Funeral Sermon on Dr John Owen

Posted under Uncategorized on September 25th, 2010 by with no responses 

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Title: Funeral Sermon on Dr John Owen
Creator(s): Clarkson, David (1622-1682)
Print Basis: The Wycliffe Society, London, 1846

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A FUNERAL SERMON ON DR. JOHN OWEN [1]

Phil. iii. 21. “Who shall change our vile body, that it may be
fashioned like unto his glorious body.”

The occasion why I pitch upon these words at this time, you are not
unacquainted with. The apostle in the beginning of this chapter, warns
the Philippians to beware of false teachers; he enforceth this with
several arguments, the principal of which are drawn from his own
example, in the body of the chapter; and then he concludes it with an
elegant antithesis, opposing them to himself, and those that faithfully
follow Christ with him: he makes use of this to enforce the dissuasive
[from an evil conversation,] in a subserviency to his main scope, ver.
19-21, “Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory
is their shame, who mind earthly things. But our conversation is in
heaven, from whence we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who
shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his
glorious body.” You may observe an antithesis in all this; they mind
earthly things, but our conversation is in heaven; their God is their
belly, but we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; their end is
destruction, but our end is glory; their glory is shameful, they glory
in their shame, but our glory shall be like that of our Lord Jesus
Christ; that which they count most glorious, is shameful; but that
which is vilest amongst us, shall be glorious: “Who shall change our
vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.”

The observation from hence is this:

Observ. The bodies of the saints shall be conformed, and made like unto
the glorious body of Jesus Christ.

The bodies of the saints, how vile soever now, shall at the
resurrection be made and fashioned like unto the glorious body of
Christ. The apostle gives a particular account of this, 1 Cor. xv.,
which I may take notice of in some particulars afterward.

For the present, the great inquiry for the explaining of this truth is:
How the bodies of deceased saints shall be like to the glorious body of
Christ?

1. Negatively.

(1.) Not by any substantial change.

The substance of their bodies shall not be changed, as one of the
ancients thought, by a mistake of the word metaschematisei used here,
inferring that the bodies of the saints at the resurrection, shall not
be of the same substance as they are now, but they shall then have
ethereal bodies: whereas both the words schema and morphe denote
quality, a change in quality, not such a substantial change as they
imagined.

(2.) They shall be like, not equal.

The words do import a resemblance, not an equality; they shall not be
equally glorious with the body of Christ. The Lord of glory in all
things must have the pre-eminence; as he was “anointed with the oil of
gladness above his fellows,” so he shall be exalted with greater glory.
But then,

2. Positively: How shall they be fashioned like unto his glorious body?

You must not expect an exact account of this; it requires the tongue of
an angel, or of some translated saint, that hath seen, and been
invested with this glory, or hath had some full view of it. This is of
the number of those things we must believe though we see not, though we
know not; it is an object of faith, not of sight, and so is
incomprehensible to us, who walk by faith, not by sight. “Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man, what
things God hath prepared for those that love him.” If this be true of
what is offered us in the Gospel, much more of what is reserved in
glory. “Now are we the sons of God,” saith the apostle, “and it doth
not appear what we shall be; but we know that when he shall appear, we
shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is;” 1 John iii. 2. And
who can describe that which doth not appear? Here “we see but as in a
glass darkly,” we have but a dim sight, such a sight of the kingdom of
glory, as the ancient people of God had of the kingdom of the Messiah:
“Abraham saw his day afar off, and rejoiced.” The wisdom of God hath
drawn a veil before that glory, and he hath drawn it in great wisdom.
If so be we had the full discovery of that glory that shall be put upon
the bodies of the saints (not to speak of that upon the soul,) if we
had the full discovery of it here upon earth, it would be as hard to
persuade the saints to be content to live on earth, as it is to
persuade the men of the world to die. As in judgment to them, so in
mercy to us, the veil still remaineth upon us; but though the veil be
not quite withdrawn, yet the Lord is pleased in the Scripture to lift
up, as it were, a corner of the veil, that we may see some glimmerings
of that glory which hereafter we shall see face to face, of which I
shall give an account in some particulars.

The raised bodies of the saints shall be like the glorious body of
Christ in these six or seven respects.

(1.) In respect of perfection, the body of Christ is perfect, so shall
theirs be perfect, both in respect of parts and degrees.

