Lazarus Lazarus was blessed and happy being carried of the Angels into Abrahams bosom but the Rich man was most miserably wretched being carried into Hell and there grievously tormented without so much relief or hope of possibility of finding so much relief as might amount to or be resembled by a drop of water to cool his tongue Luke 16.19.25 26. and we find mention of a multitude nay of diverse Princes with their multitudes gone down into the Pit of destruction in their uncircumcisedness Ezek. 32.18.30 31. and our Saviour tells us of Gods killing the body and casting into Hell Luke 12 5. and that the Gate is wide and the Way broad that leads to Destruction and that many go in thereat Matth. 7.13 for the many dye in their sins and that 's a sad dying and is mentioned as such by our Saviour when he saith to the Jews I go my way and ye shall seek me and dye in your sins whither I go and that was to heaven to his Father ye cannot come Ye are of this world I am not of this world I said therefore that ye shall dye in your sins for if ye believe not that I am He ye shall dye in your sins Joh 8.21 24. And indeed that 's the onely thing that makes any miserable that are dead that they dyed in their sins and their sins lie down with them in the dust as is said Job 20.11 For where sin is continued in and not repented of there it is not pardoned and where sin is not pardoned men are not blessed but cursed But this proceeds not from the force of the first or bodily death but from the wilfulness and carelesness of men while they be here alive in neglecting Christ and the grace in him and the salvation tendered to them in that when He by his wisdom calls men to himself and offers to make them wise and to save them as is abundantly signifyed in Prov. 81.4 5. and 9.1.4.5 Matth. 23.37 yea and counsels them to what is good and reproves their contrary courses and neglects or rejections of his Counsels and waits upon them with long-suffering yet they refuse and sleight all his love and good will and harden their hearts against all means and methods in inlargements and chastisements tending to their good as is signified Prov. 1.22 23 24 25.29 30. Psal 81.9 10 11 12 c. Matth. 23.37 Joh. 5.39 40 c. It is true that Christ dyed for all even while sinners for the ungodly and enemies and thereby hath ransomed them from under the first Judgement and from the lordship of Sathan into his own power and dispose as is signified 2 Cor. 5.14 15. Rom. 5.18 and 14.9 yea and hath obtained into himself all fulness of grace and blessing So as in him all the Families of the earth are blessed that is abundantly provided for of all things tending to and sufficient to render them blessed in the participation thereof so as he is represented as a full and large feast prepared for all people Isa 25.6 being the Salvation prepared of God before the face of or over against the needs of all people Luke 2.31 as a like phrase signifies and is equivalently rendered in Gen. 2.18 and having wrought a perfect righteousness which is for unto all Rev. 3.22 But yet men cannot receive the benefit of all this but in receiving submitting to and obeying even as the Feast prepared profited not those that were invited to it and refused to come nay they refusing it and therein sleighting the love of him that made it and called them to it provoked new anger and wrath to their destruction Matth. 22.4.7 Luke 14 16 17.24 the Salvation neglected is a healing medicine refused and not taken which leaves the miserable like persons desperately diseased in that case to die of their Disease without remedy or escape Heb. 2.1 3. the righteousness for all comes upon all that believe and therefore it being through unbelief refused is like the Weeding garment not put on which neither clothes nor warms the person refusing it nor makes him comely and lovely but being not on a man the mans nakedness and unhandsomness together with the refusal of the Charity shewed and proffered in preparing it for and offering it to him lays the person open to be expelled though come into Gods house and to be cast out into outer darkness Rom. 3.22 Matth. 22.10 11 12 13. the Life Eternal given us in Christ is so given in and with him that he that hath him he only hath and enjoys it and he that rejects and hath not Him hath not it 1 Joh. 5.11 12. To the enjoyment of Blessedness then there must be a receiving and obedience to Christ the Fountain and treasury of it otherwise though men perish not in the first Death they will and must in the second for the soul that sinneth that still and perpetually or impenitently sinneth though it die not for the Fathers iniquity nor have its teeth set on edge because its Father Adam eat the forbidden sowre grape and so the son shall not bear the fathers iniquity that proverb before mentioned with reference to the second and Eternal Death shall not take place yet for its own sinning it shall die Ezek. 18.2 3 4.19 20. Jer. 31.29 30. The dealings of God here are somewhat answerable to his dealings with Israel when having brought them all out of Egypt not leaving Man nor mothers Child nor any Hoof there yet He afterward destroyed them that believed not for their unbelief and rebellious sinning and going on to sin against him in the Wilderness Jude 5. Heb. 3.17 18. even so here it 's not the first Death and Judgment detains any but yet Christ having bought all into his dispose from perishing in that will afterward judge to Eternal Death those that believe or obey not It is not any want of merit or worthiness in Christs Death or exclusion of them from