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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
state_n	body_n	soul_n	union_n	1,547	5	9.5555	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50876	A sermon at the funeral of Mrs. Elizabeth Fisher, sister to the Honourable Sir William Dawes, Bar. D.D. and wife to the Reverend Dr. Peter Fisher preach'd at Bennington in Hertfordshire, June the 2d, 1698 / by William Milner ...	Milner, William, Vicar of Shephall in Hertfordshire.	1698 (1698)	Wing M2084; ESTC R15588	15,425	28

A SERMON AT THE FUNERAL OF Mrs. ELIZABETH FISHER Sister to the Honourable Sir WILLIAM DAWES Bar. D. D. And Wife to the Reverend Dr. PETER FISHER Preach'd at Bennington in Hertfordshire June the 2d 1698. By WILLIAM MILNER Vicar of Shephall in Hertfordshire LONDON Printed for Thomas Speed at the Three Crowns near the Royal-Exchange in Corn-hill MDCLXXXXVIII To the Honourable the Lady ELIZABETH BENET WIFE OF Sir Richard Benet Bar. Of Babram in Cambridgshire Madam THE honest Plainness and Truth of the following Discourse found such acceptance with the Relations and Friends of that Excellent Person whose immature and much lamented Death was the sad Occasion of it That They have prevail'd with me to make it more publick than I at first intended Believing it would be as acceptable to your Ladyship in the Reading as it was to them when they heard it I was the more willing to comply with their Desire not only that it might be a publick acknowledment of my g●eat Obligation to Your Family and to Your Ladyship in particular for Your many great and lasting Favours towards me but because I am sensible the Subject is such as will recommend it to Your Favour Your Ladyship was a Witness and a Lover of the many great Vertues of Your Dear and Excellent Friend Her affectionate care and concern for Your Good the Sincerity of her Friendship the Piety and Prudence of her Counsels the great Vsefulness and Advantage of her Example at such a time when you stood most in need of it by the otherwise irreparable loss of Your truly Pious and most tenderly Affectionate Mother had deservedly endear'd her to You and I perswade my self just Allowances being made for the difference of Your respective Condition and Circumstances You will always imitate whatsoever was Excellent Amiable and Praise-worthy in Her This will recommend You to the esteem of such as are Wise and Good Hereby You will be an Ornament to Your Own Family and add a Lustre to That into which by the successful Care and Endeavours of Your Dear deceased Friend You are so happily transplanted If what I now offer may contribute any thing towards so great and good an End it will be the greatest accession to all the other Favours You have shewn to Madam Your Ladyships Most Obliged and Obedient Servant W. MILNER A SERMON AT THE FUNERAL OF Mrs. ELIZABETH FISHER Rev. 14.13 I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are Dead which die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them VVHosoever shall consider these words in their more immediate Connexion with the foregoing parts of the Chapter will see great reason to conclude that in their Original and Primary intention they were deliver'd by the Blessed Spirit and by him commanded to be written for the support and comfort of the Church under that severe Persecution which should befall it But since the Wisdom and Piety of our own Church has thought fit ●o insert the Words into her Office for the Burial of the Dead I shall at this time consider them in a greater Lati●ude as of general use to the Church of God in all Ages ●nd under all circumstances holding forth this great and comfortable Truth Viz. That all Good Christians immediately upon their dissolution or departure out of this Life are in a blessed or happy condition A Truth which deserves our more serious and attentive ●egard and meditation because deliver'd by an audible Voice from Heaven expressly commanded to be written and confirm'd by the solemn asseveration of the Spirit And therefore for the more distinct and proffitable handling of the Words give me leave to exercise your Meditation and Patience upon these following things 1. Let me inquire what it is to die in the Lord 2. In what respect or upon what accounts such as die in the Lord are pronounc'd Blessed 3. Let me touch at the time from whence their Blessedness commences And then I shall apply the whole for the directing our Practice and in particular to temper and alleviate our grief upon the Mournful occasion of our present meeting together And 1. Let me inquire what it is to die in the Lord And this will be dispatch'd in a few words Now tho' this Phrase to die in the Lord if consider'd with respect to the particular occasion of the Words may signifie only to die for the Lord i. e. for his sake and in his cause and so may relate to the case of such who suffer Martyrdom for the sake of Christ Yet I doubt not but in the more general and ultimate sense of the Words to die in the Lord is the same as to die in the Faith and Fear and Favour of God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent To die Christians Christians both