the sense of the words here Thence note Note 1. That bodily Death and Blessedness may be consistent men that dye and are dead may be blessed Not onely those that are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ delivered from the curse of that and from being under it as the Covenant of Life or that are dead to sin or rather persons not onely dead in those considerations but also that are bodily dead may be happy in a very good safe and desirable condition so as that their state may worthily be commended as very excellent They may have their sins forgiven and blotted out and they that are in that condition are blessed Psal 32.12 They may have the favour of God and be accepted and beloved of him and they that are so are blessed Prov. 8.34 35. and which includes both the former they may have God to be their God and to own them as his people as it is said of Abraham Isaac and Jacob long after they were dead and buried I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Exod 3.6.15 And blessed are the people whose God is the Lord Psal 144.15 And forgiveness of sins and the favour of God are both implied to be the portion of those Souls seen in vision under the Altar even the Souls of those that had been slain for the Word of God and for the Testimony that they held in that there were white Robes given to every one of them as a token both of their free and full acquittance from sin and their being owned of God as righteous ones and also of their being highly honoured and favoured of God Rev. 6.9 10 11. And this not a little takes off the dreadfulness of this bodily Death that it may consist with Blessedness and that it is not of it self able to hinder and deprive us thereof Men may be happy notwithstanding its power and force That 's the dreadful Death that men cannot be happy in or under such as the death in Sin the spiritual death of the Soul under the guilt and power of sin committed and continued in and therefore that is threatened as a very sad evil to be shunned To be carnally minded or the minding of the flesh is death Rom. 8.6 a state not to be continued in where it is nor by any means to be run into where men are delivered therefrom As also The second Death the separation of the Soul or of the whole man rather from God in Soul and Body for ever the everlasting fire or lake burning with fire and brimstone the portion of the Devil and his Angels Matth. 25.41 Rev. 20.14 This is a sad and dreadful state indeed namely this of the second Death While men are spiritually dead in sin their sins are imputed and they have no fellowship with God but yet while alive in the body they are in a possibility of being called and made alive to God to him that 's joyned to all the living there is hope Eccles 9.6 But in the second Death is nothing but misery without hope of remedy or redemption This this is the Death then with all diligence to be shunned and therefore care is to be taken to awake out of sin also by repentance for death in sin continued in brings the second Death inevitably upon men But as for this bodily Death that 's not so dreadful in it self men may do well for all that and the reason is because Christ hath died for us and is risen again This death indeed as it was in its first threatning and as upon our desert incurred by us in the Fall of our first Parents deprived us of all Blessedness and would inevitably have done so for ever had not God provided a deliverer and deliverance from it had not he graciously devised a device that his banished might not be expelled for ever from him 2 Sam. 14.14 But blessed be the Lord God of Israel who hath raised up an Horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David that by him we might be saved from our enemies that hath given his onely begotten Son to be the propitiation for our sins that we might live through him Luk. 1.68 69 70. 1 Joh. 4.9.10 And blessed be the Son of God that willingly took upon himself in compliance with his Fathers will to suffer and die for us that we through his stripes might be healed of that deadly wound wherewith in our listning to the Serpent we were wounded by him he having givâ—n himself the ransome for all and tasted Death by the grace of God for every man hath abolished or taken away the destructive power of this Death and destroyed through his Death him that had the power of it that is the Devil and being raised again from the dead he hath obtained even all redemption of all mankind from out this Death so as none of them shall finally perish therein but be all raised out thereof for as by man Adam came death even by man even the man Christ Jesus comes the resurrection of the dead for as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Tim. 2.6 Heb. 2.9 2 Cor. 5.14 2 Tim. 1.10 Heb. 9.2 1 Cor. 15.21 22. He is the resurrection and the life and through him there is an open passage now made through this death and all the precedents concomitants and consequences of it to life and immortality even to eternal life in which is and stands the onely true blessedness In Christ there is given us even 〈◊〉 mankind generally considered eternal life 1 Joh. 5.11 in him the righteousness of God is for or unto all Rom. 3.22 and the free gift unto all men for the justification of life Rom. 5 18. In him is forgiveness of sins and plenteousness of Redemption through his blood Psal 130.4.5 Coll. 1.14 and therefore by means of him men may be brought back to God and enjoy him his favour and Kingdom notwithstanding this death yea in the very state of it and while actually dead they may be blessed Bless we God for this gracious Device and doing of his for us in and by Christ and bless we Christ Jesus our Lord that he hath so acted and wrought through his Cross for us and imbrace we the glad tidings of it with all acceptation and thankfulness 2. But yet In that the Holy Spirit stopt not there at Blessed are the Dead but adds a restrictive distinctive qualification saying The Dead that die in the Lord. Learn we thence Note Secondly That though this bodily death blessedness may stand be together yet all that die this Death or are dead in it are not blessed No we cannot say so there be many that dye and are dead in the Body that shall never meet with blessedness though blessedness may be met with notwithstanding this death We read of two men that dyed this Death the one blessed and the other cursed the Rich man and