being of its object nor want of fulness or readiness in him for saving them but this is the condemnation that Light is come into the world and men love darkness rather then light Joh. 3.19 Onely Death this bodily Death puts an end to the time of Gods patient waiting for their coming to Christ closing with his Light and Love and repenting of their sins and finding mercy with him All the time God continues mens lives here there is a possibility of escaping the Wrath to come For God is patient towards us not willing any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 Yea his goodness and forbearance is inviting and leading men to repentance Rom. 2.4 and is to be accounted Salvation 2 Pet. 3 15. Even Jezabel while Christ spared her he gave her space to repent though she repented not Rev. 2.21 yea and when he threatens to cast her into a Bed and them that commit adultery with her even into great tribulation yet it is with this Proviso mentioned Except
the sense of the words here Thence note Note 1. That bodily Death and Blessedness may be consistent men that dye and are dead may be blessed Not onely those that are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ delivered from the curse of that and from being under it as the Covenant of Life or that are dead to sin or rather persons not onely dead in those considerations but also that are bodily dead may be happy in a very good safe and desirable condition so as that their state may worthily be commended as very excellent They may have their sins forgiven and blotted out and they that are in that condition are blessed Psal 32.12 They may have the favour of God and be accepted and beloved of him and they that are so are blessed Prov. 8.34 35. and which includes both the former they may have God to be their God and to own them as his people as it is said of Abraham Isaac and Jacob long after they were dead and buried I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Exod 3.6.15 And blessed are the people whose God is the Lord Psal 144.15 And forgiveness of sins and the favour of God are both implied to be the portion of those Souls seen in vision under the Altar even the Souls of those that had been slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony that they held in that there were white Robes given to every one of them as a token both of their free and full acquittance from sin and their being owned of God as righteous ones and also of their being highly honoured and favoured of God Rev. 6.9 10 11. And this not a little takes off the dreadfulness of this bodily Death that it may consist with Blessedness and that it is not of it self able to hinder and deprive us thereof Men may be happy notwithstanding its power and force That 's the dreadful Death that men cannot be happy in or under such as the death in Sin the spiritual death of the Soul under the guilt and power of sin committed and continued in and therefore that is threatened as a very sad evil to be shunned To be carnally minded or the minding of the flesh is death Rom. 8.6 a state not to be continued in where it is nor by any means to be run into where men are delivered therefrom As also The second Death the separation of the Soul or of the whole man rather from God in Soul and Body for ever the everlasting fire or lake burning with fire and brimstone the portion of the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.41 Rev. 20.14 This is a sad and dreadful state indeed namely this of the second Death While men are spiritually dead in sin their sins are imputed and they have no fellowship with God but yet while alive in the body they are in a possibility of being called and made alive to God to him that 's joyned to all the living there is hope Eccles 9.6 But in the second Death is nothing but misery without hope of remedy or redemption This this is the Death then with all diligence to be shunned and therefore care is to be taken to awake out of sin also by repentance for death in sin continued in brings the second Death inevitably upon men But as for this bodily Death that 's not so dreadful in it self men may do well for all that and the reason is because Christ hath died for us and is risen again This death indeed as it was in its first threatning and as upon our desert incurred by us in the Fall of our first Parents deprived us of all Blessedness and would inevitably have done so for ever had not God provided a deliverer and deliverance from it had not he graciously devised a device that his banished might not be expelled for ever from him 2 Sam. 14.14 But blessed be the Lord God of Israel who hath raised up an Horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David that by him we might be saved from our enemies that hath given his onely begotten Son to be the propitiation for our sins that we might live through him Luk. 1.68 69 70. 