warning Let us therefore speedily seek that City which is above Would you O Sinners get a Title to this Habitation then come to Christ and sincerely close with him It is not to be purchased with your Money nor procured by your Labour if you accept of Jesus you shall freely receive it if you persist in your stubborn Rejection of him you shall never obtain it Heaven is a purchased Possession Christ hath bought it with the invaluable Price of his precious Blood and if he become yours that shall be yours also You will have a sure Title to it which can never be lost but will issue in an actual Possession of it If you lay hold of Christ with the Hand of Faith while you live you may securely commit your Souls into his Hands when you come to die and say with expiring Stephen Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Fifthly I infer That Saints should diligently endeavour to get an Assurance of the happy Disposure of their Souls after their Separation from their Bodies This is not unattainable by them this will not be unprofitable to them It is their Duty to labour after it and an Attainment to it will be very beneficial and advantagious to them This will comfort them under all the Frailties and Infirmities the Perishings and Decays of their outward Man and mightily sweeten all the Troubles and Afflictions wherewith they are exercised during their continuance in it This will familiarize Death and render its Approach welcome to them Death is terrible to Nature the Soul is naturally unwilling to leave its old dwelling-place Nature cannot but abhor a Dissolution besides violent Pains do ordinarily attend the taking down of this Earthly Structure But they can embrace the King of Terrors with Joy and holy Triumph who are able to say with the Apostle 2 Tim. 1.12 I know whom I have believed and I am perswaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that Day We ought to give Diligence to make our Calling and Election sure for so an Entrance shall be ministred unto us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Pet. 1.10 11. But if we want this Assurance we cannot comfortably walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death But what Trouble will possess our Spirits if when our Souls are going to be unclothed of their Earthly House we know not whether ever they shall be clothed upon with an House which is from Heaven If when they are launching into Eternity we know not whether they are entring into a bright or a black Eternity In order to our obtaining this Assurance let us seriously and diligently search our Hearts and try our Ways put forth direct Acts of Faith upon Christ and beg of God to shed abroad his Love in our Hearts by the Holy Ghost Sixthly I infer What vast Obligations Believers are under to their Blessed Lord How highly are they obliged to him who descended from his Imperial Throne tabernacled among us dwelt in an House of Clay and submitted to a Dissolution that he might procure for them an eternal Habitation with himself in the highest Heavens By dying he conquered Death so as to render it a blessed Gain and Advantage to them and to give them cause to triumph over it in their sharpest Encounter with it How should we love and live to that blessed Jesus through whom we are more than Conquerors over our last Enemy who is gone to Heaven to prepare a Place for us and will receive us into it that where he is there we may be also Seventhly I infer That a Believer's Conversation ought to be in Heaven Shall we not be frequently conversant in that glorious Place where we hope eternally to dwell Seeing we are Strangers in the Earth we should live like those who know they have no continuing City here Let us endeavour frequently to mount up on the Wings of our Thoughts and Affections to the excellent Glory Lastly I infer That the Saints have a solid Ground of Comfort under the Death of their godly Relatives We cannot but mourn to see those Structures wherein we took Pleasure laid in the Dust and going to be a Feast for Worms to think that we shall see the Desire of our Eyes no more in this World But shall we not be comforted when we consider that their Souls are gone into a far better Habitation than they dwelt in while they cohabited with us that they have exchanged our Embraces for Christ's that they are now triumphing and rejoicing in the Heavenly Mansions that the Loss is only ours they are Gainers by their Departure and e're long we shall go to them and dwell with them for evermore I shall conclude with an Address to the near Relations of our Deceased Friend I must acknowledg your Loss to be very great it is no small Affliction to be depriv'd of such a loving Husband and indulgent Father yet you ought not to mourn as those who have no Hope They who observ'd his Conversation might from thence take knowledg that he had been with Jesus He adorn'd the Doctrin of God his Saviour He was a burning and shining Light in the Place where Divine Providence fixt him Therefore you have no Ground to question his Exchange of an Earthly for an Heavenly Habitation and the Church Militant for the Triumphant Assembly of the First-born Were it put to his Choice whether he would stay where he is or return to you he would prefer the former to the latter You ought humbly and silently to acquiesce in God's Sovereign Will who is