loose vain Conversation to my inward Deadness and Enmity and when Death approached to bring me to a State of perfection in Glory didst represent him to me as a dreadful King of Terrors But now Death is come and has executed his Office I welcome him and laugh thee to Scorn Free Grace has disarmed him of the Sting that thou wouldst have given him against me I shall now no more be perplexed with thy Gripes I shall now plainly see my Redemption eternal and always the same without as much as a Cloud as big as a Mans Hand to interpose I shall never look off the Lord my Righteousness my Sanctification and Covering but always behold my Fathers reconciled Face in the Face of my beloved Jesus I shall never depart from him any more I shall now have perpetual Freedom and Enlargement of Soul before him I shall never have an hard Thought of him any more nor ever sin the least sin against him any more Farewell eternally O Guilt of sin thou canst not enter into Heaven where I am going Thus I spurn thee now mounting up into everlasting Glory DEATH triumphs over the Pollution of sin and makes a full End of Corruption and Iniquity Then may the Believer cry O filthy sink of Sin thou shalt defile me no more How often even since Conversion hast thou ravished my Virgin Soul How oftentimes a day hast thou scattered thy Filth in my Conscience and left an envenom'd Taint there How often when I was going to approach an holy God didst thou appear in my Soul in thy ugly Colours to terrify me and to turn me aside from the living God Yea and though I often saw the Righteousness of Christ covering me yet thou often filledst my Conscience with such a Cloud of Filth and Stench that that glorious Covering was hid from mine Eyes but now thou shalt blind mine Eyes no more I shall now have perfect uninterrupted Visions of that spotless beauteous Garment wrapping me round and that to all Eternity Not the least speck of thee shall enter into Heaven in my Father's House I am entring into there 's nothing but compleat Purity and Holiness There is not the least Atom of Dirt in the Streets of the Jerusalem above Here thou filthy Load I finally part with thee I shall never be defiled any more with thee Hallelujah Amen And thus the Believer triumphs over Sin that is the Substance of the Sting of Death Thirdly THE Believer triumphs over the Law which the Words of my Text call the strength of Sin and the Law or the Covenant of Works is the strength of sin though it be in it self holy just and good in a twofold Respect 1. It condemns the Soul and tortures the Conscience so drives the Soul farther from God and encreases the Enmity against him and thereby puts the Soul more under the Power of sin enlarging and strengthening sins Dominion over it Rom. 6.16 Sin shall not have Dominion over you for you are not under the Law but under Grace Where 't is evidently implied to be under the Power of the Law is to be under sins Dominion and this is exemplified and proved plainly and clearly in the former Part of the seventh of the Romans which I cannot now stay to open 2. The Law judicially delivers the Soul up to the Will and Power of sin by way of Punishment Thus the Son of God is said to come in the Likeness of sinful Flesh and for sin or sinning to condemn sin in the Flesh Sin by the condemning Law has assigned it penally as Executioner a Power of sinning in the Soul from which Sentence only a crucified Jesus can free the Soul The Law therefore as it is the strength of sin is a sore Exercise to the Believer and the strength of the old Man or the Body of Death in his Soul all his life time but in his Death he may thus glory over it Thou Covenant of Works thou Killing Letter in my Conscience though I was much freed from thee by the Law of Righteousness which is of Faith yet thou didst still work there Gendring unto Bondage opposing the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus Gal. 4.29 Thou that wast born after the Flesh didst persecute that that was born after the Spirit Gal. 4.30 But now the Bond-woman and her Son shall be quite cast out Thou didst all my Life time endeavour all ways to keep up Guilt in my Conscience and if at any time removed to do it away by Obedience to thee by legal Sorrow and Contrition by Resolutions to amend and greater Watchfulness for the future Whilst I was thereby diverted from making first Applications to the Blood of sprinkling so that my sin was rather oftentimes compounded for than in Faith washt away in that Fountain that is opened for Sin and for Vncleanness Whence I was not only diverted from continual Believing into a bleeding Jesus but had my Conscience rather stupified than healed my sin made little harmless and familiar and rather encouraged than a real dying unto it and hence oftentimes my Soul cast into a deep Lethargy But now I am absolutely freed from that Yoak of Bondage Mount Sinai in my Conscience and shall be made for ever