and miserable to die in sin in a state of sin in the guilt of sin under the reign and power of sin in the arms and embraces of sin Sin being the transgression of a righteous Law the violation of infinite Holiness and Justice and rebellion against Divine Majesty and Authority it always hath demerit and guilt consequent upon it which obligeth and bindeth the sinner to undergoe that punishment which is naturally due to it Which punishment is Death Rom 1. 32. they which Commit such things are worthy of death Thus sin becomes the weapon or sting of Death by which it hath power to destroy Death cometh upon the Sinner as a bailiff or Sergeant from the Judge with warrant to apprehend and bring the Sinner to give account or as an executioner to take vengeance to pay the Sinner the just wages of his sin for the reparation of a broken Law for the satisfaction of offended Justice for the Declaration of Divine hatred and displeasure against sin and for the manifestation of Gods Glorious power and wrath against the guilty And what a terror must Death needs be when it appears in this shape and armed with this sting Know O presumptuous and secure Sinner Though wickedness be now sweet in thy mouth and thou hidest it under thy tongue Though thou swallowest down deliciously thy forbidden morsells of sensual pleasure and worldly gain yet this meat will soon be turned in thy bowels and become the gall of asps within thee At last at death it will bite as a serpent and sting like an adder What horrour will fill thy soul when approaching Death shall awaken thy sleepy Conscience as oft times it doth and thy awakened Conscience shall charge thee with thy inexcusable transgression of a Righteous Law thy gross neglect of Commanded duty thy industerious provision to satisfie the flesh thy ready compliance with the call of temptations thy irreparable loss of precious time Thy hypocritical dealing with God in Covenant the Stopping of thine eares at the voice of Conscience the shutting of thine eyes against the light of Scripture the hardening of thy heart against the motions of the Spirit thy unbelieving refusals of an offered Saviour thy unprofitable misimprovement of means of Grace thy unthankful abuse of the mercies of God and obstinate incorrigibleness under his Judgments with many other instances of multiplyed and aggravated sins through a long life Whence will arise dismal apprehensions of the wrath of an offended God a certain fearful expectation of Judgment to come and a pre-occupation of eternal torments and everlasting burnings This is that sting of Death the weapon wherewith it is armed against thee wherein Consists its power and by which it is so terrible 2. Add to this the strength which this sting hath from the Law For saith the Apostle The strength of sin is the Law and that two ways 1 st As the Law discovers and convinceth of sin Rom. 5. 13. Sin is not imputed where there is no Law Men are not prone to charge themselves with sin where there is no Law therefore Gal. 3. 19. the Law was added because of transgressions that is to make transgressions appear Hence we read Rom. 3. 20. By the Law is the knowledge of sin and Rom. 7. 9 13. I was alive without the Law once in my own opinion but when the Commandment came Sin revived and I died I was convinced I was in a state of Sin and death and v. 13. Sin by the Commandement becomes exceeding sinful Thus sin as the sting of Death is strengthned by the Law while men thereby are more cleerly and fully convinced of it and the greater the conviction is the sharper is the sting 2 ly As the Law Curseth and condemneth the sinner Gal. 3. 10. Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the Law to do them hence as before Rom. 7. 9. When the Commandment Came. I died and 2 Cor. 3. 7. The Law is called the Ministration of death The Law binds the sinner over to the Judgment of the great day It holds him fast under his guilt without hope of pardon passeth sentence of Condemnation upon him and begins the execution by wounding the Spirit terrifying the Soul with pre-apprehensions and foretasts of the wrath to come The sum of the terror of Death is this Approaching death awakeneth the secure Conscience Awakened Conscience charged with the guilt of sin This sin is strengthened with a Convincing cursing Law The dying wretch seeth his day of sensual delights and pleasures his day of worldly gains and purchases his day of Carnal fellowship with men and especially his day of Grace and mercy with God passing away finds his Spirit fainting his heart and flesh failing anguish and pangs taking hold of him and his soul forthwith to be Required Apprehended Arrested Summoned and haled out of his body from all freinds means helps and hopes to appear naked before God the Judge of all men to give an account of a sinful life and to receive a righteous doom viz. Depart from me ye Cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels and then to go away into everlasting punishment At this what heart of man can contain and possess himself without fear Who but must be appalled confounded amazed terrified Knowing the terror saith St. Paul 2 Cor. 5. 1. Speaking of this appearance and account Felix trembled saith St. Luke Act. 24. 25. When he heard of Judgment to come It is a fearful looking for of Judgment and fierie indignation saith the Author to the Hebrews chap. 10. 