1 Joh. 4.9.10 And blessed be the Son of God that willingly took upon himself in compliance with his Fathers will to suffer and die for us that we through his stripes might be healed of that deadly wound wherewith in our listning to the Serpent we were wounded by him he having givâ—n himself the ransome for all and tasted Death by the grace of God for every man hath abolished or taken away the destructive power of this Death and destroyed through his Death him that had the power of it that is the Devil and being raised again from the dead he hath obtained even all redemption of all mankind from out this Death so as none of them shall finally perish therein but be all raised out thereof for as by man Adam came death even by man even the man Christ Jesus comes the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Tim. 2.6 Heb. 2.9 2 Cor. 5.14 2 Tim. 1.10 Heb. 9.2 1 Cor. 15.21 22. He is the resurrection and the life and through him there is an open passage now made through this death and all the precedents concomitants and consequences of it to life and immortality even to eternal life in which is and stands the onely true blessedness In Christ there is given us even 〈◊〉 mankind generally considered eternal life 1 Joh. 5.11 in him the righteousness of God is for or unto all Rom. 3.22 and the free gift unto all men for the justification of life Rom. 5 18. In him is forgiveness of sins and plenteousness of Redemption through his blood Psal 130.4.5 Coll. 1.14 and therefore by means of him men may be brought back to God and enjoy him his favour and Kingdom notwithstanding this death yea in the very state of it and while actually dead they may be blessed Bless we God for this gracious Device and doing of his for us in and by Christ and bless we Christ Jesus our Lord that he hath so acted and wrought through his Cross for us and imbrace we the glad tidings of it with all acceptation and thankfulness 2. But yet In that the Holy Spirit stopt not there at Blessed are the Dead but adds a restrictive distinctive qualification saying The Dead that die in the Lord. Learn we thence Note Secondly That though this bodily death blessedness may stand be together yet all that die this Death or are dead in it are not blessed No we cannot say so there be many that dye and are dead in the Body that shall never meet with blessedness though blessedness may be met with notwithstanding this death We read of two men that dyed this Death the one blessed and the other cursed the Rich man and
they repent of their deeds vers 22. so slow is God to anger and so lothe to exclude men from bliss and happiness and so ready to shew mercy and to forgive and so agreeable are Gods dealings to his Word and Oath wherein he saith and sweares to it that as He lives he hath no pleasure none at all secret or revealed in the Death of the wicked but rather that he turn and live Ezech. 33 11. To him that is joyned to all the living there is hope Eccles 9.4 And Christ Dyed for all that they that live while yet they live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that Dyed for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 But now when Death seizes on a man and cuts him off then the door is shut upon him and should he now stand without and knock it is too late the answer from within is I know you not Depart from me ye workers of iniquity No opening then nor any admission Luke 13.25 26 27. the Feast sleighted shall not then be tasted of for ever by them Luke 14.24 thence the Gulf is for ever fixed so that there is no coming of any from Heaven to help them nor no going from their state of Misery to a state of Salvation Luke 16.26 in the Grave whither we go there is no work nor device no knowledge or wisdom for the helpfulness of any that have here neglected Gods work and device declared to them and the knowledge and wisdom here offered them Eccles 9.10 Now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation now is the day for men to hear in and to work the works of God in but if this be sleighted and men harden their hearts now and will not hear Gods voice the night comes and will come upon them wherein no man can work after which there will be no more day except an everlasting Judgment upon them And therefore in the state of Death they that dye in their sins are so far from being happy and blessed that they are far more wretched then then before for though they are not blessed while here because their sins are not blotted out yet there is a possibility they may be so and there is yet such a mercy held forth to them as obtainable by them for if the wicked man will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all Gods statutes and do that which is lawful and right if he will listen to and believe on Christ Jesus and not walk any longer after the Flesh but after the Spirit there shall be no longer any Condemnation to him He stall surely live he shall not dye namely the second Death Rom. 8 1. Ezek. 18.21 all his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned to him c. vers 22. But when dead in his sins then there is no more hope or possibility of being happy He who was miserable before under a possibility of mercy is now endlesly and remedilesly miserable without that possibility Oh! therefore how doth it behove every one now to strive to enter in at the strait gate Luke 13.24 to do what his hands find him to do with all his might for seeking mercy and favour with God seeking the Lord while he may be found and calling upon him while he is nigh at hand Isa 55.6 Eccles 9.10 while it is yet said or called to day not hardning the heart but hearkening to Gods voice Psal 95.7.8 Heb. 3.7 8 15. making haste and not delaying to keep Gods Commandments Psal 119.59 60. hasting to escape as the Angels said to Lot when they brought him and his Family out of Sodom Gen. 19.17 as for our lives or souls not looking back staying or lingring in all the Plain of this World but escape to the mountain of the Lord left we be consumed giving diligence to know win and be found in Christ Jesus and being brought in to him to abide in him and be faithful to him to the Death and then no danger of being miserable for ever For Blessed are they that dye in the Lord from henceforth And so we come to the Substance of the Words and their