to Gal. 5.1 Stand fast in that Liberty wherewith the Son hath made me free indeed John 8.36 Thus will the Believer in Death triumph over the Law as it is the Strength of sin Fourthly THE Believer in Death may glory over the Justice of God as it is armed with Vengeance against Sinners Though Believers are fully delivered in their life time from the stroke of Divine Justice yet they do oft times not so fully apprehend it But after Death the Believer shall see as he is seen apprehend as he is apprehended and then be enabled to rejoyce thus Divine Justice whilst I lived though thou wast my Friend in Jesus yet many times I dreaded thee as mine Enemy but now I plainly see thou art my Friend indeed and that it is just with thee to justifie me in the Lord my Righteousness Thy Sword that was pointed at my Breast and should have now thrust me down to Hell was received by my crucified Lord into his own Bowels and I am now made for ever to escape Being made more than a Conqueror through him that loved me My dying Saviour in Falling wrested thy Weapon out of thy Hand and made his blessed Body a Grove planted from thy poisonous Quiver so that there is not an Arrow now left to spend upon me I now come O Justice in the Right of my Lord to sit for ever down in his heavenly Mansions to sing Hallelujahs to that righteous and true God for ever and ever Fifthly THE Believer in Death may triumph over Satan Satan though a Soul is Translated out of his Kingdom yet through his restless Enmity is always seeking to devour He has Wiles Methods and cunning Devices of Temptations to ensnare imperious Suggestions fierce
A SERMON PREACHED at the FUNERAL OF Mr. John Bigg To which is added Another SERMON upon the same Subject ALSO A NARRATIVE of Mr. BIGG's CONVERSION c. By R. DAVIS Minister of the Gospel LONDON Printed for ROBERT PONDER MDCXCI TO THE READER INstead of an Epistle Dedicatory I shall only briefly acquaint thee with the Reasons that induced me to print these Sermons and why they came forth so long after they were preached I have sometimes ceased to be a Friend to the Press and never intended to print them at all though often put upon to do it But the Lord the Redeemer whose Blessing and Power made Clay and Spittle to open the Eyes of the Blind was pleased to own these so as to make them of great use to several Their Entreaty with divers others prevailed with the Widdow of the Deceased to importune me further so that her Importunity joyn'd with theirs obtained upon me at least to redeem when I could now and then a little time from the great Work of Christ that is upon my Hands to set them in order and so venture them into the World There fell in also another cogent Motive viz. The Consideration of the false and lying Stories scattered through City and Country concerning me and the Doctrines I preach made me willing to let all know if they please to read what those Doctrines are and so they may make a better Judgment afterwards And I do assure thee these Sermons contain the chief Substance of what I preached here in the Country Therefore I have made some Additions hereunto and Alterations suitable to my main Scope in preaching this Year past Had the Men of the World only cast Dirt it would have been more tolerable Better could not have been expected from them but to act according to their Nature But this has been piercing that the Truths of Jesus have been wounded in the House of Friends Here a sufficient Occasion is given for a pathetick Lamentation But tell it not in Gath and publish it not in Askelon c. VVhatever Blows some aim at one another they all fall upon their holy Profession whilst a too eager Vindication is persued of our good Names and Reputation from undue and unjust Calumnies The Name of Jesus and his Gospel may be exposed to greater Reproach This made me choose to lie still with a Gag in my Mouth whilst I was and am still cloathed with Sambanettoes than use the Methods I might to assert my wronged Innocency leaving it to God the Judge of all to vindicate his Name and Gospel in his due time and in his own way which I am certain he will And as for me let my Name lie in the Dust provided it may make for the Honour of Christ and the Furtherance of his Gospel I am endeavourring to learn this Lesson to rejoyce in Reproaches from whatever Tongues they come as well as in Infirmities for Christ's Sake and I would press after that meek Spirit of the Gospel that being defamed to intreat viz. To intreat Christ on the Behalf of my Defamers and entreat them in the Bowels of Mercy to lay aside their Enmity against the Lord Jesus his Truths and VVays Reader I shall add no more but commend thee to God and the Word of his Grace which is not only able to translate thee out of Darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son but also build thee up therein and give thee an Inheritance among them that are sanctified And now the God of Peace that brought again from the Dead our Lord Jesus that great Shepherd of the Sheep through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant make thee perfect in every good Work to do his Will working in thee that that is well-pleasing in his Sight through Jesus Christ to whom be Glory for ever and ever Amen A SERMON Preached at the FUNERAL OF Mr. BIGG Gent. 1 Cor. 15.55 56 57. 