is far best of all Phil. 1.23 That at the last day his body shall rise again to be glorified together with his soul for ever And The Dead's Resurrection is the Christians confidence and consolation Love For the more entirely you loved him while he was with you the more exceedingly should you rejoyce at his happiness now he is with the Lord. And the time is hastening apace when all that are Christ's shall meet again and never part more 3. Turn all your Lamentation for him into Imitation of him He was a fair Copy to write after Follow him as he follow'd Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 I have laid down here after my Sermon a short touch at his Exemplary vertues both you and I know more of his true Christian worth Strive to be like him in Grace that you may be like him in Glory And you that are sharers in his plentiful earthly Estate left behind him you especially are to be put in remembrance of his great Charity Bounty and Liberality which with that Estate he was wont to exert upon all good Occasions that you may tread in his steps The backs and bellies of many and many poor distressed Creatures had long and frequent occasions of blessing him Let them have like causes of blessing you and God for you So shall they say Our Almner is not lost but changed for the stream of charity is still continued His Alms-deeds were doubtless one eminent way of sanctifying all his great Enjoyments on earth Luk. 11.41 and of augmenting his Reward in Heaven 1 Tim. 6.17 18 19. Luk. 16.9 And like charitable courses in you shall doubtless be crowned with like happy advantages 4. Endeavour I beseech you with all faithful care the right Christian and gracious education of his Son and Daughter his two small Orphans left in trust among you You are Trustees of the Dead and you are intrusted with his choisest jewels his Children and that not only with their Estates and Bodies but especially with their souls Oh study to be faithful to the uttermost Engage them in the true knowledge of God Jesus Christ and Christianity as also in the right religious Practice of Godliness betimes That when they are old they may never depart from it 1 Chron. 28.9 Eccles. 12.1 Prov. 22.6 Ephes. 6.4 God hath by his Providence made you Pro-parents to them Oh still express a Christian Parental affection towards them That so at last in this young Joseph the Son old Joseph the Father may in a sort remain alive by inheriting and exerting his Fathers vertues 5. Finally Vouchsafe in reference to your selves to reduce this ensuing Sermon into Practice As here both Life and Death are discovered to be theirs that are Christs So in every point endeavour you that both may be yours as being Christ's For particulars I refer you to the Sermon it self It was preached under some inevitable confinement to time because the Assembly was very great Therefore here and there I have interposed some few passages for the necessary illustration of what was then spoken briefly and more obscurely Love Hope and Fear have at last inclined me to consent to the Publication of it Love to many Christian Friends whose importunities herein I could not well withstand Hope That being made publique it may possibly by Directing Comforting and Quickening in some measure help some poor Souls onward in their Heavenly journey even after my Decease And Fear lest by the help of some imperfect Notes taken at the preaching of it it should have been as was suggested to me sent abroad into the world immaturely in an extraneous dress to my prejudice and others disservice And now such as it is I present and dedicate it to you more especially as a peculiar token of my great respect and love both to Him that is departed and to His that do remain That his blessed Memory may yet live a little among you in these my ensuing Lines And that you may yet further be incited so to Live and Die as that after Death you may live with CHRIST and with him and with all that are Christ's eternally Which is the earnest desire and prayer of Wrington from my Study there Feb. 2â— 1661. Your affectionate Brother Friend and Servant in the LORD for the furtherance of your haâ—h and Joy FRAN. ROBERTS A TRUE CHRISTIAN' 's Manifold Advantage in CHRIST Both by LIFE and DEATH 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For all things are yours Whether Paul or the World or LIFE or DEATH or things present or things to come All are yours And ye are Christ's and Christ is God's OF whom speaks the Apostle these high things Of them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints For to such he wrote this excellent Epistle 1 Cor. 1.2 What Are all things theirs whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the VVorld or LIFE or DEATH or