righteous in all his Ways and holy in all his Works and to depend upon him who hath promised to be an Husband to the Widow and a Father to the Fatherless Let me exhort his Children to an Imitation of that excellent Example which he hath set them and to a Remembrance of and Compliance with those wholsome Instructions which he hath given them These Advantages you are now deprived of but a serious Reflection upon them may be beneficial to you if not they will aggravate your Guilt It had been better for you to have descended from a Turk or Pagan than from such an Eminent Christian as your deceased Father was if you prove degenerate Children How sad will it be if he who put up so many Prayers for your Salvation before the Throne of Grace should testify against you to the Aggravation of your Condemnation before the Tribunal of Justice He is gone before you must follow after how soon you know not Death hath made three Breaches in your Family within the compass of a few Years and shall not these frequent Warnings put you in mind of your own Change O get an Interest in Christ that will be more valuable than the Estate which your deceased Father hath bequeathed to you so you may be able to say when you come to die We know that if our Earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens FINIS
Aerial or Aetherial but the Imperial Heaven is here intended This is a place far superior to the Earth and therefore an Entrance into and Abode in it is sometimes mentioned as comprehensive of all that Felicity which is possest by those that inhabit it When the Soul of a Believer quits its Earthly Tabernacle it mounts up as on Eagle's Wings to the Heavenly Temple This is the Habitation of God's Holiness there the great Jehovah in a special manner dwells there are the brightest Discoveries of the Divine Splendor and the highest Adorations given to his most Excellent Majesty There the glorified Courtiers do not behold him through a Glass darkly but see him face to face In that Building dwells and reigns the Lord Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant When we shall be absent from the Body we shall be present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 The Heaven must receive him until the times of restitution of all things There dwell an innumerable company of glorious Angels far more glorious than any of the Princes of this World and all the Spirits of Just Men that are made perfect This is not an Habitation of Violence and Oppression for no unclean thing can enter there The Inhabitants of this House are out of the reach of Satan and his malicious Off-spring they are not expos'd to the Hostile Attempts of the roaring Lion of Hell or his Whelps upon Earth They are liable to no troublesome Changes Heart-breaking Exercises perplexing Disappointments corroding Cares or sinful Infirmities This is a delectable and secure Habitation here is fulness of Joy here are Rivers of Pleasures which constantly refresh the glorified Soul In this House is Light without Darkness Day without Night Joy without Sorrow and Singing without Weeping The Soul that enters into this House hath the most intimate Fellowship with God the Master of it and a refreshing Communion with the blessed Angels and Saints who cohabit with it therein All things in this House are sutable to the Grandure and Magnificence of the Structure And when the Saints Bodies shall come forth from their Houses of Silence and Darkness and be reunited to their Souls they shall be received together with them into the Heavenly Jerusalem and shall share with them in the Felicity of that blessed Seat 3. It is described from its Duration Eternal This I conceive is predicated of this Heavenly Habitation in opposition to the Frailty of our Earthly Tabernacles which must be dissolved and then all our Temporal Comforts and Delights will vanish we shall no longer enjoy them The Celestial City hath immoveable Foundations it is subject to no Decay or Dissolution its Duration will run parallel with the Ages of Eternity And the Glory of that Place will last as long as the Place it self it is called a never-fading Crown an Incorruptible Inheritance and an Everlasting Kingdom The Divine Being in the Vision and Fruition of whom the Happiness of glorified Saints principally consists is to everlasting Moreover their Abode in this House will be as lasting as the Building they shall never be dispossest of or expell'd from it Tho the first Adam was driven out of an Earthly Paradise yet the spiritual Seed and Off-spring of the second Adam shall never be expell'd the Heavenly One And when their Bodies shall rise from their Beds of Dust they will live to die no more Death will have no Power to demolish these curious Fabricks for it shall be swallowed up in Victory 1 Cor. 15.54 This Mortal shall then put on Immortality Tho a little time wastes and consumes our Bodies in their present State yet there shall be no Diminution of their Excellency and Beauty in an endless Eternity when we become the Children of the Resurrection These Buildings will be always kept in their Vigor and Glory by the immediate Power of the supream Architect I proceed Fourthly To the comfortable Knowledg and Assurance which the Apostle and other Christians had concerning their present Right to and future Fruition of this Blessedness We know