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
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
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
of his glory here can make me brook so long a separation otherwise whatever the League be between me and this Body I had rather be with Christ though that be dissolved If there be no way to come to Heaven but by Dying I would rather dye to be there than live in this absence from Christ my Saviour that I may doubt of his love no more and feel no more effects of his displeasure that he may hide his Face from me no more but with everlasting Compassions receive and imbrace me And what is there in Death that I should fear it that is half so frightful and grievous as my Absence from Christ What is there in this earthly Tabernacle or in this present World that I should so love an abode in it and not be willing to quit it that I may be present with the Lord O let him call me when he will if he will receive my departing Soul Let him draw me through the dust of the Earth if he will draw me nearer to himself and bring me to his blessed Presence 'T is there I long to be 't is that my heart is set upon that is it I groan for I am desirous of his Presence to behold his Glory and receive the Communications and Reflections of it Henceforth I would not be unwilling and backward to go unto him but rather say O when shall I come and appear before him But there is a fourth Particular to which I hasten SECT VI. Fourthly The Vnequal Communications of Light and Grace and Comfort from Christ while in the Body make them thus groan to be uncloth'd There is not that steddiness and Constancy in such Communications from God in our present State as hereafter there will be neither is it suitable to the Character and Condition of Strangers and Travellers that there should Sometimes therefore we may have better Entertainment than at other times we may not expect to have the same Sunshine and Fair weather during our whole Pilgtimage The Light of God's Countenance may be sometimes cover'd and overcast The inward state of things between God and our Souls may be often alter'd But when we shall be at home in our Father's House in the presence of our Lord there will be a fulness of uninterrupted Joy and unchangeable Pleasure Christians are now sometimes in the Mount and then again in the Valley Sometimes they can Rejoyce soon after they are Mourning and Dejected Sometimes the Love of God is strong and vigorous soon after the Love of the World prevails again in some sad Instance or other to grieve the Holy Spirit of God and cause him to withdraw Sometimes they can apply the Promises with Comfort and go to God with Holy Confidence as to their Father and think of Eternity and another World with transporting Joy and of the Heavenly Inheritance as their own with raised Desires and Delight within a Day or two it may be they are again plunged in the Mire and sunk into the depths of Darkness and Discouragement so as not to be able to hold up their heads Sometimes at the Table of the Lord they have Refreshing Views of the Glory of Christ in his Love and Grace as bearing the Curse which they deserv'd as manifesting his special Kindness and Sealing his Love with particular Application to their Souls as Interested in all the Benefits of his Meritorious Death Hereby they are Reviv'd and Quickned and Strengthned and enabled to say I am as one who hath found favour in his sight My Beloved is mine and I am his He led me into his Banqueting-House his Banner over me was Love He called to me as to the Unbelieving Disciple Come reach hither thy hand thrust it into my side and heart see how I have loved thee Come feel the print of the Spear and of the Nails in my Hands and Feet see what I suffer'd for thee to express my Love What can I deny thee after this Upon this an exulting Joy must needs ensue but it did not last And it may be the next Month they bewail that it is quite otherwise with 'em Sometimes their hearts are enlarged and delighted in Prayer Thansgiving Sabbaths Sacraments c. 'T is their Joy sometimes to go to the House of God and call upon his Name and be employed in Heavenly Work to Sing the High Praises of God in the Solemn Assemblies But this is not constant and equal not always alike Could a Christian Act Faith at all times as sometimes he is enabled to do could he every day feel the Love of Christ and express his own as sometimes could he always resign devote yeild himself to the Lord with that entire Adoration Submission and Satisfaction in the divine Will and Glory Goodness and Wisdom as sometimes and on some Occasions he would hardly believe himself a stranger and Foreinner in this world he would be tempted to take Earth for Heaven and say t is Good to be here But whatever Influences of Grace and Comfort we now receive they are not steddy equal and constant and t is but fit that we who are only Passengers through this World and are not at home should be thus made sensible of our true Character and