things present or things to come Are all theirs and they Christs and Christ God's Happy are the People that are in such a case yea thrice happy is that people whose God in Christ is the LORD Some think and say That they are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing who yet know not that they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked But here they that are Christ's are declared to be rich indeed by Christ forasmuch as in Christ and through Christ All things are theirs The words are very emphatical and comprehensive and mysterious Let us view them in their 1. Connexion 2. Contents and 3. Propositions thence resulting The Connexion of these words with the Context is hinted in the particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for ver 21. This particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for is of various use in the New Testament It is 1. Sometimes Expletive denoting the meer Emphasis of any expression or phrase As in Matth. 1.18 2 Tim. 2.7 2. Sometimes Declarative setting forth some matter or thing more fully As in Luk. 2.10 1 Thess. 2.14 and often 3. Sometimes Causal and Argumentative giving a Reason for confirmation of any thing propounded or asserted As in Rom. 14.7 8 9. And in this sense it 's used here 1 Cor. 3.21 as a Reason why the Corinthians should not glory in men in any of their Ministers Because they and the Church were not for the Ministers but the Ministers and all things for them and they for Christ c. vers 21. And the Argument seems to be a majori ad minus affirmativè from the greater to the lesser affirmatively Thus Christ is God's ye are Christ's and all things are yours for your good for your happiness All things as Beza well-illustrates it are yours as your helps and fartherances unto Christ and by Christ unto God And consequently All your Teachers with all their variety and eminency of Gifts are yours also Therefore you must not acquiesce nor finally rest in any of these you
must not terminate nor glory in any of them but only in Christ and in God Otherwise as Beza well expresseth it They are not so much yours but rather you are theirs These Corinthians carnally gloried in the Gifts of their Teachers some in one respect some in another whereupon contentions and divisions increased amongst them 1 Cor. 1.10 11 12. Therefore Paul by many Arguments and by this in the Text after the rest endevours to quench these heats and to cure these unchristian distempers But I may not any further look back to the Context having many steps to make forward in the Text. Nor intend I to handle these words in their Relative but in their more Absolute Consideration The Contents wrapped up in these words are most observable and eminent For Herein is a rich Magazine of Treasure And this Treasure is especially Tripartite viz. 1. God's Treasure And that 's CHRIST the Mediator Christ is God's 2. Christ's Treasure And that 's his Saints His mystical Body Ye are Christ's 3. The Saints Treasure in Christ. And that 's All things All things are yours These three are well explicated by Oecumen saying All things are yours As your Benefits and Gifts Ye are Christ's As his Creatures and Workmanship Christ is God's As his Generation and Son Now The Saints Treasure in and by Christ is 1 More generally propounded All things are yours And this after sundry instances is again reduplicated and repeated for the greater emphasis 2 More particularly expounded and illustrated by an Induction of particular instance viz. 1. All the Ministers and Teachers are yours Therefore glory in none 2. The World is yours Therefore serve it not but make it serve you 3. Life is yours Therefore use it aright Live unto the Lord. 4. Death is yours Therefore dread it not but prepare for it and die to the Lord. 5. Things present are yours For your Benefit and Consolation in this world 6. Things to come are yours also For your Bliss and Glorification in the world to come Or Here 's an excellent Scale or Series of Ends subordinate And of Things referred unto these their Ends respectively whereunto they have more immediate tendency and subordination And these Ends are especially three viz. 1. The Saints and members of Christ for to such be here wrote 1 Cor. 1.2 they are the first and lowest end here mentioned To them as to their immediate end are subordinated The Ministers the World Life Death Things present Things to come and all things All these are made contributory and subservient to the Saints for their benefit edification and eternal salvation ver 21 22. 2. Christ. He as Mediator is the second End and superior to the former To him his service and glory as to their immediate end All the Saints and whole Body of Christ is and ought to be subordinate vers 23. 