There is nothing next to Divine Wisdom and Power which can preserve our Kingdom and Religion but that which nourish'd Christianity in its Infancy and gave It strength to Travel into all Countries and that was God's Blessing upon the faithful Endeavours and exemplary Holy lives of its Professors Secondly Let us Seriously and Earnestly apply our selves to those other Vertues call'd Meekness Moderation and Peaceableness of Mind Our blessed Saviour gloried in this Character that He was meek and lowly in Heart and proposed it to all Men as worthy their Learning and Imitation And whatever the conveniency and comforts are which accrue to every particular Person by following and promoting Union Brotherly Love and things that make for Peace I am sure the Publick will have the Greater share in it and flourish the better for it It was the saying of our Saviour That a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand And I heartily wish that our Popish Enemies do not believe it a Greater Truth than We do For upon this Maxim they make our Divisions as firmly believing they will certainly Ruine us And we at this very Time keep up our Divisions as supposing they will do us no harm or as if we believed that Christ was a Good Divine but no Statesman Oh Consider therefore and Mournfully Pity the Distressed and Distracted State of this our Protestant Jerusalem And let us like men of Prudence and Valour countermine this Popish Plot of ruining us by Divisions with Resolutions of Uniting to the Maintenance and Defence of our Established Government and Religion 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 HAd Man continued as he was made Innocent without Sin he might have been what his Maker would have had him to be Immortal without death for God created him to be Immortal and to be an Image of his own Eternity he made not Death neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living but death came into the world through the envy of the Devil and the disobedience of man had it not been for this we should have been like so many Enoch's and have passed from Earth to Heaven not by death but by a Translation But because we sin'd God sentenced us all to Die and to return to the Dust out of which we were first taken It was Sin that made the first gap whereby death entred into the world death entred by sin and so death hath passed upon all men for that all have sinned The Noble the Honourable and the Rich they sin like other men and therefore they die like other men neither Riches nor Honours neither Profit nor Pleasure neither Favour nor Friends can exempt them from it Heavens decree is past that all that sin must die and there is no appeal hence death is called in Scripture the way of all flesh and the way of all the earth all must go this way though not at the same time nor after the same manner some go suddenly others by degrees not one half of the world arrives to the natural age of man threescore years and ten and those that do their bodies become their burthens and their years then but labour and sorrow Man that is born of a woman saith Job is of few daies and full of trouble he cometh forth as a flower and is cut down he fleeth as a shaddow and continueth not he dieth and wasteth away he giveth up the Ghost and where is he This is the startling and amazing question that troubles the greater part of man-kind namely what will become of them after death Some are ready to cry out with the Heathen I have lived in doubt I die in fear and I know not whither I am going Others that are taken up with the profits and pleasures and other enjoyments of this world dream of enjoying the like in another like the Mahometan's who believe that after death they shall live again to enjoy large estates stately houses curious gardens beautiful women and the like Others that live like Brutes think they must die like them too perish and come to nothing But we that have learned Christ better are assured that there shall be a life after death unto which all shall rise some to go on the right hand into joy and happiness others on the left into woe and misery They that die in their sins shall be accursed they that die in the Lord shall be blessed So the voice from Heaven bid St. John write blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them That John should hear a Voice from Heaven may be believed without any wonder if we do but remember that he was a special Favorite of Heaven he is dignified with the title of The Disciple whom Jesus loved he had the honour to be still next his Master and to lean on his bosom a sign that he had greater favour and familiarity with him than the rest he was one of the three that were admitted to Mount Tabor at the glorious Transfiguration of Christ where he saw his face shine as the Sun and his rayment white as the light and where he heard a voice out of a bright cloud that over-shadowed him and the rest saying This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him he was the person to whose care Christ commended his Mother the Blessed Virgin Mary for by his last Will and Testament made upon the Cross where there were witness enough by he appointed him to be her Guardian whereupon he took her into his own house and made her a principal part of his charge and care He being then so greatly beloved of Christ it was no wonder that he had some Heavenly Secrets revealed unto him and so it was for being in the Spirit or a spiritual rapture extasie or transportation he heard a voice from Heaven of which voice I may truly say what the Jews out of flattery blasphemously said of the Voice of Herod when he made an Oration unto them It is the voice of a God and not of a man Or if it were the voice of a man it was the voice of Christ the Son of God as well as the Son of man it was a voice from Heaven and therefore the more to be regarded for when Heaven speaks it is fit that the Earth should hear there never yet came any voice from Heaven but it concerned the Earth to hear it A voice from Heaven was heard by Moses on the Mount and it was to confirm the Law and establish our Faith in God the Creator A voice from Heaven was heard by Peter James and John at the Transfiguration and it was to confirm the Gospel and establish our Faith in Christ