Lazarus Lazarus was blessed and happy being carried of the Angels into Abrahams bosom but the Rich man was most miserably wretched being carried into Hell and there grievously tormented without so much relief or hope of possibility of finding so much relief as might amount to or be resembled by a drop of water to cool his tongue Luke 16.19.25 26. and we find mention of a multitude nay of diverse Princes with their multitudes gone down into the Pit of destruction in their uncircumcisedness Ezek. 32.18.30 31. and our Saviour tells us of Gods killing the body and casting into Hell Luke 12 5. and that the Gate is wide and the Way broad that leads to Destruction and that many go in thereat Matth. 7.13 for the many dye in their sins and that 's a sad dying and is mentioned as such by our Saviour when he saith to the Jews I go my way and ye shall seek me and dye in your sins whither I go and that was to heaven to his Father ye cannot come Ye are of this world I am not of this world I said therefore that ye shall dye in your sins for if ye believe not that I am He ye shall dye in your sins Joh 8.21 24. And indeed that 's the onely thing that makes any miserable that are dead that they dyed in their sins and their sins lie down with them in the dust as is said Job 20.11 For where sin is continued in and not repented of there it is not pardoned and where sin is not pardoned men are not blessed but cursed But this proceeds not from the force of the first or bodily death but from the wilfulness and carelesness of men while they be here alive in neglecting Christ and the grace in him and the salvation tendered to them in that when He by his wisdom calls men to himself and offers to make them wise and to save them as is abundantly signifyed in Prov. 81.4 5. and 9.1.4.5 Matth. 23.37 yea and counsels them to what is good and reproves their contrary courses and neglects or rejections of his Counsels and waits upon them with long-suffering yet they refuse and sleight all his love and good will and harden their hearts against all means and methods in inlargements and chastisements tending to their good as is signified Prov. 1.22 23 24 25.29 30. Psal 81.9 10 11 12 c. Matth. 23.37 Joh. 5.39 40 c. It is true that Christ dyed for all even while sinners for the ungodly and enemies and thereby hath ransomed them from under the first Judgement and from the lordship of Sathan into his own power and dispose as is signified 2 Cor. 5.14 15. Rom. 5.18 and 14.9 yea and hath obtained into himself all fulness of grace and blessing So as in him all the Families of the earth are blessed that is abundantly provided for of all things tending to and sufficient to render them blessed in the participation thereof so as he is represented as a full and large feast prepared for all people Isa 25.6 being the Salvation prepared of God before the face of or over against the needs of all people Luke 2.31 as a like phrase signifies and is equivalently rendered in Gen. 2.18 and having wrought a perfect righteousness which is for unto all Rev. 3.22 But yet men cannot receive the benefit of all this but in receiving submitting to and obeying even as the Feast prepared profited not those that were invited to it and refused to come nay they refusing it and therein sleighting the love of him that made it and called them to it provoked new anger and wrath to their destruction Matth. 22.4.7 Luke 14 16 17.24 the Salvation neglected is a healing medicine refused and not taken which leaves the miserable like persons desperately diseased in that case to die of their Disease without remedy or escape Heb. 2.1 3. the righteousness for all comes upon all that believe and therefore it being through unbelief refused is like the Weeding garment not put on which neither clothes nor warms the person refusing it nor makes him comely and lovely but being not on a man the mans nakedness and unhandsomness together with the refusal of the Charity shewed and proffered in preparing it for and offering it to him lays the person open to be expelled though come into Gods house and to be cast out into outer darkness Rom. 3.22 Matth. 22.10 11 12 13. the Life Eternal given us in Christ is so given in and with him that he that hath him he only hath and enjoys it and he that rejects and hath not Him hath not it 1 Joh. 5.11 12. To the enjoyment of Blessedness then there must be a receiving and obedience to Christ the Fountain and treasury of it otherwise though men perish not in the first Death they will and must in the second for the soul that sinneth that still and perpetually or impenitently sinneth though it die not for the Fathers iniquity nor have its teeth set on edge because its Father Adam eat the forbidden sowre grape and so the son shall not bear the fathers iniquity that proverb before mentioned with reference to the second and Eternal Death shall not take place yet for its own sinning it shall die Ezek. 18.2 3 4.19 20. Jer. 31.29 30. The dealings of God here are somewhat answerable to his dealings with Israel when having brought them all out of Egypt not leaving Man nor mothers Child nor any Hoof there yet He afterward destroyed them that believed not for their unbelief and rebellious sinning and going on to sin against him in the Wilderness Jude 5. Heb. 3.17 18. even so here it 's not the first Death and Judgment detains any but yet Christ having bought all into his dispose from perishing in that will afterward judge to Eternal Death those that believe or obey not It is not any want of merit or worthiness in Christs Death or exclusion of them from being of its object nor want of fulness or readiness in him for saving them but this is the condemnation that Light is come into the world and men love darkness rather then light Joh. 3.19 Onely Death this bodily Death puts an end to the time of Gods patient waiting for their coming to Christ closing with his Light and Love and repenting of their sins and finding mercy with him All the time God continues mens lives here there is a possibility of escaping the Wrath to come For God is patient towards us not willing any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3.9 Yea his goodness and forbearance is inviting and leading men to repentance Rom. 2.4 and is to be accounted Salvation 2 Pet. 3 15. Even Jezabel while Christ spared her he gave her space to repent though she repented not Rev. 2.21 yea and when he threatens to cast her into a Bed and them that commit adultery with her even into great tribulation yet it is with this Proviso mentioned Except
