who had the greatest power of death to oppose him 2. As it is a Deliverance designed so purchased by him at the price of his Death He tasted death for every man that he might deliver c He purchased with his own bloud the deliverance of his people from the fears of death 3. As designed and purchased so really and actually vouchasafed he destroyed the Power of the Tyrant who detained them as slaves and set them at liberty As it was said of Herod He was dead that sought the Childs life so may it be said of the Devil He is destroyed that enslaved the poor Consciences of mortal men with the horrid fears of Death * Hoeprostratus est Diabolus ut pro nihilo hab ndus sit â—o si nullus fore Calv. And they that are in Christ are not under his power so it may be said of them only that they were subject to bondage closely held to it but now they are loose and at liberty to serve God without fear in righteousness and holiness all the daies of their life But now Secondly This Actual Deliverance is further described so as to lead us to the Consideration of the misery from which Christ delivers his people and that under those words Death Fears Bondage 1. From Death it self I mean the misery or curse of it It is true all Christs redeemed ones dye or are translated But Death is not death to them but rather a meer shadow and whilest it is a sad reality to others it is truly but as a sleep to the Saints It is said therefore of the best meer men 1 Kings 2.10 1 Kings 11.43 they slept with their Fathers But of the Best and Greatest God-Man Jesus Christ that he died He tasted of death for every man as you have it a little before my Text that is for the good and advantage of all the children He tasted for them it is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he drank up that Cup * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est mortem sentiret Metaphora sampta a Propinato calice ex scripturae more quem etiam servalt Christus in triplici illa sua oratione cum ad mortem properaret Vid. Joh. 8.51 Quibusdam etiam placet istud eò referre quod vere quidem mortuus sit Sed tamen mortem quasi degustarit duntaxat ut qui mox resurrexerit quâ ratione dicuntur etiam noâ—nulli bonum dei donum guflare quod mox evomant infra 6.4 Sed hoc non placet Beza He tasted so as they never do that they might not taste the bitterness of Death He tasted it for them they only as it were kiss the Cup. Christ dyed they sleep Now who will say that sleeping is dying indeed that it is a misery or imperfection to fall asleep Unless we can think Adam to be miserable in innocency and fallen before his wife tempted him or was yet made of him for he was asleep when Eve was formed of his Rib. Sleeping then is not a misery no more is the Saints death who fall asleep in the state of the best innocency by the righteousness of Christ There may indeed be some similitude in the Saints death unto the imperfection and which sweetens the matter unto the necessity and refreshment of sleep taking it at the worst after that the Fall had decayed mens Constitutions and Tempers There may be and often are tossings and wearisom tumblings on a death bed and sometimes anguish agonies terrible Convulsions but these are only like the difficulty which a weary Traveller meets with in falling to sleep whose sleep is nevertheless sweet to him Or like the terrible dreams a healthful man may have in his sleep which are more disturbance to his fancy than sences For usually the body is past sensation or but of a very dull sence and feeling in such gasping difficulties Such Convulsions frighting more the Beholder than the Patient and are but as I may say the sad dreams of a dying man upon his falling to a deep sleep when he awakes all is well for he did but dream it was ill with him But however that soul is but little concerned in all this which is delivered by Christ from the proper pains and terrours of Death 2. Christ delivers from the sting of Death Sin which is remarkably signified in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text which with a Genitive as it is here is used in good Greek Authors to signifie the Obligation of guilt to a due punishment of a broken Law And so consequents here to Death the wages of sin which terrifies at distance and enslaves the Conscience Subject to Bondage that is by the guilt of sin to the enthralling fears of its due punishment Death * Beza therefore renders that part of my Text thus Quotquot metu mortis pâ—r totam vitam Damnates erant servitatis But from this sting of Death are Christs children delivered witness the Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 15.56 57. The sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Victory by Christ or deliverance from the sting of Death made him sing O Death where is thy sting Death is but as a Serpent to be plaied with because the sting is taken out to be scorn'd therefore rather than feared So that you see the safety and sweetness of this deliverance by Christ consists in his disarming this enemy pulling out that only bitter and mortally wounding sting of Death Sin 3. Christ Delivers his children from the slavish fears of Death and the very sad bondage of them This indeed is the top and perfection of this deliverance The very express notion of the Text and must be made out in the sequel of the Discourse To all which resolves may be added That as this happy deliverance is the real portion and really