plain and full import viz. That Note 3. All they that Dye in the Lord are Blessed from henceforth where we shall enquire and shew 1. Who is meant here by the Lord. 2. What it is to Dye in the Lord or who they are that may be said so to dye 3. Wherein they are blessed or what and whence that blessedness is that is asserted of them 4. What is the meaning of that additional word henceforth and what it may import 1. By the Lord here is without all doubt meant Jesus Christ for He is Lord of All Acts 10.36 for though there are that are called Lords many yet to us saith the Apostle there is but one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 1 Cor. 8.6 and we find like phrases as this expresly mention him as He in whom the believers on him dye thus in 1 Cor. 15.18 they are fallen asleep in Christ. And in 1 Thes 4.14.16 Them that sleep is Jesus will God bring with him and the Dead in Christ shall rise first He then is here meant by the Lord yet not so as to exclude but include the Father and Holy Spirit who are in and upon him and He may well be stiled the Lord For 1. As God the Word with God in the beginning who was God so all things were made by him and He was and is by that right and stile as one with the Father who made all things by him and with the holy Spirit by whom or which he gave them their Formes Virtues and Beings the Lord of All Joh. 1.1 2. Col. 1.16 17. Heb. 1.2 3. 2. As man also taken into unity of person with the eternal word he must needs be and so was and is Lord the Manhood by that assumption into that personal union being advanced into interest in and communion with him in that his Dignity and Authority And so the Angel that came to declare to the Shepherds his Nativity called him while he lay in the Manger Christ the Lord Luke 2.10.11 so the Evangelists speak of him too in his state of Ministery and service very often as the Lord appointed seventy Luke 10.1 the Apostles said unto the Lord Lord incrase our Faith Luke 17.5 and himself bid the man out of whom he cast a Legion of Devils Go and shew how great things the Lord hath done for thee Mark 5.19 yea and even in his dead state as to his Body the Angels sent to declare his Resurrection call him Lord as to his Body laid in the Sepulchre saying Come see the place where the Lord lay Matth. 28.6 But especially 3. As Mediatour and Immanuel in his exalted and glorified state he is made of God the Father and so declared to be Lord and Christ as the fruit and reward of his
Obedience and Sufferings to Death the Death of the Cross And as to his actual possessing in the nature of Man the Throne of Majesty and having thereon all Authority and Power instated on and exercised by him To this end Christ both Dyed Rose and revived or lived again that he might be Lord of or as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather signifieth that he might Lord it or exercise Dominion over the quick and dead Rom. 14.9 and because he humbled himself and became obedient to the Death the death of the Cross for this cause God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name above every name That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bowe both of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father Phil. 2.8 9 10 11. who hath put all things under his feet and made Angels Authorities and Powers subject unto him Yea indeed over men he is worthily Lord by way of Purchase and right of Redemption having given himself a Ransome for all 1 Tim 2.6 whence the false Teachers are charged with denying the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2.1 And he dyed it 's said for all that they whoever they be of mankind that live should not henceforth live to themselves but unto him who dyed for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 Live to him namely as Servants to their proper Lord to whom they must give an account for all things He is Lord over the Devils and evil Spirits by way of Conquest having Conquered and overcome them spoiled them and led them Captive in Triumph and so hath power to do his pleasure with them Col 2.15 And the good Angels willingly submit themselves to him as given to him of God with all other things in Heaven Earth under the earth and in the Seas and as to one whom God hath exalted to be over them and bids to Worship him yea and they judge him most worthy of this Power and Dignity because of his unparalleld acts for us and Conquest over Death and Hell and Devils by his Death and Sufferings ascribing blessing honour glory and power to him Heb. 1.6 with Psal 97.7 Rev. 5.11.12 13. He then is the Lord in whom whosoever dieth is blessed But 2. What 's that dying in the Lord For it is implyed here that some do dye in the Lord and that there is a dying in the Lord. But what 's that Indeed we may say in a sense there is a dying in the Lord and in a sense there is no dying in him In this sense there is no dying in Christ that is He is not the Subject of this Dying as in Christ and in him sometimes signifie in him as the subject of the thing spoken of as when it is said in him we are Compleat Col. 2.10 in him is no sin 1 Joh. 2.5 in this sense there is no Death or dying in him He once dyed for sin the just for us unjust but he dyeth no more Death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6.9 10. He was dead but is alive and lives for evermore Amen Rev. 1.18 The song of the Saints is and shall be as our Deceased friend and Sister on her Death-bed noted Worthy is the Lamb not that is but that was slain to open the Book c. He now is neither dying nor dead Rev 5.9 it is true the Apostle said they bare about in their body the dying of the Lord Jesus 2 Cor. 4.10 but that 's to be understood either of the sufferings occasioned by the constraining operations of his love in dying for them believed by them the dying that Christs love led them to endure for him and his Names sake and that to be the sense the next words may argue in which he saith We that live are alway delivered unto Death for Jesus sake vers 11. so as the dying of Jesus is the dying for Jesus sake or else the dying of Jesus is the dying of those that are his Members what is done to them being taken by him as done to himself as is said Matth. 