27. and a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God ver 31. Thus have we represented the Enemy Death in its power and pomp as it reigneth over the fallen Sons and Daughters of Adam which appears so terrible that woe be to those that fall under the power of it 2. We will now shew you this Enemy fallen and overcome before Believers Believers are Victorious over Death Object But saith Natural Carnal reason Is not this a great Paradox who will believe it One Enoch indeed was translated that he should not see Death and Elijah went up to Heaven in a fiery Chariot But else the Patriarchs and Prophets and Apostles and all the Saints in their Successive generations have yielded up to Death And doth not every day bear witness Are we not all here this day lamenting a very holy and Eminent Saint and Servant of Jesus Christ fallen by the stroke of Death Where then is the Victory And How is Death overcome Answ Notwithstanding all this yet Verily Death is overcome Not ut ne sit but ut ne obsit Not that it should not be but that it should not be hurtful to believers and this Victory consists in four things 1. Death is disarmed to believers that it cannot sting them When death cometh it finds no sin in them unpardoned no guilt remaining as an obligation
snared by death in an evil time when it falleth suddenly upon them Every one may say as Isaac Gen. 27. 2. I know not the day of my death At an hour when ye think not saith Christ the Son of man cometh Luk. 12. 40. The man we mentioned even now was confident of many years before him and promised himself a merry long life Luk. 12. 19. yet ver 20. He that knew said to him Hac Nocte This night thou must die Who knoweth what shall be on the morrow or what a day may bring forth Nemo tam Divos habuit faventes Crastinum ut posset sibi polliceri Was not Nabal in his plenty Jobs Children in their feasting Nadab and Abihu in their offering Herod in his pride Belshazzar in his cups Zimri and Cozbi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. surprised by this Enemie 3. It is a destructive Enemy Destruction and Death are joyned together Job 28 22. yea this is the very name of Death Ps 88. 11. shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in Destruction Ps 103. 4. who redeemeth thy life from Destruction i. e. death A dead man is reduced to his first principle the Earth The body returns to the dust from whence it came and this is turning man to Destruction Ps 90. 3. If a man were Surprised and spoiled of all that he had without him and should yet escape with his life though naked it were a sore evil yet such as might be endured a great loss but such as might be repaired But Death spoils a man of himself taketh down the goodly frame and Constitution of Nature Cuts a man asunder and divideth Soul from body God taketh away his Soul Job 27. 8. Her Soul was in departing for she died Gen. 35. 18. Thy Soul shall be required Luk. 12. 20. So as no ground of hope is left to a dying man Life is a fundamental Being Take away that and ye take away all The dead are not Joseph is not Gen. 42. Lo he was not Ps 37. 36. Job 14. 7 8 9 10. There is hope of a tree if it be cut down that it will Sprout again and that the tender branch thereof will not cease Though the root thereof wax old in the Earth and the Stock thereof die in the ground Yet through the sent of water it will bud and bring forth boughs like a plant But man dieth and wasteth away Yea man giveth up the Ghost and where is he and ver 14. If a man die shall he live again 4. It is a certain unavoidable Enemy There is no defence to be made against it no humane power can withstand it no fortification of the body by utmost art can prevent its entrance either by some violent storming or Successive batteries or longer seige it wil prevail against the Stoutest defendants Psal 89. 48. What man is he that liveth and shall not see death shall he deliver his Soul from the hand of the grave The young the strong the healthful the wise the rich the honourable All have fallen and shall fall under the power of this irresistible enemy The experience of five thousand years and upwards which the world hath had is enough to Convince all the Living that they shall as certainly die as that they have been born 5. It is an abhorred Enemy Against which Nature relucts with the greatest passion and from which it fleeth with greatest aversation It will never be reconciled to that which dissolveth the nearest and most intimate union between Soul and body which taketh in pieces the curious Workmanship defiles the Glory and stains the beauty of the goodliest body which turns the lovely body into a loathsome Carkass resolves it into corruption and putrefaction and gives it to the worms for meat No Antipathy greater than between Nature and Death Skin for Skin and all that a man hath will he give for his life Job 2. 4. 6. It is a formidable enemy that affects a man with fear and terror We read Ps 91. 5. the terrour by night that is Death Job 24. 17. the terrours of the shadow of Death Psal 55. 4. the terrours of Death and Job 18. 14. It is called the King of Terrors i. e. The chief of Terrours 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Saith the Judgment of Nature of all terribles the most terrible This is Consequent upon the former It being a Spoiling surprising destroying irresistible abhorred enemy It must needs be very terrible What a terror possesseds the Egyptians when Death entred in at their doors and slew their first born Exod. 12. 30 33. They were so affrighted that even Pharoah rose up in the night he and all his Servants and all the Egyptians and there was a great cry in Egypt for there was not an house where there was not one dead They said we be all dead men It is a threatning denounced by God Deut. 28. 