his natural off-spring and Posterity In this one man all sinned and therefore death passed upon all men Rom. 5.12 That apple which our first Parents ate in Paradise hath brought a fatal surfeit upon all their Posterity Tho the Godly are delivered from a spiritual and eternal death yet they are liable to a Temporal death Tho they are delivered from Temporal death as a Penal evil yet they are liable to it as a natural evil Death is not the effect of nature but the fruit of sin Had man Persevered in his holiness he should have continued in a state of Immortality Sin opened the door to let death into the world for death enter'd by sin Rom. 5.12 Yea it is observable that the sentence of Temporal death pass't upon man Immediately after a deliverance from spiritual and eternal death by the seed of the Woman was promised to him And this sentence began Immediately to be executed with respect to that necessity of Dying which man was brought under and those Bodily distempers the seeds of which were then Introduced to him 2. That they may appear before the Judge of all the Earth to give an account of the Actions of their Lives to him That Judgment which will ensue upon death is one Reason of our Dying We must depart out of Life that we may appear before the Divine tribunal in the next Life Ministers are the subjects of the heavenly King and therefore they must give an account to him as well as their hearers We who declare and expound the Divine Law to you press you to yeild obedience to it must be Judged by this Law our selves and come under a strict examination with respect to our observation of and obedience to it We who perswade you have or ought to have some knowledge of this part of the Lords terrours even the future Judgment as that which we are liable to our selves Cor. 2.5 10 and 11. 3. I proceed to assign some special and particular Reasons why Ministers must die And they will be such as have a peculiar reference to their station and employment 1. They must die that they may give an account how they have discharged that office which they are called to and that trust that is Reposed in them Ministers are stewards of the manifold grace of God and therefore must give an account of their stewardships They have peculiar gifts bestowed upon them to fit and qualifie them for their work therefore they must give an account how they have Improved and laid them out in the service of that Lord from whom they received them Ministers are Christ's Embassadours whom he sends to deliver the message of Life and salvation unto Rebellious sinners and to treat with them about a Reconciliation to their offended Soveraign They must therefore Return unto their Lord to give an account how they and their message were received and entertained in and by the world how they have managed and behaved themselves in the execution of their office and what success their Embassy hath had They are Labourers sent to work in the Church which is God's vineyard and Husbandry and therefore they must return to the master of the vineyard and the Lord of the harvest that they may give an account what work they have done therein They are the shepherds wherewith Christ the great shepherd of the sheep hath intrusted his little flock therefore they must give an account what care they have taken of them They are Gods Watchmen whom he appoints to watch over Souls and therefore they must be accountable for 'em Heb. 13.17 Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your souls as those that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you Tho all men have a great account to give yet Ministers have the greatest 2. They must die that they may be eased of those burthens that lie upon them and delivered from those Troubles and Afflictions which they are frequently exercised with in this life Indeed they are so many and great that well might the Apostle say 1 Cor. 15.19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men most miserable We Christians of all men we Ministers of all Christians I shall mention some of them that you may see what cause you have to pity and pray for your Ministers 1. The laboriousness of their Work Know them who labour among you and admonish you 1 Thes 5.12 they who labour in the Word and Doctrine 1 Tim. 5.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who labour to weariness It is a work that is attended with much inward pleasure and delight to those whose hearts are duly engaged in it but yet much study and much preaching too is a weariness to the Flesh It is a labour that spends the Vitals and consumes the Oil which should preserve the Lamp of Nature It is such a labour as makes Old Age and Youth often meet together The Jews took Christ to be about 50 years Old when he was little above 30 Joh. 8.57 and some assign this reason for it that he had so enfeebled his body with his laborious exercises that he seemed older than he really was Other Callings are but Exercises to Nature but the Ministers work debilitates Nature The Minister like the Candle wastes while he shines But at death he rests from his labours 2. The discouragements which they meet with in their work 1. From themselves How often have they aking hearts and weeping eyes when they consider the weight importance and difficulty of their work and their own insufficiency for it Says the Apostle Who is sufficient for these things 2 Cor. 2.16 It is true God hath promised to assist them but their faith is sometimes at a low ebb as well as the faith of others When their faith is so unactive that they cannot with this spiritual Eye behold an Omnipotent Arm stretcht forth for their support they are ready to sink under their pressure 2. From others Even those who are professed Friends to that work which they are engaged in How often are they reflected upon for their fidelity in the discharge of their duty How often are Professors ready to account Ministers their Enemies because they tell them the Truth How apt are they to fly in their Faces if they do but touch any of their Lusts with the Sword of the Spirit How often are they deserted by men for declaring the whole Counsel of God! We have an instance of this in the great Apostle of our profession because he preached a Doctrine which did not lie level with the carnal Reason of his Auditors Joh. 6. Many of his Disciples from that time went back and walked no more with him 66. v. It is a great discouragement to labour hard and not to have our labour accepted It is true we should look above the dispraise of men to the praise