in Faith and Practice adhering to God through Jesus Christ by an Uniform and Constant Obedience to his Will and a stedfast Faith and Hope of Redemption and Salvation by him For i● to be in Christ and to be alive to God through Jesus Christ and to live to him who died for us and rose again are forms of Speech denoting the sincere Belief and Practice of Christianity and the Participation of the Grace and Priviledges of the Gospel in consequence of such Faith and Practice I think their can be no reason to doubt but that these Phrases of Sleeping in Christ and Dying in the Lord must likewise be understood in the same sense so as to imply our Perseverance in such Belief and Practice to our lives end And Blessed are they who thus die in the Lord continuing stedfast without wavering even to the end in all holy Faith and Obedience Which leads me to the Second thing I am to account for Viz. 2. To inquire in what respect and upon what accounts they who die in the Lord are pronounc'd Blessed Or in other words to point at the Nature of that Blessedness which Holy Souls enjoy in their state of Separation from their Bodies But before I enter upon this permit me to premise a few things 1. That as yet we are very much in the dark as to our future State I do not mean as to the certainty of such a State for Life and Immortality is brought to light thro' the Gospel But we are left to uncertainties as to the distinct nature and compleat degrees and measures of its Happiness And 2. We have just reason to believe that the Blessedness of departed Holy Spirits in their State of Separation is less perfect in Quality and Degree than it will be at the Resurrection when their Souls and Bodies shall be reunited by the most intimate Vital Union But nevertheless there is enough reveal'd concerning their present Happiness to convince us that 't is very great far beyond any of the transitory mixt perishing Pleasures of this Life enough to engage good Men to aspire and pant after it at

least to make them neither afraid nor unwilling to die And 3. Lastly I add That whatsoever we know concerning this matter is principally if not wholly owing to Revelation and therefore it becomes none of us to pretend to be wise above what is written We should not exercise our selves with curious perplex'd and useless inquiries but rest contented with what we find plainly deliver'd in Holy Scripture striving always so to order our whole Conversations as that we may be found worthy to be receiv'd when we depart hence into those Mansions our Blessed Lord is gone before to prepare for us These things being thus premis'd let us proceed to consider wherein the Text has plac'd the Blessedness of departed Holy Spirits Now this it tells us lies in these two things They are Blessed 1. Because they rest from their Labours 2. Because their works follow or accompany them into their future State 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The meaning and importance of which things must be the subject of the following Discourse 1. They are Blessed in that they rest from their Labours i. e. They are compleatly deliver'd from all the Troubles and Sorrows all the Evils and Calamities Infirmities and Miseries of this frail Mortal State I say all which either have their Foundation in the very texture and constitution of the Human Body or proceed from the Folly and Frenzie the Envy or Malice of Others In this Vale of Tears and Misery Good Men as well as others are liable to Pain and Sickness to Difficulties and Dangers to Poverty Reproach and Persecution and all the sad effects of their own infirm crazie Bodies and the inordinate Appetites and Passions of others Nay the Sons of Violence too often make them the Marks of their Displeasure and Vengeance for no other reason but because their Works are Righteous And is it not a blessed thing to be deliver'd from such a deplorable and wretched State Why this is the happy state of such who die in the Lord. They are safe out of the reach of all these their Enemies No Smart or Anguish can afflict them No Wrath or Malice overtake them To allude to that of Moses concerning the Egyptians Exod. 14.13 when good Men shall have once past through this Red-Sea they may stand still upon the Shore and look back with Pleasure and Triumph upon all these their Enemies saying we shall see them again no more for ever As Job has it Chap. 3. v. 18.19 In the grave the Wicked cease from troubling and there the weary are at rest There the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor the small and great are there upon the same level none greater than other and the servant is free from his master So that the words of Solomon if understood with reference to departed Saints are strictly true That the day of a mans death is better than the day of his birth Eccles 7.1 The day of his Birth being the beginning of a life attended with continual Care and Sorrow the day of his Death being his Birth-day into a Blessed Immortal Life of uninterrupted Peace and Pleasure This for the First 2. The Second thing wherein the Text places the Blessedness of those who die in the Lord is this They are blessed because their