that we pretend to hope for We are framed and wrought by the Spirit of God for this very same thing and by continual influence from the same Spirit will the Eternal blessedness of the future State be carried on But we cannot be meet for it without desiring it we cannot prepare for it without longing after it Preparing Grace is to make us willing of Glory as well as meet for it and to keep us in the way to it And all our Diligence and Activity all our Watchfulness and Care all our Patience and Self-denial all our Stedfastness and Perseverande in the Christian Course as the Fruits of Faith and Love must be influenced cherished and maintained by such defires This is the design and tendency of all the Operations of the holy Spirit on the Soul for which he is promis'd and given to Believers This is one great End of all the Ordinances and Institutions of the Gospel under the Agency of the Holy Spirit to qualifie and dispose us for the heavenly State and to excite and keep alive Desires after it and help us to pursue the proper Ends and Uses of Life SECT IV. Secondly Our want of full Conformity and Likeness unto Christ makes these Desires suitable to the temper of real Christians Though the guilt of Sin be removed by pardoning Grace yet they are not perfectly cleansed from all Impurity there are sad remainders of sensual and earthly Affections Though the reigning power of Sin be broken by the Spirit of Holiness yet we are not wholly rid of it we sensibly feel Darkness in our Mind Disorder in our Affections Distempers in our Spirits The most righteous Souls are now vexed with their own Corruption from within and the guilt of many actual Sins as well as by the Abominations of others While we are in the Body we are in a State of warfare and conflict We feelingly complain of the inward contest and division between the Law of the Flesh and the Law of the Mind as Rebecca felt the Twins Jacob and Esau stirring in her Womb. Our time of Triumph is not in this World The troubled Sea of corrup Nature will often send forth Mire and Dirt but the Blood of Christ shall perfectly cleause us from Sin so as to remove all our Filth and fully deliver us from Corruption as well as from Condemnation The holiest Saints do now walk humbly with God under the sense of remaining Corruption they watch and pray and strive against it endeavouring greater Mortification pressing after more Holiness and therefore long for Heaven when the Deliverance will be perfect They are now sensible of the workings and contrary tendency of the two opposite Principles Flesh and Spirit they find that the more spiritual any duty is the more backward their Hearts are to it they perceive every little indulgence of the Flesh raiseth an interposition between God and the Soul and hinders the liberty boldness confidence activity and peace which otherwise they might have they desire and endeavour nearer Conformity to the divine Pattern as well as clearer evidence of Forgiveness They would feign be more like God as well as escape his wrath and be delivered from Sin as well as from Hell They are sensible how Indwelling Sin indisposes them for holy Duties deadens and distracts their Hearts in spiritual Worship makes them lose the benefit of Ordinances renders Sabbaths and Sacraments Lifeless and unprofitable They feel it to be the Fewel of many a Temptation and a constant root of bitterness that opposes the Spirit of Grace and keeps them Low and makes them barren and unfruitful that prevails frequently by suddain and violent Motions to the dishonour of God and the grieving of the Holy Spirit and the reproach of their Profession and so shakes their Peace and damps their Assurance and obstructs their comfortable Hopes of Gods Acceptance They find the opposition of this bosom Enemy most sensible when their interest duty and desire is to be most serious in ingaging their heart for God when they are about to make the nearest Approaches to Heaven when they do so or when they have just done so This is one part of their Burden which may well make them desire a State of perfect Holiness and full Conformity to Christ SECT V. Thirdly The Apprehension and Sense of their Distance from Christ while they are in the Body is another reason why they thus Groan Christ is now in us the hope of Glory but our injoyment of him is very imperfect in comparison of what we expect And if we have any true Love to Christ we must needs desire to be with him to behold his Glory to love him more and feel the communications of his Love in a higher degree If we know any thing of the Sweetness of Communion with him we must needs breath after fuller measures of it And the sense of our present distant state wherein we know so little of God and Christ and love him less wherein we continue to sin against him and daily smart under the bitter fruits of sin and dwell among those who provoke and dishonour him every day may well make us figh to be at home that we may injoy that Presence of Christ and Communion with him which cannot be attained but by Dying Do we not own it best to be with Christ the best Company the best Place the best Condition and State the best Enjoyments Certainly the little we know of him is enough to make us desire to be with him the little we have already received may make us long to receive more Such will not say with the Shunamite when the Prophet offered to speak for her to the King I am already at home * 2 Kings 4. I dwell among my own People I am pleased with my Station I like my present abode I am not ambitious of any better I care not for any other Life or World if I may but have this c. No says a Holy Soul I am a Stranger here on Earth a Pastenger a Pilgrim through this World as all my Fathers were I seek another Country an Heavenly one I belong to another City that hath Foundations My Principal Kindred Relations and Friends are not here but in that other Country My Father is in Heaven my Elder Brother is at his Right-hand in Glory and the most of my Brethren are gone to him and the rest are hastening as well as I My Heart and Hopes are there I desire to be one of them I would be glad to make one of that great and General Assembly of the First-born where is God the Judge of all and the Blessed Redeemer with an innumerable Company of Angels and the Spirits of Just Men made perfect Yea I groan under this distance and absence from my dearest Lord. Were it put to my Choice I would venture upon any difficulties and dangers and deaths rather than it should continue Nothing but the sense of Duty to him to serve the purposes
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
