soule this day is so farre from administring feare in death to soules in Christ that it is the comfort in which those earthly tabernacles goe to the dust beleeving That what is sowne in corruption shall bee raised in incorruption what is sowne in dishonour shall be raised in glory and what in weaknesse shall be raised in power and though it be sowne a noturall body yet it shall bee raised a spirituall body 1 Cor. 15.42 43 44. So that the feare of eternall death and judgement is wholy taken away from this naturall death where Christ hath taken away away the sting But secondly The men of the World will tell you they are afraid of death because it cuts them off from their Worldly delights they can finde no other fault with the World but that it perisheth coold they injoy it for ever though there be many bryers in this Wildernesse yet they could make their Canaan in it so that they might never be stripped of it but they know when death shall once close their eyes they must bid adue to all their Worldly delights never to see or enjoy them more and upon this consideration as well as the former death is the King of feares and 〈…〉 unto them But it is quite contrary with the soule in Christ he concludes if his hopes and comfort were onely in the World he were of all men most miserable hee blesseth God for every wildernesse mercy but he lives onely in God himselfe it is his joy to looke upon the World as perishing and his body a decaying for the top of his glory and the expectation of his soule is to be dissolved and to be with Christ he counts the worldlings choyce of mercy to be the greatest misery To be ever in the World would bee worse then ten thousand thousands of deaths to his body his pantings are to be absent from the body that he might be fully present with the Lord he doth acknowledge God to be glorious in his footstoole but as an heire of God he thirsts to be in the glory of his throne if you tell him of pleasure and delights in the World his answer is that communion with God is full of pleasure and delight where ever it be but sayes he the World cloudeth these joyes and eclipseth this communion therefore O that I were stript of this dying flesh that I might have full communion and fellowship with God in the spirit that I might drinke freely of the waters of life in the fountaine this soule reckons all the delights and pleasures of the world to be amongst the wise mans vanities and having tasted Christ the bread of life in his Fathers house and in him the love of his Fathers heart can neither feede upon nor delight in the empty buskes of this perishing World if any ambitious worldling telleth him it is very good to be honourable I sayes he If you meane that honour which floweth from being precious in the sight of God and having an interest in his love 43 Isay 4. He gives this one answer to the worldling in all his proposals of pleasure and beauty in this life sayes he God is the beauty of the whole creation as the originall fulnesse of it so that it wholy depends upon his will and that which is our glory is God himselfe who is the glory of Heaven and earth though the World withers yet he is for ever glorious and he is his peoples glory therefore the worldlings feare in death upon this account is not a Saints feare for his glory is out of the World even in God and his delight and affections are in things above not in things on the earth and that because He is risen with Christ his affections are risen before his body is dead the delight of his heart is in Heaven though the flesh of it be in his body 3 Col. 1 2. this soule is crucified with Christ to the World and the World to him 6 Gal. 14. so that neither his joyes nor his feares are with the worldling if death can onely strip him of the World he hath no cause to feare death nay death commeth too late in that for hee through Christ is dead to the World whilst he liveth and is above all the feares of death because his life is hid with Christ in God I but sayes the worldling I am afraid of death because it takes me from all my sweet relations here on earth I must dye to them and they to me it is true indeed but herein the beleeving soule is no looser he leaveth the drops of corrupted creatures love to be swallowed up into the Ocean of Gods power and eternall love he leaveth those broken Cisterns of love which in a little time would leave him and is taken up into the Father and fountaine of love in the glory of love and free grace for ever he now comes to taste love in the originall and readeth it as it was in the heart of God to him from eternity and shall be to eternity in the fulnesse of Gods love so full that there will not be the want of any sweet or relation for all will be made up in God there is no complaining in the streets of the new Jerusalem no want of relations God will be a Father Christ will be a husband Saints glorified our brethren Sisters and asociates to all eternity we shall want no relations in Heaven nor shall any relations there want perfection for all there shall be compleat in Christ and filled with the fulnesse of God we leave a World of wants and it is to possesse