A Comfortable Corroborative Cordial OR A Sovereign Antidote against And Preservative from the Horrours Harms of DEATH Affording a Direction how to Live and Die so as to be fortified and fenced against the grearest fears and sharpest sense of that KING of TERROURS Represented in some Observations made upon Rev. 14.13 Upon occasion of the late Death and Burial of Mrs. REBECCAH JACKLER Late Wife of Mr. John Jackler of Kings-Lynn in Norfolk Woollen-Draper who deceased Octob. 5. and was buried Octob. 7. 1671. By John Horn Sometime Preacher of Gods Word in Lynn-Alhallows in the same Town Useful to be considered by all men living in this state of Mortality Because there is no man living but must certainly Die Let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like to his Numb 23.10 For The righteous hath hope in his Death Prov. 14.32 Quanta est felicitaes eorum quam immensa latitia qui nimirum tripl ei gaudie De recerdatione transacta virtutis De exhibitione pro entis quieâ—â—s De certa expectatione sutura consummationis exultant Bern Serm. 2. in festo omnium Sanctorum LONDON Printed by Tho. Ratcliffe and N. Thompson for B. Southwood at the Star next to Serjeants-Inn in Chancery-lane 1672. To the READER Reader SEeing it is a thing generally known acknowledged whereof none can plead ignorance that it is appointed for men once to die for the living know that they must die Eccles 9.5 And seeing the time of death is generally to men most uncertain and the Word of God assures that after Death there will be a Judgment in which every man must give an account of himself to God and receive according to the things done in the Body whether good or evil Heb. 9.27 2 Cor. 5.10 Seeing also further that the same infallible word of the living God who hath given us life and breath and all things and hath us and our breath in his hands declares to us that He of his great mercy hath devised and made a way though not to escape this bodily Death yet whereby we may stand in the Judgment and receive the doom and Sentence of an everlasting and most blessed life which way if it be neglected there will insue an everlasting state of wo and misery It must needs follow that it is of greatest moment and concernment to All to enquire after and set their heart to that way and device making it their greatest work and business whatever else is neglected that they may lay hold on that eternal life and avoid that misery Yea and forasmuch as the time of this uncertain life is the whole of the time allotted for our preparing for the Judgment it behoves every man to take heed of mispending it and to be careful to redeem it and diligently improve it to make sure of Happiness in Eternity not procrastinating to seek after God nor presuming upon Gods patience and longer continuance in the Land of the living Which things being considered it must needs be by all thought and acknowledged that Discourses of this nature are always seasonable and if any thing well done worthy acceptance Discourses I say upon such a Subject as I here propound to present thee with namely such as shew the Happiness to be enjoyed notwithstanding Death and the way how we may be brought to the enjoyment thereof and to be secured against the Fears of Death or what harms or mischiefs will otherwise be occasioned by it to us I cannot I confess commend the worthiness of my performance upon so serious and weighty a Subject which deserves a far larger and more pressing Treatise and hath also obtained it by some more Reverend and Learned hands What I here present was not in the least intended in my first consideration of it or writing upon it for the Press onely to satisfie the desire of a loving Friend concerned mainly in the occasion of its consideration I have indeavoured to make it publick And such as it is commend it to Gods blessing and thy perusal Praying it may be both for my own and thy future and eternal benefit and resting a servant to thee and all men for Jesus sake John Horn. February 8. 1671 2. A Comfortable Corroborative Cordial Or A Sovereign Antidote against and Preservative from the Horrours and Harms of DEATH Rev. 14.13 And I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the Dead that die in the Lord from henceforth Yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them OUr Lord Jesus Christ having after many other things of great concernment to his Churches shewed by his Angel to his servant John in the twelfth Chapter the oppositions of the Dragon or Devil and Sathan first in the Roman Pagan Empire against Christ and his Church and his dejection or casting down from Heaven from his state of being worshipped as a Deity and after that in his stirring up a flood of errours and heresies to carry away the Church with and how God preserved her against them And in the thirteenth Chapter the troubles and persecutions that Sathan would further raise against his Church by a two-fold Antichristian persecuting power called Beasts setting up and managing a corrupt Worship and persecuting its refusers In this Chapter shews him divers things tending to animate his servants in their constancy against them As to say 1. Vers 1. He shewed him the Lamb Christ himself standing safe and unmoved for all his enemies upon mount Sion where God had set him as King Psal 2.5 a place which cannot be moved but stands fast for ever Psal 125.1 and 11.4 and with him in the same sure state an hundred fourty four thousand the number of the sealed in Chap. 7. having his Fathers name not the Beasts either Authority or Doctrine written in their foreheads as openly and boldly avowed yet by them 2. Vers 2. And made him hear a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters as loud evident and certain as if many peoples nations and languages compared to many waters Isa 17 12. and Rev. 17.15 had attested the things spoken as eye-witnesses thereof and as the voice of a great thunder signifying their boldness in Christ and dreadfulness to their enemies and a voice of harpers harping with harps as rejoycing in their victory over their enemies as was the custome in Israel to solemnize their Victories with musical instruments as in Exod. 15.20 1 Sam. 18 6. 