes. 1.5 is certainly no tautology but speaks how perfectly and pleasingly he agrees and as it were consents with himself in all that ever he had resolv'd on This rather says the Apostle is our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the thing that would please us best and wherein we should most highly satisfy our selves It would not be the matter of our submission only or whereto we could yield when we cannot help it but of our highest joy and pleasure According as we find it was with the Psalmist in the same case which though it had a further meaning in reference to Christ had a true meaning as to himself also Therefore my Heart is glad my Glory rejoyces my Flesh also shall rest in hope For thou wilt not leave my Soul in Sheol the state of the Dead nor suffer thy Holy One to see Corruption but wilt shew me the Path of Life and no matter though it lie through the dark shady Vale It leads however into that blessed presence of thine the same with that in the Text where is fulness of joy and unto that right hand that high and honourable station where are pleasures for ever-more Both these the Apostle's courage and fortitude and his complacency or well-pleasedness have express reference to the state of Death or of being absent from the Body The one respects it as a formidable but superable Evil The other as a desirable and most delectable Good But both have reference to it in its concomitancy or tendency viz. as absence from the Body should be accompanied or be immediately followed with being present with the Lord. The sence therefore of the whole Verse may be fitly exprest thus That it is the genuine temper of Holy Souls not only to venture with confidence upon the state of absence or separation from the Body but to chuse it with great complacency and gladness that they may be present with the Lord. Body we are not here to understand so generally as if he affected or counted upon a perpetual final state of separation from any Body at all No the temper of his Spirit had nothing in it so undutiful or unnatural no such reluctation or disposition to contend against the common Lot of Man the Law of humane Nature and the comely Order which the Author of our Beings and of all Nature hath setled in the Universe That whereas one sort of Creatures that have life should be wholly confin'd to terrestrial Bodies Another quite exempt from them Ours should be a middle Nature between the Angelical and the Brutal So as we should with the former partake of intellectual immortal Spirit and a mortal Body made up and organiz'd of earthly Materials with the latter Which yet we might also depose and reassume changed and refined from terrene dross The Apostle's temper hath in it nothing of Rebellion or Regret against this most apt and congruous Order and Constitution He had no impatient proud resentment of that gradual debasement and inferiority that in this respect we are made a little lower than the Angels When Porphyry tells us in the Life of Plotinus that he blush'd as often as he thought of his being a Body It was agreeable enough to his Notion of the pre-existence of the Soul i. e. If it were true that the original state of humane Spirits was the same with that of Angels which this is no fit season to dispute against and that by their own fault some way or other they lapsed and slid down into grosser matter and were caught into vital union with it there was just cause of shame indeed Apuleius's transformation which many of you know what it means if it had been real was not more ignominious But it appears the Apostle affected not a state wherein he should be simply naked or unclothed of any Body at all for he longs to be clothed upon with his heavenly House Vers. 2. And whereas he tells us Vers. 4. That which he groaned for was not to be unclothed but clothed upon That being unclothed doth not mean the act but the state i. e. that he did not covet or aspire to a perpetual final state of being naked or without any Body at all For so he speaks Vers. 3. If so be as we read that being clothed we shall not be found naked The Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 admits to be read since that in as much as or for truly and so the 2 d and 3 d Verses will be connected thus In this i. e. For this viz. for this cause as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 often signifies causality not in this House for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will not agree we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our House which is from Heaven i. e. of Heaven or sutable to Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotes here as often the Matter whereof a thing is formed and made a Body made up of an heavenly material Or which is all one an earthly Body refined and transformed into such a One. And then he subjoins the reason why his desire is so condition'd and limited or runs only in this particular current to have not no Body at all but only not such a Body He wishes to have a Body made more habile and
