Death the Soul is strongly excited by the Call of God to review its state and make solemn preparation to be found of him in Peace But 't is not in a strict sence the malediction of the Law and divine Revenge upon them The Serpent is turn'd into a Rod of Correction in the hands of our Heavenly Father for their good As the Apostle speaking of some that for their profaning the Lord's Table were fallen asleep adds that when we are judg'd we are chastened of the Lord that we way not be condemned with the World A Believer shall not be hurt of the second Death From hence it is that in the Book of Life the Scriptures the death of the Saints is called a sleep St. Paul argues If we believed that Jesus died and rose again even so them also that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 'T is observable how the Apostle varies the expression Jesus died and the Saints sleep in him for he sustained death with all its terrors that it might be a calm sleep to his People They enjoy as perfect a rest in the Beds of Dust as ever in the softest Down Stephen in the midst of a showr of stones fell asleep Believers die in peace The Righteous is taken from the Evil to come he enters into peace Being reconciled to God through the Blood of Christ they are not terrified at his Call but with sweet tranquillity resign their Souls unto him Lord now let thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation There is a vast difference in God's account between the Death of Righteous and the Wicked As the Tabernacle in the Wilderness was taken down with care upon their change of station and delivered to the Levites Charge in order to the raising of it again with honour but the House incurably infected was pluck'd down with violence and thrown into an unclean place with execration thus the death of the Saints is precious in the sight of the Lord their Bodies are kept in the bosom of the Earth to be raised in Glory and the death of the Wicked is accurst In short as the Wood that Moses cast into the Waters of Mara by a miraculous virtue sweetned them so the Cross of Christ has taken away the malignity and bitterness of Death 2. Death is a blessed advantage and enriching Gain to a Believer it brings him to the possession of that Good that incomparably exceeds the Evil that remains in it For the Death of a Saint is not total but as in the Ceremony of Purification from Leprosy one Bird was killed and the other let fly in the open Air the mysterious shadow of the Lepers being restored to a state of Liberty thus when the Body dies and returns to the Earth the Spirit returns to God the Father of Spirits and Fountain of Life Our Saviour told the Jews I am the living Bread that came down from Heaven if any Man eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread that I will give is my Flesh that I will give for the Life of the World The Heavenly Divine Life that is communicated by the Spirit of Christ to Believers remains entire when the sensitive life is lost The natural order is There is a time to be born and a time to die the supernatural is there is a time to die and a time to be born The death of a Saint is a new Birth the pains of the dying Body are as Throws whereby the ripen'd Soul is delivered into the Land of the Living The happiness of a Saint after Death more particularly will appear by considering 1. The place to which he ascends the highest Heaven This inferiour World is fram'd with exquisite Order the Earth is full of the Glory of the Lord yet 't is but the sediment of the Creation the habitation of Birds and Beasts nay of rebellious Sinners and by this we may raise our thoughts to conceive something of the seat of Life and Blessedness Above 'T is for its amplitude and excellency called the Heaven of Heavens which is the highest comparison to instruct and astonish us with the Glory of the place The shining Firmament with all the Luminaries that adorn it are but the Frontice-piece to it All the lustre of Diamonds the fire of Carbuncles and Rubies the brightness of Pearls are dead in comparison of its Glory 'T is called by our Saviour his Fathers House and he is the God of Glory 't is his Temple wherein his sacred Presence is fully exhibited His Throne wherein his Majesty is revealed in the most illustrious manner For pleasantness 't is called Paradise in allusion to the delicious Garden planted by the hands of God himself for Adam his Favorite whilst innocent There is the Tree of Life indeed and Rivers of Pleasure ever springing from the Divine Presence 'T is the Inheritance of the Saints in Light to signify literally and allegorically the glory and joy of the Place For Light gives splendor to things and conciliates chearfulness and is a fit Emblem of both As on the contrary Hell is described by the blackness of darkness for ever to signify the sadness and despair of the Damned and because in that centre of misery a perpetual night and invincible darkness increases the horror of lost Souls Heaven for stability is called a City that has Foundations whose Builder and Maker is God The present World is like a Tent or Tabernacle set up for a time and with all its perishing Idols shall shortly fall all this beautiful Scene shall be dissolved But the supreme Heaven is a Kingdom that cannot be shaken Our Saviour tells us In my Father's House are many Mansions to signify the amplitude and durableness of it 2. In that blessed Place there is a freedom from all afflicting Evils that are numberless here The present World is a labyrinth of Thorns in every state we meet with something to vex us You may as well count the Waves of the Sea when inraged by a Tempest as the troubles to which in this mortal open state we are expos'd Man that is born of a Woman is of few days and full of trouble A short life and many miseries O our unhappy capacity the Body is liable to as many Diseases as there are Members and the Soul to as many perplexities as passions How often are the scenes and habits chang'd in the time of one Man He that lives in pleasures must act the Mourner's part Our sweetest comforts have hidden stings and whatever is most pleasing may occasion bitter grief And usually holy Men have a greater portion of afflictions here sometimes by the malignity and violence of the wicked as under the Law the Lamb and the Dove were Sacrifices the Emblems of Innocence and Purity and Meekness whilst the Vulture and the Lion the greedy devourers escap'd This the Apostle declares of the Elect They are
inexorable in his Justice and dreadful to Death that all hopes of obtaining his favour are lost As the Egyptian Darkness was not meerly from the absence of the Sun but from feculent Vapours condensing the Air that it might be felt So these dark and fearful expectations of the Divine Wrath are not only from the withdrawing the Light of God's Countenance but from the Prince of Darkness that foul Spirit And as we read of the Egyptians that no Man arose from his place for three days as if they had been buried in that darkness and deprived of all active power and motion so the despairing Soul sits down mourning at the Gates of Death totally disabled from prosecuting the Things that belong to its peace 'T is Hope inspires and warms us with alacrity encourages our Endeavours Despair is without edg and industry The Soul suffers the hardest Bondage and the condition is inexpressibly sad under the tyranny of this Fear O how enthralled how desolately miserable for despair doth meritoriously and effectually ruin the Soul For whereas there is no Attribute more Divine no clearer Notion of the Deity than Love and Mercy this Passion disparages his Mercy as if Sin were more omnipotent than his Power to pardon and all the Tears that flow from it are so far from expiating that they encrease Guilt and whereas the believing view of Christ would as compleatly and presently recover the Soul-wounded Sinner as the Israelites were by looking to the ordained visible Sign of their Salvation Despair turns away the Eye from our Deliverer and fixes it upon misery as remediless and final 4. How comes it to pass that Men are not always under the actual fear of Death but subject to the revolutions of it all their Lives The Seeds of this Fear are hid in the guilty Breasts of Men and at times especially in their Calamities break forth and kindle upon them In their leisure and Retirement intercurrent thoughts of Death and Judgment sting them by fits and make them uneasy The flashes of Conscience like moments of Lightning startle them but they relapse into their habitual stupidity And the account of it will be clear by considering the following Particulars 1. Men are apt to flatter themselves with the hopes of long Life and look upon Death at a great distance Tho' there be a dying disposition in the youngest and strongest Persons tho' we live in a world of Casualties and Death lie in ambush to surprize us every day yet we are secure because Evils affect us according to their apprehended nearness A Petty Constable that is troublesom and vexatious is more fear'd by his Neighbours than the Grand Signior with all his Executioners As remote Objects though of vast bigness are lessen'd to our sight so through the supposed interval of many years Death is lookt on with a diminution of its Terror But when Death presents it self before Men ready to dispatch them how formidable is its appearance Saul tho renouned for his Valour yet when he understood by Revelation that to morrow he and his Sons should be in the state of the dead there was no strength in him but he fell straight-way all along on the Earth struck through with fear before he was wounded by the Arrows of the Philistins Belshazzar in the midst of his luxury and jolity attended with a thousand Lords and his herd of Concubines inflam'd with Wine and therefore less capable of fear yet upon the sight of the fatal Hand writing on the Wall a few unknown Characters which his guilty Conscience before the Prophet Daniel came interpreted to be the sentence of present Death How fearfully was his Countenance changed pale as a Carcass How suddainly did his Blood congeal and his warmest quickest Spirits die in his Heart His whole Body was seized by such a vehement trembling that his joints were loosed and his knees smote one against another This is a representation of those who bid defiance to Death at a distance but when the fatal Hour is come and they hear the Sentence decreed against them God has numbred thy days and finish'd them thou art weighed in the ballance all thy words and Actions thy Thoughts and Affections and art found wanting and thy Soul shall be divided from thy Body the one sent to Hell to suffer the undying Worm of Conscience the other to the Grave to be a prey to the Worms of Corruption how are they overcome with horror 2. The continual succession of the Pleasures and Business of the World divert the mind from the attentive strong contemplation of Death and the consequences of it Pensive thoughts are unwelcome and we studiously endeavour to cancel the memory of such things as afflict us 'T is said of the Wicked that God is not in all their thoughts The consideration of the Holy Inspector and Judg of their Actions is tormenting therefore they fill their minds with earthly Imaginations to exclude the Divine Presence We read of those who to put far away the evil day chaunted to the sound of the Viol and drank Wine in Bowls They are rock'd asleep with the motion of phantastick Vanities And sleep takes away Fear but gives no safety 'T is recorded of Marius that after his overthrow by Scylla he was always in consternation as if he heard the sound of the Trumpets and the noise of the victorious Army pursuing him And his Fears were no longer quiet than whilst charm'd with Wine and Sleep He therefore was continually drunk that he might forget Himself his Enemy and his Danger Thus Men make a pittiful shift to forget their latter End and whilst they are following either secular Affairs or sensual Pleasures are unconcerned for what is to be hereafter But this diversion will shortly be at an end for in their languishing hours when the wasted Body fails the carnal Mind and sensual Desires fail the Man then Conscience that spoke with a low Voice before is loud and terrible and like the rigid Exactor in the Parable that took his Debtor by the throat requires them to pay what they owe. 3. Some are so hardned in Infidelity that the Powers of the World to come make no impression on their hearts They mind but little and are less affected with invisible things They fortify themselves with gross thoughts that the Spirit of Man vanishes with his Breath that Death is the end of this Life and not the beginning of another and feed without fear Place one in the midst of destructive Evils but unseen or not believed and he is as fearless as a blind Person walking on the brink of a deep Pit Indeed there are none less disturbed with the terrors of Death than the eminently good or the extremely bad for the one sort have a blessed hope that Death will be to them an entrance into Life and live like the Angels with a joy unspeakable and glorious The others are as sensual and secure as the Beasts that perish