2 Chron. 20.28 3. Vers 3. And they sung a new song as such songs of praises upon escapes of dangers and upon victories are stiled Psal 40.3 and 98.1 before the Throne and before the four living creatures was badly translated Beasts that is in short before God and his Church And no man could learn that song but the hundred fourty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth either from the love of earthly things through the efficacy of Gods grace
selves dead to sin c. Rom. 6.11 And this kind of Dying may be taken in here inclusively as that that foreruns and makes way for this dying in the Lord and they are blesed that in such sense Dye in or through the Lord or the knowledge of him For if we be dead with him we shall also live with him 2. Tim. 2.11 But that which is properly meant here is that those that are in Christ may dye as to the bodily death the being in Christ and the Bodily death are consistent otherwise Dying and blessedness could not consist together as we shewed they do for there is no blessedness out of Christ And that a bodily in Christ may stand together with bodily death is further clear in that as Christ â—…e not to prevent and keep men from bodily death by his dying but to obtain a resurrection out of it so neither doth men â—â—ing in Christ prevent or annull 〈◊〉 the deriving life from Christ is not such 〈◊〉 deriving life as puts by the Body from dying For it is not derived upon the Body but from and so after its Death It is appointed for men once to Dye and that appointment was made after the promise of Christ and of his defeating the Devils Plot the bruising his head and therefore is consistent with it Christ can can and will defeat Sathans plot for keeping man out everlastingly from God though they dye as to the Body Heb. 9.27 with Gen. 3.15 16. Christ indeed being believed on gives forth his divine Spirit and life for quickening our spirit and expelling Death out of that raising it up to a lively hope in God but it expels not Death out of the body till the Resurrection of the dead The body is still dead under the Sentence of and in the way to Death because of sin that yet remains in it but the Spirit or inward man is life for righteousness Rom. 8.10 thence we see wise men dye Psal 49.11 and as was mentioned before Abraham is dead and Moses 〈◊〉 the Prophets are dead in respect of 〈◊〉 outward man though they were brought into and lived and abode in Christ and 〈◊〉 must others fare also And this God orders for divers good causes as I have shewed in 〈◊〉 Balaams wish as to keep us always loâ— and humble in our selves and dependanâ— on God and mindful of our latter end and so more heedful to the instructions of wisdome and that God and Christ might be glorified in raising us up from the Dead But now to dye in the Lord in this sense signifies and hath in it 1. A continuance in Christ even in the Faith and Obedience of him till Death and in Death so as that we lay down our lives or give up our breath holding fast the Faith and grace of Christ as it is said of the Patriarchs that they all dyed in the Faith so as retaining and not going out from the Faith when their spirits left and went out of their bodies yet they went not out from Christ from believing and hoping in him Heb. 11.13 And there may be further in it 2. A spending and laying down the Bodily life in an exercise of Faith and Hope in Christ and walking in the Spirit vertues and service of Christ so as that the dying is in a sense the effect and product to the Flesh of believing and walking in him as the Apostles that so walked in Christ as that they spent themselves and strength and life as it were in the flames of his love to them and zeal for him thence springing being offered up as a Sacrifice as it were upon the sacrifice and service of the Faith Phil. 2.17 offered or pouered out as a drink-offering as the word signifies in 2 Tim. 4.6 and in some cases and times as those before mentioned under the cruelties of the Beast and false Prophet it takes in 3. A Dying in the Cause of Christ and for his sake as Martyrs put to Death for bearing witness and testimony to him as those beheaded for the witness of Christ and the Word of God and for not worshipping the Beast c. Rev. 6.9 and 20.4 We may put them together and say that when men are and continue in the Faith of Christ and so in the love and vertues of Christ too and in death Rev. 2.10 and by the force of that they have in and from Christ lay down or spend out their lives either in serving or suffering for Christ then may they be said to dye in the Lord and all that so dye dye in the Lord. But yet further they that in any such sense dye in the Lord may be said also in another sense which pertains to and is the immediate spring of their blessedness to dye in him viz. 4. In the love of the Lord as being the objects of his favourable acceptance and so enclosed as it were in his arms in his vertues as being encompassed about with the vertues of his Sufferings and Sacrifice and so in his Covenant and Promises and