upon another Principle he groaned while in this Tabernacle for the glorious State which he believingly foresaw And every renewed Soul has a diposition so to do in his new Nature he is born from above and his very principles have a tendency to Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he is attempered and suited to the heavenly State by that very Grace whereby we are made Christians we are instructed to look for and wait for the glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ at which appearance we hope to be cloathed upon with an House from Heaven For when he who is our Life shall appear he has promised that we also shall appear in Glory They cannot but desire and long for this if they had no burden of Afflictions and Sorrows in the World that made them groan for deliverance For I am perswaded that all the Conflicts and Exercises of the Apostle Paul either by bodily pains or with enraged malicious Enemies never wrung such a sigh from him as the conflict with his own Corruptions O wretched Man that I am All the pressures that he ever met with in his earthly Tabernacle never made him groan so much as the burden of his own impure Flesh and his lamented distance from the Lord. Therefore consider SECT II. First The Disposition of a sanctified Soul as renewed by the holy Spirit does incline and fit for this II. The want of full Conformity to Christ III. The Sense of our Distance from Him while we are here IV. The unequal Communications of Light and Grace and Comfort from God and Christ which a real Christian doth now Experience will assist these Desires and make him groan for Deliverance First There is such a Disposition in the Soul sanctified by Divine Grace from whence such Desires must needs result They have received the first Fruits of the Spirit as the Earnest of more and therefore groan within themselves waiting for the Adoption even the Redemption of the Body Rom. 8.23 They are now taken into Gods Family as his Children are born from above But the most solemn Act of their Adoption is at the last day when there shall be a full and final Deliverance from all penal and afflictive Evil. Called the Redemption of the Body as Death is the last Enemy to be destroyed and the Body till the Resurrection is under the power of Death Called a Redemption because it is done by vertue of the price and ransom which Christ hath paid for us Having received the first Fruits of the Spirit they groan for the Adoption this Redemption of the Body And by this Spirit they are said to be sealed unto the day of Redemption Eph. 4.30 The holy Spirit assures us of such a day We are now the Temples of the holy Ghost and he will not leave his own Dwelling continually in the dust And by this holy Spirit all our Desires and Hopes of a blessed Resurrection are wrought in us And the mighty Change which is made by the Spirit on the Souls of Believers will evidence the possibility of that Change which is expected as to their Bodies For to raise a dead Soul to spiritual Life is at least an equal Instance of glorious Power as to raise the Body from the Grave This they may well groan for as the most solemn act of their Adoption in conformity to Christ their Head who as some observe though he were the Son of God by his marvellous Conception and owned to be so during his Life yet had the highest Declaration of it at his Resurrection Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee In like manner though be Followers of Christ are now owned and treated as Children yet the most publick Declaration of the Divine favour towards them will be at the last day when their Bodies shall be raised and all the Children of the Resurrection shall be born in a day They are now made meet by the Spirit to be partakers of the heavenly Inheritance 1 Coloss 12. they are now changed into the divine Image prepared and fitted for the heavenly State their Spiritual Life is supported by the delights and comforts of the other World as the Animal Life is by those of the present World They know somewhat of the Excellency of it they find something in themselves that makes them value and desire it and by the little Experience they have had of the Pleasure and Joy of obeying God and conversing with him they conclude how unspeakably better it will be hereafter when their Union and Communion shall be compleat The holy Nature they partake of by Regeneration as mindful of its divine Original doth mount the Soul to Heaven tends to the place from whence it came works towards its Center and makes them restless in their desires after it and by frequent lively believing thoughts of the heavenly Inheritance they gradually enter into it and ripen for Glory the nearer they come to the full Possession We read of being changed from Glory to Glory 2 Cor. 3.18 by partaking of the divine Image So that as Grace increaseth Glory hasteneth on and every degree of Grace is a step nearer to Glory For the more conformable we are to the divine Image the more meet are we to dwell with God And he that hath fitted the new Nature to the heavenly Life will not fail to bring his Children to it when he has wrought them for this felf same thing and given them the Earnest of his Spirit 2 Cor. 5.6 The new Nature saith one does as naturally ascend to Heaven when uncloathed of Flesh and hath left all the Relicks of Corruption behind it as the pure flame aspires into the Air and seems to long to inbody it self with the Sun the Fountain of Light By this they have a fitness for Heaven and a Disposition for that blessed Life which as it daily increaseth must make their desires stronger to enter upon it For there is a Beauty in the divine Image and a sweetness in our imperfect Graces in the present Actings of 'em that must make us value and desire Perfection There is an Heavenly Sweetness in every Act of love to God and Christ that may make the Soul cry out oh how happy should I be could I but love as much and as long as I would could I be all Love and alway Loving might my God and Saviour be my constant desire delight and Joy I would not envy the Honours or Pleasures of any in this World what then is that blessed State which I now hope for with persocted Graces in the presence of Christ SECT III. If our Faith be true so as to unite us to Christ and make us soundly believe the Gospel Revelation and consent to be his our Affections must needs be kindled to a willingness and desire to be with him And if our Hope be of the right kind it must be an Expectation with desire and pleasure of the great and glorious things
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
