〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Theophylact upon the Text. He endured the conflict and in and by him gained the victory or as Chrysostome expresseth it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ille pugnaâ—â— sustinuit nos coronis triumphis suis ornavit P. Martyr Rev. 4. 10 11. Ezek. 21. 26 27. He got the victory and let us wear the Crown But shall not then humble and thankful ingenuity cast down our Crowns at his feet or rather set them on his head whose right it is and say thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created all is by him and from him and therefore let the praise of all be to him for ever It was 1. His death which gave death its deadly wound and by death be destroyed him who had the power of death Heb. â— 14. which is the Devil And this As most gloriously whilest thus in his greatest weaknesse he foileth Satan in his greatest strength vincit dum 2 Cor. 13. 4 vincitur when as a weak man he is overcome of death as the mighty Almighty God hee overcometh both death and him that had the power of it and on the very Crosse made a shew Coloss 2. 15. Musculus Rom. 6. 23. of him openly when he himself was there made a spectacle So most justly for seeing death is the wages onely of sinne he most righteously forfeited that his power and authority by inflicting death on him who 2 Cor 5. 21 knew no sin and thus Jeroboams arm 1 Kin. 13. 4 In Epitaph Nepot Vt Hydrus Crocodilum interficit P. Dammian li. 2. ep 18. Dentes infringes in nimis solido concoquere non poteris sed sicut Danielis bolo Babylonius draco eruciaberis crepabis Del Rio Adagial pag. 250. drieth up when stretched out to lay hold on Gods Prophet and the waspish angry Bee fastening her sting where shee should not hath lost both it and her life together This made Hierom insult over death illius morte tu mortua es devorasti deâ—orata es but withall he blesseth Christ for it Gratias tibi Christe Salvator quod tam potentem adversarium nostrum dum occideris occidisti its most just that death should die for seising on the Lord of Life who never deserved it and although we did yet just too that we should be delivered seeing our Surety hath satisfied And thus our blessed Redeemer by being lifted up on the Crosse fought with these our enemies from the higher ground and so mortally wounded their head and that spear which pierced his heart brake this string which else would have wounded ours in hoc signâ— vinces so that however other Souldiers are wont to be dismaied at the death of their Captains yet we are delivered and so animated by the death of ours his death is our life therefore let him have that praise which he purchased at so dear a price 2. His Resurrection is both the cause and pledge of ours 1 Cor. 15. 20 21. hath a speciall influence into our justification Rom. 4. 25. 8. 34. affording faith by which we are justified Rom. 5. 1. a sure handhold in that it clearly manifesteth that he had paid the debt when the prisoner was set free satisfied Gods Justice when the arrest of death was taken off and then O death where iâ— thy sting and by opening his own grave had done as much for ours and then O grave Ezek. 37. 12. where is thy victory 3. The imputation of his sufferings death and unrighteousnesse is that which in our justification takes off Gods revenging wrath and the condemning guilt of sin which our Apostle saith is the sting of death and so he saveth us from going down into the pit or at least bringeth us up out of it because he hath found a ransome Job 33. 24. 4. It is the grace of his Spirit by which we are enabled to mortifie the the deeds and lusts of the flesh Rom. 8. 13. which was another sting of sin and so of death which the finger of the Spirit of Christ only take's out It is not our strongest purposes or resolutions that will be able to over-master these enemies a foul sore til it be indeed healed will run though we say it shall not Nor will the Heathens and Philosophers Purgative virtues cleanse this sink in which the best of them so foully wallowed Nor the Papists Purgatories penances watchings whippings lousie shirts or S. Francis his kissing Bonavent in ejus vita cap. 2. or licking of Lepers sores which will cleanse this fretting leprosie The poor woman in the gospel after she had spent all she had on other miserable Physicians could not get her Mark 5. 25. 26 27. issue of blood stopped till she got a touch of Christs garment Porphyric himself confesseth that nothing else can effect this cleansing sola principia Morn de veritat Rel. cap. 27 hanc purgationâ— perficere possuÌ„t By which Principia some conceive were meant the 3 Persons in the blessed Trinity but whatsoever he meant by them I am sure it was the blood of the sacrifice Lev. 14. 14. 