A

Funeral Sermon

Occasion’d by the

DEATH

OF

Mr. WILLIAM WILKS,

Who departed this Life Nov. 21. 1700.

Preach’d at Stepny the 26 th of the same Month.

1

To my Worthy Friend

Mrs. SARAH WILKS.

MADAM,

’TWAS your Husband’s Request on his Death-bed, and your Renewal of it after his Decease, that engag’d me to discourse from that Text of Scripture (at the time of his Interment) which is the Foundation of the following Sermon. Which through the Importunity of you and your Friends, and not my own choice, is now made publick; else I could never have had the vanity to expose so uncorrect a Discourse in an Age so judicious and polite . But if any thing in so plain and unpolish’d a Sermon, shall any way promote the Glory of the Redeemer, in converting one wandring Sinner to the Wisdom of the Just, or shall any way further the common Edification of the Church; I shall be content to be censur’d by those who have a more comprehensive Genius (whose Thoughts run deeper , and whose way of Writing is finer ) while I have the Honour of being serviceable to the true Interest of Souls.

I have one thing more to say, viz. That I have made very little alteration in the Copy that was sent me by him who took the Discourse in Short-hand; and have only added what I had not time to deliver when the Sermon was preach’d.

MADAM, May that God who has touched you in the most sensible part, and snatcht from you the Delight of your Eyes, afford you the Light of his own Countenance, and the Comforts of his free Spirit: And that the little living Images of him that is Dead, may be a Blessing to you that survive, are the earnest Wishes of

Your very humble Servant,

London, Jan.

22. 170⁰.

JOHN PIGGOTT.

2

Job XIX. 25, 26, 27.1

For 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: Whom I shall see for my self, and mine Eyes shall behold, and not another; tho my Reins2 be consumed within me.

THERE is something very aweful and instructive in the sad Solemnities of a Funeral: for it is as if the Dead spake to the Living, and a Voice should issue from the Coffin and the Grave, saying, Man in his best Estate is altogether Vanity.3 And indeed the true Design of a Funeral Discourse is not extravagantly to commend the Dead, but seasonably to advise and instruct the Living; to which excellent purpose the Words I have just now read, are most admirably adapted: tho, I confess, there needs a much abler Person than my self, to open and apply a Text so copious, in the narrow limits of an Hour; there being in the Words such a variety of matter, as might easily furnish out several Sermons. But as God shall assist, I shall endeavour to explain them as clearly, and improve4 them as pertinently as I can.

This Chapter, of which the Text is a part, contains Job’s Answer to Bildad the Shuhite; wherein he deplores the Miseries of his Life, and represents the Troubles he sustained, in the most elegant manner, and in the most affecting and melting Strains. Upon which, in Ver. 23. he cries out, O! that my Words were now written! O! that they were printed in a Book! That they were graven with an Iron Pen and Lead, in the Rock for ever! Whether he means what he had before spoken in answer to his Friends; or the Words of the Text which immediately follow this Wish, is not easily determined: if he intends the former, then the Text is brought in as a reason of his Courage and Confidence in the Goodness of his cause; for says he, I know that my Redeemer liveth: q.d.5 Whatever Censures I may pass under, whatever ill Thoughts you may conceive in your Minds against me, I have one above who will plead my Cause, For my Record is on high.6 If the latter (as some think) then it shows how much he was affected with the Knowledg he had of the Messiah, and the expectation and good hope that sprung up in his Soul thereupon. Therefore it is observable, that Job does not utter such heavy Complaints, after this Confession of of Faith in the Lord his Redeemer, as he had done before: For 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: Whom I shall see for my self, and mine Eyes shall behold, and not another; tho my Reins be consumed within me.

These Words contain a Profession of Job’s Faith, and in them we may take notice of these two General Parts.

First, The immediate and present Sense of his Mind, with respect to the promised Seed, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Secondly, The Expectation which he had consequent hereupon, both with regard to the Redeemer and to himself.

1

Job 19:25-27 ( Ed.).

2

Vital organs; normally the kidneys. Often translated as heart in modern English translations, ( Ed.) 3

Psal. 39.5.

4

Apply ( Ed.)

5

Latin: quasi dīcat, “as if one should say” or quasi dictum “as if said.” Oxford English Dictionary online.

6

Job 16. 19.

3

First, The immediate and present Sense of Job’s Mind, with respect to the promised Seed, our Lord Jesus Christ, in these Words, For I know that my Redeemer liveth. Wherein it will be necessary to consider these Four things.

1 st, The Object of his Faith, which he expresses under the Notion of a Redeemer.

2 dly, The Act of his Faith, I know.

3 dly, His Propriety and Interest in this Redeemer, I know that [my] Redeemer liveth.

4 thly, A further Illustration of the Redeemer’s Character, He liveth.

I shall briefly touch upon each of these, and then pass to the other general Head, which I principally aim to discourse from, as being most agreeable to a Funeral Solemnity. But, 1 st, We are to consider the Object of Job’s Faith, which he express under the Notion of a Redeemer.

By Redeemer I understand God the Son, the personal Λόγος,7 which was to be incarnate; which may be proved from the Propriety of the Hebrew Word Goel,8 which tho sometimes applied in the Old Testament to God absolutely or essentially considered, yet it most properly agrees to Jesus Christ; for it signifies not only the act of claiming and redeeming, but also the Office and Relation: it signifies to claim or redeem by a right of Propinquity.9

By the Law of Israel, the Right of Redemption lay in the next Kinsman, who was to purchase the Widow’s Land, and to marry her Person; which was typical of what Christ should do in the Fulness of Time: Who, that he might be allied to us,* took hold of the Seed of Abraham.10 By which means he had a right of Propinquity as Man, who had before a right of Propriety as God. Christ is Bone of our Bone, and Flesh of our Flesh; and hath redeemed his Church with his Blood, which is both the Right and Price of her Redemption.

Redemption supposes Slavery and Bondage. We are all by Nature Slaves to Sin and Satan, odious to the Holiness, and obnoxious to the Justice of God: But the Redeemer rescues us by Purchase as well as by Power, and hath vindicated the Honour of the Divine Holiness by a plenary11 Satisfaction to Divine Justice.

Here might also have been shew’d, that all the Properties that belong to a Redeemer were to be found in Christ, who had a Right to redeem, by assuming our Nature. For both he that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one.12 He that suffer’d on the Cross, and they for whom he suffer’d, had Communion in the same Nature. He had also a valuable Price to lay down, which was that of his own precious Blood;13 as much as the Law demanded, or Justice requir’d: And this was not paid to the Devil, who had captivated and inslaved a whole Species of Creatures, upon the Apostacy of Adam; but to God the Father, who had a Power to condemn us, and a Right to detain us in Prison till Justice was satisfy’d: That is the first.

2 dly, Here is the Act of Job’s Faith, I know that my Redeemer liveth. Knowledg is frequently taken for Faith in the Sacred Volume, John 17. What our Lord calls Knowledg, ver. 23. he had called 7

Logos ( Ed.)

8

ל ֵאֹּג gâ'al [gaw-al'] A primitive root, to redeem (according to the Oriental law of kinship), that is, to be the next of kin (and as such to buy back a relative’s property, marry his widow, etc.): avenger, deliver, (do, perform the part of near, next) kinsfolk (-man), purchase, ransom, redeem (-er), revenger. H1350, Dictionaries of Hebrew and Greek Words taken from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance by James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., 1890.

9

Nearness in blood or relationship; close kinship. Oxford English Dictionary online.

*

***Ἐπιλαμβάνω in its first and proper sense, signifies to take hold of: and in this sense it is used in this Epistle, Chap. 8.9. ἐπιλαβομένου μου τῆς

χειρὸς αὐτῶν in the Day that I took them by the Hand.