live again And till the appointed time when God should revive him out of the dust he would wait for that glorious Change when God shall have a desire to the work of his hands i. e. not allways forget to restore and perfect his own Creature There are many Images and Resemblances of this As in the Corn by which we live when it is cast on the earth and buried in the ground that it may corrupt after it is corrupted it revives and multiplies Our Bodys are fed with this constant Experiment And the Apostles similitude of a grain of Corn Sown in the ground that it riseth multiplied augmented and adorned sets out the advantagious difference between the Qualities of our Bodys when they dye and when they shall be raised And herein he imitates the manner of the Jews who were wont familiariy to illustrate the business of the Resurrection by the similitude of leed sown in the ground and springing up again And what can we discern in a small corn or litle seed of a Tree with Body Bark Branches Leaves Flowers Fruit and yet afterwards we behold them when the seed hath been sown in the ground The Apostle at large Insists on this similitude of seed to explain the manner of the Resurrection 1 Cor. 15.35 So also is the Resurrection of the dead * Dr. Scot of the Christian Lise part 2. chap. 7. So is this mortal Body to be the seed and material Principle of our Resurrection For that which is sown is not quickened except it dye And so is this Seed of our mortal Body to dye and be corrupted before it shall be raised again And Sois this dead corrupted Body to be raised and quickened by the power of God For God gives to every Seed a Body as it pleases him And so are our dead Bodys to be raised again into the proper form and kind of humane Bodys for unto every seed God giveth his own Body And Lastly So is the Resurrection of the Dead that is So are those humane Bodys to be changed and altered by the Resurrection as that which is but bare Seed when it is sown when it is quickened it springs up into a long stalk and ear So the raised Body shall be changed for the better This is further Illustrated by * Mr. Baxter of Self-denial p. 206. another That the dead Body of a man may be supposed to have a living Root as truely as the plants in winter The Soul is the Root of the Body and the Soul is still alive And Christ is the Root of the Soul and he is still alive For though we are dead our Life is hid with Christ in God and when he who is our Life shall appear at the Spring of the Resurrection we shall also appear with him in Glory Colos 3.3 4. There is a Relative Union between Soul and Body and a deep rooted Love of the Soul to its Body and Inclination to it so that it is mindful of it and waits with longing for that hour when the Command of God shall send it to revive that Body Why may not the Living Soul that is the Root and Life of the Body in the dust be the Instrument of God to inform its own Body as it will be the Principle that shall re-inform it The Body in the Grave hath its own Relation to Christ who is still Living and resolved and ingaged by Promise and inclined by Love to revive that Body And when the Hour comes for this Soul that waits to be sent again into the Body what can hinder The very Love of the Soul to its Body and its desire to be re-united is a kind of Natural Cause of the Resurrection A Candle not lighted is as far from Light and as much without it as a dead body is without Life and yet one touch of a lighted Candle will light that which never was lighted before And so may one touch of the living Soul that is now with Christ put Life into the body that lies in the dust And as the lighted Candle makes the other like it and Communicates of its Nature to it so does the glorified Soul Communicate a new kind of Excellency to the Body which it never had before even to be a Spiritual Glorious Incorruptible and Immortal Body And God takes the Soul to Heaven before hand that it may be first Glorified and so be fit to communicate Glory to the body So that there is more reason for the Resurrection of the body though it be turned to Earth than there is reason that a Candle that is gone out should be lighted again by another or than there is reason that I should put on my Cloaths in the Morning which I put off at Night For Nature disposeth me to abhor nakedness and desire my Cloaths and therefore in the Morning I will put them on So Nature teaches the Seperated Soul to desire a re-union with its body And therefore when the Resurrection-Morning comes it will gladly take the word from Christ and give that vital touch to the body that shall revive it and so put on its antient Garment but wonderfully changed for the better c. CHAP. VI. That the Same Body for Substance is to be Raised again at the last day And what the Change will be of these Bodies hereafter from what they now are SECT I. IF it be inquired How can the same Body after so many Changes be raised and re-united to the Soul And what need is there of Asscrting That it shall be the same It ought to be consider'd that the very word Resurrection doth suppose or imply this That the Bodies of Men shall hereafter be truly the same with those that died It is the Body falls to the ground when the Spirit goes upward That Body that then fell is to be raised again and no other Body than that This Mortal Body shall be quickened by the Spirit of Christ that now falls to the ground The same Flesh that was separated from the Soul at death shall be united to it again The same Temple that was destroyed shall be re-built The same Tabernacle that was dissolved shall be raised We are bid to fear God who can destroy Soul and Body in Hell Mat. 10.28 What cause of fear if this very body be not to be raised * Resurgere non est nisi ejus quod cecidit Tert. advers Marc. l. 5. c. 9. This Corruptible must put on Incorruption this Mortal put on Immertality As the Body of Christ which is our Exemplar with which he rose was the same that he deposited in the Grave and as the bodies of those whom our Saviour raised when he was on Earth were the same with those in which they died And how shall the Graves and Sea give up their Dead at the Last Day Rev. 20.13 What need of this if the same Bodies are not to be raised for they can give up no other Bodies than what they received These