this supernatural Union also be it what it will methinks the binding and drawing Power of Love should not be less 2 ly We must conceive in our Minds as distinctly as we can the peculiar Adjuncts of each of these more principal Terms i. e. On the part of the Body first we are to consider a sensible a grosly corporeal World to which this Body doth connaturalize us and whereto we are attempered by our being in the Body and living this bodily Life This Body while we live in it is the terminus uniens the medium the unitive Bond between us and it In this World we find our selves encompass'd with Objects that are sutable grateful and entertaining to our bodily Senses and the several Principles Perceptions and Appetites that belong to the bodily Life And these things familiarize and habituate us to this World and make us as it were One with it There is particularly a bodily People as is intimated in the Text that we are associated with by our being in the Body The words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Verse and the same are used Vers. the 6 th and 9 th signify there is such a People of which we are and from which we would be dissociated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is civis incola or indigena an Inhabitant or Native among this or that People as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is peregrinus one that lives abroad and is severed from the People he belonged unto The Apostle considers himself while in the Body as living among such a sort of People as dwell in Bodies a like sort of People to himself And would be no longer a home-dweller with these but travel away from them to join and be a dweller with another People For also on the other hand he considers with the Lord an invisible World where he resides and an incorporeal People he presides over So that the case here is Are we willing to be dispeopled from this bodily sort of People and peopled with that incorporeal sort the World and community of Spirits 3 ly It is further to be considered in this case that we are related both ways related to the Body and related to the Lord to the one People and the other the one claims an Interest in us and so doth the other We have many earthly Alliances 't is true and we have many Heavenly We are related to both Worlds and have Affairs lying in both And now what mighty pleadings might the Case admit on the one hand and the other Were the Body apart capable of pleading for it self To this effect it must bespeak the Soul I am thy Body I was made and form'd for thee and someway by thee Thou hast so long inhabited and dwelt with me and in me Thou art my Soul my Life my Strength if thou be absent I am a Carcass and fall to dirt And thou wilt be a maimed thing and scarce thy whole self But though it cannot dictate and do not utter such words Nature doth it self plead more strongly than words can And again How much more potently might the Lord plead for his having the Soul more closely united and intimately conversant with himself Thou art one of the Souls I have loved and chosen which were given to me and for which I offered up my own Soul I have visited thee in thy low and abject State said to thee in thy Blood Live have inspired thâ—â— with an heavenly sacred divine Life the Root and seminal Principle of a perfect glorious eternal Life Let this Body drop which hath been long thy burden let it fall and die it matters not Yet since thou lovest it I will restore it thee again pure and glorious like mine own I am the Resurrection and the Life he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live John 11.25 Never fear to venture thy self with me nor to commit thy Body to my after-care And now all the question will be Which alledges the more considerable things and the matter will be estimated as the temper of the Soul is An earthly sordid Soul when the overture is made to it of such a translation will be ready to say as the Shunamite did to the Prophet when he offered to speak for her to the King perhaps that her Husband might be called to Court and made a great Man I dwell among my own People an Answer that in her case well exprest the true greatness of a contented Mind but in this case nothing more mean I am well where I am and dwell among a People like my self So faith the degenerate abject Soul sunk into a deep oblivion of its own Country Here I dwell a fixed Inhabitant of this World among a corporeal People where I make one And we find how it is with this sort of People each one charms another and they grow familiar have mutual ties upon one another and there is a loathness to part Especially as here in this lower World we are variously dispos'd and cast into several mutual Relations to one another Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Brothers and Sisters all dwelling in Bodies alike cohabiting eating and drinking daily and conversing together These are great and sensible endearments by which the minds of Men become as it were knit and united to one another How are Men's Spirits fixed to their own Countries Nescio quâ natale Solum dulcedine 'T is by an unexpressible pleasure and sweetness that the People of one Country are as it were linkt and held together But would not an heavenly new-born Soul say No this is none of my Country I seek a better and am here but a Pilgrim and Stranger This is none of my People So it was with Abraham Isaac and Jacob that conversed in the earthly Canaan but as in a strange Country their mind being gone towards that other which they sought And accordingly you find it said of each of them in their Story when they quite left this World as also of Moses and Aaron afterwards that they were gathered to their People A People that were more their own And surely as God who was not ashamed to be called their God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living We must understand this was not the Congregation of the Dead to which these were gathered otherwise than in a low relative sense as to us only and our World Holy Men as they die out of one World are born into another to associate with them that dwell in light And be join'd to a glorious community above the General Assembly the innumerable company of Angels and the Spirits of just Men made perfect Where all love and adore praise and triumph together 4 thly It is again to be taken in to the state of this case that we have one way or other actual present Notices of both the States which both sorts of Objects that stand in this competition belong unto Of the
