in the Event not till the death of our Bodies is the body of Sin quite dead in us but then it will be for as Sin entred into us at the first union of Body and Soul so it goeth not out till their last dissolution But being then parted As to the Body for fins of omission this lump of Earth doth no longer aggravare animam clog the Soul from doing duty nor as to sins of commission doth this Earthly dusty tabernacle any longer defile the Soul as being a fomes and an Instrument by which it acts its self-pollution And as to the Soul though wicked Mens Souls are in statu separato as sinful as they were before yet the spirits of just Men are then made perfect Heb. 12. 23. and therefore not liable to sin which is the greatest imperfection And what a gain this is a holy Heart will tell you when now groaning under the Burden and Pollution of some defiling lust would give a whole World to be rid of it even exchange his life for Death because by it he shall gain a full deliverance from it And as Death ends the Believer's sin So also all that misery which by reason of his sin he more or less all his Life long was exercised with No more inward sorrows or fears or anguishes and perplexities in and from himself no more temptations from Satan no more molestations or persecutions from the World or if any he is no more sensible of them There the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary are at rest there the Prisoners rest together they hear not the voice of the oppressor Job 3. 17 18. And if you say that for these outward troubles it is then as well with the wickedest sinners as with the holiest Saints I say but it is not so as to those inward anguishes and perplexities which are the greatest miseries for they in the wicked are not then ended but as to their greatest extremities then begin But for the Godly no more then any of these They then cease from all their Labours Revel 14. 13. and rest quietly in their Beds Isa 57. 2. not one bodily pain or disquieting thought more as Mr. Knox on his death-bed being asked whether his See his Life pains were great answered that he did not esteem that a pain which would be to him the end of all trouble and the beginning of endless Joys Serve the Lord in Fear and Death shall not be troublesome to you Blessed is the Death of those that have part in the Blood of Jesus And is not he who hath attained to this proved a great Gainer having all his former sins and miseries so well and for ever ended 2. And whatsoever of both kinds if he had lived longer he might have fallen into most happily prevented The Apocryphal Solomon saith that Enoch was speedily taken away lest wickedness should have altered his understanding Wisdom 4. 11. But I am sure from authentical Scripture that Josiah was that he might not see that desolation which was coming upon his people 2 Chron. 34. 28. and that the Righteous are taken away from the evil to come Isa 57. 1. of which some expound that Dr. Hammond Revel 14. 13. Blessed are they that dye in the Lord namely at that time there meant because after that time there would be greater misery It may be we cannot but think how miserable some Men would have been if they had lived any longer yea and what sinful Snares some of God's Servants would have been in danger to have been taken in if they had not died the sooner But when they were now falling a Fathers watchful eye saw their danger and with a wary hand snatcht them out of it and took them into his own Bosom out of the reach of it Blessed Father Happy Child And gainful Death that put them into harbor when the storm was coming that would have sunk them prevented those sins and miseries that might have undone them And thus Death to the Godly is gain privatively in preventing loss 2. Secondly Positively in bringing in reallest Gains 1. Of Grace made perfect and that in the most perfect exercise and operation of it Faith then completed in Vision and Hope in Fruition and therefore called the end of our Faith 1 Pet. 1. 9. not so much of cessation as the consummation and perfection of both and for Love what was here imperfect shall then be done away 1 Cor. 13. 10. So that it shall be perfectly then exerted toward God and one another when we shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Luke 20. 36. like to the Angels of God every way pliable and expedite in doing his will And we who think how well it is with us when we can here in any measure of freedom and liveliness meditate and pray or in any other kind with enlarged hearts run the way of God's Commandments and feel how burdensom it is to lye under the burden of Sin and have our Chariot-Wheels taken off so that we drive heavily in what he sets us to what unvaluable a gain shall we esteem it when all these cloggs shall be taken off and we shall find our Souls as upon the Chariots of Amminadab freely to expatiate in those latifundia of Eternity and with those Angels in Ezekiel's Vision whither the Spirit is to go to go without hinderance and Ezek. 1. 12. weariness Now a true Christian estimates Gain not by that of Mony as it 's called Judg. 5. 19. or other commodities which the Men of the World traffique in but that which ariseth from being Rich in Faith James 2. 5. and God's fear Prov. 22. 4. Which is the * Luke 16. 11. true and the †Prov. 8. 