65 66 67. The Lord shall give thee a trembling heart Why Thy life shall hang in doubt before thee And thou shalt fear day and night and shalt have no assurance of thy life In the morning thou shalt say Would God it were Even and at even thou shalt say Would God it were morning for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear The apprehension of this affrighted Gideon a mighty man of valour till the Lord encouraged him and said to him Fear not thou shalt not die Judg. 6. 23. At this the King Belshazzars Countenance was changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joynts of his loins were loosed and his knees smote one against another Dan. 5. 6. And who that is but a natural man doth not experience trembling and astonishment at the approach and sight of Death yea many times at the very thoughts of it The world of men doth generally bear witness to that which is written Heb. 2. 15. that through fear of Death they are all their life time Subject to bondage There are two things both in the context which make Death so terrible 1 st Sin which the Apostle calleth the Sting of Death It was by sin that death entred in the world and it is by Sin that death reigneth in the world The poison of the Serpent is in his sting and the power of the Serpent is in his sting So the poyson of Death is in sin and the power of Death lieth in sin without which though it killeth it cannot hurt This is the only weapon wherewith Death is Armed against the Children of men but it is a deadly one That is a dreadful threatning indeed which our Saviour denounceth against the Jews Joh. 8. 21. Ye shall die in your sins According to what the Lord had before spoken by his Prophet Ezek. 18. 24. In his trespass that he hath trespassed and in the sin that he hath sinned in them shall he die It is our sad case that we are born in sin and worse that we live in sin but Oh! how dreadful
unto punishment He is overcome whose armour is taken from him wherein he trusted Luk. 11. 22. Thus it is with Death Where Sin hath no dominion Death hath none for Death reigneth by Sin Now as for the sins of believers God to whom belongeth the forgiveness of sins saith Isa 44. 22. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgresons and as a cloud thy sins Jer. 31. 34. I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sin no more Numb 23. 21. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob neither hath he seen perversness in Israel Mic. 7. 18 19. Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage Thou wilt Cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea Act. 10. 43. whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of Sins What God said to repenting and believing David that he saieth to all believers 2 Sam. 12. 13. The Lord hath put away your sin ye shall not die Ye shall not die by the venemous sting of Death This indeed is in effect the whole victory over death This is the fatal mortal wound given to Death and will in time be the very Death of Death and therefore the Apostle triumpheth over it on that account vers 55. O Death where is thy sting What Luther sometimes said to God that may every Believer say to Death Feri Domine said he Strike Lord. Feri mors feri may they say Nam a peccatis absolutus sum Strike Death strike for my sins are pardoned Thou mayest kill me but thou canst not hurt me 2. Death is overcome to Believers in that it cannot amaze them with despairing terrors However it be to others it is not to them the King of Terrors Believers are freed from the bondage of the tormenting fear of Death Heb. â— 15. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death saith David Psal 23. 4. I will fear no evil Elijah makes request for himself that he might die 1 King 19. 4. The three Children valiantly yielded their bodies to the fiery fornace Dan. 3. 16. 28. Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace saith good old Simeon Luk. 2. 29. Paul and Barnabas willingly hazarded their lives Act. 15. 16. Paul had a desire to be dissolved Phil. 1. 23. Those worthies Heb. 11. 35. would not accept deliverance The Primitive Martyrs would hasten to the stake Such Victory had they gotten of the fear of Death The grant of their Pardon and their discharge from Condemnation which God hath Sealed to them The peace of a good Conscience which they carry about with them Their apprehensions that their bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost which he will never desert or neglect Their assurance of the faithfulness and power of God into whose hands they commend their Spirit The fore-tasts of the sweetness of Communion with God and Jesus Christ to be fully enjoyed in the other world Their faith and hope of a blessed Resurrection to Immortality Their Evidences for Heaven These are powerful Arguments which they improve against the fear of Death and by the strength whereof they Triumph over it Object But for all this Are not Believers afraid to die Was not Abraham afraid when he thought he should be slain Gen. 20. 11. Did not David complain The terrors of death are fallen from me Ps 55. 4. Did not Hezekiah weep sore when it was said to him Thou shalt die Isa 38. 1. And who almost is not afraid Answ 1. There is a Natural fear of death as it is the dissolution of the Compositum a separation of Soul and Body which are so intimately united which is not sinful Believers are not free from this Grace doth not destroy Nature Nature will be Nature and act its part even in the best of Saints They who have the surest hope of Eternal life and clearest Evidences of their Salvation yea and have an unfained longing and desire after the Heavenly state have yet a natural aversness unto Death and do rather endure than desire it St. Paul saith for himself and other Believers that though they knew that if their Earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved they had a building of God an house not made with hands eternal in the Heavens and groaned earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with their house which is from Heaven yet they had a natural Love of life and abhorrence of death and their groaning was not that they would be unclothed 2 Cor. 5. 