it in Scripture-Record All the Exemption from Death that the Best can claim or hope for is to be exempted from Eternal but not from Natural Death Grace does free Believers from the former Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die Joh. 11.26 Verily verily I say unto you If a Man keep my Sayings he shall never see Death Joh. 8.51 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection on such the Second Death hath no Power Rev. 20.6 but it does not free from the latter It may indeed and does as to this Death exempt from the Curse and Sting of it O Death 1 Cor. 15.55 where is thy Sting but not from the Stroke of it not from the thing it self Naturally considered as it consists in the dissolving of the Vnion 'twixt Soul and Body Christ has unstung Death for every Believer the Serpent now may hisse but it cannot hurt yet it may sting so far as to put a Period to the present Life Doe Abrahams die must they die Oh happy Necessity blessed be God for it This is grounded not only upon their Natural Frame and Constitution as they are Flesh and Blood as well as others and made of the same brittle Materials Nor only upon their having Sin as well as others and where that is Death must follow upon it Nor only upon that Vniversal Statute It is appointed unto Men once to die Heb. 9.27 But also upon the special Love and Grace of God to his People He has prepared an Heaven for them they are designed to a future State of Blessedness shall be rewarded above for their Service below Now that they may be put into the actual Possession of all this they must die Death to the Saints is but their Transition into their everlasting Blessedness and so 't is not their Misery but their Felicity that they die This to the Wicked is in Judgment but to the Godly in Mercy The former die because God will glorify his Punitive Justice upon them in another World but the Other die because God will glorify his free Grace and Mercy upon them in another World Death shall come to an Abraham but it comes to him as a Friend not as an Enemy Whilst he is paying the indispensible Tribute due to Nature God is carrying on the glorious Designs of his Grace towards him But this I pass over I proceed to the threefold Amplification or to the three Specialties observable in the Death of Abraham The first of which points to the Order and to the Manner of his Death in this Branch Then Abraham gave up the Ghost and died In the Syriac Version 't is infirmatus est he was debilitated and weakened so he died In the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he fainted and so he died thus also the Chaldee Paraphrast the Vulgar Oleaster and divers others * Malè in 70 Interpretibus additum est deficiens Abraham mortuus est quia non convenit Abrahae deficere imminui Qâ—ast Heb. in Gen. Hierome objects against this Rendring the Words as if it did reflect upon such a Person as Abraham to faint But what Disparagement could it be to him at such an Age to lie under bodily Fainting so long as he was not weak in Faith but strong in Faith giving Glory to God Rom. 4.19 20. meer Natural Weakness could not at all reflect upon him or be unbecoming to him The Samaritan Version renders it by Expiravit he expired breathed out his last Breath or his Soul and Spirit his Breath and Soul went out of him so he died This Reddition is most generally followed by Expositors The giving up of the Ghost is the usual Expression to set forth Death by so it s used as to Isaac Gen. 35.29 as to Jacob Gen. 49.33 as to our Saviour Joh. 19.30 passim We 'll consider it as 't is expressive not only of Abraham's simple Dying but also of some Adjuncts and Circumstances about his dying It notes 1. The Order of his Dying and what was the Antecedent to it Abraham first gave up the Ghost then he died First the Soul departs and then we die and when that is once gone out of the Body Death immediately follows That being the living vital quickning Principle in Man when that is once separated from the Body this must necessarily be turned into a dead Carcase a dead lump of Clay So long as that stays with us we live but when it takes its Flight from us into its higher Mansion forthwith we die The dissolving of the Union 'twixt Soul and Body as it necessarily antecedes Death so Death necessarily succeeds upon it This is the Order of Nature as to what goes before and what follows after in that which I am speaking of By the way let such who believe and who thereupon are united unto Christ rejoyce in this spiritual and mystical Vnion inasmuch as it does secure to them the Perpetuity of their Spiritual Life The Natural Vnion of the two Constitutive Parts of Man is dissoluble and so the Natural Life that results from it may cease But the Spiritual Vnion between Christ and the Believer being indissoluble consequently the Spiritual Life resulting from it is and shall be Abiding and Everlasting The Soul may leave the Body therefore that may die but Christ and the Animating Spirit will never leave the Soul therefore that shall never die How may Believers comfort themselves from this 2. It holds forth the Manner of Abraham's