of it so as to a man in Christ death is a Serpent without a Sting It is like the Viper which skipt upon S. Pauls Hand which did not at all hurt him It is like the Brazen Serpent which though it had the shape of a Serpent yet it hadnot the Nature of it but was a healing not a stinging Serpent So is death to a Child of God It is so far from hurting of him that it is now by Christs death become his greatest Advantage and he may triumph over it and say with the Ap. O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory the sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is the Law But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Iesus Christ. 6. There is this Spring also of Consolation against the Fear of death because he that hath an Interest in Christ cannot die suddenly though he die never so suddenly that is though he die never so suddenly in regard of time yet he can never die suddenly in regard of Preparation For he is alwaies habitually fitted and prepared for Death he is justified by Faith and sanctified by the Spirit and is above the hurt of damnation For there is no Condemnation to those that are in Christ. He hath not his Graces to seek when he comes to die which is no little Happiness 7. He can never die miserable though he die never so miserably Though he die upon a Dunghil or in a Goal or upon the Gallows or at a stake wheresoever and howsoever he dies he dies happily For so saith the Apostle Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. They are blessed though they die upon a dunghil Though Stephen was stoned to death yet he died happily for while he was stoning he saw the Heavens opened and Christ ready to receive him Though Lazarus was starved to death yet he died blessedly because the Angels carried his Soul into Abrahams Bâ—som Though King Iosiah died in War yet he died in peace A man in Christ dieth in the Arms of Christ and though he dieth never so miserably as to his outward condition yet he may sing a Nunc dimittis with old Simeon Lord now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace for mine eyes have seen thy Salvation 8. There are 3 Expressions which the Scripture useth concerning death which are singular Fountains of Consolation against the Fear of it 1. The Apostle S. Peter cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 1.15 I will endeavour that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after my Decease c. Death is nothing else but an Exodus out of Egypt unto our Heavenly Canaan It is not a dying but a Transmigration a passage from the Valley of death into the Land of the Living 2. The Apostle S. Paul cals it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Phil. 2.23 I desire to be dissolved 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as Grotius interprets it That my Soul may return to God from whom it first came Others say It is a Metaphor taken from Mariners who are said to loose from the Haven when they depart from the shore Death is nothing but a hoysing up of Sayl as it were for heaven 3. Old Simeon cals it A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now Lord lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace The Greek Word signifieth a Release and dismission out of prison Thus it is taken Acts 16.35 Acts 5.40 Luke 23.17 And it holds forth these two Lessons 1. That the Soul is in the Body as in a Prison Therefore the Greek Words for the Body are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vincio And Petrarch saith That he that glorieth in the strength of his Body glorieth in the strength of his Prison And when Plato saw one of his Scholars overcuriously pampering his Body he said to him What do you mean to make your Prison so strong The Soul is in the Body as in a Prison in 3 Respects 1. Because the Soul is hidden in the Body as a man is hidden in a Prison As Plato saith of Vertue That if a man could see it with corporal eyes he could not but love it So may I say of the Soul If a man could see the Beauty Glory and Excellency of it he could not but admire it and highly value it But it is hidden in the Body as in a Prison 2. Because the Soul is hindred by the Body and that Three waies 1. It is hindred from Heaven For whilst we are in the body we are absent from the Lord and we cannot be with Christ till we be dissolved And this is truly a Prison wherein a man is absent from his best Friends and Acquaintance 2. It is hindred from Heavenly Operations For the Body takes up all the time from the Soul as the Lean Kine of Pharaoh devoured the fat so the Provision for the Feeding and Cloathing of the Body eats up the time that should be spent about the Soul It is with the Soul and Body as it was with Abraham and Lot Abraham had his Cattel and his Servants and Lot his so that the Country was too narrow for them So the Soul hath her work and the Body his and there is hardly time enough for both so as the one must needs hinder the other and they never will be well till separated The Cloath is too short to cover them both And this must needs be a great Bondage when the Handmaid shall be preferred before her Mistress Hagar before Sarah 3. It is hindred in all its Heavenly Operations For the Body weigheth down the Soul As a Bird that hath a stone tied to its Leg is weighed down that it cannot fly aloft So is the Heavenly Soul in the best Christian depressed by the Body that it cannot mount aloft in Prayer and other Holy Exercises The Soul and Body are like a pair of Scales the more the one is up the more the other goeth down As Sauls Armour was a Burden to David so is the Body to the Soul The Body is quickly tired in the Service of God The Spirit is willing but the Flesh is weak like a strong man upon a Jadish Horse c. 3. Because the Soul is defiled by the Body as a man in a Nasty Prison God gave man a Heavenly Soul and an Earthly body that the Heavenly Soul might lift up the Earthly Body towards Heaven But now it fares quite contrary Our earthly Bodies have weighed down our heavenly Souls and made them earthly and sensual Tamdiu versata est Anima in Tabernaculo ut ipsa versa est in Tabernaculum The Soul hath lived so long in a Body of flesh that it is as it were fleshified and bodified The Soul looks through an eye of flesh and every thing seems fleshly to it It is diverted by the Body from its true End The true End of the Soul is to know God to love