Their bodies shall have integrality [2] of parts in exact proportion,
there shall be no defect of members, no, not of those that are now
wanting; those that could find no remedy for lameness, or blindness, or
mutilation on earth, shall find it in heaven: their bodies shall be
raised in glory. So the apostle tells us, 1 Cor. xv. 43, “It shall be a
glorious body:” but it would not be so glorious if these imperfections
and defects were not removed: and it shall have exact proportion too,
there shall be no distinction in heaven between small and great; as
there shall be no infant of days, so no decrepit old age, but all shall
be reduced [3] to a perfect stature, either to the stature of the first
man Adam (for the resurrection shall be as a new creation) or to the
stature of the Lord from heaven, as the apostle calls our Lord Jesus.
There shall be a conformation to the image of the heavenly, and so [it]
shall not want its proportion. The word morphe in the text, signifies
“outward form,” and schema denotes “external figure.” Now there could
be no resemblance of the body of Christ in external form and figure,
without such proportions.

(2.) The bodies of the saints shall be like the glorious body of
Christ, in respect of impassibleness.

The body of Christ is now impassible; that is, it is not liable to any
sufferings, and so shall the bodies of the saints be; they shall be
secured from all hurtful impressions from without, and all distempers
from within; there shall be no hunger, nor thirst, no pain, no
sickness, nor suffering whatsoever; the body shall suffer no
disturbance, no inconvenience from earthly melancholy, or from dull
phlegm, or fiery choler, or from the levity of a sanguine humour, but
all shall be brought to such an exact temperament, as shall place them
above any sufferings imaginable. The body will not be passible, nor
liable to corruption, or suffering; for that which is liable to
suffering, is more or less liable to corruption, in whole, or in part;
but the bodies of the saints will be incorruptible: “It is sown in
corruption, but is raised in incorruption:” 1 Cor. xv. 42; their bodies
shall be secured from whatever may blemish their glory, or impair their
perfection, or any way disorder the constitution of it.

(3.) The bodies of the saints shall be like the glorious body of Christ
in respect of immortality.

The body of Christ is immortal; as the apostle expresses it, Rom. vi.
9, “Christ dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him;” so it
shall be with the bodies of the saints, “mortality shall then put on
immortality,” as the apostle expresses it, 1 Cor. xv. 53; when the
bodies of the saints shall be raised, they shall commence, take the
degree of souls, that is, they shall be immortal; they shall be more
secured from death in heaven, than our first parents, while innocent,
were secure from death in paradise; there shall not only be a posse non
mori, “a possibility not to die;” but a non posse mori, “an
impossibility of dying;” and that not arising from the nature of the
body, but from the decree and purpose of God, from the victory of
Christ, and from an immunity from sin: “Death shall then be swallowed
up of victory;” death shall then lie under the feet of glorified ones,
while they sing that song, 1 Cor. xv. 54-57, “Death is swallowed up in
victory: O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin; the strength of sin is the law. But thanks
be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

(4.) The bodies of the saints shall be like that glorious body of
Christ, in respect of agility; that quickness, nimbleness, and
wonderful celerity of glorified bodies, an instance whereof we have in
the ascent of Christ’s body from earth to heaven. The distance between
the highest heaven, and the earth, is computed by astronomers to be
some hundred millions of miles, so that if he finished that distance in
a day, and we have no reason to think it so long, his body must move
some millions of miles in an hour. But not to insist upon that, the
bodies of the saints shall move when, where, how, and as fast as the
soul pleases, without any reluctancy, without any toil or trouble to
the body. The body shall be then immediately subject to the soul, as
the soul shall be subject to God: nor will this motion be any
disturbance to them. For what one of the ancients saith of the angels,
shall be true of the bodies of the saints: “Wherever they move, they
move not out of the blessed presence, out of the inhappying [4]
presence of Christ.”

(5.) The bodies of the saints shall be like the glorious body of Christ
in respect of spirituality.

The body of Christ is now a spiritual body: not that it is changed into
the nature of a spirit; Christ prevents that mistake, Luke xxiv. 39.
“Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; handle me, and see,
for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have.” The body is
not changed into the nature of a spirit, but it is said to be
spiritual, because it is elevated to the highest degree of perfection
and excellency that the body is capable of, brought as near to the
angelical nature, as is consistent with the essence of a body. So the
bodies of the saints shall be spiritual bodies, not changed into the
nature of spirits, but they shall be purged, defecated, and cleansed
from all the dross, and mud, and feculency of an earthly temper, and
their senses shall be refined to heavenly, all their acts and motions
shall be advanced to a spiritual perfection: there shall be none of
those parts, none of those actions from which the body is denominated a
natural, or an animal body: “It is sown a natural body, it is raised a
spiritual body:” there will be no need of meat, drink, or sleep. Our
Lord Jesus Christ calls the raised bodies, isangeloi, like to the
angels in this respect, for in the resurrection, “they shall neither
marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God in
heaven,” Matt. xxii. 30.