a Heaven of fulnesse and glory I but sayes a tender hearted Father or Mother will not my Children my little babes want me Truly no for your worke in the decree of Heaven is done before God suffers death to cut your thread of life and t is our unbeliefe that telleth us it were better either for us or ours that we had more work in the World then God hath appointed us had we more dayes we could not in them make a haire black or white we could not in our selves add that little to our little ones Our Fathers kindnesse will bee our Childrens comfort and hee liveth when wee are dead to them and alive with him the presence of God with our children will be their blessed portion though we be absent to beleeve in this his love and faithfulnesse will be a blessed rest to us and ours we shall leave them well in leaving them with God and need not feare the leaving them when we are going to God death in taking us from our children to carry us home to our Father will advantage us and not disadvantage ours for though he filleth us with all fulnesse of love and glory in Heaven yet he is neverthelesse full but can also fill our children on earth and such as taste of his love and grace have no cause to doubt of the freenesse and fulnesse thereof I but
of God in his word but to the eye of a believer beholding God and every part of his revealed will in Christ all is alike In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God That was spoken of Christ now the Believer alwayes beholding God in Christ which is his originall word and the Scripture only Christ written out in the Spirit doth behold God in his originall and in his written word in every part of it one so that every part is of like beauty and pretiousnesse to the soule of a believer Having opened my selfe thus farre I shall doe it farther and declare that to have any hope left to live as sinfull nature pleases casting the revealed word of God behind their backs and under a notion of redemption to deny the Redeemer to talk of free-grace and to trample grace under foote to deny the Lord that bought them in walking as doe others that know not Christ This is so far from entring into my thoughts from that freedome I have pleaded for all this time that if I should name this and call it darknesse I should call it Aegyptian darkenesse so farre from freedome that it is bondage beyond expression The second of the Ephesians sets it out best in these termes The power of the Prince of the Aire ruling in the children of disobedience But that freedome I plead for is the power of the Lord of glory ruling by his Spirit in his children of light and life My aime is not to take away that holy just and good law of God out of the conscience of a believer but as God doth with his people in the new Covenant and in Christ the mediator of it establish them in a better covenant Heb. 8. upon better promises so would I only hold out the matter of the law taken out of the hand of Moses which was but a servant and established in the heart of Christ which is the Son and by the Son in the spirit of light and life written in the heart and conversation of every believing soule And lesse then this I thinke is not in the covenant of the Almighty when he convenants to put his law in our inward parts and to write it in our hearts For my authority in this I shall say as the Apostle Paul in the 3d of Rom. the last vers when in the greatest part of the chapter he hath pleaded this very cause that I doe he concludes in these words Doe we then make void the law through faith God forbid Yea we establish the law So that it is cleare the law of life that makes us free from the law of sin and death which is Christ living by his Spirit in the conscience is not to make void but to establish upon better promises from a law of death to be a law of life Thus much in generall But more particularly I lay downe this as my light that the law is now in the Spirit in the Gospel for a believer to walk by the law is made Gospel as Christ is made flesh the Gospel is both a perfect law of life and righteousnesse of grace and truth why should we separate that which God hath in his free-grace joyned together namely Law and Gospel in one under the government that is given to the childe Jesus Nor is the holinesse or sanctification that God lookes for in his believing Saints such as is falsehood by the law or outward command but by the preaching of faith by which the spirit is given which renewes and sanctifies a Believer and makes him the very law of Commandements in himselfe and his heart the very two Tables of Moses And though the law be a beame of Christ in substance and matter yet we are not to live by the light of one beame now when the Son of righteousnesse is risen himselfe that was a fitter light for those who lived in the regions of the shadow of death it is with the law now or light of righteousnesse as it was with the light in the creation when that which was scattered was gathered into one body of light So Christ now being revealed holinesse and righteousnesse as well as grace and love is revealed in him and and gathered up in him The word is now flesh