what he has done to what he is able to do the Consequence is clear The Apostle tells us He will raise our vile bodies and change them like unto his glorious Body by that Power whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself Our Redemption will then be compleat and all the bitterness of Death past The Redemption of the Soul is accomplish'd from Sin and Misery immediatly after Death but the Redemption of the Body is the last in order and reserved to crown our Felicity at the Great Day Then Death shall be swallowed up in Victory abolish'd for ever And O the joyful reunion of those dear Relatives after such a Divorce when the Body that was so long detained in the loathsome Grave shall be reformed with all glorious Perfections and be a fit Instrument for the Soul and partaker with it in Blessedness and a consummate Immortality 'T is said that those that wear rich Clothing are in Kings Houses but what are all the Robes of costly Folly wherein earthly Courtiers appear to the Brightness and Beauty of the Spiritual Body wherewith the Saints shall be clothed to qualify them for the Presence of the King of Kings and to be in his House for ever But O the miserable Condition of the Wicked in that day Death now breaks their Bodies and Souls into an irreconcilable Enmity and how sad will their Conjunction be the Soul will accuse the Body to have been Sins Solicitor continually tempting to sensualities and the body wil upbraid more than ever it allur'd the soul for its wicked Compliance Then the Sinner shall be an entire Sacrifice burning but never consumed Now from the assurance of a blessed Resurrection by Christ the forementionâ—d fear of Death is conquered in Beleivers If the Doctrine of the Transmigration of Souls into other Bodies the invention of Pythagoras inspired his Disciples with that fiery vigour as to encounter the most present and apparent dangers being fearless to part with the Life that should be restored how much more should a Christian with a holy confidence receive Death knowing that the life of his Body shall not be finally lost but renewed in a blessed Eternity The fourth General to be considered is the Persons that have an interest in this blessed Priviledg This inquiry is of infinite moment both for the awakning of the secure who vainly presume upon their interest in the Salvation of the Gospel and for the confirming and encouraging the Saints And we have an infallible rule of trial declared by St. John He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life All the excellent and comfortable Benefits procur'd by our Saviour are communicated only to those who are united to him Particularly with respect to the present subject Justification that great blessing of the Gospel the compleat pardon of Sins that disarms Death of its sting is not common to all that are Christians in title but is a priviledge with a limitation There is no Condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus vitally as their Head from whom are derived spiritual influences and judicially as their Advocate in Judgment and such are described by this infallible Character who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit The blessedness after Death that is assured by a Voice from Heaven is with this precise restriction exclusive of all others Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord they rest from their labours and their works follow them The glorious Resurrection at the last Day when the Bodies of the Saints that now rest in Hope shall be incorruptible and immortal is the consequence of union with him Thus the Apostle declares As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive As all that were naturally in and from Adam the corupt fountain of Mankind are under the sentence of Death so all that are in Christ the Head of the Regenerate shall partake of his blessed Life Others shall be raised by his Power as their Judg but not as their Head rais'd to be more miserable than Death can make them not be transform'd into his glorious Resemblance made capable of suffering an ever-dying Death not revived to eternal Life Now the bond of our union to Christ is the holy Spirit derived from him as the Head of the Church and is the inward powerful and lasting principle of Holiness and new obedience in Believers He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit that is by the Spirit of Holiness has a real participation of his Life is both quickned and united to him When the Prophet Elisha by the outward applying the parts of his Body to the dead Child inspir'd life into him there was no real union between them but Christ is by his Spirit so intimately united to Believers that he lives in them and they in him The sanctifying Spirit renews the directing and commanding faculties the fountains of moral actions enlightens the Understanding with saving Knowledge rectifies the obliquity of the Will purifies the Affections and reforms the Life so that the same mind is in Christians as was in Christ and as his Conversation was such is theirs in the World This divine Change is not wrought by natural Reason tho assisted by the most powerful Arguments The breath of a Man may as easily dispel a Mist or thaw a Frost as humane directions and motives to Vertue can renew the Mind and Heart and produce a holy frame of Soul towards God Renewed Christians are said to be in the Spirit illuminated inclin'd and enabled by the Spirit to do God's Will and the Spirit of God to dwell in them by his peculiar and eminent operations They live in the Spirit and walk in the Spirit An Angel may assume a Body and act by it but the humane Soul enlivens it and performs sensible operations by it And such a principle is the holy Spirit to the Soul gives it spiritual life activity and power for good Works By what application of the Spirit 's power this is produc'd is mysterious and inexplicable but as the Apostle speaks of his rapture into the third Heavens that he knew it was real and heard unutterable things tho how it was performed whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell thus when a natural man the current of whose thoughts and affections was to the things of this World becomes spiritual when the carnal appetite is subdued and sanctified Reason has the Throne when he feels such strong and sweet impulsives to holiness as engage the Will when the stream of his desires ascend to the things above and his Life becomes holy and heavenly he feels and knows this wonderful change tho the manner how it was wrought he cannot tell I will shew more fully this sanctifying work of the Spirit that we may the better understand our state The Spirit of God is
most zealous and active to accomplish his pleasure But the Son is God not by Analogy and Deputation as Princes are nor with a limitation and diminution as Moses was made a God to Pharaoh but absolutely and really as subsisting in the Divine Nature And consequently he is the Supreme King and to him the Ensigns of Majesty divinely Royal are ascribed But unto the Son he saith Thy Throne O God is for ever and ever a Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom Whereas the Scepters of Earthly Kings are often unrighteously manag'd and their Thrones ruinously fall There is a further Confirmation from his Works that are divinely great and glorious wherein no Creature has any share of Efficiency The making of the World is ascrib'd to him Thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the Foundation of the Earth and the Heavens are the Works of thy Hands The Divine Attributes the peculiar Character of the Deity belong to him Eternity and Immutability The most solid parts of the visible Creation shall perish and be changed but thou remainest and art the same His Life is an intire uniform unchangable Perfection His Glory and Felicity are in the same invariable Tenor for ever possest by him Lastly The Son sits in that quality at the right Hand of the Father in the Society of Empire as equal to him in Power and Honour commanding all in the visible and invisible World most easily and irresistibly tho' gradually subduing his Enemies to a consummate Victory But the Angels so numerous and powerful are ministring Spirits employed for the defence and benefit of the Church From this summary account we may understand how firmly the Divinity of Christ is establish'd in the Scripture For those Passages of the Prophets that speak of the God of Israel as Creator and the sole object of Adoration are directly referr'd to Jesus Christ. And the Name Jehovah the Majesty of which consists in its being incommunicable is attributed to him This is the Foundation upon which that whole Fabrick of the Gospel is built The Office of Mediator in the prophetical priestly and regal administration is necessarily join'd with the Divinity of his Person And the revelation of it from Heaven is as clear as the Sun is visible in the Firmament All the Difficulties in our conceiving this great Mystery of Godliness are but like the shadows that attend the Light And all the heretial subtilties to pervert the sence of such plain and positive Texts are as impertinent as impious This being establish'd the Apople proceeds to give an account of the Son of God's assuming the Humane Nature and submitting to Sufferings and Death This is a Divine Secret so miraculously strange that the Contrivance was without the Compass of the Angelical Minds and the discovery of it is only by supernatural Revelation but when revealed the account of it is so open and consentaneous to reason as being the most congruous Means for the illustration of God's Glory in the saving lost Men that the humane Mind if not deeply corrupted with the tincture of Prejudice must consent to it as worthy of all acceptation The substance of his reasoning is this That it was the product of the most wise merciful and righteous Counsel of God that the Saviour of Men should have communion with them in their Nature that he might have a right to redeem them by his Alliance and Propinquity for he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all one and that he should undergo sufferings even to death for the price of their Redemption and the remedy of their Infirmities