three things are remarkable 1. Their Souls immediately are with Christ. The Apostle for encouragement-sake seems to put this into death's definition Phil. 1. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to be dissolved or to depart and to be with Christ which is far better The Saints as soon as absent from the body are present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 8 9 We are confident says the Apostle and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him That opinion of the Souls sleeping and dying with the Body and resting sensless till the resurrection is absurd and impious Christ says Fear not them which can kill the body but are not able to kill the soul Mat. 10. 28. If the Sould did dye with the Body man would have power over both and might cast the Soul as well as the Body into a dead sleep But our Lord affirms man is not able to kill the Soul which is an undeniable argument to prove its immortality and surviving after its separation it goes immediately to Christ if it hath been sanctified Stephen commended his spirit into Christs hands Act. 7. 59. 2. Believers bodies after death has divided their Souls from them are still united unto Christ Our very Bodies are called the Temples of the Holy Ghost and the Members of Christ 1 Cor. 6. 15 19. And the mystical Union between Christ and his Members is lasting nay everlasting The dead Saints do sleep in Jesus they are in Jesus while asleep 1 Thes 4. 14. 'T is comfortable seriously to meditate upon that relation and consequently that respect and care that Christ has to and of the carcasses of his deceased Servants even these are still his Members and by vertue of that Union shall rise again at the last day 3. The death of Believers is compared to a sleep for after a while they shall be awaked I grant the ungodly shall wake too but in order to punishment 't were better for them to sleep eternally Believers Bodies and Souls that are parted by death shall one day be reunited 'T will surely be a joyful meeting of those two dear Companions that have been so long separated especially they being both changed so much from what they were when before together for the Soul will in the most perfect manner partake of the Divine Nature and the Body that is now a vile one will be like to Christs glorious body Phil. 3. ult Not another Body but the same for substance shall rise again else 't would not be a Resurrection but a new Creation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This mortal shall put on immortality and this corruptible shall put on incorruption 1 Cor. 15. 53. In the second place I am to speak of the sting of death Now if you ask what that is the Apostle explains his own meaning in the verse following the Text The sting of death is sin As sin has caused death it self so all the terror and bitterness of it is the effect of sin Sin is certainly committed upon a very great mistake only those keep their sins who know not what they are The Apostle cautions against being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3. 13. None are obstinate in sin but those that are deceived by it Sin is fancied to be full of pleasure and 't is represented as if 't were all honey but 't is a sting the very sting of death It may be compared to a sting in these three respects 1. Sin like a sting pierces It pierced Christ it pierces us That which no weapon can reach sin can wound and that 's the Soul Diogenes Laertius tells us that when Anaxarchus was In vitâ Anaxar 〈◊〉 driven to Cyprus and taken by Nicocreon the Tyrant there and horribly beaten as in a Mortar with a Pestle he cried out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beat on beat on the windbag of Anaxarchus for Anaxarchus himself thou canst not hurt But though weapons cannot touch the Soul sin strikes deepest there Against this the Apostle says our fleshly lusts do war and therefore beseeches us to abstain from them 1 Pet. 2. 11. 2. Sin like a sting pains Cain was thus pained when he cried out My punishment is greater than I can bear Pashur was thus pained when he deserved the name of Magor Missabib Terror round about Judas also was thus pained when in the height of despair and horror he put a period to his burthensom life with his own hands Oh the horror and raging torment that sin causes in the conscience A wounded spirit who can bear says Solomon Prov. 18. 14 intimating there is no pain like the smart of those wounds 3. Sin like a sting poisons 'T is compared to venom and that of creatures most venomous Deut. 32. 33 Their wine is the poison of Dragons and the cruel venom of Asps This was all the fruit which those which the Lord had once planted a noble Vine yielded How harmless soever sin is thought 't is rank poison Job 20. 12 14 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth though hide de it under his tongue though he spare it and forsake it not yet at length it proves the gall of Asps within him You see in what respect sin is called a sting But here it may be demanded Is all sin the sting of death Miserable then must the end of all needs be for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. In many things all still offend Jam. 3. 2. There is not a just man upon earth that does good and sins not Eccl. 7. 20. I answer in these particulars 1. All by sin have deserved death accompanied with its greatest horror We read Rev. 6. 8 of a pale horse and the name of him that sat on him was death 'T is represented as on horseback to shew the speed and haste it makes but behold a terrible second it follows Hell followed with him and truly 't were just that Death and Hell should be inseparable The Grave in the Old Testament is frequently called Hell to signifie that sin has indeed joined the Grave and Hell together and how righteous 't is that one should always follow upon the other 2. In sin we are to take notice of two things the strength of it and the dominion of it and those that are under both these death comes with a sting to them But whoever are redeemed and made free from sins strength and dominion are under grace and death is unstung before it comes to them 1. We are to take notice of the strength of sin Now the Apostle informs us that the strength of sin is the Law 1 Cor. 15. 56. Therefore sin is so powerful to bind over to condemnation because the transgression of a Law and therefore to such dreadful and eternal vengeance because the Law transgressed is the Law of so
