skill of faith to apply it aright to our wounded souls it would be able so perfectly to take out the sting of death that we should have no cause to be troubled with the fear of it for so it is signanter dictum by death he hath Heb. 2. 14 15. destroyed him who had the power of death so as to deliver them that were all their life time in bondage by reason of their fear of it so that if we shall fear it is some bodies fault it is none of his for on his part activè quoad causam fundamentum and in the sense that fear is sometimes taken for the thing feared we are delivered from the fear of death Though on our part through weaknesse of faith or want of due exercise of it passivè quoad effectum vel eventum we may be too much disturbed with this passion and accordingly fear it as a man before in danger if now by his friend indeed set in safety we may truly say he is put out of fear though for his part as not sensible of it you may possibly see him yet stand quaking and trembling like him who after a storm which he hath been in is now safe on the shore and yet his head is so dizzy and turns round that he think 's he is still rowling and tossing in the tempest But shall we be so silly that when Christ hath knockt off our chains the Devil through these fears should tie and keep us bound with straws Nay shall we be so unkind I had almost said so prophane as with Ahaz Isa 7. in such a trembling fit as you read of v. 2. not only to weary men but God also v. 13 not only be injurious to our own peace and life but also to the worth and efficacy of Christs death as though it were not able to fetch out the sting and all the poison of ours Especially seeing that after his death followed his Resurrection those Act. 2. 24. chains of death being too weak to hold him but that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that exceeding greatnesse of his mighty Ephes 1. 19. Judg. 16. 9 12. power Samson-like easily snapt them as so many burnt threeds asunder and so disruptis mortis sepulchri inferni repagulis he riseth in the glory of that his might as a Conquerour over death and so dieth no more Rom. 6. 9. that we might fear no more Death hath no more dominion over him that the terrour of it may have none over us Thus our Elisha hath cast that 2 King 2. 21. salt into these bitter waters and so healed them that from thenceforth there might be no death in them and although there were sometimes death in the pot and a deadly poisonous sting in that death yet by casting in of this meale there is now no harm 2 Kings 4. 40 41. but meat and medicine life and strength in it and how long then shall we be so weak as like children to be afraid of our Physician and Physick Or like such timorous men who when in the dark are afraid of any thing they see thinking it to be a Devil or an enemy which when it come's near proves their very friend But when shall we once attain to that boldnesse of faith as not to 1 Tim. 3. 13. fear death which by the death and resurrection of Christ is become a Serpent without a sting and although an enemy yet such an one as hath lost the victorie The way to our help herein will Helps against fear of death be 1. To enquire into the occasions and causes of this our malady and then 2. To apply to each their several proper remedies that so although we must all die yet we may die in peace and whereas some say that all die of a Feaver yet we may not in a cold shaking fit but with such peace comfort joy and triumph that we may then say Pauls words with Pauls spirit and faith O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory 1. Now amongst those causes of Causes of this fear our fear of death some may be more blamelesse and excusable if not justifiable for a true believer and that as acting faith may lawfully in some cases desire the continuance of life and so far in a regular way and measure fear death 1. From a natural aversation from death if not as a fruit of sin yet as an enemy and destroyer of nature which before I hinted was in Peter and Paul yea in Christ himself as appeared in his agony and bloody Lu. 22. 44. sweat in that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being amazed and very heavy and his soul being exceeding sorrowful unto death Mark 14. 33 34. so that again and again he prayeth the same words v. 39. that if it were possible that Cup might passe from him Matth. 26. 39. I confesse there was more bitternesse in that Cup then of a bare natural or a more ordinary violent death but yet death as it is in it self a privation of life and so a natural evil so it was no sin in our Saviour in way of natural affection to turn from it but the perfection of his obedience to subject himself and his natural desires and Matth. 26. 42. Mark 14. 36. fears to his Fathers will in it 2. From some more speciall grounds of desire of continuance of life As till he attain some mercy desired so Moses desireth to live to go over Iordan and see that goodly Mountain and Lebanon Deut. 3. 25. and Hezekiah weeps * When he heareth he must die before he had an heir Isa 28. 3. Or some mercy promised as no doubt Simeon could not have been willing to see death till as was revealed to him he had seen the Lords Christ though then he desired to depart Luke 2. 26 28 29 30. Or till he effect and accomplish some work and service which God hath called and fitted him unto so the Psalmist desireth to live to propagate Gods praise Psalm 119. 17. 5. Psalm 71. 18. as a true labourer will desire his day may last till his work be done but in these and the like particulars there is rather a desire of life then fear of death though where there is a true desire of any thing the fear of the contrary to it must needs bee proportionable 3. In some other respects there may be more formal fears of death and yet lesse sinful and more excusable As in general by reason of the greatnesse of that change and task which in death every man the best Saint is brought to and put upon For so All changes usually affect us let it be but the turning of the blood as they use to call it after the opening of a vein the man is oft at a swooning fit But as all Greatnesse is awful so Ezek. 1. 18. great tasks are wont to make us very thoughtful and sollicitous