yea in him they have the Adoption of Sons and are honoured with that near relation to God where through they become his Heirs joynt-heirs with Christ Rom. 8.17 And if the Lord being their shepherd they shall not want Psal 23.1 How shall they want then God being their Father Christ their Brother and they joynt-heirs with him these are the fearers of the Lord that are blessed and the very fear of the Lord is such a Blessing to them as tendeth to life so as they shall abide satisfied with it and shall not be visited of evil Psal 112.1 Prov. 19.23 Well may it be said of every such one as is said of Asher whose name signified Blessed that his bread or portion is fat Gen. 49.20 or as of Nepthali that he is and shall be satisfied with favour Deut. 33.23 and of them all as is said of Israel Happy art thou O Israel saved by the Lord the Eternal God is thy refuge or mansions and underneath thee even when thou fallest lowest are the everlasting arms who is like unto thee who hast the Lord for the shield of thy help and whose sword is thy excellency c. Deut. 33.17.29 Object If it be said This is indeed the portion of them that are in Chirst while alive here but here we are to speak of those that are Dead dying in Christ I answer 1. This is the Portion of men in Christ at all times whether alive or dead as to the Body or Flesh yea it 's rather their Portion that Dye in Christ then of others for if men be in Christ when they live here and before they dye turn out from him and so dye not in him they loose and forfeit all this Blessedness for Blessedness is so the Portion of Christ who onely hath purchased and obtained it into himself by his onely perfect and most acceptable righteousness that though he have it not for himself onely but for us yet there is no interest in it nor enjoyment of it to be had out of or apart from him that being also true that he that hath the Son hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 Joh. 5.11 12. He therefore that transgresseth and abideth not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God and so not life for God there answers to Father and Son in the next Clause which Son is the life and hath the life given of God to us in himself 2 Joh. 9. The just shall live by Faith but if he or any man draw back my Soul shall have no pleasure in him Nay he that draws back draws back to perdition Heb. 37.38 39. so as to loose all this Portion and his Soul in the loss of it But while any man is in Christ alive or dead he is in a full and most accomplisht treasury of all bliss and happiness and in the dispose and favour of one perfectly Faithful to communicate and give forth of his fulness according to his Promises all the Promises of God are in him yea and Amen And he that is in him is in him an heir of them and abiding in him shall not fail to inherit them though they as to the body dye 2 Cor. 1.20 Gal 3.29 For 2. Death this bodily death doth not make any alteration as to mens being in him it is not the going of the Soul out of the Body that is its going out of Christ they that dye in the Lord are in the Lord in the time and act of his dying laying down their lives or breathing out their Spirits in the Faith and in the Spirit of him they are yet in him inclosed in his Arms in his favour and love and Covenant with him whence he is still even in Death as we noted before stiled their God for though Dead men and as to bodily life yet they live to him and in respect of their spirits see no Death Prov. 12.28 Joh. 8.51 their hearts shall live for ever Psal 22.26 this Death is called a sleep they that sleep in Jesus shall God bring with him 1 Thes 4.14 And as the bodily sleep makes no alteration in relation or Covenant-engagements no more doth the bodily Death in relation to God and Christ and interest in the Covenant and Promises of his blessing a Child is the Fathers Child as well when asleep as when awake and is nevertheless an Heir to an Estate given by deed of gift or by the Fathers Will and Testament Nor is a Wife the less the Wife and in the marriage-covenant when she lies fast asleep in her Husbands bosom then when she is most awake and active and therefore is in as happy a condition if happy in her Marriage then as at other times yea we may say of the man asleep in Christ or which is all one Dead in the Lord that his state is better then before as we shall shew God willing in what follows for as the Dead that dye in the Lord are blessed both privatively as they are exempted from secured against evil and positively as they are interested in Christ in all the good that is in him and to be communicated by him So also they are 3. Comparatively Blessed more blessed in divers respects then divers others or then themselves in former times 1. Comparatively to other men they be happy whether they be 1. Those that Dye and are dead out of the Lord they are happy in respect of them howsoever they dye it may be in the appearance of men sinners that dye in their sins are happier in their Death then they as having no bands in their death as is said Ps 73.4 they may lye and dye in stately Rooms and soft Beds encompassed about with their Friends and Kindred feel little pain dispose of great estates to their Children friends they may possibly express no fear of Hell but hope they shall go to heaven Mat. 7.22 23. They may when dead have costly Funerals stately Monuments c. when as those that dye in Christ may dye grievous Deaths in the sight of men of sharp Diseases full of Sores and Boyles in Prisons Dungeons yea on Racks or Gibbets as it is said of those Saints of whom the world was not worthy that they were some Tortured others Stoned others Sawn asunder others slain with the Sword that they were destitute of succour namely Friends means of helpfulness and the like Afflicted Tormented Heb. 11.37 38. and yet for all this great difference as to the way and outward manner of Dying Yea though we add also that they being tempted may cry out as forsaken of God as our Lord Jesus on the Cross yet these that dye in the Lord are infinitely Blessed above the other nay rather Blessed and not at all the other let them dye as desirably otherwise they can yea though also they when Dead have their Names cryed up of men as if they were Worthy Gallant Honourable persons and those that dye in the Lord be
