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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
work_n	faith_n	law_n	righteousness_n	42,121	5	8.6878	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A43575	A sermon preached at the funeral of the right honourable William Lord Pagett, Baron of Beaudefert, &c. By John Heynes, A.M. and preacher of the New Church, Westminster	Heynes, John.	1679 (1679)	Wing H17646A; ESTC R216791	19,530	47

A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL Of the Right Honourable WILLIAM Lord Pagett Baron of Beaudesert c. BY JOHN HEYNES A. M. and Preacher of the New Church WESTMINSTER LONDON Printed for Thomas Fox at the Sign of the Angel in Westminster-Hall MDCLXIX Imprimatur Geo. Thorp Reverendissimo in Christo Patri Gulielmo Archiep. Cant. à sacris domesticis Decemb. 13. 1678. Ex Aedibus Lambethanis A Funeral Sermon ON PHILIPPIANS iii. 21. Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself THE Blessed Apostle having fully declared not only the vanity and falseness but also the dangerous consequences of that Doctrine which mixes the righteousness of the Law with that of Faith in the point of Justification comes in the close of this Chapter to press the more adult and grown Christians among the Philippians whom in comparison with others he calls perfect to a firm belief of Vers 15. and an unanimous adherence to this great and fundamental Article of the Christian Religion giving them good ground to hope that if any that were upright among them were through the craft and subtilty of false Teachers deluded into a persuasion of the necessity of observing the Ceremonial Law or any part of it God in his due time would discover this Error unto them and upon their sincere endeavours after truth effectually reclaim them from it Vers 16. In the mean time he exhorts them to walk orderly to live as becometh the Gospel of Christ in mutual love and amity avoiding as much as may be all contentions and quarrellings that so the Church of God might not through their means be rent into parties and factions and the work of the Lord retarded and hindered In order to this Vers 17. he advises them to be followers of him and such others as were acted by the same Spirit with him and not of those deceivers whose Life was as bad as their Doctrine of whom he had frequently forewarned them Vers 18 19. and could not forbear to do it again with tears for that they were the Enemies of the Cross of Christ whose end without repentance would certainly be destruction and that this saith he is no rash and uncharitable censure will be very evident to any one that shall consider the course and manner of their life for whatever their pretences to holiness be they are mere Slaves to their sensual appetites and under the power of their lusts the whole design of their life being nothing else but to gratifie the immoderate cravings thereof Their God is their belly their glory is in their shame they mind Earthly things Vers 20. but such through grace we are not for our conversation is in Heaven our thoughts are exercised upon and our desires and affections are carried out after Heavenly things even to the neglect and contempt of Earthly things we mind not the concerns of this present life but since our treasure is above our hearts are there also and as our way of living is contrary to theirs so shall our end be likewise for when Christ shall appear he shall publickly own and assert us as such who have been faithful to the trust committed to us he shall in a solemn manner testifie his respects to us Crowning us with glory Vers 21. honour and immortality and receiving us into Heaven where we shall to Eternal Ages dwell under the invigorating rays of his glorious presence which is the highest felicity and happiness our natures are capable of perhaps this may seem strangely improbable to those who have their eyes fixt upon the weakness and infirmities of these bodies that we carry about with us but the difficulty will soon vanish if ye consider that Christ at his coming shall change this vile body of ours that it may be fashion'd like unto his glorious body according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself Thus I have cleared the coherence of the words in which we have an account of the present and of the future state of the bodies of holy men Our body is now a vile base abject thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle calls it but hereafter that is at the coming of Christ it shall be raised up and made like unto his glorious body 1 Cor. 15.49 that so as we have born the Image of the Earthy we might also bear the Image of the Heavenly I shall speak to both these particulars beginning with the first concerning the present state of the body in treating of which I shall observe this method First To explain in what sense our body is called by the Apostle a vile body Secondly To enquire how we came to have such vile bodies Thirdly To improve it by a close application of what hath been delivered to our selves As to the first these bodies of ours are said to be vile not as they are the creatures of God and the workmanship of his hands for so considered they are so far from being vile that they are to be admired as one of the greatest instances of the infinite power and wisdom of God certainly he that deliberately considers the stupendious Art that appears in the frame and structure of human bodies must needs break forth into that expression of the raptured Psalmist That they are fearfully and wonderfully made But they are said to be vile in respect of the present circumstances under which they are and the many evils they are obnoxious to whilst in those circumstances The words may be understood either in a more limited and restrained sense