yea in him they have the Adoption of Sons and are honoured with that near relation to God where through they become his Heirs joynt-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 And if the Lord being their shepherd they shall not want Psal 23.1 How shall they want then God being their Father Christ their Brother and they joynt-heirs with him these are the fearers of the Lord that are blessed and the very fear of the Lord is such a Blessing to them as tendeth to life so as they shall abide satisfied with it and shall not be visited of evil Psal 112.1 Prov. 19.23 Well may it be said of every such one as is said of Asher whose name signified Blessed that his bread or portion is fat Gen. 49.20 or as of Nepthali that he is and shall be satisfied with favour Deut. 33.23 and of them all as is said of Israel Happy art thou O Israel saved by the Lord the Eternal God is thy refuge or mansions and underneath thee even when thou fallest lowest are the everlasting arms who is like unto thee who hast the Lord for the shield of thy help and whose sword is thy excellency c. Deut. 33.17.29 Object If it be said This is indeed the portion of them that are in Chirst while alive here but here we are to speak of those that are Dead dying in Christ I answer 1. This is the Portion of men in Christ at all times whether alive or dead as to the Body or Flesh yea it 's rather their Portion that Dye in Christ then of others for if men be in Christ when they live here and before they dye turn out from him and so dye not in him they loose and forfeit all this Blessedness for Blessedness is so the Portion of Christ who onely hath purchased and obtained it into himself by his onely perfect and most acceptable righteousness that though he have it not for himself onely but for us yet there is no interest in it nor enjoyment of it to be had out of or apart from him that being also true that he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 Joh. 5.11 12. He therefore that transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God and so not life for God there answers to Father and Son in the next Clause which Son is the life and hath the life given of God to us in himself 2 Joh. 9. The just shall live by Faith but if he or any man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him Nay he that draws back draws back to perdition Heb. 37.38 39. so as to loose all this Portion and his Soul in the loss of it But while any man is in Christ alive or dead he is in a full and most accomplisht treasury of all bliss and happiness and in the dispose and favour of one perfectly Faithful to communicate and give forth of his fulness according to his Promises all the Promises of God are in him yea and Amen And he that is in him is in him an heir of them and abiding in him shall not fail to inherit them though they as to the body dye 2 Cor. 1.20 Gal 3.29 For 2. Death this bodily death doth not make any alteration as to mens being in him it is not the going of the Soul out of the Body that is its going out of Christ they that dye in the Lord are in the Lord in the time and act of his dying laying down their lives or breathing out their Spirits in the Faith and in the Spirit of him they are yet in him inclosed in his Arms in his favour and love and Covenant with him whence he is still even in Death as we noted before stiled their God for though Dead men and as to bodily life yet they live to him and in respect of their spirits see no Death Prov. 12.28 Joh. 8.51 their hearts shall live for ever Psal 22.26 this Death is called a sleep they that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 And as the bodily sleep makes no alteration in relation or Covenant-engagements no more doth the bodily Death in relation to God and Christ and interest in the Covenant and Promises of his blessing a Child is the Fathers Child as well when asleep as when awake and is nevertheless an Heir to an Estate given by deed of gift or by the Fathers Will and Testament Nor is a Wife the less the Wife and in the marriage-covenant when she lies fast asleep in her Husbands bosom then when she is most awake and active and therefore is in as happy a condition if happy in her Marriage then as at other times yea we may say of the man asleep in Christ or which is all one Dead in the Lord that his state is better then before as we shall shew God willing in what follows for as the Dead that dye in the Lord are blessed both privatively as they are exempted from secured against evil and positively as they are interested in Christ in all the good that is in him and to be communicated by him So also they are 3. Comparatively Blessed more blessed in divers respects then divers others or then themselves in former times 1. Comparatively to other men they be happy whether they be 1. Those that Dye and are dead out of the Lord they are happy in respect of them howsoever they dye it may be in the appearance of men sinners that dye in their sins are happier in their Death then they as having no bands in their death as is said Ps 73.4 they may lye and dye in stately Rooms and soft Beds encompassed about with their Friends and Kindred feel little pain dispose of great estates to their Children friends they may possibly express no fear of Hell but hope they shall go to heaven Mat. 7.22 23. They may when dead have costly Funerals stately Monuments c. when as those that dye in Christ may dye grievous Deaths in the sight of men of sharp Diseases full of Sores and Boyles in Prisons Dungeons yea on Racks or Gibbets as it is said of those Saints of whom the world was not worthy that they were some Tortured others Stoned others Sawn asunder others slain with the Sword that they were destitute of succour namely Friends means of helpfulness and the like Afflicted Tormented Heb. 11.37 38. and yet for all this great difference as to the way and outward manner of Dying Yea though we add also that they being tempted may cry out as forsaken of God as our Lord Jesus on the Cross yet these that dye in the Lord are infinitely Blessed above the other nay rather Blessed and not at all the other let them dye as desirably otherwise they can yea though also they when Dead have their Names cryed up of men as if they were Worthy Gallant Honourable persons and those that dye in the Lord be