25.40.45 Zech. 2.8 Acts 9.4 But otherwise he dies not in himself he dieth not nor may any such thing be imagined to be here implyed where the speech is of others dying in him concerning whom also neither may we understand that they dye in him as to their state in him or so as in the things which are properly of him as such a like Phrase sometimes signifies as when it is said Ye are light in the Lord that is in what ye have in him in his person or in what ye have derived from him and have or are after him as found in him Ephes 5.8 and ye are wise in Christ 1 Cor. 4.10 they that dye in him in such a sense are not blessed but wretched if any dye as to what they are in him or derive from him such as Crucifie Christ again to themselves and that dye as to their dependance on him Faith Hope and Rejoycing in him or the like Nor can it be said that men dye by or as coming unto or into him or being in him as to their state God-ward and in their spirits but men live in and by him He conveys not Death but Life unto men in their coming to and being in him as is said In the way of righteousness is Life and in the path way thereof there is no Death Prov. 12.28 Death as it is the wages of sin though suffered and sustained by Christ yet it is not met with in and from Christ as a proper consequent of him or of Faith in him but Life He that hath the Son hath life 1 Joh 5.12 who dyed that we might live in and by him 1 Joh. 4.9 10. And yet there is a dying in the Lord that is of those that are in the Lord and that in the view and beholding of him as the effect or operation of him beheld and believed on As to say There is a Dying to our Selves the World and Sin a letting go our Confidence rejoycing in or resting on our own wisdom righteousness the flesh or fleshly priviledges and expectations of life from our keeping of or conformity to the Law of Moses or the like as in this sense the Apostle saith I through the law am dead to the law that I may live to God I am crucifyed with Christ yet I live not I but Christ liveth in me c. Gal. 2.19 20 and ye brethren are dead to the law by the Body of Christ namely by it as Crucified for you believed in by you Rom. 7.4 and so God forbid that I should glory in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the World is crucified to me and I to the World Gal. 6.14 and what things were advantage to me those I counted loss for Christ Phil. 3.7 and reckon your
selves dead to sin c. Rom. 6.11 And this kind of Dying may be taken in here inclusively as that that foreruns and makes way for this dying in the Lord and they are blesed that in such sense Dye in or through the Lord or the knowledge of him For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him 2. Tim. 2.11 But that which is properly meant here is that those that are in Christ may dye as to the bodily death the being in Christ and the Bodily death are consistent otherwise Dying and blessedness could not consist together as we shewed they do for there is no blessedness out of Christ And that a bodily in Christ may stand together with bodily death is further clear in that as Christ â—…e not to prevent and keep men from bodily death by his dying but to obtain a resurrection out of it so neither doth men â—â—ing in Christ prevent or annull 〈◊〉 the deriving life from Christ is not such 〈◊〉 deriving life as puts by the Body from dying For it is not derived upon the Body but from and so after its Death It is appointed for men once to Dye and that appointment was made after the promise of Christ and of his defeating the Devils Plot the bruising his head and therefore is consistent with it Christ can can and will defeat Sathans plot for keeping man out everlastingly from God though they dye as to the Body Heb. 9.27 with Gen. 3.15 16. Christ indeed being believed on gives forth his divine Spirit and life for quickening our spirit and expelling Death out of that raising it up to a lively hope in God but it expels not Death out of the body till the Resurrection of the dead The body is still dead under the Sentence of and in the way to Death because of sin that yet remains in it but the Spirit or inward man is life for righteousness Rom. 8.10 thence we see wise men dye Psal 49.11 and as was mentioned before Abraham is dead and Moses 〈◊〉 the Prophets are dead in respect of 〈◊〉 outward man though they were brought into and lived and abode in Christ and 〈◊〉 must others fare also And this God orders for divers good causes as I have shewed in 〈◊〉 Balaams wish as to keep us always loâ— and humble in our selves and dependanâ— on God and mindful of our latter end and so more heedful to the instructions of wisdome and that God and Christ might be glorified in raising us up from the Dead But now to dye in the Lord in this sense signifies and hath in it 1. A continuance in Christ even in the Faith and Obedience of him till Death and in Death so as that we lay down our lives or give