Predicate do not live for ever There is a threefold life whereof we read in the holy Scripture viz. A Temporal life or a life of nature a Spiritual life or a life of Grace and an Eternal life or a life of Glory In the two latter sences the faithful Prophets of God shall live for ever The life of grace which they are partakers of here shall never be destroyed but will terminate in a Life of Glory and that Life of Glory which the Saints shall live above will be of an everlasting duration But the Spirit of God in the words of my text speaks of a Temporal Life or a Life of nature to which a Period must be put In this sence the Prophets do not live for ever From the words thus explained I shall present you with the following observation Doct. That they who minister about holy things are not exempted from a Temporal Death Or That ministers are liable to and must undergo a Temporal Death The Prophets do they live for ever If they do not live for ever they must certainly die I need not Insist long upon the Proof of such an undeniable Proposition Have not all God's Ministers who lived in Preceeding ages fallen by the stroke of Death Is not Moses gone to the House appointed for all living who is stiled the Prophet by way of eminence Hosea 12.13 Who was the Prince of the old Testament Prophets an eminent type of the Great Apostle of our Profession with Respect to his Prophetical Office as appears from Deut. 18.18 Compared with Act. 3.22 What is become of that famous Prophet who came in the spirit and Power of Elias who was the Morning Star that ushered the Sun of Righteousness into this World did not he set in a Gloomy night of Death Where are the Apostles of our Lord those Heraulds that first Proclaimed the glad tidings of Peace to the Rebellious world are not they gone down to the dark and silent grave Do not we frequently see the King of terrours hewing down those who are Pillars in Jehovah's Temple with his fatal Ax. In the farther Prosecution of this Point I shall proceed in the ensuing method 1. To shew you more particularly what that Death is which they who Minister about holy things are liable to and must certainly undergo 2. To assign some general Reasons why they must die as well as other men 3. To assign some particular and special Reasons of their death 4. To give you some Account of the time when God usually calls them out of this world 5. To make some Improvement and Application of the whole 1. I shall shew you more particularly what that Death is which they who Minister about holy things are liable to and must undergo 1. Negatively Neither they nor any of the Children of men are liable to or shall undergo a natural death of the Soul Though the Souls of wicked men are subject to a Moral Death which Consists in a Privation of felicity and blessedness yet they are not subject to a Physical Death which Consists in a Privation of Existence or Life when men die their Souls depart from their Bodies they do not die or sleep with their Bodies When their Bodies return to the Earth from whence they came Their Souls return to that God as a Judge from whom they came forth as a Creatour Otherwise it would be in the Power of man to kill the soul as well as the Body which our Saviour denies Math. 10.28 Fear not them which can kill the Body but cannot kill the Soul Death's fatal dart cannot pierce this Immortal Being Death may break the Cabinets but cannot touch that rich Jewel which is Inclosed therein It dissolves that earthly Tabernacle wherein the Soul resides but cannot destroy it 's noble Inhabitant The Soul is a spiritual Immaterial and therefore an Immortal Everliving substance If the Soul sleeps with the Body I know not how our Lord's Promise to the Penitent theif This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luk. 23.43 could be accomplish't nor what Reason can be assign'd for the Apostle Paul's desire speedily to depart out of the world Phil. 1.23 I might produce many Arguments to establish this assertion But I cannot enter upon a large discussion of this controversy at this time 2. Affirmatively There is a two fold death which they who Minister about holy things are liable to and must undergo as well as other men viz. A death of the man and a death of the Body 1. A death of the man Which Consists in a separation of the Soul from the Body As the union of the Soul with the Body is the Life of the man So the separation of the Soul from the Body is the death of the man When the Soul is Joyned to the Body we begin to live when it is divorced from the Body then we die Death's fatal stroke breaks in sunder the Ligament wherewith the Soul and Body are tyed together and Rends these Intimate Companions from each others Embraces 2. A death of the Body This is inseparable from a death of the man The Soul is the Principle of the Bodies Life and Motion while it continues in it and therefore when it takes it's flight from it it ceases to be a living Creature and becomes a lifeless lump of clay This death of the Body consists in a Cessation of the Circulation of the Blood and Spirits which are the Animal Soul of man Thereby the Body is deprived of it's strength and vigour of it's Motion and Activity and of it's comeliness and Beauty Death makes a great alteration in this Curious structure It tyes the most voluble tongue fetters the most active and nimble hands and feet It introduces paleness into the most ruddy face and dimness into the most sparkling eyes 2dly I Proceed to assign some general Reasons why Ministers must die as well as other men In general because it is appointed for all men once to die Heb. 