1 2 4. yea our Lord Jesus Christ himself in whom was no sin being found in fashion as a man when he humbled himself and became obedient unto death experienced this fear as the proper expression of his humane Nature When his hour was come Mar. 14. 33 34. He taketh with him Peter and James and John and began to be sore amazed and to be very heavy and saith my Soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death 2. There is a slavish inordinate sinful fear of death which Believers overcome and from which they are freed It was one end of Christs death that he might deliver his redeemed from fear of death to which they were holden in bondage Heb. 2. 15. To which yet some Believers are subject yea it may be All at sometimes more or less This ariseth from weakness of Faith from want of assurance from Conscience of lapses and contracted guilt from neglecting to search their own hearts from misapprehending and mis-judging their Spiritual state from inordinate love to this life and world c. for which they must blame themselves Believers as such so far as they are Believers are victorious Did they walk close with God improve grace received examine their own state wisely and judge thereof rightly Did they take hold of the Covenant of God live by Faith meditate on the Promises and apply them as their Portion which becometh Believers they might and would get above the slavish fears of Death In this method they might be ready to die and fear no evil When the Christian can say with David Psal 23. The Lord is my Shepherd he maketh me to lie down in green pastures he leadeth me besides the still waters he restoreth my Soul he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness He will then add also Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil 3. There is a despairing fear The presumptions of Hell the pre-occupation of Torment the fore-tasts of the wrath of the Almighty the scorchings of the Lake that burneth with fire and Brimstone that driveth the sinner past all hope and overwhelms the Soul in hideous darkness and horrible Confusions Have there not been instances of some wretched guilty Souls going out of the body as the Devil out of the Demoniack Mar. 9. renting and taring and wallowing and foming and raging and roaring again And were it not for the Atheism ignorance infidelity blindness hardness searedness flattery
and delusions that are in the hearts of sinners such instances would not be rare but it would be a wonder how any sinner could die in his sin and in his wits too from such a fear as this Believers are delivered Though they may and do experience some measure of fears yet God doth always support with some degree of hope that they let not go all their hold of the Covenant of God In a word Believers are so far victorious over the fear of death that if they understand their case aright they have no cause to be afraid of death when they are they are more afraid than hurt The Hornet having lost its sting may threaten with its humming noise but cannot prick the flesh so death where sin is pardoned which is itssting may afright with its horrid aspect but cannot hurt 3. Death is overcome to Believers in that it cannot hold them by its power It is indeed the unalterable Law of Heaven that all must die And accordingly Abraham Isaac and Jacob and all the Patriarchs Moses and Samuel and Isaiah and all the Prophets Peter and James and John and all the Apostles yea all the Saints from Adam to this generation are fallen asleep and shut up in their Graves But shall the Grave always contain them Are they there kept in an everlasting Prison under locks and bars that cannot be opened Did making the Sepulchre sure Sealing the stone and setting a Watch forbid Christs Resurrection No surely I went down saith Jonah a Type of the Resurrection to the bottoms of the Mountains the Earth with her bars was about me for ever yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption O Lord my God Jon. 2. 6. And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God whom I shall see for my self and mine eyes shall behold and not another though my reins be consumed within me saith Job ch 19. 26 27. Though the Saints be descended to the depths of the sea and hid in the bowels of the Earth and their bodies resolved into the farthest dust and that dust dispersed to the four Winds yet shall they be recovered and rise again The Sea shall not contain the dead that are in it nor the Graves the dead that are in them Their scattered atoms shall be recollected and reared up again to a goodly body Behold there shall be a shaking and their dry bones shall come together bone to his bone and lo the sinews and the flesh shall come up upon them and the skin shall cover them above And thus shall the Lord God say Come from the four Winds O breath and breath upon these slain that they may live and the breath shall come into them and they shall live and stand up upon their feet Ezek. 37. 7 8 10. This is it which the Apostle asserts here throughout the Chapter concluding that then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written Death is swallowed up in victory Object But what more victory is this than what unbelievers shall have for they also shall rise again Answ Yes it is more beyond all comparison Joh. 5. 