he is pure Implying the Hope of that blessed state to be connate implanted as a Vital Principle of the new and divine Nature And all Hope we know involves desire in it Which is here intimated to be so powerful and prevailing as to shape and form a Man's whole course to an agreeable tenour Which it could not do if Hope were not superadded to Desire for no Man pursues an end whereof he despairs And what else is living Religion but a tendency to Blessedness A seeking Honour Glory and Immortality by a patient continuance in well-doing Rom. 2.7 Nor need we look further than this Context for evidence that this divine Impression upon the Soul hath this reference For when Vers. 4. the Apostle had avow'd the fervor of his desire after that state wherein Mortality should be swallowed up of Life he immediately adds Vers. 5. Now he that hath wrought us to this self-same thing is God c. And indeed after that transforming touch the great Business of such a Soul in this World is but a dressing it self for the Divine Presence a preparation for that state wherein we are for ever to be with the Lord. And 't is not only an incongruity but an inconsistency not only that which is not fit but not possible that a Man should ever design that as his end which he cares not ever to attain or that for his last end which he doth not supreamly desire 2 ly If we consider particular Principles that belong to this holy divine Nature the more noble and eminent Are Faith and Love The former is the perceptive visive Principle The other the motive and fruitive And these though they have their other manifold References have yet both their final to that state of absence from this Body and presence with the Lord the one eying the other coveting it as that wherein the Soul is to take up its final rest Here some consideration should be had of Objections that some may be apt to make use of to shift off the urgency of this Truth and excuse the unsutable temper of their Spirits to it 1. That they are unassured about their states God-ward and how can they be willing to die and be absent from the Body or not be afraid of the Lord's Presence whom they may for ought they know find an angry vindictive Judg when they appear before him Answ. This which is the most considerable Objection that the Matter admits of if it were directly pointed against this Truth as it hath been laid down would answer it self For it is not dying simply that is the Object of this Inclination but dying conjunctly with being with the Lord in his blessed joyous Presence Do not therefore divide the Object and that Objection is no Objection You are unwilling to die and be banish'd the Divine Presence But are you unwilling to die and enjoy it Or upon supposition you should are you willing This is all that we make Characteristical and distinguishing Where there is only an aversion to leave this bodily Life and State upon a fear we shall not be admitted into that blessed Presence there is only an accidental Obstruction to the more explicite distinct and discernable exertions of desire this way which Obstruction if it be removed the Soul would then follow the course which the Divine and Holy Principle in it doth naturally incline to But the mortal Token is when there is no such doubt and yet there is still a prevailing aversion when Men make no Question if they die they shall go to God and yet they are not willing to go In the former Case there is a supream desire of being with God only suspended take off that Suspension and that desire runs its natural course In the other Case there is no desire at all And the difference is as between a living Man that would fain go to such a place but he is held and therefore goes not And one that is not held but is dead and cannot stir at all For the Life of the Soul towards God is Love Aversion therefore is not an absolute but respective Death or quoad hoc a Death towards him or as to this thing viz. being with him 2. As for the Objection of being more serviceable to Children Friends Relations or the Glory of God in the World and his Church in it Upon which last account this Apostle Phil. 1.22 23 24. though he express a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ yet is in a strait and seems also very well pleased to abide in the flesh a longer time He can himself best judg of our serviceableness The meaning is not that we should be willing to leave the Body before he would have us but that we should not be unwilling then And because we know not when his time will be and it may be presently for ought we know we should be always willing and desirous upon that