thence They all they that so Dye in what way soever as to the outward way of dying they dye whether by a fair Death on their Beds or by any violent Death inflicted on them whether by a more easie or more sharp and painful death yea though they dye of Poverty or are full of Sores as Lazarus yet they are Blessed though in the sight of men they seem most miserable yet they are in a happy state and condition Which we are nextly 3. To enquire into and shew what that Blessedeess is and how they are blessed we may say Blessedness stands in exemption or freedom from what 's evil and harmful and in having interest in and enjoyment of good to content and satisfaction and they that dye in the Lord are in such a state even while dead and needs they must be so For 1. In Christ there is all that may free exempt or deliver a man from evil and there is all that may do good and make content and satisfied and so all that may make one both privatively and positively Blessed 1. In him is freedom and deliverance from evil not onely for himself but so as it may be for the freeing of others not onely sin hath no dominion over or place in him though he was made sin and bare our sins for us yet having dyed for it and being raised again in him is no sin no sin now on or imputed to him but also there is freedom from it for us forgiveness of it and justification from it as is said Be it known to you that in this man is preached to you forgiveness of sins Acts 13.38 And there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared Psal 130.4 yea and not onely is he clean from it but with him is cleansing too He hath made a purgation of our sins Heb. 1.3 opened a fountain for washing and cleansing us Zech. 13.1 and in both respects he is
yea in him they have the Adoption of Sons and are honoured with that near relation to God where through they become his Heirs joynt-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 And if the Lord being their shepherd they shall not want Psal 23.1 How shall they want then God being their Father Christ their Brother and they joynt-heirs with him these are the fearers of the Lord that are blessed and the very fear of the Lord is such a Blessing to them as tendeth to life so as they shall abide satisfied with it and shall not be visited of evil Psal 112.1 Prov. 19.23 Well may it be said of every such one as is said of Asher whose name signified Blessed that his bread or portion is fat Gen. 49.20 or as of Nepthali that he is and shall be satisfied with favour Deut. 33.23 and of them all as is said of Israel Happy art thou O Israel saved by the Lord the Eternal God is thy refuge or mansions and underneath thee even when thou fallest lowest are the everlasting arms who is like unto thee who hast the Lord for the shield of thy help and whose sword is thy excellency c. Deut. 33.17.29 Object If it be said This is indeed the portion of them that are in Chirst while alive here but here we are to speak of those that are Dead dying in Christ I answer 1. This is the Portion of men in Christ at all times whether alive or dead as to the Body or Flesh yea it 's rather their Portion that Dye in Christ then of others for if men be in Christ when they live here and before they dye turn out from him and so dye not in him they loose and forfeit all this Blessedness for Blessedness is so the Portion of Christ who onely hath purchased and obtained it into himself by his onely perfect and most acceptable righteousness that though he have it not for himself onely but for us yet there is no interest in it nor enjoyment of it to be had out of or apart from him that being also true that he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 Joh. 5.11 12. He therefore that transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God and so not life for God there answers to Father and Son in the next Clause which Son is the life and hath the life given of God to us in himself 2 Joh. 9. The just shall live by Faith but if he or any man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him Nay he that draws back draws back to perdition Heb. 37.38 39. so as to loose all this Portion and his Soul in the loss of it But while any man is in Christ alive or dead he is in a full and most accomplisht treasury of all bliss and happiness and in the dispose and favour of one perfectly Faithful to communicate and give forth of his fulness according to his Promises all the Promises of God are in him yea and Amen And he that is in him is in him an heir of them and abiding in him shall not fail to inherit them though they as to the body dye 2 Cor. 1.20 Gal 3.29 For 2. Death this bodily death doth not make any alteration as to mens being in him it is not the going of the Soul out of the Body that is its going out of Christ they that dye in the Lord are in the Lord in the time and act of his dying laying down their lives or breathing out their Spirits in the Faith and in the Spirit of him they are yet in him inclosed in his Arms in his favour and love and Covenant with him whence he is still even in Death as we noted before stiled their God for though Dead men and as to bodily life yet they live to him and in respect of their spirits see no Death Prov. 12.28 Joh. 8.51 their hearts shall live for ever Psal 22.26 this Death is called a sleep they that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 And as the bodily sleep makes no alteration in relation or Covenant-engagements no more doth the bodily Death in relation to God and Christ and interest in the Covenant and Promises of his blessing a Child is the Fathers Child as well when asleep