Forasmuch as the Children are partakers of Flesh and Blood he also likewise took part of the same that through Death he might destroy him that had the Power of Death that is the Devil And deliver them who through fear of Death were all their Lives subject to Bondage The Devil is said to have the Power of Death 1. Because he induces men to commit sin that meritoriously renders them liable to Death He tempted the first Man cum effectu and was a Murderer from the beginning 2. In that he inspires them with furious thoughts and inflames their Passions from whence proceed Strifes and Wars that efficiently cause Death He is supreme in all the Arts of Mischief and always intent upon Evil 'T is by his instigation that Men become like raging Beasts animated and bent on mutual slaughter 3. Because he is many times the Executioner of God's Wrath and inflicts Death upon rebellious and incorrigible Sinners 'T is recorded by the Psalmist That God cast upon the Egyptians the fierceness of his anger wrath indignation and trouble by sending evil Angels those Princes of the Air the Instruments of the Thunder and fiery storm of Hail that destroyed them 4. Because he makes Death more formidable to sinners by heightning their guilty Fears of God's TribunaI The false Spirit in tempting Men to sin puts on blandishments but afterward he is a severe accuser of them to God and to themselves Lastly This Title may signify his tormenting sinners with unrelenting cruelty in Hell which is the second Death Now these Evils being the penal Consequence of sin our Saviour by his Death appeas'd the injur'd Justice of God and thereby destroyed the cruel tyranny of the Devil As the Lamb of God in the Notion of a Sacrifice he overcomes our spiritual Enemies Sin Satan and Death lie vanquisht at the foot of his Cross. Besides our Saviour having felt such sorrows and infirmities as are usual to his People by that correspondence and resemblance between them is compassionately inclin'd to relieve them I shall now insist upon the blessed Privilege of Believers set down in the Text viz. That Jesus Christ by his Death frees his People from the servile tormenting fear of Death In prosecuting the Point I shall 1. consider the account the Scripture gives of Death's entrance into the World 2. Shew what the fear of Death includes and the Bondage consequent to it 3. How the Death of Christ frees us from the thraldom of that fear 4. Who are partakers of this blessed Privilege And then apply it I. The Scripture gives an account of Death's entrance into the World in a three-fold respect 1. As the desertt of Sin 2. As the Effect of the divine Decree 3. As the Sentence of the Law 1. As the Desert of Sin The first design of the Creator was his own Glory in conjunction with the happiness of Man He was made accordingly Holy in perfection placed in Paradise and his state contained all the Ingredients of Felicity proper to his Nature He was capable of dying as sad experience proves yet no Accident from without no Distemper from within had impair'd his vigour and made him actually subject to Death without sin Whilst innocent he was immortal not from everlasting Principles of Nature but by Divine Preservation of which the Tree of Life was the
ordained Means and sacramental Pledg For God unchangably loves his own Image and tho' by his Sovereignty and absolute Power he may resume the Being he gives yet his Goodness and Covenant were a sacred assurance that Man's happy Life should run parallel with his perseverance in his Duty This Immortality was not the singular privilege of Adam's Person but had been the Inheritance of all his Progeny But he soon revolting from his just Obedience of Immortal became Mortal and according to the original establishment of Propagation transmitted his Nature with the guilt and poison of Sin to all his Posterity Thus by one Man Sin entered into the World and Death by Sin and so Death passed upon all Men for that all have sinned As his Obedience had been rewarded so his Rebellion is punisht in all that naturally descend from him From hence it is that so numerous a part of Man-kind are cut off before the commission of actual Sin Death enters into the Forge of Life and destroys the Conception that newly began to live And what is more righteous than that Man when he disobeyed the Author of Life should forfeit his Life and Blessedness The Soul voluntarily lost the spiritual Life by forsaking God therefore unwillingly loses the natural Life by expulsion from the Body The Apostle declares the Wages of Sin is Death not only that of the Body but the Death of the Soul which is a dreadful Concomitant of it And from hence we may discover the false Philosophy of the wisest Heathens in their Opinion of Death They judged it to be the primary necessity and condition of Nature fixt by irresistible Fate and not understanding the true and just reason of its coming into the World they could not apply a sufficient Remedy against its Evil. 2. As the Effect of the divine Decree respecting Sin This is discovered by revelation in the Word of God and by the real execution of it It is appointed to Men once to die This Decree is universal and unrepealable One Generation passeth away and another Generation cometh like the ebbing and flowing of the Sea in its stated Periods Nothing can interrupt or frustrate this appointment There are divers Conditions of Men and various ways of living in the World some are high in Dignity others are level with the Earth some walk in a Carpet-way smooth and easy others in a thorny and troublesom some walk on the golden Sands others on the Mire but the same uncontroulable necessity of dying involves all And what-ever the way be whether pleasant or doleful yet every one passes in it with equal steps measured by the same invariable spaces of Hours and Days and arrive at the same common end of Life Those who are regarded as visible Deities amongst Men that can by their Breath raise the Low and depress the Lofty that have the Lives of millions in their Power yet when the ordained time is come as they cannot bribe the accusing Conscience for a minutes silence so neither delay Death I have said ye are Gods but ye shall die like Men. 3. Death is to be considered as the Sentence of the Law The reasonable Creature was made under a Law the Rule of his Actions The moral Law directed him how to continue in his holy and blessed State To which was annext the Precept of not eating of the Tree of Knowledg of Good and Evil only as a mark of his Subjection and for the trial of his Obedience This Precept had an infallible sanction by the most high Law-giver In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt die the death Man did not keep this Command of so easy observation and justly incurr'd its doom As Sin is the violation of the Law so Death is the violation of the Sinner in his Nature and Felicity retorted from the Law The deaths of Men are very different in their kinds and are comprised in the words of David concerning Saul The Lord shall smite him or his Day shall come to die or he shall descend into the Battel and perish Sometimes they are cut off by the immediate flaming hand of God for the more exemplary revenge of Sin sometimes by surprising Accidents sometimes by bloody Contentions sometimes consuming Diseases But tho' Death be not uniform yet 't is always the execution of the Law upon Offenders As of those who are condemned by Humane Justice some suffer a more easy and honourable Death others a more disgraceful and torturing some are Beheaded others are Crucified yet all die as Malefactors Thus some die a natural Death others a violent some by a gentle preparing sickness without reluctation others die upon the Rack by sharp pains some die attended with their Friends and all supplies to sweeten their Passage others forsaken of all Comforters yet Death is the same Sentence of the Law upon all Men. And this if duly considered makes it terrible in whatever shape it appears II. The next thing to be considered is What the fear of Death includes and the bondage that is consequent to it This I shall explain and amplify by considering four things 1. The nature of Fear in general as applicable to the present Subject 2. The particular Causes that render Death so fearful 3. The degree of this Fear exprest by Bondage 4. How it comes to pass that men are not always under the actual fear of Death but subject to the Revolutions of it all their lives 1. I will consider the nature of Fear in general as applicable to the present Subject Fear is a passion implanted in Nature that causes a flight from an approaching Eye Three things are requisite to qualify the Object and make it fearful 1. The Evil must be apprehended Knowledg or at least suspicion excites Fear by representing an Evil that is likely to seize upon us Till the mind discern the danger the passions are unmoved and imaginary Evils by the mere apprehension are as strongly fear'd as real 2. The Evil must be future For the naked theory of the most pernicious Evil does not wound the Soul but the apprehension of falling under it If reason can open an expedient to prevent an Evil this Passion is quiet And Fear precisely regards its Object as to come Present Evils induce grief and sorrow past Evils by reflection affect with joy and give a quicker relish to present felicity Approaching Evils alarm us with fear 3. The Evil must be apprehended as prevalent to make it fearful For if by comparison we find our strength superior we either neglect the Evil for its levity or determine to encounter it and resistance is the proper effect of Anger not of Fear But when an impendent Evil is too hard for us the Soul shrinks and recoils from it Now all these Qualifications that make an Object fearful concur in Death 1. 'T is an Evil universally known The frequent Funerals are a real demonstration that speaks sensibly to our Eyes that
having extinguish'd the fear of eternal future Evils which is the proper passion of reason The Apostle declares That knowing the terror of the Lord we perswade Men to be reconciled to him before the season of Mercy be expir'd But those who have supprest the natural Notions of Eternal Judgment as they think it beneath their wisdom to be perswaded by the Promises of Heaven so beneath their courage to be terrified with the threatnings of Hell and triumph over the ruins of Conscience But tho' wicked Infidels slite the Threatnings they shall not escape the Vengeance of God We read of Noah that being warned of God of things not seen as yet moved with fear he prepared an Ark for the saving of his House His Fear was the native issue of his Faith But the profane World in whom sence was predominant that despised the Oracle and trembled at no Judgments but what were acting on the visible Stage they eat and drank married and were given in marriage till swept away by the unfeared Inundation We read that Lot being certified by an embassy of Angels that a Deluge of Fire would in a few hours pour down from Heaven upon Sodom he most earnestly solicited his Sons-in-Law Arise depart out of this place for the Lord will destroy this City but they entertained his compassionate advice with derision he seemed to them as one that mocked and were surprised by those fearful Flames that dispatch'd them from a temporal Hell to that which is Eternal Thus 't was prophesied That in the last days there shall come Scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying Where is the Promise of his coming But let them blaspheme and scorn the most sacred and terrible Truths let them perpetuate their excess of riot and wild Mirth while they live Death will come and Judgment as sure as Death III. I now come to shew how the Death of Christ frees us from the tormenting fear of Death For the clearing this we are to consider that Sin Satan and Death are Enemies in combination against Man in his mortal state and the destructive Power of Satan and Death is from Sin When Man renounc'd his Creatour and natural Lord he was judicially given up to Satan as the Executioner of Vengeance and to the Power of Death Such is the order rather the confusion in the World by Sin The Empire of Satan and Death is built on the Ruins of our Innocence Now the Son of God came from his Throne in Heaven to deliver us And whereas there are two ways of obtaining freedom from captivity either by Ransom or by Power and Rescue in both respects our deliverance from Bondage to these Capital Enemies is ascribed to the Death of Christ. 