Abstractly considered 't is but a notion As it actually hath taken place it must be the death of this or that Person And as it is finally to be overcome and have an end it must have a limited subject and not be understood of all absolutely and universally for then there would be no such thing as Eternal Death which hath no end And how the subject here supposed is to be limited the series of discourse thorough the Chapter shews they are such as are Christs ver 23. and to whom he is peculiarly the first fruits ibid. Such as shall bear his heavenly Image ver 49. and as elsewhere whose vile bodies shall be made like his glorious One Phil. 3. 21. Such as shall have spiritual incorruptible immortal bodies like his and with him inherit the Kingdom of God and through him obtain this victory ver 50 57. 2. This limitation of death to be overcome to such a subject only connotes the extent of it to the whole of that subject as that is compos'd of an inner and an Outer man 2 Cor. 4. 16. It were frigid and comfortless to suppose if it were supposeable that this glorious Conquest of death should extend no further than the giving us a fair specious outside and that our Mind and Spirit should not partake or be nothing the better for it 'T is plain the Apostles scope thro' this Chapter is more to assert the future subsistence of the Soul than the recomposure of the Body as his Arguments shew though what was necessary to be said concerning the future state of that also is not neglected But what he is now saying in this part of the Chapter concerns not what is common to men but what is peculiar to Good and Holy Men. And therefore as it respects their nobler part must intend More than its meer subsistence in another state which is common to good and bad and signify the perfection of the Holy Divine life which shall be at last entirely victorious and Swallow up Death in its utmost extent and specially as it was opposite to that life Death I mean as it was so heavily incumbent upon the Minds and Spirits of Good Men themselves and was their most intolerable burden extorting from them such groans as that Rom. 7. 24. O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death Nor indeed is this death sensible or grievous or ever felt but where the opposite life hath some place Total death knows no grievances makes no complaints They that lye buried in the Earth are in their own Element where no such thing weighs upon them a terrene carnal Mind is no burthen to such Souls as are quite dead in Trespasses and Sins I hope I need not tell you that tho' the Souls of men are Universally immortal in the natural sense they are not so in the moral Morality comprehends the means and end Vertue and Felicity or in terms more agreeable to our Christian Ethicks or that are oftener heard by them that live under the Gospel Holiness and Blessedness These are signify'd by Spiritual Life or life in the spiritually-moral sense And so are Sin and Misery by the opposite death And no man hath reason to think it strange that Life and Death are estimated by such measures or that a temper of Spirit habitually and fixedly good or evil should be signify'd by being alive or dead if we consider how perfect an equivalency there is between them in the moral sense and being naturally alive or dead For wherein do we usually state the notion of Natural Life but in a self-moving power Now let any ordinary Understanding be appeal'd to in the Case and who would not say it were as good not to be able to move at all as to move in so perpetual disorder as never to attain any end such motion should serve for The Ends of a reasonable Creatures motions must be duty to its Maker and felicity to it self If all its motions be such as import constant hostility towards God infelicity and torment to it self this is to be dead not simply and naturally 't is true but respectively and not in some by and lessconsiderable respect but in respect of the principal and most important purposes of Life So that in full equivalency such a one is as dead to all valuable intents and purposes whatsoever Therefore such are only said to be alive in a true and the most proper sense that are alive to God through Jesus Christ Rom. 6. 11. Or that do yeild themselves to God as those that are alive from the dead ver 13. it being the proper business of their life to serve God and enjoy him Others that only live in sinful pleasure are dead while they live 1 Tim. 5. 6. Nor hath such a Notion of life and death been altogether strange even among Heathens when we find it said by One of no mean note That a wicked man is dead as a soul may be said to die and to it 't is a death when 't is too deeply plung'd immerst into the body so as to be sunk down into matter and replete with it Besides much more that might be produc't from others of like import and how agreeable is this passage to that Rom. 8. 6 To be carnally minded is death Upon the whole I cannot indeed conceive that since Death is often taken and that most reasonably in so great a latitude as to admit of comprehending this sense and since in these latter verses the Apostle is speaking of a final deliverance from it as the special priviledge of such as are in union with Christ not of what is common to all men but that victory over death in this respect as it imports aversion from God or indisposition towards him must be within his meaning and that he was far from confining it to bodily death only or from intending in reference to the Soul the meer natural immortality of that alone But that Death in its utmost latitude was now in reference to this sort of men whom his present discourse intends to be entirely swallow'd up in victory Or in a perfect plenitude of victorious life as 2 Cor. 5. 4. So much which was more requisite to be insisted on being clear we shall less need to inlarge upon what follows As that 3. This Victory supposes a War Or That Life and Death were before in a continual struggle So we find the Case is Even this Lower World is full of vitality Yet Death hath spread it self thorough it and cast over it a dark and dismal shadow every where according as Sin which introduc'd it is diffus'd and spread Death is therefore mention'd as an Enemy ver 26. And so we understand it Natural Death as an Enemy to Nature Spiritual to Grace In the Body numerous maladies and round about it multitudes of adverse rancounters are striving to infer Death In and about the Mind and Spirit worse diseases and Temptations