Earthly even all of us in our fleshly State having earthly bodies from an earthly Adam and natural bodies from the natural Adam And as is the Henvenly such are they that are Heavenly For Christ will make them like himself and as he hath an Heavenly Spiritual body and not an Earthly Natural body so shall his Members have that they may be like him And as we have born the Image of the Earthly in having a Natural Fleshly body we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly Adam in having a Spiritual Body not needing the use of Meats or Drinks or any of the refreshments or pleasures of the animal Life or be imployed in any of those Acts whereby the body is now denominated Natural and suited to this Earthly State But our bodies shall then be Spiritual suited to the Life that Angels and Saints live in Heaven every way greatly refined and the Activity of our Spirits improved without the defects and infirmities of flesh and blood shall be invested with Caelestial Qualities depending wholly on the Soul and yielding ready obedience and conformity to its desires and motions executing all its Commands with pleasure and Dispatch Yea the imployment and operations of the body shall be raised above those in the present state as much as the Imployment of a King exceeds that of a Scullion This Spiritual Body one represents by Organized Light as a torch or wood that looseth its drossy and foggy qualities when heightened into a pure flame or minerals heightened into Spirits 3. The Bodies of the Saints shall be changed from weak and passive into Active and Powerful Bodies Sown in Weakness but raised in Power They are now dull and sluggish but then they shall be nimble and active like the Body of Christ that at his Ascension into Heaven being done in one day moved many thousands of Miles in an hour the distance between the highest Heavens and this Earth being computed to be some hundred millions of Miles They shall be raised with Angelical Agility and Strength He that is weak among them shall be as David he that is as David shall be as an Angel of God moving without difficulty and without weariness Now we often find the Body cannot keep Peace with the Soul the Flesh is weak when the Spirit is willing but it shall be raised in Power It is now liable to Diseases and Passions can do little and suffers much but no Diseases or Infirmities shall hereafter hinder its motions or impair its Health A glorified Body will move without weariness and fast without hunger and wake for ever without need of refreshment Herein there will be a suitableness to the Activity of a glorified Soul and without this they could not bear the weight of the Heavenly Glory Besides they are to indure to all Eternity without reparation by meat and drink and fleep 4. They shall be Incorruptible and Immortal It is sown in Corruption it is raised in Incorruption This mortal shall put on Immortality They shall dye no more but live for ever Therefore the day of the Resurrection is called the Redemption of our Bodies They shall not be liable to be put out of tune by infirmities and pains and numberless diseases as now which often make Life it selfe a Burden They shall be Immortal without needing that Labour by day or sleep by night which now we bestow to supply their Necessities and repair their decays and prevent Death Now the Body has the seeds of Mortality and Corruption but shall then be refined from all such Principles There shall not be a tendency to Death in the nature and constitution of the Body such will be the glorious Change that they cannot dye any more 20. Luk. 36. They that were raised by Christ when on Earth they dyed again their second Life was no more exempt from death than their First But at the Resurrection Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life it shall lose its power and force for ever CHAP. VII Inferences of Truth and Duty from the preceding Discourse The Soul doth not perish when the Body dies The Felicity of the Soul is what we principally desire Our Faith should be consirmed in the Believing Expectation of this Glorious Change Our affections and Conversation should be Suitable SECT I. First Let us not then imagin the State of the Dead to be a State of Non-existence or Annihilation that the Soul perishes with the Body and that we are without Hope of its Resurection Whereas when our Soul passes into a state of Rest and Joy with Christ our Flesh rests in Hope that these Bodys shall be raised and reunited to their glorious Souls We are to pass through the Valley of Death to a Blessed Life This is the Desire and Hope of all the Followers of Christ And these very Desires of a blessed Life beyond the Grave will prove the Certainty of it We must have strange Thoughts of the infinitely wise and holy God and of his Love and Goodness to imagin he should give his Creatures such a Knowledge of himself that makes them desire more even a Desire to know and love and injoy him perpetually and yet never intend an eternal Communication of himself answerable to those Desires Can we think the blessed God would deceive and mock those that desire to seek and please him by inabling them to aspire after a Happiness in his presence and by giving them a Capacity for it And then to frustrate and disappoint his own work Can we think that God would excite their Desires after another and a better state and yet never admit them to it Can we imagin that God would raise their Desires from sin and this World to himself and Heaven and that these shall never be answered in a happy Issue Shall the very Sanctification of our Nature prepare for our Torment and help to make us miserable Will the God of Love and Grace inable us by his Grace to hunger and thirst after Righteousness and after the blessed vision of his Face in Glory and yet never design our Satisfaction The more any partake of the divine Image we find that they groan and long the more earnestly after another sort of Happiness than is here to be had after another State and Life than now they enjoy And may we not conclude that such a State there is The natural Desire of Happiness in all mankind will do much to prove that there is such a thing But the holy Desires of the Sanctified influenced by the spirit of Grace will much more prove it That spirit of Christ that hath inabled thee to long and pray for a more perfect State that has conquered thy vain Desires after earthly things and raised them to seek the Knowledge and Love and Fruition of God That Spirit is the Witness of Christ in thy Soul that there is such a State after Death and that thou shalt share in the Blessedness of it He hath framed and wrought and fitted
