are the Devils Bayliffs and Agents shall cast some of them into Prison and then bids them be faithful unto death verse 10. which implies that it might reach even to life it self To encourage them to faithfulness in all he gives this sweet promise in the Text as if he had said get Victory here and if it comes to the worst men can do which is to kill the body I give you my faithful word they shall do no more they shall go no further I will secure you from that which is a thousand times more to be feared viz. the second death which is the sting and emphasis of the first that shall not touch or hurt you So then the observation lies plain before us viz Doct. That Overcomers shall not be hurt of the second Death Sin Satan and the World are the Enemies true Believers are the Overcomers as was declared in the former Sermon To these is this promise made hence it is said They shall never perish John 10.27 And he that believeth on the Son shall not see Death John 8.51 viz. the second Death for as to bodily death the Psalmist saith What man is he that liveth and shall not see death Psal 89.48 We shall now enquire 1. What is meant by the second death 2. What is the great hurt thereof 3. Why Overcomers shall not be hurt by it Quest 1. What is the second death Answ Death sometimes signifies great afflictions and distresses Intreat the Lord your God says Pharaoh to Moses and Aaron that he may take away from me this death only Exod. 10.17 that is the judgment of the Locusts then upon him for being such Locusts as never was before nor should be after they might be a deadly annoyance to them as well as devour the fruits of the Earth So St. Paul speaks of Gods delivering him from a great death 2 Cor. 1.10 meaning an imminent danger which he calls a death because it was past means help and hope of delivery Such deaths he was in often 2 Cor. 11.23 which were either such sicknesses and persecutions in which there appeared no hope of escaping with life or such pains as were equivalent to the pangs of death But more particularly 1. Death is taken for the dissolution of nature dissolutio compositi so some define it the dissolving the earthly house of this Tabernacle 2. Cor. 5.1 A Tent or Tabernacle is destroyed not by consuming of the parts but by taking them asunder the death of the body is no annihilation but a dissolution of the parts of which man is compounded a cutting a-sunder the soul and the body This is the first death which the Apostle Paul desired I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. 1.23 The soul sleeps not when a man dies for then his wish had been vain upon his dissolution he could not have been with Christ but the union between the body and soul is cut a-sunder and the soul which wilst in the body was absent from the Lord is then absent from the body and present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5.8 This is that death all must pass under or something equivalent to it It is appointed for all men once to dye Heb. 9.27 Statutum est It is enacted in the Court of Heaven by a Statute-Law more sure than the Laws of the Medes and Persians which cannot be altered A sentence gone forth out of the mouth of God concerning all men never to be reversed Death passed upon all men for that all have sinned Rom. 5.12 2. Death is taken for Hell and destruction even the wrath of God inflicted upon them that are finally overcome by the enemies of their Souls Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death says the Apostle John Rev. 20.14 Men dead and buried before were now sent body and soul to Hell Rev. 21.8 Qu. 2. Wherein lies the great evil and hurt of the second death Answ It is altogether unexpressible and inconceivable Who knows the power of thine anger says David Psal 90.11 Let none be offended or affrighted at the opening of it A Sermon of Hell if rightly emproved may keep us from Hell The hurt and evil of the second death lies in Two things 1. There is paena damni the punishment of loss This is great and grievous for they who fall under it lose all good at once they lose Heaven that holy habitation that sedes beatorum the mansion and dwelling-place of all that are blessed When Tully was banished from Italy and Demosthenes from Athens they were so troubled that as oft as they looked towards those places they wept What is Italy and Athens and a thousand such places more if compared with Heaven Though here unsound Professors may have room in Gods sanctuary yet there will be no place for them in his Palace hereafter To be excluded hence will trouble and perplex them They lose the best dainties there seems to be eating and drinking in Heaven Christ will gird himself and make his Servants sit down to meat and will come forth and serve them Luke 12.37 They shall have flagons of Wine to comfort them and Christ will say to them eat O Friends and drink abundantly O beloved I take it spiritually in a far better way than can be here O the misery of them that shall never taste of the Supper of the Lamb of these refreshments in Heaven Poor men grieve when they are sent away empty from a rich mans Table much more sorrowful will they be who shall never eat of Christ's dainties In this also