from its Bonds if there could be none found that might be par negotio competent for such a work Or if 2. They were such as were not to be redeemed but to be left under the power of Death so that their dying out of this World should be a certain introduction of the second Death which is Eternal if they were found without those qualifications that might Rank them among that number to whom the Almighty Redeemer hath appropriated and confined his Care and Power In either of these cases Christians cannot without inexpressible Grief behold the Conquest Death makes over Apostate Creatures and Lament the Exit of a Sinner because it is his Entrance into a place of Torment from whence there is no Redemption In either of these Cases Relatives may with some colour of Reason abandon themselves to sorrow and Mourn as those without hope because they really are such But this is not the case here Death and the Grave in our present View is not so mournful a Spectacle Their aspect which is always various according to the State of the Person related to is not so Frightful and Horrid Inexorable Death its true hath suddenly snatched away one from us and the Grave hath swallowed Her up But Help is laid on one that is mighty to save There is one that hath destroy'd him that hath the power of Death that is the Devil Heb. 2.14 And therefore can redeem a soul from the power of the Grave and swallow up Death and the Grave in Victory As he hath absolute Power over this Visible World of ours and doth measure out the time which each of its Inhabitants is to spend here So Death and the Grave are also within the limits of his Dominion and an Authority of emitting thence is conjunct with his Authority and Power of commanding our Entrance into it Neither is it to be questioned but that Person on whom Death hath now laid its hand and transmitted to the Grave is interested in and under the custody of that Benign Power which will in a seasonable time bring her up from thence The supporting Vertue of this and such like Truths to the Deceased under her Chronical Distempers and the Consolatory use of it to her Surviving Consort hath given him just Reasons for the Recommendation of this Text to be spoken to on this occasion But God will redeem my Soul from the Power of the Grave for he shall receive me Selah The Adversative Particle But refers us to something that was spoken before The Doctrine of the Resurrection is insinuated as a most effectual remedy against inordinate fears and dejection of mind in an evil time This hath an advantage above other remedies because it suits with the natural Disposition of Mankind to draw relief under trouble from a pre-apprehended Deliverance Those who erroneously built their hopes of a Resurrection upon their Wealth and the multitude of their Riches made it to serve for this purpose but the unservicableness of their Wealth and Wisdom and the vanity of their Trust thereon is detected by their daily subjection to Death who not only cuts them down as at verse 7.8 9 10. but afterwards feeds on them v. 14. And therefore tho the Doctrine be true and of soveraign and infallible use in such cases yet because the Foundation of their Hopes is false they can have no safe retreat hither from their forementioned guilty Fears But I build my Hope upon a truer bottom tho their fears in an evil Day or Hour of Death may reasonably remain yet I have no reason to fear for it is God one that can and one that will redeem my soul from the power of the Grave and receive me Selah This is the plain connexion of the words with the precedent part of the Psalm I shall enquire into the true Import of both Phrases and then look upon them in their Mutual respect and the light they cast upon each other But God will deliver my soul from the power of the Grave The word Soul must be taken in an accommodate Sense and without enumerating the various Expositions it seems most properly to signifie the Humane Life not the Soul or Body singly but the Union between both because this is that that suffers the Intercision by Death And this Metonymical Construction is justified by many Places of Scripture where the Circumstances of the Text do at first view determine this to be the true and only Sense of the Word Isa 53.12 He hath poured out his Soul unto Death compared with Matth. 20.28 And to give his Life a Ransom for many From the Power of the Grave The Original Word is comprehensive of the whole unseen World both in its Upper and Lower in its Happy and Miserable Regions The known Controversie in which this Word is concerned hath occasioned a fuller search into its Primitive and Ancient Signification And though it be of that Latitude yet its Sense is peculiar according to the Circumstances of the Place wherein it is used And here I conceive it is most properly understood of the State and Place of the Dead so that the import of the Expression God will redeem my Soul from the Power of the Grave is That he will not leave me in that State wherein Death lodges me Death will separate my Soul and Body and turn my Body to Dust but God will not suffer it to keep me always in that State He will not suffer it to Exercise a perpetual Dominion over me Tho' I am captivated by it yet He who is stronger than Death will break its Bars and give me a seasonable Release The Word