of men are the happiest men in the world their portion better than any other mens the Heritage of Jacob to be preferred before all the enjoyments of the great Princes of the Earth Isa 58.14 So as it may well be said the righteous they that are in Christ Jesus walking not after the Flesh but after the Spirit are more excellent then their neighbours Prov. 12.26 however Poor Meane Illiterate Afflicted and Despised the Righteous be And however Rich Learned Honoured or otherwise adorned and qualified their neighbours that be not righteous are Yea well it may be said Happy art thou O Israel a People saved by the Lord the shield of their help and sword of their Excellency thine enemies shall be found lyars to thee and thou shalt tread upon as despising their high place Deut. 33.29 O Lord of hosts blessed is the man that putteth his trust in thee Psal 84.12 Blessed at all times blessed in Life more blessed in Death but most blessed in and after the Resurrection of the Dead 3. To commend Piety and Godliness and the exercise thereof to us which hath the Promise of all this great blessedness both of the life that now is and that that is to come 1 Tim. 4.8 6.6 4. To condemn the blind judgment and practice of the world that sleight hate and persecute these things accounting those that are and that dye in Christ especially in a way of persecution to be unhappy and their portion despicable which things I onely mention But besides 5. It directs us whither to flee for shelter and refuge against the fears and feelings horrours and harms of Death the King of Terrours namely to Christ Jesus our Lord who hath both abolished or destroyed its destructive power by his Death and destroyed him that had the power of it the Devil 2 Tim. 1.10 Heb. 2.14 and also hath the keys of Hell and Death Power and full Authority over it and over the dead having dyed rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living Rom. 14.19 as he hath that sharp Sickle in his hand so he can cut off with it high or low rich or poor and he can keep it off or back during his pleasure and order the state of it and the persons in it as seems good in his sight And in him there is deliverance from the horrour and harms of it as he is the forgiver of the sins both that occasioned it and that might render it as an inlet into a worser state then it simply of it self containeth and hath both Authority and proclaims himself ready graciously to do it even both to raise out of it and in the interim to secure from harm and mischiefs by it yea and to make it greatly useful and advantagious to us to make the day of it better then the day wherein we were born Eccles 7.1 a Chamber of ease rest and safety to us from the evils either fore-afflicting us or further threatening and abiding the yet dwellers on the Earth or abiders in the land of the living Isa 26.20 57.2 an outlet to our cares fears labours and temptations to sin or toils by such temptations and an inlet safe Port or entrance into peace and security the end of our exile and banishment and beginning of our actual admission in our spirits into our Fathers presence and glorious fruition of our blessed Saviour that wonderful one the unparall'd lover of our Souls and Paragon and Pattern of all divine and heavenly vertue and excellency the Lamb that had mercy on us and dyed rose again and lives for ever for us the Lord Jesus He is that Sun that shining into our hearts the light of the knowledge of himself and of the glory of God in him and being believingly beheld by us will drive out and expel all that darkness of our ignorance and errour that in the night of our unbelief obscures our minds and fills us with frightful fears of Death and its consequents and chases away all those mists and vapours arising out of the muddines of our hearts to the sadding us at the thoughts of its approches and by his warming influences as streaming forth by his Holy Spirit in the Gospel the beams of his love and favour in the forgiveness of our sins and interesting us in his Righteousness and precious promises of blessing and everlasting Life and Happâ—ness and so the lively hope of his Salvation and Glory to be injoyed by us he can and will so chear and comfort us as to make the grim visage of Death amiable to us and the passage through it very desirable Philip. 1.21 22 23. yea and give us hope and joy in Death as the best hour that ever came upon us And he is that and such a shield too that encompassing us about with his favour and defence interposing himself between us and our enemies even Death and all its train and power secures us against their fiercest assaults and sharpest darts being the Death of Death the Destruction of the Grave and Hell Hos 13.14 we being in him and incompassed about with his arms of love nothing shall be able to approch us to hurt or harm us He is such a Fountain of living waters that whosoever drinks of him receiving his Doctrine into his heart and retaining and keeping it there shall not die of thirst Such a Heavenly Medicine being Gods Salvation or saving health that whosoever takes him down and tastes the sweetness of his Love and Grace and keeps it or the relish of it upon his palace shall not taste Death Joh. 4.14 8.51 52. Yea those Waters he gives and the Medicine he affords will spring up and effect in the receiver and taker down thereof Life in Death even Eternal Life The Tree of Life that was in the first Paradise and which being eaten of would have preserved the life of Man for ever is lost and there is no recovering it again Gen. 3.22 23 24. Nor can all the Physicians in the world find out or compose a Medicine that can keep us from Dying But our Lord Jesus Christ and his heavenly Wisdome and Doctrine is that Tree of Life in the midst of the Paradise of God that Sovereign Antidote of Gods own finding out making and propounding which being eaten and taken down will secure us against all the Poison of the old Serpent the evil of this natural Death and carry us safely through it and bring us certainly out of it to immortality and eternal Life Prov. 3.18 Rev. 22.2 3 14. He will both make the Soul live and be happy in Death and raise up the Body to an immortal state of bliss Isa 55.3 Joh. 11.25 26. 2 Cor. 4.14 In vain do men weary themselves and spend their Estates to find out a Philosophers stone that may turn all things into Gold Here is that true Elixir that will turn all to Good and as he hath reconciled all things in himself that are in