they lose the best inheritance Ahab was sick with grief when he could not enjoy Naboths inheritance as we read 1 Kings 21. It will make them head-sick and heart-sick also who shall be deprived of that incorruptible undefiled and never-fading inheritance reserved in Heaven for Overcomers for the Promise is He that overcometh shall inherit all things Rev. 21.7 Yea they lose the best company the society of Angels and Saints Here they despise their company then they would be glad of it but shall not have it How desirous was the rich man that Lazarus might be sent to him Luke 16. On Earth he despised him and in Hell desired his company but it could not be granted him a great gulph being fixed between them which would not permit it And which is yet worse they lose the company of God and Christ When Orpah was to part with Naomi her Mother-in-Law she lifted up her voice and wept Ruth 1.14 O how will they who shall be separated from God drench and even drown themselves in tears His gracious presence is the chief good of his creatures yet this is the first word of that dreadful sentence Christ at last pronounceth Depart from me Mat. 25.41 To go from him who hath the words of Eternal Life is the most bitter part of the second Death If Cain when banished from the Society of Saints where God was worshipped
People think Prayers long and Sermons long and Sabbaths long O what a Weariness are they to many But how long will an Eternal Hell be to such There they will be held down ever ever ever to feel the stroke of infinite power and wrath and though men will not believe this report yet their unbelief shall not make God a Liar for he hath said it and will surely perform it upon all them that live and dye overcome by the power of Sin Satan Antichrist and the World O! how glad would wicked men and women be could they blot out the word Eternal out of the Holy Scriptures but it cannot be Some think it cannot stand with the justice of God to punish men eternally for sins committed in time yet if men did consider what God is they would never make this objection If men did consider an infinite God is offended and justice requires that an infinite satisfaction be made men are finite and cannot receive an infinite punishment in time therefore justly suffer to all eternity Even men account it but a just and righteous thing to lay up those in Prison all their life or to take away the lives of those for ever from the earth who steal or break open Houses or kill men and wilfully murder though these acts were done in a very little time And may not God who is infinite justly inflict infinite torments The circumstance of the person against whom any act is done much aggravates or lessens the fault and so the punishment It 's more to strike a Prince than an ordinary man and deserves a greater punishment Sin is committed against an infinite Majesty therefore justly punished to all eternity Besides if men should live on earth for ever they would sin against God for ever and therefore may justly suffer for ever Some say thus Man sins in suo aeterno and therefore is justly punished in aeterno Dei There is in every sinner infinita voluntas peccandi a will to sin infinitely and that he doth not so is because God cuts the thred of his life who seeing this disposition in man is righteous in his eternal destruction Thus much may suffice to shew wherein the hurt of the second death lies viz. in a privation of good in an inundation of all evils shame sorrow the curse the worm the fire darkness despair the place the company and the eternity of all these This this is the hurt of the second death Quest 3. Why shall not those that overcome be hurt of the second death Answ Because Christ died for them not for an example only but in their room and stead when they were enemies sinners Christ died for them Rom. 5.8 10. He died not for his own sins he had no sin inherent in him he did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth 1 John 3.5 1 Pet. 2.22 Messiah shall be cut off but not for himself says the Prophet Dan. 9.26 but he was delivered for our offences Rom. 5. ult And he died not as a private person but as a second Adam the first Adam sinned not as a private person but as the head of all mankind in him all have sinned Rom. 5.12 So Christ died as the publick representative of all in him who therefore are said in the Scriptures to be crucified with him and dead with him vertually and this death which he submitted to for them was no natural no ordinary death but the very second Death the Text speaks of so far as God thought to be sufficient and as the excellency of his person was capable of so far as that Divine Justice is satisfied the Law fulfilled and all Enemies vanquished in the main and so broken as they shall never recover strength to conquer finally the weakest true Believer Though he did not despair nor endure his Sufferings eternally for being God-man his Deity made his Sufferings of infinite Value and Vertue though he was under them but for a time And 't is very probable he endured in his Agony in the Garden and upon the Cross even the whole of what Believers must else have been under for ever Great was the shame cast upon him He was a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with Grief even from his Cradle to his Cross from his Birth to his Burial He was made a Curse for them God his Father hid his face from him yea laid his severe hand of Justice and Wrath upon him He spared not his own Son but was pleased to bruise him and put him to grief O the pains he endured both in his Body and Soul His Soul was made an Offering for sin and he bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree Esay 57. 