up our breath holding fast the Faith and grace of Christ as it is said of the Patriarchs that they all dyed in the Faith so as retaining and not going out from the Faith when their spirits left and went out of their bodies yet they went not out from Christ from believing and hoping in him Heb. 11.13 And there may be further in it 2. A spending and laying down the Bodily life in an exercise of Faith and Hope in Christ and walking in the Spirit vertues and service of Christ so as that the dying is in a sense the effect and product to the Flesh of believing and walking in him as the Apostles that so walked in Christ as that they spent themselves and strength and life as it were in the flames of his love to them and zeal for him thence springing being offered up as a Sacrifice as it were upon the sacrifice and service of the Faith Phil. 2.17 offered or pouered out as a drink-offering as the word signifies in 2 Tim. 4.6 and in some cases and times as those before mentioned under the cruelties of the Beast and false Prophet it takes in 3. A Dying in the Cause of Christ and for his sake as Martyrs put to Death for bearing witness and testimony to him as those beheaded for the witness of Christ and the Word of God and for not worshipping the Beast c. Rev. 6.9 and 20.4 We may put them together and say that when men are and continue in the Faith of Christ and so in the love and vertues of Christ too and in death Rev. 2.10 and by the force of that they have in and from Christ lay down or spend out their lives either in serving or suffering for Christ then may they be said to dye in the Lord and all that so dye dye in the Lord. But yet further they that in any such sense dye in the Lord may be said also in another sense which pertains to and is the immediate spring of their blessedness to dye in him viz. 4. In the love of the Lord as being the objects of his favourable acceptance and so enclosed as it were in his arms in his vertues as being encompassed about with the vertues of his Sufferings and Sacrifice and so in his Covenant and Promises and thence They all they that so Dye in what way soever as to the outward way of dying they dye whether by a fair Death on their Beds or by any violent Death inflicted on them whether by a more easie or more sharp and painful death yea though they dye of Poverty or are full of Sores as Lazarus yet they are Blessed though in the sight of men they seem most miserable yet they are in a happy state and condition Which we are nextly 3. To enquire into and shew what that Blessedeess is and how they are blessed we may say Blessedness stands in exemption or freedom from what 's evil and harmful and in having interest in and enjoyment of good to content and satisfaction and they that dye in the Lord are in such a state even while dead and needs they must be so For 1. In Christ there is all that may free exempt or deliver a man from evil and there is all that may do good and make content and satisfied and so all that may make one both privatively and positively Blessed 1. In him is freedom and deliverance from evil not onely for himself but so as it may be for the freeing of others not onely sin hath no dominion over or place in him though he was made sin and bare our sins for us yet having dyed for it and being raised again in him is no sin no sin now on or imputed to him but also there is freedom from it for us forgiveness of it and justification from it as is said Be it known to you that in this man is preached to you forgiveness of sins Acts 13.38 And there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Psal 130.4 yea and not onely is he clean from it but with him is cleansing too He hath made a purgation of our sins Heb. 1.3 opened a fountain for washing and cleansing us Zech. 13.1 and in both respects he is
as of their possibility and danger of sinning and dishonouring Christ their being exposed to griefs pains temptations and the like from which they shall then be for ever freed that add a Preheminence to the state of their Death as also that they shall be so at home with the Lord as before they were not nor could be as is implied 2 Cor. 5.8 Philip. 1.23 indeed as to usefulness to others they are not in so good a state they perish from among the Children of men Psal 12.1 Isa 57.1 They have no more opportunity of doing good to or receiving good from them they they are as to that in a place and state of silence whence its wisdom to be doing good to all while alive and we have thereto opportunity and to let our hand do what is finds to do with all our diligence to that purpose because in the Grave whither we go there is no Work which we can doe nor nothing we can devise for them as for that cause Saint Paul was in a strait and knew not whether to choose Death or Life because for him to continue in the Flesh would be better for his Brethren Philip. 