18. everlasting Riches as our Saviour and Solomon calls them and therefore when such Riches and Gains are come in fullest he accounts himself the greatest gainer and that will be when in Death Grace is perfected 2. And happiness completed and that will be then also if you will only abate that which will arise from the Souls reunion with the Body which will not be till the last day But at Death Paul makes account that when he departs hence he shall be with Christ which he esteems to be best of all v. 23. of this Chapter in a more full Vision and Fruition of God and what attends that Estate and in what else can be our best happiness Mr. Mede indeed saith that he remembers not that Death is On Rev. 14. 13. Diem mortis diem mercedis indigitari ever in Scripture said to be the time of reward Nor it may be is it so said in those express words nor indeed is it the time of the reward of the most full and compleat payment of it which is reserved to the Resurrection-day But I am sure if Paul said true that upon his departure he should be with Christ that the greatest part of the reward is then given and that not only
tota plena te saith holy Augustin Confess l. 10. c. 28. There 's no grief in him when he is all in God he hath a lively life of it when he can sit so near the Fountain of Life as to be filled with the blessed inflowes of it If David cannot tell how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity you had Psal 133. 1. need of the tongue of an Angel and not mine to tell the unutterableness of that delight and Joy when Children and Father Spouse and Husband Head and Members cleave together in closest Union And if Honour use to go in the first rank of the World's excellencies Honorificum then he that 's nearest to God must needs herein have the upper hand Our blessed Saviour is exalted to highest Honour in that he is at the right hand of God and then sure that soul is no base one that lies nearest to the heart of Christ Seemeth it a small thing to you said Moses to Korah that the God of Israel hath brought you near to himself in the Ministry of the Tabernacle Numb 16. 9. in which respect Nazianzen highly extolls the now despised Ministry and Chrysostom lifts it up above Crowns and Scepters but how much more honourable is it to draw near to God in saving Grace than in that Sacred Office which sometimes they that are most unworthy climb up to They were the Grandees of Persia who sat next to the King and saw his face Esth 1. 14. May I never affect greater Grandure in this World than in nearest approaches to see the face of God in Christ though the great ones of the World set me under their footstool I might add a word of Beauty which according to the Hebrew Honestum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 24. 16. phrase hath a kind of goodness in its comeliness But even that is when the parts of the body are joyn'd together amongst themselves and all united to the head which if parted or dislocated occasion horror rather than delight But O the ravishing Beauty of Christ mystical when from him and with him the whole body is fitly joyned together Ephes 4. 16. when met together to meet with Christ they are the Beauty of Holiness Psal 110. 3. This made Moses's face shine when he talked with God Exod. 34. 29. This encompasseth the Saints in their approaches to Christ with rayes of Divine lustre that they need not be beholden to the Limner or Painter for a painted glory Though the Moon be at the full of her light and beauty when she is in furthest opposition to the Sun yet our Full is in our nearest Vnion with the Sun of Righteousness I forbear further instances But that you may further see how good it is to draw near to God give me leave to propound these two convincing Arguments That 's indeed good and good to me that makes me better but so Argument 1 do not the profits pleasures honours and the rest of those things which the World calls good A man may be extremely bad with them and too often whilst they prostitute his body and debase his mind is made the worse by them But was it ever so by our humble drawing near to God Doth it not elevate the mind The soul is then in Apogaeo 2 Cor. 3. 18. enlarge the heart innoble spiritualize and by a Divine Metamorphosis transform the soul into the Image of Christ in its nearer approaches and interviews Intellectus fit idem cum objecto The understanding is made one with him in its Divine Contemplations and love makes him one with it in its cordial embraces not in H. N. his mad phrase Godded with God but yet in the Apostles 2 Pâ—t 1. 4. divine expression made partakers of the Divine Nature Here 's cure by coming near and touching Luke 8. 44. Healing under his wings Mal. 4. 2. Life and Joy in his Presence Psal 16. 11. The Prodigal dare not be so bad as he would be unless he run far from his Father's house And that tells you the good child is better Luke 15. 13. for keeping in his Father's presence When we keep near to God Heaven is not only near to us but Heaven is in us we then have not only heavenly Joyes but also heavenly Hearts and is it not good to be there and therefore to draw nearer And again good to draw near because best when nearest and Argument 2 worst when farthest off 1. First best when nearest Angels and Men by nature the best of God's Creatures because in nature they are nearest to him and most resemble him and are capable of communion with him Of Angels they are the good ones that continually behold him Maâ—th 18. 