3. God He is the third and supreme End To him as to his immediate End Jesus Christ the Mediator is subordinate That God in all things may be glorified vers 23. Propositions hence resulting are many Especially these viz. 1. Christ the Mediator is God's And God is his End 2. The Saints are Christ's And Christ is their End 3. All things are the Saints And the Saints are their End And under this third more particularly are comprised these Propositions viz. 1. They that are Christ's have all his Ministers theirs 2. They that are Christ's have the whole world theirs 3. They that are Christ's have LIFE and DEATH theirs 4. They that are Christ's have things present and things to come theirs 5. They that are Christ's have all things theirs Thus you may see here 's an ample field of Matter discovered To treat of all these at this time is neither possible nor pertinent to this solemnity From among all the rest I shall single out only one Doctrinal Proposition as being more peculiarly apposite to the present occasion viz. They that are Christ's have Life theirs and Death theirs They that are Christ's indeed and in truth 1 Not only in Name but also in Nature Being New Creatures 2 Cor. 5.17 and partaking the Divine Nature the true Image of God 2 Pet. 1.4 Ephes. 4.24 with Col. 3.10 2 Not only in Form outwardly by a meer visible Profession but also in Power inwardly by an holy Constitution attended with an answerable Conversation Matth. 25.3 4. 2 Tim. 3.5 Rom. 2.28 29. 1 Joh. 2.6 These have Life theirs and Death theirs 1 Life their Day to labour in Death their night to rest and sleep in 2 Life their Race to run in Death their Goal to obtain the Prize in 3 Life their Sea to sail in Death their Haven to land in 4 Life their Egyptian pilgrimage under the many oppressions of their enemies Death their Red-Sea delivering them but overwhelming all their oppressors 5 Life their long Wilderness-progress towards the heavenly Canaan Death their roaring Jordan to be pass'd through at their entrance into the heavenly Country flowing with milk and honey 6 Life their time of Conflict and Tribulation Death their time of Conquest and Coronation 7 Life their holy time of Preparation for the Lord Death their happy time of Transmigration to the Lord. But waving Generalities let 's come to a more Particular Illustration of this Proposition And here we shall enquire 1. What 's here meant by Life and Death 2. How Life is theirs ' that are Christ's 3. How Death is theirs as well as Life 4. Whence it comes to pass that Life and Death are thus theirs who themselves are Christ's What 's here meant by Life and Death Chrysostom seems by these to understand the Life and Death of their Teachers that as they live so they undergo Perils and Death it self for the body of Christ his Church And further he thinks it may be said as to Death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say That Adam's Death was for us that we may be corrected or nurtured Christ's Death that we may be saved But pace tanti viri by the good leave of so grave an Author Life and Death here are not intended either of their Teachers or of Adam or of Christ but of the Life and Death of the Saints and Members of Christ As the current of the words evidently imports Besides that phrase All things are yours whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas sufficiently comprehends all things in their Ministers Office Gifts Graces Life Death c. here asserted to be theirs And as for the Death of Adam or of Christ nor Text nor Context afford the least colour for any such interpretation But they that are Christ's Life is theirs and Death theirs The Life which themselves shall here live and the Death which themselves shall die both are theirs for their great good and manifold advantage But note Life and Death are of three sorts viz. 1 Natural Corporal or Temporal I list not to be too Critical upon terms stile it which you
theiâ—s for Good but for harm Not their Advantages but their disadvantages Not their sanctified Mercies but their mischiefs c. To them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure but even their mind and conscience is defiled Tit. 1.15 To them that are Christless and ungodly 1. Their Life in this world what is it else but Their sinful Seed-time to the flesh Gal. 6.8 Their wretched working and trading time in iniquity Matth 7.23 Luk. 13.27 Psal. 6.8 Their striving time onely after earthly enjoyments Matth. 6.31 32. 1 Tim. 6.9 10. Their trying time to detect and draw forth their vileness Exod. 3.19 20. 