1.22 24. but yet in respect of the Saints state of freedom from evils both of Sin and Suffering and enjoyment of the Lord they are much better then in the state of this Life as much better as it 's better for a poor Pilgrim and Forreiner exposed to variety of vexations and hazzards to be at home in his own Countrey in some safe quiet possession of a settled comfortable condition or for a poor tossed weather-beaten Seaman to be safely harboured in the Port he is bound for and that may be also one reason of the addition of the other word Henceforth And so we come to the next Inquiry 4. What is this Henceforth or why is that added Were they not blessed before Surely yes Ye are the Blessed of the Lord saith the Holy Ghost to persons yet or then alive that feared the Lord you and your Children Psal 115.13 15. and blessed is the man whether alive or dead as to the body that trusteth in the Lord or that keepeth his Commandments Psal 34.8 and 112.1 But this word Henceforth may be two ways referred as was signified before namely either 1. To the word Blessed the thing asserted of those that dye in the Lord as if they that dye at any time in the Lord are thenceforth Blessed even from the time of their Death and then it is not said so to imply they were not in a blessed way before or in the way to Blessedness But to imply that blessedness may rather or more properly from that time be stiled theirs as more actually and absolutely the subjects of it they were rather but in the way to it before then injoyers of it though being upright and perfect in the way they had the Blessing of God with and upon them and were blessed therein but yet as we said before there was an If upon them If they continue to the end Col. 1.23 If ye continue in the Faith grounded and settled and not be moved away from the hope of the Gospel He that endures to the end shall be saved Matth. 24.13 be thou faithful to the death and I will give thee a crown of life Rev. 2.10 but if the righteous man how long soever he hath been righteous and how near soever to the prize he be come turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity he shall dye Ezek. 33.13 18. There were some of the Israelites that held out till they were close by the borders of Canaan till the Fortieth year of their March and till they had seen the Conquest over the Amorites and yet then committing Fornication with the Daughters of Moab and eating the Sacrifices of the Dead they perished and went not over Jordan To admonish us that though there is no fear or danger to the diligent and circumspect yet it 's dangerous at any time to grow remiss because a possibility at any time of a miscarriage till the field be wonne the warfare be accomplished And therefore our Saviour saith to his Disciples Take heed least at any time how near soever you be come to the Gaol your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life and that day come upon you unawares for as a snare shall it come upon all those that dwell upon the face of the earth watch ye therefore and pray always that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things and to stand before the Son of man Luke 21.34 35 36. Sometimes a Ship that hath escaped the dangers of the Sea may through carelesness sink and be lost at the entrance into the Harbour but when in the Harbour then it 's safe It is so however here after Death there is no miscarriage Henceforth saith the Apostle when ready to be offered up and his departure was at hand is laid up for me the crown of righteousness 2 Tim. 4.8 then their state is fixed no passing or falling from Paradise again when that 's attained no going thence to the place of Torment Luke 16.26 Yea they are thenceforth not onely more absolutely and assuredly blessed but also more fully as to attainment being then at home with Christ as we said before from the time of their Death and before the Resurrection Though the fulness of their Blessedness is not till then yet both a more full enjoyment is had from the time of their death then before they go not to Purgatory then surely for then after death their case would be sadder then before and also a certainty of the enjoyment of that fulness in the time thereof It is laid up in a sure and safe Custody to be given forth by a most faithful and righteous hand yea the word there in 2 Tim. 4.8 rendred laid up is the same that 's used of Death and Judgment in Heb. 9.27 and there translated Appointed so as we may say that it is not more certainly Decreed that men Dye once and come to Judgement then it is that they who finish their Course in the Lord and keep the Faith shall receive the full and final reward of the Crown of Righteousness 2. Or else the word Henceforth may have a peculiar respect to the times before mentioned and to the Subject those that Dye in the Lord with reference to the times in the rage of the Beast when the greatest exercise shall be of the Saints patience when their patience shall be admirable patience indeed and they that then abide will be eminently and to purpose keepers of Gods Commandments and of the Faith of Jesus from that time Blessed are the Dead that dye in the Lord not as if they that indeed Dye in the Lord before were not Blessed but to signifie either 1. The great miseries that will attend those times through the oppression of Antichrist that it will be a wonderful
perillous and calamitous time so that it will be a great mercy to be well gone out of it so as but to be and Dye in the Lord yea the sooner the better like that in Eccles 4.13 where the Wiseman considering the oppressions done under the Sun and beholding the tears of the oppressed and that they had no Comforter that on the oppressours side is Power but the oppressed have no Comforter He praised the Dead that were already dead more then the living which were yet alive This sense of the words suits well also with that reading or Translation of the word that some judge the righter here viz. that dye in the Lord speedily And this may also be so because of what results from those Calamities viz. 2. The great difficulty of holding fast the Faith and profession of it and danger of falling from it that will then be as our Saviour saith When the Son of man comes shall he find faith on the earth Luke 18.8 truely in a sense at