Death 1. As to the Speediness and Easiness of it 2. As to his ready and willing Submission to it 1. His Death was quick and easy He was not long in Dying did not stand out any long Siege Death did but summon him and he presently surrendred up himself he breathed out his last Breath and the Work was done Neither did he grapple with those sharp Pains those grievous Agonies and Conflicts which many feel in a dying-hour no he just expired just gave up the Ghost and that was all The Hebrew Word used in the Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the * Dictio expiravit egressionem Spiritus è Corpote significat quae sit subitò sine Dolore Morâ Aben-Ezra Putant Rabbini 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 esse mortem quae Homini accidit absque ullo praevio morbo dolote Munster Expirando mortuus est mortis quadam facilitate usus quam 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vatab. Verbum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apud Hebiaeos dicitur de Morte sine Dolore Grot. so Oleaster quamplurimi alii Calvine rejects this Exposition Rabbinical Doctors and many Interpreters after them make to import a quick speedy and easy Death But others observe Vid Fagium in Loc. that we can lay no great Stress upon the Word as importing and easy Death to belong to good Men at least not so as to be appropriated and limited to them because else-where we find it applied to wicked
an hour a moment longer Not because its bitter to us to live but because 't is unnecessary for us to live 'T would be an Act of * Singularis est Dei Gratia vitae saturiâ—as ut ex eâ migrare parati sumus cum Animi Tranquilitate c. Rivet in loc singular Grace from God if by his Spirit he would bring us to this blessed Temper I have dispatch'd the two first Amplifications about Abraham's Death from the Manner and the Time of it let me add a little upon the Third viz. the Issue and Consequent of it He died what became of him after that why He was gathered to his People This like the preceding Expressions of giving up of the Ghost dying in a good old Age being full of Years does often occur in Scripture 'T is used of Isaac Gen. 35.29 of Jacob Gen. 49.33 of Aaron Numb 20.24 of many otheres Sometimes 't is expressed by being Gathered to their Fathers I will gather thee to thy Fathers says God to Josiah 2 Kings 22.20 And also all that Generation were gathered unto their Fathers Judg. 2.10 David was laid unto his Fathers Acts 13.26 The Promise to Abraham was Thou shalt go to thy Fathers Gen. 15.15 We read again and again of sleeping with their Fathers 1 Kings 11.43 1 Kings 2.10 passim It 's an usual Hebraism to set forth entring into the State of the Dead There 's a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in it it being a more soft and pleasing Description of that State instead of that which is more rough and harsh The Grave being the common Receptacle of all that die All go unto one place Eccles 3.20 I know that thou wilt bring me unto Death and to the House appointed for all living Job 30.23 therefore though Abraham died and was buried in Canaan where * Gen. 25.10 Sarah only was buried and none of his Progenitors yet upon his Death and Burial he 's said to be gathered to his People or Fathers The Papists Gloss upon it is he went to the Limbus Patrum Their Doctrine is that the Fathers and all the Old-Testament-Saints who lived and died before the Incarnation Passion and Resurrection of Christ were not immediately taken up into Heaven but shut up together in some secret Recesses or Cavernes of the Earth till Christ should come and suffer and rise again and then they were to be admitted into the Heavenly Glory And they tell us that these Fathers and others in this State did not feel any Paena Sensus as they in Purgatory do but only Paena Damni in their not having the immediate Presence of God and the Beatifick Vision And amongst other Proofs that they give of this my * Apponi ad Populum suum est consociari Non in majorum Sepulturâ juxta corpus sed perduci juxta Animam ad consortium Animarum Patrum illius quae erant in poenis tenebrarum usque ad discensum Filii Dei ad Inferos c. post Salvatoris Domini Resurrectionem transferendus ad Paradisum faelicitatis aeternae Lipem in loc So Lyranus P. Burgensis in Gen. 49.33 Bellarmin de Animâ Christi Cap. 11. Pet. Galat. Arcan lib. 6. c. 7. Text with other parallel Texts is insisted upon for one Abraham was gathered to his People i. e. he was not presently translated into Heaven but for a time shut up in a common Cell with the rest who died before him as only an Expectant of Heaven And hence they observe a Variation of Words in the setting forth of the Death of those who died since Christ came and of those who died before Christ came The former are said to die in the Lord to sleep in Jesus and the like but the latter are said to be gathered to their People to sleep with their Fathers and so on This Opinion we reject as having no solid Foundation in the Word of Truth And hold that as all Believers who now die do immediately enter into Glory for the Spirit returns to God who gave it