and sedate all along Only so much does deserve a remark That she was prepossest with an Apprehension that she should dye suddenly so much of Gods secret he was pleased to impart to her as he sometimes does to more inward Friends That discovery he vouchsaf't to her as to a Favourite to let her have some kind of pre-signification that her passage out of this World should be very quick whensoever it came and so it was that sitting in her Chair amidst familiar Discourse in a dimidiated Sentence she made a full stop and life was ended before that could have an end Now certainly the Decease of such a one ought not to be lamented with that bitter Sorrow as if there were no such thing as this that Death were certainly to be swallowed up in Victory in an intire and compleat Victory with reference to such a one It seems indeed in such Cases as was said to you before unto the judgment of our sense that Death only overcomes we see not beyond that It turns a living Creature into a dead Clod and so it is laid among such it is buried in the Grave our Sight goes no further But when we are perswaded by the Word of the Lord that this mortal shall put on immortality and this corruptible incorruption and death be swallowed up in such a Victory as you have heard certainly this takes away the cause of all bitter and reliefless sorrow I am not unapprehensive that Reverend Brother whom this stroke touches more nearly is much fitter to administer this consolation than receive it from such a one as I. But as we may any of us put in for our share as our case may require and can admit in what is so generally spoken with reference to Christians dying in the Lord and their surviving fellow-Christians that as yet live in him 1 Thes. 4. from verse 13 onward to the end So we are directed to comfort one another therewith Be patient I pray you while I present to you this Most sutable Portion of Scripture I would not have you to be ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope For if we believe that Jesus dyed and rose again even them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep For the Lord himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout with the voice of the Arch-Angel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we be ever with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words We shall be in a great promptitude and disposition of Spirit to do so if these words be lookt upon as Divine sayings as the words of the Living and Immortal God My Friends do you not find there is Spirit in these words Is there not strong Consolation in them How can we but think so unless our whole Religion be with us but a Fable This concerns us all upon the common Christian account who are but a residue a remnant escaped and exempted a-while from being part of the Spoils and Triumphs of Death which hath slaughtered and thrown into the dust probably a much greater number of our Friends and Relatives than we our selves do make who are left behind And 't is likely we have been most of us divers times Mourners upon such occasions This shews upon what account and in what case we may intermingle very reviving Consolations with our Sorrows and that we ought freely as the occasion recurres to apply it to our selves and one another But I withal think there may be somewhat of more special import tending to repress intemperate Sorrow on such an occasion in that of Ezekiel 24. 16. I think there may be somewhat I say collected besides what was more peculiar and appropriate by way of signal to the Prophet himself that may reach the last mention'd Case It was a thing injoined upon him that he should not mourn nor weep nor should his tears run down when God should take away from him the desire of his eyes with a stroke I reckon that as we have seen Christians should not mourn like other men so the Lords Prophets are not to mourn altogether like others of his People but somewhat more of restraint they are to put upon themselves that they may discover an higher excellency or somewhat a greater measure of that spirit of faith ruling in them that gives a great allay to present things whether good or evil as it begets clearer and more vivid apprehensions of things yet-future and out of sight And that as all believers should endeavour in things of common concernment to all to be exemplary to one another and to other men so they who are so much nearer to God in Office and Relation should be examples to Believers in Conversation Spirit Faith 1 Tim. 4. 12. 2. This should be very comfortable too unto them that are in union with Christ in reference to their own future death which they are continually to expect Death is often saying to us repeatedly and very sensibly to our very Bone and our Flesh You shall be my Prey shortly at least sooner or later It is ready to make its seisure upon us when we do not know but we are sure some time it will But my Friends it does not become Christians to look upon this thing called Death as so formidable a thing as it is commonly reckoned it is ignominious to our profession not to be indured amongst them that have Life and Immortality brought to light and set in view before their Eyes in the Gospel such as profess to be united with Christ who hath Life in himself and imparts it to all that are so united such a Life hid with Christ in God And hope that when he who is their Life shall appear shall appear with him in Glory It becomes not such to dye continually by the fear of dying or that the very thoughts of Death should be deadly to them This is remote from what was much observed to be the Temper and Character of Primitive Christians An Heathen Prince who throughly understood them not Censures them too hardly as being in the other extream though he at length became kinder to them as if they rashly threw themselves upon Death Whereas he says the Soul should rationally and becomingly be in readiness to be loosed from the body But how come we to lose our Character and our Glory How degenerated a thing is the Christianity of our age To dye without regret is counted an attainment it should be with gladness As Psal. 16. 9 10 11. and upon the Considerations there mention'd as being