forsake them not for the Beast Worship but then to hearten unto those sufferings though to death he addes in the Text. Ver. 14. And I heard a voice from heaven saying Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord c. from the following whereof so immediately upon the former intimation we may note Christs great care of his Church as when he formerly told his Disciples of weeping and mourning he presently tells them too of what might support them and bear up their sorrowful hearts from sinking When he tells them he must leave them he tells them also that he would see them again and not leave them comfortless or as Orphans and that upon his seeing them again their hearts should rejoyce and their joy should no man take from them and that in him they should have peace who had also overcome the world Joh. 14.18 16.20 21 22 23. And when the Lord speaks of the like sad things with these by the Prophet Isaiah That all the beasts would come to devour his watchmen being blind and the shepherds void of understanding so that the righteous perish no man regarding it and merciful men are taken away from the evil Yet then also for encouraging the hearts of his suffering servants he proclaims like things with these here even the sweet and excellent state of those righteous merciful men when so taken away and perished from among men that is when Dead He shall enter into peace they shall lie in their beds each one walking in his uprightness while he threatens judgment to the seed of the sorceress the seed of the adulterer and of the whore Isa 56.9 10. 57.1 2 3. Though our Lord leads his followers inâ—o afflictions because he sees them needful and useful for them yet he would not have them faint under their afflictions to deprive themselves of the good intended by them His Word and Gospel occasion troubles to them from the world while they are thereby drawn out of the world and are led to testifie of him to and against the wickedness of the world but he provides comforts and supports for them by the same word by and for which they suffer that they might be inabled patiently to endure the things which they must suffer Yea and we may further note from this Voice and Proclamation of the blessed state of the dead that die in the Lord following so immediately after that acclamation Here is the patience of the Saints That the consideration of the happy state of the dead in Christ is an excellent motive to a patient continuance in well-doing though suffering for it unto death Rejoycing in hope first we may be patient in tribulation Rom. 12.12 Did we expect still a continuance of evils in Death and that it would make us still unhappy and miserable and that Death is the end and recompence of an holy life from the world it would exceedingly damp and take off the courage of men from exercising patience and continuing to keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus But being rooted and grounded in the Faith and not moved from the hope of the Gospel we may be there through strengthned to all long suffering and patience with joyfulness Col. 1.11.23 The words themselves are a commandment and we have thereabout 1. The person acquainted with it I the holy Apostle or Pen-man of these Visions Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he reveals his secret unto his servants the Prophets Amos 3.7 The secret of the Lord is with those that fear him c. Psal 25.14 2. The way of his perceiving or receiving it and that was by the ear at least the ear of his Spirit I heard God speaks once and twice and man regards it not or perceives it not Job 33.14 But blessed are the ears of his Disciples for they hear c. Matth. 13.16 3. The way of its being conveyed to him and that was by a voice Sound or voice are the proper ways of conveying things to the ear and by the ear to the mind and a voice is but an articulate sound There may be voice where there is no hearing as above is signified in Job 33.14 c. And as is said of the Levites wife when dead Judg. 19.25 and of the Shunammits son 2 King 4.31 But there can be no hearing without some sound or voice 4. We have the place whence it came from heaven Which being the place of Gods most glorious Residence and Manifestation of himself and where our Lord Jesus Christ the holy and just one is on the Throne of Majesty and where only holy Angels and the spirits of just men have place But no evil Angel Satan being cast out thence nor no unclean thing may be admitted to enter We may be sure no voice comes from thence but what is holy and true and such as is worthy to be received with all acceptation being supremely and originally the voice of God and of our Lord Jesus though it might be instrumentally uttered by some holy Angel And so the Command here was a Command of God and Christ 5. We have the person to whom it was directed and that was to the Apostle himself I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me He heard divers voices in and from heaven not directed to him as may be seen Chap. 5.2 9 10 11 12 13. Voices directed to Christ some to God as Chap. 16.5 7. Chap. 19.1.5 6 7. Some to the people of God Chap 18.4 but this was directed to this Saint John himself wherein we have 6. The matter of the Voice the Command it self and therein 1. The Act commanded him and that was to write Saying to me Write And this was an exercise that God employed divers of his holy Servants in but is not universally the work and business of all his Servants or of those that are accepted of him as all are not Apostles nor all Prophets nor all Teachers c. 1 Cor. 12 28 29 30. so neither are or have all his Servants been either Pen-men of Holy Scriptures or of other Divine Matters but as the same Spirit distributes his sundry Gifts variously so hath he given commands to some to speak to others to write the heavenly Truths But neither the one nor the other so generally as the hearing of them this was an honour put upon his Servants according as he pleased for others usefulness Jeremiah was employed to speak and Baruch to write the words from his mouth Jer. 36.17 18 Moses did both write and speak to the people the words of the Law and Commands of God and of the Song he was to put into the peoples mouths Deut. 31.9 19 22 24 30. Yea this Gift of Writing is an excellent Gift of God a way of conveying his Truths and of his great works and doings which he himself hath made use of as he wrote the Ten Commandments with his own hand or finger Exod. 31.18 32.16 34.1 Deut.