the Redeemer A voice or sound from Heaven was heard by all the Apostles on the day of Pentecost and it was to confirm our Faith in the Holy Ghost the Comforter A voice from Heaven was heard by Peter in his Vision and it was to confirm our Faith in the Holy Catholick Church A voice from Heaven was heard by John in this place and it was to confirm our Faith concerning the life everlasting and the blessedness of those that die in the Lord it was a sweet comfortable reviving voice it made amends for the sad cry of that voice we hear of Isai 40. 6. All flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field the grass withereth the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it surely the people is grass Whereas the voice heard by Isaiah the Prophet struck all the living dead the voice heard by John the Evangelist makes all the dead in the Lord alive and blessed This voice confirms Christs promise and our assurance of blessedness in the Life to come He promises us that if we will hear his voice believe in him and repent of our sins we shall have Life eternal and never come into condemnation but pass from death to life and to assure us he will be as good as his promise he sent this voice from Heaven to tell us that they that die in the Lord shall live again and be Blessed for ever This Heavenly truth is ever to be remembred and therefore the voice bid John commit it to writing Write say's the voice blessed are the dead which die in the Lord a sentence worthy to be writ by an Angel in letters of Gold never to be Obliterated but to remain legible to all succeeding Generations that all may read understand and receive comfort The voice from Heaven commanded John to Write How then dare any Papist say that the Evangelists and Apostles had no command from God to write their Gospels and Epistles but that they wrote upon the intreaty of some Friends or some emergent occasions when St. Paul saith All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and St. Peter That Prophecy came not by the will of man but Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost And St. John That the voice commanded him to Write and telling him what he should write namely Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord c. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Blessedness is a thing that every man naturally desires and seeks after but in determining what it is and wherein it consists there is a great dispute some placing it in pleasure some in honour some in riches some in knowledge some in vertue St. Austin's Observation out of Varro is well known that there are between two and three hundred several Opinions concerning the Soveraign Good in the enjoyment of which Blessedness consists But among Christians it is agreed upon as an unquestionable truth that the supream Good which alone can make men blessed is God and that he may be enjoyed both in this life and the life to come The present enjoyment of him here in this life is termed the blessedness of the way the blessedness of expectation the blessedness of Grace the Future enjoyment of him hereafter in the life to come is termed the blessedness of the country the blessedness of fruition the blessedness of glory The blessedness of this life is so imperfect that it is scarce to be termed Blessedness we being so compassed about with sin and temptation trouble and sorrow No man is truly happy before death for that is the passage to a blessed life Though death be called an enemy and a terrible thing yea of all terrible things the most terrible yet this is but in respect of Nature for to men in the state of Grace it is but a rest from their Labours and an entrance into Blessedness But if this be so that the dead are the only Blessed Why say some do we not die that we may be Blessed like as Scipio hearing his Father tell of these Glories the Soul enjoys in immortality say'd why do I tarry thus long upon earth why do not I hasten to die No death is to be waited not hasted They that hasten their own death to avoid shame with Achitophel or to fly the terror of a guilty conscience with Judas or to prevent an intended villany with Pelagia or to be thought valorous with Rasis or to gain immortality with Cato Vlicensis and some others who hearing of the immortality of the Soul made-away themselves to go the sooner to that Immortality they that hasten their dissolution and prevent Nature are guilty of self-murther die in their sins and are therefore Accursed It is not sayd Blessed are all that die no it is far otherwise for they that die in their sins shall loose the vision and fruition of Almlghty God the society of Angels and Saints the joyes and pleasures of Heaven and they shall be cast into Hell the place of darkness torment and woe there to suffer unquenchable flames a worm never dying that is to say the perpetual guilt of a tormenting conscience binding in chains of misery conversing with Devils weeping and howling and gnashing of teeth to all Eternity but blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. And if the dead are Blessed then it follows that they are in being Non entis nulla est affectio that which hath no being hath no property but the dead have this property that they are Blessed therefore they must needs be alive again dead they may be to the world but alive to God for he is not a God of the dead but of the living for all live unto him Luke 20. 38. Hence we may likewise gather something to verifie that saying of the Apostle Death is swallowed up in Victory for being there can be no felicity where death hath a victory the dead's being blessed shews they have got a conquest and victory over death and therefore thanks be given to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ But here a doubt ariseth What is meant by dying in the Lord Some render the Original 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Lord So Beza Domini causa vel propter Dominum in the Lords cause or for the Lord. Mede renders it as Beza does saying the Greek particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 denotes the cause for which they died namely for the Lord and his cause but so Martyrs only are blessed That Martyrs are blessed is a truth sure and certain for our Saviour himself saith He that loseth his life for my sake and the Gospels shall find it But though Martyrs have a certain and a great share in this blessedness and though their Crowns may be deck'd with richer Jewels than other mens yet others may have Crowns and a proportionable share of Glory as well as they And therefore others do