the sense of the words here Thence note Note 1. That bodily Death and Blessedness may be consistent men that dye and are dead may be blessed Not onely those that are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ delivered from the curse of that and from being under it as the Covenant of Life or that are dead to sin or rather persons not onely dead in those considerations but also that are bodily dead may be happy in a very good safe and desirable condition so as that their state may worthily be commended as very excellent They may have their sins forgiven and blotted out and they that are in that condition are blessed Psal 32.12 They may have the favour of God and be accepted and beloved of him and they that are so are blessed Prov. 8.34 35. and which includes both the former they may have God to be their God and to own them as his people as it is said of Abraham Isaac and Jacob long after they were dead and buried I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Exod 3.6.15 And blessed are the people whose God is the Lord Psal 144.15 And forgiveness of sins and the favour of God are both implied to be the portion of those Souls seen in vision under the Altar even the Souls of those that had been slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony that they held in that there were white Robes given to every one of them as a token both of their free and full acquittance from sin and their being owned of God as righteous ones and also of their being highly honoured and favoured of God Rev. 6.9 10 11. And this not a little takes off the dreadfulness of this bodily Death that it may consist with Blessedness and that it is not of it self able to hinder and deprive us thereof Men may be happy notwithstanding its power and force That 's the dreadful Death that men cannot be happy in or under such as the death in Sin the spiritual death of the Soul under the guilt and power of sin committed and continued in and therefore that is threatened as a very sad evil to be shunned To be carnally minded or the minding of the flesh is death Rom. 8.6 a state not to be continued in where it is nor by any means to be run into where men are delivered therefrom As also The second Death the separation of the Soul or of the whole man rather from God in Soul and Body for ever the everlasting fire or lake burning with fire and brimstone the portion of the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.41 Rev. 20.14 This is a sad and dreadful state indeed namely this of the second Death While men are spiritually dead in sin their sins are imputed and they have no fellowship with God but yet while alive in the body they are in a possibility of being called and made alive to God to him that 's joyned to all the living there is hope Eccles 9.6 But in the second Death is nothing but misery without hope of remedy or redemption This this is the Death then with all diligence to be shunned and therefore care is to be taken to awake out of sin also by repentance for death in sin continued in brings the second Death inevitably upon men But as for this bodily Death that 's not so dreadful in it self men may do well for all that and the reason is because Christ hath died for us and is risen again This death indeed as it was in its first threatning and as upon our desert incurred by us in the Fall of our first Parents deprived us of all Blessedness and would inevitably have done so for ever had not God provided a deliverer and deliverance from it had not he graciously devised a device that his banished might not be expelled for ever from him 2 Sam. 14.14 But blessed be the Lord God of Israel who hath raised up an Horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David that by him we might be saved from our enemies that hath given his onely begotten Son to be the propitiation for our sins that we might live through him Luk. 1.68 69 70. 1 Joh. 4.9.10 And blessed be the Son of God that willingly took upon himself in compliance with his Fathers will to suffer and die for us that we through his stripes might be healed of that deadly wound wherewith in our listning to the Serpent we were wounded by him he having givâ—n himself the ransome for all and tasted Death by the grace of God for every man hath abolished or taken away the destructive power of this Death and destroyed through his Death him that had the power of it that is the Devil and being raised again from the dead he hath obtained even all redemption of all mankind from out this Death so as none of them shall finally perish therein but be all raised out thereof for as by man Adam came death even by man even the man Christ Jesus comes the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Tim. 2.6 Heb. 2.9 2 Cor. 5.14 2 Tim. 1.10 Heb. 9.2 1 Cor. 15.21 22. He is the resurrection and the life and through him there is an open passage now made through this death and all the precedents concomitants and consequences of it to life and immortality even to eternal life in which is and stands the onely true blessedness In Christ there is given us even 〈◊〉 mankind generally considered eternal life 1 Joh. 5.11 in him the righteousness of God is for or unto all Rom. 3.22 and the free gift unto all men for the justification of life Rom. 5 18. In him is forgiveness of sins and plenteousness of Redemption through his blood Psal 130.4.5 Coll. 1.14 and therefore by means of him men may be brought back to God and enjoy him his favour and Kingdom notwithstanding this death yea in the very state of it and while actually dead they may be blessed Bless we God for this gracious Device and doing of his for us in and by Christ and bless we Christ Jesus our Lord that he hath so acted and wrought through his Cross for us and imbrace we the glad tidings of it with all acceptation and thankfulness 2. But yet In that the Holy Spirit stopt not there at Blessed are the Dead but adds a restrictive distinctive qualification saying The Dead that die in the Lord. Learn we thence Note Secondly That though this bodily death blessedness may stand be together yet all that die this Death or are dead in it are not blessed No we cannot say so there be many that dye and are dead in the Body that shall never meet with blessedness though blessedness may be met with notwithstanding this death We read of two men that dyed this Death the one blessed and the other cursed the Rich man and
Lazarus Lazarus was blessed and happy being carried of the Angels into Abrahams bosom but the Rich man was most miserably wretched being carried into Hell and there grievously tormented without so much relief or hope of possibility of finding so much relief as might amount to or be resembled by a drop of water to cool his tongue Luke 16.19.25 26. and we find mention of a multitude nay of diverse Princes with their multitudes gone down into the Pit of destruction in their uncircumcisedness Ezek. 32.18.30 31. and our Saviour tells us of Gods killing the body and casting into Hell Luke 12 5. and that the Gate is wide and the Way broad that leads to Destruction and that many go in thereat Matth. 7.13 for the many dye in their sins and that 's a sad dying and is mentioned as such by our Saviour when he saith to the Jews I go my way and ye shall seek me and dye in your sins whither I go and that was to heaven to his Father ye cannot come Ye are of this world I am not of this world I said therefore that ye shall dye in your sins for if ye believe not that I am He ye shall dye in your sins Joh 8.21 24. And indeed that 's the onely thing that makes any miserable that are dead that they dyed in their sins and their sins lie down with them in the dust as is said Job 20.11 For where sin is continued in and not repented of there it is not pardoned and where sin is not pardoned men are not blessed but cursed But this proceeds not from the force of the first or bodily death but from the wilfulness and carelesness of men while they be here alive in neglecting Christ and the grace in him and the salvation tendered to them in that when He by his wisdom calls men to himself and offers to make them wise and to save them as is abundantly signifyed in Prov. 81.4 5. and 9.1.4.5 Matth. 