painful sting of death in the two former particulars then in this third is the very poison of it That as the sting of a Bee may be very painful but This is the Hornet and Scorpion This Scorpions sting in the tail as those Rev. 9. 10. in the end of our life is most deadly as they use to say Maximè mortiferi morsus bestiarum morientium the biting of a dying beast is most deadly the sting of death if dipt in the venome of Gods wrath is both intolerable and incurable That facies Hypocratica which Physicians speak of of a spent dying man looks very ghastly but no sight in all the world more dreadful than to see an awakened dying sinner as a Saul Judas Francis Spira c. conflicting with death and sin and the law and Gods curse and wrath altogether If in a dying houre in stead of Gods reviving smile the sinner meeteth with his deadly frown so that when death hath made his grave his sin like a massie grave-stone Isa 24. 20. lie heavy upon him how miserably is that poor wretch pressed to death and how deadly is that groan when you may hear him sighing out his soul with this saddest mone Oh! I am so sick that I cannot live and yet woful wretch that I am Dr. Harris so sinful that I dare not die Oh that I might live Oh that I might die O that I might doe neither At non sic abibunt odia Friend you shall doe both because you are a sinner you must die but because you die in your sin you shall live in torment to eternity 4. For that is the last and worst sting of death which thrusts the sword in to the hilts that it is such a sting quo mortales ex hac vitâ Del-Rio Adag pag. 250. expellens ad mortem secundam exstimulat that this first death when come if better care be not before taken will prick us on and thrust us into a second for so was the tenor of the first sentence In dying thou shalt die So that one death Gen. 2. 17. leadeth on to another the first to the second that whatever it be which the unpardoned sinner suffereth in the first death it is but the beginning Matth. 24. 8. Deut. 32. 22. of sorrowes the fire now kindled will burn to the lowest hell for so we read of death mounted on his pale horse and hell following him Rev. 6 8. and that was in the time of the See C. à Lapide in Hos 13. 14 Gospel and not onely of the Law that after death cometh judgement Heb. 7. 29. and that when the body returneth to the dust the spirit shall return unto God who gave it Eccles 12. 7. if not to him as a Father to be received into his bosome then as to a Judge to receive its everlasting doom and if as the Apostle saith the Devil hath the power of death Heb. 2. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Targum habet imperium mortis Grotius you may easily gather that with some death and hell are not farre asunder and although he helped the Heathen to put out of their mindes the dreadfulnesse of it by the dream of their Elysian fields as he doth the Turks now by that of their Paradise yet to an awakened sinner now at the point of death to bee but in danger of it as not knowing whither he shall go leaveth him at a woful losse but if as they say of the Molle he hath then first his eyes open and so cometh to see himself now on the brow of the the hill and from that precipice now certainly falling into the lake of fire and brimstone he giveth himself utterly lost for ever And thus in all these four respects we see that death hath his sting 2. And Hades or the grave hath 2. Prov. 30. 15. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 5. 24. 2 Kings 2. 11. 1 Cor. 15. 51. Immutatio illa species mortis erit Beza in Heb. 9. 27. or will have the victory it being that open Sepulchre which still crieth Give Give till it have swallowed up all for it is appointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all men once to die Heb. 9. 27. even Enochs and Elijahs assumption and the change of those who shall be found alive at the last day being a kinde of death and an analogicall dissolution so that death having one age after another as it were mowed down the whole field of the world and as a last enemy having conquered all the great Conquerors of the earth and with them vanquished all else and still keeping the field will have thereby obtained a complete victorie 1. In thus bringing down all 2. So as never to have risen more as some conceive had it not been for Christ who as he is the Resurrection and the Life John 11. 25. so by him onely either as Head or Judge is the resurrection from the dead 1 Cor. 15. 21. 3. And yet further so as that the most of them that rise again shall presently sink down again into eternal death and so this sting prove's that worm which never dieth where the fire never goeth out Mark 9. 48. Igne quasi salietur vide Brugensem in locum Myrothec in John 3. 36. but where the sacrifice is salted with fire ver 49. burn's but consume's not fire being of a burning but salt of a preserving nature Perdit sed non disperdit cruciat ita ut nunquam perimat as Camero somewhere expresseth it So that to them the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will answer the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will be both in victoriam and in perpetuum and so a signal and a final victory Now confider this ye that forget Vse Psa 50. 22. 1 King 14. 6. God for as the Prophet said to Jeroboams wife I am sent to you with heavy tidings this day if there be such a four-forked sting in death as we have seen in the former particulars then to you who are not as yet made partakers of the grace of 1 Pet. 3. 7. life here is matter of 1. Fear 2 Care First of Fear and O that the Vse 1 consideration of this sting might now prick your hearts kindly that the sting it self may not at last mortally wound them Seneca according to his surly Stoical Principle would perswade himself and others that it is ill to desire death but worse to fear it But the Word of God teacheth us that such as they have no cause to desire it but great cause heartily to fear it and that by reason of their fear of it they are all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 1. 15. Whence it is that 1. In their health and life they cannot endure their thoughts being fears seriously to think of it Like them who put far away the evil Amos 6. 3 4 5. 6. day and for that purpose chaunted to the sound of
and great changes use greatly to affect us and therefore the great change at the last day will make even the powers of Heaven to shake Matth. 24. 29. by which some understand the Angels of Heaven though they be safe enough so proportionably the day of our death being the day of our particular doom in which we have one of our last and greatest changes to be undergone and one of our most important tasks to be set upon and gone through with Wonder not if you should then see the wary busie thoughtful carefull soul trembling as for instance The parting of the soul and body so nearly united and so long acquainted and never yet severed is a very hard twitch The leaving of this world of men to goe now into the world of souls into that farre strange Country is a great change The pains and pangs of death with some are very strong so that possibly you have sometimes seen some of strong bodies yea and faith too though they had nothing else then to doe yet then finding it a work great enough to be able to die Our last accounts are then to be given up Eccles 12. 7. Luke 16. 