that sleep in him with himself into Heaven where they shall be ever with the Lord in perfect Happiness So much for the explication of the three Doctrines Use 1. Let us not mourn immoderately for the death of our Godly Friends and Relations This is the Use which the Apostle would have us to make Mourn we may but not as the Heathen who have no hope Let us remember that the death of a Child of God is nothing else but a comfortable and blessed sleep that he goes to the Grave as to his Bed and there lieth free as a man asleep from all Cares and Troubles and at rest from all his Labours that even while he is in the Grave he is asleep in Iesus and there continueth a Member of his Body that his very dust is precious in Gods sight and part of Gods Election Christs Redemption and the Spirits Sanctification That by vertue of its Union with Christ his body while in the Grave is not utterly extinct but there is a Substance not only reserved but preserved to be raised to everlasting Glory That Christ hath so perfumed the Grave as that it is nothing else to him but as a Tyring-house and withdrawing-Room In a word that he lieth down in his bed till the Morning of the Resurrection and then he shall put on stolam immortalitatis the Garment of Immortality and his vile body shall be made like unto the Glorious Body of Iesus Christ. Let us comfort one another with these words Let us not weep immeasurably for those from whom all Tears are wiped away but let us consider their unspeakable gâ—in Death hath put an end to all their temporal and spiritual evils and opened a door for them to everlasting Happiness Use 2. Let these Doctrines serve as a Precious Antidote to all the people of God against the fear of Death and of the Grave Why should we fear that which if it should not happen we should be superlatively miserable as the Apostle saith If we had hope only in this life we were of all people most miserable And therefore when there was a Rumour spread concerning St. Iohn that he should never die he himself Ch. 21.23 rectifieth the Mistake yet Iesus said not unto him he shall not die As if he should say God forbid I should be so miserable as never to die Though a man in Christ could live for ever in this world and be alwaies young rich and healthful yet he would account himself most miserable because while he is here he is absent from Christ who is his Life and from God who is his Happiness and full of sin which is his greatest Burden And therefore as Iacob rejoyced when he saw the Chariots which should carry him to his Son Ioseph so should the People of God rejoyce when Death approacheth which will carry them to Christ. And as God said to Iacob Fear not to go down to Egypt for I will go down with thee and I will also surely bring thee up again So methinks I hear God saying to all his Children Fear not to go down to the House of Rottenness for I will go with you and tarry with you and watch over your dead Asâ—es with the eye of my Providence and will surely bring you out again and raise you unto Eternal Glory Let us not look upon Death as presented unto us in Natures Looking-Glass but as it is set down in a Scripture-dress Nature presents Death in a terrible manner The Philosopher cals it of all terrible things most terrible Iob cals it the King of Terrors It is terrible three manner of waies 1. Because it is a Separation between two dear and ancient Friends the Soul and the Body who having lived long together are very loath to part asunder There is nothing more contrary to Flesh and Bloud then the separation of the one from the other 2. Because it is the Fruit of sin For the wages of sin is death Had Adam never sinned we never should have died By one man sin entred into the world and death by sin and this makes it terrible 3. Because of the After-claps of Death For after Death comes Iudgment and after Judgment everlasting Salvation or everlasting Condemnation This makes Death very terrible to those who have the guilt of sin upon them unrepented of and who are under the just fear of Everlasting Burnings and indeed to all men out of Christ death is of all terrible things most terrible as you shall hear in the next Use. But to you that are in Christ the sting of death is taken away and it is become of all desirable things most desirable It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Apostle saith It is much far better It is nothing else but a quiet and placid sleep a putting off our cloaths and going to bed till the Morning of the Resurrection Therefoâ—e Austin saith That a Child of God should be as willing to die as to put off his Cloaths because Death is nothing else to him but a putting off of his Body which is Animae Vestimentum the souls Garment and a departure from Misery to everlasting