1 Pet. 2.24 And this that all true Believers might not be hurt by the second Death either in Body or Soul He underwent the Curse that they might inherit the Blessing He was wounded for their Transgressions that they through his Stripes might be healed He died this Death for them that they might live through him an Eternal Life I have read of a Bird which if it comes near a man who is troubled with the Yellow Jaundice it attracts the Disease to it self cures the sick person but the Bird dies Christ took our Nature and Sâ—n upon him dies for them that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting Life Now Christ having by his Blood given full Satisfaction God the great Creditor will not exact the same Debt twice of the Surety and of the Debtor too but they are reckoned to have discharged all in him to dye in him and rise in him and so to overcome in him and therefore cannot shall not be hurt of the second Death Vse 1. This Doctrine well considered and applied gives strong Consolation to all true Believers it is a great relief against the fears of outward Troubles and of bodily Death that King of Terrours and Terrour of Kings Though they may come under the smart of the first which yet the Lord can make easie to them yet they are free from the hurt of the second Death which is indeed the sting of the first The sting of Death is Sin this they overcome in Christ A Fly makes as great a noise as a Bee yet we fear it not so much because it hath no Sting So here Death hath lost its Sting as to true Believers though it may terrific Nature yet it shall not prove deadly to them Christ threatens some that he will kill their Children with Death Rev. 2.23 Some are killed with Death all dye even the good as well as the wicked but all are not killed with Death Death proves not deadly to any true Believer A good man once said That he did Aegrotare vitaliter so all holy men and women do Mori vitaliter Death lays its hand upon all but the time cometh when this hand shall be cut off even at the Resurrection but no Power farther than to carry to the Grave and
Christ saith I will ransome them from the power of the Grave I will redeem them from Death Hos 13.14 It cannot deliver them over to wrath or carry a good man in Chains to the Prison of Hell This is to be killed with Death A Believer may say O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory through Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15.56 57. Once past the first Death you are for ever free from all fear of Death This Life is on this account miserable that it is in fear of Death hanging over it every moment What is your Life saith St. James it is a Vapour that now is and quickly vanishes away Jam. 4.13 14. But after this no more fear of Death to a true Christian And to make the Joy of such full there is a Meiosis in this Text when it is said they shall not be hurt of the second Death it implies that they shall be called to a blessed and immortal Life Not only not ashamed but have boldness and confidence before Christ at his coming not only sorrow and sighing will flee away but everlasting Joy shall be upon their heads not only free from the Curse but shall hear a Come ye blessed not only no Despair but no doubting yea a perpetual Plerophory and full Assurance of their happy state not only no Worm of an accusing Conscience but the testimony of an absolving Conscience which will be a continual Feast not only no Torments of Hell but the Pleasures of Heaven not only no Canaanites in that Land no Devil no wicked men but the Society of holy Angels and Saints and God's glorious Presence to all Eternity Why should not all sincere Believers comfort themselves and one another with these things and that in the worst of times A Martyr being offered Life if he would renounce the Truth answered Can you give me Eternal Life And being threatned with Death for refusal he said You cannot bring me under the second Death you cannot put me to Eternal Death You can kill my Body but that 's all you can do I must fear to offend him that can destroy Body and Soul in Hell Better it is saies he that I have a little Wormwood in my Mouth a while than to have my Bowels filled with it for ever Oh! how would the Improvement of this Text and Truth support and comfort a Christian in the saddest conditions he may be called to pass through in this world Vse 2. Is it thus that Overcomers shall not be hurt of the second Death Then let us all make out for true Faith in Jesus Christ for this is the Victory whereby we overcome the World and all that is in the World even our Faith 1 John 5.4 This is the first Resurrection which whosoever hath a part in is blessed If you ask wherein