14.17 Job 12.4 5 6. Their declining time wherein they waxe worse and worse 2 Tim. 3.13 Their Barren time wherein they bring forth nothing but briars and thorns fruits of Sodom and Gomorrha and all pernicious works of the flesh Hab. 6.8 Deut. 32.32 33. Gal. 5.19 20 21. And their unhappy Seâ—son wherein after their hardness and impenitent heart they treasure up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God Rom. 2.5 2. And their Death from this world what is it else than The rotting of their flesh and bones full of the sins of their youth which shall lie down with them in the dust Job 20.11 Their woful change of painted Felicities for real Miseries Luk. 16.19.22 23. Their wretched departure from their wicked Bodies till both Souls and Bodies shall depart from Christ Luk. 16.22 23. Matth. 25.41 Their utter loss of all enjoyments on Earth and of all hopes of Heaven Luk. 12.20 21. Heb. 9.27 Eccles. 9.10 Their fatal Red-Sea overwhelming them for ever Luk. 16.22 23 26. Their Body's bondage in the cursed Grave and their Soul's enthralment in the Prison of Hell till the day of the Lords vengeance shall overtake them both at his second appearing 1 Pet. 3.19 Heb. 9.27 Oh then let every one consider these things and say How happy are all that are Christ's both in Life and Death How wretched are all that are Christless both alive and dead Hence Who would not now study and strive to become Christ's indeed This this is the onely way to be truly rich to be eternally happy If the World Life Death Things present Things to come All things and all this theirs in Christ be able to do it He that hath Christ his and himself is Christ's may sweetly say Christus meus omnia Christ is mine and all 's mine Therefore when others say Who will shew us good Do thou saâ— Lord lift up the light of thy countenance upon me Psal. 4.6 7. Lord give me Christ and then I have all Hence What a shame is it for Christians to have the least irksom or undervaluing thought of Christianity When Corruption within rebels against the Spirit in us Temptation from without perplexeth us Afflictions toss and tire us Persecutions puzzle us and the Prosperity of the wicked amaze and dazle our apprehensions How are we then distempered and discomposed Then we have cleansed our hearts in vain and wished our hands in innocency Then we bless the wicked whom God abhorrs and speak against the Generation of Gods children as once the Psalmist Then we loath our Spiritual Mannah and like Israel run back in our hearts again unto Egypt c. O let us enter into the Sanctuary of God and then all our misdeeming thoughts shall be reformed O all ye that are Christ's consider this Text and check your selves for these your imprudent and ingrateful misappâ—ehensions Christ is yours and ye are Christ's therefore in Christ Life and Death are yours and all things yours for your manifold advantage O bless the LORD that ever you were savingly acquainted with and interessed in Christ and Christianity Christ turns all your darkness into light makes all your gall and wormwood Honey turns all your poysons into Medicines makes both your Life and Death both profitable and pleasant like the Land of Promise flowing with milk and honey Christianity is the right Philosophers-stone indeed turns all it touches into spiritual Gold Say oh say it with much rejoycing We are Christians therefore we are happy both living and dying Whether we live we live unto the Lord whether we dâ—e we die unto the Lord. Whether therefore we live or die we are the Lord 's Hence Why should they that are Christ's be either weary of Life or afraid of Death Are not both theirs and theirs for the Best What wise man is weary of his welfare or afraid of his Advantages Especially when both of them are of a spiritual and eternal concernment It 's happy for Christians that they may live a while on Earth to be prepared for life eternal And it 's happy again for them that they may die and depart from Earth that they may go to possess their Life eternal for which they are prepared Hence How silently self-denyingly and contentedly should all that are Christ's submit to Gods disposal of them in all Conditions yea both in Life and Death Why Because Life's theirs Death 's theirs All 's theirs Every wind blows them profit All things cooperate unto their good Murmure not then at any Divine dispensations but be silent yea contented yea thankful in all Consider how the Saints of old behaved themselves in all even the worst Conditions As Job ch 1.20 21. Eli 1 Sam. 3.18 David Psal. 39.9 Hezekiah Isa. 39.8 Paul Phil. 4.11 12 13. yea Jesus Christ himself Joh. 18.10 11. Matth. 