Herein we may consider the Subject We and the Predicate know 1. The Subject We. The Apostle here speaks only of those that were real Christians who had sincerely closed with and were united to the blessed Jesus they only have a Right and Title to and therefore they only have ground to expect and hope for this glorious Habitation They who come not under such a Character have reason to fear that when their Earthly Tabernacles shall be dissolved their Souls will enter into a different Habitation An House indeed contrived by infinite Wisdom and framed by Almighty Power and an eternal House but not in Heaven but in Hell an House where there is Blackness of Darkness inconceiveable Grief and intolerable Torment an House prepared for the Devil and his Angels wherein the Wicked must cohabit with and be tormented by those Apostate Spirits who left their Primitive Habitation for evermore An House wherein they shall be Exiles from God's comfortable Presence and every thing that is either really good or esteemed so by them But I conceive the Apostle speaks not here of all Saints for tho they may know and have ground to hope that when their Souls are dislodged from their Bodies they shall enter into this blissful Habitation yet all Believers have not attained to this Knowledg and Assurance thereof Clouds and Darkness do overspread some gracious Souls and they are filled with many Doubts and Fears concerning their spiritual and eternal State But he speaks concerning himself and some other Christians who had attained to and were in the Exercise of this Knowledg This leads me to the second thing viz. 2. The Predicate know This Knowledg here spoken of is a certain Knowledg a firm and full Perswasion that when their Bodies should be dissolved their Souls should be received into Heaven There are several things included in this Knowledg viz. a firm Belief of a future State of Blessedness provided for the Saints and into which they shall enter after Death This might be known from the Holy Scriptures wherein we have a sufficient Confirmation of this sacred Truth Moreover a firm Perswasion that they were interested in Christ and made meet for the Inheritance of the Saints in Light This they might know by comparing themselves with those Marks and Characters of the Heirs of Salvation which were laid down in sacred Writ by the lively exercise of their Faith upon Christ and by the Testimony of the holy Spirit bearing witness with their Spirits that they were the Children of God Lastly an Assurance of their Preservation in a State of Grace to a State of Glory This they might fairly collect from the Word of God wherein there is a full account of the Everlastingness of the Covenant of Grace the Immutability of Divine Love the Efficacy of Christ's Death together with the Constancy and Prevalence of his Intercession and the perpetual Residence of the holy Spirit the Earnest of
Soul of more Value than the Body wherein it resides and which is inform'd by it In the Body there are visible Footsteps of God but the Divine Image is stampt and pourtray'd upon the Soul The Image of God in Man consists not in what is seen but in what is not seen God expresly saith that none saw a Similitude of him Deut. 4.15 which had not been true if Man in regard of his Body had been the Image and Similitude of God for then a Figure of God had been seen every day as often as we saw a Man or beheld our selves Tho many of the Children of Men are destitute of God's Moral Image consisting in Knowledg Righteousness and true Holiness yet every Human Soul bears his Natural Image in its spiritual Nature and Properties Surely the more remote from Matter and the more like to the supream Spirit any Being is the greater is its Excellency 2. In its Usefulness and Subserviency to the Soul As the House is erected for the use of the Inhabitant and the several Rooms thereof are prepared for his Service and all the Affairs therein are managed and conducted by him so the Body was framed for the Service of the Soul tho Sin often renders it injurious to its noble Inhabitant The Motions of the Bodily Members are all directed and guided by that Intelligent Spirit which is seated in it 3. In the Independence of the Soul upon the Body as to its Operations and Existence An Inhabitant can act without and may exist separate from his Habitation There are many Operations of the Soul while it lodges in the Body which it puts forth independently from the Body and whereto the Corporeal Part doth not at all concur And when the Soul shall be dislodged from this Dwelling-place it will still have an Existence This noble Inhabitant shall not be buried in the Ruines of that Earthly Tabernacle Tho the Life of the Man is destroy'd by the Separation of the Soul from the Body because it consists in their Union yet the Life of the Soul which hath no Dependence on such an Union is not destroy'd thereby The Soul animates the Body but the Body conveys no Life to the Soul Secondly The Body is compared to a Tabernacle The Apostle Peter gives the same Denomination to his Body 2 Pet. 1.13 14. Yea I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in Remembrance Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle And the Body may be compared to a Tabernacle for two Reasons 1. Because of the short continuance of the Soul in it A Tabernacle