are such blessed The Text tells you Rev. 20.6 On such the second death hath no power Some understand this of Romish Idolatries and Superstitions for it is said If any man worship the Beast and his Image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy Angels and in the presence of the Lamb And they have no rest night nor day who worship the Beast and his Image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name which implies say they that those who live and dye under the dominion of those Antichristian abominations in Doctrine Worship and Practice and rise not by true Faith in Christ and Repentance towards God will fall under the power of the second death 'T is said every living soul died in the Sea for it became as the Blood of a dead man when the Vial was poured out upon it Revel 16.3 Whence some have concluded that those under the Romish Jurisdiction who live and dye under the full Dominion and Practice of their Idolatrous wicked Doctrines and Worship cannot be saved But others take this first Resurrection to be meant of a Spiritual quickning to a Divine Life the Dead hear the Voice of the Son of God in the Gospel and live this is when Faith is first wrought which is the beginning of the Soul's life and strength the first born of graces the bond of Union between Christ and Believers and so brings all the strength and Grace of Christ into their hearts for Christ and all his Fulness dwelleth there by Faith and by that is derived to the Soul to enable it to overcome all its Enemies Where this is not wrought Sin and Satan do conquer and utterly destroy the Soul If ye believe not that I am he ye shall dye in your sins saies Christ to the Jews Joh. 8.21 24. Should any one come and tell us You shall die in a Ditch or in a Goal it would sound harshly in our ears but for Christ to say Ye shall dye in your sins is yet more dreadful For a man may die in a Ditch or in a Prison and yet go to Heaven but if any one die under the full power of Sin and Satan a dead Dog is better than he it had been good for that man he had never been born for he drops presently into Hell and the Second Death hath an irrecoverable Power over him he can never get from under it because all his Sins will be laid upon him If a Debtor be Arrested and cast into Prison no sooner do his Creditors understand it but they come and bring in their several Actions that a man must lye there all his days Thus if the first Death Arrest us and we under the full Dominion of sin Satan comes in Conscience comes in the Law comes in yea God himself comes in all come in and lay Action upon Action against us and there we must lye till the last Mite be paid which because we can never do we must lye there to all Eternity We live in very dying Times and none can tell how soon the thred of his Life may be cut If we look not diligently to it we shall dye in our sins and so be undone for ever O let us look and get true Faith for it is he that believes that overcomes and he that overcomes shall not be hurt of the Second Death SERMON III. REV. II. 17. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and will give him a white stone and in the stone a new name written which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it WE have here another of those excellent Promises made to Overcomers It is the concluding words of that Epistle to the Church in Pergamos as in the 12th Verse is evident Some say this was a great City distant from Jerusalem Two hundred and twenty eight miles very populous but very wicked Hence we
health to a whole Land The Inhabitant of the Land shall not say I am sick the Land shall be free from infectious pestilential and Epidemical Diseases How comes this about The People that dwell therein shall be forgiven their Iniquity Esay 33.24 Oh this is that which sweetens all other Comforts and Contentments as the want of it imbitters all our sweet things What are we the better for House Land Silver and Gold when our Sin is not pardoned when the Curse and Wrath of God hangs over our heads and is ready in this condition to fall upon us and arrest us every moment to draw us to Hell for ever But then Mercies are Mercies indeed when they come to us in the stream of Christ's Blood with a Pardon in their hand Hence Believers are taught to pray Give us this day our dayly Bread and forgive us our sins to shew that our Bread is sweet when it comes with pardoning Mercy God had given David the healing his Diseases and crowned him with loving Kindness and tender Mercies What made it so but forgiving Mercy First he sets down that Who forgiveth all thine Iniquities then follow the other Mercies Psal 103.2 3 4. Pardoning Mercy is Crowning Mercy Yea this fits us for holy Duties Prayer or Sacraments as sin unpardoned makes God hide his face that he will not hear or appear to the Soul It turns Prayer into Sin and Sacraments into Sin So if this be taken away the person is accepted and then all Duties are accepted and God will be seen in them to the Soul and give it communion with himself In a word this fits us for a Suffering state and time How will the sense of Pardon that assures a man he shall never be cast into Hell-fire make him even willingly