'T is called our Ransom and that in its strict Notion has a respect to Captivity There is one God and one Mediator between God and Man the Man Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all His Life was the full price of our Liberty and Salvation God does not pardon sin and release from punishment by a pure absolute act of his Will and Authority as a Creditor forgives a Debtor but in such a way as to preserve the Rights of Justice inviolate Therefore when Man was devoted to Death our Redeemer exchang'd conditions with him and offer'd up his precious Blood as our Ransom to God in the quality of the King and Judg of all Such was the dignity of his Person that the entire World the Heavens and the Earth with all their Inhabitants are of less value to him than the basest Dross to refined Gold Such was the greatness of his Sufferings in which the highest degree of Obedience and the lowest degree of Humility were conspicuous as to be a valuable Compensation to obtain eternal Redemption for us Now when God the supreme Judg is satisfied Satan forfeits the right he had to torment us and is devested of his dominion over our Wills which tho' justly permitted was an usurpation upon God's Right in Man that can never be extinguish'd 'T is said by the Apostle that our Saviour blotting out the hand-writing of Ordinances that was against us which was contrary to us and took it out of the way nailing it to his Cross He abolish'd the use of the Ceremonial Law that was an Evidence and Enditement of their Guilt who performed it and the Curse of the Moral Law it follows and having spoiled Principalities and Powers he made a shew of them openly triumphing over them in it Our Saviour died victoriously the Tree of Infamy on which he suffered was the Trophy of his Conquest His Death disarm'd Satan of his Weaponswhere by he subdued us Sin the Law and Death for tho' his actual Triumph was in his Resurrection and Ascension to Glory yet it is justly ascribed to his Death for that meritoriously open'd the Grave at his Resurrection and Heaven at his Ascension And here by the way 't is most worthy of observation that our deliverance from our spiritual and most deadly Enemies is equally righteous as admirable and glorious for our suffering Saviour appeas'd the Wrath of God and broke the Powers of Darkness The Wisdom and Love of God had their designs in his Death as well as the malice and rage of Satan as Lines that are opposite in the circumference meet in the Centre And as from the Tyranny of Satan so the Death of our Redeemer is our redemption from Death as to the curse and final dominion of it nay has made it a blessed advantage to us 1. The Curse is removed Death considered as the Wages of Sin is all sting and poison the consequent of the spiritual Death and the introduction to eternal Death The sting of Death is Sin and the strength of Sin is the Law Death hath its wounding Power from Sin and Sin from the Law that forbids it the discovers its Nature and enhanses the measure of its Guilt and denounces condemnation for it Now our Saviour having in our stead subjected himself to Death the penalty of the Law for Sin There is no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus Christ hath redeemed us from the Curse of the Law being made a Curse for us Death inflicted on the Saints has not that relation to the guilt of Sin as to be properly satisfaction to revenging Justice There are no petty payments to be made by our Sufferings after his compleat satisfaction to God The Lord laid on him the Iniquities of us all 'T is indeed still a declaration of God's holy displeasure against Sin for that originally open'd the way of its coming into the World and sometimes by the immaturity or manner of it 't is a chastisment upon good Men for sin that is to make them renew their Repentance and mortify their carnal Affections that fasten them to the World For tho' after the last act of expiration there is no place for Repentance yet in the approaches of
noisom Puddle In short Heaven is filled with eternal Halelujahs for there is no appearance of Sin no shadow of Death there all miseries are vanish'd and all that is desireable is possess'd by the Saints the Circle of their Employment is to enjoy and praise the Divine Goodness for ever Now is not the blessed exchange a Christian makes of the present Life for that which is infinitely better sufficient to make Death not fearful nay desirable to him And this Happiness was purchas'd for us by the everlasting Treasure of our Saviour's Blood The satisfaction of his Sufferings was meritorious as the Merits of his active Obedience was satisfying Before I proceed to the third Head I shall resolve a Question How it comes to pass since Believers are freed from the sting of Death that they die and remain in the state of Death for a time For this there are several Reasons 1. By this means all the sinful Frailties that cleave to the Saints in this Life are abolish'd The Body is dead because of Sin And what is more becoming the wise and holy Providence of God than that as by Sin Man was at first made subject to Death so by Death Sin dies entirely for ever Thus as in Sampson's Riddle Out of the Devourer comes Meat and our worst Enemy is conquer'd by his own Weapons 2. Death is continued to the Saints for the more eminent exercise and illustration of their Graces for the Glory of God and in order to their future reward Faith and Love and Patience are declared in their most powerful Operations in our encounter with Death If every Saint were visibly and entirely translated to Heaven after a short course of holy Obedience if the Wicked did visibly drop down quick into Hell Faith would be resigned to sight here This would confound the Militant state of the Church with the Triumphant Therefore now Death happens to the Good as well as to the Wicked In the next state they shall be separated by a vast Gulph and an amazing Difference Now Faith what-ever the kind of Death be that a Christian suffers sees through the thickest Clouds of Disgrace and Misery the glorious Issue As the illustrious Confessor who was crucified with our Saviour proclaim'd his Eternal Kingdom in the midst of insulting Infidels And our love to God then appears in its radiancy and vigour when we are ready for the testimony of his Truth and advancing his Glory to suffer a violent Death or when it comes in a gentler manner for 't is even then terrible to Nature we are willingly subject to dissolution that we may be united to God in Heaven And our patience has never its perfect work and is truly victorious till this last Enemy be subdued Death is the Seal of our Constancy Perseverance Now the Righteous Rewarder will crown none but those that strive lawfully and are compleat Conquerors And how wise and sweet is the Oeconomy of the Divine Providence in this that the frailty of our Nature should afford us a means of glorifying God and of entitling our selves by his most gracious Promises to a blessed Reward 3. Our Saviour by his unvaluable Obedience and Sufferings has procur'd for Believers a Celestial Divine Life of which the natural Body is not capable The Apostle saith Flesh and Blood cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven The exigencies and decays of the sensitive Nature require a continual relief by food and sleep and other material supplies but the Life above is wholly spiritual and equal to that of the Angels Therefore till this earthly animal Body be reformed and purified 't is not capable of the Glory reserv'd in Heaven This is so absolutely requisite that those Believers who are found alive at the last Day shall in the twinckling of an Eye be changed that they may be qualified for it Now herein the Wisdom of God is wonderful that Death which by the Covenant of Works was the deserved penalty of Sin by the Covenant of Grace should be the Instrument of Immortality That as Joseph by a surprising Circuit was brought from the Prison to the Principality so a Believer by the Grave ascends to Heaven This the Apostle in his Divine Disputation against Infidels proves in a most convincing manner Thou Fool that which thou sowest is not quickned except it die As the rotting of the Corn in the Earth is necessary to the reviving and springing of it up so we must die and the Image of the Earthly Adam be abolish'd that we may be transformed into the Image of the Heavenly One And to the other part of the Question Why the Saints remain in the state of Death for a time there is a clear Answer The Resurrection of the Saints is delayed till Christ's coming to Judgment partly for the Glory of his Appearance For what an admirable sight will it be that the Saints of all Ages shall at once arise glorified and immortalized to attend upon our Saviour in the last act of his Regal Office and then to make a triumphant entry with him into Heaven And partly that the establish'd order of Providence may not be disturbed for the changing of our Nature into Glory in a suddain and inexplicable manner cannot be without miraculous Power and if every Believer presently after Death were in his glorified Body translated to Heaven the World would be always filled with Miracles which were to cease after the sufficient Confirmation of the Gospel by them But how long soever the Interval be to the Resurrection it shall be with them that sleep in Jesus as 't is with those that awake out of a quiet natural sleep to whom the longest night seems but as a moment so when the Saints first awake from Death in the great Morning of the World a thousand Years will seem no more to them than to God himself but as one day I now come to prove the third Thing That our Saviour will abolish the Dominion of Death over the Saints Whilst the Bodies of the Saints remain in the Grave they seem to be absolutely under the power of Death The World is a Golgotha fill'd with the Monuments of its Victories And it may be said to this our last Enemy in the words of the Prophet to the bloody King Hast thou killed and taken possession But we are assur'd by an infallible Word that the power of Death shal be abolish'd and the Bodies of the Saints be reviv'd incorruptible and immortal The Resurrection is a Terra incognita to the wisest Heathens a Doctrine peculiar to the Gospel some glimmerings they had of the Soul's Immortality without which all Vertue had been extinguish'd in the World but no conjecture of the reviving of the Body But reason assists Faith in this point both as to the Will of God and his power for the performing it I will glance upon the natural Reasons that induce the considering Mind to receive this Doctrine and more largely shew how