Happiness a leâ—ting the Soul as a Bird out of the Cage of the Body that it may flee to Heaven Death to a Child of God is the Birth-day of Heavens Eternity a putting off of its Earthly Tabernacle and a going to a House made without hands eternal in the Heavens It is an uncloathing of himself that he may be cloathed upon with his House which is in Heaven It is a going to his Fathers House where he shall enjoy perfect and perpetual Happiness There are 10 Springs and Fountains of Consolation to a true Saint against the fear of Death 1. When he dieth though his Body be laid in the Grave yet his Soul is immediatly received up into Heaven his best part is at the Instant of Death blessed and happy 2. His Body at death doth not die but only sleepeth as Christ said of dead Lazarus and is at rest and is asleep in Iesus even while it is in the Grave and is part of that man who is a Member of Christ and under the Care and Love of God 3. His Soul though it be in Heaven can never be perfectly and compleatly happy till his Body be joyned to it 4. Christ himself as he is the Head of his Church can never be perfect till his Body be raised from the dead and crowned with a Crown of Glory 5. Christ hath conquered Death for him he hath not only sweetned and sanctified it but conquered it according as it was fore prophesied I will ransom them from the Power of the Grave I will redeem them from Death O Death I will be thy Plagues O Grave I will be thy Destruction He hath led Captivity Captive and death is one of those Captives as well as the Devil He hath disarmed Death and taken away the Sting
fear and serve him But the body diverts the Stream and turns the Soul to serve men and to provide for back and belly And therefore it may fitly be called the Souls Prison 2. It holds forth this Lesson also That Death is the Souls Goal-delivery It is the letting of it loose from its Bonds and Fetters Its is setting it at Liberty like a Bird escaped out of a Cage Now Lord let thy Servant depart that is be set at liberty from the prison of my body 9. There is this Comfort also against the fear of death That Iesus Christ is gone to heaven on purpose to prepare a place for the dead bodies of his Saints and he will come again and raise them up and take them to himself that where he is there they may be also John 14.2 3. Therefore he is said to go into Heaven as a Forerunner Heb. 6.20 Whither the forerunner is for us entred Now a forerunner supposeth some that are to follow Christ is entred before to take up Lodgings for all that are asleep in him and hath as it were written their several Names upon their several Lodgings as is intimated Heb. 12.23 To the Church of the first-born which are written in heaven and keeps them empty till they come to Heaven to fill them as is hinted 1 Pet. 1.4 Reserved for you in heaven Therefore we are said to fit with him in heavenly places because he went up to take possession of it for our use and benefit and fits there in our Nature and as our Head not as a private Citizen of Heaven but as a Representative of all the Elect of God and will ere long come down and take them up to himself and so they shall ever be with the Lord. 10. The last Spring of Consolation against the fear of death is That Death will put a perfect and perpetual end to all his Miseries whether spiritual or corporal as I have shewed and open a door to infinite and unexpressible happiness for ever and ever Let these ten Considerations be made use of as precious Antidotes against the flavish fear of death Use 3. The woful and miserable condition of those who die in an unregenerate condition in their sins unrepented on and whose bodies lye in the grave â— not asleep in Iesus but asleep in sin to these men death is of all formidable things most formidable It is a most cruel biting and devouring Serpent with eight Stings 1. To a man out of Christ death puts an end to all his outward contentments to all his riches honours and pleasures to whatsoever a wicked man accounts his Heaven and his happiness and this must needs be as a stinging Serpent to him We read of Micah that when the men of Dan stole away his Gods he followed them crying and they turned back and asked him what aileth thee he answered ye have taken away my gods c. and do you say to me what aileth thee When a wicked man dies he looseth all his Gods For he maketh his riches honours and pleasures his gods and no wonder the memory of death is so bitter to him 2. It deprives him of all his hopes For when a wicked man dieth his expectation shall perish and the hope of unjust men perisheth The righteous hath hope in death His Motto is Dum expiro spero But a wicked mans hope perisheth at death and gives up the Ghost Job 11.20 His Motto is Dum expiro despero Death puts an end both to his Hopes Earthly and Heavenly 1. To his earthly hopes A wicked man builds Castles in the air and promiseth great matters to himself and saith as the Rich man Soul thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease eat drink and be merry But God saith to him Thou fool this night thy Soul shall be required of thee then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided Death dasheth all his earthly hopes and that which is worse 2. Death dasheth all his Spiritual and supernatural hopes A wicked man is ready to nourish in himself a presumptuous hope of Heaven and doubts not but that he shall be saved but when he comes to die all his hopes of Heaven perish and are as a Spiders web easily swept away Iob 8.14 The Lord rejecteth his vain confidence Jer. 2.37 Now this is a