embrace and submit to a Fiery Trial for Christ's sake It prepares for Death whether natural or violent All must die and as a mans Death is such is his Doom As Death leaves us Judgment findes us Job prayed earnestly for the white Stone of Absolution as it is an excellent preparative for his Dissolution And why dost thou not pardon my sin for now shall I sleep in the dust Job 7.21 As if he had said Lord my great Afflictions seem to hasten on my great change and therefore now especially I beg the pardon of my sin and the sense of it unto my Soul and then I am prepared to sleep in the dust We should not lye down in our Beds much less in our Graves with sin unpardoned If that be taken away no matter how soon we dye Feri Domine feri tantum ignosce mihi peccatum said Luther Smite me Lord smite as thou wilt though by sharp Afflictions or Death all is welcome if sin be forgiven This is that the Lord here promiseth to victorious Christians when he saith He will give them the white Stone 3. Anew name written in the Stone is the third and last of those special Favours promised to Overcomers in the Text. There are some that take it to be an Allusion to that Custome of giving Stones to men with their Names written on them as Tickets shewing them such as should be admitted to those Solemn Feasts held in honour of those that were Victorious in their sacred Games Then the meaning is that Christ will give conquering Christians a privy Mark whereby they may be known and admitted to the Heavenly Banquet of the hidden Manna as welcome Guests And O! how high a Favour is it to carry the Privy-Seal of Heaven about us To have a Token that we shall be taken up to the Marriage-Supper of the Lamb when others shall not taste of those Dainties But most take the new Name here to be Filius Dei an Adopted Son of God and make it an Allusion to that of Isaiah 65.15 God shall call his Servants by another Name A name better than the name of Sons and Daughters For by this they are Called and Translated out of the old family of Sin and Satan to be of the Family of God of the houshold of Faith a Priviledge far excelling the civil Adoption in use among men for he takes many Sons and brings them to Glory a man but one And when he hath done that he cannot communicate his own Likeness to him But God with the new Name gives a new Nature with the Spiritual Adoption conveys a Principle of the Divine Nature 2. Pet. 1.4 If a man adopts it is either because he hath no Son of his own or else because his Son is prodigal and disobedient but God had a Son from all Eternity one who never displeased or disobliged him in thought word or deed So that this new Name giving is an act of free and rich Grace Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God 1 Joh. 3.1 If men Adopt it is but to some earthly Inheritance But God gives an Inheritance in light incorruptible undefiled that never fadeth away reserved in Heaven for them 1 Pet. 1.4 So that all his Children are Heirs Heirs of God and Joint-heirs with Christ Roman 8.17 Heirs of the Promises Heb. 6.17 Heirs of the Righteousness which is by Faith Heb. 11.7 Heirs of Salvation of the Kingdom of Heaven Heb. 1. ult Jam. 2.5 They have a glorious Liberty called The Liberty of the Sons of God Rom. 8.21 A Liberty from sins Dominion and Pollution from the Covenant and Curse of the Law from the Power of Satan the World and Death They have a gracious Access to God their Father I will arise and go to my Father saies the Prodigal Luk. 15. And his pity in all their Troubles As a Father pities his Children so the Lord pities them that fear him Psal 103.13 They have access with boldness to the Throne of Grace and have his eye his ear his heart and his hand We read of a Child who finding himself not well ran to his Father and cried out My head my head 2 King 4.19 Thus may God's Children go to him and say My head my heart Oh! this ignorant head Father enlighten it Oh this carnal heart Father spiritualize it Oh this dead hard earthly divided heart of mine Father quicken soften make Heavenly and compose it unite my heart to fear thy Name Yea as a Father spares his obedient Son so the Lord will spare his As a man spares his own Son that serves him Malac. 3.17 If he correct them it is in love and in measure and he will provide for them here Your Heavenly Father knoweth you have need of all these things Matt. 6. Jesus Christ is your Brother he is not ashamed to call you Brethren the Angels are your Guard the King's Son hath the Nobles and Peers of the Realm to wait upon him The Angels are all Ministring Spirits sent forth for their good yea you shall be ever with your Father The Son abides in the house for ever John 8. as that