23.37 yea and counsels them to what is good and reproves their contrary courses and neglects or rejections of his Counsels and waits upon them with long-suffering yet they refuse and sleight all his love and good will and harden their hearts against all means and methods in inlargements and chastisements tending to their good as is signified Prov. 1.22 23 24 25.29 30. Psal 81.9 10 11 12 c. Matth. 23.37 Joh. 5.39 40 c. It is true that Christ dyed for all even while sinners for the ungodly and enemies and thereby hath ransomed them from under the first Judgement and from the lordship of Sathan into his own power and dispose as is signified 2 Cor. 5.14 15. Rom. 5.18 and 14.9 yea and hath obtained into himself all fulness of grace and blessing So as in him all the Families of the earth are blessed that is abundantly provided for of all things tending to and sufficient to render them blessed in the participation thereof so as he is represented as a full and large feast prepared for all people Isa 25.6 being the Salvation prepared of God before the face of or over against the needs of all people Luke 2.31 as a like phrase signifies and is equivalently rendered in Gen. 2.18 and having wrought a perfect righteousness which is for unto all Rev. 3.22 But yet men cannot receive the benefit of all this but in receiving submitting to and obeying even as the Feast prepared profited not those that were invited to it and refused to come nay they refusing it and therein sleighting the love of him that made it and called them to it provoked new anger and wrath to their destruction Matth. 22.4.7 Luke 14 16 17.24 the Salvation neglected is a healing medicine refused and not taken which leaves the miserable like persons desperately diseased in that case to die of their Disease without remedy or escape Heb. 2.1 3. the righteousness for all comes upon all that believe and therefore it being through unbelief refused is like the Weeding garment not put on which neither clothes nor warms the person refusing it nor makes him comely and lovely but being not on a man the mans nakedness and unhandsomness together with the refusal of the Charity shewed and proffered in preparing it for and offering it to him lays the person open to be expelled though come into Gods house and to be cast out into outer darkness Rom. 3.22 Matth. 22.10 11 12 13. the Life Eternal given us in Christ is so given in and with him that he that hath him he only hath and enjoys it and he that rejects and hath not Him hath not it 1 Joh. 5.11 12. To the enjoyment of Blessedness then there must be a receiving and obedience to Christ the Fountain and treasury of it otherwise though men perish not in the first Death they will and must in the second for the soul that sinneth that still and perpetually or impenitently sinneth though it die not for the Fathers iniquity nor have its teeth set on edge because its Father Adam eat the forbidden sowre grape and so the son shall not bear the fathers iniquity that proverb before mentioned with reference to the second and Eternal Death shall not take place yet for its own sinning it shall die Ezek. 18.2 3 4.19 20. Jer. 31.29 30. The dealings of God here are somewhat answerable to his dealings with Israel when having brought them all out of Egypt not leaving Man nor mothers Child nor any Hoof there yet He afterward destroyed them that believed not for their unbelief and rebellious sinning and going on to sin against him in the Wilderness Jude 5. Heb. 3.17 18. even so here it 's not the first Death and Judgment detains any but yet Christ having bought all into his dispose from perishing in that will afterward judge to Eternal Death those that believe or obey not It is not any want of merit or worthiness in Christs Death or exclusion of them from being of its object nor want of fulness or readiness in him for saving them but this is the condemnation that Light is come into the world and men love darkness rather then light Joh. 3.19 Onely Death this bodily Death puts an end to the time of Gods patient waiting for their coming to Christ closing with his Light and Love and repenting of their sins and finding mercy with him All the time God continues mens lives here there is a possibility of escaping the Wrath to come For God is patient towards us not willing any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 Yea his goodness and forbearance is inviting and leading men to repentance Rom. 2.4 and is to be accounted Salvation 2 Pet. 3 15. Even Jezabel while Christ spared her he gave her space to repent though she repented not Rev. 2.21 yea and when he threatens to cast her into a Bed and them that commit adultery with her even into great tribulation yet it is with this Proviso mentioned Except
selves dead to sin c. Rom. 6.11 And this kind of Dying may be taken in here inclusively as that that foreruns and makes way for this dying in the Lord and they are blesed that in such sense Dye in or through the Lord or the knowledge of him For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him 2. Tim. 2.11 But that which is properly meant here is that those that are in Christ may dye as to the bodily death the being in Christ and the Bodily death are consistent otherwise Dying and blessedness could not consist together as we shewed they do for there is no blessedness out of Christ And that a bodily in Christ may stand together with bodily death is further clear in that as Christ â—…e not to prevent and keep men from bodily death by his dying but to obtain a resurrection out of it so neither doth men â—â—ing in Christ prevent or annull 〈◊〉 the deriving life from Christ is not such 〈◊〉 deriving life as puts by the Body from dying For it is not derived upon the Body but from and so after its Death It is appointed for men once to Dye and that appointment was made after the promise of Christ and of his defeating the Devils Plot the bruising his head and therefore is consistent with it Christ can can and will defeat Sathans plot for keeping man out everlastingly from God though they dye as to the Body Heb. 9.27 with Gen. 3.15 16. Christ indeed being believed on gives forth his divine Spirit and life for quickening our spirit and expelling Death out of that raising it up to a lively hope in God but it expels not Death out of the body till the Resurrection of the dead The body is still dead under the Sentence of and in the way to Death because of sin that yet remains in it but the Spirit or inward man is life for righteousness Rom. 8.10 thence we see wise men dye Psal 49.11 and as was mentioned before Abraham is dead and Moses 〈◊〉 the Prophets are dead in respect of 〈◊〉 outward man though they were brought into and lived and abode in Christ and 〈◊〉 must others fare also And this God orders for divers good causes as I have shewed in 〈◊〉 Balaams wish as to keep us always loâ— and humble in our selves and dependanâ— on God and mindful of our latter end and so more heedful to the instructions of wisdome and that God and Christ might be glorified in raising us up from the Dead But now to dye in the