the Resurrection of the Just is assured by our Redeemer 1. The Divine Laws are the Rule of Duty to the entire Man and not to the Soul only and they are obeyed or violated by the Soul and Body in conjunction Therefore there must be a resurrection of the Body that the entire Person may be capable of Recompences in Judgment The Soul designs the Body executes the Senses are the open Ports to admit Temptations Carnal Affections deprave the Soul corrupt the Mind and mislead it The love of Sin is sounded in bono jucundo in sensible pleasures and the Members are the Servants of Iniquity The Heart is the Fountain of Prophaneness and the Tongue expresses it And the Body is obsequious to the holy Soul in doing or suffering for God and denies its sensual appetites and satisfactions in compliance with Reason and Grace The Members are the Instruments of Righteousness It follows then there will be an universal Resurrection that the rewarding goodness of God may appear in making the Bodies of his Servants gloriously happy with their Souls and their Souls compleatly happy in union with their Bodies to which they have a natural inclination and his revenging Justice be manifest in punishing the Bodies of the Wicked with eternal torments answerable to their guilt And of the possibility of the Resurrection the circular and continual production of things in the World is a clear demonstration of the Power of God for that effect There is a pregnant Instance that our Saviour and the Apostle made use of as an Image of the Resurrection A grain of Corn sowed in the Earth corrupts and dies and after springs up entire its death is a disposition to life The essays of God's Power in the Works of returning Nature Flowers and Fruits in their season instruct us how easily he can make those that are in the dust to awake to life If the Art of Man whose power and skill 〈…〉 â—â—rrow and limited can refine Gold and Silver to such a luster as if their matter were not Earth digged out of the Mines If from black Cinders it can form Chrystal Glasses so clear and shining how much more can Omnipotency recompact our dust and reanimate it with a glorious life Death that dissolves our vital frame does not abolish the matter of our Bodies and tho' 't is corrupted and chang'd by a thousand accidents yet 't is unperishing and under whatsoever Colours and Figures it appears God perfectly discerns and will seperate it for its proper use More particularly I will shew how the Resurrection of Christ is an assurance of the Resurrection of Believers to Glory As our Surety he was under the arrest of Death it becoming the holy Majesty of God and conducing to the ends of his Government not to derogate from the dignity of his Law but to lay the penalty upon his Son who interposed for us Now having finish'd the work of our Redemption by his sufferings his Resurrection was the just consequent of his Passion And 't is observable that his Resurrection tho one entire act is ascribed as to himself so to his Father by whose consent and concurrence he rose again Therefore 't is said Whom God raised up having loosed the pains of Death since it was impossible he should be holden by it 'T was naturally impossible upon the account of the Divine Power inherent in his Person and legally impossible because divine Justice required that he should be raised to Life partly to vindicate his innocence for he was reputed and suffered as a Malefactor and principally because he had fully satisfied God Accordingly the Apostle declares he died for our Sins and rose again for our Justification Having paid our Debt he was releas'd from the Grave and the Discharge was most solemnly publish'd to the World 'T is therefore said the God of Peace raised him from the dead the act is most congruously ascribed unto God invested with that title because his Power was exerted in that glorious Work after he was reconciled by the Blood of the Covenant Briefly Our Saviour's Victory over Death was obtained by dying his Triumph by rising again He foil'd our common Enemy in his own territories the Grave His Death was a Counter poison to Death it self as a bruised Scorpion is a noble Antidote against its Venom Indeed his Death is incomparably a greater Wonder than his Resurrection For 't is apparently more difficult that the Son of God who originally possesses Immortality should die than that the humane Body united to him should be raised to a glorious Life It is more conceivable that God should communicate to the humane Nature some of his Divine Perfections Impossibility and Immortality than that he should submit to our lowest Infirmities Sufferings and Death Now the Resurrection of Christ is the argument and claim of our happy Resurrection For God chose and appointed him to be the Example and Principle from whom all divine Blessings should be derived to us Accordingly he tells his Disciples in a fore-cited Scripture because I live ye shall live also Our Nature was rais'd in his Person and in our Nature all Believers Therefore He is called the first fruits of them that sleep because as the first Fruits were a pledge and assurance of the following Harvest and as from the condition of the first Fruits being offered to God the whole Harvest was entitled to a Consecration so our Saviour's Resurrection to the Life of Glory is the earnest and assurance of ours He is called the first-born among the Dead and owns the race of departed Believers as his Brethren who shall be restored to Life according to his Pattern He is the head Believers are his members and therefore shall have communion with him in his Life The effect is so infallible that now they are said to be raised up together and made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus If his Victory over our Enemies had been imperfect and he had saved himself with difficulty and hazard as it were by Fire in the Apostle's expression our Redemption had not been accomplish't But his Passion was triumphant and is it conceivable that he should leave the Saints his own by so many dear titles under the power of Death If Moses the Deliverer of Israel from the Tyranny of Pharaoh would not suffer any thing of theirs not an hoof to remain in the House of Bondage will our great Redeemer be less perfect in his Work Shall our last Enemy always detain his Spoils our Bodies in the Grave This would reflect upon his Love and Power 'T is recorded to confirm our hopes how early his Power was displaid in forcing the Grave to release its chained Captives And many bodies of Saints which slept arose and came out of the Graves after his Resurrection and went into the holy City and appeared unto many What better Earnest can we have that the strength of Death is broken From
respect to Eternity as Ahab was the Prophet Michaiah who always foretold evil things to him 'T was the chief design of the Philosophers by Principles of Reason to fortify themselves against all frightful Accidents and with a masculine Mind and an Heart ardent with generous Spirits to encounter this inevitable Evil. When one of them was threatned by the Emperor Antigonus with present Death he boldly replied Threaten this to your dissolute Courtiers that are softned and melted by sensual pleasures and easily receptive of terrible impressions not to a Philosopher to whom Death is contemptible in any appearance This was a piece of affected Bravery for Pagan Philosophy could never furnish them with Armor of Proof against the Dart of our last Enemy But the Gospel assuring us that Death is an entrance into Immortality makes that to be the reality of a Christian that was a vain boast of the Philosophers Now that we may be establish'd in that blessed Tranquillity that Death cannot discompose the following Directions are infinitely useful 1. We must give all diligence to be in a state of Reconciliation with God The things requisit to that are as the Apostle declares Repentance towards God and Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance includes a Godly sorrow for Sins past with a detestation and forsaking them sincerely without hypocrisy and entirely without partiality in the heart and conversation 'T is call'd Repentence from dead works the proper name of our Sins that deserve eternal Death By repentance we return to Obedience that is due to God our Maker and Lawgiver Faith respects the Redeemer who by his Blood shed on the Cross and pleaded in Heaven reconciles God to penitent Sinners The belief of his merciful and powerful Mediation for our acceptance and Pardon works by Love and constrains us to dedicate our selves in a devoted propriety to his Glory and Service and to live according to that Dedication These two are absolutely necessary to the vital and salvifical state of a Christian. And as soon as a person sincerely repents and believes he is justified before God and if he dies will certainly obtain eternal Glory This should be the early and most speedy work of our Lives for the delay of Repentance and neglect of securing the Favour of God arms Death with more stings and terrors 1. 'T is direct Rebellion against God who commands us to hear his Voice to day obediently and immediately upon no less penalty than being excluded from his blessed Rest for ever Yet the self-flattering Sinner preaches another Gospel to himself and runs in hazard of Damnation and the eternal Curse every hour 2. 'T is the most provoking Abuse of his Mercy and Patience that should lead Men to Repentance He can in the twinkling of an Eye in the beating of a Pulse cut off the Sinner 't is as easy to his power as to will it And there 's no consideration should be so meltting and moving as his Clemency We reade of David that he had more than once in his power Saul his unjust and implacable enemy and spared him the effect of it was that Saul became so softned and under such compunction of spirit that he wept confest his guilt and desisted from persecuting him overcome by that unexampled Love If a Man find his Enemy will he let him go And yet Men take advantage from the goodness of God securely to despise his Laws 3. How justly will this render divine Mercy inexorable to their Prayers and Tears in their extremity When a Roman Gentleman that had wasted a great Estate by Luxury and was wont to revel in the Night and sleep in the Day petitioned the Emperor Tiberius to relieve his poverty he was dismist with this upbraiding Answer Sero experrectus es You are risen too late He never opened his Eyes to see his Condition till it was past remedy This is the sad case of many Souls that waste the seasons of Grace and are careless of their Duty till they are upon the point of perishing and then address themselves to God for his Favour and Pardon but are justly rejected with the reproaches of their obstinate neglect of Salvation in the time of their lives 4. Repentance that is indispensibly required to qualify us for Mercy is far more difficult and hazardous by Mens deferring of it The last guilty disposition that seals up the Damnation of the Sinner is Impenitence Now he that delays the returning to his Duty shall have more cause to repent hereafter but less will and power For the continuance in Sin hardens the heart and that which is indisposition will become averseness and obstinacy The heart with difficulty changes its last end Actions may be suddenly changed when there is a disability to perform them but the inward inclination to Sin without supernatural Grace remains And is it reasonable to expect the least breathings of the Spirit any divine Assistance after long resisting his holy Excitations God threatens My Spirit shall not alwayes strive with Man And to the forsaken Sinner the seasons of Grace are as irrevocable as his wasted mis-spent time The Delayer does not trust but tempt divine Mercy 5. The numerous Examples of those who have deferred Repentance and Reconciliation with God and at last died in their sins should terrify Men if they are not wrought on in a more excellent way 1. Some presume upon the vigour of their Youth or Complexion and think when they have satiated themselves with the pleasures of Sin when they have the freest vacancy and are retir'd from the affairs of the World there will be a convenient season for making their peace with God And how often are they suddenly cut off the first symptom of their sickness is Death and what the Angel with such solemnity declared that time should be no more is verified concerning them by an unexpected dissolution 2. Some that continue a while in sickness and languishings do not apply themselves seriously to God upon the hopes of recovery And this hope is cherish'd by the mortal love the cruel deceit of friends who are unwilling to let them see their danger lest their spirits should sink under it And thus many die in an unprepared state 3. Others that are guilty and graceless tho distant from Death and Hell but a few hours are secure as Jonah who slept in the midst of a Tempest at Sea The tenour of their lives discovers this to be divine Vengeance they are seiz'd with a spirit of slumber and pass without fear into the state of everlasting desperation 4. Others who have lived in careless security as if they had made a Covenant with Death yet upon the near approaches of it when they see Death before them attended with Judgment and Judgment Hell as we read of Sisera who from extream Fear past to extream Security so on the contrary these self-deceivers from extream Security have fallen into extream Fear Then Truth