55. O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory 56. The Sting of Death is Sin and the Strength of Sin is the Law 57. But Thanks be to God which giveth us the Victory thrô our Lord Jesus Christ OUR Great Apostle in this Epistle of his having answered several Cases of Conscience to the Church at Corinth in this Chapter refutes that dangerous Error that denied the Resurrection of the Dead HE founds his Argument for the overthrow of the Error and the Establishing the contrary Truth chiefly upon the Resurrection of a buried Jesus Having prosecuted this from v. 12. with the Intermixture of other Mediums and also exhortatory Inferences to v. 35. he there states the Adversary's Objection in these Words With what body do they come again THIS Objection he answers shaving rebuked the Objector with the Title of a Fool v. 26. from the Nature of Grain thrown by the Sower into the Ground rising into a Crop of beautiful Corn pleasant to the eye and useful for food Further shewing and explaining the difference between human Bodies and the Flesh of Beasts Birds and Fish and the difference of their Glory from the Terrestrial and Coelestial Bodies even the difference between Coelestial Bodies themselves in Glory HAVING managed this from v. 36 to 42 he there applies it to the case in hand shewing in v. 42 43 44. That the Bodies of the Saints are sown in Corruption but raised in Incorruption Sown in Honour but raised in Glory c. This he repeats varying his Phrase v. 53 54. And draws in this Inference in the Close of the 54 v. Death is swallowed up in Victory which Inference he confirms in a way of triumph in the Words of my Text. O Death where is thy Sting c. IN which words you have the Apostle triumphing in the Person of every dying Believer wherein are contained these Parts 1. THE Apostles Triumph in v. 55. 2. THE Cause of it 1st laid down negatively v. 56. The Sting of the Believer's Death being pulled out by the Abolishing of Sin which is Death's Sting and the Reign of the Law over him which is the Strength of Sin positively laid down in v. 57. viz. A Victory being obtained over Death through our Lord Jesus Christ which the Apostle mentions with Thanksgiving to the Almighty IN handling these Words I shall only insist on the Triumph or Ovation in v. 55. and the rather because the Prosecution of the Truth that shall arise from that Verse will reach and take in the chief Matter contained in the following Verses IN these words you have as was aforementioned the Believer's Triumph over Death and that in a twofold Respect 1. In respect of his Soul O Death where is thy Sting 2. In respect of his Body O Grave where is thy Victory Without spending further time in opening the Words they afford us this Doctrinal Observation Doct. THAT every true Believer in the Moment of his Death can Triumph over Death and the Grave both in reference to his Soul and Body I shall
Assaults and fiery Darts to terrifie with these several ways of Attacks is the poor Believer harrassed as long as he lives but in Death he can insult over all Thus then can the Believer vaunt it Satan thou hast long tortured me with throwing in wicked and blasphemous Suggestions and then perswadedst me to my great Terrour I had sinned the sin against the Holy Ghost Thou shalt no longer be able to throw in any more of thy fiery Insinuations I am now beyond the reach of any of thy Darts Thou hast always endeavoured to tempt me to sin and then to make me question my Interest But now I shall sin no more nor question my Interest any longer I shall not now be tempted any more to Despair on the one hand nor presume on the other Thou darest not appear where I am going Thou vile Satan I shall be disturbed with thee no longer I shall have no further Concerns with thee till I come with my Lord to sit in Judgment upon thee at the great Day Sixthly and lastly THE Believer can thus triumph over the World which is the last thing that goes to make up the Sting of Death Thou empty confused World that didst use to terrify me with thy Threats I defy thee and them now and wast wont to allure me with thy Flatteries I am above their Undermining now I scorn thy Rattles and thy painted Beads and thy airy Bubbles I dread not now thy haggard Face nor shall I any more be moved with thine Enchantments It will add to my Pleasure in my Mansions of Glory to see thee burnt for thy Witchcraft I shall no more dread thy mighty Hunters nor be aw'd with thy grim Tyrants nor be enslaved in Body nor Conscience by thy bloody Laws now be harrased with