with respect to the condition of the Apostles and other holy men at that time or in a more large and comprehensive sense as expressing what 's common to all if we take them in the former they are a high cordial to the suffering Saints these bodies of ours saith he that are now so liable to the injuries and cruelties of wicked men these bodies that are haled and dragged into Prisons these bodies that are scourged and abused by our inhuman Persecutors these bodies that are gall'd with bonds and fetters that are laden with irons and manacles that are broken upon wheels that are rackt with engines that are torn with the teeth of wild beasts that are consumed in flames these bodies that are neglected and starved and pined and famished these bodies that are cast forth as dung upon the face of the earth even these very bodies shall he transform into a likeness to his own most glorious body and therefore let this quiet you let this support and bear up your spirits in the midst of all these afflictive Providences wherewith God sees fit to exercise you look not at the present ignominy but at the future glory think not of the reproach and shame you are now exposed unto but of that honour that shall hereafter be

if we have any sense of gratitude let us labour after the counsel of the Apostle to abound in the work of the Lord Phil. i. 11. let us endeavour that we may be filled with all the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God Let us give all diligence to add to our faith vertue and to vertue knowledge 2 Pet. i. 5 6 7. and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity for so an entrance shall be ministred unto us abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Never object the greatness never urge the difficulty and hardness of the work required of you but consider he that hath commanded you to do it will enable you to go through with and your labor shall not be in vain in the Lord. O didst thou think of this it would inspire a new courage into thee it would invigorate thy fainty resolutions and carry thee through the greatest impediments and obstacles that are in thy way truly the reason why we do so little for God why we are so careless and cold and unconcerned in what we do is because our thoughts of the recompence of the reward are so seldome and slightly II. The serious meditation of this would support and uphold us under the greatest tryals and afflictions that God should at any time exercise us with this made Job stand upright under that great pressure of calamities that was laid upon him He knew that his redeemer lived and that he should stand at the latter day upon the Earth Job xix though saith he Vers 25. after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God Vers 26. whom I shall see for my self Vers 27. and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me This upheld David Thou wilt shew me the path of life in thy presence is fulness of joy Psal xvi 11. and at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore I had fainted saith he unless I had believed to have seen the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living that is not only here in this life as the most understand it but in that other world which is truly and properly Terra viventium Psal xxvii 13. the land of the living Whatever your troubles are this is sufficient to comfort you under them that there is a state of happiness to be enjoyed hereafter by all such who are followers of those who through faith and patience have inherited the promise yet a little while and all your sufferings shall be at an end for no sooner shall you lay down your Earthly Tabernacle but God shall receive you into his Kingdom where there is neither sin nor sorrow but perfect peace and joy such peace that passeth all understanding such joy that is unspeakable and full of glory Eye hath not seen ear hath not heard neither hath it entred into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for them that love him 1 Cor. ii 9. Can we believe these things and yet repine and murmur under any of the divine dispensations as though God had dealt hardly with us Oh how unreasonable is this since our afflictions are the way to glory for through many tribulations must we enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Acts xiv 22. since they fit and prepare us for our glory and make us meet to be partakers of it 2 Cor. iv 17. Let us rather rejoyce in our trials forasmuch as the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us forasmuch as they work out for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory This would be more becoming the faith of a Christian and much more conduce to the credit and reputation of that excellent Religion that we do profess IV. The serious meditation of this glorious change to be wrought upon our bodies would make death much less dreadful and terrible unto us death as it is an extinction of life as it is a dissolution of the frame and structure of our bodies is a frightful thing and full of horror nature starts back and cannot endure to look at it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost Hom. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. but did we seriously consider that when we die to this present life it is that we may live a much better life and that when God pulls down our earthly house it is for the erecting a more stately and magnificent fabrick for us we should soon be satisfied and composed in our minds and be so far from fearing it that we should with submission to the will of God desire it for in this saith the Apostle we groan earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with our house which is from Heaven if so be that being cloathed we should not be found naked 2 Cor. v. 2 3. THE END