Eccles 12.7 To day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 23.43 We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens 2 Cor. 5.1 So that all who lived before Christ and believed in him did also upon their Dying immediately enter into Glory See this Limbus Patrum refuted and the Protestant Doctrine defended in River in Gen. Eâ—ercit 151. Idem summa controv Qu. 42. Rainold Censura libr. Apochryph Prael 79 c. Chamier Panstrat 〈◊〉 3. l. 25. c. 5 c. Christ being the same to Them that he is to Vs Heb. 13.8 his Merit extending to Them as well as to Us he being the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World Rev. 13.8 and They believing in the Messiah to come as well as we believe in him as come what reason can be assigned why they should not partake of the same Blessings the same Happiness that we now partake of and consequently upon Death be put into the immediate Possession of the Glory of Heaven even aswe are But blessed Abraham was it thus with thee was this thy gathering to thy People to be shut up in some dark Caverns of the Earth God knows where and to be kept out of Heaven God knows how long In thy Life at God's Command thou wentest thou knewest not whither and at thy Death too didst thou go thou knewest not whither Wast thou the great Instance of Faith Rom. 4.3 the Father of the Faithful and yet does it fare better with the meanest of thy Seed now than it did with thy Self Was Heaven so much in thy Eye didst thou look for a City which had Foundations Heb 11. â—0 whose Builder and Maker is God and yet so long kept out of it and thrust into some Recluse whöse Builder and Maker is Man Is thy * So Austin expounds it Qâ—eâ— Evang. l. 2. c. 28. in Ep. ad Evodium So Muldonate in loc who yet to save himself is fain to say Non quod Abraham in Coelo esset sed quòd ita loqui singarur quasi esset in Coelo Bosome made use of to represent Heaven and that before Christ died and yet wast thou not as yet in Heaven Blessed Saint these things we poor dim-sighted Protestants know not how to understand The Adversay has led me out of my way I return to the words which I shall consider not only as a Periphrasis of Death or of the dead State that follows upon it but as holding forth something of a far higher nature As namely that Abraham's Soul as soon as Death had seized upon his Body was forthwith translated into the Fellowship and Society of the glorified Saints who lived and died before him Two things Expositors infer from them 1. The Existence of the Soul in its separated State from the Body They apply
Abraham's Death THE MANNER TIME and CONSEQUENT of it Opened and Applied IN A FUNERAL SERMON Preached upon the Death Of the Reverend Mr. THOMAS CASE Minister of the Gospel June 14th 1682. With a Narrative of his LIFE and DEATH By THOMAS JACOMB D. D. LONDON Printed for Brabrazon Aylmer at the three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhill 1682. To Mrs. Anne Case Wife to the Reverend Mr. THOMAS CASE Minister of the Gospel lately deceased Much Honoured Friend IT was the reiterated Request of your Dear Husband and my worthy Friend that I would perform the last Office of Respect to him in the preaching of his Funeral Sermon when-ever it should please God to take him hence And this Request of him whilst living your self was pleased to back after his Death I have again and again publickly testified my Averseness from engaging in Services of this Nature and possibly as to engaging in this there were some special Reasons and Considerations to heighten my Averseness Yet considering how I was pressed to it by the Desires both of the Dead and of the Living I thought I should be disingenuous and defective in the Obligations of Friendship if I did not comply with them which therefore accordingly I did Having discharg'd the Preaching Part you further desired me to publish what I had preached To gratify you in that I was the more inclinable because I had left things in the Sermon so imperfect and unfinish'd for I had not time to go through a considerable part of what I had to say both upon the Text and also upon the Occasion The Truth is while I graspt at too much I did nothing to purpose and therefore was willing to do what you desired that I might have an Opportunity of filling up what then was wanting I am very sensible what a Captious and Litigious Age we live in how Divisions and Animosities do abound amongst us how hard a matter it is for One to commend One of his Party especially if he be of any considerable Eminency therein but some or other of a differing Party will be finding fault and picking out something to be the matter and ground of severe Censures If this shall be my lot I must submit but I have done whatever I could to prevent it For I have so commended the Person discoursed of as not in the least to reflect upon any others of a different Perswasion And as to the commanding of him too I have not done is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but all along to the best of my Knowledg 〈◊〉 haâ—â— kept with in the strict Bounds of Truth and Justice Yea to avoid Partiality and Flattery the