brutish Executioners There are no oppressing Magistrates no Catch-poles nor Informers in the place I now enter to Nay now I tread under foot all in thee that is enticing I set Health Wealth Pleasures Honours Friends Relations and all in one Scale and my dear Fore-runner in the other and that Scale weighs down now to the Ground I now go to the heavenly Jerusalem and that better Country where I shall have better Riches and more durable Substance better Honours better Pleasures and far better Relations Thus will the Believer then triumph over Death and whatsoever goes to make up the Sting of it BUT Secondly The Believer can triumph over every thing else in Death that is formidable To instance in one for many Nature abhors a Dissolution and the Soul though it has but a bad Lodging does not care to be turned out of Doors It s tenement of Clay it cares not to be dislodged of though its all over tattered and needs Repairs It shrinks back at entring into a new way of acting separate from the Body when it has all the while been accustomed to act only by such an Organ It has been used to such a poor Garment yet as sorry as it is it knows not how to be undressed of it and made naked Whereas now in the Moment of Death that 's over to the Believer It can cry then like his Master giving up the Ghost All is finished It sees a better House to go to upon its being dispossessed of this even the Fathers House that has many Mansions And a better Garment to be cloathed with even his elder Brother's glorious Robe of curious Embroidery And can triumph in the Words of the Apostle varying a little the Form of speaking 2 Cor. 5.1 2. c. I now see that my earthly House of this Tabernacle being dissolved I have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens In this I have groaned earnestly desiring to be cloathed upon with my House which is from Heaven I am sure being so cloathed I shall not be found naked For I that in this Tabernacle did groan being burdened not for that I would be uncloathed but cloathed upon And now Mortality shall be swallowed up of Life THUS the Believer triumphs over this Terror of Death and every thing else in Death that is terrible And thus I have finished the first Branch of my Doctrine viz. That the Believer in Death triumphs over Death in reference to his Soul I should pass away now to various Uses but time will not permit I shall therefore wind up this Branch with one Word of Exhortation to poor Sinners O you poor perishing Sinners over whom my Bowels yearn In my Master's Name I beg that you would suffer a Word of Exhortation You must needs be all perswaded firmly of this that you must once die and you know not how soon You may perhaps go to bed well and never see Morning Would you then in that instant of time avoid being insulted over by Death and triumph over that cruel Dragon Death and his fatal Sting then look up to that brazen Serpent the blessed Jesus erected on the Pole of Gods Word the only Hope set before you in the Gospel O fly to it for Refuge Would you glory over that King of Terrors and all his Dread 2 Tim. 2.1 Be strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus Would you die the Death of the Righteous then you must live the Life of the Righteous and we are told what that is Rom. 1.17 The Just shall live by Faith Believe in the Lord Jesus the exalted Prince and Saviour and his God-like Righteousness and earnestly beg of the Lord for the Revelation of the Righteousness of God to you from Faith to Faith Rom. 1.17 That so when that Faith is going to be swallowed up of Vision you may triumph over Death and all its Terrors in respect of your precious and immortal Soul The Second SERMON 1 Cor. 15.55 O Grave Where is thy Victory SOME of you may remember that from the Words opened and Explained I raised this general Observation THAT every true Believer in the Moment of his Death can triumph over Death and the Grave as well in reference to his Soul as to his Body I divided it into two Branches the first whereof was this That a Believer in the Moment of his Death can triumph over Death in respect of his Soul which I have dispatched and now proceed to handle the second viz. THAT a Believer in Death can triumph over the Grave in respect of his Body I judge it most convenient to use the same Method in the Prosecution of this Branch as I did in the former viz. to illustrate it by its contrary and therefore lay it down thus to be spoken to THE Grave can triumph over the Unbelievers Body but the Believer can triumph over the Grave in respect of his Body SINNERS are apt to make Gods of their Bodies honouring them excessively with Food Rayment Lodging and the like and to glory in the Health Beauty and Strength of their Bodies but the Grave will trample upon all these Instead of delicious Wine and choice
