Selected quad for the lemma: heaven_n
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A57957
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A funeral sermon preached at the obsequies of the right reverend father in God, Jeremy, Lord Bishop of Down who deceased at Lysburne August 13th, 1667 / by Dr. George Rust.
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Rust, George, d. 1670.
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1668
(1668)
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Wing R2362; ESTC R17604
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18,875
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46
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diseases and incline us to many lusts and passions and the more we pamper them the greater burden they are unto our minds they impose upon our reasons and by their steams and vapours cast a mist before our understandings they clog our affections and like a heavie weight depress us unto this earth and keep us from soaring aloft among the winged Inhabitants of the upper-Regions But those robes of light and glory which we shall be cloath'd withall at the Resurrection of the Just and those Heavenly Bodies which the Gospel hath then assur'd unto us they are not subject to any of these mischiefs and inconveniences but are fit and accommodate instruments for the soul in its highest exaltations And this is an argument that the Gospel does dwell much upon viz. the Redemption of our bodies that He shall change our vile bodies that they may be like unto His glorious body and we are taught to look upon it as one great price of our Reward that we shall be cloath'd upon with our house which is from heaven that this corruptible shall put on incorruption and this mortal immortality that as we have born the image of the earthly so we must bear the image of the heavenly Adam who was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of heaven heavenly as the first man was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the earth earthy And therefore I think the Schools put too mean a Rate upon this great Promise of the Gospel The Resurrection of our bodies and I believe it might be demonstrated from the principles of sound Philosophy That this Article of our Christian Faith which the Atheist makes so much sport withall is so far from being chargeable with any absurdity that it is founded upon the highest Reason for seeing we find by too great an experience that the Soul has so close and necessary a dependence upon this gross and earthly Mass that we now carry about with us it may be disputed with some probability whether it be ever able to act independently of all matter whatsoever at least we are assur'd that the state of conjunction is most connatural to her and that Intellectual pleasure it self is not onely multiplied but the better felt by its redundancy upon the body and spirits and if it be so then the purer and more defecate the Body is the better will the Soul be appointed for the exercise of its noblest operations and it will be no mean piece of our reward hereafter that that which is sown 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an animal shall be raised a heavenly body We are sure that we shall then be free from fin and all those foolish lusts and passions that we are now enslaved unto The life of a Christian it is a continual Warfare and he endures many sore conflicts and makes many sad complaints and often bemoans himself after such a manner as this Wo is me that I am forc'd to dwell in Mesech and to have my habitation in the Tents of Kedar that there should be so many Goliah's within me that defie the host of Israel so many sons of Anak that hinder my entrance into the Land of Promise and the Rest of God that I should toil and labour among the bricks and live in bondage unto these worse than Egyptian Task-Masters Thus does he sit down by the Rivers of Babylon and weep over those ruines and desolations that these worse than Assyrian Armies have made in the City and House of his God And many a time does he cry out in the bitterness of his soul Wretched creature that I am Who shall deliver me from this body of death And though through his faith and courage and constancy he be daily getting ground of his spiritual enemies yet it is but by inches and every step he takes he must fight for it and living as he does in an Enemies countrey he is forc'd alwayes to be upon his Guard and if he slumber never so little presently he is surpriz'd by a watchful Adversary This is our portion here and our lot is this but when we arrive unto those Regions of bliss and glory that are above we shall then stand safely upon the shore and see all our enemies Pharaoh and all his host drown'd and destroyed in the Red Sea and being delivered from the World and the Flesh and the Devil Death and Sin and Hell we shall sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb an Epinicion and Song of eternal triumph unto the God of our Salvation We shall be sure to meet with the best company that Earth or Heaven affords Good company it is the great pleasure of the life of man And we shall then come to the innumerable company of Angels and the general Assembly of the Church of the First-born and to the Spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant The Oracle tells Amelius enquiring what was become of Polinus's soul that he was gone to Pythagoras and Socrates and Plato and as many as had born a part in the Quire of heavenly love And I may say to every good man that he shall go to the Company of Abraham Isaac and Jacob Moses David and Samuel all the Prophets and Apostles and all the holy men of God that have been in all the ages of the World All those brave and excellent persons that have been scattered at the greatest distance of time and place and in their several generations have been the salt of the earth to preserve mankind from utter degeneracy and corruption These shall be all gathered together and meet in one Constellation in that Firmament of Glory O Praeclarum diem cùm ad illud divinorum animorum concilium coetumque proficiscar atque ex hac turba ac colluvione discedam O that blessed day when we shall make our escape from this medly and confused riot and shall arrive to that great Council and general Randevouz of divine and godlike Spirits But which is more than all we shall then meet our Lord Jesus Christ the Head of our Recovery whose story is now so delightful unto us as reporting nothing of him but the greatest sweetness and innocence and meekness and patience and mercy and tenderness and benignity and goodness and what ever can render any person lovely or amiable and who out of his dear love and deep compassion unto mankind gave up himself unto the death for us men and for our salvation And if St. Augustine made it one of his wishes to have seen Jesus Christ in the flesh how much more desirable is it to see him out of his terrestrial weeds in his robes of Glory with all his redeemed Ones about him And this I cannot but look upon as a great advantage and priviledge of that future State for I am not apt to swallow down that Conceit of the Schools that we shall spend Eternity in gazing upon the naked Deity for certainly the happiness of man consists in having all