misery above expression for a man to be disappointed of his eternal hopes 3. Death puts an end to all the sweetness pleasure and profit that is in sin There are two things in the Serpent sin The speckled black and the sting in the tail of it The pleasures of sin for a season and the eternal pains attending it A man out of Christ while he is alive and in health sucks out the carnal sweetness that is in sin it is as honey to his mouth But when death comes the sweetness of sin vanisheth and nothing remains but the sting and torment of it Even as a Thief as long as he is unfound out lives merrily upon what he hath stolen but when he is found and cast into Prison and condemned to be hanged then he feels nothing but bitterness and sorrow So it is with a wicked man As long as he is in health and in prosperity he takes great delight and content in sinning but when he comes to be attached and arrested with Death then the misery and cursedness of sin appears before him Then he begins to say Where is all the carnal pleasure I once took in my sinfull courses Nothing now remains but the Sting Momentaneum quod delectat aternum quod cruciat That which delighted me was but momentany but that which will torment me is eternal 4. Death must needs be a stinging Serpent to a man out of Christ because it puts Conscience into office to wound and torture him The great design of a wicked man in health is to blind or bribe his Conscience but death puts it into office and sets it on his proper Throne and Conscience once awakened becomes a biting Serpent and a gnawing worm never suffering him to be at rest night nor day Sin is like a piece of wood which while it is in the water seems very light floating on the top of it but when it comes to the shoar ten men can hardly stir that which one man before might have carried which way he lifted While a wicked man is in health and in prosperity his sins seem light to him but when he comes to the shoar of Death then they begin to be heavy then Conscience like a Mastive Dog flies in his face and his sins appear in their ugly colours with all the aggravating circumstances and sting him exceedingly 5. Death puts an end to Gods patience to the day of grace and mercy and to all the means of Salvation For there is no repenting in the grave whither we are going This life is a day of grace and Salvation Now Ahashuerosh holds forth his golden
THE HAPPINESSE Of those who Sleep in Jesus OR The Benefit that comes to the dead bodies of the Saints even while they are in the Grave Sleeping in Jesus Delivered in a SERMON Preached at the Funeral of that Pious and Religious Lady the Lady Anne Waller At the New Church in Westminst Oct. 31 1661. Together with the Testimony then given unto her By Edm. Calamy B. D. and Pastor of Aldermanbury Rev. 14.11 And I heard a Voyce 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 John 11 11. Our Friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go that I may awake him out of Sleep Upon which words St. Austin saith Domino dormiebat qui eum tantá facilitate excitavit de Sepulchro quanta tu cx citas dormientem de Leâ—to hominibus autem moâ—taus erat qui eum suscitare non poterant 1 Thes. 4.16 The Dead in Christ shall rise first London Printed by I. H. for Nathanael Webb at the Royal Oak in St. Pauls Church-Yard near the little North-Door 1662. Royall Oake To the RIGHT WORSHIPFUL S r WILLIAM WALLER Sir IT hath pleased the wise God your heavenly Father to exercise you with variety of sad Providences to train you up for himself and his Kingdom by many Troubles and Afflictions It hath alwaies been his Method to prepare his Children by light and moment any crosses for a far more exceeding and eternal weight of Glory and by imbittering the pleasures of this world to sweeten the delights of a better This Sir hath been your Portion And I doubt not but you have learned and are instructed by God in whatsoever state you are therewith to be contented and are made able to say with David It is good for you that you have been afflicted This last Trial was one of the sorest that ever yet betided you being the loss of so Precious a Lady so sutable a Wife full of so much Goodness and Prudence But when you consider that your Losse is her Gain that she is taken away from the evil to come that she is not lost but gone before to her Father and your Father to her God and your God that her Soul is at rest in Abrahams bosom and her body even while in the grave asleep in Iesus and who it is that hath taken her from you this doth much allay the immoderateness of your sorrow enables you to say with holy Iob The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh blessed be the Name of the Lord and with holy David I was dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it There are three great Truthes which if well digested will prove heart-quieting and compose the Spirits of Gods people and make them calm and satisfied in the worst of daies and dangers 1. That all the Providences of God though never so dark and mâ—sterious and seemingly contrary to his Promises shall all of them at last concur to the fulfilling of his Promises For we know that all things shall work together for good to those who love God 2. That sanctified Afflictions are great blessings and that Correction when joyned with Instruction is a certain Character of Election That God had one Son without sin but no Son without Sorrow That Afflictions are Divine Touchstones to try the truth and strength of our Graces Divine Furnaces to purge out the Drosse of our sins Divine Files to pare