nothing but because it is but a shew they are indeed the more indigent and necessitous 4. From the riches of his own Grace verse 18. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that thou maist be rich c. Would men come off in good earnest to Jesus Christ and cleave to him in faithfulness they need not make such poor shifts as they do they need not make such formal counterfeit shews as they do to bear up their heads in the world he would enrich them to purpose they need not be ashamed to walk in the midst of their Enemies who wait to see their shame he would cloath them effectually 5. From an insinuating motion if they will not he must take another course with them if they will not come home willingly he must fetch them home with a rod As many as I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent ver 19. as if he had said if there be no other remedy though he dearly loved them yet he must rebuke and chasten them therefore as they would avoid this chastisement let them be more zealous 6. From his own importunity the longing desire he had to do good to their Souls Behold I stand at the door and knock c. vers 20. as if he had said How fain would I bless your Souls with real blessings How fain would I make over my grace and love to you but you deprive your selves of it by your Hypocrisy and Neutrality Behold I come once more to your doors and stand and knock if any man will open to me I will come in and sup with him and he with me 7. From the great honour and dignity he would raise those up to that overcome these predominant evils This is laid down in the Text the sum of which take in this proposition Doct. That as Christ overcame and sate down with his Father on his Throne so all Overcomers shall fit down with Christ in his Throne Here are three parts 1. That Christ overcame 2. Having so done he sate down in his Fathers Throne 3. All Overcomers shall sit down with him on his Throne Bra. 1. Christ overcame It is he that speaks these words in the Text I overcame All he encountred with he got Victory over He grapled with Satan and overcame him He ouercame him says the Scripture that had the power of death that is the Devil Heb. 2.14 This Seed of the Woman hath broke that Serpents head Gen. 3.15 The head is the place of policy in man of power in other creatures Christ hath got all the power and policy of Satan and crushed it under his feet The Apostle saith Colos 2.14 He spoiled Principalities and Powers That is the whole Host of Hell with all their train of Attillery were utterly divested of all their destroying power He overcame sin coming in the likeness of sinful flesh condemned sin in the flesh Rom. 8.3 so that it cannot condemn any in Christ Rom. 8.1 He overcame them by bearing them away as the word signifies 1 Pet. 2.24 An allusion to the ceremony of the Scape-goat over whose head were confessed the sins of the Children of Israel and the Goat let go into the Wilderness Levit. 16.21 22. This shadowed Christ upon whom God laid the iniquities of all his people who so bare them as to bear them away One sin sunk the Angels that kept not their first estate into their present misery and they can never overcome it yet Christ hath subdued all the iniquities of his people and cast them into the depth of the Sea Mich. 7.19 He overcame the world I have overcome the world says he John 16 33. He overcame the good things of the world by being dead to them when they sought to make him a King he withdrew himself He overcame the evil things thereof by the invincible courage and patience of his life for he meekly endured the contradictions of sinners against himself and by the victorious power of his death when he seemed to be overcome but did never conquer more eminently than by it and the consequences of it He hath overcome the justice and wrath of God by giving satisfaction out of Christ it hath a dreadful quarrel and implacable controversy and Believers are often under fears of these but Christs blood hath made it their friend In Christ God sits with a Rainbow round about his Throne Rev. 4.3 When God smelt a sweet savour of rest from Noahs Sacrifice he promised never to drown the world again and as a token he would be mindful of his Covenant he put his Rain-bow in the Clouds So in Christ there is a Rain-bow about Gods Throne his Bench of Judicature is turned into a Throne of Grace Christ overcame the. Law by fulfilling it He obeyed the precepts of it Though he was the Law-maker yet he was made under the Law Gal. 4. He was circumcised and so became a debtor to do the whole Law which he perfectly fulfilled and is in that sense the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth Rom. 10.4 He endured the penalties of it also by submitting to the curse of it Gal. 3.13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law being made a curse for us To be under the Law is a state full of danger and terror Believers many times fear it will put in a black bill of indictment against them but Christs blood hath blotted out the hand-writings against them They are not under the Law as to its envenomed curses and intollerable penalties The Law it self to every true Believer is non-suited as one faith well by the death of the Law-maker He overcame also death and the grave Not so destroyed it that Believers shall not dye but unstinged it that it shall not destroy eternally Hence the Apostles triumphant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15.55 57. When a Bee hath fastned her sting in a mans flesh and so lost it she ever after they say turns a Drone Death once fastned its sting in Christ who overcame the venom of it and ever since it hath been like a Drone it may hum and affright but not really hurt a true Believer Death is very strong it overcomes the mighty Monarchs and Potentates of the Earth and and none can stand before it yet Christ overcame it even upon its own ground It got him into the prison of the grave but could not keep him there it was not possible for him to be holden by it Acts 2.24 And though it is the last Enemy that shall be destroyed yet Death shall he swallowed up of Victory 1 Cor. 15.26.54 Thus we see that Christ overcame the Enemies either by reconciling them or disarming them either by making them friends or leaving them impotent Enemies Bra. 2. After he had thus overcome he sate down with his