and dwels amongst us and we behold his glory as the glory of the only begotten sonne full of truth as well as grace is in substance by the Spirit set downe 2 Cor. 3.16 17 18. verses There is the vaile taken away in turning to the Lord. There is Christ held forth to be the Spirit and the spirit of liberty to his people but observe the fruits of this liberty it is from sinne not to sinne but we all with open face beholding as in a glasse the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord or of the Lord the spirit so it is in the margine Thus is Christ that Sunne to us which warmes us in the very shining upon us the Believer works walks and lives under the Gospel as beholding his perfect redemption wrought in Christ and so brings forth the power of this redemption and salvation through the spirit of Adoption freely working to the praise of his free-grace and freely obeying from the life of this redemption doing every thing in love because of his love shed abroad in our hearts and neither taking in judgements hell or damnation nay not heaven or glory to force on the worke or quicken the duty but doing all from the spirit of life in Christ Jesus except when corruption or temptation hindereth the freenesse and spiritualnesse in the duty A Spirit at this pitch is Christ and his beloved both met in his garden of spices and by feeding on the honey in the honey-combe Christ fils the soule with himselfe and delights himselfe in that fulnesse that is himselfe So the soule in communion with Christ in the Spirit sees it selfe compleat in Christ so joyes in its Masters joy alwayes satisfying it selfe in that love that is Christ himselfe and is able to trumpet out its glory to the world My beloved is mine and I am his This is Christ and his office branches setting about God alwayes feeding on the banquet of love and fitting under the benner of love God beholding every elect soule in Christ the soule beholds God in Christ and Christ beholds himselfe and all his in God and this vision in one spirit swallowes up all into one God beholds every elect soule as Christ Christ beholds every branch in him as of him beholding us in that glory we shall have with him when he appeares in his fulnesse of glory and the believing soule in the Spirit beholding its justification sanctification and redemption and Christ one in eternall love the soule is in this light transformed into this love that is God himselfe so sees nothing of God but what is all God such a soule knowes no divided Christ
hath laid the bodies of Saints in the dust there is the end of his office and when the grave hath swallowed up the corruption of those bodies then its worke is done too but then Christ hath an eternall wo ke in his hands to raise it a spirituall body that the fulnesse of his redemption may be made up so as that soule and body both may be filled with the fulnesse of his redemption and in this worke Christ commands both death and grave to give up their dead bodies and then he spirits his owne sutable to that eternall life which they are to possesse The Scripture tels us That Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept 1 Cor. 15.20 That is Christ is first in the resurrection but so as hee is the first fruits a testimony of resurrection to all that sleepe and in Rom. 8.11 the Apostle telleth us That the same power which raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken our mortall bodies by his Spirit So in 1 Thes 4.16 For the Lord himselfe shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voyce of the Arch-Angel and with the trumpe of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first I mention these Scriptures to shew the victory that Saints have in Christ over death and grave and to me they give full satisfaction and ample proofe in them to the thing in hand that neither death can hurt nor grave hold so much as the body of a Saint in Christ but on the contrary that the very bodies of Saints have victory over death in dying and that Saints have exceeding cause to glory over death under this consideration as well as all or any of the former I shall next take into consideration in some few particulars the benefits and advantages that believing Saints through Christ have by death both in our soules and bodies I will begin with the bodies First Death freeth us from all the naturall infirmities and diseases of our bodies One complaines that winde makes a torturing tumult all his body over the bowels and the body full and they fill the head so that there is no free part Another he complains that fluxe of water hath filled his veins chil'd his bloud and num'd his joynts so that aches are in all his bones A third complains that gravell lyeth in his reines teares his kidneyes and stops his bladder so that his whole life is as it were upon the torturing racke there be many more complainers besides these which goe from man to man to make their moane and begge their help for a little ease though but for a little time which sometimes they finde but often returne from fellow-creatures as miserable as they came but when Death comes without his sting he makes a