off our spiritual Rust and Divine framing Houses to dress us and make us fit for Heaven 3. That Iesus Christ hath altered the Nature of Death and made it a Gate to everlasting Life That Christ hath sanctified sweetned purchased conquered and disarmed Death so as it is now become the best Friend we have next to Iesus Christ. For we shall never be free from sin nor perfected in Grace nor see God Face to Face till we die This last grand Truth is made out fully in the ensuing Sermon wherein also is shewed the Benefit that the Bodies of the Saints obtain while in the Grave by sleeping in Iesus Many Sermons tell us the Advantage that the Soul reaps by death but this will discover what our vile Bodies gain even while they are rotting in the Grave Sir It was your desire it should be made publick and out of pure obedience so it now is For there is nothing in it that is elaborate and more then ordinary or that renders it worthy the perusal of a judicious Eye But the Testimony given of your Noble Lady as it is true so I conceive it is worth reading and imitating and may well be called a Looking-Glasse for Ladies to dress themselves by every Morning It will teach them to make Religion their Business and to spend more time in decking their Souls with Grace then their Bodies with vain Attire that a Neck-lace of Graces is more worth then a Neck-lace of Pearles St. Hierom writes much in commendation of many Holy and Religious Ladies living dying in his dayes and proposeth them as Patterns to others for their Imitation In like manner I thought meet to propound the example of your most Excellent Lady which if well followed in those things wherein she was praise-worthy will without doubt bring us to everlasting Happiness The Lord give a Blessing to what is said in the following Discourse and make up to you in himself what you have lost in the want of your Dear Consort and be your Comforter and Counsellour in all Conditions So Prayeth Your Servant in the Work of the Lord Edm. Calamy THE HAPPINESSE of those who Sleep in Jesus OR The Benefit that comes to the dead Bodies of the Saints even while they lie in the Grave Sleeping in JESUS 1 THESS 4.14 Even so them also which sleep in Iesus will God bring with him _â—N the former Verse the Apostle perswades the Thessalonians not to mourn immoderately for the Saints Departed He doth not forbid them to mourn but not to mourn without measure Religion doth not abolish natural Affections but only mode 〈…〉 hem Grace doth not destroy but rectifie Nature it dep 〈…〉 ot of sense but teacheth the right use of Senses And he b 〈…〉 divers Arguments to diswade us from immoderate M 〈…〉 ning Because this would bewray our Ignorance of the blessed estate of Gods Children after this Life This is set down v. 13. But I would not have you to be ignorant Brethren concerning them which are asleep 2. This is to act as hopeless Heathens not as Christians This is put down in the same Verse That ye sorrow not even as others that have no hope Though Heathens who have no hope of a better Life after this do mourn immeasurably yet this doth not become Christians who have hope in death and who believe the Life Everlasting 3. Because the death of a Saint is not an utter Extinction and abolition of
good have joy and happiness The wicked misery and torment The Soul of the wicked goeth immediately to Hell where it hath little list to sleep and his body lieth asleep in the grave But how Even as a Malefactor that sleeps in Prison the night before he is executed but when he awakes he is hurried and dragged to execution So the wicked man falls asleep at death but when he awakes he awakes to everlasting damnation But a Child of God when he sleeps the sleep of death he sleeps in the arms of his Eldest Brother and when he awakes he awakes unto everlasting happiness Quest. 3. In what particulars may the death of a Child of God be compared to sleep Answ. I have already in a Sermon printed without my knowledge given thirteen resemblances between death and sleep and therefore must of necessity here omit them lest I should seem actum agere At the present I shall only mention these two 1. The death of a Child of God is called a sleep because he is thereby layed to rest The Scripture calls their graves their beds of rest And the Apostle tells us That they which dye in the Lord rest from all their labours They are at rest from all corporal and spiritual evills First From all corporal evills 1. From all sicknesses diseases pains and all other bodily infirmities Death is that great Physitian which will cure Gods people of all diseases at once and for ever Thus the blind and lame man said one to the other at the Stake Bishop Bonner will cure thee and me this day 2. From all worldly griefe and sorrow For at death all tears shall be wiped from their eyes and there shall be no more sorrow Rev. 21.4 3. From all laborious and painful employments Martha shall have no more need to complain of Mary nor shall the Prophets of God waste their bodies by preaching Ipsa cessabunt misericordiae spera ubi nulla erit indigentia nulla miseria 4. From all the wrongs injuries and persecutions of the wicked world In this life they are mocked scoffed and persecuted but when death comes they are like a man above in the upper Region where no winds nor storms can come 5. From the evils to come upon the wicked world Thus St. Austin was layed to rest immediately before Hippo was taken by the Vandals Luther before the Wars brake out in Germany and Paraeus before Heidleburgh was sack'd by the Spaniards Secondly From all spiritual