Condition and not find the Way or Weather alike good or our own Health equal or our Accommodations Provisions and Entertainment here This helps to make as long for a Better State and Life CHAP. V. Of the Resurrection of the Body It is Possible Probable and Certain Some have been raised from the Dead Where were their Souls during their Separation from their Bodies Christ's Resurrection of the Body farther illustrated and proved SECT I. The Fourth thing proposed is to prove that this Blessed state and Life which Christians desire and long for is not such a one wherein they are to be alway without a Body but to have their Bodies raised changed and glorified or to be cloathed upon with an House from Heaven The Possibility of the Resurrection of the Body the Probability and the Certainty of it have been often and largely * See Dr. Peirson Dr Towerson c. on the Creed Art XI of the Resurrection of the Body And Mr. Baoeter's Saints Rest Part 1. Chap. 5. and Self-denial Chap. 38. proved That it is possible both on the part of the Agent and Patient Who that considers the Divine Omniscience and Power can doubt but that God can remake an Humane Body of that Dust into which it is resolved and however it be dispersed find out and rally the several parts together and unite them one to another What Impossibility is it that the despersed parts of a Man's Body should be disposed into their due Scituation and Order and reduced to a Temper fit to discharge the Functions and Operations of Life and that the Soul should be Re-united to a Body thus Restored How is it impossible Or why should it be Difficult to him who did at first frame and temper this Body
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
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
World when it is most pleasant commodious and inviting Our Spirits are Distempered and out of Order if it be not thus with us And let all the Calamities and Afflictions of this present Life be supported by this Expectation and improved likewise to strengthen and increase such Desires of a better State This is one design of God in our Temporal Crosses to assist our Victory over this World and make us more intensely and earnestly to aspire after Heaven to teach us to long for everlasting Rest and Peace and Glory to bring us practically to reckon and conclude that the expected Glory that is to be revealed in us will infinitely out ballance all the sufferings of our present State In short if you believe and expect such a blessed Change let the Apostles Exhortation take place to be stedfast unmovable allways abounding in the work of the Lord for you know it cannot be in vain in the Lord. Do not regret the Thoughts of labouring and suffering for a little while more and longer in this Body you need not apprehend you shall be loosers or fear to have a hard Batgain For your present Sorrows and sufferings and difficult Services can last but a little while and shall have an eternal Recompence If we are never so abundant in the Work of the Lord if we begin never so soon and last never so long it shall not be in vain in the Lord If therefore you thus believe and expect be perswaded to give all Diligence adding to your Faith Vertue to Vertue Knowledg to Knowledg Temperance to Temperance Patience to Patience Godliness to Godliness Brotherly-kindness to Brotherly-kindness Charity being filled with all the Fruits of Righteousness that are by Christ Jesus to the Glory and Praise of God that an Entrance may be administred to you abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Let us follow after that we may apprehend that for which also we are apprehended of Christ Jesus Let us reach forth unto those things that are before forgetting those which are behind and press towards the Mark of the Prize of the high Calling of God in Christ Jesus that if by any means we might attain unto the Resurrection of the dead Philip. 3.11 12 13. Let us remember we are to be but a little while in this Body and this earthly House is appointed for Labour it is a work-house Let us therefore give all Diligence to work out our Salvation as knowing we shall not be long in the Body This is the Apostles Argument as to himself and equally concerns us 2 Pet. 1.12 13. CHAP. VIII Of the Characters of such who may and ought to long for this Glorious Change who have a Title to the Desired Blessedness SECT I. FIfthly How sollicitous should we be to find in our selves the Characters of such to whom these Desires are suitable and to clear up our Title to that blessed State which the Followers of Christ do thus earnestly long for The Promise of the Heavenly Inheritance is annexed to our being born of God or being born from above You must therefore look after the Renovation of the Divine Image and Life by the Spirit of Life and Power in Jesus Christ that the Holy Spirit may Witness with your Spirits to his own Work that you may discover and discern those holy Affections as the Fruits of the Spirit which are proper to the Children of God such