other times men may dye in the Lord that is in an external Profession and acknowledgment of him according to truth crying Lord Lord and yet not be blessed not enter the Kingdom being not indeed and heartily doers of Gods will but it may be signified that Henceforth from the time of the Beasts sore Rage and the sad Persecutions thence ensuing none shall be able to make a right profession of the Faith so as to persevere to Death in it but such as be indeed Saints and persons indued with singular patience real and hearty keepers of Gods Commandments and therefore all that dye in the profession of the Faith then really Blessed and Happy Or else also 3 To signifie a more eminent degree of Blessedness to be the portion of those that then shall hold out so as to Dye in the Lord a blessedness proportionable to that very sad wo and misery threatened to to the Beast-worshippers vers 9 10 11. after the Preaching of the Everlasting Gospel and downfal of Babylon declared as those Beast-worshippers shall drink of the wine of the Wrath of God poured out without mixture into the Cup of his Indignation and shall be tormented with Fire and Brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb and the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever And they have no rest day nor night A most dreadful Sentence able to deter any one from Worshipping him On the other side here is a like excellent manner of Blessedness signified to be the portion of those that dye in the Lord to allure the Servants of God or any of the People to whom the Gospel is Preached to the worship of God and constancy to Christ against the Beast that they that dye in the Lord shall upon their Death be blessed with a witness more abundantly blessed as the word Blessed sometimes seems to signifie as in Rev. 20.6 for as it 's an aggravation of sin when it is against light and warning and brings the greater and severer judgment whereas the times of ignoranâ—â— God winks at Acts 17.30 31. Heb. 23 10.20 29. So it 's an augmentation of Virtue to be good in the worst of times and to cleave to God and Christ against the greatest discouragements and oppositions and they that so do shall receive the greater blessedness as their reward But we shall have occasion to Consider wherein they may be said to be more chiefly blessed in speaking to the other part of the Text viz. 2. The Confirmation of this truth asserted which is twofold 1. By Authority 2. By Argument and Evidence 1. By Authority The testimony of authentick Witnesses is a good evidence of any matter of fact asserted or of any matter whereof they have sufficient cognisance Now here we have the Authority and Testimony of one that is as good as yea better then ten thousand even the Spirit which is the Truth Yea saith the Spirit By the Spirit is meant the Holy Spirit the Spirit of Truth for He is Emphatically The Spirit and is divers times so called in this Book as in Rev. 2. and 3. He is so called seven times viz. in the close of every Epistle where it is said Let him that hath an ear hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches And in Chap 22.17 The Spirit and the Bride say Come And that he is a sufficient Witness to any thing he Saith and Testifies to is evident in that 1. He is perfect in understanding and knowledge being the Spirit of Wisdome Vnderstanding Counsel and Knowledge Isa 11.2 He that searcheth all things even the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 Therefore He cannot erre or mistake And then 2. He the Spirit of Truth Joh. 14.16 17. yea The truth and therefore it is He that beareth witness to Christ and the things of him 1 Joh. 5 6. therefore he neither will nor can lie for he is one with the Father and with the Son one God And God cannot lie deceive or falsifie wickedness and falshood are an abomination to him and to his lips Prov. 8.7 8. therefore every one that hath an ear may well hear as he is bid what he saith And he saith to this Assertion Yea did men onely say it it might be questioned and if they say otherwise now it is no matter All men are too prone to lie but the Holy Spirit is to be firmely believed because what ever he saith is pure and true Now he in testifying of Christ in the Gospel witnesses nothing but Life to be in Christ and to be the portion of those that believe in him that the believer in him shall not perish whatever death come upon him or whatever trouble but shall have everlasting life yea in a sort he hath it for he that hath the Son hath life saith the Record which God gives us of his Son 1 Joh. 5.11 12. and in testifying of such as are righteous men and merciful taken away and perishing from among men in such an evil day when all the Beasts come to devour he saith they enter into peace and rest in their beds each one walking in his uprighteousness Isa 56.9 57.1.2 that testimony the Holy Ghost that spake in the Prophets and particularlarly in Isaiah Acts 28.25 beareth 2. By Demonstration Argument and Evidence evidencing in what they are blessed viz. That they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Wherein are two particulars First that they may Rest from their Labours Secondly And their Works do follow them or follow with them Wherein is implied Note 1. That they that dye in the Lord and especially from the time of the Beasts rage and the great exercise of the Saints patience have Labours and Services that in the time of their life they are imployed in indeed all things are full of Labour man cannot utter it Eccles 1.8 and the Saints have their portion of Labours more especially in or