28 29. All that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto the Resurrection of life and they that have done evil to the Resurrection of damnation The wicked shall rise but from death Temporal to death Eternal to die the second death This is Death's Victory over them The Godly shall rise from Death temporal to Life eternal to die no more This is the Saints Victory over Death 4. Death is so overcome to Believers as to be made serviceable and advantageous to them And this is the fulness and perfection of Victory when the Enemy is brought in Subjection to serve the Conquerour The Apostle in this Epistle reckons Death to be part of the Saints Inventory ch 3. 21 22. All things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Life or Death And elsewhere he calleth it gain Phil. 1. 21. to die is gain What gain Answ 1. In reference to the present state Death is 1 st The end of Sin With the body of Flesh the body of Sin is also put off from which St. Paul longed to be delivered Rom. 7. 24. Here the best of Saints have their corruptions infirmities imperfections but at Death the Spirits of just men are made perfect Heb. 12. 23. 2 ly The end of all Sorrows There are no Pains or Diseases or Griefs or Losses or Crosses or Persecutions in the Grave Job 3. 17 18 19. There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest There the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the Oppressor The small and great are there and the Servant is free from his Master 3. Rest from Labours It is no light burden of works that is upon a Christians hand no small labour to discharge the duties of his general and particular Calling What saith the Scripture Labour work watch run strive wrastle fight give diligence endure hardness press forward c. But blessed are the dead that die in the Lord for they rest from their labours Rev. 14. 13. The day of the Saints Death is his happy Jubilee when he is set at liberty and goeth out free from his Service Thus is Death gain in reference to the presence state 2. In reference to the future state for 1 st As for the Soul it being released from the body is admitted into the Heavenly Jerusalem to an innumerable company of Angels to the Spirits of just men made perfect and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant Heb. 12. This day saith Christ to a dying Saint shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luk. 23. 43. St. Paul desires to depart that he might be with Christ which is far better Phil. 1. 23. 2 ly As for the body Death serves to refine it for 1 Cor. 15. 50. This I say that Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God neither doth corruption inherit incorruption These bodies which we now carry are so gross and corruptible they are not meet for an heavenly state They die that they may be changed Phil. 3. 21. They are sown in corruption to be raised in incorruption sown in dishonour to be raised in Glory sown in weakness to be raised in power sown Natural bodies to be raised Spiritual The old decayed house is taken down to be built anew and these weak crasie bodies are laid in the Earth to rise afresh This corruptible is corrupted that it may put on incorruption and this Mortal dieth that it may put on Immortality Thus is this Enemy overcome and made to serve as a mean and advantage to the Believers happiness This indeed is a glorious Victory over a very mighty and formidable Enemy So great and wonderful that it far exceeds the hope of Nature Flesh and Blood cannot believe the report thereof Paul's discourse of the Resurrection
from the dead seemed no other than babling to the Learned Philosophers at Athens Act. 17. 18. And was thought incredible by Festus and Agrippa and the Captains and Principal men of Caesarea Act. 26. 8. Yea the Resurrection seemed as an idle Tale at first to the very Apostles Luk. 24. 11. and they believed it not So great is the Glory of this victory over Death that even Angels come down from Heaven to make report of it and to Celebrate the Triumph Mar. 16. Luk. 24. Tell no more then of the mighty Acts of Nimrod or Chedorlaomer of Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar of Cyrus or Alexander or of all the Caesars or the rest of those great Names that have filled the world with their Fame who have subdued Kingdoms and led Nations Captive and made many glorious Triumphs Yea let no mention be made of the Victories of Joshua or Baruk or Gideon or Jephtha or Samson or Saul or Jonathan or David or of all his worthies who have Victoriously fought the Battles of the Lord against the Arms of flesh and whose Sword returned not empty from the blood of the slain Behold the greater Glory of this Victory in the Text which darkneth the lustre of all their Triumphs Their Acts were mira but this miraculum Their Victories were wonders but this a Miracle The Gates of Hell the power of Darkness the King of Terrors before whom all these Triumphing Victors at last fell fallen at the feet of the Saints Quest But if Believers be thus victorious and their Victory be so great and Glorious which you tell us as indeed it is How do they obtain it Where lieth the great strength of these Samsons Are they not all Clay of the same lump with other men Are they not the Sons of men Do we not know their generation Their Parents Brethren and Sisters are they not with us Whence then have these men these mighty Works Answ Truly they are so They are of the same Nature with other men promise no more than other nay less as to sense and reason for they are not many wise after the flesh not many mighty not many noble 1 Cor. 1. 