26.39 42 44. Walk thou as Christ walked 1 Joh. 2.6 and follow the Saints as they follow Christ 1 Cor. 11.1 Hence finally How thankfully should we rejoyce in the Life and how patiently yea comfortably should we beâ— the Death of dearest Friends and Relations that were truly Christian whether of Father Mother Husband Wife c. Are they alive Life is Their spiritual Seed-time to sow in Their Mart-time to trade in Their Rare-time to run in Their Spring-time to grow in Their Summer to bear fruit in Their Autumn to treasure up in for Eternity And their Winter to be tryed in that they may be found more precious than gold Are they dead Mourn moderately Comfort your selves with this That even Death is theirs also Their sweet sleep in Jesus Their blessed Change Their happy Departure Their great Gain Their Red-Sea to all their Evils and Enemies Their Bodies Seed-time for the eternal Harvest and Their Souls Birth-day of everlasting Bliss Thus I have done with my Text. And now I know you expect I should superadde something in reference to this Worthy Person deceased Of whom we were unworthy Should I say Nothing of him I doubt I should offend you Should I say Much I should offend my self He was one of the most eminent Members of this famous City well known to you all but more intimately to some and particularly unto me And did I not verily believe That he was one of Christ's and
THE CHRISTIANS ADVANTAGE BOTH BY Life and Death Discovered in a SERMON PREACHED At the Funeral of that Faithful and Eminent Servant of the LORD JOSEPH JACKSON late Esq and Alderman of the City of Bristol On the 17. day of January An. Dom. 1661. By Fran. Roberts D. D. Rector of the Church at Wrington in the County of Somerset Phil. 1.21 To me to Live is CHRIST and to Die is GAIN Hieronym ad Eustoch in Epitaph Paulae tom 1. Non moeremus quòd talem amisimus Sed gratias agimus quòd habuimus imò habemus Deo enim vivunt omnia quicquid revertitur ad Dominum in familiae numero computatur Hieronym ad Theodor. in Epitaph Lucinii tom 1. Nos dolendi magis qui quotidie stamus in praelio peccatorum vitiis sordidamur accipimus vulnera de otioso verbo reddituri sumus rationem LONDON Printed by Edw. Mottershed 1662. TO My much Honored and entirely beloved Friends in the LORD The Children Brethren Sisters and others in near and dear Relation to JOSEPH JACKSON late Esq and Alderman of the City of Bristol now sleeping in Jesus yea living and triumphing in bliss with IJSUS Grace mercy and peace in this life and eternal glory in the life to come My dear Christian Friends HOw brittle frail and fading is the most flourishing Life of Man here on Earth The Holy Scriptures compute it By 70 or 80 years Psal. 90.10 by a few years Job 16.22 by moneths Job 14.5 by dayes Job 14.5 by a few dayes Job 14.1 by one day Job 14.6 by all denoting the extreme brevity of it And they compare his life and time of abode here below To a vanishing vapour Jam. 4.14 to a transient wind Job 7.7 to a perishing puff of breath Psal. 146.4 Isa. 2.22 to a fading flower Psal. 103.15 16. Job 14.2 to a momentary meditation thought or tale told Psal. 90.9 to withering grass Psal. 90.5 6.1 Pet. 1.24 to a speedy irrevocable flood Psal. 90.5 to yesterday when past and gone Psal. 90.4 to an hastening Post Job 9.25 to a swift Weavers shuttle Job 7.6 to short handbreadths Psal. 39.5 to a Weavers web soon brought to the thrum to be cut off Isa. 38.12 to a Watch in the night but three hours long Psal. 90.4 to a vanishing shadow Job 4.2 8.9 Psal. 102.11 to crumbling dust Psal. 103.14 to a sleep insensibly passing Psal. 90.5 to an Apparition or image Psal. 39.6 And as if all these reached not home to meer Nothing Psal. 39.5 By all these emphatically describing the extreme lubricity uncertainty and vanity of Man's life VVhereupon we may with the Psalmist justly conclude Surely every man at his best state is altogether vanity Selah Psal. 39.5 Not only man but every man not in some state only as of childhood sickness old age c. but at his best state Heb. when setled Is not only vain but vanity it self Not only vanity in part or in some regard but in whole altogether vanity And all this with a Surely prefixed for the more undoubted certainty And with a Selah suffixed for the greater observableness It is not long since his late dear Yokefellow was by Natures dissolution divorced from him And now Himself ◠by Death separated and removed from you Oh what is man Little did I think to have preached at the Funeral of either And lo so hath the LORD disposed things that I have not without much reluctancie and grief performed this last office for them both not many years interposing They have prevented both you and me Our work is to prepare to follow after The good Lord teach us so to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom Psal. 90.12 To true spiritual wisdom To wisdom for our selves for our souls for our eternal estate with our dearest Saviour IESUS CHRIST in Heaven We have here no continuing City Let us diligently