great a God But Believers are not under the Law Christ has redeemed them from the curse of it Their guilt is all removed as far as the East is from the West and that 's far enough Psal 103. 12 As far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us 2. We are to take notice of the dominion of sin Where sin is loved and preferred before God where 't is served with both hands earnestly where provision is made for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof we may conclude that sin reigns and has dominion and sins reigns unto death that is joins first and second death together for death is opposed unto eternal life which grace is said to reign unto Rom. 5. ult As sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. The sum is that all sin though it does deserve to be yet is not the sting of death but sin unpardoned sin reigning and truly 't is unpardoned if 't is reigning is the sting of death In the third place I am to tell you how Believers come to be delivered from this sting of death 1. The Son of God was made flesh he became a mortal man that he might be capable of suffering for Believers As God he could not suffer and if he had been meerly man his sufferings would have been insufficient The Blood of Christ is the Blood of God else it could never have washed away sins The Righteousness of Christ is the Righteousness of him that is Jehovah Jer. 23. 6 else the imputation thereof would not avail for our remission Who can venture his Soul in Christs hand and with satisfaction rely upon him that eyes not his Godhead And how may we be encouraged to believe on him since he has taken our nature and is become our Brother Heb. 2. 11 He is not ashamed to call them brethren 2. Christ was made sin that he might deliver Believers from the sting of death He had none of his own but our sins were imputed to him Isa 53. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath made the iniquity of us all to meet on him And as there was an imputation of our sins to Christ so there is of his Righteousness to us 2 Cor. 5. ult as Christ suffered for the sake of our sins which were laid upon him so for the sake of his righteousness his obedience and sufferings our sins are remitted This is the great truth preached up in the Gospel How can death be disarmed of its sting or the conscience have any true peace till the truth be believed and improved Though Papists and never so many others oppose this truth yet through grace we will hold it fast Though Angels from heaven should preach another doctrine we would conclude a second Apostacy of Angels and say they were accursed 3. Christ became obedient unto death that he might unsting death We shall presently be convinced that death was very terrible which Christ did undergo if we consider with how many stings it came armed upon him All the sins of all those that ever were or shall be saved did as it were spit their poison at Christ together If the first sin of the first Adam be so heavy that all the shoulders of his whole progeny bow under it and cannot bear it Oh what a load was all that guilt which lay upon the second Adam Well death thrust its sting into Christ the Head and there left it there lost it it has not now a sting to hurt his Members What was Christs aim when he died He aimed at the satisfaction of divine Justice he designed to justifie many and to pacifie their consciences they receiving the atonement Rom. 5. 9 11. He died that he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the Devil Heb. 2. 14. The Devil has great power to render death formidable by his accusations by his fiery darts which he is liberal of upon the least permission But Christ died to destroy him in this respect to quench his darts and stop his mouth Further he design'd the purging away of iniquity the cleansing of his Church The dominion of sin is at present pull'd down and at last the very being of it shall be abolished By all this you may perceive how death is unstung by the death of Christ 4. Christ loosed the pains of death for it was not possible he should be holden of it Act. 2. 24. By his power he overcame death as by his sufferings he had made sufficient satisfaction Death could not have been unstung if Christ had not risen Sin and Satan and Death might have triumphed if our Lord had been detained still a prisoner in the grave our faith would have been vain we should have been yet in our sins those that have fallen asleep in Christ would all have perished 1 Cor. 15. 17 18. But Christ having taken his life again which he laid down death hath no more dominion over him it is a conquered enemy 5. Believers being by faith united to Christ partake of the benefits which he has procured now remission of sin and freedom from the bondage of corruption which is freedom indeed are to be reckoned among these benefits All that are in Christ share in his victories in their head who is a common person and representative of them all they have already been Conquerors and at length all their foes will be made their footstools the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death but that shall certainly likewise be destroyed The Apostle speaks thus to the Saints All are yours and ye are Christs 1 Cor. 3. ult They that are interested in the Lord Jesus all things are theirs whether Paul or Apollo or Cephas or the world or life or death Death is theirs theirs to serve them theirs to profit them theirs to be an outlet from sin and sorrow and an inlet unto happiness The Application now follows Use 1 of Information in these particulars 1. Does death come to a Believer without a sting Then it ceases to be so great an enemy 'T is confessed that death is a terrible enemy to the Ungodly it strips them naked of all their comforts takes away their portion from them deprives them of their good things and not only so but drags them to the judgment-seat where being condemned they are delivered immediately to the tormentors Luk. 16. 25 Son remember thou in thy life time receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented How great a kindness did death do to Lazarus in sending him from the rich mans gate to Abrahams bosom Death does that in an instant for Believers which all ordinances providences the greatest industry and strongest cries could never effect it makes them compleatly holy and sends them to that rest