supposition Our desire herein should not be absolute and peremptory but subordinate and apt to be determined by his Will which can determine nothing but what will be most for his own Glory and for their best good who belong to him But as to this Instance of the Apostle we must consider what there was peculiar in the Apostle's Case and what is common or ought to be to all serious Christians There is no doubt there was this more peculiar to him and to Persons in such a capacity and station as his was viz. As he was an Apostle he was one that had seen the Lord which was a qualification for the more special Work of that Office Whereupon he was as an Eye-witness to testify of his Resurrection upon which so great a stress lay in asserting the Truth of the Christian Religion and in propagating it with the greater assurance in the World To testify as an Apostle therefore could not be done by one of a following Age. And 't is very probable when he expresses to the Philippians vers 25. his Knowledg he should abide and continue yet longer with them all i. e. with the Christian Church in the World for we cannot suppose he was to continue at Philippi for the furtherance of the common Cause of the Christian Faith which was their common Joy and which would no doubt be increased intensively and extensively at once He had some secret intimation that all his Work in this kind was not yet over Nor were such Monitions and Advertisements unfrequent with the Apostles that specially related to the Circumstances of their Work And so entirely was he devoted to the Christian Interest that wherein he saw he might be so peculiarly serviceable to it he expresses a well-pleasedness to be so as well as a confidence that he should As we all ought to do in reference to any such significations of the Divine Will concerning us if they were afforded to us But as to what there is in this Instance that is common and imitable to the generality
one by sense and experience We so know what it is to live in the Body and in a sensible World and among a corporeal People Of the other by Faith by believing as we are told by one that we are sure can have no design or inclination to deceive us There are many Mansions saith he in my Father's House as good Accommodations as suitable Society and sufficiently numerous which the many Mansions implies to be sure as any you have met with here Faith is in this case to serve us instead of Eyes It is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of the things not seen As we have the Notion of a Country where we have not been by the description of a Person whom we can trust and that we think intends not to abuse us by Forgeries and false Representations In reference to this Country we walk and guide our selves by sight in our Converses and Affairs wherein we have to do with it As to that other by Faith as vers 7. 't is implied 5 thly Yet further it is to be considered that this Body and this present bodily People and World have the present possession of us And though the spiritualiz'd Mind do as it were step forth and place it self betvveen both when it is to make its choice yet the Objects of the one sort are much nearer the other are far distant and much more remote 6 thly That it cannot but be apprehended that tho the one sort of things hath the faster hold the other sort are things of greater value The one hath the more entire present possession of us the other the better right Thus we see the Case stated II. We are next to shew What the temper is of an holy Soul i. e. it s proper and most genuine temper in reference to this supposed state of the case We are willing rather or have a more complacential inclination to be unpeopled from the Body and this bodily sort of People and to be peopled with the Lord and that sort of incorporeal People over which he more immediately presides in the upper World He speaks comparatively as the case requires And because all comparison is founded in somewhat absolute Therefore a simple disposition both ways is supposed Whence then 1 st This Temper is not to despise and hate the Body It imports no disdainful aversion to it or to this present State 2 ly Nor is it an impetuous precipitant tendency towards the Lord impatient of delay mutinous against the divine disposal or that declines present duty and catches at the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Crown and Prize before the prescribed race be run out An holy Man is at once dutiful and wise As a Servant he refuses not the Obedience of Life and as a wise Man embraces the Gain of Death 3 ly But it is considerate the effect of much foregoing deliberation and of a thorough perspection of the case 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vers. 6. knowing or considering that while we are at home in the Body we are absent from the Lord. This choice is not made blindly and in the dark 4 thly It is very determinate and full being made up of the mixture of Fortutide and Complacency as was said The one whereof copes with the evil of being severed from the Body The other entertains the good of being present with the Lord. Therefore this is the sense of a pious Soul in the present case q. d. I do indeed love this Body well and reckon it a grievous thing to be severed from it if that part of the Case be singly considered and alone by it self but considering it in comparison with the other