15 16. and the oil that cleanseth the Leper in the Law and that by them was meant the blood of Christ and the grace of his Spirit which alone hath power to cleanse and heal both them then and us now under the Gospel 5. They are also the consolations and comforts of the same Spirit of Christ which are the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Lenitives which actually formally take away all that pain and anguish which the sting of sin and death make Gal. 5. 22. Rom. 14. 17. in our consciences such joy and peace are fruits of this spirit and spring from no other root It is the Lord Joh. 10. 11. See Ainsworth on Gen. 25. 2. Jesus who is our good Shepherd and as it is the good Shepherds work and office first to feed his sheep and then secondly to make them lie down and rest so he onely doeth both these to our souls feedeth us in green pastures Psal 23. 2. and makes us lie down at noon yea and at night too Cant. 1. 7. the first in our life time and the other event in death and thence no sting in death to a good Christian 6. Finally it will be his last glorious appearing at the bright lustre whereof the shadow of death will then quite vanish and death it self which till then had continued and prevailed and just then having cut down all before it had as it were completed its conquest shall then for ever be swallowed up in victory And thus we see our Christ who is our all from first to last in this Col. 3. 11. great atchievement of our victory over death put down all and therefore to him most deservedly let be all the praise and if the Philistims when
Rom. 6. 14. From the beeing and inexistence of sin at death Heb. 12. 23. And from death it self which is left last as least hurtful at the resurrection 1 Cor. 15. 26. 54. and it is abundantly enough for our comfort that if not in this life yet at death or to be sure at that last day we shall have the full 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and perfect accomplishment of this great work when Christs rescue of us shall be compleat and death our last enemy shall be wholly and for ever swallowed up in victory And this is the first Negative Death hath not lost its sting so as that believers should never die 2. Nor so neither that at their death they should never feel any kind of smart and pain by the sting of it Isa 38. 3. You heard that Hezekiah then wept sore and you read partly how poor and partly what desperate shifts even Abraham Gen. 12. 12 13. 20. 2. 11. and David 1 Sam. 21. 12 13. and Peter Matth. 26. 70. 72. 74. three of the Scriptures greatest worthies the first famous for faith the second for valour the third for boldnesse in the cause of Christ were driven to through fear of it and sad instances of latter times have shown that when many secure obdurate sinners have died as you use to say like lambs some of the true sheep of Christs pasture have been then half worried by this evening wolf in such evenings these frogs of the insernal pit oft croak aloud and Belzebubs flies then swarm apace Satan when now to be cast out teareth most in Israels Mar. 2. 26. Exod. 14. 5 6 7 c. Exodus or out-gate from Egypt Pharaoh pursueth with all his Charets because if then once gone they will be out of his reach for ever the Devil cometh down with greatest wrath Rev. 12. 12. Deut. 25. 17. 18. because then he hath least time and when Israel is weak Amalek must fall on the Rear and do something now or never And hence it hath been that possibly you may have over-heard some dying Saints groans to have been very deep and seen their death-beds as Davids Couch watred and swimming with tears Especially Psal 6. 6. if Either guilt of sin be then charged on the conscience as not pardoned Or some defilement of sinne then discovered and aggravated if our faith then stumble our hearts will sink and fall and be much bruised against the gates of death a body of Rom. 7. 24 death will then lie very heavy on the weak sick man now hasting to his bodily death and that sin which so defile's him that he cannot with freedome and serenity of spirit at other times appear before God in duty will more abash him when now he is to appear before him in death to receive his doom And thus far for the Negative death hath not lost its sting but partly doth and partly may retain it as to true believers 2. But for the Affirmative so as that in this life at death and at the resurrection they may with Paul in the Text ask where is it For In the General it is but this outward life that death can seise on as our Saviour said of other enemies so may we of this our last enemy it can kill onely the body and after that hath Lu. 12. 4. nothing more that it can doe Obj. Or if you say that it was before granted that it can and sometimes doth sting their souls also Answ All I answer is that thanks be to God yet it is not mortally for on such the second death hath no power Rev. 20. 