our Labours Our Saviour when he was to leave the World addrest himself to his Father I have glorified thee on Earth I have finish't the work thou gavest me to do And now Father glorify me with thy self with the Glory which I had with thee before the World was A Christian that imitates and honours Christ and with diligence perseveres in weldoing may with an humble confidence in the Divine Mercy expect the promised reward The reflection upon a wel-spent life is joyn'd with a joyful prospect of God's Favour and acceptance above But the careless and remiss those who are wilfully negligent of their Duty how fearful is Death that summons them to give an account of their Talents to the Righteous Lord 4. A holy indifference of affection to present things makes it easie to part with them and Death less fearful to us David tho a King declares he was a stranger on Earth not only with respect to his transient condition but his inward disposition and that he was as a weaned Child from the admir'd Vanities of the World Chrysostom in a Letter to Ciriacus who was tenderly sensible of his Banishment wrote to him You now begin to lament my Banishment but I have done so for a long time for since I knew that Heaven was my Country I have esteemed the whole Earth a place of exilement Constantinople from whence I am expell'd is as distant from Paradise as the Desert to which they send me But when our affections are set upon external things and we are irregular in our aims intemperate in our use and immoderate in our delights how sensible cutting is the division from them How bitter is Death that deprives a carnal Wretch of all the materials of his frail Felicity What a storm of passions is rais'd to lose all his good things at once for 't is a Rule in Nature What is possest with transporting Joy is lost with excessive Sorrow As the Ivy that twines so closely about the Tree and is intimately fastned by so many roots as there are branches cannot be pluck'd away without rending the Bark with it so when the World that was as it were incarnated with the Heart is taken away the Heart it self is grievously rent by the violent separation And the infelicity of carnal and worldly persons is heavily aggravated in that the guilt in procuring or abusing those treasures and delights that they leave here with so great sorrow will cleave to them and give Testimony against them before their Judg. But when the Affections are loose to the World and set upon Heaven the separating with the Earth is no loss but gain and with that alacrity as the putting off a vile garment to be clothed with a Royal Robe 'T was the wise Counsel of Tertullian to the Women of the first Ages of the Church not to value and love the Jewels and Ornaments of Gold that they might be more ready and resolved to obtain by Death Martyrdom and by Martyrdom Eternal Glory And that we may disentangle our Souls from those voluntary bands that fasten us to present things we must have a sincere uncorrupted judgment of their meanness The Apostle exhorts Christians to moderation in their temper and conversation with respect to the business and enjoyments here that they who have Wives be as tho they had none that those that rejoice be as tho they rejoiced not and they that buy as tho they possessed not and they that use the World as not abusing it for the fashion of the World passeth away To a wise and pondering Observer what comparison is there between Shadows and Dreams and substantial everlasting Blessedness If Men had the same opinion of this World whilst they live as they will have when they are to die they would not set over it They who have magnified temporal Honours and Riches and lived in Pleasures without remorse yet in their dying hours when Men speak with most feeling and least affectation how have they vilified those empty appearances of happiness with what moving expressions declared the vanity and brevity of worldly things As when the Israelites were to go through the River Jordan that opened it self to make a free and dry passage for them the lower part of its Waters ran into the Dead Sea and utterly fail'd but the Waters that came from above rose up and appear'd like a Mountain thus when Men come to the universal passage from this to the next life inferiour things absolutely fail and are lost in the dead Sea but the things above that are eternal then appear in their true greatness exceeding all humane comprehension from hence is the change of mind and language concerning the one and other 5. Solemn affectionate and frequent Converse with God in Religious Duties will render Death not fearful to us The whole life of a Christian as such is a continual Communion with the Father and with Jesus Christ. For he performs all good works by divine Grace communicated from above and refers all to the Divine Honour As in a pair of Compasses one foot is fixt in the Center whiles the other moves in the Circumference so the Heart of a Christian is in Heaven his aims are for God whilst he is active here in the World His Natural and Civil Actions are heightened to a supernatural end And thus his Conversation is in Heaven But this was spoken of before and that which is now specified is the more immediate Service of God in holy Meditation Prayer and the Ordinances of the Gospel which is the noblest part of the spiritual Life Our blessed Saviour who was a Comprehensor upon Earth always saw the Face of God and invariably sought his Glory in all things yet had his special times of Prayer and Heavenly-Communion with God and the most glorious testimonies of his Favour in those times Our Communion with God here is as true as in Heaven but the influence and fruition is different according to our capacity When the Soul feels the vigorous exerâ—ise of the thoughts affections upon God and the raised operations of Grace in holy Duties 't is as certain a sign of God's Favour and Acceptance as when Fire descended from Heaven to consume the Sacrifice And often our affeâ—tionate Duties are rewarded with sensible Consolations and holy Souls are dismist from the Throne of Grace as they shall be received at the Throne of Glory with the reviving testimonies of God's approbation Now the assurance of God's Love conquers the fear of Death This Communion must be frequent As love and respects between Friends are maintained by constant Visits and Letters and mutual Confidence arises from Acquaintance so by the interchange of holy Duties and divine favours we preserve a lively sense of God's Love and an humble familiarity with his Majesty that his Presence is not a terror to us A Christian that walks with God here when he leaves the World to use the
words of a dying St. changes his Room but not his Company God was always with him on Earth and he shall be ever with God in Heaven But cold and seldom converse begets strangeness and that makes us shy of God When Religious Duties are performed as a complemental Visit without zealous Affections or used only in times of Affliction and Exigency as Cordial Waters in swooning Fits the Divine Presence is uncomfortable to us They who prefer carnal sweets before acquaintance with God cannot with Peace and Joy think of appearing before him O how unwelcome is Death to such for then the Spirit returns to God that gave it 6. Let us strengthen our belief of the blessed state after Death Divine Truths lose their influence and efficacy when they are not stedfastly believed Faith is the substance of things not seen and the evidence or conviction of things hoped for The Spirit confirms our Faith not by a pure Physical Act but by convincing Reasons of the truth of the Gospel The Life of Christ so glorious in holiness his Doctrine so becoming the Wisdom and other excellent Attributes of the Deity his Miracles so great numerous open and beneficial not meerly to surprize the Spectators with astonishment but to touch their Hearts his Death foretold by the Prophets and exactly agreeing in all the circumstances of the Predictions his Resurrection the most noble operation of the Divine Power are the strongâ—st Proofs that what he has reveal'd as the Counsel of God for our Redemption and the Preparations of Glory for the Saints in Heaven are divine Truths And the efficacy of the Spirit of Christ in sanctifying his Disciples in all Ages is a continual and as satisfying an Argument that the Gospel is derived from God the fountain of Truth as extraordinary Miracles For Holiness is as â—â—â—parable a property of the Divine Natu◠〈…〉 the sancti◠〈…〉 divine an efâ—ect 〈…〉 of the Body Now 〈…〉 God enters into Covenant with obedient Believers to be their God a title and relation that supposing them the most happy here all the enjoyments of this World cannot fulfil This Covenant is not dissolv'd by Death for he uses this stile after the death of his faithful Servants and from hence it follows they are partakers of his Glory and Joys in the next Life For the honour of his Veracity is most dear to him The Psalmist declares that he has magnified his Word above all his Name No perfections of his Nature are more sacred and inviolable than his Truth The foundations of Nature shall be overturn'd and the most solid parts of the Creation destroyed but his Promises shall be compleatly accomplish'd We are assured by his Infallible Authority that there remains a Rest for the People of God And he that receives this Testimony sets to his Seal that God is true honours the Truth of God's Word and binds himself more firmly to his Service and is encouraged to leave this sensible World for that which is infinitly better Our confidence and patience in well-doing and in suffering the utmost evil to Nature is from the pregnant apprehensions of the reality of eternal things We know saith the Apostle if our earthly tabernacle be dissolved we have a Building not made with hands eternal in the Heavens This fortified him against the terrors of Death When Stephen saw the Heavens open and the Son of God ready to receive him with what courage and constancy did he encounter the bloody Rage of his Murderers Faith supplies the want of Vision it pierces the Clouds opens a Window in Heaven sees the Crowns of Righteousness prepared for the Saints