say I have a soul dead to all the Actions Motions Sensations Injoyments of a Divine and Spiritual life And shall it be always thus by our own Consent with any of us We have however the rational intellectual Life and can think Do we think 't is fit for us to rest satisfy'd and secure in such a state What satisfy'd in the midst of Death such a Death while we are capable of apprehending at once the horror the danger and the remedibleness of our Case What will this come to It can only be Holy Divine Life that must be Victorious over Death as the warring opposite principle If there be nothing to oppose it what shall Conquer Death is in that Case Total and upon such termes till Life begin to spring in thy Soul thou must reckon it likely to be Eternal Yet let none so mistake as to imagine this Life an Enthusiastical thing that must discover it self in rapturous extatical motions or go for nothing It perfects our Faculties therefore destroyes them not And chiefly consists in a rational Judgment Choice and Love of what is most worthy of us what is fittest to be done by us and what is with fullest satisfaction to be enjoyed with a stedfast most resolved adherence thereunto 4thly This saying ought to be Instructive to us in reference especially to this one thing i. e. That we abstain from rash Censures of Providence That God lets death be regnant in so great a part of his creation so long a time It shall be swallowed up in victory let that solve with us the Phaenomenon It seems indeed an untoward one and might at first be an amazing spectacle even to the Blessed Angels themselves to behold so great a revolt in Heaven and afterwards to take notice of an intelligent world of Creatures beneath them successively thorough one first delinquent drawn in as Complices into a like defection and Death hereby spreading its horrid shadow and extending its power over so great and so noble a part of the Universe Committing such Wasts making such desolations from Age to Age in so great a part of the Creation of God! But there are many alleviating Considerations that should compose our Spirits to a rational quietude and be satisfying and pacifying to our minds with reference to this thing Let me but name some few to you which I shall leave with you for this purpose 1. Do but consider how minute a part of the Creation of God this Globe this point this punctilio rather of our earth is where death has reigned and so long had place 2. Consider how much of life there is in and about this little World of ours When upon one single Mole-Hill you see the brisk motions and efforts of so many hundred Lives you have reason to apprehend there is a great deal of Vitality about this little spot of Earth 3. Consider and Collect how probable it is that as we go higher and higher the nobler and finer parts of Gods Creation must be much more replenished with a nobler and more excellent sort of life It is very unreasonable to think that this Clod of Earth should be so full of Life and that in higher and purer Regions there should not be a richer plenitude of life or of such Inhabitants as live nobler and more excellent Lives than we And 4. For ought we know death never reaches higher than this earth of ours and what is in a nearer vicinity to it And that therefore there be vast and ample Regions incomparably beyond the range of our Eye or Thought where now no Death ever comes after the detrusion of the first revolters from those bright Regions When we are told Eph. 4. 10. our Lord Jesus Christ is ascended far above all heavens as it were a fond attempt to pretend to count them so it were rash Philosophizing to go about to describe them But can we suppose them spacious wild Wasts Or not suppose them replenished with numberless numbers of excellent Creatures that in their confirmed state fear no Death And continually pay a willing joyful Homage to their Great Preserver For every knee must bow to him of things in heaven Phil. 2. 10. And when we are told Eph. 1. 20 21. God hath set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places far above all Principality and Power and Might and Dominion and every Name c. And 1 Pet. 3. 22. That he is on the Right hand of God Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject to him Tho' we cannot form distinct thoughts what those Dynastics Principalities and Dominions are yet we cannot but suppose those unconceivably vast and ample Regions fully Peopled with immortal Inhabitants that reign in life in a more excellent sense For it being said our Lord ascended far above all Heavens that he might fill all things Eph. 4. 10. This must suppose sutable Recipients And if his influences reach down in such plenty to our minute Earth as ver 11 12 13. how copious are they here 5thly Consider That here where Death has made its inrode tho' the Apostate Spirits surround us and incompass this Earth of ours and go to and fro throwing Death among us every where yet even here is a glorious off-spring continually arising the Redeemers Seed in whom a Divine Life is gradually springing up from Age to Age. So that at length they make a great multitude which no man can number standing before the Throne clothed with white Robes and as Ensigns of Victory having palmes in their hands Rev. 7. 9. Here is life then disseminated through all this death that inwraps our World Which for ought we know is the Center of Death it may be here for ought we can tell and no where else here or hereabouts And yet even here an Holy Divine Life is insinuating and spreading it self even among us over whom death has reigned and there are great numbers that having received abundance of Grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ Rom. 5. 17. Here 's supposed a Kingdom with a Counter-Kingdom and one Head against another One that brought in Death and Condemnation upon the World but another that brings in righteousness and life And that here even in this lower Region The Redeemer should have so large a Portion we know not how large This very much narrows the confines of Death And let it be further considered 6thly That where Death shall be perpetual it is there but self-procured They only lye under Death that lov'd it All they that hate me love death Prov. 8. 36. They inwrap themselves in death they make a covenant with it That Sin which is Death which carries Death and Hell in it self that they lov'd 'T was so 't is true with the rest that finally perish not but it was not always so The Grace of God made a difference not to be quarrell'd at when striving with many it is victorious with some But