10

Heb. 2.16.

11

Full, complete, or perfect; not deficient in any element or respect; absolute. Oxford English Dictionary online.

12

Heb. 2.11.

13

1 Pet. 1. 18,19.

4

Faith, ver. 21. and indeed Knowledg is a word very proper to signify this Grace by; for no one Branch of Faith can be rightly exercis’d without it.

What Assent can a Man give to the Truth of a Revelation, if he does not know it to be Divine, and from the God of Truth? Who can assent to that account that is given of our Lord’s Person in the Scripture, but he that knows that it is the Record God has given of his Son? 14

Again, who that is ignorant of Christ’s Person, and the Offices that he executes as a Mediator, will ever consent to receive him as Prophet, Priest, and King?

So for the Act of Recumbency15 upon Christ, is it likely that any one should trust to his Righteousness and Blood for the Pardon of his Sins, that is a stranger to his atoning Sacrifice, and the infinite Merit of it, arising from the Dignity of his Person? They that know thy Name (says the Psalmist) will put their trust in thee.16 And the Apostle says, I know whom I have believed.17 And thus Job in the Text, I know that my Redeemer liveth; or I know most certainly, I am so well assur’d of it, so satisfy’d in it, that I have consented to take him as my Redeemer, and to trust him as such.

Whether this well-grounded Persuasion in Job’s Mind, sprung from any special Revelation that God made to him concerning the Messias; or whether ’twas only bottom’d upon that general and antient Promise, The Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpent’s Head,18 I’ll not determine: ’tis not improbable but there might be both. However it was, the Phrase connotes the certainty and steddiness of his Persuasion, and the strength of his Faith: and here seems to be a reflex Act as well as a direct Act of Faith on the Person of the Redeemer; for he speaks with so much confidence and certainty, as to exclude all doubt. And when a Soul is advanc’d thus far, Heaven in part is come down into it; for it has such an assurance of ascending up thither, that the Soul even tastes of the Clusters of Canaan before it enters into the promis’d Land.

3 dly, Here is the Propriety and Interest which Job professeth to have in this Redeemer: I know that

[my] Redeemer liveth. Hereby he signifies his extraordinary Affection to Christ, as well as his Interest in him. MY REDEEMER: they are words of great import, and tho but two, yet they signify more than a thousand; for hereby he applies Christ to himself, and pronounces him to be his. It is one thing to talk of Christ as a Redeemer, and another to know that he is our Redeemer, and to say with the Apostle, Who loved me, and gave himself for me.19 It is one thing to hear of the Christ of God, and another to receive him by an appropriating Act of Faith. For he that is enabled to put forth such an Act of Faith, is first made sensible of his need of Christ, and drawn to the Father by him; and then cries out, This Lord is my Jesus, he is my Righteousness and my Life, my Hope, my Help, and my Salvation, my Lord and my God.

And as Job by this appropriating Act of Faith lays claim to the Redeemer’s Person, and all the Benefits which he hath purchas’d by his Blood; so hereby he doth devote and resign, and give up himself, Body and Soul, to the dispose of the Redeemer: For those that are redeem’d, pass into the Possession of their Redeemer; therefore says the Apostle, For ye are bought with a Price: What then? therefore glorify God with your Bodies, and with your Spirits, which are his.20

14

1 John 5. 10.

15

Reliance, dependence, trust; an instance of this. Usually with on, upon. Obsolete. Oxford English Dictionary online 16

Psal. 9. 10.

17

2 Tim. 1.12.

18

Gen. 3. 15.

19

Gal. 2. 20.

20

1 Cor. 6. 20.

5

To close this Head: Till a Soul can put in such a Claim as Job does in the Text, and by Appropriation, and special Interest in Christ, say, I know that my Redeemer liveth; he is a stranger to the most pleasant and comfortable part of the Christian Life. For here is the Ground of our Confidence, here is the Spring of our Joy, when a Soul can say, My Beloved is mine, and I am his; 21

I know that my Redeemer liveth. But then,

4 thly, Here is a further Illustration of the Redeemer’s Character: He liveth. Hereby may be intended one or all or these things.

(1.) Our Lord’s Eternity. To say that God liveth, is as much as to say, that he is Eternal. Now Job doth not say, that his Redeemer hath lived, or that he shall live; but that he doth live, without the distinction of Time past or future. God is for ever I am: Christ as God lives from Eternity, as Man to Eternity. I am he that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore.22

(2.) Hereby may be denoted the lrresistibleness and Almighty Power of the Redeemer; for Life, in the Language of the Scripture, signifies Might and Power: and indeed we cannot suppose that Christ is Eternal, without concluding that he is Omnipotent. Therefore they are join’d together: I am Alpha

and Omega , the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.23

(3.) I know that my Redeemer liveth: He liveth; that is, he hath Life in himself; he is the Prince of Life, and he giveth it to others: not only the Father, but the Son quickneth whom he will.24 He hath purchas’d spiritual Life for his People on the Cross, and he dispenses it to them from the Throne.

(4.) I know my Redeemer liveth, i.e. as my Advocate and Intercessor. For Job’s Faith did not only fix upon Christ as crucified, but as risen; he did not only eye him as a bleeding Victim, but as an ascended Conqueror; not only as treading the Wine-press of his Father’s Wrath, but as pleading the Virtue of his own invaluable Sacrifice. Therefore when he speaks of his Redeemer’s living, he intends one of the great Ends of his living; that is, to intercede for his People, which is one necessary part of his Priestly Office. But this Man, because he continueth for ever, hath an unchangeable Priesthood: Therefore he is able to save to the uttermost all that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make Intercession for them.25 Intercession for Sinners is as necessary to our Happiness, as our Lord’s making expiation for Sin: He spoiled Principalities and Powers upon the Cross, and made a shew of them openly.26 But he answers the Accusations of those malicious Spirits, now he is seated upon his Throne. ’Tis true, the available Plea in our Lord’s Intercession is that of his own Blood; and the right he has to be an Intercessor is founded on the Infinite Merit of his atoning Sacrifice: therefore He, and He only, hath a legal right to plead our Cause before God, who hath fully paid what we are indebted to him.

This by the way discovers the Vanity and Vileness of those of the Roman Faction, who apply themselves to other Intercessors besides the Lord Jesus Christ; invocating the Holy Angels, the Blessed Virgin the Mother of our Lord, and some imaginary Saints of their own departed. And to excuse this horrid Impiety, they distinguish between a Mediator of Redemption, and a Mediator of Intercession; which will presently appear to be a distinction without a difference: for if the right of Chrift’s Advocateship be founded in the Virtue of his Ransom and propitiatory Sacrifice,27 as the 21

Cant. 2. 16

22

Rev. 1. 18.

23

Rev. 1. 8.

24

John 5. 21.

25

Heb. 7. 24. 25.

26

Col. 2. 15.

27

Appeasing, conciliatory; atoning. Oxford English Dictionary online.

6

Scriptures do abundantly declare, then ’tis as evident, as if written with a Sun-beam, that no one has right to be a Mediator of Intercession, but he that was a Propitiation for our Sins. And the Apostle says, there is but one Mediator betwixt God and Men, the Man Christ Jesus.28 Now if none are fit to sustain the Character, and discharge the Province of an Advocate with the Father, but he that paid the Price of our Redemption; how useless will be the multiplied Mediators of Intercession, whom the Papists set up and apply to? And how much Dishonour do they reflect on the Divine Mediator, who tho he trod the Wine-press of his Father’s Wrath alone, and of the People there was none with him; yet will not suffer him to be alone in Intercession, but as much as in them lies would share the Glory of that part of his Priestly Office amongst some of the Heavenly Courtiers?