Obedience and Sufferings to Death the Death of the Cross And as to his actual possessing in the nature of Man the Throne of Majesty and having thereon all Authority and Power instated on and exercised by him To this end Christ both Dyed Rose and revived or lived again that he might be Lord of or as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather signifieth that he might Lord it or exercise Dominion over the quick and dead Rom. 14.9 and because he humbled himself and became obedient to the Death the death of the Cross for this cause God hath highly exalted him and given him a Name above every name That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bowe both of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father Phil. 2.8 9 10 11. who hath put all things under his feet and made Angels Authorities and Powers subject unto him Yea indeed over men he is worthily Lord by way of Purchase and right of Redemption having given himself a Ransome for all 1 Tim 2.6 whence the false Teachers are charged with denying the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2.1 And he dyed it 's said for all that they whoever they be of mankind that live should not henceforth live to themselves but unto him who dyed for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 Live to him namely as Servants to their proper Lord to whom they must give an account for all things He is Lord over the Devils and evil Spirits by way of Conquest having Conquered and overcome them spoiled them and led them Captive in Triumph and so hath power to do his pleasure with them Col 2.15 And the good Angels willingly submit themselves to him as given to him of God with all other things in Heaven Earth under the earth and in the Seas and as to one whom God hath exalted to be over them and bids to Worship him yea and they judge him most worthy of this Power and Dignity because of his unparalleld acts for us and Conquest over Death and Hell and Devils by his Death and Sufferings ascribing blessing honour glory and power to him Heb. 1.6 with Psal 97.7 Rev. 5.11.12 13. He then is the Lord in whom whosoever dieth is blessed But 2. What 's that dying in the Lord For it is implyed here that some do dye in the Lord and that there is a dying in the Lord. But what 's that Indeed we may say in a sense there is a dying in the Lord and in a sense there is no dying in him In this sense there is no dying in Christ that is He is not the Subject of this Dying as in Christ and in him sometimes signifie in him as the subject of the thing spoken of as when it is said in him we are Compleat Col. 2.10 in him is no sin 1 Joh. 2.5 in this sense there is no Death or dying in him He once dyed for sin the just for us unjust but he dyeth no more Death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6.9 10. He was dead but is alive and lives for evermore Amen Rev. 1.18 The song of the Saints is and shall be as our Deceased friend and Sister on her Death-bed noted Worthy is the Lamb not that is but that was slain to open the Book c. He now is neither dying nor dead Rev 5.9 it is true the Apostle said they bare about in their body the dying of the Lord Jesus 2 Cor. 4.10 but that 's to be understood either of the sufferings occasioned by the constraining operations of his love in dying for them believed by them the dying that Christs love led them to endure for him and his Names sake and that to be the sense the next words may argue in which he saith We that live are alway delivered unto Death for Jesus sake vers 11. so as the dying of Jesus is the dying for Jesus sake or else the dying of Jesus is the dying of those that are his Members what is done to them being taken by him as done to himself as is said Matth. 25.40.45 Zech. 2.8 Acts 9.4 But otherwise he dies not in himself he dieth not nor may any such thing be imagined to be here implyed where the speech is of others dying in him concerning whom also neither may we understand that they dye in him as to their state in him or so as in the things which are properly of him as such a like Phrase sometimes signifies as when it is said Ye are light in the Lord that is in what ye have in him in his person or in what ye have derived from him and have or are after him as found in him Ephes 5.8 and ye are wise in Christ 1 Cor. 4.10 they that dye in him in such a sense are not blessed but wretched if any dye as to what they are in him or derive from him such as Crucifie Christ again to themselves and that dye as to their dependance on him Faith Hope and Rejoycing in him or the like Nor can it be said that men dye by or as coming unto or into him or being in him as to their state God-ward and in their spirits but men live in and by him He conveys not Death but Life unto men in their coming to and being in him as is said In the way of righteousness is Life and in the path way thereof there is no Death Prov. 12.28 Death as it is the wages of sin though suffered and sustained by Christ yet it is not met with in and from Christ as a proper consequent of him or of Faith in him but Life He that hath the Son hath life 1 Joh 5.12 who dyed that we might live in and by him 1 Joh. 4.9 10. And yet there is a dying in the Lord that is of those that are in the Lord and that in the view and beholding of him as the effect or operation of him beheld and believed on As to say There is a Dying to our Selves the World and Sin a letting go our Confidence rejoycing in or resting on our own wisdom righteousness the flesh or fleshly priviledges and expectations of life from our keeping of or conformity to the Law of Moses or the like as in this sense the Apostle saith I through the law am dead to the law that I may live to God I am crucifyed with Christ yet I live not I but Christ liveth in me c. Gal. 2.19 20 and ye brethren are dead to the law by the Body of Christ namely by it as Crucified for you believed in by you Rom. 7.4 and so God forbid that I should glory in any thing save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the World is crucified to me and I to the World Gal. 6.14 and what things were advantage to me those I counted loss for Christ Phil. 3.7 and reckon your