enjoyed priviledge of real Saints Christ tasting death for every man who is of that blessed Fraternity the children of Christ as they are called by Christ himself a little before the Text v. 13 14. So also must this deliverance be acknowledged upon the first enjoyment at least to be not suddenly perfect through the weakness of believers faith yet notwithstanding it is sufficient through Christ to bear them out in all their encounters even at length unto Conquest yea Triumph too Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ and makes us without fear sing O Death where is thy sting For as God even so Christ gives all his benefits liberally and upbraids not and that without any difference or respect of persons to all that ask in faith without any wavering His blessed will is That his free born children should not only have life but have it more abundantly that is comprehending naturally this instance That they should be more and more abundantly freed from the servile fears of
Truly God-man the Son of God and of man who is what he is as a Christ a Jesus a Saviour for the real and effectual good of all his people who cannot if they will but sooner or later in some measure as really partake of every vertue and benefit of Christs death which they stand in need of as ever Christ did partake with them of the same flesh and bloud For as Mediator he is obliged to save to the uttermost 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us as Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification so Redemption Christ cannot and will not deny any real Saints that universal and full Redemption and deliverance which God hath made over to them in and with his Son The world out of Christ cannot claim a comfortable interest in Gods power whom they have perfectly disobliged and can by no manner of proper merit oblige him again But now Saints may claim an interest in Christs power to save them to the uttermost because he is made of God to them Redemption without any exception of so considerable a Redemption as this is from the fears of death or indeed without possibility of any such exception For if Christ be made to the Saints Righteousness the Law is satisfied the sting of Death sin and the strength of sin the Law is all quite taken away by a pardon given us through Christs satisfactory and meritorious righteousness If Christ be made Sanctification to us the power of sin is also much subdued so that the hearts courage is no more so weakened by sin nor such an enmity against and thereupon such a suspicion of Gods wrath maintained as before nor in a word such a spirit of bondage again to fear as formerly And then if Christ be made wisdome to us he gives us light whereby to discover the truth and benefit of all this grand provision for our souls peace and rest What then can his being made Redemption to us be more over and above or less Then his rescuing our hearts and consciences from the slavish and foolish fears of any damage by Death that penalty of the Law the wages of sin the worst that can come Christ removing the guilt of sin as our Righteousness and the power of sin as our Sanctification and also removing our ignorance of deaths impotency in such a case to hurt us as our Wisdom hath left nothing to be done more or in the next place as our Redemption but the removing also the impotency of our hearts in such unreasonable fears of Death which he hath so disarmed not only of weapon but of power also to hurt us Now all this he is obliged to do for the Saints For how is he made all this to them if it reach not their souls Separate not what God hath conjoyned in your Saviour one and all in some measure is every Saints portion They cannot ask more of each than is prepared for them in the fulness of Christ Nay not more than they have clear title to as much now as ever any Saints had in any former ages because Christ is made of God to all Saints in full Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption Poor souls power in God for your good you can hardly conceive sith by reason of sin he that made you by his power may refuse to save you by his power well yet power laid up in Christ for you may well encourage you God hath therefore lodged power in Christ God-man to let poor Saints believing in him see their interest in it and marriage claim to it to let them know he would have his power actually deliver and save them to the uttermost Go to God by him and he is not only able but obliged to carry you to God without fears in the way It being his very Office as Gods High Chamberlain one set over the house of God for this purpose Heb. 10.21 22. But to support this with another Consideration Thirdly As Christ is able and obliged so willing and faithful as willing as able and as faithful as obliged thus to deliver Truly this with the first I mean his willingness faithfulness and his ability which was first mentioned might easily be granted by any that consider the Person God-man here spoken of yet because it makes much to this present purpose I must shew you some Scripture that commands us to consider this in him as Heb. 2.17 Wherefore it behoved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren that he might be a merciful and faithful High Priest Merciful He took our nature our very flesh that he might be more tender of and merciful to us in our danger and fears of dying which by reason of flesh and bloud are incident to us And