too common Attendants of Funeral Sermons I have with all due Modesty taken notice of his Infirmities as well as of his Excellencies If all this will not 〈…〉 I hope I shall bear them with Patience if not with Contempt How many Funeral Sermons did your dear Husband live to preach for others here is now one preached for himself and God knows how soon some may do that for me which I have now done for him We live in a fluid State and have no Abiding hare No sooner had I dispatch'd what I had to do upon the Death of this Friend but God threatens me with the Death of Another a most Eminent Person of another Profession Vanity of Vanities all is Vanity The Lord bless you and yours and grant you all to reap the Benefit of those many many fervent Prayers which he who is gone sent up to the Throne of Grace daily for you All that I shall further say it but to assure you that now you are deprived of the Prayers of the Dead you shall ever have the hearty Prayers of him who whilst he lives shall be ready upon all occasions to shew himself Your Servant and Friend in Christ Tho. Jacomb July 21 1682. Abraham's Death GEN. 25.8 Then Abraham gave up the Ghost and died in a good old Age an old Man and full of Years and was gathered to his People THE Words give us a brief Historical Account of the Death of the Patriarch Abraham A large Description we have of his Genealogy Birth and Life from the close of the 11th Chapter to the beginning of this 25th Chapter But as to his Age Death and Burial the History of them is contracted within the short Bounds of three Verses here the 7th 8th and 9th Verses 'T is the Death only of Abraham that I shall discourse of Concerning which here 's as much said in a little as could well be expected or desired upon such an Argument The Occasion of our present assembling is That we may pay our last Respects to the Reverend and Worthy Mr. Thomas Case Minister of the Gospel lately deceased With whom the Text does so well suit as that mutato Nomine we may read it thus Then CASE gave up the Ghost and died in a good old Age an old Man and full of Years and was gathered to his People In the managing of the Work in hand I will first speak to the Instance here mentioned and to the Matter asserted of him and then bring that down to our precious Friend upon whose account we are come together this Day As to the first observe 1. The Person spoken of ABRAHAM 2. What is spoken of him here he Died. 3. The Amplifications about his Death 1. From the Manner of it He gave up the Ghost 2. From the Time of it In a good old Age an Old Man and full of Years 3. From the Consequent of it And was gathered to his People 'T is the Third Head that I design to stay upon the Two First I 'll put together and briefly dismiss Then ABRAHAM Died. This Abraham was a great Man a great Saint who in the whole Catalogue of Saints bears a greater Name than He He was a Prophet Gen. 20.7 the Friend of God Jam. 2.23 The Father of the Faithful Rom. 4.16 One who was and for ever will be renown'd for those two unparallell'd Acts of Obedience and Love to God his forsaking of his own Country and his readiness to offer up his dear and only Son Well! what became of this eminent Person Surely his extraordinary Grace and Holiness that high Rank of Faith and Obedience wherein he stood exempted him from that Death which we poor Striplings are exposed unto No 't was not so he Died went the way of all Flesh under-went the Stroke of Death just as we do Saints themselves the highest and choicest of them Observ the Servants of God they who are most eminently useful and faithful even They are subject to Dying as well as others 'T would be tedious and unnecessary in so plain a Case to heap up parallel Instances That great Servant of God Moses he died that great Prophet Samuel Deut. 34.5 1 Sam. 25.1 Zech. 1.5 he died all the Prophets of the Old Testament all the Apostles of the New all died as we have
Abraham's being gathered to his People to his Soul and from thence assert the Existence and Immortality of it And whereas some affirm that in all the Books of Moses there 's nothing said to prove the Soul's Immortality * In Loc. Cajetan confutes them from this very Text And many †Vatab. Pererius in Gen. 25 Tom. 4. Disp 8. pag. 789 c. Ainsworth Theodoret Q. 109. in Gen. others concur with him therein 2. The Advancement and Felicity of the Soul upon its Separation from the Body which consists in this that it is presently joyned with and admitted into the Society of the glorified Souls that are with God in Heaven I must not engage in the discussing of these Heads in brief take this Observation That whenever the Godly die immediately they are translated unto the Society of the glorified Saints in Heaven We cannot ground this merely upon the Phrase of Abraham's being gathered to his People but we must also take in the Grace and Holiness of the Subject It 's said of Ishmael here ver 17. He was gathered to his People but how not as Abraham was because he was a bad Man The Sence of the Words must be stated according to the * Ad foelicitatem per se â—on peâ—tiner sed tantum pro Subjectorum ra ioâ—e