as when awake and is nevertheless an Heir to an Estate given by deed of gift or by the Fathers Will and Testament Nor is a Wife the less the Wife and in the marriage-covenant when she lies fast asleep in her Husbands bosom then when she is most awake and active and therefore is in as happy a condition if happy in her Marriage then as at other times yea we may say of the man asleep in Christ or which is all one Dead in the Lord that his state is better then before as we shall shew God willing in what follows for as the Dead that dye in the Lord are blessed both privatively as they are exempted from secured against evil and positively as they are interested in Christ in all the good that is in him and to be communicated by him So also they are 3. Comparatively Blessed more blessed in divers respects then divers others or then themselves in former times 1. Comparatively to other men they be happy whether they be 1. Those that Dye and are dead out of the Lord they are happy in respect of them howsoever they dye it may be in the appearance of men sinners that dye in their sins are happier in their Death then they as having no bands in their death as is said Ps 73.4 they may lye and dye in stately Rooms and soft Beds encompassed about with their Friends and Kindred feel little pain dispose of great estates to their Children friends they may possibly express no fear of Hell but hope they shall go to heaven Mat. 7.22 23. They may when dead have costly Funerals stately Monuments c. when as those that dye in Christ may dye grievous Deaths in the sight of men of sharp Diseases full of Sores and Boyles in Prisons Dungeons yea on Racks or Gibbets as it is said of those Saints of whom the world was not worthy that they were some Tortured others Stoned others Sawn asunder others slain with the Sword that they were destitute of succour namely Friends means of helpfulness and the like Afflicted Tormented Heb. 11.37 38. and yet for all this great difference as to the way and outward manner of Dying Yea though we add also that they being tempted may cry out as forsaken of God as our Lord Jesus on the Cross yet these that dye in the Lord are infinitely Blessed above the other nay rather Blessed and not at all the other let them dye as desirably otherwise they can yea though also they when Dead have their Names cryed up of men as if they were Worthy Gallant Honourable persons and those that dye in the Lord be
Heaven and that are in Earth Col. 1.20 so will he reconcile all things to us and make them ours and for us destroying that in all things and all those things and persons that are inflexibly against us Thence the Apostle saith We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them that are his called according to purpose Rom. 8.28 and all things are yours for your use service or benefit whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. Death is in the Believers Inventory as a parcel of his Goods as one of his Servants or Friends yea and all things too that shall follow after it For all the ways or paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that keep his testimonies and his Covenants Psal 25.10 There shall no evil happen to the just Prov. 12.21 He that keepeth the Commandments shall feel no evil thing Eccles 8.5 O infinitely precious Jewel and Pearl of great price the Bread which came down from heaven which whoso eats of shall live for ever Joh. 6.50 51. But yet the being of this Refuge doth not of it self simply secure us against the hurts of Death they that neglect it shall perish without escape however good safe and sure a Defence it is and affords Heb. 2.3 Death will do them this hurt as we have forenoted that it will shut them out from all ways and passages to the after-life it will cut off all further opportunities of seeking for safety in or injoying safety by or from this refuge This Antidote will not preserve from fears or harms of Death unless both taken and kept within our hearts This Elixir will not turn all to gold or good unless injoyed by us or duly applyed This Sun will not shine on us to expel our darkness and refresh and chear us unless we be and walk in the light and virtue of it nor this Shield defend and secure us against Deaths harmful darts no nor from what is indeed the Dreadful thing the second Death unless it be about us and we as it were within its compass no nor will any thing or person else do it besides him For God the Father is in him and not to be approched to or his favour injoyed but in and by him Joh. 14.6 7. Nor is the Spirit but upon him or any other ways to be injoyed then by turning at his Reproofs to believe in and obey him Prov. 1.23 Joh. 14.15 16 17. Acts 5.32 neither is there Salvation in any other Name beside his that was Crucified for us and Dyed for our sins and Rose again for our justification under heaven whereby we may be saved Acts 4.11.12 The Law and its deeds cannot justifie and save us for by it is the knowledge not the forgiveness of sins Rom. 3.20 Riches profit not in the day of wrath it is onely righteousness delivers from death Prov. 11.4 nor will our works or righteousness that are not of the Faith of him profit us Isa 57.12 Philip. 3.8 9. for they that are of the works of the Law are also under the curse Gal. 3.10 11 12. and works of our own devising are of no worth with God Matth. 15 9.10 Nay Paul or Apollos or Cephas cannot save us because not Crucified for us nor have they that Name into which we may be Baptized for the Remission of our sins and receipt of the Holy Ghost to renew and regenerate us and so by consequence not any other man 1 Cor. 1.12 13. the wise Virgins Oyl will not relieve the foolish Virgins that have none of their own Matth. 