Lord in this sense signifies and hath in it 1. A continuance in Christ even in the Faith and Obedience of him till Death and in Death so as that we lay down our lives or give up our breath holding fast the Faith and grace of Christ as it is said of the Patriarchs that they all dyed in the Faith so as retaining and not going out from the Faith when their spirits left and went out of their bodies yet they went not out from Christ from believing and hoping in him Heb. 11.13 And there may be further in it 2. A spending and laying down the Bodily life in an exercise of Faith and Hope in Christ and walking in the Spirit vertues and service of Christ so as that the dying is in a sense the effect and product to the Flesh of believing and walking in him as the Apostles that so walked in Christ as that they spent themselves and strength and life as it were in the flames of his love to them and zeal for him thence springing being offered up as a Sacrifice as it were upon the sacrifice and service of the Faith Phil. 2.17 offered or pouered out as a drink-offering as the word signifies in 2 Tim. 4.6 and in some cases and times as those before mentioned under the cruelties of the Beast and false Prophet it takes in 3. A Dying in the Cause of Christ and for his sake as Martyrs put to Death for bearing witness and testimony to him as those beheaded for the witness of Christ and the Word of God and for not worshipping the Beast c. Rev. 6.9 and 20.4 We may put them together and say that when men are and continue in the Faith of Christ and so in the love and vertues of Christ too and in death Rev. 2.10 and by the force of that they have in and from Christ lay down or spend out their lives either in serving or suffering for Christ then may they be said to dye in the Lord and all that so dye dye in the Lord. But yet further they that in any such sense dye in the Lord may be said also in another sense which pertains to and is the immediate spring of their blessedness to dye in him viz. 4. In the love of the Lord as being the objects of his favourable acceptance and so enclosed as it were in his arms in his vertues as being encompassed about with the vertues of his Sufferings and Sacrifice and so in his Covenant and Promises and thence They all they that so Dye in what way soever as to the outward way of dying they dye whether by a fair Death on their Beds or by any violent Death inflicted on them whether by a more easie or more sharp and painful death yea though they dye of Poverty or are full of Sores as Lazarus yet they are Blessed though in the sight of men they seem most miserable yet they are in a happy state and condition Which we are nextly 3. To enquire into and shew what that Blessedeess is and how they are blessed we may say Blessedness stands in exemption or freedom from what 's evil and harmful and in having interest in and enjoyment of good to content and satisfaction and they that dye in the Lord are in such a state even while dead and needs they must be so For 1. In Christ there is all that may free exempt or deliver a man from evil and there is all that may do good and make content and satisfied and so all that may make one both privatively and positively Blessed 1. In him is freedom and deliverance from evil not onely for himself but so as it may be for the freeing of others not onely sin hath no dominion over or place in him though he was made sin and bare our sins for us yet having dyed for it and being raised again in him is no sin no sin now on or imputed to him but also there is freedom from it for us forgiveness of it and justification from it as is said Be it known to you that in this man is preached to you forgiveness of sins Acts 13.38 And there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Psal 130.4 yea and not onely is he clean from it but with him is cleansing too He hath made a purgation of our sins Heb. 1.3 opened a fountain for washing and cleansing us Zech. 13.1 and in both respects he is
the Saviour from sin both as to the imputation and as to the pollution of it And where sin is taken away or removed evil of Wrath and Punishment hath no place While sin was imputed to and laid upon Christ he was also obnoxious to the curse and wrath that was the Wages of it And while God imputes sin and it is not washed off a man punishment and evil of wrath may befal him but as in him there is forgiveness of and cleansing from sin so in him is deliverance from wrath too either as to misery inflicted on the Creature or as to the hiding of Gods face or withdrawing his favour from it being justified from his Blood how much more saved from wrath both Positive and Privative Positive of evil and Privative of good Rom. 5.9 and then as there is none hath power over him in the least so in him there is that infinite wisdome and power by which he is All sufficient to save us from them and order their enmities as he sees good so as he can suffer them to act forth their malice and yet secure those against whom it 's acted so as it shall have no evil influence upon them yea all enemies spiritual and corporal are at his beck and will to do to or with them as he pleases and he can let out or restrain their wrath inflict punishments by them or save from or deliver out of the troubles they occasion as he pleases Psal 76.10 2. In him also is all fulness of good wherewith he may do us good and content and satisfie us for all the fulness of the God-head dwells bodily in him and in him we are compleat Col. 2.9 10. It hath pleased all fulness to or it hath pleased the Father that all Fulness should dwell in him Col 1.19 the Father is in him with all the fulness of his love and favour He is enough to satisfie the Soul for ever and produce any good to it that he pleases In him is the fulness of the holy Spirit and of all his glorious Power Wisdom Love Sweetness and Comfort and with all its most enabling and enriching vertues so as he can baptise with it us and whom he pleaseth Isa 42.1 Mat. 3.11 Joh. 1.33 and 7.37 38 39. His are all Riches and precious treasures all things in Heaven and Earth are his Riches and Honour are with him yea durable Riches and Righteousness his Fruit is better then gold yea then fine gold and his revenue better then choice silver Prov. 8.18 19. Length of days are in his right hand even Immortality and Eternal Life and in his left hand Riches and Honour His ways are ways of pleasantness and all his paths are peace He is a tree of life to them that lay hold on him and happy therefore is every one that retains him Prov. 3.15 16 17 18. Happy indeed For 2. Whosoever comes into him is and abides in him is interested in all that is his and that is in him and comes to the participation of the benefit thereof they that are made in him through the grace of God to them he is made of God Wisdom Righteousness Holiness and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 They have him to be theirs 1 Joh. 5.12 yea and in him they have the Father also being and continuing in the Son they are in the Father also 1 Joh. 2 24. In God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 1.1 2 Thes 1.1 and as they are both in Father and Son so they have both 2 Joh. 9. And