and sweetens the bitterest passage to it But if our Faith be weak and wavering our Courage will decline in the needful hour 'T is with Christians in their last passage from Earth to Heaven as with the Apostle walking upon the Waters to Christ whilst his Faith was firm in Christ he went upon the Waves as on the firm Land but upon the rising of a Storm his Faith sunk into Fear and he sunk in the Waters till our Saviour upon his earnest Prayer Lord save me took hold of him and rais'd him with that compassionate Reproof O thou of little Faith wherefore didst thou doubt The last Use is to excite the Saints to die with that courage and chearfulness as becomes the Gospel of Christ. The encouragement of Joshua to the Israelites against the Giants that terrified them from entring into the Land of Canaan the type of Heaven Be not afraid of them they are Bread for us we shall obtain an easy Conquest over them is applicable to this purpose do not fear Death the Enemy that interposes between us and the true Canaan for our Conflict shall be the means of our Victory and triumphant possession of the holy and blessed Land above This is very honourable to our Redeemer and recommends Godliness to the judgment affections and practice of others S. Basil tells of a custom to annoint the tops of Doves Wings with some fragrant liquor that mixing in company with other Doves they might by the scent allure them to follow to the Dove-houses Thus when holy Persons live and die with peaceful joy those that converse with them are drawn by that Fragrance of Paradise to apply them to serious Religion 'T is the Apostle's Consolatory Advice to Believers Not to be sorrowful for those that sleep in JESUS and those that are without hope When Jacob saw his Beloved Son's Coat rent and stain'd with Blood he abandoned himself to desperate Sorrow and mourned for his Death when Joseph was advanc'd in Authority and Dignity next to Pharoah in the Kingdom of Egypt Thus when we see the Garment of Mortality rent by Diseases we mourn for departed Saints as if Death had absolutely destroyed them when their Souls are reigning in Glory This immoderate Sorrow is an Heathenish Passion suitable to their ignorance of the future happy state but very unbecoming the plenary Assurance the Gospel affords us of it So for the Wicked to die with fears and palpitations of heart to be surrounded with impendent horrours when such a precipice and depth of misery is before them is very just and reasonable but for the Saints to die uncomfortably under inordinate fears is a disparagement to the Blessed Hope establish'd upon the revelation of Life and Immortality by the Gospel Now in three things I shall propound the duty of dying Christians 1. To submit to the Divine Pleasure with resigned spirits as to the means the manner and time of Death God has a Sovereign Right and Dominion over us The present Life is his most free Favour and he may justly resume it when he pleases His Will should be the first and last Rule of ours Whether he gently untwines the Band of Life or violently breaks it we must placidly without reluctation yield up our selves By what means soever Death comes all second causes are moved by an impression
of the Creatures to Believers and of Believers to Christ and of Christ to God All things are yours and you are Christ's and Christ is God's Aud observing the beautiful Order that arises from the superiority and dependance between things he saith The Head of every Man is Christ and the Head of the Woman is the Man and the Head of Christ is God Now this Power by Commission was conferr'd upon him as the Reward of his Sufferings The Apostle expresly declares it that Christ being in the Form of God and without any usurpation truly equal to him in Divine Perfections and Majesty humbled himself and came obedient to the Death of the Cross. Wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name above every Name that at the Name of Jesus every Knee should bow of things in Heaven and things in Earth and things under the Earth and that every Tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the Glory of God the Father His victorious Sufferings are the Titles of his Triumphs his being so ignominiously deprest and condemn'd by Men is the just reason of his advancement to judg the World 5. There is a Day appointed wherein the Son of Man will appear in sensible Glory and exercise his judicial Power upon Angels and Men. He is now seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High and the Celestial Spheres are under his Feet Universal Nature feels the power of his Scepter He reigns in the Hearts of the Saints by his Word and Spirit and restrains the Fury of his Enemies in what degrees he pleases but still his Servants are in distress and his rebellious Enemies insolently break his Laws and the Curtains of Heaven conceal his Glory from us therefore a Time is prefix'd when in the Face of the World he will make an eternal difference by Rewards and Punishments between the Righteous and the Wicked and his Government shall have its compleat and glorious Issue This is stiled the Judgment of the Great Day 1. With respect to the appearance of the Judg. When the Law was given from Mount Sinai the Mountain was covered with Fire and the Voice of God as loud as Thunder proclaimed it from the midst of the Flames so that the whole Army of the Israelites was prostrate on the Plain struck with a sacred Horror and almost dead at the amazing sights and sounds From hence 't is said that in his right hand was a fiery Law And if the Law-giver appear'd in such terrible Majesty at the proclaiming the Law how much more when he shall come to revenge the Transgressions of it 'T is set forth in Scripture in the most lofty and magnificent Expressions He shall come in his Father's Glory and his own Glory and the Glory of the Angels A devouring Fire shall go before him to consume all the Works of the Universe He shall descend from the highest Heavens glorious in the attendance of innumerable Angels but more in his own Majesty and sit on a radiant Throne high above all 2. 'T is great with respect to the appearance of those who are to be judg'd All the Apostate Angels and the universal Progeny of Adam The bowels of the Earth and the bottom of the Sea and all the Elements shall give up the Dead The mighty Angels the winged Ministers of Justice shall fly to all Parts and attaque the Wicked to bring them as miserable Prisoners before that high Tribunal And those blessed powerful Spirits shall congregate the Righteous to present them at his right hand 3. 'T is great with respect to what shall be then done He shall perform the most glorious and consummate act of his Regal Office after a righteous Trial pronounce Judgment upon which the eternal Destiny of the World depends And immediately the Saints shall ascend with him to the everlasting Mansions of Glory and the Wicked shall be swallowed up in the fiery Gulph for ever To define the particular Time when this shall be accomplish'd is beyond the knowledg of the Angels of highest dignity 'T is inter Arcana Imperii among the Secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven 'T is observable that God has revealed the Times precisely wherein some great Events should come to pass after how many Years the Israelites should be freed from Egyptian Bondage after what space of Time they should be restored from the Captivity of Babylon when the Messiah should die for the expiation of Sin but there is no designation by certain Characters of the particular Day nor Year nor Age in any Prophecy of our Saviour's coming to Judgment And of this an Account may be given The special End of those Predictions was that those who lived to see their accomplishment notwithstanding the seeming Impossibilities might believe the Truth and Power of God to fulfil the Revelation of his Purposes for the time to come But at the last Day all the Promises and Threatnings will be fulfilled nothing will remain to be the Object of Faith and consequently it was superfluous to declare the certain Time since the exact accomplishment of it according to the prediction will neither be useful to confirm Believers or convert Infidels Lastly The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most convincing and commanding Evidence of this Doctrine that he shall judg the World For he was charged with Blasphemy deserving of Death for this Testimony I say unto you hereafter shall you see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of Power and coming in the Clouds of Heaven He dedicated Martyrdom in his own Sufferings Now God in raising him from the Dead confirmed the truth of his Testimony by that visible Miracle and the belief of it converted the World to Christianity I will now proceed to illustrate and prove the main Point which is this That God will judg the World in Righteousness by Jesus Christ. The Mediator who shall be Judg in the Union of both Natures considered as the Son of God is essentially Holy and Righteous and considered as the Son of Man was holy harmless undefiled and separate from Sinners In him all Vertues shin'd in their absolute Purity and who is so worthy and qualified to reward Holiness and punish Wickedness as the holy one of God 'T is said of him Thou hast loved Righteousness and hated Iniquity therefore thy God hath anointed thee with Oil of gladness above thy Fellows Consecrated him to the Regal Office and enrich'd his humane Nature with Endowments suitable to it 'T was prophesied of him The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding the Spirit of Counsel and Might the Spirit of Knowledg and of the Fear of the Lord and shall make him of quick understanding in the Fear of the Lord and He shall not judg after the sight of his Eyes neither reprove after the hearing of his Ears But with Righteousness shall he judg the Poor and reprove with Equity Humane Judgments are
touching a dead Body contracted Uncleanness he was to wash his Cloaths in the evening and not to lie down in his Uncleanness This was typical of our duty that we should wash away our sinful defilements every day in the purifying Fountain of Christ's Blood that is set open for Sin and for Uncleanness And the method of the Gospel to obtain the grant of Pardon and our comfortable sense and the blessed effects of it is this there must be a mournful sight and serious acknowledgment of our daily sins and a judging our selves by the domestical tribunal in our breasts as worthy of Condemnation for tho we cannot satisfie Divine Justice for the least Sin we must glorify it and with humility and fervency desire that God would graciously forgive our renewed Sins with unfeigned Resolutions and Care against them for the future Thus we are to sue out our Pardon for Sins committed every day And whereas many Errors in regard of our frailty and their fineness do slip from us we should with contrite Spirits implore the Divine Majesty to cleanse us from our secret Sins such as through ignorance or inadvertancy escape from our observation If we are obliged to be reconciled to an offended or offending Brother before the night and the Sun must not go down upon our wrath much more to be reconciled to an offended God that his displeasure may be atoned The morning and evening Sacrifice was a Figure of the constant use of Christ's Merits and Mediation for us The secure neglect of renewing our Repentance for our renewed Sins deprives us of the comforts of the Covenant and will make the thoughts of Judgment as heavy as Mountains upon the Conscience when 't is awakened out of its slumber But when the Soul's Accounts are kept clear with Heaven every day O what a blessed Rest does the penitent