I should now proceed to the Second general Head of Discourse; but before I enter upon that, I shall just mention two or three Inferences, that are naturally deducible from what I have said.

I. From Job’s Faith in the Redeemer, I infer, that those that went to Heaven before the Incarnation of Christ, were saved by his Blood, as well as those that have died since his Exhibition in the Flesh.

The Seed of the Woman was immediately promised upon the Fall of Man; and all the Sacrifices under the Law were but Shadows and Types of Christ, the great expiatory Sacrifice. Thus he is said to be a Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World;29 that is, says an excellent Author, federally not actually, imputatively but not really, sententially in the acceptation of the Judg, tho not executively in the enduring of his Passion.30

And indeed Christ’s Blood being the moral Cause of our cleansing from Sin, might be effectual before it was actually shed: for tho all natural Causes be before their Effects, it is not so with moral ones. If I am to redeem a Person from Slavery, and promise a certain Sum for his Redemption; upon the Credit of my Promise he may be actually redeemed, tho the Price be not paid till some Years after: this is easily applied to the cafe in hand.

Christ having ingaged to the Father to make a compleat Satisfaction to Divine Justice for the Elect, upon the Credit of the Redeemer’s Promise, Believers under the Old Testament were justified and saved the same way as we are under the New; only they believ’d in the Messiah to come, and we look back upon him as having suffered.

2. From what has been said, I infer the possibility of Assurance. Job knew and was assured that his Redeemer lived. Now that which has been, may be. Job’s Faith surmounted the Fear of Death; he looked not into the Grave, but through it, and beyond it, to the Redeemer, that had disarmed Death of its Sting and Poison. I do not now speak of an Objective, but a Subjective Assurance, viz. a Saint’s certain, well-grounded, and full Persuasion of his own Interest in Christ and Right to Heaven, which concurs with the Experience of the Children of God in every Age. The Apostle Paul for himself, and in behalf of the Saints that were contemporary with him, speaks fully to this matter.

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.31

Not that we are to imagine, that all the Heirs of the Heavenly Glory have such a certain Knowledg and full Assurance, that when their Immortal Spirits are dislodged from their earthly Tabernacles, they shall enter into the Heavenly Habitation. For some very eminent Saints have walked in Darkness, accosted with Doubts, without any Light of subjective Assurance at all. But I say, this kind of Assurance is attainable in this Life.

28

1 Tim. 2. 5.

29

Rev. 13. 8.

30

Mr. Charm.

31

2 Cor. 5.1.

7

I know the Papists object to this Doctrine, that there was something extraordinary in the Assurance of Job, and Paul, and other excellent Persons mentioned in Holy Writ; therefore they say ’tis impossible that ordinary Christians should ever attain in this Life to a certain Knowledg and full Assurance of their own Salvation.

To which many things might be return’d, but I shall but briefly suggest what follows in a general way, viz. That it is the last degree of Folly to rise up against Fact; for there are many ordinary Christians in this Day, that have a bright unclouded full Assurance of their own Salvation. But further, let me add, that none of the Prophets, Patriarchs or Apostles, could boast of a better Title to Heaven, than every ordinary true Christian has, viz. the Righteousness of the Mediator; and therefore (as our Divines have observed) the Apostles assert their own Assurance upon Grounds common to all the Faithful. And ordinarily when they mention themselves and their own Assurance,

’tis in conjunction with other Christians, as the Scriptures in the Margin do evince.32 Finally, tho the Apostle Peter (by the Church of Rome) is unreasonably raised to a Supremacy above the rest of the Apostles; yet I observe that this very Apostle, when he speaks of his Title to Heaven, has the Modesty to put himself upon the level with the rest of the Saints. Simon Peter, a Servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious Faith with us, through the Righteousness of God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ.33

3. Hence I infer, that Christ did exist before his Incarnation, and consequently is God by Nature.

I know this Inference will not be allowed to be genuine by the Admirers of Socinus,34 who with him assert, that the Blessed Jesus is but a mere Man, and that he had no existence before he was conceived in the Womb of the Virgin Mary his Mother. An Opinion which saps the Foundation of Christianity, against which the Testimony of Job does strongly militate; for he assures us that in his time the Reedeemer lived; and the Redeemer himself saith, Before Abraham was, I am.35 So that the matter may be brought into a very narrow compass, whether we shall believe Christ, who is Truth it self, who asserts he did exist before his Incarnation, or a blaspheming Socinian, who asserts he did not. If he did exist before his Manifestation in the Flesh, as my Text proves, then we have solid Grounds to believe from other Texts that he did exist from Eternity, and consequently is God by Nature. I shall only cite one in the room of many, and ’tis that which those of the Racovian36 way have abused by a violent Interpretation. The Text is that of St. John: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the Beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.37 By the Beginning the Socinians understand the Beginning of the Gospel; i.e. when the Gospel began first to he published, then Christ did exist, and not before: which by the way proves he did exist before his Incarnation, the Gospel being first published in Paradise.

By being with God, they understand the Gospel of Christ, which he afterwards reveal’d to the World, was first only known to God.

32

2 Cor. 5.1. 1 John 5. 19.

33

2 Pet. 1.1.

34

Faustus Socinus: Italian Fausto Paolo Socini [Sozini, or Sozzini] (1539-1604). Italian theologian whose anti-Trinitarian theology was later influential in the development of Unitarian theology, or Socinianism. Socinus settled at Kraków, Poland, where he attained a dominant influence in the Minor Reformed Church (Polish Brethren), centred at the colony of Raków. He became its leader and eventually set his stamp upon its theology. He saw Christ as only fully human, though without sin, who by his suffering taught humans how to bear their own sufferings. Subsequent Unitarian theology, particularly in the doctrines of the person and work of Christ, was influenced considerably by the introduction of Socinian writings into England during the 17th century. Encyclopedia Britannica online.

35

John 8. 58.

36

Of, belonging to, or relating to Raków, esp. to the Socinians (Polish Brethren) based there in the late 16th and early 17th cent. Oxford English Dictionary online 37

John 1. 1, 2, 3.

8

He was God; i.e. say they, God by Office. All things were made by him, &c. This they refer to the Renovation of Men by the Gospel.

Which Interpretation I call violent, because several learned Men have prov’d, ’tis not agreeable to the Scope of the place, nor other plain Texts of Scripture; and that none of the Fathers, or other Writers of the Christian Church for 1500 Years, ever so explain’d it till Socinus. In this Passage it is evident, that by the Word we are to understand the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ; of whom ’tis asserted, That he was in the beginning, i.e. when things first began to be, he was: not that he then began to exist, but then already was, and had an Existence before any Creature was made. For what was in the beginning, did not then begin to be, but did exist before the beginning of Time; which, I think, plainly proves the eternal Existence of our Lord Jesus Christ. And then it follows, The Word was with God, and the Word was God; agreeable to what is affirm’d of the Personal Wisdom, or the Son of God, in the Book of Proverbs, where personal Properties are often ascrib’d to Wisdom.38 And to express the Eternity of Wisdom, ’tis said, It was with God. So here, the Word was with God, i.e.

(saith one) it was always together with him, partaking of his Happiness and Glory. To which our Saviour refers in his Prayer, Glorify me with thine own self, with the Glory I had with thee before the World was. The same was in the beginning with God:39 Here the Evangelist plainly distinguishes betwixt God the Father, and God the Son: for tho he affirms that the Word was God, yet he signifies to us that it was not God the Father; for, says he, the same was in the Beginning with God, i.e. the same personal Word, the Son of God; who is afterwards call’d the only begotten of the Father.40 All things were made by him, and with out him was not any thing made that was made. “Which (as a

*Learned Man remarks) could not have been more emphatically expresss’d, than it is here by the Evangelist, after the manner of the Hebrews; who when they would say a thing with the greatest force and certainty, are wont to express it both affirmatively and negatively: as, he shall live, and not die; he shall most assuredly live. So here, All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made; i.e. He made all Creatures without exception, and consequently he himself is not a Creature, because it is evidently impossible that any thing should ever make it self: But then if he be, and yet was never made, it is certainly true that he always was, even from all Eternity.”