how can they that have such a portion and Inheritance but be happy 1. Privatively Happy so as to be exempted from all that is evil from sin the Root of all evil so it is not imputed to to them In him all that believe are justified from all things which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Acts 13.9 in him we have redemption through his Blood the forgiveness of sins Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 so as to be sanctified cleansed from sin so as it shall not have dominion over those that believe in and so are and abide in him Rom 6.14 He that abideth in him sinneth not 1 Joh. 3.6 and then there is no Condemnation to them that are in him that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 And so there is no evil in their Portion there shall no evil happen to the just as they are that are in and abide in Christ Prov. 12.21 All things work together for good to them Rom. 8.28 and so there is no Death to them nothing of misery or separation from God which is the death of the Soul nothing of destruction they shall not perish Joh. 3.16 True it is that they may have and actually have Enemies against them within and without but Christ is to them a place of sure Defence against them and preserves their Souls Their place of defence is on high a place of the munition of rocks Isa 33.16 and they dwell safely so as they may be also quiet from the fear of evil Prov. 1.33 being and dwelling in him who is the most High and in his secret place they dwell under the shadow and Protection of the Almighty saying of him Who is the Lord He is my rock and my fortress my God in whom I will trust surely He will deliver them from the snare of the Fowler and from the truly noisome Pestilence He will cover them with his feathers and under his wings shall they trust his truth shall be their shield and buckler so as they shall not be afraid of the terrour by night nor of the arrow that flyeth by day Yea dwelling in the Lord as in their refuge and having him the most High for their habitation there shall no evil befal them nor any Plague come nigh their dwelling Psal 91.1 2 3 4 5 9 10. 2. Positively happy in the enjoyment of and interest at least in all that 's good for as the Lord is a strong house or house of defence to them that are in him Psal 31.2 and 71.3 so he is also to them a house of feasting or sacrifices Prov. 9.1 2 3. and they that trust in him and under the shadow of his wings shall abundantly be satisfied with the fatness of his house and he will make them drink of the rivers of his pleasures Psal 36.7 8 9. He is to them a fountain of life and living waters both quickning purifying and satisfing them He is to them a sun and shield and will give them grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that are upright with him Psal 84.11 in him they have and from him derive that heavenly wisdom that brings with it to them Riches and Honour and Life in him they have and from him receive that holy Spirit whose fruit is Love Joy Peace and in a word all Goodness Righteousness and Truth Gal. 5.22 Joh 7.38 39. and 4.14 Ephs 5 8.
more full and proper sense redeemed from the Earth and from among men then any yet here living and as to those that suffer and dye in the Lord from henceforth from the time of the Beasts rage when there will be the most remarkable time of the Saints patience at the time probably when the Beast that ascends out of the bottomless Pit slays the Witnesses which is his last act his parting blow the ending part of his Rage Chap. 11.7 which Chapter takes in all the time from the first to the last that singing with Harps may denote their special triumphant Blessedness which agrees with what is said in Chap. 7. where there is the same number of the Sealed and where it is said that they that came out of great or as the words may be rendered the great tribulation were arayed in white robes having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb where the white Robes doubtless are emblems of some Great Priestly or Kingly dignity as is implied in Chap. 3.4.5 such as is mentioned Chap. 5.10 20.6 and as is implied in what follows when it is said Therefore are they before the Throne of God night and day in his Temple as the Beast-worshippers are tormented and have no rest day nor night Chap. 18.11 and he that sitteth on the Throne dwelleth among them they shall hunger no more nor thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them or any heat for the Lamb who is in the midst of them shall feed them and shall lead them to the Fountains of living waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes Chap. 7.13 17. Let me add this upon this quotation that it may appear that those Learned and Reverend men that appointed that seventh Chapter or part of it to be read on the day dedicated to the Memory of All Saints surely understood those things to be applicable to the Deceased Saints that dyed in the Lord But yet their great and proper reward is 2. Fully at the day of the Appearing again of the Lord Jesus at that day the Crown of Righteousness henceforth from the time of Departure laid up shall be given to all that love and look for that his Appearance 2 Tim. 4.8 The Son of man our Lord Jesus shall then when he comes in the glory of his Father with all his holy Angels reward every man according to his works Matth. 16 27. Rev. 22.12 and then their Reward shall be great and glorious indeed and gloriously manifested for then them that sleep in him will God bring with him the Dead in Christ shall rise first 1 Thes 4.14 16. not in mortal bodies to labour and travail again but their mortal then shall put on immortality and their corruptible shall put on incorruption and what was sown in dishonour shall rise in glory and what in weakness shall rise in power and what was sown a natural body shall rise a spiritual body fashioned into the likeness of Christs glorious body 1 Cor. 15.43 44 53. Phil. 3.21 and then they shall have no more death neither sorrow nor crying nor pain for all those former things shall be wholly past Rev. 21.4 no nor shall they have any thing of errour ignorance or corruption nor of fear or grief in their mind or inward man but they shall then know as they are known and see face to face and be made like to Christ seeing him as he is 1 Cor. 13.9 12. 1 Joh. 3.2 Then they shall appear in glory with Christ Col. 3. 3 4. having fellowship with him and him ever amongst and with them and God iâ— and with him 1 Cor. 1.9 2 Thes 2.14 1 Thes 4.16 Rev. 21.3 injoying the new Heavens and the new Earth whereiâ— dwells righteousness 2 Pet. 3.14 and the new Jerusalems glory which comes down from out of heaven having the glory of God and her light like to a stone most precious like a Jasper stone clear as Chrystal Rev. 21.10 11. eating and drinking with Christ at his Table in his Kingdom Luke 22.29 30. injoying the incorruptible Inheritance that is undefiled and fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1â— 4. and the incorruptible Crown of Life Righteousness and Glory which he hath promised to them that love him 1 Cor. 9.25 2 Tim. 4.8 James 1.12 even the Kingdome and glory of God and of Christ wherein they shall have the fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore at his right hand and see his face and have his Name in their foreheads and have an everlasting happy day without any night the Lord himself and the Lamb being their everlasting Light and they shall reign for ever and ever Matth. 