part and what is this Body to me What is it as an Object of Love in comparison of being with the Lord What is Death to me as an Object of Fear in comparison of being absent from the Lord Which is a Death many thousand times more deadly than the other III. The agreeableness of this temper to the general frame and complexion of an holy Soul as such Which will appear if we consider 1. What sort of frame or impression in the general that is that doth distinguish a sincerely pious Person from another Man 2 ly The more eminent Principles in particular that are constituent of it and do as it were compose and make it up 1. The general frame of an Holy Soul as such is natural to it 'T is not an artificial thing a piece of Mechanism a lifeless Engine nor a superficial an external Form an evanid Impression It is the effect of a Creation as Scripture often speaks by which the Man becomes a new Creature and hath a Nature peculiar to him as other Creatures have Or of Regeneration by which he is said to be born anew Which forms of Speech whatever they have of different signification do agree in this that they signify a certain Nature to be the thing produc'd This Nature is said to be Divine 2 Pet. 1.4 somewhat born of God as it is exprest 1 John 5.4 and in many places more And it is an intellectual Nature or the restored Rectitude of such a Being Now who can think but what is so peculiarly from God a touch and impress from him upon an intelligent Subject should with design choice and complacency tend to him and make the Soul do so Especially when it is so purposely design'd for Remedy of the Apostacy wherein Men are revolted and gone off from him Will he suffer himself to be defeated in a Design upon which he is so industriously intent Or is it supposable the All-wise God should so mistake himself as to do such a Work upon the Spirit of Man on set purpose for an End which it is no way apt to serve Yea and when he now takes him in hand a second time Nor can it be but this Impression of God upon the Soul must have principal reference to our final State It is a kind of Nature and must therefore tend to what is most perfect in its own kind But we need not reason in a Matter wherein the Word of God so plainly unfolds the scope and the success of this his own Work By it we are said to be alive to God through Jesus Christ Rom. 6.11 To turn and move and act towards him as many Scriptures speak And towards him as he is most perfectly to be served and enjoyed in the most perfect state of Life We are said to be begotten again to a lively hope 1 Pet. 1.3 Where Hope is taken objectively as the following words shew to an Inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in Heaven for us And when elsewhere it had been said Every one that doth Righteousness is born of him 1 John 2. ult There is immediately subjoined Chap. 3.1 2. a description of the future Blessedness whereto 't is presently added Vers. 3. And every Man that hath this Hope in him purifyeth himself even as
of Christians it is no other than what we press from the Text we have in hand A desire to depart and be with Christ as that which is far better for us submitted to the regulation of the Divine Will as to the time of our departure and accompanied with a chearful willingness to serve him here to our uttermost in the mean time But we have withal little reason to think we can do God greater service or glorify him more here than above There is indeed other Service to be done below which is necessary in its own kind and must and shall be done by some or other But is our Service fit in point of excellency and value to be compared with that of glorified Spirits in the upper Regions We serve God by doing his Will vvhich is sure most perfectly done above And our glorifying him is to acknowledg and adore his glorious Excellencies Not to add the Glory to him which he hath not but to celebrate and magnify that which he hath Whereof certainly the large minds of glorified Creatures are far more capable He never needs Hands for any Work he hath to do but can form Instruments as he pleases And what is our little point of Earth or any service that can be performed by us here in comparison of the spacious Heavens and the noble Employments of those glorious Orders of Creatures above which all bear their parts in the great Affairs of the vast and widely extended Heavenly Kingdom We might as well suppose that because there is in a Prince's Family employment below-stairs for Cooks and Butlers or such-like Underlings that therefore their service is more considerable than that of great Officers and Ministers of State 3. And for what may be thought by some that this seems an unnatural Inclination We must understand what we say and what our own Nature is when we talk of what is natural or unnatural to us Ours is a compounded Nature That is not simply unnatural that is contrary to an inferior Nature and agreeable to a Superior The most deeply fundamental Law of the intellectual Nature in us was to be most addicted to the supream Good The Apostacy of this World from God and its lapse into Carnality is its most unnatural state To have an inclination to the Body is natural but to be more addicted to it than to God is most contrary to the sincere dictates of original pure and primitive Nature There are now for our use many things to be inferred 1. We see here from the immediate