intellecta Rivet Subject to whom they are applied When the Wicked die they are gathered to their People i. e. they are thrown into the Company of the Damned in Hell But when the Godly die they are gathered to their People i. e. taken up into the Company of the glorified Saints in Heaven It 's foretold and promised Mat. 8.11 That many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven Hebr. 12.22 23. But ye are come unto Mount Sion and unto the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable Company of Angels to the General Assembly and Church of the First-born which are written in Heaven and to God the Judge of all and to the Spirits of just Men made perfect And to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the Blood of sprinkling that speaketh better Things than that of Abel The first Intendment of the Apostle in this Scripture was to describe the Gospel-Church as 't is here on Earth in the Glory and Priviledges thereof One of which is this that under the Gospel Saints on Earth have Communion with the Saints in Heaven all making up but one Body or one Assembly But yet so as that the Things here spoken have their fullest Accomplishment in the Church triumphant When any are taken up into that Church they go indeed to the City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem an innumerable Company of Angels the Church of the First-born the Spirits of just Men made perfect And this is the Portion of all that fear love and obey God whenever Death removes them hence Luke 16.22 And it came to pass that the Beggar died and was carried by the Angels into Abraham's Bosom And is it thus Vs 1. then 1. What an incentive is this to Godliness Abraham died in a good old Age an old Age which succeeded a pious and well-spent Life what followed upon it he was gathered to his People admitted into the Society of the Blessed in Heaven Now as we desire to partake of his happy End we must conform to his holy Course Let us shew our selves to be his Children by the doing of his Works Joh. 8.39 Let us believe obey live as he did and then we shall be Heirs with him of this and all that other Blessedness which he now possesses To be with all the glorified Saints in Heaven much more to be with the blessed God there what Tongue can express what Heart can conceive how great a Thing this is But how is this to be attained only by being good and doing good Heb. 12.14 Without Holiness no Man shall see God nor any who are with God Oh let the Age be what it will old or young see that it be good and gracious and then this happy Gathering will follow upon it but otherwise 't is not to be hoped for Pray tell me you that live as Antipodes to the Saints on Earth can you hope to be imbodied with those in Heaven You that hate and persecute the Saints on Earth can you hope ever to be joined with them that are in Heaven You that are all for the Society of Sinners below can you expect to be admitted into the Society of Saints above surely you cannot so grosly impose upon your selves At death there is a sorting of all Men into their several Companies the Wicked go to the Wicked the Godly to the Godly the former to their Predecessors and Companions in Sin the latter to their Predecessors and Companions in Sin the latter to their Predecessors and Companions in Grace and Holiness Oh let the Consideration hereof prevail with us to put away Sin and to engage in all serious Piety Be Followers of them who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises Heb. 6.12 that you may be gathered to them when you die psal 125.5 and not rank'd amongst the Workers of Iniquity 2. It may be improved Vse 2. to support against the Fear of Death How are many through this Fear all their Life Time subject unto Bondage Hebr. 2.15 But if ye be Abraham's Seed and Children why should it be thus with you Here are in the Words of my Text three notable Antidotes against this Fear 1. What is Death 't is but the giving up of the Ghost the expiring of the Breath and that 's all to the Sanctified and holy And is this a Thing so much to be feared Every Breath that comes from thee is a kind of Death when 't is the last Breath then it's Death there 's all the Difference â— Thess 4.14 Isa 57 2. 2 Cor. 5 4. phil 1.23 Elsewhere 't is but a Sleep a lying down in Bed an uncloathing a Departing Oh what mollifying Expressions doth the Scripture set forth Death by and all to keep down our inordinate Fear of it 2. All sooner or later are subject to it 'T is not we alone that die all are Companions with us in this The Patriarchs Prophets Apostles nay Christ himself all died and shall we be afraid to walk in that Path which so many have trod before us When Phocion saw one who was to die with him afraid to die What says he art thou not glad to fare as Phocion does Plutarch in Apoth So when Abraham gave up the Ghost and died with innumerable others shall we be overwhelmed with Fear when it shall be our turn to die 3. After the Dying comes the Gathering That Death that breaks our Company below advances us to far better Company above It takes the Key of Heaven as it were and lets us into