26. and therefore we may well ask the question How they overcome The remaining Text will resolve this They get not the Victory by their own Sword neither do their own Arm save them But 3. The Victory is given them by God through our Lord Jesus Christ We will express this in three particulars 1. Jesus Christ disarmeth Death by his satisfaction 2. He destroyeth Death by his Resurrection 3. This Victory becomes the Believers by participation and communion with him 1. Jesus Christ disarms Death by his Satisfaction The sting of Death is sin saith the context and the strength of sin is the Law Sin being the Transgression of a Righteous Law hath in it a fundamentall demerit and natural obligation to punishment which is moreover Confirmed by the Laws threatning Thou shalt die the Death This is the sting of Death wherewith it is armed from the poyson power and pain whereof none can be delivered unless the obligation be voided by making satisfaction This being impossible to meer man Jesus Christ undertook it To which purpose our sins were translated on him by imputation Isa 53. 6. All we like Sheep have gone astray we have turned every on to his own way and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all He was made a Priest that he might offer Sacrifice to expiate this guilt and to Satisfie the Law Heb. 5. 4 5 6. And no man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high Priest but he that said unto him Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee and again Thou art a Priest for ever c. The Sacrifice to be offered up by this Priest for this purpose must be an humane Soul and body for the Subjection of mans Soul and body to the curse of the Law was the punishment which the Law exacted for mans sin and wherewith only it would be satisfied This Soul and body did Christ assume Joâ— 1. 14. The word was made flesh Hebs 10. 5. When he cometh into the World he saieth Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body hast thou prepared me For the Sanctification of this Sacrifice to be offered up to God there must be an Altar Math. 23. 19. The Altar Sanctifieth the gift which Altar was his divine nature Heb. 9. 14. Througth the eternal Spirit he offered himself And Joh. 17. 19. I sanctifie my self I as God sanctifie my self as man And being thus instructed he actually offered up himself to God Eph. 5. 2. Christ hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God He humbled himself and became obedient unto Death even the Death of the cross Phil. 2. 8. and so was made a Curse for us as it is written Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree Gal. 3. 13. By this did Christ satisfie the Law expiate guilt cancelled the hand writing the obligation to punishment appeased the wrath of God and obtained remission of sins Eph. 1. 7. Thus did he finish transgression make an end of sins thus he made reconciliation for iniquity brought in Everlasting Righteousness Thus he disarmed death by making satisfaction 2. He destroyeth Death by his resurrection By his satisfaction he took away the power and efficacy of Death but by his resurrection he destroyed the very Being of death actually as to himself virtually as to believers Rom. 6. 9. Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more Death hath no more dominion over him and v. 10. For in that he died he died unto sin once Ad delendum peccatum ut semel in nihilum redigat peccatum in nobis saith Beza he died once for all utterly to blot out sin in us but in that he liveth he liveth unto God Apud Deum or secundum Deum vita caelesti et immortali a life worthy of God an heavenly and immortal life We read Joh. 11. 44. concerning Lazarus that he that was dead came forth There the power of Death was suspended at present that it could not hold him but the Being of Death remained for he rose to die again and therefore he came forth bound hand and foot with Grave-Clothes and his face was bound about with a Napkin But when Christ rose both the Power and the Being of Death ceased as to him and therefore he left his Grave-Clothes behind him and carryed nothing belonging to Death with him Joh. 20. 6. 7. The rising body of Christ was not only not dead but not mortal His body rose a glorious body a spiritual body an heavenly body Not only Death but mortality is swallowed up by the resurrection of Christ And as by the resurrection of Christ the Being of Death was destroyed actually as to himself so vertually to believers for
even as to them he hath abolished Death and brought life and immortality to light 2 Tim. 1. 10. Saith Christ Rev. 1. 18. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keyes of Hell and Death The keyes are the Ensign of power Christ by his resurrection hath obtained authority over Death to quicken whom he pleaseth to shut and open the grave And his promise is to exercise this power for his people Joh. 6. 44. I will raise him up at the last day Hos 13. 14. I will ransome them from the power of the grave I will redeem them from death Notwithstanding all the improbabilities yea impossibilities in Nature yet he saith to them as to Cyrus Isa 54. 2. I will go before thee and break in pieces the Gates of Brass and cut in sunder the barrs of Iron On which account St. Peter begins his Epistle v. 3. with thanksgiving Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope i. e. hope of eternal life as v. 4. by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the Dead It is observable what the Apostle saith here he hath begotten us by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ The Resurrection of Jesus Christ hath a secret generating influence upon the Resurrection of the Saints who are therefore called by our Saviour Luke 20. 