4. Those that have a Redeemer in Heaven, have reason to believe that they shall persevere on Earth.

This Inference is very natural, and will appear so, if we consider what our Redeemer says himself; Because I live, ye shall live also.41 A Believer’s Life does not depend upon his own free Will, but upon the Life of Christ in Heaven. That omnipotent Grace which caus’d us to spring out of the Grave, and restor’d Life to our dead Souls, can with a great deal of ease make us persevere in it. He that reconciled us when we were Enemies by his Death, will much more save us by his Life.42 As the first Act of Divine quickning is owing to his meritorious Death, so the continuance of that spiritual Life is secur’d by his prevalent Intercession.

The Covenant of Grace, in which every Believer is interested, is an Everlasting Covenant, order’d in all things and sure.43 And the Advantage of being in such a Covenant-Relation to God, is excellently express’d by the Prophet: I will make an Everlasting Covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their Hearts, that they shall not 38

Prov. 8. 22, 31.

39

John 17. 5.

40

John 1. 14.

*

****Vid. Archbishop Tillotson’s Sermons concerning the Divinity and Incarnation of our Blessed Saviour, pag. 37, 38. in Octavo.

41

John 14. 19.

42

Rom. 5.10.

43

2 Sam. 23. 5.

9

depart from me.44 And our blessed Saviour says, That he gives to his Sheep Eternal Life, that they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of his hand.45

I proceed now to the

Second general Head of Discourse, which is to speak of Job’s Expectation, with respect to his Redeemer and himself; which he expresses in these words: That he shall stand at the latter Day upon the Earth; and tho after my Skin (says he) Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for my self, and mine Eyes shall behold, and not another, tho my Reins be consum’d within me. Wherein we make take notice of these five things.

1 st, Of what Job supposes and expected, viz. his own Dissolution by Death; Tho after my Skin, Worms destroy this Body, tho my Reins be consumed within me.

2 dly, Here is his Hope and Assurance of the Resurrection of his Body; for after it had been once a Feast for Worms, he expected, in his Flesh, to see God: which could not be, except that Body was raised.

3 dly, Here is his steddy Faith concerning the Identity of the dying and rising Body, in my Flesh; that is, in my own Flesh shall I see God.

4 thly, Here is the Happiness he was assured of, as consequent hereupon; and that was his injoying the Vision of God, Whom (says he) I shall see for my self, and not another.

5 thly, The time when he expected this Happiness, and that was, at the latter Day.

I shall speak of each of these as briefly as I can, and shut up my whole Discourse with a few Inferences.

1 st, Job did expect his own Dissolution by Death; Tho after my Skin, Worms destroy this Body, tho my Reins be consumed within me. I will not stand to recite the various Readings of this Text, but take the words just as they lie in our Translation, which are very expressive of Job’s expected Dissolution of his Body; for tho [ Body] be not in the Hebrew Text, yet it is evident he intends it: and it is not improbable but that he might take up some of his Flesh, or point to his Body, when he said, Tho after my Skin, Worms destroy This, pointing to his Body, or stretching forth his Arm, for so it is in the Original; tho after my Skin, Worms destroy this, i.e. this Body.

By Destruction, he doth not mean that the Matter of which the Body is compos’d, shall be annihilated; but that the Body being separated from the Soul, its Beauty and Usefulness shall become a Prey to Death, which corrupted in the Grave, shall be reduc’d to Dust, its first Original, according to the Divine Threat; Dust thou art, and to Dust thou shalt return.46 Therefore Job, in several places of this Book, is very express in this matter; If I wait, the Grave is my House — I have said to Corruption, Thou art my Father; and to the Worm, Thou art my Mother, and my Sister.47 He expected to be gnawn by Worms, and to become an Entertainment for the most contemptible Insects. Therefore again, says he, One dieth in his full Strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. His Breasts are full of Milk, and his Bones are moistned with Marrow. Another dieth in the bitterness of his Soul, and never eateth with Pleasure. They shall lie down alike in the Dust, and the Worms shall 44

Jer. 32. 40.

45

John 10. 27, 28.

46

Gen. 2. 19. [This should be Gen. 3:19, Ed.]

47

Job 17. 13, 14.

10

cover them.48 All Persons, how distant soever they may be in their Way and Walk, in their State and Condition, yet at last they shall meet in the Grave, where all Distinctions are buried with the Confusion of human Dust. This was what Job expected, tho he had an Interest in the Redeemer; for the Righteous must die as well as the Wicked. Your Fathers, where are they? and the Prophets, do they live for ever? 49 The Grave receives, without distinction, the Rich and Poor, the Strong and Weak, the Wise and Foolish, Young and Old, Holy and Profane; for those of the greatest Integrity are compos’d of the same frail Materials, and are liable to die of the same Diseases as the vilest of Men. This is so evident in Fact, that I need not go about to prove it. For altho we have had many Volumes written to preserve Health, yet I think Mr. Asgil’s profane Pamphlet was the first that was ever written to give Directions to avoid Death; an Attempt as vain as to measure Wind, to weigh Fire, or stop the Course of the Sun. For as the Records of the Grave are an undeniable Testimony of the Frailty of human Nature, so the Death of this Person, in a little time, will confute the Works of his Life, and give the lye to his absurd Opinion. But then (says he) if I die, I declare I die of no Religion. No doubt but he speaks the Truth; for he that lives without God in the World, will certainly die without any good Hope, and a stranger to all Religion.

Now altho what this Man has attempted be vain and idle, yet it will not be an improper Question here to ask, Why the Righteous die, since the Satisfaction of Christ for them was, upon all accounts, compleat and perfect? I will only name a few things in answer to this, and so pass on.

First, The threatning of Death was not pronounc’d till after the Promise of the Messias; which shews, that God did design that the Righteous should die as well as the Wicked, they being guilty of Original Sin as well as others. Now tho the Messias is promis’d, who was to satisfy for this Original Sin, as well as Actual Transgression, and so to save his People from the Second Death; yet says he to Adam, and in him to his Posterity and Descendants, Dust thou art, and to Dust thou shalt return.50

Secondly, Tho the Satisfaction of Christ be compleat, and he has purchas’d for his People a compleat Happiness; yet such is the Divine Constitution, that we must continue for some time here under a great many Weaknesses, and Troubles, and Temptations. Now People may as well object these to the Satisfaction of Christ, as that of the Saints dying.

Thirdly, The Satisfaction of Christ has a great Influence into the Death that a Righteous Man passes under, inasmuch as Death is alter’d in its Nature, it is disarm’d of its Sting, and approaches him as a Friend. So that tho Believers must die as well as other Men, yet every thing in Death that was most hurtful, is taken away by the Lord Christ: Hence says the Apostle, There is no Condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.51 And the same Apostle puts Death among the number of the Believers Privileges; 1 Cor. 3. 22. Death is yours.

Fourthly, Sin is so interwoven with our Nature, that without throwing down the Fabrick of the Body, there is no putting an end to it. Death came into the World by Sin; but Sin is finish’d or aholish’d, as it were, by Death. We shall not wholly part with the Relicks of Sin, till that moment the Body and Soul is parted asunder. When a righteous Man gives up the Ghost, his Sins expire with him; for his filthy Raiment drops from him with the Rags of his Mortality.

