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
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
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