then faithful that is so sensible of every thing tender and pitiful as faithfully to improve his great Ability to save and deliver to the uttermost As his power is large to the uttermost of our misery and fear so his faithfulness is as large as his power He must then of necessity be an actual deliverer of his people in all points not only from their Enemies but from their servile fear of them As from Deaths misery so from the fear of it that they serve God without any such horrid fear in righteousness and holiness all their daies And the reason is cogent for in him concur sufficient ability to save and an indispensable obligation thereto from the immutable purpose and appointment mutual agreement and mercy both of his father and himself and also particularly a great obligation from the power of his Sympathy with those whose natures and flesh he took up and then as sufficient ability and indispensable obligation so infallible faithfulness meet gloriously in this blessed Jesus and speak him an Almighty Deliverer of his people from the fears of Death Doth not all this appear He dyed Who could who would so dye Before his death he cryed Let this cup pass that so no Saint might fear its approach He at his death cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me That so no Saint might at his own death cry out fearfully as forsaken of God Those his cries proceeded from mighty and meritorious pangs Thus each peculiar pain was appointed for our particular healing as these mentioned for the curing us of the painful fears of our death and they are also great demonstrations of Christs mercy and faithfulness unto us unto the last Who else might easily have had more than twelve Legions of Angels to have rescued him from the rest of his Passion but he was cruel to himself merciful and faithful to us Fourthly Christ is a Deliverer of his people from the fears of Death because he cannot but be faithful as to his childrens good so to his own glorious design Where Power and Resolution and unchangeableness meet what can hinder the accomplishment of a design Christs power of delivering from the fears
of death hath been evidently proved His design is manifest in the Text. He assumed humane nature THAT he might deliver his Saints from the fear of Death and whilst he bears about him that Humane Nature how can he but be constant to his design in taking it up He that lives for ever to make intercession for his people hath not in vain the Keyes of Hell and of Death Fifthly He hath accomplished and atchieved such things for his children that naturally bring about this their freedom from the fears of Death To suggest the most weighty First He died not only in their nature but in their stead He tasted death for them So that as to them it may be truly said Mankind died in him their representative That formidable death which men deserve Christ hath undergone it all What fear of death can then be reasonably yielded to it is Christ that died What reason to fear that which another hath felt for us on purpose that we to be sure should never feel any such thing What is truly formidable in Death is past and gone and no more to be feared than an escaped danger Secondly Christ hath by his death merited Saints freedom from the fears of their own He laid down his life as the price of this Priviledge What Saint then dares fear death that considers the unquestionable sufficiency of the value of Christs death for the purchasing this great priviledge for him that he should not fear death For a Saint to fear Death with a bondage servile fear is as much as to say Christ hath not bled enough to purchase this my freedom from these fears but I must bleed too to raise the price God forbid that any Saints doubts or fears should ever be found so palpably guilty of undervaluing the bloud of Christ and the price of their Redemption Thirdly Christ by his Death hath taken away the only true fundamental reason and occasion of the fear of Death and that is the condemning power of the Law The sting of that Death sales the Apostle which men so dread it is nothing else but sin Sin indeed unpardoned Well but that is pardoned in the bloud of Christ and therefore saies he Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory that is over death through our Lord Jesus Christ Well but how The foregoing words shew it 1 Cor. 15.56 57. The sting of death is sin True But the strength of sin is the Law Oh! there there is the bitterness The Law sharpens and strengthens the sting of Death sin Oh! This condemning power of a broken Law This this torments the sinners heart with the fears of Death Well but observe The strength of sin is the Law but thanks be to God who giveth us the victory that is by weakening the strength of sin and blunting the sharpness of that sting of Death Christ hath satisfied every demand of the broken Law that sin or death can say or do nothing to fright one that is by faith become Christs child Though the Devil lye and so labour to terrifie a Saint saying Come come away thou hast broken the Law Its Sentence and doom is past upon thee Come to prison thou must surely and suddenly dye Yet all this time the Law saies no such thing and yet it flatters none being most true and just but it takes good notice that Christ died and it is fully satis fied I will assure you the Law will not suggest the least fear to any soul that hath the least faith in Christs bloud The Law acknowledges