6. and then if they escape that second death this first to them is but Larva mortis as he calls it but a grim vizard of death in the Scripture account is reckoned for no death indeed for whosoever believeth in me saith our Saviour Iohn 11. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 shall not die for ever so in the Original which our last Translators not unfitly but as the Greek phrase will bear read it shall never die if not for ever faith construeth it never though I die temporally yet Scripture calleth it a sleep rather then death if I doe not die eternally This in the general But more particularly this sting of death is taken away from believers 1. In this life partly in justification and partly in sanctification for the Apostle in the words following the Text telleth us that the sting of death is sin and sin sting's us both in its terrifying condemning guilt binding over to punishment and in its enslaving power and pollution 1. Now the first wee are freed from in our justification there is then peace Rom. 5. 1. and no condemnation Rom. 8. 1. we are passed from death unto life 1 Iohn 3. 14. the destroying Angel passeth over and strike's not when the door-posts and lintel are first struck with the blood Exod. 12. 12 13. Luk. 2 29 30. of the Paschal Lamb. And how chearfully then doth old Simeon sing his Nunc dimittis when he hath got his Saviour in his arms and his eyes have seen Gods salvation There is no sting of death that he complaineth of the kisses of Christs mouth have sucked that out from a justified Believer and then although the shadow of death should sit on my eye-lids as they did on Iobs yet if Job 16. 16. I can but then discover the eye-lids of the morning but the first and least Job 41. 18. out-lookings of Heaven upon my soul in pardon and peace especially if broad day light and the more glorious shine of the Sunne Mal. 4. 2. of righteousnesse how painful soever deaths sting might otherwise have been my Phoebus is my Physitian so that there will be full healing under his wings and O death where is then thy sting 2. And as for the defiling pollution and enthralling power of sinne though it bee as painfull as the very guilt of it is as a prick in the flesh sting's deep and prick's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 12. 7. the very heart Acts 2. 37. yet a Believer in this life hath an healing plaister for this wound also from the spirit of grace in his sanctification and how quickly doth a clean wound heal with how little pain doth a formerly well-ordered body die and with how much lesse doth a soul not Philosophically purged but spiritually sanctified depart from this earthly tabernacle which is so subject to be foul and the very sweeping raiseth a dust our repentings not being without new defilings Death is not dolorous when my death and my sin do not meet but so part that when the one cometh the other is gone for ever and how doth the undefiled Dove which had before lien among the pots then shine and glister when now in her flight to Heaven the Sunne of righteousnesse shines on her wings which are covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold That I
painful sting of death in the two former particulars then in this third is the very poison of it That as the sting of a Bee may be very painful but This is the Hornet and Scorpion This Scorpions sting in the tail as those Rev. 9. 10. in the end of our life is most deadly as they use to say Maximè mortiferi morsus bestiarum morientium the biting of a dying beast is most deadly the sting of death if dipt in the venome of Gods wrath is both intolerable and incurable That facies Hypocratica which Physicians speak of of a spent dying man looks very ghastly but no sight in all the world more dreadful than to see an awakened dying sinner as a Saul Judas Francis Spira c. conflicting with death and sin and the law and Gods curse and wrath altogether If in a dying houre in stead of Gods reviving smile the sinner meeteth with his deadly frown so that when death hath made his grave his sin like a massie grave-stone Isa 24. 20. lie heavy upon him how miserably is that poor wretch pressed to death and how deadly is that groan when you may hear him sighing out his soul with this saddest mone Oh! I am so sick that I cannot live and yet woful wretch that I am Dr. Harris so sinful that I dare not die Oh that I might live Oh that I might die O that I might doe neither At non sic abibunt odia Friend you shall doe both because you are a sinner you must die but because you die in your sin you shall live in torment to eternity 4. For that is the last and worst sting of death which thrusts the sword in to the hilts that it is such a sting quo mortales ex hac vitâ Del-Rio Adag pag. 250. expellens ad mortem secundam exstimulat that this first death when come if better care be not before taken will prick us on and thrust us into a second for so was the tenor of the first sentence In dying thou shalt die So that one death Gen. 2. 