as an humble Fear of him and diligent Care to please him a fervent Love to God and Christ an intire Resignation to his Will Holy Zeal for his Interest and Glory and trust in his Word c. For till your Natures are changed by the Spirit of Christ and you are so made meet for the Heavenly Inheritance you cannot have a share in this Blessedness no more than if the legal Bar be not removed by the forgiveness of Sin or your Persons not reconciled by the Blood of Christ The Qualification of the Heirs of this great Salvation is variously described in Scripture Sometimes by Faith sometimes by Regeneration sometimes by Heavenly Affections sometimes by Holy Obedience and Fruitfulness in Good Works All must concur to suit us and to Intitle us to the Heavenly State You are therefore to inquire after the Characters of the Children of God and the Heirs of Heaven which is a state of Sinless Perfection And therefore to examine whether you are brought to loath your selves for your Sins and that there is no sin but you would desire to know and are as desirous to be rid of and would rather be freed from Sin than from Affliction Whether you do not aspire after the highest Degrees of Holiness Whether you would not rather be perfect in the Love of God and the Obedience of his Will than have all the Riches and Pleasures of the World Whether you do not like and love that Degree of Holiness in others that you have not yet attained your selves Whether you do not love the Image of God and Christ wheresoever you can discern it Whether you do not endeavour to Mortifie the Flesh not to live or walk after it but to be Crucified to the World and with your chiefest care and endeavour to serve and please God and enjoy him for ever depending on Christ his Sacrifice and Intercession and Spirit for all your Grace and Glory all your Hopes of Acceptance with God and Capacity or Title for Communion with him giving up your selves intirely to be governed by him being willing to obey his Law whatsoever it shall cost you watching over your Heart Affections and Thoughts as well as outward Actions taking Pleasure in the Worship and Service of God as a delightful Work resigning to God and being devoted to his Will Praying frequently for his Grace and casting your selves on his Mercy through Jesus Christ for Eternal Life These are some of the Characters of such as are Heirs of Salvation These you must look after and then endeavour to advance in a Joyful Hope and Assurance that the Heavenly Inheritance is yours labouring for a setled Conscience growing in Grace and especially in Mortified Affections to the World and living in the Exercise of Grace by careful obedience to God as those that are absolutely devoted to him and hope to live in his Blessed Presence for ever CHAP. IX How Few Christians live in the Exercise of such Desires after the Blessed Change What may be the Reason That some fear of Death and particularly of a painful Death may consist with Vprightness That elder Christians and the Sickly and Infirm should endeavour to quicken such a Desire of Deliverance by Death Reproof and Exhortation in reference hereto SECT I. SIxthly Let us be Ashamed that we find in our selves no more of this holy frame That we so over-love this Earthly House and are afraid of Death That our Desires are so faint toward this blessed Change How shameful is our backwardness and unwillingness to
the End of their Faith and Hope and so attained their desire in the present Salvation of their Souls and they have Assurance too as to their Bodies That hereafter they shall be raised and changed and made like the glorious Body of Christ SECT II. Let us thus think in particular of our Good Friend Mrs. Doolittle who hath put off this Earthly Tabernacle and is entered into the glorious Assembly of the Friends af Christ above What I shall say of her is not meerly to comply with Custom concerning the Dead but in hopes to edifie and Instruct the Living I Know there be some who disgust the publishing of any particular Passages of our departed Friends how Imitable an Praile worthy soever But it is the Fluttery and Falshood often used on such Occasions concerning those whose Character will not bear a Commendation that is the Cause But I fear no such Censube as to what I shall now say concoming Her whose Death and Funeral brings me here and gives another Place this day to my Reverend Brother than this where he is wont to be God will not be displeased that we should Honour those whom he hath Honoured with eminent Grace The Memory of the Righteous shall be blessed And how shall others be perswaded to follow the most Laudable Patterns if we conceal particulars At least the Surviving Relations Friends and Acquaintance may be edified and assisted by it in their Duty upon such Providences And I have the less to apprehend of Cavil or Objection in the present Case because what I shall mention is from such Hands as there can be no Doubt of the Truth of what I shall say and very many of you here will readily yield a