(6.) The bodies of the saints shall be like the glorious body of
Christ, in respect of splendour and beauty.

He gave a glimpse of that glory to his disciples in his
transfiguration; Matt. xvii. 1, 2. “He took some of his disciples into
a high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: his face did
shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light;” it was
glistering, saith the other evangelist; so shall the bodies of the
saints be, they shall shine as the firmament and stars; Dan. xii. 3.
“They that are wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and
they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever;”
not only as the firmament and stars, but as the sun; Matt. xiii. 43.
“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun, in the kingdom of
their Father.” The purest and most lovely complexion, the most
exquisite beauty on earth, is but darkness and deformity to that which
shall shine forth in the glorified bodies of the saints: they shall
shine as the sun, with a brighter lustre than that of the sun, with
such a splendour as shall never be clouded, never be eclipsed, never
obscured. If the glory of Solomon did transport the queen of Sheba,
when she saw him, so that it is said, “there was no more spirit left
within her,” 1 Kings x. 5, how ravishing will the sight of those
glorious bodies be, whose splendour, whose glory shall as far exceed
that of Solomon’s, as the glory of the sun exceeds that of a lily! If a
little converse with God put such a glory upon Moses’s face, that the
people were not able to behold it, [because] their eyes were too weak;
what glory will shine forth in the bodies of the saints, of those that
converse with God for ever, who will see him face to face unto all
eternity! “And we all with open face,” saith the apostle, “beholding
the glory of the Lord, as in a glass, are thereby changed from glory to
glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.” By this we may guess, indeed we
can do little more than guess as to these things, farther than the
Scripture leads us, but by this we may conjecture, how these bodies
that are now so vile, should have such a glory derived upon them. The
moon is of itself a dark, gross, opacous [5] body, much like the earth,
as it is now generally concluded, and capable of demonstration; but the
sun darting its beams upon it, makes it a lightsome and glorious
planet; so the bodies of the saints, though vile in themselves, yet by
the glory of Christ darting on them, shall be made glorious bodies.

(7.) They shall be like him in respect of glorious dignities and
privileges.

It is the glorious privilege of Christ, that he sits on the right hand
of God, as Mediator, in respect of his human nature; “The Lord said
unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand. Him hath God exalted to be a
prince, King of kings, and Lord of lords;” and he hath glorious
regalities, ensigns of royalty; he hath a throne, and a crown, and a
sceptre: “Thy throne, O God” (it is spoken of Christ, as Mediator)
“endures for ever; the sceptre of thy kingdom, it is a right sceptre, a
sceptre of righteousness.” And he shall exercise his royal power in a
glorious manner, in a judiciary way, when he shall descend corporally
to judge both the quick and the dead. Now the saints shall partake of
these glorious privileges, or of something like them: they shall stand
at the right hand of Christ: “Upon thy right hand did stand the queen
in gold of Ophir,” Psal. xlv. 9. The bodies of the saints shall have
possession of a glorious kingdom, a kingdom of glory: “Fear not, little
flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” And
they have glorious ensigns of royalty ascribed to them. They have a
crown: “when the chief Shepherd shall appear, we shall receive a crown
of glory;” yea, the Lord himself will be their crown, as the expression
is, Isa. xxviii. 5. “In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown
of glory and for a diadem of beauty to the residue of his people.” How
glorious will it be for them, not only to be crowned by the Lord, but
to have the Lord himself to be their crown! And they shall partake with
him in the glory of judging quick and dead; they shall sit with him in
his throne: “To him that overcometh will I give to sit with me on my
throne, as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father on his
throne.” They shall join with Christ as assessors in that glorious act
of judgment; they shall not only judge the world, but the angels: “Know
ye not,” saith the apostle, “that we shall judge angels?”

And so much for the explication of this truth.

I might improve it several ways.

Use 1. By the way of inference: If the bodies of the saints shall be so
glorious, what glory then will be put upon their souls! If the body,
the vile body shall be advanced to such a glory, what glory will be put
upon the soul, which is the prime receptacle of the image of God! If
glory be the portion of the body, the soul will much more exceed in
glory.