2. and that is a very awfull businesse And this to a most glorious Lord and Judge whom we are then to appear before and if here we find a dread Majesty in his very smiles when he is on a mercy-seat now that he is on the Judgment seat his presence cannot but be very dreadful Remembrance of former sins though pardoned may make the dying mans pale cheeks blush And sense of present defilement and weaknesse though now dying with him may make the pure in heart shrink back from appearing before so pure an eye And those last conflicts with the world sin and Satan are oft then most fierce and violent and unlesse the Sun of righteousnesse do then more gloriously shine out upon us with his more enlightening and enlivening beams in this chill and gloomy shadow of death even the man of God may tremble and yet all this in these and the like cases but as an Isaacs trembling Gen. 27. 33. or a Moses his quaking Heb. 12. 21. Reverential holy comfortable and more awfull then fearfull 2. But farther then God helpeth and strengtheneth the best of us may then be subject to worse and more sinfull fears some of the causes wherof may be these to which I shall particularly subjoin their cures remedies 1. First a more generall cause of this fear of death is a secure carelesse neglect seriously beforehand to meditate of it and accordingly to prepare for it in time of life for so by comming suddenly and unexpectedly it puts all on heaps and confusion So suddennesse and fear for 5. ult in other cases are joined together Prov. 3. 25. and suddennesse of destruction coming upon any is a description of a most carefull and dolefull condition 1 Thess 5. 3. it is so here when in our life time we have not taken a due and timely estimate of the antecedents concomitants and consequents of death of all the evil that is in it and so have laid in no provisions of those cordialls and comforts that should antidote and sweeten it before we are aware of it or prepared for it to tast of it rendreth it that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a cup of trembling the Heb. 2. 9. Zech. 12. 2 man unawares hath set his feet on a Bog and he and it tremble and quake and sink together like Nabal whose heart died before he did 1 Sam. 25. 37. And therefore the Prophylactick here is a frequent and thoughtful meditation of it and a dayly answerable preparation for it and so when it commeth it prove's lesse terrible Whatever the Philosophers meant by defining their Philosophy to be a meditation of their Metaphorical death I am sure that in plain terms the frequent and serious meditating of this death we now speak of is a great part of true saving Christian Divinity and if with Joseph of Arimathea we John 19. 41. would have our Sepulchres in our Gardens if thoughts of death did oft recurr in our best life especially if in every sicknesse disease and danger in which God knock's at our door Luke 12. 36. and tell 's us that he is coming wee could more livelily see deaths face and so grow more acquainted with it as Souldiers are wont we should at last be lesse afraid of it I protest by your rejoycing in Christ Jesus I die daily saith our apostle v. 31. of this Chapter a daily dying is joyned with a last days rejoycing and our continual putting our lives into our hands as Judg. 12. 3. Psal 119. 109. ready to offer them up to God will be a means willingly to part with them when God shall please to call for them a dying before hand in thought will make dying indeed lesse troublesom for how forcible and effectual would forethoughts of death be to make us to fear to sin and thereby not to fear to die whilest the eye of Faith hath before taken view of death in all the evil that any way is in it and of all that good which to a believer cometh by it But so as this meditation be accompanyed with an answerable preparation for otherwise as Solomon in another case saith he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow Ecles 1. 18. so here the more I know the more I fear and grieve whilest I know so much evil in it which then abides me and withal that all that good which may be in it I for my part shall fall short of With how much shaking doth the unripe apple fall off when a ripe one drops down without that trouble the Vine weepeth when the branch is cut off before the harvest and Isa 18. 5. the sowre grape is but yet ripening in the flowre but with what harvest joy shall we come to the grave when we shall be like a shock of ripe corn which commeth in in his season Job 5. 26. to which for a close of this let me adde what there followeth Lo this we have Ver. 27. searched it so it is and therefore hear and know it for your good 2. And because in this preparation for death praier is one special part of it therefore the neglect of prayer is one great cause of the anguish and and fear of it and so we finde that want of prayer is joyned with want of hope at such a time in the hypocrit Job 27. 8. with 9. 10. they that use not to look up to God to seek him before will then hardly finde him and then for the child in that dark entry not to have the Father by the hand wil be very terrible the true children of God may possibly be more to seek for their comfort at their deaths by reason of their lesse seeking it in their lives in that it oft falleth out that amongst their many and earnâ—â—â—uits for grace to carry them
to the day of 2 Chron. 26. 21. our death will make a very foul corpse and a body fouly distempered in life especially if the soul be found so in death will make deathbed-groanes more deadly strong bodies use to have strong pains in death John 8. 5. Numb 25. 8. 2 Sam. 17. 23. 18. 14. 15. 1 Sam. 28. 7 8 9. c. with 19. Matth 27. 5. and so have strong lusts especially if we be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Zimri and Cozbi in the very act of uncleannesse Absalom and Ahitophel of rebellion if Saul consult the Divel this day and go to him the next and Judas by an untimely and woful death be suddenly brought before his Judge whilest he is yet reeking with the blood of his betrayed Lord and Saviour with what horrour and amazement must such needs appeare before the Judgement seat Joseph though Gen. 41. 14 under no such guilt yet being in the squalid condition of a prisoner shaveth himself and changeth his raiment when hastily brought out of the dungeon before Pharaoh an infinitely inferiour presence to that which we at death are to appear before And therefore here again the death of Christ applyed by faith proveth a Soveraign remedy for it is then safe drawing near to God when our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience Heb. 10. 22. and that is by the blood of Christ Heb. 9. 14. labour therefore in the way of mortification to be implanted into Christs death and Rom. 6. 5. this sweet fruit amongst others will spring out of his grave that what mortifieth sin will kill the fear of death which is caused by it 1. Partly as this daily practising of dying to sin will inure us with more ease to die to the world not onely whilest we live to be weaned from it but when God shal call in death willingly to leave it Lusts are members Col. 3. 