Redeem seems to govern and direct us in Understanding the whole Phrase and leads us so to conceive of the Power of the Grave and our being in or under it as that with Reference to it the Word Redemption might be properly applicable and used And this Construction is confirmed by that Parallel Text Hosea 13.14 where the Captivity of the Jews is called a Death a being under the Power of the Grave But saith God I will ransom them from the Power of the Grave I will redeem from Death O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction But more fully by that of the Psalmist Psalm 16.9 10. which though spoken by David concerning our Lord Christ as the Apostle Peter determines Acts 2.25 26 27. Yet may truly and properly be spoken of every sincere Christian that is his Member My Flesh shall rest in Hope for thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thine Holy one to see Corruption For He shall receive me i. e. He shall take me entirely to himself The Form of our Covenant between us is that I should give up both Body and Soul to him and that he should receive both that where he is I in my whole Person may be He hath received me into his Grace and Favour He hath accepted me in the Beloved He hath adopted
A Funeral Sermon ON THE DEATH OF Mrs. Mary Paice Late Wife of Mr. Joseph Paice Merchant OF CLAPHAM Who Died April 8th 1700. By Edmund Batson LONDON Printed by Samuel Bridge in Austin-Fryers 1700. Academiae Tantabrigiensis Liber To His much Respected Friend Mr. Joseph Paice Merchant SIR THO' no Man can put asunder whom God hath joyned together yet if He who makes the Union will make a Separation Who durst say what doest thou The absolute Soveraignty of God and his irresistable Power considered hath repressed the Exorbitant Passions of Heathens under Temporal Evils Though the Gospel assists us with divers more special and consolatory Arguments yet we often come short of their Sedate Temper and Self-Government Your Affliction must be confessed Great in the loss you sustain And though the Advances of Death were from Time to Time apprehended yet its Arrest was sudden and this gives no small Accent to the Calamity But the Subject of the ensuing Discourse is capable of affording Relief Great and Suitable The Doctrine of a Glorious Resurrection is propounded by the Apostle as a particular Lenitive to moderate Sorrow upon the Departure of our dearest Friends who die in the Lord 1 Thess 4.13 14. It s Efficacy and our Advantage by that Article depends upon our believing it If ye believe that Christ died and rose again even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him There is great Reason to believe your departed Relative among the number that sleep in Jesus so that your Peace and Comfort will be according to the Degree of your Faith in his Death and Resurrection I confess it owing to your Self that I insisted on this Subject or rather a Particular Interposure of Divine Providence which without praevious Thoughts or Inspection fixed both your Eye and Mind together on this Text. I cannot omit to mention it as a thing which deserves a thankful Remark that in so dark and sad a Season you should be led to so bright and Joyful an Argument What could have been suggested more Great and Supporting The direct Influence this Truth hath upon the Life of Man in General renders it useful to all As there is no Man liveth and shall not see Death Psalm 89.48 So no Man that dieth and shall not be raised And since the kind of our Resurrection will be answerable to our Manner of Living and Dying this necessarily claims our best Circumspection and Diligence Our natural State is that of Apostates or Revolters from God The Great Business of such Creatures is Conversion or Re-union with God through Christ When we thus return and enter our Selves into the number of His Covenanting Renewed ones we becomes entituled to Redeeming Grace in all its Parts And who is there that would not be redeemed That would not how slight soever his Present Thoughts are when it comes to the utmost Point give the whole World were it his to be saved from Wrath and Hell That would not rather with the assured Christian commit his departing Spirit into the Hands of God and his Flesh to a hopeful Rest in the Grave than to fall under the Seizure of the Devil and the Arrest of Death together The great Danger is least Men deceive themselves by separating between the Effects and Benefits of Renewing and Redeeming Grace and therefore I have taken some Care to Guard against this as the limits of the Time and Discourse would allow I know Men are secretly dissatisfied with the Terms of God they would be Redeemed but not subject to the Redeemer they would live to themselves and when they can live no longer would Die in the Lord But this is so Gross they dare not utter it and so full of Guilt as that it will effectually consign them to an irreversible State of Dissatisfaction and Torment for ever I am Glad that while I comply with your Request in the Publication of this I can also testifie the great Respect I bore to the Person whose Decease occasioned it and contribute in this way to the Embalming Her Precious Name I shall not fail to direct my best Desires to God that He who alone can would fill up every Relation vacated by Her removal by more plentiful