A FUNERAL SERMON Preached at the OBSEQUIES Of the Right Reverend Father in God JEREMY Lord Bishop of DOWN Who deceased at LYSBURNE August 13th 1667. By Dr. GEORGE RUST Dean of CONNOR LONDON Printed by E. Tyler for Richard Royston Book-seller to the King 's most Excellent Majesty 1668. Imprimatur Tho. Tomkyns RRmo in Christo Patri ac Domino Domino Gilberto Divinâ Providentiâ Archi-Episcopo Centuarâ—enâ— Ã sacris domesticis Ex Aedib Lambethanis Octob. 26. 1667. A Funeral Sermon 1 John 3. 2. It doth not yet appear what we shall be GLorious things are spoken in Scripture concerning the future Reward of the Righteous and all the words that are wont to signifie what is of greatest Price and Value or can represent the most enravishing objects of our desires are made use of by the Holy Ghost to recommend unto us this transcedent State of Blessedness Such are these Rivers of pleasures A fountain of living water A treasure that can never be wasted nor never taken from us An inheritance in light An incorruptible Crown A Kingdom The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Christ The Kingdom of Glory A Crown of Glory and Life and Righteousness and Immortality The Vision of God Being fill'd with all the fulness of God An exceeding eternal weight of Glory 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Words strangely emphatical that can't be put into English and if they could they would not be able to convey to our minds the Notion that they design for it is too big for any Expressions and after all that can be said we must resolve with our Apostle It does not yet appear what we shall be At this distance we cannot make any likely guesses or conjectures at the glory of that future state Men make very imperfect descriptions of Countries or Cities that never were there themselves nor saw the Places with their own eyes It is not for any mortal Creature to make a Map of that Canaan that lies above It is to all us that live here on the hither-side of Death an unknown Countrey and an undiscover'd Land It may be some heavenly Pilgrim that with his holy thoughts and ardent desires is continually travelling thitherward he arrives sometimes near the borders of the promis'd Land and the Suburbs of the new Jerusalem and gets upon the top of Pisgah and there he has an imperfect Prospect of a brave Countrey that lies afar way off but he can't tell how to describe it and all that he hath to say to satisfie the curious Enquirer is only this If he would know the glories of it he must go and see it It was believ'd of old that those places that lie under the Line were burnt up by the continual heat of the Sun and were not habitable either by man or beast But later Discoveries tell us that there are the most pleasant Countries that the Earth can shew insomuch that some have plac'd Paradise it self in that Climate Sure I am of all the Regions of the Intellectual world and the several Lands that are peopled either with Men or Angels the most pleasant Countries they lie under the Line under the direct beams of the Sun of Righteousness where there is an eternal Day and an eternal Spring where is that Tree of Life that beareth twelve manner of Fruits and yieldeth her Fruit every Month Thus we may use Figures and Metaphors and Allegories and tell you of fruitful meads and spacious fields and winding rivers and purling brooks and chanting birds and shady groves and pleasant gardens and lovely bowers and noble Seats and stately Palaces and goodly People and excellent Laws and sweet Societies but this is but to frame little comparisons to please our childish fancies and just such discourses as a blind man would make concerning Colours so do we talk of those things we never saw and disparage the state whilst we would recommend it Indeed it requires some Saint or Angel from Heaven to discourse upon this Subject and yet that would not do neither for though they might be able to speak some thing of it yet we should want ears to hear it Neither can those things be declar'd but in the language of Heaven which would be little understood by us the poor inhabitants of this lower world they are indeed things too great to be brought within the compass of words Saint Paul when he had been rapt up into the third Heaven he saw 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things unlawful or unpossible to be uttered and Eye hath not seen nor ear heard nor can it enter into the heart of man to conceive what God hath prepared for them that love him and It does not yet appear what we shall be said that beloved Disciple that lay in the bosom of our Saviour You will not now expect that I should give you a relation of that which cannot be uttered nor so much as conceiv'd or declare unto you what our Eagle-sighted Evangelist tells us does not yet appear But that you may understand that that which sets this state of happiness so beyond the reach of all imagination is only its transcendent excellency I shall tell you something of what does already appear of it and may be known concerning it First of all we are assur'd that we shall then be freed from all the evils and miseries that we now labour under Vanity and Misery they are two words that speak the whole of this present world the enjoyments of it are dreams and fancies and shadows and appearances and if any thing be it is only Evil and Misery that is real and substantial Vanity and folly labour and pains cares and fears crosses and disappointments sickness and diseases they make up the whole of our portion here This life it is begun in a Cry and it ends in a Groan and he that lives most happily his life is checker'd with black and white and his dayes are not all Sun-shine but some are cloudy and gloomy and there is a Worm at the root of all his joy that soon eats out the sap and heart of it and the goard in whose shade he now so much pleases himself by to morrow will be wither'd and gone But Heaven is not subject to these mixtures and uncertainties it is a Region of calmness and serenity and the Soul is there gotten above the clouds and is not annoyed with those storms and tempests that are here below All tears shall then be wip'd from our eyes and though sorrow may endure for the night of this World yet joy will spring up in the morning of Eternity We are sure we shall be freed from this earthly and cloath'd with an heavenly and glorified Body These bodies of ours they are the graves and sepulchres the prisons and dungeons of our Heaven-born souls and though we deck and adorn them and pride our selves in their beauty and comeliness yet when all is done they are but sinks of corruption and defilement they expose us to many pains and