Fifthly, The Righteous, by being expos’d to Death, have the highest trial of their Graces, and the fittest season to exercise them for the Honour of God the Redeemer. It hath been an Observation of 48

Job 21. 23, 24, 25, 26.

49

Zach. 1.5. [Zechariah 1:5, Ed.]

50

Gen. 2. 19. . [This should be Gen. 3:19, Ed.]

51

Rom. 8.1.

11

the Antients, as well as of the Moderns, that Faith, and Love, and Patience, are declar’d in their most powerful Operations, in our encounter with Death.

Our Faith is tried to the uttermost, when the Terrible of Terribles stares us in the face, when his Forerunners seize our Vitals, and put the whole Body into a Convulsion and Agony.

Then is also the time for the perfecting of Patience, and exerting and evidencing our Love to God, by being willing to be at his dispose in this World, so that we may injoy him in the next. If it were as easy (says one) to get into Heaven, as to move from one Country to another; if it were only to step up into Elijah’s Chariot, and so drive away in an instant, Body and Soul together to the Regions above; then these Graces would not be so much exercis’d and tried.

Sixthly, The Righteous must die as well as the Wicked, that they may be capable of being fully rewarded; for this dull, heavy, gross Flesh and Blood that we carry about with us, without refining, cannot enter into the Kingdom of God: this is so necessary, that those Persons that shall be alive when Christ comes to judg the World, must pass under a Change equivalent to Death. Now herein the Wisdom of God is wonderfully display’d (as a *Learned Man remarks) that Death, which by the Covenant of Works, was the deserv’d Penalty of Sin, by the Covenant of Grace should be the Instrument of Immortality. Thus as Joseph, by a surprizing Circuit, was brought from the Prison to the Principality, so a Believer by the Grave ascends to Heaven. Immortality in this Veil of Tears would not be desirable, for I cannot conceive how a Person under the establish’d Oeconomy and Order of things, could be compleatly happy here.

Seventhly, The Righteous being subject to Death, is a Method very proper to indear Christ to a Believer’s Soul, and to add a sprightly Accent to his Everlasting Hallelujah’s. Christ is always precious to them that believe; but he is never so much valu’d as when they are upon the Borders of Eternity, and in the Agonies of Death: then to think upon their Deliverer, then to hear the Father say, Spare them from going down into the Pit, for I have found a Ransom;52 are words which, when attended with an Energy of Divine Power, have enough in them to revive those that are fainting and dying, and cause them to fly from this World to the next, in Triumph, and with a Song. But, Lastly, The Glory of the Redeemer will be the more Illustrious at the End of the World, by the raising of the Dead, to make up his magnificent Retinue, when he shall come the Second Time without Sin to Salvation, and to be admired in all those that believe.53 Then for him to exert his Power to raise all these in an instant, will be much more for his Glory and Honour, than if from the time of our Saviour’s Death to the End of the World, the Righteous should have been caught up to Heaven, Body and Soul together, after they had tarried their appointed time upon Earth, one after another; for this must have been done often in private and at Midnight: And it would not have been half so much for the Glory and Triumph of our Lord Christ, as it shall then be, when the Bowels of the Earth, and the Bottom of the Sea, shall throw up their Dead at his irresistible Command and his Almighty Word. Then to see the Saints spring out of the Dust like so many Stars at the Sound of the last Trumpet, how will this advance the Glory, and the Honour of the Redeemer! But I shall not stand to insist any longer upon this Head, but shall go on now to the Second thing, which is, Job’s Hope and Assurance of the Resurrection of the Body; Tho after my Skin, Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh shall see God. I know there are some modern Interpreters, who do understand these Words of a metaphorical Resurrection, as St. Chrysostom had done long before; yet I cannot consent to it, for more reasons than I have time to name. Job speaks

*

****** Dr. Bates

52

Job 33. 24.

53

Heb. 9. 28. 2 Thess. 1. 10.

12

of seeing God in his Flesh, and with his Eyes; and this was to be after the Worms had consum’d his Body; which was an illustrious Specimen of his Faith, with respect to the Article of the Resurrection: For if he had only meant a providential Resurrection, then his saying that he should see God with these Eyes, were no strange thing. Therefore I rather take them in a proper and literal Sense, as holding forth the Resurrection of the Body; and of this mind were most of the *Antients, and particularly Jerom has these Words: +No body so plainly speaks of the Resurrection after Christ, as Job does before Christ. And St. Clement, who was a Companion and Fellow-Labourer with St.

Paul the Apostle, in an Epistle of his which he wrote to the Corinthian Church, does urge this very Text in Job to prove the Resurrection of the Body. His Words are these: *And again, Job says, Thou shalt raise up this Flesh of mine, that has suffered all these things.

Therefore taking it for granted that we are to understand the Refurrection in a literal and proper sense; I shall speak a little to this Point. And,

First, State my Notion concerning the Resurrection.

Secondly, Assign some Arguments to prove it.

First, State my Notion concerning the Resurrection, in these following Propositions.

(1.) The Resurrection is a Change, not a new Creation. If God should annihilate all human Creatures, and make some other human Creatures out of nothing; this would not be to raise them from the Dead, but to create them anew. This indeed would be a Restitution of the same Species or Kind of Beings, that did exist before: but it would not be a proper Resurrection, because it is not a mere Change, but totally a new Production.

(2.) The Resurrection of the Dead is a Change that passeth upon a material Substance; it is only the Body that falls by Death, the Spirit returns to God that gave it. The Spirit is of an Immaterial, and therefore of an Immortal Nature: but the Human Body falling by Death crumbling into Dust, the Divine Power causes a change to pass upon that Dust, by ranging and ordering those Atoms54 and Particles of Matter, so as to compose for the Substance of it the same Body that died, though mightily changed with respect to its Qualities.

(3.) The Form of the Resurrection consists in the essential vital Union of this raised Body, with that very Rational Soul that formerly dwelt in it, and was united to it; from which Union, Life necessarily flows, and the very same Person may be said to live again that formerly lived.55 And without this, tho a dead Body be quickned, ’tis not properly a Resurrection: for suppose the Substance of a Body that fell by Death, was in its various Particles collected, ranged and rebuilt by Almighty Power; yet if that Body was informed by another Spirit, which was not united to it before, it could not be called a Resurrection, because it would not be the same Person, one essential constituent Part of it being wanting.

*

****** Augustin, Cyprian, Gregory, Cassiodorus, Hierom, &c.

+

++++++Hieron. hæc habet: Nullus tam aperte post Christum, quam iste ante Christum de Resurrectione loquitur. Vid. Poli Synop. Crit.

Και παλιν Ιωβ λεγει· Και αναστησεις την σαρκα μου ταυτην τεν ανατλησασαν ταυτα παντα

*

************

54

Atom. Originally (without explicit reference to Greek philosophy): each of the particles of which matter is ultimately composed, aggregates of which constitute material objects. With reference to ancient Greek philosophy: a hypothetical particle, minute and indivisible, held to be one of the ultimate particles of matter. Oxford English Dictionary online. The modern atomic theory, which has undergone continuous refinement, began to flourish at the beginning of the 19th century.

Encyclopedia Britannica online.

55

Vide Wolleb. Compend. Theol. P. 182. [Possibly: The abridgment of Christian divinitie so exactly and methodically compiled, that it leads us, as it were, by the hand to the reading of the Holy Scriptures. Ordering of common-places. Vnderstanding of controversies. Cleering of some cases of conscience. By John Wollebius. Doctor of Divinity, and ordinary professor in the University of Basil. Now at last faithfully translated into English, and in some obscure places cleared and enlarged, by Alexander Ross. To which is adjoined, after the alphabetical table, the anatomy of the whole body of divinity, delineated in IX. short tables, for the help of weak memories. London: Printed by T. Mab and A. Coles, for John Saywell, and are to be sold at his shop at the signe of the Grey-hound in Little-Britain without Aldersgate, 1650. Note: There were several Englsih editions between 1650 and 1660. The Compendium Theologies Christianae was written in 1626. “John Wollebius” = Johannes Wolleb ( Ed.)]