10. and they the best that are nearest and therefore the chief of them are wont to be called Assistentes Of Men as first when was Adam best when now created and enjoyed converse with God or when fallen and then run away from him Of all Men the Saints that are most honoured by him are a people near unto him Psal 148. 14. their first beginning to be well being when at first in conversion they begin to turn towards him and how well are they never better than when in the exercise of Grace performance of service in Meditation Prayer Word Sacrament in doing nay though it be in suffering they can get nearest to him let it be upon the Canon's mouth saith the soul that is truly touched if I may but so make my approaches to my Lam. 3. 25 26 27. God Let my Father whip me if whilst he so doth he takes me into his Arms. The Child is not afraid in the dark if then he have his Father by the hand nor is David in the valley of the shadow of death if his good Shepherd be with him Psal 23. 4. The whole World is not worth a Dungeon's light and a Prison's inlargement when Christ shines in and his Spirit sets the soul at liberty to go out to him The Martyr is not bound when tyed to the stake his soul is upon the wing to take her flight to her Saviour It seems then that it is so good to draw near to God that in so doing the Serpent hath lost it's sting the Lion is become a Lamb the Gridiron a bed of Roses Darkness is no Darkness Psal 139. 12. the worst evils are not themselves It s good to be afflicted tormented to suffer to dye good to be to do to suffer any thing if thereby we â—e set nearer to Christ who is all in all But how good then when in a better conditon when once come nearest in Heaven's full vision and perfect communion there and so to be with Christ what saith Paul of it he wants words and yet multiplies them it 's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 multò magis melius Comparative upon Comparative which riseth higher than a Superlative It 's much more better even
his Progenitors Gen. 49. 26. As the Snow-ball the further it is rolled the greater it groweth and the Child set on his Fathers shoulders is lifted up higher and seeth further How eminent in holiness did Timothy prove who had the advantage of a godly mother and Grandmother in a continued succession Observation of what we may find in this kind frequent in our days would make this good But the story of the people of Israel and what the Psalmist saith Psal 87. 4 5. puts it out of question that whereas of Rahab Babylon Philistia Tyre and Ethiopia it was said Behold as being almost a wonder that this man i. e. some one single man of note and eminency Rara avis in terris was born there as one Anacharsis in Scythia yet of Zion of Israel it might be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 man and man this and that man i. e. very many men multi pietate doctrinâ ingenio rerum bellicarum gloriâ aliisque virtutibus insignes as Muis glosseth it were born there That little spot of ground where then God planted his Church and so where there was a Godly seed of Godly Parents affording more eminent men for holiness and many other noble accomplishments for their proportion than all the whole World besides And that not for the goodness of the air there as the Jews Fable that Aer terrae Israelis sapientem reddit for the air of that Country is the same still but we find 1. noâ— producing any such thing now But because the spirit of God breathed there then and so many Godly men and Parents breathed in their holy Prayers Conferences and Counsels by which through the blessing of God their Children and Posterity came to be so nobly and heroically spirited with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which David prayeth for Psal 51. 12. and that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Spiritus principalis Spiritus amplior 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that singular spirit which Daniel was indued with Dan. 5. 12. 5. I do not insist on that which may be added viz. the salvation of the Children of godly Parents dying Infants of whom leaving others to God we piously believe that they are wrapt up in the bundle of life by vertue of Gods Covenant with their Parents to be their God and the God of their Seed till they live to reject that Covenant 6. Or if they live longer and very long in a sinful way yet Godly Parents Covenant and Prayers may at last reach them and recover them Gods Covenant endureth to a thousand generations Psal 105. 8. and that is longer than the World will last He meaneth for ever as the former part of the verse expresseth it And this in a constant succession from Father to Son Exod. 20. 6. The Prayers Faith and Covenant of a godly Parent recovereth and proveth efficacious in two very unlikely Cases 1. When it seemeth and in part is interrupted by the intervening of some degenerate person in the line as in Davids after a Jehoshaphat a Jehoram and after an Hezekiah a Manasseh c. Then as Picolomineus saith of Honour in such case of intercision Ethic. grad it passeth over per saltum so the Covenant leapeth over such an unworthy person and recovers it self in those after-succeeding as the river dam'd up in some place either swelleth over or creeps about and then runs in its former Channel and so the godly Grandfathers Covenant though broken off in the ungodly Son recovereth it self in the Grandchild as Hezekiah in a Josiah and Rom. 11. though the Jews have been broken off for many hundred years yet because of God's Covenant made several 1000. of years since the Apostle makes account will recover them toward the end of the World And that leads to the Rom. 11. 