Christians before he takes them to himself And thus it was with our Deceased briend of which more presently But. SECT IV. Secondly Let us Consider her Carriage in each Relation There were many things Im table in her Example as a Wife a Mother a Mistress c Her Affection and Reverence to her Husband were very observable When he among many other of the faithful Servants of Christ was Silenced and forbidden to Preach though she had then Children and like to have more and a considerable Maintenance was thereby to be stopped and a growing Family to be cast upon the Providence of God and many urged her to perswade him to comply with the Imposed Terms she wholly declin'd it and would rather trust God in a Suffering State leaving him intirely to his Conscience as the fittest Judge of his Obligations Trust and Duty in that Case When afterwards of Consequents to his Nonconformity he met with any Difficulties by continuing to Preach she patiently submitted and took joyfully the spoiling of their Goods saying often when his Person was in hazard That she was ready rather to adventure her own Life then that his should be in danger as apprehending his to be more valuable to the World and the Interest of Souls than hers or Twenty such This Affection she continued all her Life advising her Children in her last Sickness to be careful of their Father and tender of him in her Absence for by so mild and good a word she spake of her Dissolution then in prospect Advising them withal to Love one another and be kindly affectioned to each other Praying particularly for her Son whom she had the Comfort to see setled in the Sacred Work of the Ministry that God would furnish him with suitable Strength of Body and Spirit and crown his Ministry with an abundant Blessing Not long before she died she thankfully owned the Goodness of God to her in the Spiritual Assistance and Comfort she received by such Relations who had an Interest in Heaven and could plead it for her in Prayer while she was languishing on a Sick Bed O what a Mercy is it said she when her Husband and Son had both been Praying for her with great Fervency and inlargedness of Heart What a Mercy is it that I should have such Relations to plead with God for me And at last when she took her Farewel of her Husband she thanked him for all his Love and all his Prayers as audibly as she was then able to speak Many Memorable things she said by way of Counsel and Advice to her Children As concerning the Deceitfulness of the Heart and the need of searching it again and again for God knows it and will not be mocked Exhorting them to seek God with their whole Heart to Pray fervently and importunately for his Grace and Favour and not in a slight and overly manner as if they were indifferent whether God did Answer or Deny I hope they will remember it and act accordingly At another time in her Sickness she cried out whilst her Children were about her O Love the Lord all ye his Saints Love the Lord ye my Children Love him Fear him She desired that they would Pray for her and she assigned a good Reason why they should For says she I have often Prayed to God for you when you could not Pray for your selves Under this Head I might add somewhat of her Carriage even to Servants to whom she gave the most Seasonable Counsel particularly in her last Sickness to the Servant that attended her to be much in Reading the Holy Scriptures to value Catechising and be diligent in learning the Principles of Religion to be faithful in her Place c. But this leads me SECT V. Thirdly To the Last Scene of her Life to speak of her deportment under Bodily Weakness and Pains under which her Patience and Submission were very becoming and truly Christian VVhen a day or two before she died her Relations seemed more than usually concerned She asked them why they were so saying It is not Death yet I may out-live this and be buffeted by Sathan as a Roaring Lion before I die When she could not sleep in the Night she said the next Morning I thought this would have been a Comfortable night to me but presently recollected her self saying So it is for it is a Mercy I am out of Hell when Ten thousands are cast into the bottomless pit that never sinned as I have done How well she bore her own Sickness and how little sollicitous she was about the Issue of it is evident from her own words O how comfortable is Death when sin is Pardoned and God Reconciled O that I might entertain kind and good Thoughts of God and trust him though he slay me When spoken to about her Recovery She could say I do not hope it and blessed be God I do not desire it When asked Are you not in a streight about it Are you willing to leave Husband and Children and all to be with Christ She declared her Willingness It is true sometime she complained that she had not such vigorous lively melting Affections in Sickness as sometime formerly in Health yet she depended on God still VVhen she was Asked VVhether she kept her Thoughts employed about Heaven She Answered I do what I can And the Night before she died after a little silence when she was questioned concerning her Thoughts VVhat she was thinking of She Answered Three things which are fit for all of us often to think of a Deceitful Heart a Painful Death and a Tempting Devil God restrained the last and carried her above the Fear and Feeling of the Second for though she said She feared a hard Death as many Holy Persons do Yet she added I submit to the will of God he will not lay upon me more than he will enable me to bear VVhen the 17th Chapter of John was Read to her where are those remarkable Consolatory words of Christ Father I will that those whom thou hast given me may be with me to behold my Glory though she could hardly speak so as to be heard she made a shift to say O Excellent Excellent expressing her Faith and Hope and Joy as far as her weakness would permit Her Humility and Thankfulness was very conspicuous during this Sickness O what a Mercy is it said she that such a one as I should have Hopes of Heaven of the Pardon of Sin and of an Interest in Christ And yet when any of those holy expressions she used were repeated in Praver to God by those who assisted her She desired no such Speeches of hers should be mentioned to God For says she my Frame is not equal and alike a way I cannot think and speak the same things at one time that I do at another An hour or two before she left this World she testified her desire to be with Christ saying How long O Lord how long if my Work be done Come and deliver me She begged they would pray for her that her Strength might hold out to the last that God would not leave her nor hide his Face in the Agonies of Death She defired rather to be dissolved than to continue in the Body saying I Look I Long I Hope O when will the hour come Must I tarry and endure another Night Come Lord Jesus come quickly Hast thou no Bowels for me Whilst thou wert on Earth thou wert full of Compassion to poor Sinners and art thou not the same in Heaven After this she owned her self refreshed by Prayer and that though her Body was weak her Heart was in a good Frame being much recruited and encouraged by Prayer And so she commended her foul to God calling on him to the very last for his merciful Assistance and Succour through the dark Valley and to accept and receive her departing Soul and so she died in the Lord and slept in Jesus God grant to us as he did to her saving Help in that hour of Darkness and Trouble and enable us to follow the Exemplary Faith and Patience of those who are gone before that with them at last we may receive the end of our Faith and Hope the Salvation of our Souls and the Resurrection of our Bodies in the day of Christ who is the Resurrection and the Life in whom whosoever believes shall never die the Second Death but the Spirit that raised Christ from the Dead shall quicken our Mortal Bodies and make them like to his most glorious Body that with Soul and Body we may be for ever with the Lord. To him be Glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS Books to be Sold by A. Chandler of the same Author THe Mourners Companion or Funeral Discourses on Several Texts An Exhortation to Repentance and Vnion among Protestants The Present Correction and Reproof of Sin or a Discourse on 2 Jer. 19. Thine own Iniquities shall Correct thee and thy Backslidings shall Reprove thee A Sermon of St. Peter's Sin and True Repentance Printed for S. Wade at the Bible under the Piaza of the Royal Exchange in Cornhill