Communications of Himself that Her Humble and Pious Example may live in your Memory that Her hopeful Descendants may tread in Her steps that you may all attain to the same full Assurance of Hope that God will be your God and Guide unto Death and afterwards Redeem You from the Power of the Grave and receive You that you may all together with Her be for ever with the Lord In whom I am Dear Sir Your most Affectionate Servant Edmund Batson A Funeral Sermon Psalm 49.15 But God will redeem my Soul from the power of the Grave for he shall receive me Selah IT is generally known on whose and what account we are now to divert from our usual Course and Subject If the Determination of Events had been in our Judgments and Wills our present assembling had been rather to have adored and praised Divine Goodness for the Recovery of our Deceased Sister than as now mournfully to solemnize Her Funeral But our Exit no more depends on our Judgments or Wills than our Entrance into this World which is not at all but the Keys of Life and Death are in the Hands of One who worketh all things according to the Counsel of his own Will and whose Judgment and will is as much more kind and beneficial to us as more true and Impartial than ours can be And tho we should suppose as we are too apt to do our Understandings and Desires altogether free from Irregularity and Mistake Yet our Impotency keeps us unfit for such a Province as determining events especially the Grand and comprehensive events of Life and Death to which Omnipotency is equally necessary with Unerring Wisdom No less a power can continue Life than that which can create or give it By all our Thoughts and Labour and Substance we can no more add a Year or a Day to our Time than a Cubit to our Stature the bounds of both being immutably fixed Who can stop the Conquests of Death Notwithstanding the summoned Advice of Man the Use of all things which Wisdom or Skill may direct and Wealth procure and sanctified too by incessant Supplications to the supreme Being Death is still Victorious It irresistable introduces it self whether we are willing or unwilling ready and prepared or not Such as conversed with us took sweet Counsel together with us in the House of God delighted themselves with us and gave us delight become Death's Captives before our Eyes are bound in its Bonds And we can no more save our selves than rescue or redeem them And this indeed would be a most Mournful Case if either 1. There was no one that could redeem them if there was no power Superior to their own that could effectually break the Gates of Death and lose them
Believers by vertue of which union his Resurrection doth assure theirs Christ and Believers constitute but one Mystical Body it is the Spirit of Holiness which thus unites them of which they both must necessarily tho not equally Partake He is the Head they are the Members and therefore must have Communion with him in his Resurrection and Life Whatsoever Glorious or Inglorious Change the Head suffers the Members must feel something of the same in a proportionate Degree And this is so Infallible that the Apostle argues not only from the Negation of Christs Resurrection to the Negation of ours but from the Negation of our Resurrection to the Nullity of Christ's 1 Cor. 15.13 This Union is continued even while Believers are under the Power of the Grave The Relation of Christ to the Father did not cease when he was detained by Death in the Bowels of the Earth tho the Comforts of that Relation were suspended yet the Relation it self never brake of So in a State of Death the Union between Christ and Believers remains It is the Man who dies not the Christian Both parts of the Human Person are separated from each other but neither of them separated from Christ Hence it is that when their Spirits are returned to God their flesh doth rest in Hope and their Bodies take a joiful and quiet Repose in their Beds of Dust because He to whom they are so dearly and Indissolvably United will not leave them under the power of Death for ever But 2. The Spirit dwells in Believers not only as a bond of Vnion between Christ and them but as a Principle of Power for their Resurrection Rom. 8.11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you He that raised up Christ from the Dead shall also quicken your Mortal Bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you The Resurrection of Christ is ascribed in the Scripture to all the Persons in the Trinity It is ascribed to God the the Father because he is the Fountain of action in the Deity as at Acts 3.15 and it is ascribed to him as he is the God of Peace as invested with that Title because he was the Person to whom satisfaction was made as at Heb. 13.20 And it is ascribed to the Son himself because all that he did as Mediator was to be his own Joh. 2.19 and chap. 10.18 But the efficiency is ascribed to the Holy Spirit Whether we consider him as given by the Father or giving himself a Sacrifice for our Sins he is said by the Eternal Spirit to offer up himself Heb. 9.14 so whether the act of his Resurrection be spoken of as done by the Father or by himself yet it is by the Spirit which proceeds from both 1 Pet. 3.18 Now the Spirit that dwelleth in Jesus dwelleth in Believers And as it abode in him and acted in him to the offering up