This will appear by considering, that whatever is requisite to con- stitute the perfect blessedness of man is fully enjoyed in the divine presence.
First, An exemption from all evils is the first condition of perfect blessedness. The sentence of wise Solon is true in another sense than he intended.
Dicique beatus
Ante obitum nemo, supremaque funera debet.
No man can be named happy whilst in this valley of tears. But upon the entrance into heaven, all those evils that by their number, variety, or weight disquiet and oppress us, are at an end. ,
Sin, of all evils the most hateful, shall be abolished, and all temp- tations that surround us and endanger our innocence will cease. Here the best men lament the weakness of the flesh, and sometimes the violent assaults of spiritual enemies. St Paul himself breaks forth into a mournful complaint, ' 0 wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from this body of d/sath ? ' And, when harassed with the buffptings
DR MANTOn's funeral SERMON. 12T
of Satan, renews his most earnest addresses to God to be freed fronr them. Here our pm'ity is not absolute ; we must be always cleansing ourselves from the relics of that deep defilement that cleaves to our nature. Here our peace is preserved with the sword in our hand, by a continual warfare against Satan and the world. But in heaven no ignorance darkens the mind, no passions rebel against the sanctified will, no inherent pollution remains. The church is ' without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing.' And all temptations 'that war against the soul ' shall then cease. The tempter was cast out of heaven, and none of his poisoned arrows can reach that purified company. Glorious liberty ! here ardently desired, but fully enjoyed by the sons of God above.
And as sin, so all the penal consequences of it are quite taken away. The present life is an incurable disease, and sometimes attended with that sharp sense that death is desired as a remedy and accepted as a benefit. And though the saints have reviving cordials, yet their joys are mixed with sorrows, nay, caused by sorrows. The tears of repent- ance are their sweetest refreshment. Here the living stones are cut and wounded, and made fit by sufferings for a temple unto God in the new Jerusalem. But as in the building of Solomon's temple the noise of a hammer was not heard, for all the parts were framed before with that exact design and correspondence that they firmly combined together ; they were hewn in another place, and nothing remained but the putting them one upon another in the temple, and then, as sacred, they were inviolable ; so God, the architect, having prepared the saints here by many cutting afilictions, places them in the eternal building, where no voice of sorrow is heard. Of the innumerable com- pany above, is there any eye that weeps, any breast that sighs, any tongue that complains, or appearance of grief ? The heavenly state is called ' life,' as only worthy of that title. There is no infirmity of body, no poverty, no disgrace, treachery of friends, no persecution of enemies : ' There is no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor shall there be any more pain ; for former things are passed away,' Kev. xxi. 4. * God will wipe away all tears from the eyes of his people.' Their salvation is complete in all degrees. Pure joy is the privilege of heaven, unmixed sorrows the punishment of hell.
A concurrence of all positive excellences is requisite to blessedness, and these are to be considered with respect to the entire man.
I. The body shall be awaked out of its dead sleep, and quickened into a glorious immortal life. The soul and body are the essential parts of man ; and though the inequality be great in their operations that respect holiness, yet their concourse is necessary. Good actions are designed by the counsel and resolution of the Spirit, but performed by the ministry of the flesh. Every grace expresses itself in visible actions by the body. In the sorrows of repentance it supplies tears; in fastings its appetites are restrained ; in thanksgivings the tongue breaks forth into the joyful praises of God. All the victories over sensible pleasure and pain are obtained by the soul in conjunction with the body. Now it is most becoming the divine goodness not to deal so differently that the soul should be everlastingly happy, and the body lost in forgetf nl- iiess; the one glorified in heaven, the other remain in the dust. Froiu
128 DR manton's funeral sermon.
their first setting out in the world to the grave, they ran the same race, and shall enjoy the same reward. Here the body is the comfort of the soul in obedience and sufferings, hereafter in fruition. When the crown of purity or palm of martyrdom shall be given by the great Judge in the view of all, they shall both partake in the honour. Of this we have an earnest in the resurrection of Christ in his true body, who ' is the first-fruits of them that sleep,' 1 Cor. xv. 21 ; 'He shall change our vile bodies, that they may be fashioned like to his glorious body, accord- ing to the working of his power, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself,' Phil. iii. 21. A substantial, unfading glory will shine in them infinitely above the perishing pride of this world, that is but in appear- ance, like the false colours painted on the feathers of a dove by the reflection of the light, which presently vanish when it changeth its posture, or the light is withdrawn. Indeed, what can be more glorious than to be conformed to the humanity of Christ, the seat of all beauty and perfection ? This conformity shall be the work of his own hands. And when omnipotence interposes, nothing is difficult. The raising the body to an unchangeable state of glory is as easy to the divine power as the forming it at first in the womb ; as the sun labours no more in the mines in the forming gold and silver, the most precious and durable metals, than in the production of a poor short-lived flower. II. The soul shall be made perfect in all its faculties. 1. The understanding shall clearly see the most excellent objects : ■' Now we know but in part,' 1 Cor. xiii. The naked beauty of divine things is veiled, and of impossible discovery ; and the weakness of the mind is not proportionable to their dazzling brightness. But when that which is perfect is come, ' then that which is in part shall be done away.' In that enlightened state the glorious manifestation of the objects shall as much exceed the clearest revealing of them here, as the sun in its full lustre one beam of light strained through a crevice in the wall. And the understanding shall be prepared to take a full view of them. Therefore the apostle compares the several periods of the church, in respect of the degrees of knowledge, to the several ages of this life : ' When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child ; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.' In children the organs, either from an excess of moisture or their smallness, are indisposed for the vigorous exercise of the mind ; some strictures of reason appear, a presaging sign what will be, but mixed with much obscurity ; but when the organs are come to their just proportion and temperament, the soul displays its strength and activity.