28. 2. That this efficacy of recovery it hath a long long while after the Godly Parents are dead and gone as Abraham's before-mentioned some thousands of years after his Death And so as I said Abijam and Jehoram had the benefit of Davids Covenant though he long before deceased And therefore although it be a great comfort to godly Parents to see their Children cloathed with their graces before their death So among Heathens Epaminondas was wont to say that he reaped this as a special fruit of his own vertues and praises quòd â—â—rum spectatores haberet parentes as Isa 29. 23. as L. de Dieu reads it as Aaron did Eleazer his Son Numb 20. 26. yet if not the case is not desperate but there 's life at root as Job expresseth it Cap. 14. 7 8 9. to which I only allude In these and the like particulars very many and great are the Blessings that come to Children from godly Parents were it their Covenant only if duly improved and it is the great sin of some Children that it is not improved at all and of the best that it is not more than usually it is God I am sure hath much respect to it in his bestowing of mercy I will for their sakes remember the Covenant of their Ancestors Levit. 26. 45. And they in those former times who were older and wiser in all their wants and straits quickned their Prayers and Faith by it whilst still and upon all occasions The God of their Fathers they were still thinking and speaking of and pleading and having recourse to Gen. 31. 5 42 53. 32. 9. 46. 3. 49. 25. But notwithstanding all this to return to my purpose as in Gods Covenant with Abraham to be a God to him and his seed Christ was included and principally intended Gal. 3. 16. so in the best Parents Covenant conveyed to their Children if Christ be left out the entail is cut off and all this cometh to nothing What is it to be the Sons of the best men if we be not also the Sons of God which we are only in and by Christ so that in compare with him and as to our justification and acceptance with God we may nay should with Paul count even this happy privilege also loss and dung For 1. THis being born of most godly Parents doth not free us from St. Maries April 10. 1659. 1. Psal 86. 16. that original guilt and sin which is conveyed to us from our first Parents David under the Law though he could say he was the Son of Gods Handmaid confesseth himself born in sin Psal 51. 5. And Paul under the Gospel saith we are by nature born Children of wrath as well as others Ephes 2. 3. Our next best Progenitors cannot cut off this sad old intail of our first great Grandfather The winnowed Corn brings forth that which springeth from it with the husk and the circumcised Parent begets his Son with his foreskin yea and with natural sinful defilement which was signified by it 2. Nor doth it infuse or propagate positive holiness Their begetting of Children is an Act of Nature but holiness is from
Water lib. 31. cap. 7. So such a temper a Scribe rightly instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven should aim at that his word may be not more like Salt to pierce and bite a corrupt Sore than like Oyl to sink into and supple a wounded Conscience Or to keep to the comparison of the Text not more like Salt for smarting than for healing and binding up bleeding Wounds What unmeasurable abundance of this suppling Oyl was poured upon our Saviour in his Ministry to bind up broken hearts Isa 61. 1. Which like that good Samaritan he poured into our deadly Wounds Luke 10. 34. And how would he have Salt and Peace joyned in his Disciples Ministrations together Mark 9. 50. which some froward ones would ever keep asunder How did Peter ply those with Lenients whose hearts he had pricked Acts 2. 37. with 38. 39. And how shall you observe with Austin Paul in his Epistles In Psal 101. 6 7. joyning Paternam authoritatem maternum affectum to a Father's authority over stubborn wantons the tenderest bowels of a Mothers pity Thus when we have this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 healing Tongue Prov. 15. 4. We are indeed as God's Mouth Jer. 15. 19. This this is to be right Salt indeed not more to prick with a sense of sin than to refresh and heal with application of mercy as Pliny saith of Sal Terentinus that Physicians most esteemed of it of which he withal saith that it was Suavissimus omnium atque candidissimus of all the whitest and sweetest Oh how truly medicinal is this Oxymel this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this candor and sweetness in this Ministerial Salt far hereby exceeding the best of all the natural For Ille carnem ligat hic conscientiam That heals the wounds of the Flesh this binds up the bleeding wounds of the Soul And therefore here again the Salt hath lost his savour when the Minister in his Dispensations is 1. Pitilesly careless Le ts the poor man bleed to death whilst with the Priest and Levite he passeth by on the other side Luke 10. 31 32. or with the chief Priests and Elders puts off a deadly wounded Judas with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What is that to us Look thou to it Mat. 27. 4. Sure if we will not for certain God will look to it one day and mean while he is Pastour stultus a foolish Shepheard that heals not the broken Zech. 11. 