25.35 Dan. 7.27 1 Pet. 5.10 Psal 16.11 36.8 9 10. Isa 60.19 20. Rev. 22.3 4 5. Which thing I onely here mention having more particularly spoken something to them in my Book called Balaam's wish O Happy happy and thrice happy portion of those that be so dead So much for the Explication and opening of the words Let us now Apply it briefly Application 1. ANd first it tends wonderfully to commend and magnifie the Lord Jesus to us who makes those that are in him even so happy in Death He being the Root and well-spring of all the Happiness and Blessedness injoyed or injoyable by the Saints and holy ones either in this Life or in and after Death or at and after the Resurrection of the Dead Well may we then joyn our assent to that Song of or in the kingdom that Song of the Elders mentioned by our Deceased Sister on her Death-bed and say Thou art worthy to open the Book and unloose the Seals of it for thou wast slain and hast Redeemed us to God by thy Blood c as also to that of the Angels that follows Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdome and strength and honour and glory and blessing Rev. 5.9 12. magnifying also the Riches of the love and grace of God even the Father in appointing and giving him forth to us and so filling him through Death and Sufferings with all his own unspeakable fulness that he might be the Authour of such Blessedness to us and so we may also joyn our assent to that of every Creature in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that is in them saying Blessing Honour Glory and Power be to him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Rev. 5.13 and to that of the innumerable number out of all Nations Kindreds Peoples and Tongues standing before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white Robes and having Palms in their hands viz. Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb Chap. 7.9.10 2. To commend and set forth the excellency and desireableness of the state of those that are in Christ Jesus and abide in him that they however despised and abused
of men are the happiest men in the world their portion better than any other mens the Heritage of Jacob to be preferred before all the enjoyments of the great Princes of the Earth Isa 58.14 So as it may well be said the righteous they that are in Christ Jesus walking not after the Flesh but after the Spirit are more excellent then their neighbours Prov. 12.26 however Poor Meane Illiterate Afflicted and Despised the Righteous be And however Rich Learned Honoured or otherwise adorned and qualified their neighbours that be not righteous are Yea well it may be said Happy art thou O Israel a People saved by the Lord the shield of their help and sword of their Excellency thine enemies shall be found lyars to thee and thou shalt tread upon as despising their high place Deut. 33.29 O Lord of hosts blessed is the man that putteth his trust in thee Psal 84.12 Blessed at all times blessed in Life more blessed in Death but most blessed in and after the Resurrection of the Dead 3. To commend Piety and Godliness and the exercise thereof to us which hath the Promise of all this great blessedness both of the life that now is and that that is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 6.6 4. To condemn the blind judgment and practice of the world that sleight hate and persecute these things accounting those that are and that dye in Christ especially in a way of persecution to be unhappy and their portion despicable which things I onely mention But besides 5. It directs us whither to flee for shelter and refuge against the fears and feelings horrours and harms of Death the King of Terrours namely to Christ Jesus our Lord who hath both abolished or destroyed its destructive power by his Death and destroyed him that had the power of it the Devil 2 Tim. 1.10 Heb. 2.14 and also hath the keys of Hell and Death Power and full Authority over it and over the dead having dyed rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living Rom. 14.19 as he hath that sharp Sickle in his hand so he can cut off with it high or low rich or poor and he can keep it off or back during his pleasure and order the state of it and the persons in it as seems good in his sight And in him there is deliverance from the horrour and harms of it as he is the forgiver of the sins both that occasioned it and that might render it as an inlet into a worser state then it simply of it self containeth and hath both Authority and proclaims himself ready graciously to do it even both to raise out of it and in the interim to secure from harm and mischiefs by it yea and to make it greatly useful and advantagious to us to make the day of it better then the day wherein we were born Eccles 7.1 a Chamber of ease rest and safety to us from the evils either fore-afflicting us or further threatening and abiding the yet dwellers on the Earth or abiders in the land of the living Isa 26.20 57.2 an outlet to our cares fears labours and temptations to sin or toils by such temptations and an inlet safe Port or entrance into peace and security the end of our exile and banishment and beginning of our actual admission in our spirits into our Fathers presence and glorious fruition of our blessed Saviour that wonderful one the unparall'd lover of our Souls and Paragon and Pattern of all divine and heavenly vertue and excellency the Lamb that had mercy on us and dyed rose again and lives for ever for us the Lord Jesus He is that Sun that shining into our hearts the light of the knowledge of himself and of the glory of God in him and being believingly beheld by us will drive out and expel all that darkness of our ignorance and errour that in the night of our unbelief obscures our minds and fills us with frightful fears of Death and its consequents and chases away all those mists and vapours arising out of the muddines of our hearts to the sadding us at the thoughts of its approches and by his warming influences as streaming forth by his Holy Spirit in the Gospel the beams of his love and favour in the forgiveness of our sins and interesting us in his Righteousness and precious promises of blessing and everlasting Life and Happâ—ness and so the lively hope of his Salvation and Glory to be injoyed by us he can and will so chear and comfort us as to make the grim visage of Death amiable to us and the passage through it very desirable Philip. 