divide this general Doctrine into Two Branches and speak to each part The First is this THAT a Believer in the Moment of his Death can Triumph over Death in reference to his Soul FIRST as the Lord shall enable me I will prove this Truth and then explain and illustrate it FOR Proof I shall only at present give you two places of Scripture Rev. 14.13 And I heard a Voice from Heaven saying unto me Write Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit that they may rest from their Labours and their Works do follow them Where First you have the Truth plainly asserted Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord or in dying in the Lord. 2ly The Reasons of it 1. They rest from their Labours 2. Their Works follow them i. e. They will meet with their Prayers and Duties entered on the File for their review as an additional to their eternal Delights 3. You have here insinuated the Certainty and Importance of this Truth 1. The Commandment to write they are weighty things usually committed to Ink and Paper and that for duration also Littera Scripta manet 2. The Commander the Spirit I heard a Voice from Heaven saying write c. THE second place is Heb. 4 19. There remaineth therefore a Rest to the People of God Their rest is not in this World but in another and they enter upon it in the moment of Death therefore they have then ground of triumphing I shall add to these the Experiences of Three Worthies The first was David's 2 Sam. 23.5 Althô my House be not so with God yet he hath made with me an everlasting Covenant ordered in all things and sure For this is all my Salvation and all my Desire althô he make it not to grow David was now on the brink of Eternity taking a view of the past and present Disorders of his House and Heart yet rejoyces and triumphs in the view of the Covenant of Grace and his Interest in it and the influence it had on the Eternity he was entring into The second was that of faithful Stephen that glorious Proto-Martyr who when the Stones that dashed out his Brains and Life flew about his Ears cryed out triumphantly Lord Jesus receive my Spirit Acts 7.59 THE last I shall mention is the Experience of the blessed Apostle Paul Phil. 1.23 For I am in a straight betwixt two having a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better But very pat and pertinent to the purpose 2 Cor. 5.1 c. He being harrassed with Labours Perils and Sufferings at the apprehension of the time of his departure being at hand triumphs thus v. 1. For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved we have a Building of God an House not made with Hands eternal in the Heavens HAVING thus from the Holy Scriptures of Truth proved the Doctrine I shall proceed to the explication of it 'T IS undeniable That Contraries do the better illustrate one another as black Spots make a white Skin shine the brighter and a Black-a-Moor is a Foil to set off an European Therefore I shall illustrate this Truth by another Contrary that I might the more emphatically explain it which is this The triumph of Death over an Unbeliever and thus lay down the Doctrine to be explained DEATH in Death triumphs over the Unbeliever and the Believer triumphs over Death in dying I shall begin with the first Branch viz. Death in Death triumphs over the Unbeliever and as the Spirit of the Lord shall assist me shew you in what respects 1. DEATH triumphs over the Unbeliever's sensual Pleasures Where are now says Death your vain Pleasures that you wantonly rolled your self in in your life time What are become of those jolly merry frolicksom hours that you lavish'd away with your frothy Companions Where are now your drunken Cups and Glasses and your riotous Feasts with which you so often drowned and glutted your sensual Appetite What do they profit you now What pleasure do you find now from your former repeated acts of Lusts and Beastliness What relish now from those brutish tickling of swinish Delights What does all your vain Merriment avail you now What fruit have you from those Things that formerly you reckoned your Heaven and Happiness Instead of Pleasures you now shall have your belly full of everlasting Torments Now your merry Moments are turned into an eternity of Sorrows Now instead of swimming in Wine and luxuriously feeding on Dainties you shall swim world without end in fiery Streams of burning Brimstone You shall drink your Tears and feed on your own tortur'd Flesh in endless and never-ceasing Misery Now the flame of your Lust is succeeded by a hotter flame even the flame of divine Vengeance Now instead of your frothy Spirit and vain Laughter you shall have enough of howling weeping and gnashing of Teeth Nay you shall carry with you all your Lusts and Corruptions to Hell not to please you but to pain you The same Water that the Fish swims in with delight if beated over the Fire will be the Fish's torment THE Sins you acted with pleasure in the World you shall act the same in great measure in Hell but to your eternal torturing You shall there act your Revenges but