is opposed to a fix'd Habitation Heb. 11.9 They who only sojourned in a place and were speedily to remove from it did in former times erect Tabernacles for themselves Indeed our Bodies are rather Tabernacles wherein we sojourn for a little time than Houses wherein we have a fix'd Habitation We are Pilgrims and Strangers in the Earth our immortal Souls will soon take their flight from our Bodies We often read of the Brevity of Man's Life in the Holy Scriptures Man that is born of a Woman is of few Days and full of Trouble He cometh forth like a Flower and is cut down he fleeth also as a Shadow and continueth not Job 14.1 2. Man's Life is compared to a Vapour which soon vanisheth James 4.14 to Smoke which quickly disappears Psal 102.3 to the Grass which is withered by the Summer Sun or cut down by the sharp Scythe Isa 40.6 7. it is said to be swifter than a Weaver's Shuttle which quickly runneth from one side of the Web to the other its Motion is represented by the telling of a Tale the sailing of a Ship in the mighty Ocean and the flight of an Eagle towards its Prey It is compared to an Hand 's breadth yea to nothing Psal 39.5 How short is the Life of Man in this World if compared with the eternal Duration of God or with the Life which we shall live in the other World Yea the life of Man in our days is exceeding short if compared with the Lives of the Antediluvian Fathers There are but a few steps between our Cradles and our Graves They who live longest in the Body live but a little time but how short is the Continuance of some in this World who are cut off in their flourishing Age in the Morning of their Days We are all hastily marching to Eternity and shall shortly come to our Journey 's end 2. Because of its Weakness and Frailty Tabernacles were but slightly built very weak and infirm Structures they were not made of durable Matter nor fix'd upon strong Foundations Our Bodies those Houses of Clay wherein our Souls reside are said to have their Foundation in the Dust Job 4.19 The Strength of a Building lies very much in its Foundation and that Edifice which hath but weak Walls being strongly founded may last long but when the Building is weak and the Foundation weak also in how tottering a Condition is such a Fabrick The Foundation of Man's Body is Sand or Dust and the word signifies unstable moveable Dust such as lies upon the Surface of the Earth and is carried away with every puff of Wind. Man in his best Estate is altogether Vanity on the account of his Corporal Frailty and Weakness his Strength is not as the Strength of Brass or of Stones but he is like a Reed shaken with the Wind. How small a matter will make a Change and Alteration in the Body How soon will the Gust of a violent Distemper like a furious Wind blow it down to the Ground So weak is the Body that we have more cause to wonder at its standing so long than at its falling so soon 2dly We may observe the Epithet which the Apostle gives to the Body Earthly it is an Earthly House or Tabernacle This Epithet may be given it upon a fourfold Account 1. Upon the account of the Matter whereof it is formed It is made of Earth Clay or Dust The sacred Historian tells us That the Lord God formed Man of the Dust of the Ground Gen. 2.7 and that the Woman was formed of a Rib taken out of the Man's Body ver 22. When the great Jehovah came to pass Sentence upon Man for the Breach of his Law he put him in mind of his Original and Frame as to his Corporeal Part Dust thou art out of it wast thou taken Gen. 3.19 And if our first Parents were formed of the Dust we who are their Off-spring were formed of their Substance and proceeded from their Loins must be also formed of the same Matter Elihu acknowledges that he was formed out of the Clay Job 33.6 The Psalmist tells us That God knoweth our Frame he remembreth that we are Dust Psal 103.14 our Bodies are breathing Clay animated Earth 2. Upon the account of its Situation or the Place wherein it is pitched It dwells in it is erected upon
the Heavenly Inheritance in his Royal Palaces and holy Temples Our Apostle expresseth the like Assurance 2 Tim. 4.8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord the righteous Judg shall give me at that day Holy Job also exprest his Assurance of future Glory in his adverse State Job 19.25 26 27. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth And tho after my Skin Worms destroy this Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God c. Tho all who have a Faith of Affiance do not attain to a Faith of Assurance yet it is attainable in a Mortal State Thus much by way of Explication II. I shall present you with some Inferences from the Words First I infer The prodigious Folly of those who give their Bodies the Preference to their Souls It is the part of a wise Man to value things in proportion to their Worth and Excellency But the generality of Mankind show that their Corporeal Part hath a greater share of their Esteem than their Spiritual Part They carefully provide Food and Raiment for the former but never seek after the Bread of life to feed and the Robe of Christ's Righteousness to array the latter They will labour hard to erect or purchase a comfortable Habitation for their Bodies but do not at all endeavour to secure an happy Dwelling-place for their Souls when they enter into an