25.8 9. The just shall live by his not another mans faith Hab. 2.4 and therefore there is as we have also shewed before an absolure necessity of our being in Christ that we may have this blessedness by him in and after Death Unless we be in Christ Jesus He is not made to us of God as to our enjoyment thereof wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 The Ark saved none from perishing by the Flood but those that were in it nor will Christ save from the second Death or give blessing in this to any out of him He that hath not the Son hath not Life though that Life be given us in him that it might in receiving him be received with him 1 Joh 5.11 12. The Feast though prepared and invited to satisfied not its refusers but they were excluded and cut off from all they had beside for refusing it Luke 14.24 Matth. 22.4 7. yea and being come into he must be abide in too so as to Death and in Death else we yet perish He that draws back Gods Soul will have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 A Castle though never so strong will not secure from the potent and vigilant enemy him that either comes not into it or after he hath been in it upon any terms forsakes it And this is useful further 6. To invite and provoke us all with all earnestness and diligence to betake our selves to Christ this refuge and being in him to abide in him to live and dye in him and by no means neglect or forsake him Enter into this rock and hide our selves in the dust of the earth even in the dust of his Death for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty Isa 2.10 Psal 22.14 Death will come upon us sooner or later that cannot be avoided nothing more certain yea it may come suddenly upon the youngest and strongest of us for nothing more uncertain then the time of its coming for surely every man in his best state is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 and though of it self it will not hurt us nor shall we perish in it but be raised up again from thence Yet our retaining our sins and refusing or neglecting to be washed and renewed and so to be partakers of Gods Salvation that will expose us to and pull upon as a second Death yea and this Death will put an end to all possibility of escaping that and be an entrance into that dreadful Prison in which the Debter and Malefactor will be kept safe till the great Assises and then the Execution of the Eternal Judgment will succeed Now is the accepted time now the time of escape and this the way to escape to be found in Christ O then how doth it behove and concern every man to look about him and give diligence with the Apostle to win Christ and be found in him not having our own righteousness but that which is by the Faith of him Object But may some say Can we make our selves in Christ can we enter into him as we will can any come to Christ except the Father that sent him draw him Is it not of God that any man is in Christ Jesus and not of himself why then do you call
the Saviour from sin both as to the imputation and as to the pollution of it And where sin is taken away or removed evil of Wrath and Punishment hath no place While sin was imputed to and laid upon Christ he was also obnoxious to the curse and wrath that was the Wages of it And while God imputes sin and it is not washed off a man punishment and evil of wrath may befal him but as in him there is forgiveness of and cleansing from sin so in him is deliverance from wrath too either as to misery inflicted on the Creature or as to the hiding of Gods face or withdrawing his favour from it being justified from his Blood how much more saved from wrath both Positive and Privative Positive of evil and Privative of good Rom. 5.9 and then as there is none hath power over him in the least so in him there is that infinite wisdome and power by which he is All sufficient to save us from them and order their enmities as he sees good so as he can suffer them to act forth their malice and yet secure those against whom it 's acted so as it shall have no evil influence upon them yea all enemies spiritual and corporal are at his beck and will to do to or with them as he pleases and he can let out or restrain their wrath inflict punishments by them or save from or deliver out of the troubles they occasion as he pleases Psal 76.10 2. In him also is all fulness of good wherewith he may do us good and content and satisfie us for all the fulness of the God-head dwells bodily in him and in him we are compleat Col. 2.9 10. It hath pleased all fulness to or it hath pleased the Father that all Fulness should dwell in him Col 1.19 the Father is in him with all the fulness of his love and favour He is enough to satisfie the Soul for ever and produce any good to it that he pleases In him is the fulness of the holy Spirit and of all his glorious Power Wisdom Love Sweetness and Comfort and with all its most enabling and enriching vertues so as he can baptise with it us and whom he pleaseth Isa 42.1 Mat. 3.11 Joh. 1.33 and 7.37 38 39. His are all Riches and precious treasures all things in Heaven and Earth are his Riches and Honour are with him yea durable Riches and Righteousness his Fruit is better then gold yea then fine gold and his revenue better then choice silver Prov. 8.18 19. Length of days are in his right hand even Immortality and Eternal Life and in his left hand Riches and Honour His ways are ways of pleasantness and all his paths are peace He is a tree of life to them that lay hold on him and happy therefore