seek one to come A City that hath foundations whose builder and maker is God Heb. 13.14 11.10 Let us so manage our Earthly Pilgrimage that we may make sure of the Heavenly Heritage Let us so improve this Mortality as not to miss of that Immortality And so live on Earth a while that we may undoubtedly live in Heaven for ever As for you that are surviving My Conscience and Affection I cannot but affectionately love those that belong'd to him whom I so intensively affected for Christ in him prompt me to present a few requests unto you by way of Advice And I hope you will resent them with Christian acceptation 1. Be pleased to peruse and practise those Ten Instructions or Practical Directions published in my Instructive and Hortatory Epistle prefixed to my Sermon preached at the Funeral of Mary Jackson his late religious Yokefellow You have the printed Books and Directions I need not mention any Particulars but compendiously refer you to them I heartily recommend them to your faithful practice beseeching the God of all wisdom to give you salvifical understanding in all things 2. Endeavour to comfort your selves in this your great loss of him and deep affliction for him by Christian considerations And what Consolatory Arguments may you not readily suggest unto your selves His Life was so Christian that his Death must needs be comfortable Of a good life there cannot come a bad death As of a bad life seldom comes a good death Life and Death were his for all manner of spiritual advantages He liv'd to the Lord and died to the Lord both living and dying he was and is the Lords Rom. 14.8 His body as Hierom said of Nepotianus is returned to the earth but his soul is restored to Christ. His Sins and Sorrows are all ended his Graces are perfected and his eternal Joyes are begun VVhile you are lamenting in black He is triumphing in white Are we born that I may use Hierom's words to Paula upon the death of her daughter Blesilla that we should here abide eternally Abraham Moses Isaiah Peter James John Paul the chosen Vessel and above all the Son of God died And are we grieved that one depart the body whose soul was so accepted of God as to be snatched out of the midst of iniquity and error Let that dead person be lamented whom Hell receives whom the Infernal pit devours for whose punishment everlasting fire doth burn As for us whose End the Angels accompany whom Christ meets let us rather grieve that we are kept so long in this tabernacle of Death and may not meet Christ sōoner seeing while we are present in this body we are absent from the Lord. Let Faith Hope and Love be your comforters as Augustine sometimes advised an Italian widow upon the death of her Husband Faith For you are not desolate so long as Christ dwells in your hearts by Faith Hope For you cannot but confidently hope That he is not lost but only sent before you That he is in Heáven with Christ which
known his truth Isa. 38.18 19. Therefore now let the councel of Solomon sink deep into every true Christians heart Whatsoever thine hand findeth to do do it with all thy might for there is no work noâ— device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither tâ—â—â— goest Eccles. 9.10 7. Finally Their Hoarding time for Eternity In this Life they that are Christ's lay up for themselves Treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt nor thieves break through and steal Matth. 6.20 Now they treasure up Gifts Graces Prayers Tears Promises Experiences Evidences for Heaven c. Now they may be rich in good-works ready to distribute willing to communicate laying up in store for themselves bags that wax not old and a good foundation against the time to come that they may lay hold on eternal life 1 Tim. 6.19 Now they may make themselves friends with the Mammon of unrighteousness that when they fail they may be received into everlasting habitations Luk. 16.9 Now they may meditate of their Mortality and prepare for their Immortality Now they may ponder upon their First Middle and Last things as Bernard ranks them Those bring shame those grief and these Fear They may think whence they came and blush where they are and groanâ— whither they go and tremble They may remember their latter end that they may not easily do amiss Thus Life is theirs How is Death theirs that are Christ's Resol As I have discovered the bright Day of Life to be theirs so now I shall shew how the dark Night of Death is theirs also It 's appointed to all men Godly and Wicked once to die But oh what a vast disparity is there betwixt the Godly that are Christ's and the Wicked that are Christless in Death To the wicked belong 1 The terrors of Death that King of Terrors as Bildad calls it that Most terrible of terribles as the Heathen stiled it The enmity of Death 1 Cor. 15.25 26. 