17. leadeth on to another the first to the second that whatever it be which the unpardoned sinner suffereth in the first death it is but the beginning Matth. 24. 8. Deut. 32. 22. of sorrowes the fire now kindled will burn to the lowest hell for so we read of death mounted on his pale horse and hell following him Rev. 6 8. and that was in the time of the See C. à Lapide in Hos 13. 14 Gospel and not onely of the Law that after death cometh judgement Heb. 7. 29. and that when the body returneth to the dust the spirit shall return unto God who gave it Eccles 12. 7. if not to him as a Father to be received into his bosome then as to a Judge to receive its everlasting doom and if as the Apostle saith the Devil hath the power of death Heb. 2. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Targum habet imperium mortis Grotius you may easily gather that with some death and hell are not farre asunder and although he helped the Heathen to put out of their mindes the dreadfulnesse of it by the dream of their Elysian fields as he doth the Turks now by that of their Paradise yet to an awakened sinner now at the point of death to bee but in danger of it as not knowing whither he shall go leaveth him at a woful losse but if as they say of the Molle he hath then first his eyes open and so cometh to see himself now on the brow of the the hill and from that precipice now certainly falling into the lake of fire and brimstone he giveth himself utterly lost for ever And thus in all these four respects we see that death hath his sting 2. And Hades or the grave hath 2. Prov. 30. 15. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen. 5. 24. 2 Kings 2. 11. 1 Cor. 15. 51. Immutatio illa species mortis erit Beza in Heb. 9. 27. or will have the victory it being that open Sepulchre which still crieth Give Give till it have swallowed up all for it is appointed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for all men once to die Heb. 9. 27. even Enochs and Elijahs assumption and the change of those who shall be found alive at the last day being a kinde of death and an analogicall dissolution so that death having one age after another as it were mowed down the whole field of the world and as a last enemy having conquered all the great Conquerors of the earth and with them vanquished all else and still keeping the field will have thereby obtained a complete victorie 1. In thus bringing down all 2. So as never to have risen more as some conceive had it not been for Christ who as he is the Resurrection and the Life John 11. 25. so by him onely either as Head or Judge is the resurrection from the dead 1 Cor. 15. 21. 3. And yet further so as that the most of them that rise again shall presently sink down again into eternal death and so this sting prove's that worm which never dieth where the fire never goeth out Mark 9. 48. Igne quasi salietur vide Brugensem in locum Myrothec in John 3. 36. but where the sacrifice is salted with fire ver 49. burn's but consume's not fire being of a burning but salt of a preserving nature Perdit sed non disperdit cruciat ita ut nunquam perimat as Camero somewhere expresseth it So that to them the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will answer the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it will be both in victoriam and in perpetuum and so a signal and a final victory Now confider this ye that forget Vse Psa 50. 22. 1 King 14. 6. God for as the Prophet said to Jeroboams wife I am sent to you with heavy tidings this day if there be such a four-forked sting in death as we have seen in the former particulars then to you who are not as yet made partakers of the grace of 1 Pet. 3. 7. life here is matter of 1. Fear 2 Care First of Fear and O that the Vse 1 consideration of this sting might now prick your hearts kindly that the sting it self may not at last mortally wound them Seneca according to his surly Stoical Principle would perswade himself and others that it is ill to desire death but worse to fear it But the Word of God teacheth us that such as they have no cause to desire it but great cause heartily to fear it and that by reason of their fear of it they are all their life time subject to bondage Heb. 1. 15. Whence it is that 1. In their health and life they cannot endure their thoughts being fears seriously to think of it Like them who put far away the evil Amos 6. 3 4 5. 6. day and for that purpose chaunted to the sound of