himself to the Death of the Cross and afterwards presided over his Body in the Grave and put forth its Power in raising him So far doth it act in Believers while here and preside over their dead Bodies to the same purposes And thus to ascribe the Resurrection of Believers to the Spirit of Christ is but congruous with other acts of Divine Goodness and the precedent workings of the Spirit For as he quickens the Souls of Believers and raises them from Death in Sin and conforms 'em to the Image of Christ so 't is requisite that He should be the Author of their Corporeal Resurrection and likeness to Christ also Now the Resurrection of Believers being fixed on these Grounds We shall next briefly consider its Necessity When Death which was introduc'd by Sin hath been reigning and acting the part of a Conqueror over Mankind and bringing all both just and unjust under its Dominion it is necessary that sooner or later it be overcome and swallowed up of victory 't is necessary that some of its Captives be released that some Souls be Redeemed from its Power Otherwise 1. The Glory of Christ Redeemer would suffer a great and perpetual Eclipse And 2. The Felicity of Believers would never be Compleat and Perfect 1. The Glory of Christ Redeemer would suffer a great and perpetual Eclipse The Perfection of Beings in their several Kinds was the Glory of the Creator To be redeemed from the Power of Sin and be left under the Power of the Grave were it supposeable would be such an imperfect Redemption as we cannot but apprehend to be inconsistent with the Wisdom and Power and Love and absolute Perfection of the Redeemer That Creatures capable of Immortality should be left in a State of Discipline and Probation here and that their Future State should be according to their present Behaviour and Deportment carries nothing of inconsistency in it But that these Creatures capable of Immortality when they have demeaned themselves aright and gone through their State of Tryal with Approbation should be left under the Power of Death and not entred into their Masters Joy is such a dealing as we cannot conceive worthy of God That Death and He who hath the Power of Death that is the Devil should perpetuate their Authority over the sincere Servants of Christ and take their Reward from them How Inglorious a Person would this bespeak our Redeemer to be Moreover as he is the Head of the Mystical Body his Honour suffers a visible Diminution by the Absence of any Member There is so much lost of his Praises as should belong to those that are thus kept back For who can declare his Righteousness in the Grave Or Praise him in the House of Silence Psalm 88.11 12. Psalm 115.17 We are not to imagine our Lord so careless of his own Glory when he hath already done so much for that end and when it is still in his own Power as he is absolute Lord of the whole unseen World to perfect his own Praise As surely as he hath triumphed over Death and all Principalities so surely will he make all his Members to Triumph over them and that for his own Glory And none shall be detained under their Dominion unless such as by their own choice while here remained in an inviolable Union with Death and the Prince of Darkness that is the Devil 2. The Felicity of Believers would never be Compleat and Perfect The Perfection of their Personal Felicity necessarily requires the Concourse or Union of all that is essential to or constitutive of the Person The Body and the Soul from their first setting out in the World to the Grave run the same Race therefore they must enjoy the same Reward There is 't is true a great inequality in their Operations as respecting Holiness so there will be a great inequality in their Enjoyments but both must have their proper share And it would not be beseeming the Divine Goodness to deal so differently as that the Soul should be Everlastingly Happy and the Body lost in forgetfulness
number but such as Voluntarily put themselves into it and wilfully continue notwithstanding the means which the great Redeemer uses to educe and recover them Death is no where perpetual but where it is self-procured None lie under it and abide under it but they that loved it and refused to to take hold of the Paths of Life None die unintrested in the Redeemer and his Power but such as rejected him while they lived Therefore 2. Vse Let this admonish us to take care and provide that we be of that number to whom this blessed priviledge belongs Since it is not common to all but proper only to some with what solicitude should we concern our selves and follow on the Enquiry till we arrive at a certainty in this matter Since the enquiry is of highest importance and admits of a plain and true solution it can never be justified as rational to continue in a dubious uncertainty Who would not covet to be in a special Relation to the Almighty and Gracions Redeemer and to be one of those whom he will Redeem from the Power of the Grave The knowledge of this alone can preserve the true comfort of our lives and fill us in Death with Joy Vnspeakable and full of Glory Let us therefore with assiduous diligence endeavour to make our Calling and Election and therewith our Glorious Resurrection sure This matter will quickly be brought to an Issue with every one of us either Death will Triumph over us and