connexion between being absent from the Body and present with the Lord there is no place for the intervening sleep of the separate Soul Can such a presence with the Lord as is here meant consist with sleeping Or is sleeping more desirable than the converse with him our present state admits But of this much is said elsewhere 2 ly Death is not so formidable a thing as we commonly fansie We are confident and willing rather There is a Fortitude that can oppose the terrors of Death and overcome How many have we known die triumphing 3 ly We see that Men of Spiritual Minds have another Notion of that which we call Self or Personality than is vulgar and common For who are the We that speak of being absent from the Body and present with the Lord The Body seems excluded that Notion which we know cannot be absent from it self How like in sound is this to Animus cujusque is quisque Or That the Soul is the Man I would not indeed drive this so high as some Platonists are wont to do as if the Man were nothing else but a Soul sometimes using a Body Nor do therefore think the Body is no more to him than our Clothes to the Body because the Apostle in this context uses that similitude For that is not to be conceived otherwise than as is usual in such illustrations with dissimilitude A vital Union must be acknowledged Only neither is it agreeable with their self-debasing thoughts that seem to make the Body the more considerable part of themselves that measure good and evil by it as if what were grateful to the Body were simply good for them and that which offends the Body simply evil that speak or think of themselves as if they were all Body forget that there is belonging to them an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as well as an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an inner Man and an outer That the latter may be decaying when the other is renew'd day by day That the Father of our Spirits may often see cause to let our flesh suffer and at last perish for the advantage of our Spirits Heb. 12.9 10. So distinct are their Interests and Gratifications and sometimes inconsistent When Men make therefore this bodily brutal Self their Center and End how sordid and unchristian is their temper And how reproveable by some more noble-minded Pagans that had better learn'd the Precept inculcated by some of them of reverencing themselves Of whom we find one speaking with a sort of disdain Is this Body I Another saying He might be kill'd and not hurt and upbraiding to his Friends their ignorance when they enquired how he would be buried As if he could be buried who he said should be gone far enough out of their hands Another that the Tyrant that made him to be beaten to death with Iron Mallets might break that Vessel of his but himself he could not touch 4 thly We learn that when God removes any of our dear godly Friends and Relatives out of the Body tho he displease us he highly pleases them For 't is that they desire rather and we are sure he pleases himself for what can induce him or make it possible to him to do any thing against his own pleasure We are too apt to consider our own interest and satisfaction apart from theirs and God's in such cases And hence is that too vulgar and practical error among many very serious Christians That when such as are dear to them are taken away they reckon their thoughts are to be principally employed in considering such a thing as afflictive or punitive to them 'T is true that the affliction of that as well as of any other kind should put us upon very serious enquiry and search what the sin is that may more especially have deserved it But that ought upon all occasions to be principally considered in any case that is principal As God did not make such a Creature principally to please me so nor doth he take away such a one principally to displease me God's Interest is supream their own next mine comes after both the other Therefore when the stream of Thoughts and Affections hath run principally in such a case upon our own affliction 't is time to check it and begin to consider with some pleasure how the Lord and that translated Soul are now pleased in one another He hath his end upon his
the first Fruits of the Spirit that blessed Spirit of Adoption and groan for the Adoption the season of your being more solemnly own'd for Sons viz. the redemption of the Body Rom. 8.23 Which though it ultimately refer to the Resurrection may be allowed to have an incompleat meaning in reference to Death too For I see not but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may admit such a construction as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 9.15 i. e. that redemption of the Body may mean redemption from it wherein it is burthensome a grievance and penalty here as well as there The redemption of Transgressions doth truly mean liberation from the penalty of them From which penal Evil of and by the Body so materially at least it is we are not perfectly freed as our blessedness is not perfect till Mortality be swallowed up of Life and all the adopted the many Sons be all brought to glory together How happy in the mean time is your case when Death becomes the matter of your rational well-grounded hope You have many Hopes wherein you are liable to disappointment You will then have one sure Hope and that will be worth them all none can prevent you