5. and the content which a sinner taketh in them in his very life Isa 57. 10. dearer then his natural life and therefore it is that he is so often ready rather desperately to hazard it then not to gratifie and satisfie them he therefore who in a course of mortification hath done the greater will not stick at the lesse will not stick to part with his dear life who by the grace of Christ hath already parted with his dearer lust and so by continual loosing the tie of his soul and sin he may expect the last loose of his body and soul with more comfort 2. But mortification effecteth this more directly in that it properly and formally taketh away sin which is fomes morbi the very matter of the disease and of all these shaking fits in death and then as a sound and well ordered body dieth with little pain so a sanctified purged soul departeth with lesse anguish a great deal of grace in our life brings a great deal of comfort in death and why should I fear that which at once freeth me from sin which in this course of mortification is the cause of my greatest grief and perfect's grace which is the object of my chiefest desire what therefore now remaineth but that we labour to live holily that we may at last die comfortably and as they were Acts 9. 37. Luke 23. 56. Matth. 26. 12. wont to wash dead bodies and to anoint them for their burial so that we would do as much for our souls get them washed in the blood of Christ and daily more and more anointed and embalmed and perfumed with the graces of his Spirit So our deaths would not be more precious to Psal 116. 15. God then comfortable to our selves So with Asa we should be laid in our graves as in a bed filled with sweet odours 2 Chron. 16. 14. spices and what the Romans were wont to do in their Pageants at Herodian l. 4. the consecration of their dead Emperours would have more realty at our death and Funerals no Eagle as with them to carry the soul up to Heaven but our souls as the renewed Eagle would mount up out of such a bed of spices to those mountains of spices where Cant. 8. 14. Brightman Psal 16. 11 Matth. 25. 4 6 7. are pleasures for evermore O that we were once so wise as with those wise Virgins to get oil enough into our Vessels and then our Lamps will burn bright at midnight in this midnight of death and judgement when with them we shall either go to Christ or Christ will come to be married to us and then this shall be one strain of our marriage of our Triumphant Song O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Tibi Domini Jesu qui spes es viventium resurrectio mortuorum FINIS
with all others because possibly it might be so in Lazarus his particular and extraordinary instance concerning whom busily to enquire what kind of death his was or in what state his soul was in that quatridium mortis I thinke would be too presumptuous curiosity 2. Although the Image of God in him might not be made perfect upon his first dying and therefore hee might die again the second time whilest some consequents of sin as mortality yet clave to him yet it will not thence follow that sin abode in him no more then that a Saint departed lieth under the power of sin though he doe continue under the power of death which is a consequent of sin till the resurrection Not that I determine that Lazarus after his first dying and rising again lived all his time after without sin in which to define any thing either way were rashnesse but onely to deny the inference that because the Image of God was not every way completed upon his first death so that he died again therefore it was not restored in this as to his being freed from sin which I conceived saints departed are though till the last day they lie under the power of death which yet was brought into the world by sinne Rom. 5. 12. 3. For the ordinary course as I beleeve the dead body is no proper subject for sin so I conceive all Protestants who deny a Popish Purgatory Rev. 14. 13. Rev. 21. 27. or middle state after death must needs confesse that the soul before the body be turned to dust and ashes is Sicque malorum omnium tela abrumpitur Paraeus got to Heaven into which no unclean thing entreth and therefore as soon as it is loosed from the body it is so loosed from sin that it may have a ready flight and free entrance unto that undefiled Mansion And therefore I cannot but subscribe to him who calls Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and say with Ambrose quid est mors nisi peccatorum sepultura that however it be the curse of the wicked to die in their sins John 8. 21. 4. yet for the godly death in them kills sin and is buried in their grave and so sin and death which were before friends in our death prove deadly enemies peccatum peperit mortem filia devoravit matrem sin at first begot and brought forth death and death Jam. 5. 17. at last destroyed sin as the worm kills the tree that bred it Death came by sin Rom. 5. 12. Mr. Brightman in his Sermon on Luk. 4. 18. pag. 66. and sin goeth out by death and so sin dis-armeth it self taketh out its own sting and may we not then well say O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory viz. when death it self is thus killed as you use to say quick-silver is killed when so qualified as it is made medicinable And the grave which swallowed up all is it self swallowed up in victory Captivity led captive and this our enemy not only subdued that it cannot hurt us but also made to serve under our victorious Conquerer so as to destroy our worst enemy sin I mean which we had most cause to be afraid of and which above all made death terrible And thus we have seen how the sting of death is taken out both in life and death from a Believer but for all this all is not yet done for all the time that we continue dead death in some respect continueth his dominion and whilest the grave keepes our bodies prisoners how hath it lost the victory There is therefore something yet behind and will that good God who hath thus far led us here leave us that as Rachel died when now it Gen. 35. 16. was but a little way to come to Ephrath so when one stroak more would bring us to shore we should sink in the harbour O no. As on the one side David from good experience could style God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 57. 2. a God who performeth or finisheth or perfecteth all for me and whom he loveth he loveth to the end John 13. 1. So on the other side as for his and their enemies when he beginneth he will make an end 1 Sam. 3. 12. nor will he with Joash when he hath 2 Kings 13 18 19. smitten twice or thrice for want of giving the last stroak fall short of compleating the victory 3. And that will be at the last day of the generall Resurrection till which time death as it were lived Rom. 5. 14 reigned and kept the field and the grave continued his victory but as in death we heard sin lost its being so at the resurrection death and the grave shall forever lose theirs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it shall be destroyed ver 26. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall be swallowed up In the 54. ver immediately preceding the Text to which the Apostle relates in these words O death where is thy sting c. which he speaks by way of anticipation of faith and according as before I expressed it as it were before hand tuning his voice that he might sing them out aloud in that last great Jubile and then death and the grave Rev. 20. 13 shall give up their dead and disgorge themselves of all that they had before swallowed and then not onely the sting of death but also death it selfe shall die and cease for ever for there shall then be no more death then our Rev. 21. 4. dead bodies shall again live Isa 26. 19. so as thenceforth they can die no more Luke 20. 36. but what is said of our Saviour shall then be made good of his servants they shall then live who were dead and shall live for ever Rev. 1. 18. and then Death and Hell as vanquished enemies shall bee dragged after our glorious Conquerurs Charet whilest his Redeemed ones shall follow him with their joyful and thankful acclamations and make Heaven and Earth eccho this triumphant song O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Nor will they forget to adde that which the Apostle doeth v. 57. Now thanks be to God who hath given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Which fitly leads me to the Application ANd let the first be everlasting SERM. III Vse 1 Praise and thanksgiving to the Prince of our peace and captain of our salvation Now and ever blessed be our God who hath given us the victory Ver. 57. through our Lord Jesus Christ and truly it must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a most free gift if we have it for did we fight and win it that we should wear it No he tred the wine-presse Isa 63. 1 2 3. alone and of the people there was none with him when he came from Edom with his garments died in the blood of these our enemies travelling in the greatnesse of his strength mighty to save
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theophylact upon the Text. He endured the conflict and in and by him gained the victory or as Chrysostome expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ille pugnaâ—â— sustinuit nos coronis triumphis suis ornavit P. Martyr Rev. 4. 10 11. Ezek. 21. 26 27. He got the victory and let us wear the Crown But shall not then humble and thankful ingenuity cast down our Crowns at his feet or rather set them on his head whose right it is and say thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created all is by him and from him and therefore let the praise of all be to him for ever It was 1. His death which gave death its deadly wound and by death be destroyed him who had the power of death Heb. â— 14. which is the Devil And this As most gloriously whilest thus in his greatest weaknesse he foileth Satan in his greatest strength vincit dum 2 Cor. 13. 4 vincitur when as a weak man he is overcome of death as the mighty Almighty God hee overcometh both death and him that had the power of it and on the very Crosse made a shew Coloss 2. 15. Musculus Rom. 6. 23. of him openly when he himself was there made a spectacle So most justly for seeing death is the wages onely of sinne he most righteously forfeited that his power and authority by inflicting death on him who 2 Cor 5. 21 knew no sin and thus Jeroboams arm 1 Kin. 13. 4 In Epitaph Nepot Vt Hydrus Crocodilum interficit P. Dammian li. 2. ep 18. Dentes infringes in nimis solido concoquere non poteris sed sicut Danielis bolo Babylonius draco eruciaberis crepabis Del Rio Adagial pag. 250. drieth up when stretched out to lay hold on Gods Prophet and the waspish angry Bee fastening her sting where shee should not hath lost both it and her life together This made Hierom insult over death illius morte tu mortua es devorasti deâ—orata es but withall he blesseth Christ for it Gratias tibi Christe Salvator quod tam potentem adversarium nostrum dum occideris occidisti its most just that death should die for seising on the Lord of Life who never deserved it and although we did yet just too that we should be delivered seeing our Surety hath satisfied And thus our blessed Redeemer by being lifted up on the Crosse fought with these our enemies from the higher ground and so mortally wounded their head and that spear which pierced his heart brake this string which else would have wounded ours in hoc signâ— vinces so that however other Souldiers are wont to be dismaied at the death of their Captains yet we are delivered and so animated by the death of ours his death is our life therefore let him have that praise which he purchased at so dear a price 2. His Resurrection is both the cause and pledge of ours 1 Cor. 15. 20 21. hath a speciall influence into our justification Rom. 4. 25. 8. 34. affording faith by which we are justified Rom. 5. 1. a sure handhold in that it clearly manifesteth that he had paid the debt when the prisoner was set free satisfied Gods Justice when the arrest of death was taken off and then O death where iâ— thy sting and by opening his own grave had done as much for ours and then O grave Ezek. 37. 12. where is thy victory 3. The imputation of his sufferings death and unrighteousnesse is that which in our justification takes off Gods revenging wrath and the condemning guilt of sin which our Apostle saith is the sting of death and so he saveth us from going down into the pit or at least bringeth us up out of it because he hath found a ransome Job 33. 24. 4. It is the grace of his Spirit by which we are enabled to mortifie the the deeds and lusts of the flesh Rom. 8. 13. which was another sting of sin and so of death which the finger of the Spirit of Christ only take's out It is not our strongest purposes or resolutions that will be able to over-master these enemies a foul sore til it be indeed healed will run though we say it shall not Nor will the Heathens and Philosophers Purgative virtues cleanse this sink in which the best of them so foully wallowed Nor the Papists Purgatories penances watchings whippings lousie shirts or S. Francis his kissing Bonavent in ejus vita cap. 2. or licking of Lepers sores which will cleanse this fretting leprosie The poor woman in the gospel after she had spent all she had on other miserable Physicians could not get her Mark 5. 25. 26 27. issue of blood stopped till she got a touch of Christs garment Porphyric himself confesseth that nothing else can effect this cleansing sola principia Morn de veritat Rel. cap. 27 hanc purgationâ— perficere possuÌ„t By which Principia some conceive were meant the 3 Persons in the blessed Trinity but whatsoever he meant by them I am sure it was the blood of the sacrifice Lev. 14. 14. 