fitly render it as we do In the Lord understanding it not only of Martyrs but likewise of all others that die in the Faith and Fear of God They may be said to die in the Lord that die willingly chearfully resigning their Souls to God that gave them and freely parting with the world and that die penitently in the act of contrition as St. Austin is said to do breathing out his last gasp with a sigh for his sins and that die devoutly calling upon the Lord for mercy and forgiveness and that die charitably forgiving all the world after the example of Christ and his Proto-martyr St. Stephen and that die peaceably having made peace with God and the world and their own consciences they that depart this life with a willing resignation of themselves with repentance faith prayer charity and peace may be said to die in the Lord and be concluded blessed But if we desire to die in the Lord as all good Christians should do we must resolve to live in the Lord for they that do not live in the Lord are not likely to die in the Lord. We must not live the life of the wicked and then think to be saved with Balaam's wish Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his No if we will die the death of the righteous we must live the life of the righteous We must live then in the Faith and Fear of God in repentance and obedience piety and devotion love and charity and so shall we die in the Lord and be blessed For blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth And this denotes the time when their blessedness begins 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from henceforth Some refer this to the time of the former Vision of John as a consolation to those that should suffer the persecution fore-told therein for it was revealed to him in a Vision that a great Tryal should befal the Christians in the time of Dioclesian the cruel Tyrant and that their persecutions should be so sore that they were happiest who died soonest that within a while should be taken out of this life from doing their part in the evil to come that should die quickly or within a short time thereby to avoid such cruel storms and persecutions and to enjoy their reward of peace and bliss Others refer it to the Resurrection and the day of Judgment the time when those that die in the Lord shall be raised to a blessed life the time spoken of Rev. 11.18 when he shall give the reward unto his Servants the Prophets and to the Saints and to them that fear his Name Small and Great Others refer it to the hour of death as if the sense were this that they that die in the Lord from the time of their death from that very instant they are blessed they no sooner loose a temporal life but they find an eternal one So soon as Lazarus died his Soul was carried by Angels into Abrahams bosom The same day that the Penitent Thief expired on the Cross the same day was he with Christ in Paradice Pious Souls when once they are absent from the body they are quickly present with the Lord when once they depart they are blessed from henceforth And of this we are further assured as by the voice from Heaven so by the Spirit of God it is so Yea saith the Spirit Let Heathens and Hereticks deny or doubt the Immortality of the Soul the Resurrection of the Body and the blessedness of the dead because they know no better and let wicked and ungodly men deny these things because they live no better for they fancy them not to be because they would not have them to be their guilty consciences telling them that if such things be it will be ill with them Let such I say think or speak what they will still we are to conclude that they are cursed who die in their sins and that they are blessed that die in the Lord Yea saith the Spirit so it is for the Spirit saith so in divers places of Scripture telling us that the death of good men that die in the Lord is pretious in his sight that there is hope in their end that all tears shall be wiped from their eyes that they shall enter into joy that there is a Crown of righteousness laid up for them that they shall be with Christ that they shall rest from their Labors and that their works shall follow them And herein their Blessedness consists viz. in a relaxation of their Labours and a retribution of their Works in that they have Rest and Recompence in that they are discharged of their Work and for their Work in that they are freed from it and pay'd well for it They rest from their Labours We are all born in and to Labour we are born by our Mothers Labour and we live by our own This Life is made up of care and toyl pains and pain trouble and sorrow They that are Poor labour for maintenance and are fain in the sweat of their brow to eat their Bread all the days of their life And they that are Rich and have plenty seldom say they have enough but still Labour for more their endeavour to get care to keep avarice to increase fear to loose their Riches these torment them and disturb their happiness as well as repose They that are under a Cloud labour to get from it and appear something in the World and they on whom Fortune shines and Honors sparkles they labour for greater Lustre They that are Low labour to look up and they that are High labour to over-look one another Some labour for Honour some for Wealth some for Knowledg and some for Health The best Christians they are with Paul In labours more abundant exercised dayly in mortifying the flesh with its affections and lusts in denying and even crucifying themselves for those sins that crucified Christ instriving against temptations to sin and their Spiritual enemies in suffering affliction and bearing the Cross Thus our Life is a succession of Labours as well as Sins our sins growing with our years and sorrows with sins and troubles with sorrows so that the comforts of this life are rather Solatia miserorum quam gaudia beatorum comforts of those that are miserable rather than joyes of those that are happy and therefore we have reason to conclude those happy that die in the Lord and so rest from their Labours for such are discharged and free and that both from sin and the evil consequents thereof The Papists would have us believe that after death the Souls of men enter into Purgatory there to suffer sorrow and torment for a while till they be purged and fitted for the region of bliss but they contradict themselves concerning the place the torments the tormentors the extremity of the torments and the continuance under them The place some say is in the bottom of