Prov. 1. 13. 19. maintain a sharking life yea and those braver sparks in former and latter warres if it be not for God and their Countrey in a good cause way intention but that they may goe out in the blaze of a proud affectation of bravery and renown But Solomon though it may be not so stout and hardy a Souldier yet a far wiser man may See Mercer and Baynus in locum Prov. 21. 6 assure them and that from the Spirit of God that such rufflings and bravery are but a vanity tossed to and fro of them that seek death It is an undoing gain to break their arm by catching at a feather to lose their precious lives and souls for such unjust spoils a vanity tossed to and fro like straws and feathers which neither in their bodies soules estate name posterity they are the better for but in all every way the worse which will therefore appear to have been a very bad bargain at their last reckoning as it will also be found by those other who account it their gallantry readily and chearfully to breathe their last if thereby they may gain the vain breath of popular applause too great a price for so mean a purchase and too daring a brave if they would consider that deaths sting is sharper then their enemies sword point Such should first Suetonius in Nerone with Nero feel the point of the ponyard before they stab themselves with it and get themselves more fit for death and this sting of it taken out before they thus fool-hardily venture upon it otherwise what was said then to Nero usque adeone mori misorum est was but cool comfort to his fainting heart in that agony So Tacitus of Vitellius praeterita instantia futura parâ— oblivione dimiserat mirum apud ipsum de bello filentium prohibitâ— per levitatem sermones Psal 90. 12 4. There is a fourth sort of men not so daring as the former but every way as secure who yet are most heartily afraid of it but therefore labour to put away all thoughts of it their habitually being afraid puts them upon all means by which they may prevent and banish all actuall fears and so they feast without fear Jud. 12. Tell over their cash that they may not be troubled with numbring their dayes Lye down and sleep on their heaps and then dream of goods laid up for manâ—â—ears Lu. 12. 19. and of Lands and Houses to endure to all generations Psal 49. 11. But is it the way to overcome an enemy to get as farre as we can from him or never to think of him or by shutting my eyes to keep the Bees from stinging me Although these men sleep yet their judgement slumbreth not Death mean while 2 Pet. 2. 3. maketh his approaches and so is upon them before they are aware and then their covenant with death is disanull'd Isa 28. 18. and their agreement with hell will not stand then thou fool this night is a dreadful sound in their eares when in his prosperity the destroyer Job 15. 21. cometh upon him when it cometh in the dead of the night when they slept so securely and never Exod. 12. 29 30. dream't of it as Egypts cry for their dead at midnight was very dreadful and Laish is so much the Jude 18. more affrighted at such an enemies approach by how much further off she was from thoughts of him but how much more comfortable and happy would it be to prevent those after sinking terrors of death by present more safe and saving feares of it An answerable care to prepare Vse 2 Heb. 11. 7. for it as Noah moved with fear prepared an Ark 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Philosopher feare should stand Sentinel is the consultive and watchful affection as the fearful Hare sleepeth they say with her eyes open O that ours could so look about us that seeing those of us that are young may die soon and they that are old cannot live long the ripe apple will drop down of it self and the green may be soon pluckt or shaken down that when it may be on the sudden we are gotten into the gloomy shadow of death our feet may not stumble on Jer. 13. 16. those dark mountains but that when our death cometh we may be found in such an estate frame of spirit and way of life that our hearts may not then die when our bodies doe but that upon better ground we may use Cheraeae's words Nunc tempus prosecto est cum perpeti me possim interfici I thank God I dare die so that although I see I must now die either a natural or a violent death yet I blesse him I can say with Steph Mylii Apoph pag. 61. Brunus the Martyr Mors sanè mihi terribilis non est death though it look grim on me is not terrible to me and with Ambrose I have not so lived as that either I am ashamed to live or afraid to die It was a great word of Lucan's which he said of the Gauls and Britans animaeque capaces mortis and this because they believed the immortality of the soul happy should we be if upon a better account it might be said of us Britains that because Christ hath brought life and 2 Tim. 1. 