Death a Deliverance OR A Funeral Discourse Preach'd in Part on the Decease of M rs MARY DOOLITTLE Late WIFE of Mr. THOMAS DOOLITTLE Minister of the Gospel in London Who Departed this LIFE the 16th of Decemb. 1692. By JOHN SHOWER Eccles 7.1 The Day of Death is better than the day of one's Birth LONDON Printed for Abr. Chandler at the Chyrurgeons-Arms at the Entrance into Bartholomews-Close in Aldersgate-street And Samuel Wade at the Bible under the Piaza of the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1693. TO HIS Reverend and Honoured Friend and Brother Mr. DOOLITTLE SIR IF you did not know how little time I have to command I should need an Excuse for not having sooner finisht the Transcription and Enlargment of the following Discourse which was preached at your Desire on the Death of your Wife and now on the same Motive is made publick If it may any way Contribute to allay your Sorrow for your great Loss or be useful to any Others especially the Relations and Acquaintance of the Deceased I shall not Repent it The Text recommended to me is every way suited to the Occasion and to your Design of my instructing the Living from it however defective the Prosecution and Performance be You will not expect from me at least you cannot that a Subject so often treated on by Others should be beautified with new notions Neither do I fear to have displeased you by the citation of some Passages out of the practical Writings of the Excellent Mr. Baxter For whose Memory I know you have so dear a Value and by whom while he Lived you had the Honour and Advantage to be esteemed and loved For my own part I think my self obliged to take all Occasions to express my Thankfulness to God for the Ministry and Acquaintance the Books and Counsels of that Great and Holy Man whom I reckon to have been a Publick Blessing to the Nation and the Age and am confident that more Impartial Posterity will acknowledg it I cannot doubt but that you with many thousand Others do Joyn with me in Praising God for his long Life That One so often near the Grave and so fit for the upper better World and living in such delightful Fore-thoughts of Everlasting Rest should be spared and continued among us for so many years May he that hath the Residue of the Spirit fill surviving Ministers Younger and Elder with greater measures of Holy Light and Love to furnish us for our work and to assist and suceed us in it May we all learn to carry it with greater Indifference to this present Animal Life and dayly advance in our Desires and Preparations for the Heavenly one The Removal of any of our Friends who were made meet for Heaven may be many ways improved to this Purpose for whom you know we are not to Sorrow as others who have no Hope Doubtless your late Sickness and Indisposition since the breach God hath made in your Family will be regarded as an additional Call and help to such Thoughts and Affections as this Discourse is designed to promote And if the many Prayers of those who have reason to Bless God for you may be heard as in some Instances they have been we may hope your Life and Serviceableness shall be yet prolong'd In which request to God I heartily concur who am Sir Your Respectful tho most Unworthy Fellow-Servant in the Work of the Gospel John Shower London Febr. 13. 169◠THE Contents CHAP. I. THe Introduction Paraphrase and Explication of the Text. 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 p. 13. CHAP. III. They have a Certain Expectation of a Better State and Life after this and may be comfortably perswaded of their own Title in particular p. 25. CHAP. IV. To Desire and Long for this Blessed State beyond the 〈◊〉 is 〈◊〉 the Temper of a Christian Spirit p. 33. CHAP. V. Of the Resurrection of the Body It is Possible Probable and Certain Where were the Souls of those who have been raised from the Dead during their separation from their Bodies Our Resurrection by Christ Illustrated and proved p. 50. CHAP. VI. The same Body for substance is to be raised again at the last day What the Change will be of these Bodies hereafter from what they are at present p. 68. CHAP. VII Inferences of Truth and Duty from the preceding Discourse The Soul doth not perish when the Body dies The Felicity of the Soul is that which we principally desire Our Faith should be confirmed about it Our Affections and Carriage should correspond to such a Belief p. 79. CHAP. VIII Of the Characters of such who may and ought to long for this Glorious Change who they are who have a Title to this desired Blessedness p. 60. CHAP. IX How Few Christians live in the Exercise of such Desires What may be the Reason Some fear of Death consistent with Vprightness Elder Christians and the Sickly and Infirm should quicken such a Desire of Deliverance Reproof and Exhortation in reference hereto p. 94. CHAP. X. Our Holy Friends Departed obtain their Desires by Dying this should moderate our funeral Sorrows A short Account of the Exemplary Character of Mrs. Mary Doolittle with some Passages of her last Sickness Conclusion p. 112. A Funeral Sermon 2 COR. V. 4. 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 CHAP. I. The Introduction Paraphrase and Explication of the Text. SECT I. NOtwithstanding all the difficult Exercises of St. Paul from Enemies on every side upon the account of his Faithfulness to Christ in the Discharge of his Ministry He bears up with an invincible courage and resolution by the expectation of an Eternal Recompence in the other World This is the Tenor of his Discourse throughout the foregoing Chapter he begins and ends with it and repeats it at large in the three last Verses For this cause we faint not c. That is however perplexed and persecuted cast down and troubled yet neither he himself nor any of those ingaged in the same cause and work with him did faint in their minds because their present Sufferings did only prepare the way for a more glorious Reward For our light Affliction says he which is but for a moment worketh for us a more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory while we look not at the things which are seen which are but temporal but at the things which are not seen which are Eternal And supposing the worst that these Afflictions should end in Death yet such a case would admit of comfort For we know says he verse 1.2 of this chapter we are confidently perswaded upon very good grounds that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a better dwelling provided an happier Condition 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