Works accompany or follow them By which we are to understand these Two things I. The Grateful and Pleasant Remembrance II. The Glorious and happy Fruits and Effects or the Reward of their Good Works follows them 1. The Grateful Remembrance of their good Works follows them Now that this is a real Foundation and Ground of Peace and Blessedness to Holy Spirits in their state of separation from their Bodies may be reasonably inferr'd from the Consideration of our selves how it is with us here in our state of Discipline and Trial. For if good Men reflecting upon the course of their past Lives and finding that they have behav'd themselves piously with regard to God and Inoffensively and Charitably towards Men do from this Testimony of their Consciences receive a very sensible and inward Pleasure a Pleasure greater than the World can give which none can comprehend but such as have felt it What an Unspeakable Transporting Inconceiveable Pleasure may we reasonably suppose will spring up in departed Holy Souls when all the good Works of their whole Lives shall be had in remembrance and set in order before them and represented at one view with greater force and advantage than we can suppose they are in this Earthly State How will such Blessed Spirits upon such recollection even melt away and be dissolv'd and swallow'd up in the greatest Transports and highest Extasies of Complacency and Delight 2. The Fruits and Effects or Reward of their good Works accompanies or follows them into their future State But Blessed God! What Tongue can describe what Heart conceive the good things which thou hast prepared for all those who Die in thy Fear and Favour 'T is impossible for us fully to represent the Happiness and Glory of the Saints in their future State yet to excite our Love to God and to quicken our desires after the Enjoyment of Him it can neither be useless nor unseasonable to point at some few things which are the happy Effects and Reward of the Good Works of Holy Men in the other Life And therefore 1. Good Men are compleatly deliver'd from Sin as well as Sorrow and Trouble They are no longer liable to Temptation or Danger from any of the Enemies of God's Glory and their own Salvation Whil'st they are here upon Earth the Devil and his Agents lie in wait to Ensnare them and even their own Flesh which encompasses them about sollicits them to a multitude of Sins and Follies They daily find a Law in their Members warring against the Law of their Minds the Flesh lusting against the Spirit the Animal and Carnal strugling with the Rational and Spiritual Powers which Conflict is the ground and occasion of much Dejection and Disquietness of Soul filling even good Men with many Misgivings and Fears and Perplexities concerning their present Sincerity and future Happiness How in the bitterness of their Souls do they lament their evil Propensities and Inclinations their Slips and Failings their Mistakes and sometimes more notorious Transgressions They find no rest by reason of their Spiritual Enemies and their Hearts too often fail them But it is not thus with the Dead with them who Die in the Lord. He that is once entred into his Rest Heb. 4.10 Rom. 6.7 ceases from his own Works the works of Sin and the Flesh He that is dead is freed from Sin from the fear and danger and possibility of offending God No subtile malicious Serpent can insinuate himself into the Paradise of Holy Souls this Earth is the Scene of Satans Temptation and the place of Tryal Or if we may suppose that the Evil Spirit should creep in amongst them yet he will find nothing

in them so as to fix a Temptation upon them For being delivered from the burden of the Flesh from the Body of this Death as the Apostle calls it all those sparks of a corrupt Nature which so easily took fire here are for ever extinguish'd that Root of Bitterness is pluck'd up and can never spring again into any rebellious Inclinations or Actions Now how great a Happiness this is can be throughly understood by none but such as have duly considered the Malignity and Demerit of Sin or felt the Sad and Dismal Effects of it in a Wounded Conscience The Saints doubtless will look upon this as the most Inestimable Priviledge as that without which 't is impossible to be Easie or Happy How will they Rejoyce and Triumph when they shall find in themselves no Disposition at all to the least Evil no possibility of ever incurring the Guilt of it 2. As the Blessed Spirits will find in themselves a total freedom from all Sin so they will be absolutely and perfectly determin'd to every thing that is best always choosing approving and delighting in that which is Good They will find themselves entr'd upon a State of Divine Contemplation Love and Imitation being wholly taken up in Adoring the Infinite Perfections of the Divine Nature and will be surpriz'd at those Great and Marvellous Things which God has done for them They will Obey with Vigor and Praise with Chearfulness and Love without Measure and Trust without Dispondency and Fear without Torment and all this without any Reluctance Weariness or Intermission In a word they will perceive a Divine Nature wrought in