36. The Children of the Resurrection which leadeth to 3. This Victory becomes the believers by participation and Communion with Him They communicate with him in the value of his satisfaction and they communicate with him in the vertue of his Resurrection 1. They communicate with him in the value of his Satisfaction whereby the sting of Death is taken out as to them to wit the guilt of sin done away By the Covenant of Redemption between the Father and Christ it was eternally agreed that Christ should be their Surrogate Substitute and Surety to undertake for them in their nature Joh. 10. 18. No man taketh my life from me but I lay it down of my self there is Christs Consent This Commandment have I received of my Father there 's the Fathers Consent So Hebr. 10. 7. Then said I Lo I come to do thy will O God Accordingly he became man and our surety and thereby one with us in the Sense of the Law as the principal debtor and Surety are looked upon as one person in Law Thus our debt became his debt he was bound for us and saith to his Father on our behalf as Judah to Joseph on the behalf of Benjamin Gen. 44. 32. 33. Thy Servant became Surety for the lad unto my Father Now therefore I pray thee let thy Servant abide in stead of the lad a bondman to my Lord And the punishment due to us became his Isa 53. 4 5. Surely he hath born our greifs and carried our Sorrows He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities c. And thus by vertue of the same Suretyship when he had undergone the punishment and Satisfied the Law and taken his discharge which was testified by his Resurrection His Satisfaction becomes our Satisfaction and his discharge our discharge Jer. 23. 6. He is the Lord our Righteousness Gal. 3. 13. Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Rom. 8. 33 34. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect Who is he that Condemneth It is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again No Law doth demand both of the principal and the Surety too They are bound to pay disjunctively one or the other Therefore when Christ was apprehended he said to the Officers that took him Joh. 18. 8. If ye seek me let these my disciples go their way 2. They communicate with him in the vertue of his Resurrection Christ rose from the dead not only as a surety discharged from prison when he had paid the debt and thereby cancelling the obligation of the principal but also as a vital head to quicken and raise all his body the Church For the same Spirit of life which is in Christ and quickened his dead body is also in the church and in every particular member thereof and will certainly quicken their dead bodies Rom. 8. 11. If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by or because of his Spirit that dwelleth in you He saith not your dead bodies but your mortal bodies to denote this quickening to be not only from death to life but from mortality to immortality as was the resurrection of Christ He that eateth me saith Christ Joh. 6. 5 7. that is by faith there is union with Christ even he shall live by me there is communion with Christ as necessarily consequent And what that life is he expresseth four times in that chap. ver 39 40 44 54. I will raise him up at the last day Hence Christ is said to be our life Col. 3. 4. and we are said to be quickened with Christ Col. 2. 13. and risen with Christ Eph. 2. 6. It is from the vertue of Christs Resurrection that Job argueth to his own Job 19. 25 26. I know that my Redeemer liveth c. And though after my skin worms destroy this body yet in my flesh shall I see God And this is the argument which the Apostles so industriously improves throughout this Chapter assuring the Resurrection of believers by the Resurrection of Christ Christ rose as the first-fruits of them that sleep which sanctifieth and assureth the whole harvest ver 20. If the first Adam dying derived Death to all his natural seed much more shall the second Adam rising communicate life to all his Spiritual seed ver 22. yea such intimate and necessary connexion is there between the Resurrection of Christ and the Resurrection of believers that the Apostle argueth both forward and backward from the one to the other ver 12 13 16. The Saints then shall one day feel the quickening influences of their vital head upon their dead bodies and experimentally know the power of his Resurrection Recovering them from the power of the grave to rise and live with him for ever Which is so certain that the Apostle speakes of it as already done Eph. 2 6. He hath raised us up Applicat 1. How sad and woful is the Case of unbelievers who have no share in this Glorious and Blessed Victory no interest in the satisfaction and Resurrection of this Prince of life but are left to shift for themselves alone all forlornly exposed to the invincible Assaults of the King of Terrors Do they not tremble at a distance at the fore-thoughts of that dark and dismal hour when this spoiling destroying abhorred and dreadful Enemy shall surprize them and peremptorily require their precious life beyond all denial