wound none with its poison'd Arrows but your own Soul You shall there have your covetous Desires enlarged as wide as the Hell you are in but it will only be your pain and punishment Your own Lusts there shall be the Flames that will scorch you Come thou trembling Wretch will Death say to the place of sinning and the place of punishment and thy very sinning shall be thy punishment Oh! then will Death insult in the words of the Wise-man Whatsoever thine Eyes desired thou keptest not from them Thou withheldest not thy Heart from any Joy Eccles 2.10 And now all will be Vanity and Vexation of Spirit to thee part of v. 11. And also in those Words as are written Luke 12.19 Thou hast long said to thy Soul Soul take thine ease eat drink and be mâ—rry But thou Fool I am come this Night to require thy Soul of thee part of v. 20. And to add no more Death will only change the Moods and Tenses in that portion of holy Writ Eccles 11.9 insulting thus Thou hast rejoyced Oh! Young Man in thy youth and thy Heart has cheered thee in the days of thy youth Thou hast walked in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine Eyes but know thou now thou trembling Wretch that for these things I am sent by the God of Justice to bring thee into Judgment CONSIDER this thou voluptuous sensual Wretch thou Drunkard thou Belly-slave thou unclean Beast thou Blasphemer thou Swearer thou Reveller and Persecuter consider this and ponder it in thy Heart thou must ' ere long come upon a Death-bed this greisly King of Terrors will stare thee in the
says the Lord Isa 57.19 I create the Fruit of the Lips Peace I speak Peace to them that are a afar off viz. in a Natural State and to them that are nigh viz. them that are made Eph. 2.13 nigh to my Father by my Blood But over all such white washed painted Pharisees will insulting Death Glory thus Thou Pharisaical Fool thou refusedst Fire from God's Altar viz. the Lord Jesus Joh. 5.40 Thou wouldst not come to him that thou mightest have Life but thou hast kindled a Fire of thine own nay like Nadab and Abihu hast brought strange Fire Isa 50.11 Thou hast compassed thy self about with sparks Thou hast walked in the Light of thy Fire and of the Sparks that thou hast Kindled This thou shalt have now at God's Hand by my Dart to lye down in a Bed of Eternal Sorrows Thou wer 't for digging to thy self a Way to Heaven and hast refused the Heb. 10.2 New and living way that the God and Father of Christ had consecrated that is to say the Flesh of Jesus or his suffering raised glorified human nature and though Isa 57.10 Thou wast wearied in the greatness of thine own way and hast often tryed in vain with thine own Doings and Works of the Law and couldest not but in spight of thy Teeth the Fire of Hell that was in thy Conscience would be often blazng-out yet saidest thou not there is no hope but wouldst be still hoping for Life from the Dead unprofitable Works of the Law Thus thou didst sind the Life of thine hands therefore thou wast not then grieved but still didst stifle all thy convictions But now thou shalt grieve and eternally grieve without intermission now thou wilt not be able to stifle thy convictions but they will tend and tear thy Soul with unspeakable horrors for ever and ever NOW Psa 16.4 Thy Sorrous shall be multipled that didst hasten after other Gods and other Idol Righteousnesses Thou leftest no stone unturned no way of working unessaied to procure warmth and life to thy Soul Isa 57.5 Thou didst enflame thy self with Idols under every Green-Tree and didst let thy Heart run out for Holiness and Salvation upon every Branch of in it self beautiful morality Isa 57.6 Among the smooth Stones of the Stream was thy Portion they were thy lot even to them thou hast procured a Drink-Offering c. i. e. Thou hast set up thy Duties for Saviours hast trusted in them and so fallen down and Worshipped them Isa 57.7 Vpon a Lofty and High Mountain hast thou set thy Bed Even thither wentest thou up to offer Sacrifice i. e. Thou didst confide in thy splendid towring Profession and didst make a God and Saviour thereof The 10. v. of this Chapter is a Key to open the the rest of the Chapter by laying the whole stress of thy Soul upon thy outward Profession without Faith in Jesus Isa 57.8 Behind the Doors also and the Posts hast thou set thy rememberance i. e. And hast set up a Record within thy self for the Goodness of thy Estate from thy Family and Closet Prayers things good in themselves but become Idols of Indignation when advanced into the Room and Throne of the Mediator Isa 57.8 Thou hast discovered thy self to others then to Christ and art gone up but thou wouldst not come to Jesus that thou mightest have Life What are now become of thy Doings thy Works and thy Righteousness Isa 57.12 I will declare thy Righteousness and thy Works for now they shall not profit thee Cry now to thy Morality and Reformation lift up thy suppliant hands to