perfect cure of all sorrowes and paine for ever among creatures wee seeke ease with teares but death hee brings full and lasting ease and wipes away all teares from our eyes Death puts an end to hunger and thirst to cold and nakednesse to labour and wearinesse in short to all wants and to all woes the grave is quiet it is the only piece of quiet earth that man can meete withall though a little above the grave on the earth there be cryings out and complainings yet the grave is quiet nothing can disturb the rest and quiet of that bed it is not capable of disturbance therefore exceeding usefull to rest in this I assure you is a greater benefit then all the living World enjoyes beside Crownes have their crosses States their crackes all persons and things their wants every person state condition and thing under the sinne wrapped up in vanity all wants are buried no where but in the grave of death The body of man never bids adiew to all want til it be embraced in the arms of death and laid to rest in that quiet center of the earth but when death comes without its sting it brings this certaine benefit and advantage with it A second benefit and advantage of the body of Saints in death without its sting is this It takes from the worlds scorne and cruelty When the bodies of Saints are in the grave Worldlings must seeke some other object for their slander scorn or cruelty they will finde no sap or moisture in the dust of Saints to feede these lusts withall the derision and persecution of Gods deare Saints on Earth is the pastime and practise of sinning soules like the flye that sports it selfe about the candle till shee have burnt her wings but God hath his time to ease his people of this burthen and if not before yet certainly and fully when death comes is this worke effected Saints whilst they live in the bodie are with their spirits above the worlds scornes and cruelties but when death comes then the body gets beyond them too so that here is another benefit in death it freeth them from the scorns of fools and the cruelty of cruell men The wicked worldlings counts a Saint to be the only troubler of the people and place wherein hee lives but when death comes to a Saint he is very willing to leave the world their portion and their elbow-roome hee is not desirous to trouble them any longer all he desires is a little earth to lye downe to sleepe in and that the world is content withall wishing that al the rest were there too this is a benefit which a Saint with submission to the wil of God desires many an houre before it comes he is as willing to be at home in his owne inheritance as the worldling is to have him out of his now death crownes these longing in Saints and brings in the harvest of many prayers which the spirit hath made for this very thing so that in these and many more particulers is death beneficial and advantageous to the body of Saints But I shal mention two generals in which death without its sting is through Christ exceeding advantagious and benificous to the soules of beleeving Saints First It delivers them from a body of sinne a place of temptations and darknesse which is the whole complaint of Saints whilst they are in the flesh the Apostle Paul complaines of the Law in his members which rebelled against the Law of his minde and of the body of death how often doth the Prophet David pray to be kept from temptations and to be inlightned in his darknesse that God would shew him the way he should walke in and make his pathes straight Saints desire to be uncloathed of the body of flesh because they are capable of sinning in that body any it is a body which tempts to sinne and in which the soule is under much darknesse And therefore groanes within our selves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body 8. Rom. 23. It is very sweet to bee delivered from temptations that they get not the upper hand so as to lead the soule captive at their will
refreshes the City of God namely to eye God in all his dispensations to us as a Father of love to his children doth God lay us upon beds of sicknesse and leade us through a wildernesse of afflictions in this life yet behold now are we the sonnes of God and in all this God is a loving Father and all his dispensations are filled and managed to us by and with his love Now I even now from all eternity and to all eternity are we the children of God There may be many times when it may be truly said we doe not act as the children of God but there is no time when it can be truly said that an elect soule is not the childe of God for now even before all time were we sonnes though yet we enjoy not the fulnesse of our interest as sons If you object and say must I apply this time now when I sinne must I then looke on my selfe as a childe of God I answer yes we must and no time more needfull then that I shall demonstrate this truth under these considerations First that according to the law of the Gospel and the Covenant of free-grace there is no other way left to restore a soule fallen in sinne but beholding our interest in the free love of God and so in Christ the great gift of his love that dyed for