themselves that they are like God in point of Purity as well as Immortality And how Blessed how Infinitely Blessed are they who are in such a State 3. Another great and Essential Ingredient of the Happiness of the Saints departed is this That they are enter'd into a State of perfect Peace and Friendship They are admitted into the Society of Saints and Angels where there is no fear or possibility of any future Discord and Contention Where there is no Selfishness or Envy no contrary Humours or divided Interests but all of them Love God above all and every one loves each other as himself 'T is the sence of mutual Friendship which makes this World a tolerable Habitation and 't is the sence of universal immutable Friendship which will render that other World a State of Incomparable Pleasure and Blessedness But 4. Another Fruit or Effect of good Works in respect of Holy Souls in their state of separation from their Bodies may reasonably be supposed to be HOPE Which I the rather mention because it was the Opinion of many Ancient Fathers of the Church and is since receiv'd by Protestants of Eminence and Worth † V. Lud. Capel de Stat. Anim. post mortem By which they did not understand such a Hope as Men have here upon Earth a Hope which ebbs and flows a fluctuating wavering inconstant Hope founded upon uncertain Opinion and probable Conjectures mixt with fear and diffidence attended with impatience discontent and weariness No The Hope of the Saints departed this Life is a firm secure unshaken immutable certain Hope without any mixture of suspicion murmuring or fear of Disappointment founded in much clearer Apprehensions and larger Communications of God's Love and Favour to them and assurance of their love to Him than are either vouchsaf'd or are attainable in this frail Mortal State The Principal Object of which Hope or the thing hop'd for They supposed to be the Resurrection of the Body at the Last Day when they should be admitted to the Beatifick Vision in the Highest Heaven the place of the more immediate Residence of the Divine Majesty and Glory where they should behold God and Christ not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as some of them speak as in a Vision or through a Cloud at a distance but face to face as he is receiving the fullest Communications of his Love and Glory And this they collected from all those passages of Holy Scripture which speak of the Great and Final Day of Judgment as the Greatest and Joyful Day the Day of Mercy and Forgiveness Rest and Refreshing Joy and Gladness Redemption and Salvation Rewards and Crowns And indeed tho' there be no doubt that the Saints rest in Hope of a Glorious Resurrection and an Immortal Crown and though from such Texts it may with great probability be inferr'd That the Happiness of departed Souls is but initial and partial and less perfect than it will be at the Resurrection and after the Final Judgment when they shall be Cloathed upon with their Heavenly House Bodies fashioned like to Christ's most Glorious Body Yet with submission I conceive such passages do not necessarily prove that the Spirits of Just Men are not immediately admitted into Heaven as it imports not only a State but a place of Magnificence and Transcendent Glory But suppose this alone should be the principal part of their Blessedness yet even this in the account of every good Man will appear very great such as exacts our best Care and Endeavours to attain to it To rest in Hope a Hope which cannot be disappointed of a Glorious Resurrection to an Immortal Crown To have as it were the Glistering Morning Rays of that Blessed Day breaking in upon them and to have the prospect of that Bright Eternal Crown which at that Day shall be set upon their Heads represented to them will fill the Blessed Spirits with present Exultancie and Incessant Triumph causing them to break out into Halelujahs and Songs of Praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 1 Pet. 1.3 4. who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten them again to a lively Hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptable and undefiled that fadeth not away reserv'd in Heaven for them 5. Lastly The Works of good Men do so follow or accompany them into their Future State as through the Mercy of God in Christ to procure them an immediate Admittance into Heaven the Palace of the Great King of the World a Place of Unspeakable Majesty and Glory Solace and Delight where they are made to Drink of those Rivers of Pleasure which are at God's Right Hand for evermore And in this I think I speak agreeably to the tenor of Holy Scripture the more general belief of the Antient and the sense of the best Reform'd Protestant Churches our own Church in particular which has expresly taught us That † V. Hom. against the fear of Death Death delivering us from our Bodies sends us straight home into our Country and makes us to dwell presently with God for ever in Everlasting Rest and Quietness And again * V. Hom. of Prayer As the Scripture teaches let us think that the Soul of Man passing out of the Body goeth straitway either to Heaven or else to Hell Which Doctrin is grounded upon