is every one that retains him Prov. 3.15 16 17 18. Happy indeed For 2. Whosoever comes into him is and abides in him is interested in all that is his and that is in him and comes to the participation of the benefit thereof they that are made in him through the grace of God to them he is made of God Wisdom Righteousness Holiness and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 They have him to be theirs 1 Joh. 5.12 yea and in him they have the Father also being and continuing in the Son they are in the Father also 1 Joh. 2 24. In God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 1.1 2 Thes 1.1 and as they are both in Father and Son so they have both 2 Joh. 9. And how can they that have such a portion and Inheritance but be happy 1. Privatively Happy so as to be exempted from all that is evil from sin the Root of all evil so it is not imputed to to them In him all that believe are justified from all things which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Acts 13.9 in him we have redemption through his Blood the forgiveness of sins Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 so as to be sanctified cleansed from sin so as it shall not have dominion over those that believe in and so are and abide in him Rom 6.14 He that abideth in him sinneth not 1 Joh. 3.6 and then there is no Condemnation to them that are in him that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 And so there is no evil in their Portion there shall no evil happen to the just as they are that are in and abide in Christ Prov. 12.21 All things work together for good to them Rom. 8.28 and so there is no Death to them nothing of misery or separation from God which is the death of the Soul nothing of destruction they shall not perish Joh. 3.16 True it is that they may have and actually have Enemies against them within and without but Christ is to them a place of sure Defence against them and preserves their Souls Their place of defence is on high a place of the munition of rocks Isa 33.16 and they dwell safely so as they may be also quiet from the fear of evil Prov. 1.33 being and dwelling in him who is the most High and in his secret place they dwell under the shadow and Protection of the Almighty saying of him Who is the Lord He is my rock and my fortress my God in whom I will trust surely He will deliver them from the snare of the Fowler and from the truly noisome Pestilence He will cover them with his feathers and under his wings shall they trust his truth shall be their shield and buckler so as they shall not be afraid of the terrour by night nor of the arrow that flyeth by day Yea dwelling in the Lord as in their refuge and having him the most High for their habitation there shall no evil befal them nor any Plague come nigh their dwelling Psal 91.1 2 3 4 5 9 10. 2. Positively happy in the enjoyment of and interest at least in all that 's good for as the Lord is a strong house or house of defence to them that are in him Psal 31.2 and 71.3 so he is also to them a house of feasting or sacrifices Prov. 9.1 2 3. and they that trust in him and under the shadow of his wings shall abundantly be satisfied with the fatness of his house and he will make them drink of the rivers of his pleasures Psal 36.7 8 9. He is to them a fountain of life and living waters both quickning purifying and satisfing them He is to them a sun and shield and will give them grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that are upright with him Psal 84.11 in him they have and from him derive that heavenly wisdom that brings with it to them Riches and Honour and Life in him they have and from him receive that holy Spirit whose fruit is Love Joy Peace and in a word all Goodness Righteousness and Truth Gal. 5.22 Joh 7.38 39. and 4.14 Ephs 5 8.
accounted as our Lord was by the Pharisees Matth. 27.62 63 as Deceivers or as the Papists called divers of our English martyrs stinking martyrs mad men Hereticks c. Yet these latter they that dye in the Lord are far happier then the other We may compare those two mentioned in Luke 16.19 the Rich man and Lazarus they both dyed But oh how great a difference to appearance in their dying the one in a Rich state and therefore no doubt but had or might have Friends and Physicians about him and want no Attendance and after Death had a Burial which we find not said of the poor Lazarus he might dye of his Sores and in some ditch and his body might be exposed to the Birds or Beasts of prey as those Saints mentioned in Psal 79.2 3 4. But yet the differerce in the goodness of their state when dead was far more for the advantage on Lazarus side then the goodness of the way of their outward dying was on the Rich man's side For after Death the poor Lazarus was carried of Angels into Abraham's bosome and was comforted and refreshed with everlasting Consolations not to be lost again When the Rich man was in Hell tormented without ease or end not having either possibility of escape from thence or of enjoying there so much as one drop of Water to cool the tip of his tongue Who would choose to dye as the Rich man with such a state after death rather then as the poor man or any of the most cruelly Martyred good man having the poor man's after-state who would not rather go through any difficult and dirty way from a Prison to a Throne then to slide down from some stately Throne or off some pleasant Hill bestrawed with sweetest Flowers in his descent or attended also with the most melodious Musick into a dark Dungeon to lie and rot there in the midst of noisome stenches pinch'd and pin'd away with Famine or made