us is risen againe and now lives for us and makes continuall intercession for us at Gods right hand in glory If sin be the wound what shall be the cure but free-grace If self slay selfe who shall make us alive but Christ as wee are united to him in the love of God Whether shal we goe from the rock of ages to find relief in so sad a state and how shall we justifie it at the throne of grace if we flye to duty and possibly under such a notion as this to fit us for Christ and for mercy will free grace approve of this Is not the law of boasting excluded by the law of faith And what advantage poore soule will it be to thee when thou art stung with sin that fiery Serpent to looke on thy duties will one sin cure another No Christ is the balme of Gilead It is only looking upon thy interest in God and Christ that will restore thy soule It is nothing but looking upon Christ who was typified by that brazen Serpent in the wildernesse which can fetch out the sting of the fiery Serpent of sinne If we looke to the cause in our hearts that keepes us below ous interest poring upon a duty to relieve us under a sinning condition Wee shal finde the cause to be unbeliefe and now poore soule tell me is not this the top of all sinne Unbeliefe makes a soule deny the Lord that bought it it undervalues the Covenant of free-grace the soule must have no life till it have something of it selfe to live upon if unbeliefe may rule and truly this is the workings of our hearts when in a sinning state we doe not eye and improve our interest as we are the children of God by improving our interest in God as our Father by the Spirit The poore soule that sinnes and is within the Covenant of grace can looke upon that love of God which made Christ to be made sinne for us and wee the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5 last That soule which eyes its interestin God and Christ hath by vertue of it in the Spirit power over sinne in all points Sin shall not condemn Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus So in the reigning power of sin Sinne shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law but under grace Rom. 6.14 But if a soul decline Christ and its interest in the love of God for its object under a sinning state goe whither it will sinne will revive and the soule shall dye This is the first demonstration of the truth That no other object but our interest in God and Christ is able to restore a sinning soule to life againe all other objects besides this encreaseth sinne in the soule and there is no object but this can carry the soule above sin A second demonstration why an elect soule should under a sinning state looke on its interest in God and Christ is this Because no other object but this can destroy the sin Sin will reigne till Christ reigne and one Text sayes Christ is made to us of God wisdome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption It is in the great defigne of God to glorifie his free-grace that Christ should sanctifie us not our selves So the Apostle Rom. 8.10 And if Christ be in you the body is dead because of sinne The power of sin dyes only where Christ lives So the same Apostle 2 Cor. 5.17 Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature Olde things are passed away all things are become new It is only the presence of Christ that overcomes the old nature in man and slayes the old corruptions goe to what poole you will to be cleansed of your corruptions they will be all helpelesse in themselves If we goe to Duties and to Ordinances wee may lye there all our dayes and never have a cure of this evill of sin till Christ the Angel of the Covenant come and trouble the waters I and hee must put them in too with his owne hand of love all the cure must lye upon his hand This is the top of our glory that we are meerely passive Christ and free-grace is only active in all that concernes the good and welfare of our soules what cause then hath a sinning soule to looke of his interest in God Christ since there lies all his reliefe it is Sathans counsell wee take in so doing the mind and will of God is that wee should looke upon him whom we have pierced when we mourne I deny not any soule to melt into evangelicall teares over the least sin that lives and moves in it only be sure of this that when thou lookest on a living sin that thou lookest on it through Christ that dyed for it and lives for thee This will make kindly child-like mourning over sin and sweete stedfast resting on the free grace of God This is the meaning of the holy Ghost in 1 John 1 2. And if any man sinne we have an Advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous And he is the propitiation for our sinnes As if the holy Ghost had said a sinning soule hath no whither to flye for reliefe but to his interest in Christ and to look up to God through him for says the holy Ghost he is our only Advocate with the Father to plead for us in such desperate cases he can plead his righteousness to be curs and the propitation that he hath made for us and there is no other pleader either at the barre of Justice or the throne of grace but Jesus Christ There