10. immortality to light by the Gospel and hath by his death taken out the sting of ours that therefore we are indeed capaces mortis we dare die and in Rom. 5. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psa 22. 26. death it self our hearts can live Sweet bird that can sing so sweetly and pleasantly and that in winter Quest But how may this Nightingale thus sing with this thorn this sting of death at her breast what are we to do in the time of our life that when death cometh this sting of it may not hurt us Answ Pliny in his Books up and down telleth us of many things which either prevent or cure the stingings of Bees and Serpents and you meet with them almost in every page of your ordinary Herbalists but when you have read and known all them you must seek and search for remedies against the sting of death in more sacred Volumes The Heathens I confess in their writings have in their kinde many excellent meditations of death and consolations against it Speak much and high of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 too but after all that death is like that deaf adder that hear's not Psal 58. 4 5. the voice of such charmers though they charm at least as they themselves and too many now amongst us think very wisely this lesson is learnt to purpose onely in the school of Christ whose blood alone take's out this sting and cure's the wounds made by it whilest miserable Physicians and of no value are they all sith Job 13. 4. all their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are but as so many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
may allude to that of the Psalmist Psal 68. 13 14. with what joy and delight doth the now chaste soul when it hath given a bill of divorce to all her former Paramours ruere in amplexus now cast her self into the bosome and embraces of her best beloved Truly it is no terrible sight to see death when the pure in heart though now Matth. 5. 1. closing their eyes in the gloomy shadow of death can even then see God in the cleare glasse of a pure conscience there is no such sting in it to such to disquiet them but that without the help of other friends they may close their own eyes and take their rest in their Saviours arms and their Heavenly Fathers bosome Which leadeth me from the first part of the Believers freedome from the sting of death In this life to the 2. Second and greater and that even in death it self So that when it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Martyr Apol 1. kills it hurts it stings not but when they lose their lives death then loseth its sting and this many wayes for whereas in the former poiâ—â— we shewed that to a worldly carnall man one sore prick of this sting of death was that it let out all that comfort which the life of his soul was wrapt up in On the contrary here it will appear that a Believer in the out-let of his life hath his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is called Luke 9. 31. his out-gate from all that which in this life most troubled and wounded him when the world shall never trouble or the Devil tempt nor God frown nor we sin any more for ever then I say we are freed 1. From all the troubles of this world which as to others so especially to the godly useth to be very vexatious and troublesome A tempestuous sea and am I hurt if a tempest drive me out of it into harbor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 84. 6. a valley of tears so some read it or of Mulberry trees so others the one are moist and others use to grow in more dry places between them they may serve to make up a more complete Embleme of this miserable world made up of woes and wants and how often may you over-hear the sad mourner complaining Now wo is me that I sojourn in Psa 120. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lxx Meshech and that word signifieth how long he thinke's the time is protracted and may you not see those mourning Doves of the valleys mantling the wing and saying O that I indeed had wings like a Dove that I Psal 55. 6. might flee away be at rest And that rest death and the grave bring 's us for there the wicked cease from troubling and there the weary be at rest Iob 3. 17. at rest from all sicknesses pains sorrows persecutions c. which here they either feel or fear the one death end 's and cure 's the other it prevent's It put 's an end to them so that either they are not their malice then ceaseth post fata quiescit or in case it prove immortal so that their cruelty rageth against the dead bodies estates good name and posterity of Saints departed yet the best is they then feel it not Bucer and Fagius did not cry out from Heaven as hurt when their bones suppose the wise Inquisitors mistook not some others for theirs were ridiculously burnt here in Cambridge divers years after their deaths the dead man neither pine's nor starve's and though you stab him he neither sighe's nor groanes the weary before however others trouble themselves with them then are at rest and although men will not let them live in peace yet in spite of their malice with old Simeon they depart in peace what evil they before felt is then ended And what they feared is then prevented they being taken away from the evil to come Isa 57. 