he cannot say he shall never be sick again for he may have further Distempers and be sick again even of the same Distemper yea and be brought low by it So I may say here A Believer after he hath gotten a particular Victory over his Enemies yet cannot say I shall never be assaulted again by this or that Lust or Temptation For that may be and thou be brought low thereby Be not secure but watchful But here lies the great Comfort though a man may be under the same Affliction that he hath formerly been recovered from yea and dye of it also yet I may assure all true Believers That their Sickness is not unto Death as Christ said of Lazarus It may bring them low but never to hurt them by the Second Death You cannot say as Alexander Veni vidi vici I came I saw I overcame but you may he exercised by these Enemies all your Life and some have had the sharpest Combat in their dying hours yet always true Believers go off Conquerors We read of a great Victory obtained by Israel over the Syrians yet at the return of the year the Syrians made another Invasion though it was to their utter Overthrow 1 King 20. Your Spiritual Enemies are like the Syrians though they be often baffled yet they will renew their Assaults But as Joshua made his Captains set their feet upon the necks of those Kings Josh 10.24 So will Christ your Captain and Champion who hath already won the Field cause you to tread down the wicked wicked Lusts wicked Men and Satan that wicked one As ashes under the soles of your feet Mal. 4.3 Let us all labour to be Overcoming that we may get Christ's Grant to sit with him in his Throne Vincenti dabitur Look to get a principle of true Faith this is the Victory whereby we Overcome even our Faith if we fail of the truth of this Grace our enemies will utterly ruine us Instead of sitting with Christ in his Throne we shall be thrown out by Christ upon the Dunghil and the Devil will everlastingly triumph over us What will not men venture upon for Thrones and Kingdoms Shall not a place in Christ's own Throne animate us to this holy War To Conclude You that are true Believers you have begun to be Victorious Go on Conquering and to Conquer To this end 1. Beware of Divisions Divide Impera Divide and Rule An Army divided is easily routed Our Divisions give our Enemies great advantage as we have seen by sad Experience It was said of old Dum singuli pugnant omnes vincuntur whilst they fought single they were all Overcome Union is our strength O that at length Christians would study to joyn Hearts and Hands against the Enemies It was good Policy in Joab when he saw the Enemy had beset them before and behind he said to his Brother If the Syrians he too strong for me then thou shalt help me but if the Children of Ammon be too strong for thee then I will come and help thee 2 Sam. 10.11 So should Christians say to each other If Corruptions be too strong for us you shall come and help us and if Temptations be too strong for you we will come and help you This would much weaken the hands of our Enemies and make us more and more Victorious 2. Give Christ the glory of every Victory and he will give us to go on yet Conquering and to Conquer I have read of a Victory called Victoria Hallelujetica it was on this occasion The Saxons here in England being to engage the Britains the Leader of the Britains having his Army in Dales and Valleys ordered them to cry Hallelujah which they did and through the Eccho of the Voice in the Valleys the Enemy apprehended the number to be more than they were and through fear fled Let Heaven and Earth ring again with the Eccho of your Praises for the beginnings of Victory and the Enemy will flee before you 3. Above all Go out against them as David did against Goliah in the Name of the Lord. Austin being troubled he long fought against a Corruption could not overcome it thought he heard a Voice saying to him In te stas non stas Thou standest in thy self and therefore thou standest not Say with the Psalmist I will go in the strength of the Lord I will make mention of thy Righteousness only Psal 71.16 David with a Sling and a Stone acting Faith in the Name of God prevailed against the Enemy but Adam though without sin standing in himself was Overcome Believers you have a good Second a strong Champion Jesus Christ God hath laid Help upon this Mighty One Rely on him alone that through him you may have Victory and so inherit these Promises And if these be not enough 't is said Rev. 21.7 He that Overcometh shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son FINIS