15 16. and the oil that cleanseth the Leper in the Law and that by them was meant the blood of Christ and the grace of his Spirit which alone hath power to cleanse and heal both them then and us now under the Gospel 5. They are also the consolations and comforts of the same Spirit of Christ which are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Lenitives which actually formally take away all that pain and anguish which the sting of sin and death make Gal. 5. 22. Rom. 14. 17. in our consciences such joy and peace are fruits of this spirit and spring from no other root It is the Lord Joh. 10. 11. See Ainsworth on Gen. 25. 2. Jesus who is our good Shepherd and as it is the good Shepherds work and office first to feed his sheep and then secondly to make them lie down and rest so he onely doeth both these to our souls feedeth us in green pastures Psal 23. 2. and makes us lie down at noon yea and at night too Cant. 1. 7. the first in our life time and the other event in death and thence no sting in death to a good Christian 6. Finally it will be his last glorious appearing at the bright lustre whereof the shadow of death will then quite vanish and death it self which till then had continued and prevailed and just then having cut down all before it had as it were completed its conquest shall then for ever be swallowed up in victory And thus we see our Christ who is our all from first to last in this Col. 3. 11. great atchievement of our victory over death put down all and therefore to him most deservedly let be all the praise and if the Philistims when
on in â—â—eir way they have not been so mindful as they should to beg for a smile in their Journeies end which God make's account is a mercy worth asking and therefore we receive not because we ask not Jam. 4. 2. For remedy therefore ask that you may have now seek that you may then finde and all your life time be knocking Matth. 7. 7 hard at the gate of mercy that at your out-gate of this life an abundant entrance 2 Pet. 1. 11. may be administred unto you into the everlasting kingdome of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Have you ordinarily known the man who was much in prayer while he lived to be full of fears and anguish when he came die No those sweet and strong breathings blow away such darksome clouds and therby the setting Sunne shineth out brightly For prayer 1. Through mercy procure's it it can get any good thing at a good Gods hand and why not comfort in death nay then especially for then begin's a believers harvest when he reâ—â—'s the fruit of hiâ— forâ—â—â— laâ—â—â—â— Job 5. 26. Revel 14. 15. and hath oftentimes a â—ost â—ensiblâ— return of all hiâ—â—â—â—â—er prayers which before iâ—â—â—â—y be he thought God as well as himself had forgotten 2. As prayer thus impetrate's it so it naturally as it were trains us up to it for by constant acquaintance with prayer we come to more familiar acquaintance with Christ and so come to see and feel how happy it is to be near him which cannot but make us the more ready and desirous of getting out of the body Phil. 1. 23. 2 Cor. 5. 6. that we may be no longer absent from him and besides the happy soul which with the sweet bird is continually soaring upward and keepeth much aloft is so well acquainted with those approaches to Heaven that now when it fitteth on the dying mans lips it is ready on the wing to take its last flight as in that dark night very well knowing its accustomed way thither and having so often sent its prayers those winged messengers thither before-hand now with joy and singing mounteth up it self thither and therefore be much in prayer now if in death you would have an answer of peace 3. False heartednesse is another cause of faint-heartednesse in these animae deliquia the rotten quagmire quakes and sinks when trod on and so fearfulness we read surprizeth hypocrites Isa 33. 14. when death and danger layeth hold on them God then takes away their souls and their hopes together Job 27. 8. as else where their hope is said to be as the giving up of the ghost Miserable cap. 11. 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man if thy soul and thy hope goe out with the breath of the same dying groan But on the contrary by way of remedy Hezekiahs walking before God perfectly and with an upright heart Isa 38. 3. was the best stake in his hedge when the newes of death made all crack and so much truth sincerity as we have just so much peace comfort shall we have in dangers death and no more The Heathens under their Fables of Minos Aeacus Rhadamanthus hinted See Plato in Gorgia Hora mortis hora veâ—itatis to us that at death there will be a strict Scrutiny and however in our life time we have been judged by our selves and others with our cloths on yet then we shall all be judged naked then all vizards will be laid aside all black patches and beauty spots that covered foul sores will be pluckt off the pure heart only will be able to lift up their face without spot and be stedfast Job 11. 15 and not fear 4. Too much love of the world is another great cause of our as much fear of death when we are to leave it for fear ever presupposeth love and so much as I love any thing so much I am aggrieved afraid to part w th it with what crying is the child pluckt from the breast when it hath tasted of the sweetnesse of it and as yet skill's of no other nourishment things fast glued together are torn broken when violently pluckt asunder if thy cloth cleave to thy skin as it is a signe that there is some sore under it so it will make all smart when pluckt off and answerably if thy portion with them Psal 17. 14. be in this life thou art utterly undone when it is ended Job Cap. 29. 13 some-where speaks of dying in his nest but as Chrysostome observeth Nestlins are wont to be but weaklins and they that have feathered their nests in the world have minde to be on the wing to flie out of it O death how bitter is thy remembrance to him that Ecclus. 41. 1. liveth at ease in his possessions how sad a sight is the hand-writing on the wall to a Belshazzar in his cups and when Dan. 5. the rich man is dreaming of goods laid up for many years how dreadfull a sound in his ears was that Thou fool Luke 12. 12 20. this night c when in prosperity the destroyer cometh upon him Job 15. 21. It was a wise and Christian speech of Charles the 5t to the Duke of Venice who when he had shewn him the glory of his Princely Palace and Earthly Paradise instead of admitting it or him for it onely returned him this grave and serious memento Haec sunt quae faciunt invitos mori these are the things which make us unwilling to die and so sharpen deaths sting and make it more painful it is a double death to him who is alive to the world to part with it Whereas on the contrary again for the remedy if with Paul we were before hand crucified to the world Gal. 6. 14. and had it crucified to us and as Chrysostom descan'ts upon the place lay like two dead bodies one by another as there was no mutual desire or delight in each other when they lay together so there would be as little grief when they are parted asunder the world not caring for us and we as little for it and so by our parting no hurt done were we indeed strangers and pilgrims here we would not go home weeping were we and the world two at our parting there would not be a painful dissolutio continui sitting loose now would prevent such convulsion fits and rentings then 5. On the contrary too much carelesnesse of the things of this world makes some mens deaths more careful and themselves more fearful In particular I mean our neglect of a provident and timely setting our house in order when we are now leaving the world is apt to leave us in heaps and confusion It is expressed in Scripture as the dying mans task but Isa 38. 1. 2 Sam. 17. 17. 23. it would be much better if it were the living mans care that when we have made up our Accounts with men we might be more ready