thy Duties and Profession Cry aloud to thy Prayers and Tears thy convictions and thy terrors of Conscience Fall prostrate to thy wishings and to thy wouldings and thy desires to desire to have thy Sin inwardly mortified under the obstinate refusals of Christ and his righteousness And try these thy Idol Saviours whether they will now hear thee Isa 57.13 When thou cryest let thy companies of Saviours deliver thee but the wind now carries them all away and vanity takes them Hadst thou trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ thou shouldest now have Isa 57.13 possessed the Land and shouldest have inherited his holy Mountain even the everlasting Hills in the Highest Heavens But now thy Mountains of self righteousnesses which thou wentest up to to offer Sacrifice to set thy Bed and to build thy Nests upon and which thou thoughtest eternally strong I thrash them to dust and my breath blows them away like chass All thy Pharisaical Doings do now leave thee and nothing of them goes with thee to Hell but the unpleasant rememberance thereof to torment thee that thou wast such a Madman to set up these instead of Christ the only Saviour as if thy good Duties good Professions good Frames and good Priviledges had undertook for thee from eternity had obeyed the Law for thee with a God-like Obedience and suffered the cursed death of the Cross for thee were raised up again and by the Fathers right hand were exalted to be Princes and Saviours to give repentance and remission of sins and were now ever living at the Fathers right hand to make intercession for thee Why callest thou these good Saviours There is none good in that sense but he that is God Thus I say will Death then insult in the dying moment and glory over and tread under foot like Dogs-meat all the ragged Righteousnesses of Men and Women THEN consider it seriously thou that with the Pharisee in the Gospel gloryest before the Lord that thou art not as other Men an Extortioner Vnjust an Adulterer or even as the Publicans and Sinners and layest hold on this for eternal Life Thy Conscience is not purged but choked and bribed with false Counters of outward Reformation The unclean Spirit of Debauchery may be has been cast out and thou thinkest that enough but the Spirit of the Lord the Gospel-sanctifier has not been there at work for he walked through dry places The Rest and Peace of Conscience thou hast obtained are not right for 't is written he sought for rest and found none The House i. e. Thy Person has been swept by Reformation and garnished with a fine Profession But 't is but the strong-hold of wicked Spirits still 'T is empty of the Spirit of the Lord. The Holy Ghost has had no in-dwelling there at all therefore the unclean debauch'd Spirit transformed into an Angel of Light with seven other Spirits more wicked than himself not more unclean than himself but more wicked a compleat Number of evil Spirits i. e. the Devil of unbelief and spiritual Pride two great Legions have returned and entered into thee and if the Lord does not pity thee and discover the rotteness of thine Estate to thee Thy last state will be worse than the first Ah! deluded Soul Thou wouldst heal thy Conscience with thine own Medicines thou wouldst cover thy self with thine own Righteousness thou wouldst lay thy self down on thine
Dainties the Grave will fill their Mouths and Bellies with Dust Their Silks and Laces and abominable impudent whorish Head dresses their proud and lofty Crests shall be exchanged for stinking Rottenness odious Filth and crawling Maggots And instead of their stately Houses and Down Beds they must be content to take up with a dark Hole and a cold Bed of Clay The most vigorous Health then is vanished a little pitiful Vermine can there deal with the stoutest Hector and the strongest Sampson The fairest Face will soon prove as dismal there as the foulest Monster The most exquisite Beauty look as squallid and as horrid as the ugliest Blackamoor and none shall be able to see any Difference between the rotten Skull of the one and the other But having spoken somewhat to these things already and being desirous to hasten to other Matter I shall here put a Conclusion to this and only add three or four things to be considered in Death wherein Death and the Grave triumphs over a Sinners Body but the Believer triumps over Death and the Grave c. I shall speak to both the Contraries together by way of Antithesis 1. NATURAL Death to the Wicked is an entrance to eternal Death Heb. 9.27 And 't is appointed to Men once to die but after this the Judgment The Righteous Law of God has so ordered it for Sinners that Death as a Sergeant shall arrest and cast their Bodies to the Grave as to a Dungeon there to be reserved in Deaths Chains to the Judgment of the great Day But natural Death to the Godly is a Passage to eternal Glory and Death like a skilful Chymist takes their Bodies and puts them into