1.21 22 23. yea and give us hope and joy in Death as the best hour that ever came upon us And he is that and such a shield too that encompassing us about with his favour and defence interposing himself between us and our enemies even Death and all its train and power secures us against their fiercest assaults and sharpest darts being the Death of Death the Destruction of the Grave and Hell Hos 13.14 we being in him and incompassed about with his arms of love nothing shall be able to approch us to hurt or harm us He is such a Fountain of living waters that whosoever drinks of him receiving his Doctrine into his heart and retaining and keeping it there shall not die of thirst Such a Heavenly Medicine being Gods Salvation or saving health that whosoever takes him down and tastes the sweetness of his Love and Grace and keeps it or the relish of it upon his palace shall not taste Death Joh. 4.14 8.51 52. Yea those Waters he gives and the Medicine he affords will spring up and effect in the receiver and taker down thereof Life in Death even Eternal Life The Tree of Life that was in the first Paradise and which being eaten of would have preserved the life of Man for ever is lost and there is no recovering it again Gen. 3.22 23 24. Nor can all the Physicians in the world find out or compose a Medicine that can keep us from Dying But our Lord Jesus Christ and his heavenly Wisdome and Doctrine is that Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God that Sovereign Antidote of Gods own finding out making and propounding which being eaten and taken down will secure us against all the Poison of the old Serpent the evil of this natural Death and carry us safely through it and bring us certainly out of it to immortality and eternal Life Prov. 3.18 Rev. 22.2 3 14. He will both make the Soul live and be happy in Death and raise up the Body to an immortal state of bliss Isa 55.3 Joh. 11.25 26. 2 Cor. 4.14 In vain do men weary themselves and spend their Estates to find out a Philosophers stone that may turn all things into Gold Here is that true Elixir that will turn all to Good and as he hath reconciled all things in himself that are in
Heaven and that are in Earth Col. 1.20 so will he reconcile all things to us and make them ours and for us destroying that in all things and all those things and persons that are inflexibly against us Thence the Apostle saith We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them that are his called according to purpose Rom. 8.28 and all things are yours for your use service or benefit whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. Death is in the Believers Inventory as a parcel of his Goods as one of his Servants or Friends yea and all things too that shall follow after it For all the ways or paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that keep his testimonies and his Covenants Psal 25.10 There shall no evil happen to the just Prov. 12.21 He that keepeth the Commandments shall feel no evil thing Eccles 8.5 O infinitely precious Jewel and Pearl of great price the Bread which came down from heaven which whoso eats of shall live for ever Joh. 6.50 51. But yet the being of this Refuge doth not of it self simply secure us against the hurts of Death they that neglect it shall perish without escape however good safe and sure a Defence it is and affords Heb. 2.3 Death will do them this hurt as we have forenoted that it will shut them out from all ways and passages to the after-life it will cut off all further opportunities of seeking for safety in or injoying safety by or from this refuge This Antidote will not preserve from fears or harms of Death unless both taken and kept within our hearts This Elixir will not turn all to gold or good unless injoyed by us or duly applyed This Sun will not shine on us to expel our darkness and refresh and chear us unless we be and walk in the light and virtue of it nor this Shield defend and secure us against Deaths harmful darts no nor from what is indeed the Dreadful thing the second Death unless it be about us and we as it were within its compass no nor will any thing or person else do it besides him For God the Father is in him and not to be approched to or his favour injoyed but in and by him Joh. 14.6 7. Nor is the Spirit but upon him or any other ways to be injoyed then by turning at his Reproofs to believe in and obey him Prov. 1.23 Joh. 14.15 16 17. Acts 5.32 neither is there Salvation in any other Name beside his that was Crucified for us and Dyed for our sins and Rose again for our justification under heaven whereby we may be saved Acts 4.11.12 The Law and its deeds cannot justifie and save us for by it is the knowledge not the forgiveness of sins Rom. 3.20 Riches profit not in the day of wrath it is onely righteousness delivers from death Prov. 11.4 nor will our works or righteousness that are not of the Faith of him profit us Isa 57.12 Philip. 3.8 9. for they that are of the works of the Law are also under the curse Gal. 3.10 11 12. and works of our own devising are of no worth with God Matth. 15 9.10 Nay Paul or Apollos or Cephas cannot save us because not Crucified for us nor have they that Name into which we may be Baptized for the Remission of our sins and receipt of the Holy Ghost to renew and regenerate us and so by consequence not any other man 1 Cor. 1.12 13. the wise Virgins Oyl will not relieve the foolish Virgins that have none of their own Matth. 25.8 9. The just shall live by his not another mans faith Hab. 2.4 and therefore there is as we have also shewed before an absolure necessity of our being in Christ that we may have this blessedness by him in and after Death Unless we be in Christ Jesus He is not made to us of God as to our enjoyment thereof wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 The Ark saved none from perishing by the Flood but those that were in it nor will Christ save from the second Death or give blessing in this to any out of him He that hath not the Son hath not Life though that Life be given us in him that it might in receiving him be received with him 1 Joh 5.11 12. The Feast though prepared and invited to satisfied not its refusers but they were excluded and cut off from all they had beside for refusing it Luke 14.24 Matth. 22.4 7. yea and being come into he must be abide in too so as to Death and in Death else we yet perish He that draws back Gods Soul will have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 A Castle though never so strong will not secure from the potent and vigilant enemy him that either comes not into it or after he hath been in it upon any terms forsakes it And this is useful further 6. To invite and provoke us all with all earnestness and diligence to betake our selves to Christ this refuge and being in him to abide in him to live and dye in him and by no means neglect or forsake him Enter into this rock and hide our selves in the dust of the earth even in the dust of his Death for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty Isa 2.10 Psal 22.14 Death will come upon us sooner or later that cannot be avoided nothing more certain yea it may come suddenly upon the youngest and strongest of us for nothing more uncertain then the time of its coming for surely every man in his best state is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 and though of it self it will not hurt us nor shall we perish in it but be raised up again from thence Yet our retaining our sins and refusing or neglecting to be washed and renewed and so to be partakers of Gods Salvation that will expose us to and pull upon as a second Death yea and this Death will put an end to all possibility of escaping that and be an entrance into that dreadful Prison in which the Debter and Malefactor will be kept safe till the great Assises and then the Execution of the Eternal Judgment will succeed Now is the accepted time now the time of escape and this the way to escape to be found in Christ O then how doth it behove and concern every man to look about him and give diligence with the Apostle to win Christ and be found in him not having our own righteousness but that which is by the Faith of him Object But may some say Can we make our selves in Christ can we enter into him as we will can any come to Christ except the Father that sent him draw him Is it not of God that any man is in Christ Jesus and not of himself why then do you call
