hand left with his Relict to be Printed A SERMON Preached at the Funeral of Mr. James Janeway March 20 1673 4. 1 COR. 15. 55 former part O death where is thy sting I Am verily perswaded that in this great Assembly there are not many but what are real Mourners Although the pompous Ceremonies of a Funeral are wanting yet I am confident few have been attended with more sad hearts to their graves than he that is now to be carried thither The loss of a Saint is a great loss not only because such are so useful and profitable while they live but their removal also is no good Omen their departing is like Lot's out of Sodom before its overthrow Their housing in Heaven is like Noah's getting into the Ark before the Old World was drowned The Prophet tells us That the righteous are taken away from the evil to come Isa 57. 1. But the loss of a Minister that has been zealous and industrious and whose great design was to turn many unto righteousness is yet more to be laid to heart Is not Gods controversie great when the Ambassadors of peace are called home May we not justly be afraid of losing the Treasure when the Vessels that contain it are broken so fast in pieces When faithful Labourers are still growing fewer may we not suspect there are not many more among us to be gathered Surely then great lamentations aking hearts sad countenances and sadder spirits very well become this days Solemnity What David of old said over his dead and dear Jonathan 2 Sam. 1. 26 I cannot abstain from using I am distressed for thee my brother Janeway I am distressed for thee very pleasant hast thou been unto me and so thou wast to all that knew thee Thy love to Souls was wonderful and therefore every Soul should be concerned at thy leaving the world that thy work is come to an end He is gone alas he is gone he is gone We shall never see his face nor hear his voice more But as his life was exceeding so also was his death edifying He had a sore conflict indeed but afterwards a glorious conquest and was a Triumphant Saint before his expiration O death where is thy sting O grave where is thy victory In this Chapter the Apostle Paul looked by the eye of Faith to the end of the world nay he looked beyond it his Faith was the substance of things hoped for and render'd things unseen evident He saw already the Lord Jesus upon his great white Throne sitting to judg the world in righteousness He saw the bodies that were sown in corruption raised in incorruption that were sown in dishonour raised in glory that were sown in weakness raised in power He saw Believers rescued out of the prison of the grave and placed at the right hand of Christ with Crowns on their heads palms in their hands mortality being totally swallowed up of life And this makes him thus triumph and say O death where is thy sting I shall not trouble you with the various readings of this Text which I have met with nor spend time in shewing the agreement between these words and those of the Prophet Hosea c. 13. 14 O death I will be thy plague from whom many are of opinion they are borrowed though Calvin thinks that the Apostle does not professedly cite the Prophet but only does accommodate a Sentence that is very pious and was very well known to his present purpose I shall adhere to that reading which you have and being thus read the words are not only sound but very full of consolation Chrysostome here admires 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bravery 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 B. in 1 Ep. ad Cor. of the Apostles spirit who looked upon future things as past and done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and sings a song of Victory over that last Enemy the thoughts of which terrifie and astonish the most among the children of men In the words you may observe 1. The Person triumphing the Apostle Paul whose Faith was strong concerning the Resurrection and his assurance well-grounded of his interest in Christ who is the resurrection and the life And the Apostle triumphs that other Believers might grow fearless being emboldened by his greatness of spirit 2. What is triumphed over and that is death Death which is the King of terrors which tames the proudest which pulls down the most mighty which is an Universal Monarch and none are able to withstand but all are forced to pay homage to it by stooping and lying before it in the dust This notwithstanding is triumphed over 3. The reason of this triumph the sting of death is taken out and consequently that which renders death so dreadful is removed The Text doth afford us two Doctrines 1. Death comes to a Believer without a sting 2. The Believer may triumph over Death Doct. 1. I begin with the first of these Doctrines Death comes to a Believer without a sting It is appointed unto men once to dye Heb. 9. 27. And this Statute as it changes not so it reaches all Holy men return to the dust as well as others But though they are not exempted from the stroke yet they are from the sting of death In the prosecuting of this Doctrine I shall First Speak concerning Death Secondly Concerning the Sting of Death Thirdly Shew how Believers come to be delivered from this Sting Lastly Make Application In the first place I am to speak concerning Death And 1. I find Affliction in Scripture sometimes called by that name Exod. 10. 27 when Egypt was afflicted with the Locusts Pharaoh cries out Intreat the Lord your God that he may take away from me this death only Afflictions have stings too which Christ only can take out As Sin turns our blessings into cursings so it makes every bitter cup poison But Believers are pardoned and sanctified and therefore though they are exercised with the Cross yet the Curse of the Cross is taken away 2. Hell is likewise called Death Rev. 21. 18 The lake which burns with fire and brimstone is the second death This death is the separation of the Soul from God the chiefest good and the enduring of those torments which the Lords power and wrath justly inflicts upon all that live and dye in their iniquities Augustine has a notable passage That death which men fear is the destruction of the body but the separation of the soul from God Enarrat in Ps 48. Mors est vera quam non timent is the true death which they are not afraid of This second death which is as it were all gall all sting Believers shall never feel 3. Death is taken for the dissolving of that union which is between our bodies and our spirits when the dust returns to the earth as it was and the spirit unto God who gave it Eccl. 12. 7. Of this death the Apostle is to be understood in the Text. Now in the death of Believers