the Alembick of the Grave and there distils them into pure spiritual and glorious Bodies against the great Day but more of this hereafter 2. NATURAL Death to the Wicked is a part of the penal Sentence of the Law Gen. 2.17 For in the Day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die The Law threatned a threefold Death spiritual temporal and eternal The Hebraism in the Original is emphatical to the Purpose dying thou shalt die To me having this Force dying in thy Body thou shalt die eternally in thy Soul 'T is evident that to the Ungodly natural Death is a part of that punishment inflicted by the righteous Law of God and what Death is the Grave is the same If one be the Laws Jaylor to the Body the other is the Laws Prison But to the Godly 't is far otherwise For as Death has lost his Sting to them so has the Grave 'T is not to them penal but purely natural the putting off the old Adam that the second Adam may take possession of the whole Body The Apostle in 1 Cor. 15. discoursing of the Necessity of the natural Death of Believers argues thus That the old Adam had first took possession of the Elect Vessels Bodies V. 46. That what of the old Adam is there is earthly and tends to Earth and Dissolution V. 47. It being the proper Nature thereof V. 48. Concludes thus that the Image of the old Adam on the Body must be wholly laid aside and that by Death so that the Image of the second might take sole and full Possession V. 49. As we have born the Image of the Earthy we shall also bear the Image of the Heavenly 3. NATURAL Death is a separation of the Body from all Life and thus it is to the Wicked Their Dust dwell alone in the Grave united to nothing only there reserved by an Almighty Power of God in an extraordinary way for the Glory of his Justice hereafter But the Dust of the Godly in their Graves are united to the Body of Christ now in Heaven and there is held still a secret Correspondence between their scattered Dust and the Life of Jesus who in this sence is the Resurrection and the Life To make this more evident 't is to be considered 1. That the Person of the Believer both Body and Soul in the first act of Faith is united to the Person of Christ yea joyned to the Body of Christ Rom. 7.4 2. That by vertue of this Union the second Adam takes Possession of the Body as well as the Soul as proved afore from 1 Cor. 15.45 to 50. especially 46. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual but that which is natural and afterward spiritual Observe that the Apostles Discourse must be here confined to the Bodies of the Saints for it is the Resurrection of their Bodies he is a proving 3. The Believer holds his natural Life upon another tenure than he did formerly even from the second Adam by vertue of his Implantation into him The great Apostle Paul in the 2 Cor. 4. declaring how his Body had been supported in the Work of Christ under all Perils Pains Watchings Labours Imprisonments c. almost insupportable declares the Cause V. 10. That it was from the Life of Jesus made manifest in his Body repeating the same in the last Clause of the 11th Verse only instead of Body there he writes mortal Flesh All which thus explained does evidently prove that the Bodies of the Saints derive now their natural Life in great measure from another Root 4. As an undeniable Consequence of this that that Life the Body holds from Christ does not quite vanish as that of the first Adam does but is gathered up into Christ and retreats back to him the Root as the Sap of Trees in Winter Time falls down from the Branches to the Root And I take that to be the Meaning of that place of holy Writ or at least I may allude to it Col. 3.3 Your Life is hid with Christ in God especially because of the following Verse when Christ who is our Life shall appear then shall ye also appear with him in Glory which Glory respects the Body as well as the Soul 'T is to me plain that there is a secret Commerce between the Living glorious Body of an exalted Jesus and the Dust of a deceased Believer which may be further proved from Mat. 22.31 32. The Argument Christ himself uses to prove the Resurrection of the Dead and the force of his Argument I apprehend to lye here That God calls himself the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob though dead That God is not the God of the Dead but of the Living therefore that though Abraham Isaac c. were dead yet they were still united to the living God and by Vertue of those secret Beams of Life from him the inseparable Effects of that Union that still corresponded and preserved their mouldered Bodies in the Grave they should be raised up at the last Day This sence of the Place seems to be confirmed from the Answer of our Lord Jesus to Martha's Objection against the present Resurrection of her Brother John 11.34 Martha saith unto him I know that he shall rise again in the Resurrection at the last day John 35. Jesus saith