3 The sting and venom of Death 1 Cor. 15.56 4 The curse and bitterness gall and wormwood of Death Gal. 3.10 5 The woful followers of Death viz. The Judgment of Condemnation Heb. 9.27 Joh. 5.29 And everlasting Torments in Hell Matth. 25.41 46. Luk. 16.23 But from them that are Christ's All this evil and mischief of Death is sweetly removed away by Christ. â— They fear not Death but can desire it and groan after it Having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is much more best Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy Word For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our House which is from Heaven 2. Of aâ— Enemy Death is become their Friend Of Loss their Gain Phil. 1.21 2 Cor. 5.1 3. Of an Hornet Death is become a Drone The sting of Death is plucked out by Christ who hath given them the victory 1 Cor. 15.54 55 56 57. 4. The Curse of Death is turned into a Blessing Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them Rev. 14.13 5. And the Consequents of Death are to them most comfortable viz. The judgement of Absolution Heb. 9.27 with Matth. 25.34 And eternal life in Heaven Matth. 25.46 Luk 16.22 Thus to them that are his Jesus Christ brings light out of Darkness Good out of evil life out of Death He turns this venemous Viper Death into a soveraign Treacle Death is as Sampson's roaring Lyon slain by Christ our true Sampson out of whose carkase he gives his members the sweetest Honey-combs of Spiritual advantages More Particularly let them that are Christs know That 1. Death is their sweet sleep in Jesus It 's often stiled their Sleep As Joh. 11.11 12 13. Acts 13.36 1 Cor. 15.51 11.30 And sometimes their Sleep in Jesus As them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him 1 Thes. 4.14 Then thâ—y also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished 1 Cor. 15.18 The Grave is their Bed they shall rest in their Beds Isa. 57.2 It is said of godly King Asa they buried him and laid him in the Bed which was filled with sweet odours and divers kinds of spices prepared by the Apothecaries art 2 Chron. 16.14 But the Saints last bed the Grave is perfumed with better sweets than Spices and Odors even wiâ—h the Burial of Christs own blessed Body Matth. 27.59 60. In these Beds they rest from all their labours of sin and sorrow Rev. 14.13 Here they sweetly sleep as in the bosom of Christ unto whom even their dead dust remains still mystically united and therefore is of precious account with him And out of this last sleep they shall again awake at Christs glorious appearing Dan. 12.2 1 Cor. 15.23 51 52 c. 1 Thâ—ss 4.14 15 16. 2. Death is their Alteration not their Abolition their Change not their Confusion Thus â—ob accounted it All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change come Job 14.14 And of all men in the world they that are Christ's do at death make an happy change They change Earth for Heaven An earthly Clay-tabernacle for Celestial Mansions in the Heavenly Fathers house 2 Cor. 5.1 Job 14.2 Rags of Mortality for Robes of Immortality 2 Cor. 5.4 1 Cor. 15.53 Society of Saints imperfect for the company of blessed Angels and of the spirits of just men made perfect Heb. 12.23 As Hierom said of Nepotianus He did not so much die as remove not so much leave his friends as change them In all respects they change every way for the better 3. Death is their Departure not their Destruction Their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or dissolution not their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or reversion Having a desire to depart Phil. 1.23 Their loosing from this Earthly shore to set sail for Heaven Good old Simeon said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Lord now loosest thou thy servant or lettest thou loose thy servant c. Luk. 2.29 They depart From this Egypt and Wilderness to that Canaan From this earthly to that better and heavenly Country From this decaying City below to that continuing City above Heb. 13.14 From visibles to invisibles From transitory and finite creatures to God the Creator and Jesus Christ the Redeemer blessed for ever Amen Joh. 20.17 Phil. 1.23 1 Thess. 4.17 Rom. 9.5 4. Death is their Gain not their Loss So the Apostle judged it would be to him For to me to live is Christ and to die is Gain Phil. 1.21 What Gain They that are Christ's when they die lose their dearest Natural lives and therewith their earthly relations and acquaintance their Friends houses Lands Livings Honors Riches Pleasures even all these temporal enjoyments True But what are all these Painted shadows vanishing Bubbles magnifi'd Nothings They gain by Dying other manner of Treasures as Perfection of