such full payment by Christs most Precious Death that it requires not the least farthing more Rom. 15.18 As by the offence of one judgment came upon all to Condemnation so by the righteousness of one saies the Apostle of Christ the free gift came upon all unto justification of life The broken Law instead of condemning a sinner that hath faith in Christ doth rather justifie him fully The Law saith to the sinner that believes in Christ Truly for all me thou shalt live and that eternally for Christ hath died I require no death of thee and that thou at thy dissolution seemest to die it is more to conform to thy Masters and Saviours death and indeed to comply with the necessity of a better and more curious fabrick of thy body and it s far sweeter life than to satisfie any of the Laws demands Thus Christ satisfying the killing demands of the Law hath indeed taken away the very ground of fear the very strength of sin which without that strength cannot afford Death the least sting to wound us Fourthly Christ hath taken away as the strength of sin so the strength also of the Devils Temptations to fear death So that when a Saint fears death upon the Devils temptations he fears a lye of the Devils and a fancy of his own For Christ hath really broken the force of all the devils temptations to fear death according to the clear meaning of that expression coupled with my Text That he might destroy him that had the power of Death But you will say who but God hath the power of life and Death Doth not Jesus Christ himself vindicate it as his Prerogative Royal Rev. 1.18 speaking of himself I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore Amen and have the keyes of Hell and Death What power of death then hath the Devil But little now blessed be Christ The Devil cannot bring death at his pleasure to our doors Jobs life was not committed to his cruel mercy he had no power to kill him Truly wicked men have power when God permits to kill the body and what hath the Devil more By the Power of Death here attributed to the Devil is meant only his forcible temptations by which he conveys many ugly forms and shapes of Death and so also many sad apprehensions and fears thereof into mens distressed Consciences the Devil hath leave of God to fright guilty sinners and he hath of himself malice power and wit enough to bring death near and to lay its rough hand upon the sore place of a sinners wounded Conscience Yea he hath besides even all that power and strength of Deaths sting in his hand which Death received from the Condemning Law But now though the wicked are often laid open to the Devils cruel mercy yet little it is that he can do against Christs People because Christ hath destroyed the Devil and this his Power Christs bloud hath cancelled his Commission or so contracted and lessened it that when ever he assaults a believer with the fears of Death he knows he must flee upon resistance Resist the Devil saies the Apostle and he will flee from you He knows he must having no Commission to stay after such resistance as Christ enables his people to make And then as to that strength of his Temptations which is derived and urged from a pretence of the Condemnation and penalty of the Law
death not only from the domineering prevalency but the disquieting presence of them Now the words lying open to view you have a most fair prospect of great and sweet variety which naturally springs up out of this most fruitful field that if digged and searched will yield very holy meditation and discourse Concerning this Scripture I may say truly in the words of the Apostle Paul when he was comforting timorous souls under their fears of Judgment and so very pertinently to my business in hand Behold here how our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God even our Father who hath loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace do here comfort your hearts by the most warm breathings of the Holy Ghost the Comforter who indeed is then a Comforter when all else are but miserable ones His Cordial here is very singular and soveraign the Ingredients very precious and various and not a little conspicuous in these following Doctrines some of which are raised from the fourteenth verse immediately preceding my Text some from both verses together and some from the Text it self only 1. The fourteenth verse exhibits to you these seven Doctrines First That the unconceivable love of the Son of God to his dear children made him come down on earth and become man Secondly That Christ in his humane nature is as very man as any of the Elect his flesh and bloud not only being like ours but part of our substance He also himself likewise took part of the same So that he himself is of the same stock of Adam and Eve as surely and verily as any of us Thirdly That sinners out of Christ are under the sentence of Death such as are not Gods Children are under the Devil their fathers cruel severity that is under the power of Death or That Satan hath the power of Death over all such as are not delivered by Christ from his Power Fourthly That Christ hath destroyed this his power for the sole benefit of his children true believers Fifthly That the way how Christ overcame Satan and destroyed his power was by his own death Or Christ by his own death conquered that Tyrant the Devil Which destruction of the Devil by the Death of Christ because alledged here by the Apostle as Christs