15 16. And it 's Sal infatuatus unsavoury Salt that takes no more care of binding up broken hearts 2. Passionately froward and furious when the Spirit is sowre and all Vineger Only galling and fretting Sermons Satyrs and Invectives at all times but if offended Thunder-claps With those Sons of Thunder will fetch Fire from Heaven at every affront Luke 9. 54. our Saviour tells such that they knew not what spirit they were of ver 55. Not Elias's as they pretended much less of the Spirit of the Gospel which came down in the form of a gall-less Dove and would have those Ministers on whom it sits instruct with meekness even Gain-sayers 2 Tim. 2. 25. The wrath of Man here never working the Righteousness of God James 1. 20. Ever inflaming the Wound rather than healing it and so sprinkling on it not Salt but Poyson 3. Especially if he fret and gall sound Flesh most As the guise of some is to inveigh against the soundest Hearts bitterliest Making the hearts of the Righteous sad whom God would not have grieved Ezek. 13. 22. This is Carnificinam non Medicinam exercere That which thus frets the whole skin I must again say is not Salt but Poyson 3. Salt that it may thus heal cleanseth being of an abstersive nature Mordet quidem sal sed purgat saith Brentius and so keeps from putrefaction partly by its heat and driness and acrimony attenuating and spending superfluous Humours and Spanhemius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so Pliny saith cures Dropsies and partly by consolidating the flesh that it lie not open to corrupting Air Therefore the new-born Infant used to be salted Ezek. 16. 4. And Jericho's corrupt Waters by casting in of Salt though miraculously yet so as in a natural way as Vallesius * Sacra Philosoph c. 34. sheweth were healed 2 Kings 2. 20 21. And so it is with our Salt also No savoury Ministry ever either wounds in the Doctrine of Humiliation or healeth in the Doctrine of Justification and Adoption but cleanseth too in the Doctrine of Mortification wounds and cleanses with the Threat of the Law whilst he tells us if we live after the flesh we shall die Rom. 8. 13. And withal healeth and purgeth by the sweet Promises of the Gospel whilst he makes this inference that if we have such Promises of being Sons and Daughters of the Lord Almighty we should cleanse our selves from all filthiness 2 Cor. 6. 18. with Chap. 7. 1. as not being fitting that those which must sit on the Throne should be grovelling on the Dung-hill Thus it eats out the very Core of the Plague-sore the inwardest lust of the heart the original spawn and fomes and first taint of Nature will have the Spirit savoury words seasoned with salt Coll. 4. 6. cuts off the unclean foreskin both of heart and lip In this sense like salt and that with a blessing makes the earth barren Sale sapientiae compescit in terra humanae carnis luxum seculi aut faeditatem vitiorum germinare Bede Ministerium ex faetidis sapidos reddit Cartw. Vt vel scelera caveat vel exedat Zuingl Though Chrysostom seems to deny this in locum but his meaning is that their sprinkling of this salt would not do it without Christ for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whilst it kills the sinful weeds of our natures and hearts as Bede observeth nay herein far above all salt for it only prevents putrefaction and doth not recover it flesh already tainted will take no salt But this Diviner Salt with Gods blessing recovers the most corrupt of all flesh a Manasseh a Mary Magdalene the bloodiest Murderer the horridest Blasphemer the uncleanest Drunkard and Lecher that hath given himself over to all lasciviousnesse to work all uncleanness with greediness so filthy as you would be ready to say let him be filthy still and for ever But yet as the Proverb useth to say in such a desperate case sale perunctus hic adjuvabitur Nor doth Lactantius despair of that but that there is enough in this salt to make such a lazer sound Da mihi iracundum c. Give me whom you will though as mad and furious as though he were possessed with a Devil I 'l tame him with a word though as filthy as if possessed with an unclean spirit when Exorcists superstitious salt will do him no good I 'l with this other salt cleanse him What admirable cures might this salt work if it did not lose its savour By this Gregory who might well be sirnamed
Published in Print which I especially shewed that Death being disarmed could privately do us no hurt or procure our loss But here we are principally to make out that on the contrary it positively brings us in much Gain But because even of this many particulars were there spoken to there is less now to be Insisted on Now what our Apostle more plainly expresseth concerning himself saying that his death was his Gain in effect he enlargeth to all true Believers 1 Cor. 3. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whether Life or Death or things present or things to come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all is yours and Death as well as Life or the whole World and all the Comforts of either The Apostle here writes the Godly's Inventory and inter peculia amongst all their other Goods he sets down Death for one part of them and therefore as other Goods are therefore so called because they are for the good of the Owner so Death is reckoned amongst them because by Christ it 's for the great good and gain of the Believer For if all things work together for the good of them that love God Rom. 8. 