evils 1. From the hurt of the Devil and his temptations Death puts them above his reach so as he shall not be able to hurle one fiery dart any longer at them 2. From evil company and evil examples In this life the Wheat are mingled with Chaff and Tares and cannot but hear the name of the Great God blasphemed and dishonoured which is a great vexation to them as it was to Lot in Sodom But at death they shall be separated from all chaff and tares and shall never hear God dishonoured any more 3. From Divine desertions In this life God many times withdraweth the light of his countenance from his sinning Children which is more terrible to them than death it self For if his loving kindness is better than life then his frowns are worse than death But after death the light of Gods countenance shall shine perpetually upon them and never admit either of a cloud or Eclipse 4. From the very being and existence of sin The death of the body frees them perfectly from the body of death Death drieth up the bloudy issue of sin root and branch As sin at first begat and brought forth death so death at last destroyes sin as the worm kills the tree that bred it Therefore St. Austin saith Plus restituitur quam amittitur More is restored to a Child of God than he lost in Adam For Adam had only a power not to sin but he by death hath an impossibility of sinning Sin was Obstetrix mortis a Midwife to bring death into the World and death is Sepulchrum peccati a Sepulchre to bury sin in Insomuch as death is now become not so much the death of the man as of his sin and misery Hence it is that our burying places are called by the Greeks Dormitories or sleeping-places and by the Hebrews The houses of the living 2. The death of a Child of God is called a sleep propter spem resurrectionis To intimate unto us the assurance of a Resurrection Thus Christ saith of Lazarus Our friend Lazarus sleepeth but I go that I may awake him out of sleep Death is nothing else saith St. Chrysostome but a temporary sleep Sleep is a short death and death a longer sleep As he that goeth to sleep sleeps but for a certain time and awakes in the morning out of sleep So he that sleeps the sleep of death when the Trump of God shall found shall awake arise out of his grave as out of his bed in the morning of the Resurrection St. Austin saith That the Scripture saith of those that are dead that they are but asleep because of the certain hope of a Resurrection by which they shall speedily be awakened from the sleep of death and raised out of their Sepulchres as out of their beds Hence it hath formerly been and still is a godly custom amongst Christians when any of their religious friends die to say of them They are not dead but Obdormiâ—nt in Domino They are asleep in the Lord. And this they do for the comfort of their Relations and to create in them a contempt of this present life and a sure and certain hope of a Resurrection unto life everlasting Before I make use of this I shall speak something to the second Doctrine Doctrine 2. That the bodies of the Saints even while they are in their graves are asleep in Iesus They that sleep in Iesus This is a very excellent and singularly comfortable expression worthy to be seriously weighed and considered For the understanding of it I will shew First What it is to sleep in Iesus Secondly What glorious benefits and advantages come to the bodies of the Saints by this priviledge 1. What it is to sleep in Iesus This expression signifieth two things 1. That a true Saint dieth a Member of Christ united to him by a lively saith He is one that abideth in the Faith till the last gasp and as the Apostle saith dieth in the Lord that is engraffed into the Lord Iesus Christ. 2. That he doth not only die in Christ but continueth a member of Christ and united to him even while he is in the grave For this Text speaks of all Saints departed from the beginning of the World So also they that sleep in Iesus that is They that are now in their graves and are there asleep in Jesus The like phrase is used 1 Cor. 15.18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ
are perished The Apostle speaks of such who had been long in their graves and yet all that while were asleep in Christ. The bodies of the Saints in the grave though turned to dust are yet notwithstanding united to Christ and Members of his Body and though separated from their Souls yet are not separated from Christ Even as the Body of Christ while in the grave was even then united to his Divine Person Though soul and body were separated one from the other yet neither of them were separated from the Divine Person So the Body of a man in Christ though separated by death from his Soul yet it is not separated from Christ. Though it say to Corruption Thou art my Father and to the VVorms Thou art my Mother and my Sister yet it may say also to Christ Thou art my Brother and to God Thou art my Father And therefore the Saints even while they are in their graves are said to be Christs 1 Cor. 15.23 Afterwards they that are Christs at his coming And are said to be dead in Christ 1 Thes. 4.16 Not only to die in Christ but to be dead in Christ that is to continue in Christ even while dead And that they do so appears further by these two Reasons Reas. 1. Because the Union between Christ and a true Christian is spiritual and everlasting 1. It is spiritual and therefore needs no vicinity of place to preserve it A Husband and Wife a Father and his Child are really united together though a thousand miles distant 2. It is everlasting Hos. 2.19 I will besroath