intermediate end in subserviency to his Grand design of delivering his children from the fears of Death I shall only a little pause upon The Devil was no sooner our enemy but Christ was his The Devil said to our first Parents Ye shall not surely dye but Christ only made it good Though the Devil meant nothing less yet Christ nothing more see the Devil in his colours First he tempts to sin with a surely thou shalt not dye and yet presently upon the Commission of sin he torments with a surely thou shalt dye He speaks his own plainly when he tempts to sin but he speaks in appearance Gods words when he tempts to despair How much harder then is it to resist his temptations to despair of pardon than it is to resist those his temptations by which he would bring us into a sad need of it But he is a Lyar in both For he spake in his first temptation to sin against his own judgment who verily thought man by sin would most irrecoverably dye and that for ever And when he tempts all men to despair with a surely ye shall dye he knows he lies For Christ in all Ages effectually delivers all his Children Whether Satan say thou shalt not surely dye before sin committed or thou shalt surely dye after sin committed he knows he lyes in the one he lyes against the truth of the Law in the other he lyes against the true meaning of an Enacted Law in the other he lyes against the truth of the repeale or in the one he lyes against the truth of Gods threats and the condemning power of the Law in the other against the truth of Gods promises and of his incomparably glorious Act of Indempnity He thought indeed seeing he could not be exalted above God he would become a petty Tyrant as his ambition thirsted over poor mankind and thereupon laboured to bring man by sin under his power the power of death but wherein he dealt proudly Christ was above him Christ in mans nature dyed for man so that though in as much as Christ dyed the Devil bruised his heel yet Christ by his own death defeated his design and bruised his Serpent-head which he will not be able to get healed for ever whereas Christ only was dead but is alive and lives for evermore as before by death to vanquish him so eternally by the power of his Life and Raign to keep him under in chains of darkness and also to deliver his children from his power of Death who though they sleep yet shall wake again Eternally Sixthly That Christs death conquered the Saints death even the power of it lying much in the hand of the Devil was destroyed with him Death is our enemy Christ encountred it for us in our stead verse 9. the Apostle speaking of Jesus saies thus That he by the grace of God should taste death for every man for him He conquered our enemy death by dying by bearing and so breaking off from us all its malignant force that it cannot reach us therewith when it ruffles most It is our last enemy but already conquered by Christ Christs death it is the Saints life in Death Christ hath given death its deaths wound and though at its last gasp it would lift up its self and grin upon a dying Saint yet behold all its venome-teeth are dasht out by the power of Christ and its sting to seek It laies only upon him a cold and feeble hand but cannot break a bone as I may say not do the least hurt It only rocks the body asleep and makes way for the soul to enter into its Masters Joy unspeakable indeed and full of glory As the Devil whom Christ rebuked in the possessed tare and rent the body it is true yet durst not but come forth and depart and though the body was left on the ground as dead yet it quickly appeared to be alive So death may teare and shake a Saints body at its dissolution and leave it for dead on the ground yet it hath no more to do to touch it the very body as the grain sown in the earth is a springing up though at first flowly with a new life I say the body shall in spight of death live again gloriously at the Resurrection and never dye because death is conquered and destroyed for ever by Christs death who was dead but is alive for evermore Amen Neither is the Saints sleeping at their dissolution a bare piece of Rhetorick but a most real notion Wicked mens bodies may be said indeed most properly to suffer death for though they also shall rise again yet it is to lead a life in those raised bodies worse than death But
It is but little or indeed nothing he can say to a believer Here the Saint hath advantage of ground given him against the Devil For never was the Law more broken than Christs life fulfilled it and never can the penalty thereof be so fully suffered as it was by Christs Death that paid the uttermost farthing which the damned's torments shall never be able to do Sixthly Christ is the Deliverer of his People from the fears of Death in as much as he works mightily in them as well as for them and so wonderfully strengthens them in the inner man against those servile fears of Death But in what manner and by what graces or comforts I have determined to shew in the second part of my Method I shall therefore now only add That Christ administers a mighty vertue and power to the spirits of his people by his gracious Pardons encouraging Commands and comfortable yea sutable Promises All which wonderfully serve to animate Believers against the fears of Death First By Gracious Pardons The Son of man had power on earth to forgive sin sure he hath not lost that power now he is exalted in heaven You know he exercised