1. as usually evil is then coming when good men are going and if so it is then the Fathers love and care even hastily to snatch away the child when the wilde bull is broken loose from the stake and is now running upon him as also the wise Husbandman hasteneth to get in his Corn before the swine be put out into the field to root up all the ordinary instances in this kinde are Josiah suddenly taken away that his eyes might not see the evil that was to be brought upon his people and so though he died in war yet he is said to bee gathered to his grave in 2 Chron. 34. 28. peace and so Daniel is bid to go away and rest chap. 12. 13. before those great clashings and confusions should come which had been foreshewn to him in the fore-going visions of that Book Saint Augustine dieth a little before Gensericus took Hippo and Paraeus before Heidelberg was lost to whom if you please Wilson of the life of â— James you may adde Mr. Brightman for whom the Pursivant was sent a day or two after he was buried And is then the man hurt who by this means is set out of harms way Or is our traveller to Heaven the worse traveller or in a worse case for taking up his Inne betimes before the storm come or he be benighted in a wildernesse At death the world will never fight or fright us more and where then is its sting 2. Nor will then the Devil bee ever able to tempt us any more his Ephes. 6. â—6 are fiery darts but then thanks be to God we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of gunshot 2 Cor. 12. 7. his temptations are pricks in the flesh and there let them stick but the happinesse is that in death wee have left our flesh behinde us This Pharaoh may then as was before shewed pursue us most fiercely with all his forces but then it may confidently be spoken to the Israel of God Fear not stand still and see the Exod. 14. 13. salvation of the Lord which he will shew to you this day for these Egyptians whom you have seen to day ye shall see them again no more for ever The Devil who had the power of Diabolus per quod potestatem habuit victus est Ambros death Heb. 2. 14. hath by death his commission and power abrogated and abolished For The souls of departed Saints are then out of his reach And as for their dead bodies although they may be and have been abused by wicked men the Devils instruments yet it hath been justly questioned whether the Devil himself immediately have any such power over them We read once of his Jude v. 9 contending with Michael the Archangel about the body of Moses and if the thing he contended for were as it is usually conceived to have the place where it was buried discovered It is plain from Deut. 34. 6. that in that conflict he was worsted and is there then any sting in death when after it the world shall
for Gods Audit and when we have disposed of our goods to others we might be at more leisure and vacant the more safely to bequeath our souls to God so enter upon our heavenly inheritance but it is but our sin and misery that we lay this double burden on the tired horse-back that the ending of our reckonings with the world and the beginning of our accounts with God are both put off to be made on a death-bed and hence commeth many mens fear of death the man would not die till his Will be made and so he then setteth about it but it usually beginning with his bequeathing of his soul to God and then this sad thought commeth in but upon what acquaintance or grounded assurance which puts the poor man to a stop the wil is for the present laid aside and the sealing of his pardon he then thinks needeth first to be looked after and so it may be at the last neither of them is effected with comfort such men being like those who have neglected to do their work on the weelday and so cannot rest when the Sabbath com's but Heaven sets us a better copy to write after God having finished his works in six dayes Gen. 2. 2. Exod. 31. 17. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rested and was refreshed on the seventh and our Saviour when he had said it is finished then he quietly gave up the ghost and so rested in the grave John 17. 4. 19 20. which was typified by the Jewish Sabbath Happy we if in this working day of our life we could dispatch our greatest businesse first but yet all our other worldly occasions also in time that the day of our death may be our Sabbath in which we may rest from our labours and feriari Rev. 14. 