Nature will do much to manifest that such a difference there will be hereafter between a Man and a Beast between the Good and Bad between the final State of those that love and please and serve God and of those that disobey his known will For who can acknowledg and own a God as Maker and Governour of the World the Wise and Righteous Judge of all and think he will turn Men promiscuously into Heaven or Hell at random without distinguishing between Friends and Enemies Righteous and wicked or that he 'l neither Reward or Punish that there shall be no state of Happiness for the one sort or of Misery for the other Besides the Testimony of Conscience as to the Hopes and Fears of these things in another World is of weight in this case But I hope I need not here be large when I speak to such as profess to believe the Bible and there it is as certain as that God is true who hath declared it or that Christ was sent of God who has taught it as true as that he died and rose again and ascended to Heaven and that all his Apostles and Followers have lived and died in the Expectation of such a State The Resurrection of the body I grant was not so plain an Article before the coming of Christ but a general state of Happiness for Holy Persons in another World no Christians will deny And our Lord has proved the personal Capacity of future Rewards by the Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul and the Resurrection of the body and by an account of the manner of the Administration of these Rewards as more inchoate and particular at Death more universal and consummate at Judgment in the great day of Retribution All the Doctrines of the Gospel concerning Christ do suppose or ascertain this He came into the World to purchase our Right and Title to such a blessed State and went to Heaven again to plead and prosecute and apply and bestow it So that such a thing is Certain and may be expected by all the Followers of Christ It is as certain and unquestionable as the Word and Oath of God can make it much more Certain than if a Messenger from the Dead did come and tell you so For the manifold witnesses of the Holy Ghost to the Divine Commission of Christ and the truth of the Gospel is a much greater thing and more credible than any such transient Testimony could be But I shall not insist on this the Devils themselves believe it and prove it for if there be no Heaven there is no Hell SECT II. Secondly Particular Christians may have a certain Expectation of this happy State beyond the Grave We know says the Apostle that we have a Building in Heaven when this earthly Tabernacle shall be dissolved We know and are assured of it It is a thing so evident and manifest it is capable of being demonstrated It is not my bare Opinion but the common sense of all the Followers of Christ built on such grounds that we are ready to venture our Lives and all that is dear to us upon this believing Expectation And because we know we have another better Building reserved in Heaven for us we therefore groan and long to be there we have a Building in Heaven though we are yet on Earth As he that hath an Estate in another Kingdom or Country may call both his own though he cannot dwell in both at once nay though it may be he must travel a great way and cross the Seas before he can reach to one of them Particular Christians may be certain The Apostle often declares it as to himself and all the Children of God have a Title to the Inheritance they have Deeds and Evidences to show for it they have the Will and Testament of their Lord and Master to produce and they have the Seal of his Spirit as a witness in their Hearts which is the Earnest of the Inheritance whereby they are sealed to the day of Redemption Sanctifying Grace is called an Immortal Incorruptible Seed 1 Pet. 1.13 and they that are partakers of it have Eternal Life abiding in them 1 John 3.13 because this present Life begun shall be perfected in Glory This Seal of the Holy Spirit on the Soul is the Earnest of the heavenly Inheritance to manifest how sure and certain it is as well as a foretaste to prove how good We have an House in Heaven a Building not made with hands We have it as our own we are so certain of it as we reckon our selves in some sense already in Possession We abide it is true for a while in this earthly Dwelling but we have another and a better House a Building of God not made with Hands and we long to be there SECT III. They that can make out the unfeignedness of their Faith in Christ and the sincerity of their Love to him who can discern the truth of their Sanctification who can perceive the Image of God upon their Souls his Impress Character and Seal having turned their Hearts from the World and Sin to God and Holiness and Heaven with an answerable Conversation in Simplicity and Godly Sincerity they may have a subjective Certainty of this by the Testimony of Conscience and the concurrent Witness of the Spirit enabling them to discern the Truth of their Grace they may know their own interest in the Promise and argue it to their Comfort from the qualifications of such to whom the Promise is made I do not say that All do reach to an actual Certainty and full perswasion the generality we find do not but such a thing is attainable and all should Labour after it And did we seek it in the right way endeavouring by the exercise and increase of Grace to know the truth of it more would reach this than commonly do And then more would long and groan and desire to be uncloathed of this Earthly Tabernacle that they may be cloathed upon with an House from Heaven and Mortality be swallowed up of Life Which brings me to consider the Third thing I proposed to speak to CHAP. IV. To desire and long for a blessed State and Life beyond the Grave proved to be suitable to the Temper of a Christian Spirit SECT I. III. THat it is suitable to the Temper of a Christian Spirit so far as renewed and sanctified to desire and long for that better State and Life beyond the Grave I know there may be an impatient Sense of present troubles or an inordinate Fear of threatning Dangers and Calamities that may make some sinfully desire to be uncloathed make them long for Death and be glad to find the Grave O Lord I beseech thee says Jonah 4. Jonah 3. take away my Life from me for it is better for me to die than to live And my Soul chuseth strangling rather than Life says Job 7. Job 15. But that is not the case here the Apostle goes