in more especial manner of labours There is a man whose Labour is in Wisdom and in Knowledge and Equity Eccles 2.21 and in such things the Saints and holy men do labour too they labour in the Lord 1 Cor. 15.58 But here the word used signifies a toilsome labour yea as some note of it a painful wearisome spending labour Yea sometimes variety of Tribulations Calamities and Crosses so as sometimes to threaten Death And so we find the word Labour often joyned with Toil or words of Affliction as in Gen. 5.19 the Work and Toil of our hands are joyned together as Work and Labour here and toyl of the hands may well answer to labour here in Gen. 31.42 Jacob saith God hath seen my affliction and the labour of my hands when he speaks of that troublesome labour in which the Drought by day consumed him and the Frost by night and the sleep departed from his eyes vers 40. And the like is used of the rigorous and afflictive Service and Labour which the Israelites were put to in Egypt when they were made to grone under their Burthens so as their lives were bitter with hard bondage in morter and brick and in all manner of service in the field when all their Service that they served was with rigour Exod. 1.13 14. with 2.24 Of this Moses instructs them to say the Lord looked on our affliction and on our labour and oppression Deut. 26.7 and in Psal 90.10 it 's joyned with sorrows when it is said of men that if by reason of strength we attain to fourscore years yet then is our strength labour and sorrow where Labour cannot so properly signifie work and service for alas then men are past that but rather toil and exercise as Solomon joyns together Labour and vexation of heart Eccles 2.22 and Jeremiah complains Wherefore came I out of the womb to see Labour and sorrow Jer 20.18 And that which we read in the Text Trouble is in the Margin according to the Hebrew Labour Job 5.7 And surely especially in times of great Persecution there is labour and sorrow more abundantly to exercise them as both in Jeremiah's and the time here spoken of Yea labour and business is generally with exercise grief and trouble the portion here of them that will live godly in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3.12 both in respect of civil and outward concerns for the body weaknesses infirmities sickness pain and in respect of the labours griefs and travails of the Soul for themselves and others temptations also from Sathan persecutions from men and much care and exercise of spirit that they might obtain the grace and favour of God with Christ and be found in him and serve their generation according to his will In which sense also 2. Labour first goes before and then Eating Rest or Reward follows after no injoyment of the blessed state of Rest but for the labourers 1 Cor. 9.10 The husbandman first labouring must be partaker of the fruits 2 Tim. 2.6 Six days shalt thou labour goes before the seventh is the Salbath of the Lord thy God the rest appointed by him namely for thee to rest in Exod. 20.9.10 there is Labour that we may be found in Christ or be accepted of him whether present or absent 2 Cor. 5.9 and labour in the Lord to be performed and undergone 1 Cor. 15.58 Through much affliction we must enter the Kingdom of God Acts 14.22 Service to God and sufferings to be undergone both for and from God and the will of God in all to be done before we receive the Promise the recompense of reward Heb. 10.35 36. yea and there must be faithfulness in this too to the Death else no blessedness they that endure temptation and patiently continue in well doing are the blessed that shall have Everlasting life receive the crown kingdom Luke 22.28 29 30. Jam. 1.12 Rom. 2.7 But then it is spoken out plainly that 3. They that endure and are faithful to the Death and especially in such sad times of tryal so as to dye in the Lord they are blessed in this that they Rest from their Labours God is a merciful righteous God and he hath prepared and there remains a rest for his people Heb. 4.9 He that would have a Sabbath or day of rest for Servants and Cattel now one in every seven days that they might rest Deut 5.14 He will certainly give rest to his wearied tired toild People Children and Servants that have laboured and had no rest here He calls us to himself to give us rest for our Souls and to give us rest too with himself from our Labours Matth. 11.28 29. and his rest is glorious Isa 11.10 Rest from their sorrow and fear and hard Bondage wherein they were made to serve saith Isaiah 14.3 Rest with the Apostles when they that are at rest and ease here shall be disquieted even the Inhabitants of Babylon and the Persecutors 2 Thes 1.5 6 7. with Jer. 50.34 then shall they receive their sad things in tribulation that now trouble Sion when the Beast-worshippers shall have no rest day nor night then shall Christs faithful worshippers have perfect and perpetual rest with Christ Rev. 14.11 13. yea they that dye in the Lord thenceforth shall be herein especially blessed as their labours and troubles thenceforth are greater and sharper their dangers fears and griefs more abundant now they shall be eased of them all and by how much their Sufferings were sharper and their Labour more toilsome and grievous by so much will their Rest be more sweet and welcome and the greater the blessing Death in general puts an end to the exercises of this life as well as to its enjoyments to men whether they be good or bad as they be properly the exercises of this life though not always as to the kind in general they that joy in God here shall joy much more then as to their spirits and they that fear and grieve in their consciences for fear of Hell here dying in their sins shall much more fear and feel horrour in their Consciences then But as to bodily Pains and the Fears and Labours of this Life and pertaining thereto Death puts an end to them both to good and bad but yet not so to the Wicked as to give them rest or make them therein blessed they being reserved by it as in a Prison unto far worse miseries afterward and tormented at the present with restlessness and fears or horror not having Christ to be their rest But they that dye in the Lord are generally at rest And as to be out of and at rest from greater sorrows and sufferings is more desirable welcome and beneficial then to be out of smaller so they that from that time dye in the Lord shall be in their resting from their labours more happy and blessed then others But all that dye in the Lord in the proper sense before explicated enter into this rest for they are at home