that power on earth and so he doth still For whilst on earth how oft said he Thy sins are forgiven thee Upon his departure from the earth near his dying Peace I leave with you my Peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give I unto you let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid Joh. 14.27 After his Resurrection Peace be unto you Joh. 20.21 After his Ascension into heaven you know the Salutations in his Letters Credential by his Ambassadors and Ministers I mean the Salutations you find in the front to many of the Epistles in the New Testament Grace Mercy and Peace from God our Father first and then from our Lord Jesus Christ as the very next hand This Prince of Peace speaks Peace to his Saints and what enemy first or last as death is dare or can speak War As Christ by his own mouth spake peace on earth to his people so now as verily and really by his own spirit by his infallible Word and true Ministers he sares to the poor Consciences of his Saints Your sins are forgiven you and if Sin sting not Death cannot Guilt 's fears are blasted with that sweet peace which Christ gives and which the world by a thousand Deaths cannot take away fears cannot dwell where Christs words of eternal life take place So that a pardoned Conscience sings before this enemy Death O Death where is thy sting Secondly By encouraging Commands doth his Excellency the Lord Jesus hearten his People and Souldiers that they fear neither Death nor Devil which expressions of Christ are not to be considered only as beseeching perswasions but rather as most rouzing and Authoritative incitements unto courage and valour as these are Fear not little Flock it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Luk. 12.32 which indeed is won and fully possest by Death And Be of good chear and let not your heart be troubled neither let it be affraid c. So still doth Christ as a Lord of Hosts go on speaking couragiously to us by his Word by his Spirit and by his field Officers Isa 35.4 I mean his Apostles and Ministers and that in such words as these prest and charged home Let your Conversation be as BECOMES the GOSPEL and that especially in your being nothing TERRIFIED by your adversaries Phil. 2.27 28. And put on the whole Armour of God c. That ye may be able to stand in the evil day and having done all to stand Christ as a good Captain and great General heartens his people not to fear their last encounter in the evil day the hour of danger or of sudden Death he secretly whispers such courage into his peoples hearts And for him to say fear not who by a word created all things in heaven and earth it is enough to embolden the faintest Christian Souldier unto Conquest What a Captain of Salvation is this That at once saies be of good courage and makes of good courage Oh labour to hear the voice of the Son of God and thou shalt live in spight of Death and truly there is no such difficulty to hear him for he uses to speak Peace to his Saints that diligently seek him Thirdly By comfortable and sutable Promises doth the Lord Jesus animate his people against all evil fear of Death to instance in some I will not leave you comfortless I will send you the Comforter Verily verily I say unto you ye shall be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be turned into joy Joh. 16.20 22. Your heart shall rejoyce and your joy no man taketh from you no not Devil nor Death for if these could it would be all one as if man could for then they should not keep it But although one of Christs Apostles confest of himself that he was in deaths often yet that Promise bore him our and all the rest too of Christs Disciples even so as that they sang in prison and made ready not to be bound only but to dye at Jerusalem or any where else for the name of the Lord Jesus It is very remarkable that when Jesus Christ had given his Disciples many comfortable Promises Joh. 16. to hearten them up he summed up all in the end of the Chapter thus These things have I spoken unto you that is these Promises that in me ye might have peace in the world ye shall have tribulation but be of good chear I have overcome the world yea whatsoever is the worlds properly as misery and death are All the Promises of God are in Christ yea and in him Amen Promises are Gods and Christs words upon which they cause their people to hope according to that of David Remember thy word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope And the Apostle teaches that through patience and comfort of the Scriptures Saints have hope which hope in the Promises prevails against nothing more than sin 2 Cor. 7.1 and 1 Joh 3.3 and particularly against sinful fears of death For what can more naturally destroy fear than that which mightily enlivens hope Such are Christs Promises which words of eternal life therefore are most powerful against Death Shall Saints then fear though a little flock when those young Lions wicked men and those old Lions the Devil and Death set upon them when as they have such a Promise as this to bear them up That it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the Kingdom Death may be dreadful to those that by it lose Crowns but certainly desirable to those that by it are sure to win Crowns Seventhly I produce the great Examples and instances which testifie of Christ that he is such a deliverer of his people from the fears of Death as first Job Though God should slay him yet no fear