of this Hope Many other things you justly hope for are hindred by ill minded Men of their accomplishment But all the wit and power of your most spiteful Enemies can never hinder you from dying And how are you fenc'd against all the intervening Troubles of Life Nihil metuit qui optat mori You have nothing to fear if you desire to die nothing but what at least Death will shortly put an end to Make this your aim To have Life for the matter of your Patience and Death of your Desire 2 ly On the other part also labour to be upon good terms with the Lord secure it that he be yours Your way to that is short and expedite The same by which we become his Ezek. 16.8 I entred into Covenant with thee and thou becamest mine Solemnly and unfeignedly accept him and surrender your selves Without this who can expect but to hear from him at last Depart from me I know you not Know of your selves demand an account Are you sincerely willing to be his and to take him for yours without limitation or reserves Matters are then agreed between him and you And who can break or disanul the Agreement Who can come between him and you I often think of the high transport wherewith those words are uttered The excellent knowledg of Christ Jesus my Lord Phil. 3.8 This is Christian Religion not in a System but as it is a vital principle and habit in the Soul inclining us making us propense towards our blessed Lord addicting and subduing us to him uniting us with him Whereby we come to know by inward sensations to feel the transfusions of his spiritful Light and Influence and our Souls thereby caught and bound up in the bundle of Life So we have Christ form'd within His Holy Truths Doctrines Precepts Promises inwrought into the temper of our Spirits And as it follows in that Context Phil. 3. to have him according to the States wherein he successively was by correspondent impressions represented in us So as that we come to bear the Image of him crucified and dying first then reviving and rising and afterwards ascending and glorifi'd To know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable to his Death If by any means we might attain unto the Resurrection of the Dead Vers. 10 11. Let us not be at rest till we find it thus in some measure with us If we feel our selves after this manner internally and initially conform'd to him this will be both a Preparative and a Pledg of our future perfect conformity both internal and external It will fit us to be ever with the Lord and assure us we shall and can be no where else That he and we shall not to eternity dwell asunder We shall neither fear to be externally conform'd to him in his Death to quit and lay down the Body as he did nor despair of attaining with him the Resurrection from the Dead and of being present with him in Glory Or that he shall recover for us out of the Dust our vile abject Bodies the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Body of our Humiliation wherein we were humbled as he was in his as it follows in that Phil. 3. vers 21. and make it like his own glorious Body 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conform and agreeable by that power by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself In the mean time as this present state admits converse much with him every day Be not strangers to him often recognize and renew your Engagements to him Revolve in your Thoughts his Interest in you and yours in him And the nearer relation which there is between him and you than that between you and this Body Recount with your selves the permanency and lastingness of that Relation That whereas this Body as now it is a terrestrial Body will not be yours long He is to be your God for ever and ever That though Death must shortly separate you from this Body Neither Life nor Death Principalities nor Powers things present nor things to come shall ever separate you from the Love of God which is in Christ our Jesus our Lord. While this Body is a Body of Death to you he is your Life your Hope and your exceeding Joy your better more laudable and more excellent Self more intimate to you than you can be to your self as hath been anciently and often said And for the obtaining whose presence absence from the Body is a very small matter A great Prince in an Epistle to that Philosopher tells him I seem to my self not to be a Man as the saying is while I am absent from Iamblichus or while I am not conversant with him That we can better endure our Lord's absence is surely a thing it self not to be endured We should labour our acquaintance with him such as is fit to be between so great a Majesty and such mean Creatures as we should grow daily Yea and endeavour to make the Thoughts more familiar to our selves of spiritual Beings in the general For we are to serve and converse with him in a glorious community of such Creatures An innumerable company of Angels The General Assembly and the Church of the First Born and the Spirits of just Men made perfect Heb. 12.23 In a Region where an earthly Body remaining such can have no place Why do we make the Thoughts of a Spirit out of a Body so strange to our selves We meet with hundreds of Spirits in Bodies and moving Bodies to and fro in the Streets every day and are not startled at it Is a Body so much nearer a-kin to us than a Spirit that we must have so mean a thing to come between to mediate and reconcile us to it