Heaven and that are in Earth Col. 1.20 so will he reconcile all things to us and make them ours and for us destroying that in all things and all those things and persons that are inflexibly against us Thence the Apostle saith We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them that are his called according to purpose Rom. 8.28 and all things are yours for your use service or benefit whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. Death is in the Believers Inventory as a parcel of his Goods as one of his Servants or Friends yea and all things too that shall follow after it For all the ways or paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that keep his testimonies and his Covenants Psal 25.10 There shall no evil happen to the just Prov. 12.21 He that keepeth the Commandments shall feel no evil thing Eccles 8.5 O infinitely precious Jewel and Pearl of great price the Bread which came down from heaven which whoso eats of shall live for ever Joh. 6.50 51. But yet the being of this Refuge doth not of it self simply secure us against the hurts of Death they that neglect it shall perish without escape however good safe and sure a Defence it is and affords Heb. 2.3 Death will do them this hurt as we have forenoted that it will shut them out from all ways and passages to the after-life it will cut off all further opportunities of seeking for safety in or injoying safety by or from this refuge This Antidote will not preserve from fears or harms of Death unless both taken and kept within our hearts This Elixir will not turn all to gold or good unless injoyed by us or duly applyed This Sun will not shine on us to expel our darkness and refresh and chear us unless we be and walk in the light and virtue of it nor this Shield defend and secure us against Deaths harmful darts no nor from what is indeed the Dreadful thing the second Death unless it be about us and we as it were within its compass no nor will any thing or person else do it besides him For God the Father is in him and not to be approched to or his favour injoyed but in and by him Joh. 14.6 7. Nor is the Spirit but upon him or any other ways to be injoyed then by turning at his Reproofs to believe in and obey him Prov. 1.23 Joh. 14.15 16 17. Acts 5.32 neither is there Salvation in any other Name beside his that was Crucified for us and Dyed for our sins and Rose again for our justification under heaven whereby we may be saved Acts 4.11.12 The Law and its deeds cannot justifie and save us for by it is the knowledge not the forgiveness of sins Rom. 3.20 Riches profit not in the day of wrath it is onely righteousness delivers from death Prov. 11.4 nor will our works or righteousness that are not of the Faith of him profit us Isa 57.12 Philip. 3.8 9. for they that are of the works of the Law are also under the curse Gal. 3.10 11 12. and works of our own devising are of no worth with God Matth. 15 9.10 Nay Paul or Apollos or Cephas cannot save us because not Crucified for us nor have they that Name into which we may be Baptized for the Remission of our sins and receipt of the Holy Ghost to renew and regenerate us and so by consequence not any other man 1 Cor. 1.12 13. the wise Virgins Oyl will not relieve the foolish Virgins that have none of their own Matth. 25.8 9. The just shall live by his not another mans faith Hab. 2.4 and therefore there is as we have also shewed before an absolure necessity of our being in Christ that we may have this blessedness by him in and after Death Unless we be in Christ Jesus He is not made to us of God as to our enjoyment thereof wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 The Ark saved none from perishing by the Flood but those that were in it nor will Christ save from the second Death or give blessing in this to any out of him He that hath not the Son hath not Life though that Life be given us in him that it might in receiving him be received with him 1 Joh 5.11 12. The Feast though prepared and invited to satisfied not its refusers but they were excluded and cut off from all they had beside for refusing it Luke 14.24 Matth. 22.4 7. yea and being come into he must be abide in too so as to Death and in Death else we yet perish He that draws back Gods Soul will have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 A Castle though never so strong will not secure from the potent and vigilant enemy him that either comes not into it or after he hath been in it upon any terms forsakes it And this is useful further 6. To invite and provoke us all with all earnestness and diligence to betake our selves to Christ this refuge and being in him to abide in him to live and dye in him and by no means neglect or forsake him Enter into this rock and hide our selves in the dust of the earth even in the dust of his Death for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty Isa 2.10 Psal 22.14 Death will come upon us sooner or later that cannot be avoided nothing more certain yea it may come suddenly upon the youngest and strongest of us for nothing more uncertain then the time of its coming for surely every man in his best state is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 and though of it self it will not hurt us nor shall we perish in it but be raised up again from thence Yet our retaining our sins and refusing or neglecting to be washed and renewed and so to be partakers of Gods Salvation that will expose us to and pull upon as a second Death yea and this Death will put an end to all possibility of escaping that and be an entrance into that dreadful Prison in which the Debter and Malefactor will be kept safe till the great Assises and then the Execution of the Eternal Judgment will succeed Now is the accepted time now the time of escape and this the way to escape to be found in Christ O then how doth it behove and concern every man to look about him and give diligence with the Apostle to win Christ and be found in him not having our own righteousness but that which is by the Faith of him Object But may some say Can we make our selves in Christ can we enter into him as we will can any come to Christ except the Father that sent him draw him Is it not of God that any man is in Christ Jesus and not of himself why then do you call