invisible World They will hazard the loss of their Souls to secure their Bodies from Temporal Evils or to procure those things which will gratify the sensitive Appetite What Madness is it to prefer a Clod of Earth to a Spirit Is not that a foolish Soul that values its sojourning-place more than it self and will expose it self to eternal Ruine for the Preservation of its Earthly Tabernacle What stupid Fools are they who esteem their Bodies which are continually advancing towards and must speedily return to the Dust more than their Souls which shall survive them and live for evermore Surely such Persons are as the Horse or as the Mule which have no Understanding Secondly I infer The Folly of those who are proud of or glory in their Corporeal Strength or Beauty As Men are apt to boast of the exact Form and Strength of those Houses wherein their Bodies dwell so likewise of the Excellency of those Bodies wherein their Souls tabernacle But this will appear very foolish to us if we consider our Frame and remember that we are Dust Our Bodies were formed of the same Matter for kind that we trample under our Feet and disdain to touch with our Fingers Tho our Bodies are very robust yet they are but Earthen Vessels and will soon be broken to pieces In a very short time our Bodies must be dissolved and then all their Beauty and Strength will vanish and become a Prey to the King of Terrors Thirdly I infer The Vanity of placing our Happiness in our living Comforts our near and dear Relations We are exceeding prone to let out our Affections immoderately towards them to give them too high a Place too large a Room in our Hearts to think our selves happy in an Husband Wife or Children not considering they are frail mortal Creatures They can be no longer enjoy'd by us than while their Souls continue in their Bodies and those curious Fabricks which we behold with Pleasure and Delight keep their Station Did we seriously consider what frail brittle Houses their Souls inhabit how soon they may be demolished and in how short a time they shall be dislodged from them we should see it highly reasonable to moderate our Affections towards them O let the everliving everlasting God be the Darling of our Souls and the Soveraign of our Affections Fourthly I infer How necessary it is for us all speedily to endeavour after a Right and Title to an Heavenly Habitation To confirm this Assertion and to press you to this Duty I shall offer these things that follow to your Consideration 1. Your Souls are designed to a perpetual Residence in some Habitation The Father of Spirits hath resolved to preserve the Being and Life of your Souls for evermore no Period shall ever be put to their Existence and therefore when they leave their present Habitation they must enter into another There are but two Receptacles of departed Souls viz. an Heavenly Paradise and an Infernal Lake when your immortal Spirits are divorced from your Bodies they must either ascend to the former or descend to the latter And how can you bear to think of dwelling with consuming Fire and abiding with everlasting Burnings 2. Your Bodies shall enter into the same Habitation when re-assumed by your Souls into which your Souls enter when divested of your Bodies Where-ever your Souls go after Death there will your Bodies be disposed after the Resurrection If the noble Inhabitant dwells in Heaven the House that it dwelt in upon Earth when rebuilt shall be fixt in that glorious Region this Earthly Tabernacle shall become a Celestial Structure but if it be cast into Hell the raised Body must stand in that direful Prison as an everlasting Monument of Divine Wrath. By making Provision for your Souls you will also secure the Felicity of your Bodies their true Interest is inseparable 3. How terrible will the Agonies of Death be to us if we see our selves destitute of a Title to Eternal Life They who have disregarded their future State when the evil day of Death seem'd to be at a distance from them have had very aweful and terrible Thoughts about it when it hath made sensible Approaches to them With what Horror will your Souls be seised when Death sits upon your quivering Lips if you apprehend that they shall be speedily expelled your Bodies and eternally excluded the Heavenly Building 4. This Life is the only time for securing an Interest in this glorious Habitation As the Tree falls so it must eternally lie Death will fix us in an unalterable and unchangeable State Those Spirits that are now in Prison will find no place for Repentance tho they should seek it with Tears 5. The time of our Souls Residence in our Bodies is very uncertain Persons are very apt to defer this weighty and important Business some put it off to old Age others to a Sick-bed some think it will be time enough to seek after another Habitation when the Strength of their Earthly Tabernacles decays and they feel them shake and totter Our Lives will be but short at longest and how short they will be we know not Some are cut off in the Morning of their Days others in their full Strength we are not sure that Age will snow upon our Heads before they are laid in the Dust or that the Structure of our Bodies will by any loud Crack give us notice of its Downfal Some Bodies are demolished by a speedy and sudden Stroke their Souls are turn'd out of them without any