28. then Death also for it is also reckoned among those all things ver 38. Hither also referr that of Solomon Eccles 7. 1. The day of Death is better than the day of ones Birth And that in Rev. 14. 13. where a Voice from Heaven ploclaims Blessed 〈◊〉 they that die in the Lord. So that if Blessedness be Gain Death is so too which puts them into the possession of it And for further Proof it appears that they are fully perswaded and assured of it Else 1. They would never so desire it before it come For Evil and Loss as such can never be the object of Desire but it must appear to be good and profitable if desired but so Death hath been and that earnestly by the Faithful Old Simeon's Nunc dimittis Luke 2. 29. tells us what he did and our Apostle because he could here say that his Death would be his Gain doth in the next Verse save one say that he had a desire to depart and well he might for then he should be with Christ which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much more better best of all and that is Gain with an advantage How ambitious were Primitive Christians to die for Christ And how earnestly desirous have others been to Die if it might be in Christ Making use of the Psalmist's expressions my Soul thirsteth for God for the Living Psal 42. ◠God When shall I come and appear before God The Moralist's Maxime is Summam nec metuas diem nec optes that we should neither fear Death nor desire it But a truly believing Christian goeth higher hath Vitam in patientiâ mortem in desiderio fears not Death because it can do him no Dammage but desires it because it brings with it greatest Gain And upon this ground as he desires it before it come 2. So with Joy he welcomes it when it doth come yea though in a violent way As Ignatius blessed God upon Trajan's condemning him Cum gaudio circumponens vincula The Martyr Vide martyrium Ignatii pag. 4. could kiss the Stake and say Welcome the Cross of Christ And well he might when he could add welcome everlasting Life in which expressions we have his joyful Welcome of it with the Ground of it because he gained no less than everlasting Life by it And if so with them that went up to Heaven with Elijah in a fiery Chariot and a Whirl-wind Then no wonder if so with them that are carried hence by the conduct of a more placid and easie departure and if some only from weariness of this troublesome Life account Death such a Gain as to dig for it as for bid Treasure and rejoyce exceedingly and are glad when they find the Grave Job 3. 21 22. then we may well conceive how glad the assured Believer may be of it when he knows he shall be greater Gainer by it as not only resting from his Labours of this Life but also then entring into his everlasting both Rest and Joy in a better Life which those others may not then meet with but the contrary But if upon this ground the Righteous hath such hope in his Death Prov. 14. 32. then I hope you will not deny him Joy in it and if Joy then Gain also But this will more particularly be made out if we consider the several kinds of Deaths of Believers And as I even now touched they may be either for Christ or only in Christ 1. If for Christ then as their outward Loss is the greater so is their eternal Gain too no less than of a Crown It is the Crown of Martyrdom Sciant Christi milites se non perimi Cyprian Epist 82. Sect. 2. sed coronari and more massy than others And if there be any such things as Aureolae they will be found on their Heads God's First-born and therefore have a double Portion Tot mercedes Idem Epist 77. Sect. 1. in caelestibus quot nunc dies numer antur in paenis as Cyprian speaketh who compares them to that good Ground that brings forth an Hundred-fold and therefore their Harvest-joy will be greater And therefore Ignatius professeth that it 's better to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Romanos Die for Christ than to be King of the whole Earth He therefore thought it was the greatest Gain To be sure Christ will see they shall be no losers who hath given his Word that he that findeth his Life shall lose it and he that loseth his Life for his sake shall find it Mat. 10. 39. 16. 25. And because we know not what God may call us to it will be good to encourage and comfort our selves with these Words and with firm belief of this undoubted Truth that they who Die for Christ are greatest Gainers 2. And if it be but in Christ most happy Gains will come in to us by that also And that both Privative and Positive 1. First Privative for such a kind of Gain we find in Scripture as Acts 27. 21. that phrase of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 where Paul tells them that were in the Ship with him that if they had followed his advice they might have gained that Loss that is they might have prevented it And such a first kind of Gain the Faithful have by Death in freeing them from that both Sin and Misery either by ending what before they were in or preventing what if they had lived longer they might have fallen into 1. It ends Sin which all our Lifes-time we were wofully encumbred with which made Paul so sadly groan out that complaint Rom. 7. 24. O wretched Man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of Death That is either this outward mortal Body or this inward body of Sin which is more mortal Both may be taken into the Sense because both are together