13

I shall not here trouble you with reciting and confuting the Opinions of the Platonists and

* Pythagoreans, and some of the antient Jews, who have asserted the μετεμψύχωσις, or Transmigration of Souls, or the passing of Souls out of one Body into another, as well into the Bodies of Plants and Brutes, as Men.

(4.) The efficient Cause of the Resurrection of the Dead, is the whole Trinity; tho in Scripture it is ascribed to each Person in the Godhead. Our Saviour is said to be raised from the Dead by God the Father;56 and he is also said to raise himself. And ’tis also attributed to the Holy Spirit: But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the Dead, dwell in you; he that raised up Christ from the Dead, shall also quicken your mortal Bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.57 In which Words we are told of the efficient Cause of our own Resurrection, as well as that of our Saviour’s. But eminently the Resurrection of the Dead is attributed to the Son of God, as the Scriptures in the Margin do abundantly declare.58 Now our Blessed Lord may be consider’d as the efficient Cause of the Resurrection of the Dead, either as God, or as Mediator; in the first respect he may be consider’d as the efficient Cause of the Resurrection of the Unjust as well as the Just, but in the latter especially of his Church; for when he himself arose from the Dead, it was as a publick Person; so his Resurrection is both the Model, Exemplar and Pledg of ours. In a word, for this end Christ died, rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the Dead and Living.

(5.) One great end of raising the Dead, is to illustrate the Divine Perfections of Justice and Mercy, in punishing the Wicked, and rewarding the Righteous; both which are express’d by the Prophet: Many of them that sleep in the Dust of the Earth shall awake, some to Everlasting Life, and some to Shame and Everlasting Contempt.59

The Divine Attributes of Mercy and Justice at present, thro the promiscuous60 Dispensations of Divine Providence, have, as it were, some dark Shades cast over them; for the Righteous suffer, and the Wicked flourish, as if God neglected the one, and incouraged the other. But this seeming disorder in the Divine Oeconomy will be set in a clear Light by the revival of the Dead, which will discover that all things were manag’d by a skilful Hand; for then Justice and Mercy shall both appear in their flaming Luster.

(6.) Those that shall be found alive at the second Coming of Christ, shall pass under a Change equivalent to a Dissolution and a Resurrection. So much St. Paul intimates in these words; Behold, I shew you a Mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed: 61 i e. We shall not all die, but we shall pass under an Equivalent to what they shall do who do die. For in a moment, in the twinkling of an Eye, (for the Trumpet shall sound) the Dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be change d.

(7.) The Righteous shall rise in order of time before the Wicked. This the Apostle Paul signifies in more places than one: But every Man in his own order, Christ the first Fruits, afterwards they that are Christ’s at his coming.62

*

******Vide Dr, Hody’s Resurrection of the (same) Body asserted. [Likely The Resurrection Of The (same) Body Asserted: From The Traditions of the Heathens, the Ancient Jews, and the Primitive Church. With An Answer to the Objections brought against it. By Humphry Hody, D.D. Fellow of Wadham College in Oxford, and Chaplain to His Grace John Lord Arch-Bishop of Canterbury. London, 1694. ( Ed. ) 56

Act. 3.15.

57

Rom. 8. 11.

58

Joh. 5. 28, 29. Phil. 3. 20, 21.

59

Dan. 12 .2.

60

Making no distinctions; undiscriminating. Oxford English Dictionary online.

61

1 Cor. 15. 51, 52.

62

1 Cor. 15. 23.

14

Indeed several Persons were raised from the Dead both before Christ’s Incarnation and his Resurrection; but then all these Persons died again: whereas our Lord arose from the Dead Immortal, and shall never die more, and in that respect is the first Fruits of the Resurrection. And with respect to the Righteous rising before the Wicked in order of time, I collect it also from what St. John says, in the Book of the Revelation; where he speaks of the first Resurrection, and says, that on such the second Death shall have no Power.63 And the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians says, That the Dead in Christ shall rise first.64

Secondly, I am to prove that it is a matter most infallibly certain, it is an Event that will assuredly come to pass. I know that some Philosophers have laid it down as a Principle, a privatione ad habitum non datur regressus: That there is no restoration of the same Being, after a total Corruption and Dissolution of it. But I may say to such, as our Saviour said to the Sadduces; Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the Power of God.65 For there is no Doctrine more expresly taught in the Holy Scriptures, than that of the Resurrection; and because of my time, I’ll cite but one Text in the room of many. The Hour is coming, when all that are in the Graves shall hear his Voice, and come forth; they that have done Good, to the Resurrection of Life; and they that have done Evil, to the Resurrection of Damnation.66 I shall only name a few Heads of Argument, and so pass on.

1. God hath appointed a Day in the which he will judg the World, which is an infallible Proof of the Certainty of the Resurrection; for the World cannot he judged, unless the Dead rise: nor is it rational to imagine, that at the general Judgment, naked human Spirits should appear without their Bodies; since the Apostle expresly says, that we must all appear before the Judgment-Seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his Body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.67

2. Christ hath not only redeemed the Souls, but the Bodies of his People: for tho the Body be an inferiour part of Man, yet it is an essential part, and the Law of God binds the whole Man, not the Soul only; for that the Obedience we yield to the Divine Law, is the Obedience of the entire Man: So if in any instance we violate the Law, the Guilt devolves upon the entire Person, whether it be a Sin of the Flesh, or of the Spirit; I mean whether it be performed by the Instrumentality of the bodily Members, or something of a very abstracted Nature that passes only in the Mind. The Reason of this is very evident; for whether we serve God, or sin against him, ’tis with the Soul and Body in conjunction: So that unless the Body rise, neither the Recompences of rewarding Goodness can be fully bestow’d, nor the Punishments of revenging Justice entirely executed. And why that Body which is redeem’d, in conjunction with the Soul, and hath been a Partner with it, both in serving of, and suffering for Christ, should not be rais’d and made compleatly happy in Union with the Soul for ever, no reason can be assign’d.

3. That Doctrine which the Apostle Paul preached by Inspiration, and supported by Scripture, and suffered for the preaching of, must needs be infallibly true; but this he did with regard to the Resurrection: Acts 23. 6. Of the Hope and Resurrection of the Dead, am I called in question.

4. It is most certain, that the Covenant of Grace exceeds that of Works; which it cannot do, unless it be infallibly certain, that the Dead shall rife and never die more: for if Adam had never sinned, he might have lived for ever.

63

Rev. 20. 4, 5.

64

1 Thess. 4. 16.

65

Mat. 22. 29.

66

John 5. 28, 29

67

2 Cor. 5. 10.

15

5. The Resurrection of the Body may be argued from the Immortality of the Soul: For tho the Soul can subsist without the Body, yet it being created to inhabit in the Body, there is a natural desire of Union: and therefore no Person, while Soul and Body is separated, can be so fully happy as their Nature will admit of, and as they desire to be; nor so compleatly miserable, as when Soul and Body are united.

6. Another Argument may be drawn from the Resurrection of Christ; and this is the Apostle Paul’s great Argument: Now if Christ be preach’d that he arose from the Dead, how say some among you that there is no Resurrection of the Dead? 68 q.d. If Christ be risen, then ’tis infallibly certain that the Dead shall rise; for he adds in the next Verse, that if there be no Resurrection of the Dead, then is Christ not risen.69 But the Apostle had before asserted and proved the Resurrection of Christ, and from that he argues the Resurrection of the Dead. Indeed this refers principally to the Members of his Mystical Body, who shall be rais’d as united to him.