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
out of the Dust and inspire a Reasonable Soul into it and out of a meer Chaos make this Beautiful World who formed and fashioned our Bodies in the Womb which is as strange an instance of Allmighty Power as the Resurrection from the Dead will be who gives us every Morning and every Spring a little Representation of the Resurrection of the Dead Who makes the dry Bones to live and is able to subdue all things to himself Therefore to such as doubt or deny this we must say as our Saviour to the Sadduces You err not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God Or we may Expostulate as St. Paul doth * Acts 26.8 What Doth it seem incredible to you that God should raise the Dead Is there any Atome of our Dust can escape his Knowledge though cloathed with different forms and figures and hath passed through various changes swallowed by Beasts or consumed by Fire or scattered by the Wind Doth not the Foundation remain though it put on a variety of forms May not the Substance be intire notwithstanding all the transforming alterations that can be supposed The Divine Knowledge being infinite and his Providence reaching to the least as well as to the greatest parts of the World to the beginning progress and dissolution of every one he may easily call forth every part when the appointed time comes for the Re-union of Soul and Body We must question the Divine Omniscience as well as Power if we doubt of this And are there not many things in the first Creation every whit as incredible as the Collection of our scatter'd Dust and compacting these dispersed Atomes into an Humane Body Can it be harder to restore those things that were than to create those things that were not * See Dr. Barrow's Works 2 Vol. p. 520. Is it more difficult to an Infinite Arm to Allmighty and Invincible Power to do this than to make both Soul and Body at first Is not the Blessed Redeemer who hath all Power in Heaven and Earth able to make good his Word who is also the Amen the faithful and true Witness and therefore to deceive us with a Promise and Expectation of what he cannot or will not do would be an eternal Reflection his Truth and Holiness and other Attributes SECT II. God hath already raised Some from the Dead whereof we have Instances both in the Old Testament and in the New Many were raised by Christ himself and many of the Saints came out of their Graves at the Death of Christ and went into the Holy City and appeared publickly to many If it be inquired Where were the Souls of those that were thus raised during the space between their Death and Resurrection This being not to be known but by Revelation and that speaking nothing of it we may safely acknowledge our Ignorance It was a peculiar Case that does not make a general Rule and therefore our Inquiry about it must be very wary It is sufficient to say they were in the hands of God where-ever they were What if there were a particular Dispensation in regard of them different from the case of those who are not to be raised till the last day Nothing can well be proposed in Answer to such a Question but what is conjectural Therefore rejecting all Suppositions that cannot be reconciled to other express Doctrines and Articles of Christianity we may say * Aeuures de Mr. Claude Lettre 16. That either they were received to Heaven or remained in the Air at a little distance from the Body Or they continued in the Body which was to be quickly raised again without animating and informing that Body If we say the first and that these Souls returned from Heaven to their Bodies again for the Manifestation of the Glory of Christ in such a Miracle it is no more unsuitable and unbecoming an Holy Soul to be willing of this and to be thus imployed than was the Humiliation of the Son of God for the Glory of his Father If we say the Second that they remained in the Air not far from the Body it being but for a little while What Inconvenience or ill Consequence can be assigned of such a Supposition If we rather chuse the Third way of solving this it is considerable what the Apostle Paul speaks of Eutichus whom he raised from the * Acts 20.10 Dead Be not troubled for his Life his Soul is in him though it did not then animate and inform his Body As to those who were raised at the time of Christ's death it was only for a little while to 〈◊〉 Testimony to our Lord and then they laid down their Bodies again and returned to the Rest and Glory of departed Souls SECT III. But The Resurrection of our Blessed Saviour is the great thing here to be considered as an Argument both of the Possibility and Certainty of our Resurrection For thus the Apostle Argues at large 1 Cor. 15. v. 12. If it be Preached and Proved and Assured to us that Christ is Risen How is it that some say There is no Resurrection of the Dead that is How can any deny the possibility of it when there is such an Evidence and Proof How can it be doubted but that the same Power which raised Christ from the dead can also quicken our mortal Bodies when the exceeding greatness of his mighty power was displayed in * 1 Eph. 19.20 raising Christ from the dead His Resurrection assures us that his Death and Sacrifice were Satisfactory to the Justice of God and all the Promises that concern the Blessings of the eyerlasting Covenant the sure Meâ—â—â—â—â—â— of David are hereby confirmed 〈…〉 32 33 34. We declare unto you 〈…〉 how that the Promise which was made 〈◊〉 the Fathers God hath fulfilled the 〈◊〉 unto us their Children in that he hath raised up Jesus again as it is also written 〈◊〉 the second Psalm Thou art my Son thâ—â— day have I begotten thee And as conâ—â—â—â—â—ng that he raised him up from the dead 〈◊〉 no more to return to corruption he said on this wise I will give you the sure Mercies of David And therefore after his Resurrection he saluted his Disciples with Peace John 20.21 And God as the God of peace is said to raise Christ from the Dead For had he not been reconciled he would have left him in the Grave Now both the Moral and the Natural Impossibility of our Resurrection is removed by the Death and the Resurrection of Christ The former by the Merit of his Death and the latter by his Resurrection for he can do the same for all Believers If his Power be not sufficient to raise us it could not be sufficient to raise him He is now a * 1 Cor. 15.45 Quickening Spirit able to give Life as the first Adam to transmit Death to his Posterity And he was raised as a publick person and the Head of his Church Our Persons are redeemed by Christ as