Believer enjoy in the Favour of God! O the divine calm of Conscience when our Debts are cancell'd in the Book of God's Remembrance If we should be unexpectedly summoned to appear before the Judg of all the sight of our Sins will rather excite thankful affections and joyful praises of God for his Mercy that he hath pardoned them than fearful despairing thoughts of his Mercy that he will not pardon them And as this considering our ways leads to Repentance and is a remedy for past Sins so 't is a powerful Preservative from Sins afterwards For as in War the greatest care is to fortify the weakest part of a besieged Town and make it impregnable so a Christian by the experience of his infirmity and danger will be more wise and wary more circumspect and resolved against those Sins whereby he has often been foil'd to prevent the daily incursion and sudden surreption by them And according to the degrees of our Innocence we have confidence of Acceptance with God in Judgment 4. Let us improve with a wise and singular diligence the talents committed to our trust for in that day we shall be responsible for all that we have received All the Blessings we possess whether natural our Life our Faculties our Endowments our Health and Strength or Civil Honour and Dignity Riches and Reputation or Spiritual the Gospel in its light and power the graces and assistance of the Holy Ghost as they are gifts from God's Love so they are talents to be imployed for his Glory We are Stewards not Proprietaries for the Supream Lord does not relinquish his right in our Blessings that we may dispose of them at our own pleasure but hath prescribed Rules for our using them in order to his Glory our own Good and the Benefit of others And 't is sad to consider that usually those who enjoy the greatest gifts render the least acknowledgments and the most abundant in Favours are most barren in Thankfulness Time that unvaluable treasure that is due to God and the Soul the price of which arises from the work of Salvation to be done in it how is it squander'd away Conscience would blush at the serious reflection that every day so much is spent in the business of the World or Pleasures and so little redeemed for Communion with the holy God that as in the Prophetick Dream the lean Kine devoured the fat so unconcerning vanities take up that time that should be employed for our last and blessed End While time is miserably wasted the Soul lies a bleeding to everlasting Death More particularly we shall be accountable for all the days of the Son of Man that we have seen all the special seasons of Grace these we should improve for our Eternal Advantage to prepare us for the Divine Presence above But alas the Lord's Day that is consecrated for the immediate Service of God and should be entirely spent in it and in things that have a necessary subordination to it yet neither the enforcement of Duty nor incitations of Love prevail upon the most conscienciously to imploy it in spiritual affairs If they afford their presence at the Publick Worship 't is thought enough and as if the rest of the Day was unsanctified time they waste it in either Complemental Visits or Secular Business in Recreations or things impertinent to their Salvation Riches are an excellent Instrument of doing good Gold is the most precious and extensive Metal and by a marvellous Art an Ounce may be beaten out into some hundred Leaves but 't is a more happy Art by giving it to enrich our own Souls and supply the Necessities of many others But great Estates are often used to foment Mens vicious guilty affections Pride and Sensuality and 't is called Greatness Magnificence to waste them in sumptuous Vanities I instance in these Talents because they are usually abused to the dishonour of the Donor If the slothful Servant that hid his single Talent in a Napkin and returned it without advantage to his Lord was cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth a fearful Image of what will befal all unprofitable persons how severe will their Accounts be who lavish out their numerous Talents to gratify their carnal Appetites and betray the Blessings of God to his enemy the Devil Only the wise and good Servant that with prudent Contrivance and zealous Endeavours improves his Talents shall from the gracious Lord in whom are all attractives and remuneratives of our service receive an excellent Reward 5. Another Rule of our Acceptance at the last Day is That we must with Courage and Zeal maintain in our rank and places the Cause of Christ. For thus he declares expresly Whosoever shall confess me before Men him also will I confess before my Father which is in Heaven But whosoever shall deny me before Men him also will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven When the truth purity and power of Religion in Doctrine Worship and Practice is discountenanc'd and over-born our Saviour commands and will reward our undiscouraged visible Constancy in it
in outward offices yet our Saviour most congruously produces in Judgment the conspicuous effects of Love to them the supplying their wants allaying their sorrows owning them when obscured and deprest by afflictions and injuriously treated by others This love of service that is directed and exercised towards the Saints for the Image of God shining in them because they are the Children of God and Members of Christ and therefore extended to all in whom the reason of that Love appears shall be gloriously rewarded For he interprets what is done upon his Account to those who are his own by so many dear titles as done to himself And what is more becoming his excellent Goodness than to reward his works of Mercy with saving Mercy But those who when Christ presents himself to them in his poor distressed Members and solicits their assistance to protect them from injuries to refresh their sorrows to support them in their exigencies those that have ability but want affection to do them good and incompassionately neglect the suffering Saints shall be sentenc'd to be tormented with the Apostate Angels for ever What indignity is it to the Son of God that those for whom he shed his Divine Blood should be in less value and regard with many than the Dogs and Horses maintained for their pleasure And if those on the left hand shall be condemned to eternal Fire for the coldness of their Love how terrible will the Judgment bet of those that from the heat of their enmity outragiously persecute the Servants of Christ for his sake in their Persons Estates Reputations that with a worse than barbarous inhumanity seek their ruine Is there any Sin of a more mortal guilt The infernal Furnace is seven-fold heated for the punishing such wickedness To conclude this Argument let us observe the Command of our Saviour To watch and pray always that we may be counted worthy to stand before the Son of Man These are Duties of universal influence into our Lives the one prevents carelesness the other vain confidence in our selves and the consideration of Judgment to come is the greatest motive to them and the first principle of Holiness This should work more powerfully in us considering the Day of Death is equivalent to the Day of Judgment to every person for then a particular Sentence decisive and irrevocable passes that shall be publish'd at the last Day Methinks the terrors of the Lord should engage our Souls and Senses to a continual preparation for his Coming 'T is represented so as to affect the Eye and keep it vigilant Behold the Lord comes with ten thousand of his Saints to execute Judgment upon all Behold he comes in the Clouds and every Eye shall see him And to call the Ear and make it attentive The Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with the voice of the Arch-Angel and with the Trump of God How circumspect should we be in all our ways since every action shall be reviewed by our Judg. St. Peter strongly infers from the dissolution of the World as a most cogent Argument that we should be exactly and universally holy seeing then all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness But the consideration of the eternal Judgment immediately succeeding the destruction of the World O how powerful should it be upon Conscience and the Affections to regulate the whole course of our Lives with a final respect to God's Tribunal In short That which we read of the success of the Apostle's preaching to the Athenians upon the present subject the Immortality of the Soul comprised in the Resurrection of the Body and the future Judgment is the same in all times and places And when they heard of the Resurrection of the Dead some mocked and others said We will hear thee again of this matter and others believed There are three differences of the Hearers of this Doctrine of so great importance some deride it as an extravagant fancy some believe it and yield up themselves entirely in obedience to it others do not absolutely reject it as the first nor accept it as the second but have a Conjecture or slight superficial Opinion of it or a speculative Assent as to a history of things that do not concern them and defer the serious consideration and applying of it to themselves And of this third sort O Grief are the most of those who are Christians in name They delay till Death the solemn reflecting upon the final Judgment and the inevitable Consequence of it a blessed or miserable estate for ever And whereas the Apostle who had infallible assurance of God's Love did with an holy severity and self-denial abstain from all Carnal Complacencies that might hazard the never-fading Crown I keep under my Body and bring it into subjection lest by any means when I have preached to others I should be a Cast-away Yet the most live and die in a secure state without preparation to appear before the Presence of his Glory FINIS Some Books printed for Brabazon Aylmer in Cornhill THe Harmony of the Divine Attributes in the Contrivance and Accomplishment of Man's Redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Or Discourses wherein is shewed how the Wisdom Mercy Justice Holiness Power and Truth of God are glorified in that Great and Blessed Work By William Bates D. D. in Quarto Considerations of the Existence of God And of the Immortality of the Soul with the Recompences of the Future state To which is now added The Divinity of the Christian Religion proved by the evidence of Reason and Divine Revelation for the Cure of Infidelity the Hectick Evil of the Times By William Bates D. D. in Octavo The Soveraign and final Happiness of Man with the effectual means to obtain it Also the Joys of Heaven and Torments of Hell are discoursed of By William Bates D. D. in Octavo Several Sermons upon Death and Eternal Judgment By William Bates D. D. in Octavo A Funeral Sermon preached upon the Death of the Reverend and Excellent Divine Dr. Thomas Manton who deceased October 18. 1677. By William Bates D. D. To which is now added the last Publick Sermon Dr. Manton preached in Octavo One hundred and ninety Sermons on the whole 119th Psalm By the late Reverend and Learned Divine Thomas Manton D. D. in Folio Twenty select Sermons upon choice Subjects preached by Thomas Manton D. D. in Quarto Eighteen Sermons on the 2d Chapter of the 2d Epistle to the Thessalonians containing the Description Rise Growth and Fall of Antichrist With divers Cautions and Arguments to establish Christians against the Apostacy of the Chnrch of Rome By Tho. Manton D. D. in Octavo The Gospel-Method of God's saving Sinners by Jesus Christ practically explained in XII Propositions Or a Discourse of the New Covenant By the late Learned Dr. Abraham Clifford To which is prefixed a Preface by Dr. Manton and Mr. Richard Baxter in