may allude to that of the Psalmist Psal 68. 13 14. with what joy and delight doth the now chaste soul when it hath given a bill of divorce to all her former Paramours ruere in amplexus now cast her self into the bosome and embraces of her best beloved Truly it is no terrible sight to see death when the pure in heart though now Matth. 5. 1. closing their eyes in the gloomy shadow of death can even then see God in the cleare glasse of a pure conscience there is no such sting in it to such to disquiet them but that without the help of other friends they may close their own eyes and take their rest in their Saviours arms and their Heavenly Fathers bosome Which leadeth me from the first part of the Believers freedome from the sting of death In this life to the 2. Second and greater and that even in death it self So that when it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr Apol 1. kills it hurts it stings not but when they lose their lives death then loseth its sting and this many wayes for whereas in the former poiâ—â— we shewed that to a worldly carnall man one sore prick of this sting of death was that it let out all that comfort which the life of his soul was wrapt up in On the contrary here it will appear that a Believer in the out-let of his life hath his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is called Luke 9. 31. his out-gate from all that which in this life most troubled and wounded him when the world shall never trouble or the Devil tempt nor God frown nor we sin any more for ever then I say we are freed 1. From all the troubles of this world which as to others so especially to the godly useth to be very vexatious and troublesome A tempestuous sea and am I hurt if a tempest drive me out of it into harbor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 84. 6. a valley of tears so some read it or of Mulberry trees so others the one are moist and others use to grow in more dry places between them they may serve to make up a more complete Embleme of this miserable world made up of woes and wants and how often may you over-hear the sad mourner complaining Now wo is me that I sojourn in Psa 120. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lxx Meshech and that word signifieth how long he thinke's the time is protracted and may you not see those mourning Doves of the valleys mantling the wing and saying O that I indeed had wings like a Dove that I Psal 55. 6. might flee away be at rest And that rest death and the grave bring 's us for there the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest Iob 3. 17. at rest from all sicknesses pains sorrows persecutions c. which here they either feel or fear the one death end 's and cure 's the other it prevent's It put 's an end to them so that either they are not their malice then ceaseth post fata quiescit or in case it prove immortal so that their cruelty rageth against the dead bodies estates good name and posterity of Saints departed yet the best is they then feel it not Bucer and Fagius did not cry out from Heaven as hurt when their bones suppose the wise Inquisitors mistook not some others for theirs were ridiculously burnt here in Cambridge divers years after their deaths the dead man neither pine's nor starve's and though you stab him he neither sighe's nor groanes the weary before however others trouble themselves with them then are at rest and although men will not let them live in peace yet in spite of their malice with old Simeon they depart in peace what evil they before felt is then ended And what they feared is then prevented they being taken away from the evil to come Isa 57. 1. as usually evil is then coming when good men are going and if so it is then the Fathers love and care even hastily to snatch away the child when the wilde bull is broken loose from the stake and is now running upon him as also the wise Husbandman hasteneth to get in his Corn before the swine be put out into the field to root up all the ordinary instances in this kinde are Josiah suddenly taken away that his eyes might not see the evil that was to be brought upon his people and so though he died in war yet he is said to bee gathered to his grave in 2 Chron. 34. 28. peace and so Daniel is bid to go away and rest chap. 12. 13. before those great clashings and confusions should come which had been foreshewn to him in the fore-going visions of that Book Saint Augustine dieth a little before Gensericus took Hippo and Paraeus before Heidelberg was lost to whom if you please Wilson of the life of â— James you may adde Mr. Brightman for whom the Pursivant was sent a day or two after he was buried And is then the man hurt who by this means is set out of harms way Or is our traveller to Heaven the worse traveller or in a worse case for taking up his Inne betimes before the storm come or he be benighted in a wildernesse At death the world will never fight or fright us more and where then is its sting 2. Nor will then the Devil bee ever able to tempt us any more his Ephes. 6. â—6 are fiery darts but then thanks be to God we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of gunshot 2 Cor. 12. 7. his temptations are pricks in the flesh and there let them stick but the happinesse is that in death wee have left our flesh behinde us This Pharaoh may then as was before shewed pursue us most fiercely with all his forces but then it may confidently be spoken to the Israel of God Fear not stand still and see the Exod. 14. 13. salvation of the Lord which he will shew to you this day for these Egyptians whom you have seen to day ye shall see them again no more for ever The Devil who had the power of Diabolus per quod potestatem habuit victus est Ambros death Heb. 2. 14. hath by death his commission and power abrogated and abolished For The souls of departed Saints are then out of his reach And as for their dead bodies although they may be and have been abused by wicked men the Devils instruments yet it hath been justly questioned whether the Devil himself immediately have any such power over them We read once of his Jude v. 9 contending with Michael the Archangel about the body of Moses and if the thing he contended for were as it is usually conceived to have the place where it was buried discovered It is plain from Deut. 34. 6. that in that conflict he was worsted and is there then any sting in death when after it the world shall