prey upon us as Eternal Trophies of its Conquest or through Divine Grace and Love we shall be delivered and Triumph over it There are Two or Three Things will ascertain our State and let us into the Knowledge of what our final Issue will be 1. Are we Regenerate Creatures We are naturally Apostates from God and in open defiance against his Soveraignty and Laws and there can be nothing but a fearful Expectation or looking for of Death and Vengeance which shall devour and consume such Adversaries until we cease to be Adversaries until the contrariety of our Natures against him be subdued and we become new Creatures Our Expectations cannot rationally be altered but upon a precedent Change of State The Resurrection of Christ is the Ground of this blessed Hope in Believers as hath been shewn but their Regeneration is the Evidence of it A Soul that passes out of this World unrenewed must never expect a Reunion with a raised Glorified Body The Body indeed shall be raised and reunited to the Soul but it will be in order to compleat the Misery of the Sinner Redemption from the Power of Sin and Redemption from the Power of Death are Coextensive and have both the same Subjects Rev. 20.6 Blessed and Holy is he who hath part in the first Resurrection on such the second Death hath no Power There is the Priviledge and there is the Character of the Person to whom it belongs It is in vain to think of dissolving the Divine Order or separating what God hath joined together None ever was or shall be so blessed as to be exempt from the Power of the second Death but such as are Holy and have Part in the first Resurrection Though the Soul be the immediate Subject of Regeneration yet it respects the whole Person The Understanding and Conscience and Will and Affections are all changed in this Work And the bodily Members and Senses are destinated by the renewed Soul and employed in new Services and are no more the Members of Unrighteousness but Instruments of Service to Jesus Christ Rom. 6.19 The Laws of the great Redeemer are the Rule of Duty to the entire Man and are obeyed or violated by the Soul and Body in Conjunction Now where there hath been this entire Obedience yielded by a Man renewed in his whole Constitution it shall receive a just recompence of Reward and those that have followed Christ in the Regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit on the Throne of his Glory they shall sit with him judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel Mat. 19.28 2. Are we Dead with Christ If we be Dead with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him If we be planted together with him in the likeness of his Death we shall be also in the likeness of his Resurrection If we suffer with him we shall reign with him Rom. 6.5 8. Our likeness to Christ must be begun in our present embodied State This is the fixed Order of Heaven The other World is the World of Perfection where the Image of Christ or of the Devil is compleated according to which of them was begun here upon Earth None can have Communion with the Redeemer in his glorious Resurrection but such as have Fellowship with him in his Sufferings and are conformable to his Death Phil. 3.10 A Man that continues to Live cannot while such be the subject of Resurrection He must first Die So our Self-denial and Mortification and Dying with Christ as necessarily precedes our Communion with him in his glorious Resurrection 3. Are our Hearts and Affections now with God and Christ in Heaven Nothing less than an Heavenly Conversation can justifie our looking for a Saviour who shall change our vile Bodies into the Image of his most glorious Body Phil. 3.20 21. A Terrene Temper of Mind and an Heart unlimitedly engaged in the World doth absolutely contradict the Hopes of a blessed Resurrection and Reception into Heaven It is the Nature of Hope as it is a Christian Grace to engage the Soul in a serious Pursuit of that which is hoped for And also to give it a deep Tincture of its Object before it is actually enjoyed Therefore if we don't savour heavenly Things above all carnal and worldly Delights and seek them with the greatest Diligence our Hopes are Fallacious The Wise and Holy God cannot act so Inconsistently with Himself How Inconsistent soever Mens Actions and Hopes may be as to bestow Heaven and Glory upon one that never desired or esteemed or sought it that would always prefer the Honours and Emoluments of the World before it This would be to violate the Rules of Discrimination which he himself hath fixed and such an Inglorious Amplification of that blessed Kingdom as would leave it almost undesirable and the Priviledges of Christians would cease to be Priviledges when others may have an equal share in them These Enquiries do in short recur to this Have we a sure Interest in Christ who is the Prince and Lord of Life Have we received him in all these Respects wherein he is to be received and absolutely resigned our selves to him as our Lord and Saviour Hath there passed such mutual Acts between us and him of giving and receiving as that thereupon He may be truly called ours and we as truly said to be his He will finally redeem none but his own Have we remaining Indications of this in our Hearts and Lives Have our Course in this World been ordered agreeably thereto in