9.27 This is a statute Law of Heaven which never was never will be repealed but shall be fully executed The Law is universal and therefore none can plead an exemption from the execution of it They who give Laws to men are subject to this Appointment of God No Priveledges either Temporal or spiritual can give the Children of men a Protection from death's arrest If it be objected that some have past by not through the Gates of death for Enoch was Translated and Elias mounted up to Heaven in a fiery Chariot and they who remain alive upon Earth at the coming of the Lord from Heaven shall not sleep but be changed It may be replyed that some Particular exceptions do not destroy a general Rule besides the foremention'd Persons either did or shall undergo a change equivalent to a Death But more Particularly Ministers must die as well as others 1. Because they as well as others descended from the first Adam by whose transgression death was entailed upon all
wherewith God had entrusted him yea when his flesh and his heart seemed to fail when his flesh was so weak that he could hardly bear to stand in a Pulpit and his Voice so low that he could scarcely be heard his affestions were so much engaged in his work that he was very unwilling to leave it 5. His couragious and chearful suffering for his Masters and the Gospels sake He chearfully went about suffering as well as preaching work He was not unwilling to take up his cross and follow his Lord and Master in the Thorny Road of Tribulation In these things let us imitate and follow the Example of this holy man who I question not is gone to the Assembly of the first born to that glorious Company of Prophets who having finished their work on Earth are wearing their Crowns in Heaven 6. When Ministers are taken away beg of God to raise up others in their stead When God calls any Labourers out of his Vineyard earnestly cry to the Lord of the Harvest that he would thrust out more Labourers into it That there may be a succession of Ministers who may rightly divide the Word and faithfully break the Bread of Life to you and to your Posterity when your places shall know you no more Thirdly By way of Consolation to the Saints First With respect to their own Death It may be you are ready to go all your life-time in Bondage for fear of Death the thoughts of your Dissolution are troublesome to you but consider that you go the same way that the most Eminent Servants of God who have been and are in the highest Place and Office in the Church either have gone or must go You are going to the Glorious Society of God's Prophets who are made Perfect in Holiness and in Happiness Death will Translate you from the Militant Church upon Earth to the Church Triumphant in Heaven Secondly With respect to the Death of your Ministers It is an Affliction but yet it admits of Consolation and that upon these three following Accounts First Tho it be your Loss yet it is their gain For me to live is Christ and to die is gain says great Minister of the Uncircumcision 1 Phil. 21. They are only gone to exchange mortality for a glorious Immortality a heavy Cross for a ponderous and never fading Crown a Pulpit wherein they Laboured for Christ for a Triumphant Throne whereon they shall Eternally Reign with him Could they who are Rejoycing above speak to you who are Mourning below they would say to you as our Lord did unto the Women who followed him to the Cross Luke 23.28 Weep not for me but for your selves Weep not for us who are come to our Journeys end but weep for your selves who are still Travelling thro' a waft and howling Wilderness Weep not for us who rest from our Labours but weep for your selves who are still Labouring and Toyling Weep not for us who are safely Arrived at the Haven of Rest and the Port of Blessedness but weep for your selves who are tost to and fro upon a Tempestuous Sea Weep not for us who stand upon a Mount of Triumph and have obtained a Compleat Victory over All Our Enemies but weep for your selves who are still in a Field of War Wrestling not only with Flesh and Blood but with Principalities and Powers Secondly God can supply their Places and make up your Loss by Raising up others When Moses Dyed the Lord sent Joshuah to Lead Israel into the Land of Canaan Is Elijah gone to Heaven The Residue of the Spirit is with God and he can cause a Double Portion of it to rest upon Elisha When God hath Work to do he will never want Instruments He can perfect Praise out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings and make even a persecuting Saul to become a preaching Paul Thirdly E're long you shall meet them never more to be separated from them 'T will be but a few Days e're you shall enjoy their Society in a more Glorious Place than this Oh! What Greetings will there be between you and your Faithful Ministers when you are entered into the Joy of your Lord Then shall you who Worshipped God together with them upon Earth Joyn with them in a Triumphant Song of Praise to him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore in Heaven Ye shall then see the Great Prophet our Lord Jesus Christ sitting upon a Majestick Throne and all the other Prophets like so many bright Stars compassing about this Son of Righteousness for ever and ever AN HYMN Composed and sung on the same Occasion ALL Adam's Children once must die Deaths fatal stroke will sever Their bodies from their souls surely Prophets don't live for ever These bright illustrious Stars must fall into a bed of dust God will his Messengers re-call tho Prophets die they must Then shall they enter into Rest who here have labour'd hard They must die that they way be blest with a prophets reward Our sins do oft times God provoke to take these Lights away When prophets do fall by deaths stroke expect a gloomy day Oh Lord us unto Canaan bring that with thy prophets we May Joyful hallelujahs sing unto Eternity FINIS ERRATA PAge 9 line 12 dele and p. 33 l. 21 r. the p. 40 l. 13. f. stopt r. stop l. 15 f. slights r. slight Several small mistakes the reader is desired to correct with his Pen.