which remains to the people of God Paul Apollo Cephas are friends but death a greater friend than any 2. Does death come to a Believer without a sting Then it ought not so much to be feared and it may truly be said that the Saints are more afraid than hurt by it As in regeneration there is a change wrought in reference to other things the world which before was idolized being now contemned sin that before was loved being now hated so there should be in reference unto death this which before was feared should be desired 2 Cor. 5. 2 In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven Death is the less to be feared for guilt which causes fear will not be any more contracted 3. Does death come to a Believer without a sting Behold the vast difference between the end of the Believer and the Vnbeliever Indeed the breath goes away from both alike their Bodies are carried to the same grave which is stiled the house of all the living But if you could behold where their Souls go then you would perceive as vast a difference as there is between the highest Heaven and the lowest Hell The wicked man when he dies leaves perhaps children roaring wife wringing of her hands relations weeping bitterly Oh but what are these lamentations compared with those despairing agonies and sorrows that he himself is full of in outer darkness Even impious Balaam was so apprehensive of the different end of the holy and unholy that his wish was Let me dy the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his Numb 23. 10. 4. Does death come to a Believer without a sting Then departed Saints should not be mourned for without hope Ambrose says Non ammitti sed praemitti videntur They are not lost but are sent before to those mansions whither we must quickly follow if we patiently continue in well-doing Vse 2. Of Consolation to Believers they must dye indeed but they shall not feel the sting of death The Lyon in the fable was not feared when his Teeth and Claws were gone Death should not make us dismayed when its sting is taken out I shall propound these four grounds of comfort in death unto Believers 1. At death sin is quite mortified The Law in the members is no longer in force that which the Apostle calls the body of sin and death then dyes and shall never have a resurrection Filia devorabit Matrem Death the daughter will devour Sin the mother Saints then shall no longer cry out O wretched who shall deliver us Rom. 7. 4. Deliverance will be fully come They shall no longer complain of evil present when they would do good their ignorance their unbelief their estrangement from God and unsuitableness to him will all then be removed Nazianzen speaks Orat. 32. excellently to our present purpose A Saint therefore is made to dye that sin might not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an immortal evil 2. At Death Believers take wings and fly out of a troublesome World the World shall no more ensuare them cross them persecute them Oh hapyy exchange to leave Meshech and the Tents of Kedar and to go and dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem here they dwell among the sons of Belial they see and hear that which vexes their righteous souls from day to day and in the very best they know they see something that is offensive But they will go to other kind of company after death Surely the spirits of just men made perfect and an innumerable company of Angels will be far sweeter society than any in this world All tears will be wiped away from Non homo 〈◊〉 miseria hominis Christiani moritur their eyes and every thing gone that may occasion sadness 3. At Death Believers are set out of Satans reach He got into the first Paradise and tempted Adam who before was innocent and prevailed by his temptation but into Heaven he shall not enter Concerning the Dragon and his Angels 't is said their place is not found any more in Heaven Rev. 12. 8. He can shoot his darts any-where here in this World even in the Sanctuary even at the Lords table he will be pestering the Saints with his injections and solicitations but Heaven is too sacred a place for that wicked one to have admission 'T is as impossible for the Devil to reach any with his darts that are in glory as it is for us with an arrow to hit the Sun in the firmament 4. At Death Believers receive a Crown of Life Rev. 3. 10 Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of Life They shall see God face to face and that sight will transform them into his likeness they shall live with God for ever and that life must needs be holy that life must needs be joyful Psal 16. ult In thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Cyprian that Ser. 4. De mortalit p. 2â—â— he might make death comfortable sayes Ad immortalitatem morte transgredimur by death we pass to immortality nec potest vita aeterna succedere nisi hinc contigerit exire Neither can we till out of this life enter upon that life that is eternal then he goes on Who would not haste unto that which is so much better of the two Vse 3. Of Exhortation in two Words 1. Let it be your great care that the sting of death may be taken out Sin will not always be made light of perhaps when death is really within view Conscience that was stupid before may be horribly affrighted when the strength fails and Physicians are discouraged by fatal Symptoms when t is whispered in the Room there 's no hope of recovery when Friends stand by and weep because they look upon you as good as gone Oh then though never so sensless and seared before fear may come upon you as desolation and destruction as a whirl-wind distress and anguish may take hold of you Prov. 1. 27. Or suppose you die hardned immediately after death the sting of it will be felt and the unexpected smart and torment will be the more tormenting Oh how did the rich Glutton yell and roar when he felt himself tormented in the flames that before had lived in ease and pleasure It concerns you therefore highly to have Death unstung and that it may be unstung follow these Directions 1. Let your hearts be pricked for sin at present Act. 2. 37. Be afflicted and mourn and weep because you have sinned against God against your own Souls Smite upon your thighs and say What have I done blame your ignorance and madness in offending Psal 73. 21 22. Thus my heart was grieved I was pricked in my reins so foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee Thus to be troubled is the way to peace 2. Believe that help indeed lies in the Lord Jesus and