Use 2. Let us here take notice of the love of Christ, the wonderful
love of Christ, that he will take notice of the bodies of his people,
of that which is so vile, bodies that are vile in themselves, and much
more vile as they are instruments of sin; bodies that are vile while
they live, but much viler when they are dead; noisome by putrefaction,
or devoured by vermin, or dissolved into dust. Will the King of glory
take notice of such vile things? Can he think thoughts of love
concerning objects that are so unlovely? Yes, thoughts of love indeed,
to make things so vile to be glorious, glorious like himself. Was it
not enough that he redeemed men from wrath, delivered them from going
into the pit of destruction? Was it not enough to make their souls
glorious, but will he make their bodies glorious too? Was it not enough
to make their bodies like the stars, or the sun, but to make them
glorious like himself? Must his own glory be the pattern of theirs?
Will nothing less satisfy the love of Christ, but imparting to these
vile bodies his own glory? Oh, what manner of love is this! So dear are
the saints to him, such love he hath for them, as [6] the very vilest
thing belonging to them shall partake of his own glory, shall be made
glorious like himself. As Mephibosheth said to David: “What is thy
servant that thou shouldest look on such a dead dog as I am?” With much
more reason may we say, and that with astonishment, What are we, O
Lord, that thou shouldst look upon such vile dust, which is even
trampled under the feet of the beasts, that thou shouldst advance us to
such a height of honour, that thou shouldst crown us with glory, with
such a glory, a glory like thine own?

Use 3. For inquiry: How shall we know whether we are of the number of
those whose vile bodies shall be fashioned like to the glorious body of
Christ? There are several characters in this chapter by which it may be
known: I shall only name them.

(1.) Those that worship God in the spirit.

(2.) Those that rejoice in Christ Jesus.

(3.) Those whose conversation is in heaven. And,

(4.) Those that look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; you have
these two last in the verse before my text, but I must not insist on
them.

Use 4. This should teach us to mix our grief for the loss of deceased
relatives (those that die in the Lord) with joy. Some sorrow is
allowed. They are reckoned among the worst of sinners, that are
astorgoi, without natural affection. Stoical senselessness is inhuman,
it is far from being Christian, or evangelical. We may mourn for
ourselves in reference to the great advantages that we lose by those we
are bereaved of, especially if they are spiritual advantages: we may
mourn in reference to the places where they lived, it portends evil to
those places: “For the righteous are taken away from the evil to come.”
When those that should stand in the gap are removed, there is wrath
breaking in upon that people without any remedy: we may mourn in
reference to ourselves, but in reference to them we have cause to
rejoice. If we mourn, it should not be as those without hope.
Immoderate sorrow hath its rise from self-love. Will you count him a
friend who grieves at your preferment? The death of the saints is the
highway to glory. The apostle calls death a seed-time, that is, a time
of hope, not of mourning; and a time in reference to an expected
harvest, is a time of rejoicing.

But we may mourn, we of this congregation have a particular cause to do
it. I shall speak something of that excellent person that we have lost:
but what I shall say, as the time will permit me, is but little
concerning that great worthy. It was my unhappiness that I had so
little and late acquaintance with him, which makes me not competent for
such an undertaking; the account that is due to the world, requires a
volume, and a better hand than mine, which I hope it will meet with in
time: only let me touch some generals, [7] which may help us to a sense
of our loss, without which we are not like[ly] to make such an
improvement of it, as the Lord expects from those upon whom his hand is
fallen so heavy.

A great light is fallen; one of eminency for holiness, learning, parts,
and abilities; a pastor, a scholar, a divine of the first magnitude;
holiness gave a Divine lustre to his other accomplishments, it shined
in his whole course, and was diffused through his whole conversation. I
need not tell you of this that knew him, and observed that it was his
great design to promote holiness in the power, life, and exercise of it
among you. It was his great complaint that the power of it declined
among professors. It was his care and endeavour to prevent or cure
spiritual decays in his own flock. He was a burning and a shining
light, and you for a while rejoiced in his light: alas! that it was but
for a while, and that we cannot rejoice in it still!

Those practical discourses which he published to the world, did give a
taste that his spirit and temper was under the influence and power of
holiness. There are some creatures that love to bark at the light,
instead of making a better use of it: he met with such, I mean some
that wrote against him, who thought themselves concerned to represent
him [as] odious to the world, but with great advantage to him, because
they could not do it but by groundless surmises and false suggestions,
such as showed the authors of them malicious, and rendered them
ridiculous.