have the Victory even above and beyond the fears of Death If we have the same precious faith which this Apostle had let us put on also the same confidence and courage and in assurance of the Victory that Christ hath gotten for us bid an holy defiance to this enemy O Death where is thy sting O Grave where is thy Victory Was it not the end of Christs conquest to deliver his Saints not only from the hurt but from the fear of Death Would it not then be either a denial or a disparagement of Christs Victory for a Saint to live in bondage to the fear of Death That Souldier must either be very ignorant or very much a Coward who is afraid to meet his disarmed and conquered Enemy Such is the weakness and Cowardise and ought to be the shame of too many professing Christians How far do we desire to remove death from us How sad and damping are the very thoughts thereof to us What reluctance have we against the very Name of Death What trembling at the approach thereof How do we say as they Jer. 41. 8. Slay us not for we have treasures in the field of wheat and of barley and of Oil and of Honey And with Hezekiah turn to the wall and weep sore But whence is all this Is it not because we look upon death only with an eye of nature and not with the eye of faith and that we look at our dissolution more than at our resurrection Is it not because of the darkness of our Evidence and carelessness of gaining better assurance of life eternal Is it not from our inordinate affection to our worldly interest our Carnal enjoyments and relations Or is it not from the Conscience of some indulged sin which we have not effectually mortified Surely our Consciences will tell the guilty that some or all of these are the cause of our averseness lothness and fears to die But are these becoming professing Christians and worthy of the faith of the Resurrection Oh for the honour of Christs Victory for the commendation of Religion for the Conviction of Sinners for the comfort of our own souls let us shake of these clogs lay aside these weights and get above these slavish fears Improve and encourage faith against sense and carnal reason Mortifie thy inordinate affections hold a good Conscience Clear up thy interest in Christ and in the Covenant of God Have thy conversation in Heaven and from thence look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ who shall change thy vile body that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body and fear not Art thou to encounter death hast thou apprehensions of its approaches towards thee And doth thy heart fail for fear hereof Hear Christ rebuking thee as sometimes he rebuked his disciples Why art thou fearful thou of little faith Let me say to thee for thy encouragement if thou beest a Christian indeed as Deborah to Barak when he was to Encounter Sisera Judg. 4. 14. Up Is not the Lord gone out before thee Hath not Christ disarmed thy Enemy and taken out its sting Hath not he overcome death and opened the doors of the grave and given thee the Victory yea Doth not the Lord go out with thee and stand by thee in this thy last conflict And is not the presence and assistance of Christ enough to encourage thee against fear Isa 43. 1. 2. saith God to Jacob Fear not when thou passest through the waters I will be with thee and v. 5. Fear not for I am with thee In the strength of which promise say with David Ds 23. 4. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of Death I will fear none evill for thou art with me Verily there is a power in faith It is a Victorious grace It engaged the strength of him that raised up Jesus from the dead Live then by faith and thou shalt die by faith and overcome death by faith Many witnesses can set their seal to this as a certain truth that a Christian by the improvement of grace may if not triumphanter yet at least patienter mori may be content if not rejoyce to die 4. Add for a conclusion the Apostles application in the text Thanks be to God The Victory being gotten being given the triumph is to be made We read whether they be the words of God to the Church or of the Church to God the sense is the same Isa 26. 19. Thy dead men shall live together with my dead body shall they arise for thy dew is as the dew of herbs which revives them in the spring after a Killing winter and the Earth shall cast out the Dead There 's the Victory What then awake and sing ye that dwell in the dust There is the triumph Thus Ps 30. 3. O Lord thou hast brought up my Soul from the grave then ver 12. To the end that my glory may sing prise to thee and not be silent O Lord my God I will give thanks unto thee for ever Thus again the Psalmists sings Ps 118. 14 15 17. The The Lord is my strength and Song And is become my Salvation The voice of rejoycing and Salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly c. Why I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord. Victory is always matter of rejoycing and should reflect honour upon the Conquerour We read 1 Sam. 17. Goliah of Gath that monstrous and terrible Giant cometh forth before his camp of Philistins and defieth the armies of Israel who fled from him and were sore afraid when behold David goeth out to meet him and encounters him all alone and with the Giants own sword cuts off his head and discomfits all his host Did they not then come out of all cities of Israel Chap. 18. 6 7. singing and dancing with Tabrets and joy and instruments of musick answering one another as they played and saying Saul hath slain his thousands and David his ten thousands What is it that we see Is it the Vision Rev. 6. 8. Behold a pale horse and the Name of him that sits on him is Death and Hell followeth with him and power is given unto him to kill And at this are we sore afraid Why Look again Rev. 19. 11. c. I saw Heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sate upon him doth judge and make war in righteousness and he is clothed with a Vesture dipt in blood and his Name is called The Word of God He goeth forth Conquering and to Conquer He takes Death and Hell and casteth them into the lake of fire Come then let us Sing the Song of Moses Exod. 15. 1 2 3. The Lord is my strength and Song He is my God I will exalt him The Lord is a man of war The Lord is his Name I will sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the Horse and his Rider hath he cast into the