Lastly, If the Dead rise not, it must be either thro a defect of the Divine Power, or Divine Knowledg, or else it is a thing unnecessary or impossible. There is no defect in the Divine Power, for God is Omnipotent; neither is there any in the Divine Knowledg, he being Omniscient: for there is no Particle of a Human Body, tho it has receiv’d a thousand different Modifications, but the Eye of God can distinguish to what Body it belongs, and his Power range it in it’s due place and order.

Again, the Resurrection infers no contradiction, therefore ’tis not impossible; there is no Contradiction in this, that that Dust which was made out of nothing, which afterwards compos’d various human Creatures, being again reduc’d to Dust, should form the same Bodies that once they constituted. Now all things are possible with God, which do not involve in the very nature of ’em Contradictions. That the Resurrection is absolutely necessary, is evident; for without this the World cannot be judged, and so there can be no Rewards or Punishments.

But, Thirdly, we are to consider Job’s steddy Faith concerning the Identity or Sameness of the dying and rising Body; for says he, in my Flesh ( i.e. in my own Flesh) shall I see God. These words are very expressive, and signify to us that he believed that not only the same specifical, but that the same numerical Body should be raised that died; not only the same Body for kind, but for substance: and this matter might be easily establish’d, had I time.

1 st, We might argue from the signification of the word, which in propriety of Speech doth signify a Revival, or a raising up of something that fell or died, or else it cannot be said properly to be a Resurrection. When I say there shall be a Resurrection of the Dead, I must intend thus much, viz.

That the Bodies of Men that have liv’d, and are dead, shall revive and rise again. Moreover we may observe, that Death in Scripture is called a Sleep, and the Resurrection an awakening out of it: Many that sleep in the Dust of the Earth, shall awake. And some render the words of the Text thus; And after I shall awake, tho this Body shall be destroy’d yet out of my Flesh shall I see God.70 Now this term would be wholly improper, if the very same Body that fell asleep by Death, was not awaken’d in the Resurrection.

2 dly, From those places of Scripture, that do inform us what the Repositories of the Dead shall give up; Death, and Hell, and the Sea, and the Grave, shall give up their Dead.71 Now if those very Dead that were laid in the Grave, and in the Sea, were not surrendred, it would be no Resurrection; and these Expressions would be improper and unintelligible: for if God Almighty should produce new Bodies from other Matter, it could not be said with truth, that either the Sea, or the Grave, gave 68

1 Cor. 15.12.

69

Ver. 13.

70

Job 19. 26.

71

Rev. 20. 13.

16

up their Dead; for if either of them surrender up their Dead, it must be the very same Dead that were laid in ’em.

3 dly, This might be further argued from the accession of new Qualities that shall be bestowed on the rais’d Bodies of the Saints. About which the Apostle is very express; This Corruptible must put on Incorruption (this very same corruptible Body) and this Mortal must put on Immortality.72

4 thly, We might argue from the Translation of Enoch and Elijah, if they went into Heaven with their own Bodies, tho with different Qualities than what they had before; why should any suppose that the Bodies of others should be kept out of that place, and only new created ones admitted in?

5 thly, The Resurrection of our Saviour is a proof of this; our blessed Lord arose from the Dead with the very same numerical Body73 that hung upon the Cross, and was laid in the Tomb. This no Man can deny who believes the Scriptures, which inform us that he arose with the very print of the Nails in his Hands and Feet, and of the Spear in his Side. There are many other very solid Arguments to prove the Identity of the dying and rising Body, which I have not time to name, nor to state the difference between the Resurrection of the Just and Unjust, or to make any return to those Objections that are framed by Scepticks and Infidels against this great Article of Faith; but must pass on to the

Fourth thing, to consider the Happiness Job expected consequent upon this; that was, his enjoying the Vision of God: Whom (says he) I shall see for my self, and mine Eyes shall behold, and not another. God may be understood here absolutely, for Father, Son, and Spirit, or personally for Jesus Christ.

Now concerning this Vision of God, I must but very briefly give you the following account.

(1.) The Views the Saints shall have of the Divine Majesty in the other World, shall be intire and perfectly clear: for when Faith is turned into Vision, we shall see God face to face; that is, we shall have the most clear, and bright, and full manifestation of his Favour and Love: the Scripture tells us, We shall know, even as we are known: [as] is a Note of Similitude here, not of Equality. I say, we shall have a bright and clear prospect of the Divine Being, our Faculties and Powers shall be more capacious and refined, and the Divine Light shall shine with direct Beams upon us; so that the Soul cannot but have the most clear Vision of God.

Here might be considered distinctly,

The Object,

The Medium, and

The visive Faculty or Power.

The Object is God: The Medium Christ. For I confess I am inclined to think, that the Glory that shall be exhibited to our visive Power, shall be thro the glorified Humanity of our dear Redeemer. In a word, our Vision of God shall be so clear, that we shall be past all danger of mistaking concerning the Divine Nature; our Light shall be so bright and certain, that we shall be delivered both from Doubts and from Errors. In Heaven the great Mystery of Godliness will be made plain, and we shall have a perfect view of the Scheme of our Redemption; there the dark Scenes of Providence will open, and the Volume of the Eternal Decrees shall be unfolded; and that which was a scandal to the 72

1 Cor. 15.53.

73

Numerical, adj. Senses relating to identity or difference. identical in all parts, same. The phrase "numerical body" is used by H. Hibbert, Exercitationes Theologicæ 62 in Syntagma Theologicum, 1662; and J. Locke Ess. Humane Understanding (new ed.) ii. xxvii. 187; 1694. Oxford English Dictionary online.

17

Reason, and has often shaken the Faith of Christians, shall appear without any veil of Darkness upon it.

(2.) This Vision shall be assimilating: It doth not yet appear (saith the Apostle) what we shall be; but this we know, that when he appears, we shall be like him: for we shall see him as he is. 74 As for me (saith the Psalmist) I will behold thy Face in Righteousness: When I awake, I shall be satisfied with thy likeness.75 *It seems to be equally necessary for our Happiness and our Joy, to partake of the Glory of God, as well as to behold it. In Heaven we shall be made like God in Holiness, and in Love; such Flames shall be kindled in our Breasts, that shall never languish or die.

(3.) It will be an appropriating sight of God; as we shall see him as he is, so we shall see him as our God: there will be something very peculiar in our looking upon him, which shall be with high satisfaction and extraordinary pleasure. For Sight without Interest, as one well expresses it, is like the Light of a Glow-worm which is without any heat. Indeed one of the School-men places Happiness in the intellectual part only, in the bare seeing of God; but there are others that place it in the Act of the Will, in the enjoying of God: but certainly it is the safest way to place it in both; for in Heaven they will never be divided.

(4.) This Vision will be delightful and satisfying: I shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.76 How great must be the Joy, the Delight, the Pleasure, the Satisfaction, that this sight of God shall bring into the Soul? The Saints, while they remain in the Church Militant, have sometimes an unspeakable Joy springs up in their Souls: What Extasy and Rapture shall they feel, when translated to the Church Triumphant? How aimable and pleasing are the Beams of the Sun here? But how (says one) would a Man be surpriz’d, if he were at the Spring of that Universal Fire, and saw how it rises, and how it’s manag’d? The Delight that a Child of God has below, is not comparable to that which he shall enjoy when above, and he makes nearer Approaches to the inaccessible Light.