10 1 2 4. and many of his holy Prophets and the Evangelists and Apostles divers of them were employed in this Exercise whose Writing he owns also as his own and therefore saith Have not I written to thee excellent things Prov. 22.20 And I have written to them the great things of my Law Hos 8.12 And it may be minded yea and must be acknowledged that in some respects this way of conveying over knowledge unto men hath the preheminence in divers respects above that of speech both as 1. It may be preserved a longer time what is this way imparted when as the voice of words pass away into the air after they are uttered and so knowledge may be and hath been transmitted this way to after ages and generations long after those that have uttered those truths by words of mouth are dead and gone And this use of Writing or end of Gods making use of it or commanding it to be used is expresly signified by himself for not onely did Moses write the Law and deliver it to the Priests as a means to acquaint with it and with the works of God therein mentioned those that had not known them even the children to be born commanding them to that purpose at the end of every seven years to read it to all the people men women and children and the strangers within their gates Deut. 31.10 11 12 13. but also God ordered Moses to write the Song mentioned in the same Chapter that it might be a witness for him against the children of Israel that it might not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed vers 19.21 And the Lord bade Isaiah go write it on a Table and note it in a Book that it might be for the time to come or for the latter day even for ever and ever that this is a rebellious people c. Isa 30.8.9 See also Psal 102.18 2. This way the knowledge of things and of Gods Works and Words may be made known to many more then they can by any ones audible voice be declared to as in all these Nations we have this way the declarations of those things brought to us that were done in Israel and Judah and the words spoken in those places are this way brought to our cognizance yea by this way things spoken in secret yea or when we can have no opportunity to speak our minds to any body what we would speak may be conveyed abroad and made publick and things spoken in the ear as divers of our Saviours Parables may be published all over the World Yea and 3. This is a more safe and certain way of conveyance of knowledge Words may be mistaken and misrelated by those that hear and would relate them many things in that way may be and often have been added omitted or altered But what it written remains fixed and may without addition omission or alteration be read and transcribed Thence it is said I have written to thee excellent things that I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth and that thou mayest answer the words of truth to those that send to thee Prov. 22.20 21. Bless we God for so excellent and useful a gift and for the great good things made known to us thereby and take we heed of abusing or being harmed by it for as God ordered it for great good and profit to men so Sathan who can create nothing himself but lyes abuses and leads his followers to abuse this as all other gifts of God to Gods dishonour and mens destruction and scarce any so much as this while it is made use of to propagate and keep on foot all manner of lyes and mischievous devices as is too evident But now as every Act must have its object or matter about which it is exercised so this writing must be of something to be written And indeed the thing that God commanded to be written is generally something both true as it is said That which was written was upright even words of truth Eccles 12.10 As also the Lord ordering the things concerning the New Jerusalem to be written addes this as a reason For these words are faithful and true Rev. 21.5 And also of weight and usefulness for the generations and people to whom they are ordered and for whose sake written and so it is said Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our instruction that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope Rom. 15.4 and they were written for our admonition 1 Cor. 10.11 and write the vision and make it plain upon tables that he may run that reads it That he may be encouraged and strengthend to run with patience the race set before him Habak 2.2 And so here is 2. The matter to be written some faithful and useful matter to be preserved for the benefit of after ages Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord c. Wherein there is 1. A heavenly Oracle Doctrine or Assertion viz. That the Dead that dye in the Lord are henceforth blessed 2. A Confirmation of this Assertion or Doctrine And that both 1. By Authority or Testimony the highest greatest and most indisputable Yea saith the Spirit 2. By Proof or Demonstration or Reason alledged and that also is two-fold viz. 1. That they may rest from their labours 2. And their works do follow them or follow with them I shall endeavour to consider them briefly in this order with some Application 1. The Doctrine commanded to be written and accordingly written is That the Dead that dye in the Lord henceforth are blessed or are henceforth blessed Wherein we have 1. The subject of the Assertion or that whereabout it is and that is The Dead 2. A qualification of this Subject rendring it the proper Subject asserted of and that is That dye in the Lord. 3. The thing asserted or these and that is That they are blessed 4. The time from whence either the Subject asserted of or the thing asserted of them commenceth for it may be either way construed either the dead that dye in the Lord henceforth and so it 's a more special limitation of the Subject asserted of or the Dead that dye in the Lord generally or whensoever are henceforth blessed 1. The Subject is the Dead not the Living And this term the Dead is spoken of variously in the Scriptures according to a various way of dying as there are that are dead in sins and trespasses but they are not blessed therefore not here meant Eph. 2.1 4.18 And there are that are dead to sin and ought so to reckon themselves 1 Pet. 2.24 Rom. 6.11 And dead to the Law for seeking righteousness thereby and having their hope and confidence therefrom Gal. 2.19 20. And these are in a sense blessed or in the way to it And there are that are dead in the body and as to natural life as Abraham is dead and the Prophets be dead Joh. 8.52 And that is