thee unto me for ever c. Herein it exceeds the Union between a Man and his Wife which is only till death them do part But the Union between Christ and a true Christian is not separated by death Once in Christ ever in Christ Joh. 8.35 Reas. 2. Because Death is Christs purchase and part of the Saints Ioynture The Apostle tells the Corinthians All things are yours whether Paul or Apollo c. or life or death c. and ye are Christs c. These words teach us these two lessons 1. That Death is part of the Saints Magna Charta as well as Life Death is the Believers rich Portion and peculiar priviledge 2. That Christ hath purchased death for his children as properly as life He hath made over death for their joynture and rich portion as much as Paul Apollo or Cephas nay as much as heaven it self Christ hath altered the nature of death insomuch as that now it is become our best friend next to Iesus Christ For we shall never be rid of sin nor perfected in grace nor see God face to face till we dye It is become a gate to heaven an outlet to all misery and an inlet to everlasting happiness Now then if Death be Christs purchase and a part of the Saints Ioynture without doubt it doth not separate us from Christ for then it would be but an ill purchase and joynture obtained not for our good but our great hurt contrary to the express words of the Apostle and also contrary to Rom. 8.28 All things work together for the good of those that love God Et mors praecipue and especially Death as St. Austin saith The second thing propounded is To shew what those glorious benefits and advantages are which the bodies of the Saints enjoy while they are in their graves asleep in Jesus For answer to this you must know That as soon as ever the soul departs out of the body the body presently loseth all its beauty and comliness and becomes a rotten and stinking carkass It goeth down to the house of rottenness to the dungeon of darkness and is layed in the cold earth dust to dust ashes to ashes And yet even then it hath a six-fold benefit by being asleep in Jesus 1. Though the body be turned to dust yet that very dust is pretious in Gods sight As the death of the Saints so also their dust is precious to God There is a twofold dust that God loves 1. The dust of Sion 2. The dust of his Saints First The dust of Sion Psal. 102.13 14. Secondly The dust of the Saints The golden Ore in the Mine is not so pretious to us as this golden dust is to God Iob tells us That out of the earth comes the dust of gold but I may truly say That in the earth there is golden dust even the dust of Gods Saints As Balaam saith concerning the people of Israel Who can count the dust of Iacob and the number of the fourth part of Israel So may I say Who can sufficiently express the love that God bears to the dust of Iacob and to the bodies of his people while in their graves The Apostle tells us That neither life nor death is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. God loves the bodies of his Saints as well as their souls and their bodies when turned to dust That very dust is part of Gods election for God hath elected the bodies of his Saints unto eternal life as well as their souls and it is part of Christs Redemption and the Spirits Sanctification O what a comfort is this to a dying Child of God! Though all his friends will forsake him when brought to the grave the Husband will leave his dear Wife and the Children their dear Father yet God will not forsake him but go down to the grave with him and the watchful eye of his providence will be over his dust and ashes And as Rispah kept the dead bodies of Sauls seven Sons and spread a Tent over them so as the birds of the air could not hurt them by day nor the beasts of the field by night So will God keep the dead bodies of his Saints and spread the Curtain of his protection over them and as he took care of them while they were in the sepulchre of their Mothers wombe so he will also take care of them while they are in the sepulchre of their Mother earth He that loved them in Sepulchro uteri will love them in utero Sepulchri 2. They that sleep in Iesus have this benefit by it That Christ by his burial hath sanctified the grave and sweetned it and perfumed it insomuch that though in its own nature it be as loathsome prison a house of rottenness and a place of terrour yet to a man dead in Christ the nature of it is altered and to him it is as a soft bed wherein he is laid down quietly to take his rest and there to remain asleep free from all cares fears and troubles till the Resurrection of the dead Though the grave in its own nature be a dreadful place a stinking charnel-house and a rotten prison to the wicked and ungodly where they lye waiting for the Great Assizes yet to the Children of God Christ hath made it a Magazin and Store-house to keep their