13 Deo even keep a true holy day indeed to God that then with our Saviour we may say it is finished and with Paul we have finished our course and in running our race have outgone all 2 Tim. 4. 7. 8. our griefs and fears and then may have nothing else to do but onely quietly to take our rest and receive the Crown 6. But because our apostle telleth V. 56. us that the sting of death is sin and this as was before expressed both in the guilt and defilement of it they both make death terrible and us then fearful 1. The guilt of sin if then unpardoned or but so apprehended much terrifieth the conscience and so rendreth death very formidable whilest it is looked at as the wages of sin or Rom. 6. 13 Gods arrest and so the fore-runner or beginning of a more terrible execution and as its death to a malefactor to go even out of prison if to be brought So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred let him be condemned before his Judge so to such a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. a guilty condemned sinner his death is phrased to be a bringing him to the King of terrors Job 18. 5. with 14. and well it may when even a beloved child is afraid to come into his loving Fathers presence when he is angry some such trouble of spirit some Isa 38. 3. Divines conceive Hezekiah lay under when he wept so sore at the message of death and David also when he desired that respite Psal 39. 13. And therefore our cure here is faith's timely and effectual application of the blood and death of Jesus Christ the only tried cure of this tremor cordis for so it s expresly said that he by death hath delivered us Heb. 2. 14 15. from the bondage of the fear of it So that the more or lesse that we are able to apply Christ and his death the more or lesse we are afraid of our own and hence it is that 1. Believers by the clearer discoveries of Christ and his death under the brighter light of the Gospel are lesse in the dark in the gloomy shadow of death then the faithful under the See Calvin in John 19. 40. Rom. 8. 15 Law Their darker vails and shadows had lesse of the spirit of Adoption and confidence and more of the spirit of bondage and fear as the Apostle hinteth in the fore-mentioned place to the Hebrewes where he sheweth that Christ by taking part with the children of flesh and blood in his Incarnation did free us from that bondage and so whereas Moses the giver of the law desired to live Deu. 3. 24 25. Paul a Preacher of the Gospel desireth to be dissolved Phil. 1. 23. when once the Sun of righteousnesse was now more up yea Simeon crave's leave to depart Luke 2. 29. as its first rising 2. Hence also it is that among severall Believers now under the Gospel such use to be more joyful and lesse fearful of death who by faith have more fully applyed Christ and to whom he hath been most manifested and of all such none more then they that have been most humbled their hearts most broken with sense of sin and afterwards have had them more soundly healed and more feelingly comforted and enlarged with the assurance of Gods favour in Christ the bone broken and well set again proves stronger and the Lute broken if well put together makes not the worse but rather the better musick Of all the Apostles Paul at his conversion and in after-sufferings was most humbled and none of them expresse more none so much cheerful readinesse and desire to die in Christ yea to die for him And therefore as our Saviour said Mar. 11. 22 have we faith in God oh that we had more and then could act more faith in God! Could the sting of a fiery serpent make us daily look more up to the brazen Serpent sense of sin drive us more to Christ to get more assurance of part in his death wee should thereby even when we receive the sentence of death be more able to trust in him who quickeneth the dead 2 Cor. 1. 9. then should we not be pinioned as condemned Malefactors are wont to be but have an hand of Faith free and at liberty to lay hold on Christ the Lord of Life yea and gladly reach it it out to receive death it self as that which will more fully unite us to him when the babe is in its mothers arms or laid down with a kisse it then sleep's quietly 2. But Secondly the defilement of sin although faith can see it pardoned will make a child-like shamefacednesse blush and fear so to come into a Fathers presence My little 1 John 2. 28. children saith the Apostle abide in him that when he shall appear we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his comming and although the most loving wife heartily desireth her husbands coming home yet she could be content that he would stay out so long til he have righted things in the house if for the present they lie unhandsomely and out of order With Vzziah to be lepers