a prey to venemous Snakes and Serpents The righteous hath hope his Death but the wicked is driven away in his wickedness Prov. 14.32 and the hope of the Hypocrite shall perish and be as the giving up of the ghost Job 18.13 14. and 11.20 but the hope of the righteous shall be gladness Prov. 10.28 2. Those that live in the greatest pomp and splendor in the world injoying the greatest fulness of Riches Honour and Glory or the most delightful continuing pleasures for these in the midst of their enjoyments are in a state of incertainty Their Riches are uncertain riches they may take them wings and fly away the Thief may steal them or the Moth and rust corrupt them Their Honours like Hamans may end upon a Gallows or as Ahithophels in a Halter and all their pleasures in a moment vanish and they may come with Craesus the Lydian King to learn the uncertainty of all things here by sad Experience falling into the hand and Power of their Enemies The pleasures of sin are but for a season and the reproches of Christ are far greater Riches than all the treasures of Egypt or of the World Heb. 11.25 26. The Wealthiest and most Honoured persons here must dye and then they shall carry nothing away with them nor their pomp and glory descend after them Psal 49.17 though while they live they bless their souls and men praise them as doing well for themselves yet when Death comes then all their felicity in these enjoyments vanish like pleasant dreams when one awaketh and ing out of Christ they go to the generation of their Fathers and shall never see light Psal 49.18 19. yea then how are they brought into desolation as in a moment and utterly consumed with terrours Psal 73.19 then begin their miseries never to end when the miseries of the others and all their griefs and sorrows are at an end never more to return and then end the worldlings Joys for ever when the dead in Christ have more increase of Joy or enter into those Joys that never shall end And though it 's true that the prosperous sinner living yet at ease and in fulness is in a possibility of Repentance and so in a far better state then he that dyes in his sins and is dead out of Christ Yet considering what snares there are in such injoyments and how hard it is for a Rich man to enter into Gods Kingdom and how usually the prosperity of fools that is evil men for all such are very fools in Gods reckoning whose judgment is according to truth destroy them that they are persons standing high but in slippery places and are in very great danger of being every hour cast from their heigth into destruction Psal 73.18 and considering on the other hand that the man dead in Christ is out of all danger of any miscarriage in present possession in their spirits of that presence of Christ where is that fulness of Joy which infinitely transcends all the injoyments of this world how great soever and that they are sure and certain of Eternal Happiness for ever their state must needs be concluded infinitely better then the others Yea on that account also Blessed 2. Comparatively to themselves while living in the world more blessed now than then as the Apostle implies when he saith that though living in the Flesh he had this fruit of his labour that he lived to Christ viz. to the magnifying of him Yet he had a desire to depart and to be with Christ as a thing to him far better Phil. 122 23. for now they are absolutely blessed and happy though not yet fully and superlatively in the highest and greatest possession of Happiness and Glory the Resurrection of the Body must be waited for for that when Body and Soul reunited shall be glorified and all the Saints compleatly brought together shall receive the full of the Glory promised and have to each ones particular injoyment the accession of the glory of all the rest with them And if Cicero an Heathen Orator could fancy a wonderful Happiness in the deceased Moralists enjoying the fellowship of each others Souls * O proeclarum illum diem c. so as to cry out O that gallant day When shall I go to the Council and Company of Souls c. What may the Christian judge of the revealed and assured Society of happy renewed and raised persons together with Christ for ever But now they are absolutely Blessed their happiness hangs no longer upon any Condition that may possibly fail in as before it did upon an If ye continue And though that If was of no great burthen so as to imply so much danger as to fill them with disquieting fears to hinder their rejoycing in assured hope having so many ingagements to abide and so great incouragements in Christ to trust in him for his delivering them from all evil preserving them to his heavenly kingdom Yet there is both a possibility yet remaining of their sailing and other Considerations also
more full and proper sense redeemed from the Earth and from among men then any yet here living and as to those that suffer and dye in the Lord from henceforth from the time of the Beasts rage when there will be the most remarkable time of the Saints patience at the time probably when the Beast that ascends out of the bottomless Pit slays the Witnesses which is his last act his parting blow the ending part of his Rage Chap. 11.7 which Chapter takes in all the time from the first to the last that singing with Harps may denote their special triumphant Blessedness which agrees with what is said in Chap. 7. where there is the same number of the Sealed and where it is said that they that came out of great or as the words may be rendered the great tribulation were arayed in white robes having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb where the white Robes doubtless are emblems of some Great Priestly or Kingly dignity as is implied in Chap. 3.4.5 such as is mentioned Chap. 5.10 20.6 and as is implied in what follows when it is said Therefore are they before the Throne of God night and day in his Temple as the Beast-worshippers are tormented and have no rest day nor night Chap. 18.11 and he that sitteth on the Throne dwelleth among them they shall hunger no more nor thirst any more neither shall the Sun light on them or any heat for the Lamb who is in the midst of them shall feed them and shall lead them to the Fountains of living waters and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes Chap. 7.13 17. Let me add this upon this quotation that it may appear that those Learned and Reverend men that appointed that seventh Chapter or part of it to be read on the day dedicated to the Memory of All Saints surely understood those things to be applicable to the Deceased Saints that dyed in the Lord But yet their great and proper reward is 2. Fully at the day of the Appearing again of the Lord Jesus at that day the Crown of Righteousness henceforth from the time of Departure laid up shall be given to all that love and look for that his Appearance 2 Tim. 4.8 The Son of man our Lord Jesus shall then when he comes in the glory of his Father with all his holy Angels reward every man according to his works Matth. 16 27. Rev. 22.12 and then their Reward shall be great and glorious indeed and gloriously manifested for then them that sleep in him will God bring with him the Dead in Christ shall rise first 1 Thes 4.14 16. not in mortal bodies to labour and travail again but their mortal then shall put on immortality and their corruptible shall put on incorruption and what was sown in dishonour shall rise in glory and what in weakness shall rise in power and what was sown a natural body shall rise a spiritual body fashioned into the likeness of Christs glorious body 1 Cor. 15.43 44 53. Phil. 3.21 and then they shall have no more death neither sorrow nor crying nor pain for all those former things shall be wholly past Rev. 21.4 no nor shall they have any thing of errour ignorance or corruption nor of fear or grief in their mind or inward man but they shall then know as they are known and see face to face and be made like to Christ seeing him as he is 1 Cor. 13.9 12. 1 Joh. 3.2 Then they shall appear in glory with Christ Col. 3. 3 4. having fellowship with him and him ever amongst and with them and God iâ— and with him 1 Cor. 1.9 2 Thes 2.14 1 Thes 4.16 Rev. 21.3 injoying the new Heavens and the new Earth whereiâ— dwells righteousness 2 Pet. 3.14 and the new Jerusalems glory which comes down from out of heaven having the glory of God and her light like to a stone most precious like a Jasper stone clear as Chrystal Rev. 21.10 11. eating and drinking with Christ at his Table in his Kingdom Luke 22.29 30. injoying the incorruptible Inheritance that is undefiled and fadeth not away 1 Pet. 1â— 4. and the incorruptible Crown of Life Righteousness and Glory which he hath promised to them that love him 1 Cor. 9.25 2 Tim. 4.8 James 1.12 even the Kingdome and glory of God and of Christ wherein they shall have the fulness of joy and pleasures for evermore at his right hand and see his face and have his Name in their foreheads and have an everlasting happy day without any night the Lord himself and the Lamb being their everlasting Light and they shall reign for ever and ever Matth. 25.35 Dan. 7.27 1 Pet. 5.10 Psal 16.11 36.8 9 10. Isa 60.19 20. Rev. 22.3 4 5. Which thing I onely here mention having more particularly spoken something to them in my Book called Balaam's wish O Happy happy and thrice happy portion of those that be so dead So much for the Explication and opening of the words Let us now Apply it briefly Application 1. ANd first it tends wonderfully to commend and magnifie the Lord Jesus to us who makes those that are in him even so happy in Death He being the Root and well-spring of all the Happiness and Blessedness injoyed or injoyable by the Saints and holy ones either in this Life or in and after Death or at and after the Resurrection of the Dead Well may we then joyn our assent to that Song of or in the kingdom that Song of the Elders mentioned by our Deceased Sister on her Death-bed and say Thou art worthy to open the Book and unloose the Seals of it for thou wast slain and hast Redeemed us to God by thy Blood c as also to that of the Angels that follows Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdome and strength and honour and glory and blessing Rev. 5.9 12. magnifying also the Riches of the love and grace of God even the Father in appointing and giving him forth to us and so filling him through Death and Sufferings with all his own unspeakable fulness that he might be the Authour of such Blessedness to us and so we may also joyn our assent to that of every Creature in Heaven and Earth and under the Earth and such as are in the Sea and all that is in them saying Blessing Honour Glory and Power be to him that sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb for ever and ever Rev. 5.13 and to that of the innumerable number out of all Nations Kindreds Peoples and Tongues standing before the Throne and before the Lamb clothed with white Robes and having Palms in their hands viz. Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the Throne and to the Lamb Chap. 7.9.10 2. To commend and set forth the excellency and desireableness of the state of those that are in Christ Jesus and abide in him that they however despised and abused