He was master of all parts of learning requisite to an accomplished
divine; those that understood him, and will be just, cannot deny him
the reputation and honour of a great scholar; and those that detract
from him in this, seem to be led by a spirit of envy, that would not
suffer them willingly to see so great an ornament among those that are
of another persuasion. Indeed he had parts able to master anything he
applied himself unto, though he restrained himself to those studies
which might render him most serviceable to Christ, and the souls of
men. He had extraordinary intellectuals, [8] a vast memory, a quick
apprehension, a clear and piercing judgment; he was a passionate lover
of light and truth, of Divine truth especially; he pursued it
unweariedly, through painful and wasting studies, such as impaired his
health and strength, such as exposed him to those distempers with which
he conflicted many years: and some may blame him for this as a sort of
intemperance, but it is the most excusable of any, and looks like a
voluntary martyrdom. However it showed he was ready to spend, and be
spent, for Christ: he did not bury his talent, with which he was richly
furnished, but still laid it out for the Lord who had intrusted him. He
preached while his strength and liberty would serve, then by discourse
and writing.

That he was an excellent preacher none will deny who knew him, and knew
what preaching was, and think it not the worse because it is spiritual
and evangelical. He had an admirable facility in discoursing on any
subject, pertinently and decently, and could better express himself
extempore, than others with premeditation. He was never at a loss for
want of expression; a happiness few can pretend to; and this he could
show upon all occasions, in the presence of the highest persons in the
nation, and from the greatest to the meanest. He hereby showed he had
the command of his learning. His vast reading and experience was hereby
made useful, in resolving doubts, clearing what was obscure, advising
in perplexed and intricate cases and breaches, or healing them which
sometimes seemed incurable. Not only we, but all his brethren will have
reason to bewail the loss of him. His conversation was not only
advantageous in respect to his pleasantness and obligingness; but there
was that in it which made it desirable to great persons, natives and
foreigners, and that by so many, that few could have what they desired.

I need speak nothing of his writings, though that is another head that
I intimated; they commend themselves to the world. If holiness,
learning, and a masculine unaffected style can commend anything, his
practical discourses cannot but find much acceptation with those who
are sensible of their soul concerns, and can relish that which is
Divine, and value that which is not common or trivial. His excellent
Comment upon the Hebrews gained him a name and esteem, not only at
home, but in foreign countries. When he had finished it (and it was a
merciful providence that he lived to finish it) he said, Now his work
was done, it was time for him to die. There were several other
discourses that seem controversial, and are so: our loss of him in this
respect seems to be irreparable, for anything that is in our present
prospect. The due management of controversies requires so great
abilities, that there is not one among a hundred of our divines, are
competently qualified for that; and the truths of the Gospel, which
should be dearer to us than our outward concerns, are like to be
suppressed or adulterated, unless the Spirit of truth stir up and
empower some to assert and vindicate them. He had a singular dexterity
this way, for the managing of controversies; and those truths that he
vindicated, were such as were most in danger by the apostatising spirit
of this age: some may think his genius led him much to study debates,
but so far as I have observed, he did not affect to be an aggressor,
but still was on the defensive, and proceeded with such temper, that he
would rather oblige his adversary (if a lover of truth) than exasperate
him. He made it appear [that] he did not write so much against any
man’s person, as for the truth: I heard one of them declare, it would
not trouble a man to be opposed in such a way as this great doctor did
treat his greatest antagonist. It is usual with persons of
extraordinary parts, to struggle from the common road, and affect
novelty, though thereby they lose the best company; as though they
could not appear eminent, unless they march alone. But this great
person did not affect singularity; they were old truths that he
endeavoured to defend, those that were transmitted to us by our first
reformers, and owned by the best divines of the Church of England. What
the truth has lost by this, I cannot easily say.

But it falleth heaviest and most directly upon this congregation; we
had a light in this candlestick, which did not only enlighten the room,
but gave light to others far and near: but it is put out; we did not
sufficiently value it; I wish I might not say, that our sins have put
it out. We had a special honour and ornament, such as other churches
would much prize; but the crown is fallen from our heads: yea, may I
not add, Woe unto us, for we have sinned! We have lost an excellent
pilot, and lost him when a fierce storm is coming upon us, when we have
most need of him. I dread the consequences, considering the weakness of
those that are left at the helm. If we are not sensible of it, it is
because our blindness is great. Let us beg of God, that he would
prevent what this threatens us with, and that he would make up this
loss, or that it may be repaired, or at least that the sad consequences
of it may be prevented. And let us pray in the last words of this dying
person to me: “That the Lord would double his Spirit upon us, that he
would not remember against us former iniquities; but that his tender
mercies may speedily prevent us, for we are brought very low.”
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[1] This Sermon was preached the next Lord’s-day after the Doctor’s
interment.

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