never any more trouble nor the Devil tempt 3. Nor which is a far greater word God frown which yet in the time of our life he seeth just cause sometimes to doe and to vail his face from us but then we come to live not by faith which admits of doubting but by 1 Cor. 13. 12. Rev. 22. 4. vision and that face to face that morning will be as 2 Sam. 23. 4. without clouds because we shall be above them and in nearest conjunction with the Jam. 1. 17. Father of Lights with whom there is no over shadowing whatever the loansom estrangments be that we meet with here yet when Lazarus is once dead he who was kept out of the rich mans Luke 16. 32. gates is then found in Abrahams bosome the place of warmest love And that most lively warmth most lively felt in this chill and dark evening of death in it there is light Zech. 14. 7. in grace as well as in nature the afternoon Sun is oftentimes very warm and the setting Sun shines out sometimes most gloriously So Oecolampadius making good the splendor of his own name now dying and that of an uncomfortable death viz. the plague could lay his hand upon his breast say hic abundè lucis est here here in this dark evening is abundant light then then in that gloomy shadow of death have humble Beleevers and oftentimes none more then they who before had been most sad and broken-hearted met with divinest raptures ravishments of Gods love with gloriousest shines and most pleasing smiles of his countenance and sweetest kisses of his mouth as the loving mother kisseth the sweet babe and so layeth it down to sleep So the Maimonid More Nevoch parte tertia cap. 51. ad finem Buxtorf Lexic Râ—bin ad vocem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Idem in Florileg Hebr. pag. 205. Jewish Masters expound that Deut. 34. 5. of Moses his dying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad â—s Jehovae as though God did take away his soul with a kisse and so of their 903 kindes of death which they use to reckon up this their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the death which commeth by such a kisse they say is omnium placidissima of all most pleasant and comfortable which they say also Moses and Aaron and Miriam only dyed of but many besides them through Gods mercy have at that time known what the kisses of Christs mouth mean And yet this both in Moses and Aarons deaths is to this purpose singularly remarkable that whereas you read of Gods bidding Moses to goe up to Deut. 32. 49. 50. Numb 20. 25 26. Heinsii exercit sacrae in Matth. cap. 16. mount Nebo and there die and of Aaron to go up to mount Hor and strip him of his garments die there you shall not finde in either places that ut capistrati ad mortem mali trahebantur that as Malefactours they were dragged to it as to an execution but on the contrary without the least reluctance they did as they were bid like me thinks well natured children although others of the Family sit up latter and it may be have greater provisions preparing for them yet without crying or the least whimpering make themselves ready and go up to bed when their Father bids them and well they might although others staid behinde and were to be entertained with Canaans milk and hony which they were cut short of seeing they were thus sent to bed with a kisse never to have the least appearance of a frown more 4. But might we here adde and never Ezek. 28. 12. sin more you may say this would seal up the summe complete all and leave of this sting neither mark nor remembrance Nor will this be wanting and therefore in the last place I shall be bold to add this too For as sin in this life had as to the Beleever lost its condemning guilt and dominion so in death it will be deprived of its beeing or inexistence indeed as long we shal here continue to dwell in these houses of clay it will be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that which will keep possession and have its dwelling in us Rom. 7. 17. but when our souls shall then be dislodged of our bodies this incroaching and troublesome Inmate shall once for ever be thrust out of doors from both bodies and souls together the death of our body delivering us perfectly from this body of death by which 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it s controverted whether be meant this our mortal body or the body of sin which Rom. 7. 24. Docet non finiri hos conflictus quandiu mortale corpus circumgestamus quando corpus peccati aliquando exuemus Paraeus in locum is more deadly I grant the latter but would not exclude the former because both of them are put together as when Samson died the Philistines died also together with Judg. 16. 30. Vide Annotat in V. T. incerti Autoris Canta brig 1653. In Lev. 11. 25. See Mr. Cotton on Eccles 7. 1. him This some think was typed out by that in the Law where it is so often spoken of mens being unclean until the evening but more fully and plainly asserted in the New Testament where the souls of just men once got to Heaven are said to be made perfect Heb. 12. 23. Other places are brought by some to the same purpose as that Rom. 6. 7. He he that is dead is freed from sin which though meant of a death to sin in mortification yet alludes to what is in natural death as Interpreters agree upon the place and those expressions of Christs presenting us to himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 faultlesse Jude 24. not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing Eph. 5. 27. which to our particular persons is done in death Ecles 12. 7. and that also 1 Cor. 15. 26. where death is said to be the last enemy which is to be destroyed which they conceive it could not be if sin should remain in us undestroyed after death but because these places may seem to be capable of a satisfying answer I wave them and content my self with that one before mentioned I Confesse some * See Mr. B. his vindiciae legis pag. 118. Divines of very great worth conceive it is not death but Cinerefaction that wholy rids us of sin i. e. that we are not wholy freed from it as soon as the soul is departed and the body is now dead but when it is turned into dust and ashes and this they would inferre from the instance of Lazarus who after he had been John 11. dead four dayes was raised up to life yet so as he died again which yet he should not have done if the Image of God had in his first death been perfected in him and so he wholly freed from sin To which I briefly answer 1. That it is no good way to prove that to be the ordinary and general course which God takes