concurrent Testimony SECT III. It shall be under three Heads First her personal Piety or her general Character as a Christian Secondly her Relative Religion or concerning her in the several Relations wherein she stood as faithfully discharging the Duties of them Thirdly Her Christian Deportment under bodily Infirmities and Sickness with some more remarkable Passages in this her last Sickness before she put off this earthly Tabernacle First as to her Personal Piety and general Character as a Christian That she was truly Serious and Religious in her Youth and so esteemed and judged abone forty years agoe was the ground of her being chosen by her Husband as the Companion of his Life And God continued her to him in much Mercy for about nine and thirty years being pleased by her to build up his House to such a Degree as not many Instances in City or Country can be given of the like That out of his own Family there was not one Solemn Funeral in Thirty nine or forty years except of two Children in the Month and one newly wean'd and none at all in the space of five and twenty years Let God have the Glory and let Thankfulness to heaven be mixed with your mourning by this Reflection I have many witnesses amongst you who were acquainted with her serious Piety and they who knew her best had abundant proof of her secret Converse with God and dayly retirement for Meditation and Prayer and this very often early in the Morning Which is Imitable by all of us and one of the best Evidences of Unfeigned Real Living Religion in the Power of it I do not understand and I like it not the worse that she pretended to high flights of Confidence and Assurance which few attain or preserve very long and I fear many deceive themselves by somewhat that is not of God under that Name Yet when she had any Darkness as to her Spiritual State when she was sensible of the weakness of her Love to Christ and Lamented it He who on all accounts was fittest to assist her endeavoured to let her know the Truth of that Grace by distinguishing of a threefold Love to Christ a Delighting Love a Desiring Love and a Mourning Love telling her that tho she had not the former of these to her Comfort she could not deny or disown the two latter And this helped to give her Satisfaction and support concerning the Tryal of her State She added Judiciously the Night before she died I look to Sincerity and uprightness of Heart as a ground of Comfort but I do not put them in the room of Christ my only Saviour Several years agoe she read much in the practical Writings of Mr. Isaac Ambrose particularly concerning Eternity which made a very great Impression on her Mind so as that she trembled under the Apprehension lest she should come short of that Blessed Eternity there described However under her Doubts and Fears when the free Grace of God in Christ was discoursed of she could comfortably say why then may not such a one as I be accepted by free Grace in Christ and hope to be capable of Blessedness in Heaven as well as others this is a Faithful Saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ came into the World to save Sinners of whom I am Chief This she did and could say from her very Soul and appeal therein to the Omniscient Searcher of Hearts and this was her Encouragement and Joy that she could Say it I have resigned my self to God in Covenant again and again I Bless the Lord who hath enabled me to devote and give up my self to be his Lord I am thine Accept and Save me And at another Time she was able to say I have had that Converse with God and Communion with him that I would not part with for the whole World This is more than many who are Sincere attain unto For tho some real Christians have great Refreshments and support by Communication of Light and Strength and Joy upon a sick and Death Bed as if the Light of Glory shined into them and they had the beginning of Heaven here yet many others may want this when they come to die and Experience little of these exuberant Joys through their whole Course For God exercises Prerogative in the Dispensation of his Comforts at that and at other Times Therefore the Judgment we should make of Persons must rather be grounded on their general Course of Life than on their particular frame in Sickness or toward the approach of Death Some times by reason of the disorder of the Blood and Spirits the Holiest servants of God may be either Lumpish and Melancholy or else Feverish and Phrenetcal sometimes through the Temptations of the Devil they may be unsetled in their Minds or through Dissertion speak uncomfortably to those about them They may afflict themselves with dispairing Thoughts and leave the World under inward Darkness Their agonies in death may be without any sence of Comfort and yet they may be accepted with God and pass to eternal Glory because we shall not be Judged according to that particular Iustant of Death but according to the general Course of our Life However it is observed in most cases that God does speak peace to upright