Scepter Now the Hour-glass of patience is running the draw-bridge is let down and the white Flag of mercy is hanged out but when Death comes the white Flag is taken down the Hour-glass run out the Draw-bridge taken up the day of grace and patience at an end Et qui fluvios sanguinis nunc dabit guttam aqua in Inferno negabit And he that will now give us rivers of his blood to wash away our sins will not in Hell give us a drop of water 6. A man out of Christ hath also this unhappiness that whensoever he dieth he dieth suddenly though he die never so leasurely Suddenly in regard of preparation though not in regard of time For he dieth like the Foolish Virgins having his Oyl to buy his graces and evidences for Heaven to get which is no little misery For Death is a time of spending not geting whether you consider the Soul or the Body And as that man is in a sad condition as to his outward estate that hath laid up nothing in health to maintain him in sickness So he is in a sadder as to his eternal estate that is unprovided at Death of a Stock of Grace and Scripture Cordials This man dieth suddenly though he die never so leasurely 7. He dieth miserably though he die never so happily though in his bed and in his old age though buried in great pomp yet dying in his sins he is cursed at death and cursed after death 8. Lastly and especially because Death opens a Door to endless and easeless miseries It is gaudiorum finis malorum omnium principium The end of all his joy and the beginning of all his misery If Death were an utter extinction and annihilation it were not so terrible but herein is the terrour of it because it lets the Soul out of the Prison of the body to go to the everlasting Prison of Hell Death is Gods Sergeant to arrest a wicked man and after arrest to carry him to the Iudge there to receive the sentence of Condemnation and after that to be delivered over to the Gaoler to be carried to the fiery Prison of Hell there to remain for ever It deals with every wicked man as it did with Dives it carrieth him a Tenebris ad Tenebras from the darkness of sin to the darkness of Hell All these particulars shew unto us the woful and miserable condition of those who die out of Christ. Use 4. Let us all labour so to live that when we come to die we may be sure to sleep in Iesus For all the ten forementioned Fountains of consolation against the fear of Death belong only to those who sleep in Jesus Quest. What must we do that we may be made partakers of so great a happiness Answ. We must do two things 1. We must labour to get into Christ while we live and we shall be sure to die in Christ when we die and sleep in him when in the grave We must make it not our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not our ultimum but our primum quaerite Not our last but our first and chief work to get out of the Old Adam into the New Adam out of the root of abomination into the root of acceptation by a Christ-appropriating Faith For it is the great office of justifying Faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrys. saith to bring us into the possession of Jesus Christ. We must be willing to part with all our goodly Pearles to buy this Pearle of price We must account all things but dung and dross all creature excellencies all Church-priviledges and all civil righteousness and suffer the loss of all things that we may gain Christ. 2. We must labour to get a Death-enduring assurance of our interest in Christ. The reason why many of Gods children are so unwilling to die is because they do not know their title to Christ and the happiness of those that die in him Before Old Iacob knew his Son Ioseph to be alive he received no comfort by his being alive Before Mary Magdalene knew the person with whom she discoursed to be Christ she was not revived by discoursing with him Before a child of God knows that Christ is his and hath purchased Death for his great advantage it is impossible for him to embrace it with comfort This then is the second work of every good Christian and the work of his whole life to get a Tribunal proof assurance of his being in Christ. Quest. How may a man know that he hath an interest in Christ Answ. By three Texts of Scripture 1. By 2 Cor. 5.17 If any man be in Christ he is a new Creature He that is inwardly and outwardly renewed renewed in every part though imperfectly in every part may assure himself of his interest in Christ. 2. By Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit A man may have flesh in him and yet be in Christ but he that walks after the flesh and makes provision for it to fulfill the lusts of it hath no share in him But he that walks after the Spirit and is led by the Spirit and is spiritually minded may be assured of his interest in Christ. 3. By Gal. 5.24 They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts They that make it their work to crucifie not only the flesh but the affections and lusts of it and are alwayes crucifying and mortifying it are in a Gospel-account esteemed as câ—ucifiers of the flesh and do crucifie it desiderio conatu though not actu in their desires and indeavours though they cannot while in the body perfectly subdue it and may be confident that Christ is theirs and they are Christs and that Christ Jesus shall be to them in life and death advantage THat you may be the better encouraged to make it the work of your whole Life to gain Christ and an Assurance that you have gained him let me set before you the example of this excellent Lady the Lady Anne Waller for whose funeral we are here met this night Of whom I may truly say as Nazianzene of his Sister Gorgonia That we need not fear lest we should exceed in praising her too much but rather lest we should be deficient in praising her too little It is not my custom to speak much in commendation of the Dead But something I must crave leave to speak at this time not so much for her commendation for she hath no need now of our Eulogies but for our imitation I shall not at all mention her birth and noble extraction nor meddle with any thing that concerns her in her natural and civil capacities but only speak something about her Piety and Godliness which indeed is the truest Nobility She was as Saint Iohn stiles the Lady to whom he wrote his second Epistle an Elect Lady whether you take