I do not doubt but the Queen of Sheba did very much admire the Wisdom, the Glory, and the Pomp of Solomon, when her knowledg of him was only grounded upon Report; but when she saw his Conduct, heard his Wisdom, and beheld his Magnificence, she was thrown into an Extasy, and the Prospect even ravish’d away her Soul; she faints with Admiration, and almost dies with Wonder, for there was no more Spirit in her. But alas! what was that to the surprizing sight which we shall have, if we get safe to Heaven! What an Extasy of Joy shall the glorified Saints have in that Presence where is Fulness of Joy, and Pleasures for evermore?

Lastly, Our sight of God will be perpetual and eternal. Here on Earth we have an imperfect View, we see God one day, and it may he the next he hides his Face from us in an angry Cloud; but in Heaven our sight of God shall never be interrupted, nor any Cloud obscure the Vision of his Face; there we shall see him thro an endless Eternity.

Thus have I, by the little that I have spoken, represented the Vision of God, as a wonderful Felicity, and a surprizing Wonder. And tho we shall understand it better by Enjoyment, yet our perpetual Wonder will mingle with our everlasting Hallelujahs.

74

1 Joh. 2. 3. [This should be 1 John 3:2, Ed.]

75

Psal. 17 ult. [Psalm 17:15, Ed.]

*

***Vid, Mr. How’s Blessedness of the Righteous, p.68.[Most likely, The Blessednesse of the Righteous Discoursed from Psal. 17,15. London, 1668. This was expanded and republished in 1673 and 1678 as The Blessedness of the Righteous, Opened, and further Recommended From the Consideration of The Vanity of this Mortal Life: In Two Teastises, On Psal. 17.12, Psal. 89.47. London. However, I could not find this specific quotation in the text of the 1668 edition in Early English Books online ( Ed.). According to the title page of the 1673 & 1678 editions, John Howe M.A. had been a Fellow of Magdalen College Oxford.].

76

Psal. 17. ult. [Psalm 17:15, Ed.]

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Fifthly, Here is the time when Job expected this Happiness, and that was at the latter Day; at which time the Text assures us, that the Redeemer should stand upon the Earth. By latter Day I understand the same Period of time which in the New-Testament Language is called the last Day:77 When that limited space of time which God hath set for his Peoples lying in the Grave, is elaps’d and run out, then shall the Redeemer descend upon the Earth, and cause the Members of his Mystical Body instantaneously to arise and spring from their Beds of Dust. I know that some interpret these words of the Redeemer’s standing upon the Earth at the latter Day, to refer to our Saviour's Incarnation, and others to his Resurrection: Some refer ’em to the Lord’s appearing in the Air over the Earth.

There are several other Senses given of these words, which I do not omit reciting because controverted amongst Learned Men, but because I have not time, neither think them proper for a popular Auditory. I proceed now to some brief Application.

First, Hence we see of what necessity it is to get an Interest in the Lord Redeemer; for such only have ground to expect this comfortable sight of Christ. Without Holiness no Man shall ever see the Lord. 78 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.79

Secondly, What an accession to the Riches of the Church, are the Writings of the New Testament, that cast such a Light upon the Doctrine of the Resurrection.

Thirdly, Let what hath been spoken arm Christians against the slavish Fears of Death. Death, tho a common Theme of Discourse, carries Terror in the very sound of it; and when those that are at ease, and promise themselves a long and merry Life, are admonished of the shortness of their Time, by the Messengers of Death, they are like Belshazzar, when he saw the Fingers of a Hand writing some mystical Characters which he understood not; His Thoughts troubled him, his Knees smote one against another, and his Countenance was changed.80 Thus it is with an unprepared Soul at the approach of Death.

But blessed be God it was not thus with our Deceased Friend, who tho he had received the Sentence of Death in himself for a considerable time before the blow was given, yet he was got beyond the Desire of Life, and above the Fears of Death: of whom I shall speak nothing but words of Truth and Soberness. I had the benefit of his Acquaintance for about sixteen years, and I always discover’d in him the most undissembled Piety. God touched his Heart betimes, he feared the Lord from his Youth, and devoted to Heaven the first and the best part of his time; and to me it was an Argument of his great Sincerity, that he embraced Religion when its Professors were persecuted and imprisoned; and what he himself suffered, was not a little from the hands of those that had the power over him. When the Storm blew over, and Christians immerged from the black Cloud that overspread them, he still retain’d his Caution, his Strictness, and his close walking with God; always expressing, as far as I observ’d, a great deal of Modesty and Humility in his Carriage and Conduct. He was one that paid a Deference and Respect to all that bore the Image of Christ, under what Denomination soever they passed: and I must say, that I always found him an affectionate, true and lasting Friend.

He was very sound in the Doctrine of Christ’s Satisfaction, and free Justification by the Righteousness of Christ alone, and the other great Articles of the Christian Faith: and I think all that knew him must say, that abating human Frailties, ( for no Man liveth and sinneth not) his Conversation was sutable to his Profession: So that he generally had a great calm within.

77

Joh. 6. 39, 40.

78

Heb. 12. 14.

79

Mat. 5. 8.

80

Dan. 5. 6.

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When I first visited him in his last Illness, which was a few days before he underwent a terrible*

Operation, which to mention is enough almost to chill our Blood: I say, when I first visited him, I presently enquired how things stood between God and his Soul. He told me all things were well, that he had a full assurance of the Love of God, and strong Consolation flowed into his Soul from the many great and excellent Promises which were impressed upon his Mind; and this he delivered with such an air of Humility, and such a mixture of Brokenness for the Remainders of indwelling Sin, as would even have dissolved a Rock, and caused a Flint to flow. Moreover, he told me, he was so perfectly resigned to the Will of God, that if God should bid him chuse for himself, he would refer it back to God to chuse for him, whether Life or Death.

I then inquired whether the malicious Adversary of Souls had not given him some interruption during his weakness. He signified to me, that he had been violently assaulted but a little before, but that Jesus soon bruised the Devil under his feet.

I then enquired of him, that if the Lord should remove him by Death, whether he died in perfect Charity with all the World? He readily told me he did; and he earnestly wished that he were capable of doing any thing that might serve the true Interest of the greatest of his Enemies. Several other things passed, which were savory and solid, but I cannot easily recollect them.

When I visited him again, about a day or two before his Death, returning to the same Questions, he told me all was well, that he longed to be at home; and the same day said to his surviving Half,81 I am going, I am going to my God, and your God: for he could say with Job in the Text, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall strand at the latter Day upon the Earth; and tho after my skin Worms destroy this Body, yet in my Flesh shall I see God; with these Eyes of mine shall I behold him for my self, and not for another. And the Reason why he desired that this Text might be preached upon, was, because the Lord made use of these words first of all for his Conversion, in a Funeral Sermon he heard from them: and if his request in this Matter, and the performance of it be succeeded by Heaven to the benefit of any, let the Glory be given to God.

And now to you his sorrowful Widow, and you his mournful Friends, stop your Tears; for our Friend is not dead, but sleepeth. Death approached him without a Sting, and he hath changed our Society for Abraham’s Bosom, where he shall never more be indisposed by Sickness, or the disquieting Tortures of the Stone. His Body we are going to commit to the Dust, but his Soul is fled to the Regions of Eternal Day: Therefore let us not sorrow as those without hope; for if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him.

_________________________________________

This text was transcribed from image files generated from the Google Books version of John Piggott’s book, Eleven Sermons Preach’d Upon Special Occasions (London: John Darby, 1714), 79-122 (https://books.google.com.au/books?id=ARkHAAAAQAAJ). The original is in the Bodleian Library, Oxford University.

Note: In the original text, there were a number of marginal references (mainly Scripture references).

These have been rendered as footnotes in this text. The position of these footnotes were assigned by the transcriber and any inaccuracy in their positioning is his alone.

*

He was cut for the Stone a few days before his Death.

81

His wife that lived on after he died ( Ed.).

20