three things are remarkable 1. Their Souls immediately are with Christ. The Apostle for encouragement-sake seems to put this into death's definition Phil. 1. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two having a desire to be dissolved or to depart and to be with Christ which is far better The Saints as soon as absent from the body are present with the Lord 2 Cor. 5. 8 9 We are confident says the Apostle and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him That opinion of the Souls sleeping and dying with the Body and resting sensless till the resurrection is absurd and impious Christ says Fear not them which can kill the body but are not able to kill the soul Mat. 10. 28. If the Sould did dye with the Body man would have power over both and might cast the Soul as well as the Body into a dead sleep But our Lord affirms man is not able to kill the Soul which is an undeniable argument to prove its immortality and surviving after its separation it goes immediately to Christ if it hath been sanctified Stephen commended his spirit into Christs hands Act. 7. 59. 2. Believers bodies after death has divided their Souls from them are still united unto Christ Our very Bodies are called the Temples of the Holy Ghost and the Members of Christ 1 Cor. 6. 15 19. And the mystical Union between Christ and his Members is lasting nay everlasting The dead Saints do sleep in Jesus they are in Jesus while asleep 1 Thes 4. 14. 'T is comfortable seriously to meditate upon that relation and consequently that respect and care that Christ has to and of the carcasses of his deceased Servants even these are still his Members and by vertue of that Union shall rise again at the last day 3. The death of Believers is compared to a sleep for after a while they shall be awaked I grant the ungodly shall wake too but in order to punishment 't were better for them to sleep eternally Believers Bodies and Souls that are parted by death shall one day be reunited 'T will surely be a joyful meeting of those two dear Companions that have been so long separated especially they being both changed so much from what they were when before together for the Soul will in the most perfect manner partake of the Divine Nature and the Body that is now a vile one will be like to Christs glorious body Phil. 3. ult Not another Body but the same for substance shall rise again else 't would not be a Resurrection but a new Creation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This mortal shall put on immortality and this corruptible shall put on incorruption 1 Cor. 15. 53. In the second place I am to speak of the sting of death Now if you ask what that is the Apostle explains his own meaning in the verse following the Text The sting of death is sin As sin has caused death it self so all the terror and bitterness of it is the effect of sin Sin is certainly committed upon a very great mistake only those keep their sins who know not what they are The Apostle cautions against being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3. 13. None are obstinate in sin but those that are deceived by it Sin is fancied to be full of pleasure and 't is represented as if 't were all honey but 't is a sting the very sting of death It may be compared to a sting in these three respects 1. Sin like a sting pierces It pierced Christ it pierces us That which no weapon can reach sin can wound and that 's the Soul Diogenes Laertius tells us that when Anaxarchus was In vitâ Anaxar 〈◊〉 driven to Cyprus and taken by Nicocreon the Tyrant there and horribly beaten as in a Mortar with a Pestle he cried out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Beat on beat on the windbag of Anaxarchus for Anaxarchus himself thou canst not hurt But though weapons cannot touch the Soul sin strikes deepest there Against this the Apostle says our fleshly lusts do war and therefore beseeches us to abstain from them 1 Pet. 2. 11. 2. Sin like a sting pains Cain was thus pained when he cried out My punishment is greater than I can bear Pashur was thus pained when he deserved the name of Magor Missabib Terror round about Judas also was thus pained when in the height of despair and horror he put a period to his burthensom life with his own hands Oh the horror and raging torment that sin causes in the conscience A wounded spirit who can bear says Solomon Prov. 18. 14 intimating there is no pain like the smart of those wounds 3. Sin like a sting poisons 'T is compared to venom and that of creatures most venomous Deut. 32. 33 Their wine is the poison of Dragons and the cruel venom of Asps This was all the fruit which those which the Lord had once planted a noble Vine yielded How harmless soever sin is thought 't is rank poison Job 20. 12 14 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth though hide de it under his tongue though he spare it and forsake it not yet at length it proves the gall of Asps within him You see in what respect sin is called a sting But here it may be demanded Is all sin the sting of death Miserable then must the end of all needs be for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 3. 23. In many things all still offend Jam. 3. 2. There is not a just man upon earth that does good and sins not Eccl. 7. 20. I answer in these particulars 1. All by sin have deserved death accompanied with its greatest horror We read Rev. 6. 8 of a pale horse and the name of him that sat on him was death 'T is represented as on horseback to shew the speed and haste it makes but behold a terrible second it follows Hell followed with him and truly 't were just that Death and Hell should be inseparable The Grave in the Old Testament is frequently called Hell to signifie that sin has indeed joined the Grave and Hell together and how righteous 't is that one should always follow upon the other 2. In sin we are to take notice of two things the strength of it and the dominion of it and those that are under both these death comes with a sting to them But whoever are redeemed and made free from sins strength and dominion are under grace and death is unstung before it comes to them 1. We are to take notice of the strength of sin Now the Apostle informs us that the strength of sin is the Law 1 Cor. 15. 56. Therefore sin is so powerful to bind over to condemnation because the transgression of a Law and therefore to such dreadful and eternal vengeance because the Law transgressed is the Law of so
which remains to the people of God Paul Apollo Cephas are friends but death a greater friend than any 2. Does death come to a Believer without a sting Then it ought not so much to be feared and it may truly be said that the Saints are more afraid than hurt by it As in regeneration there is a change wrought in reference to other things the world which before was idolized being now contemned sin that before was loved being now hated so there should be in reference unto death this which before was feared should be desired 2 Cor. 5. 2 In this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven Death is the less to be feared for guilt which causes fear will not be any more contracted 3. Does death come to a Believer without a sting Behold the vast difference between the end of the Believer and the Vnbeliever Indeed the breath goes away from both alike their Bodies are carried to the same grave which is stiled the house of all the living But if you could behold where their Souls go then you would perceive as vast a difference as there is between the highest Heaven and the lowest Hell The wicked man when he dies leaves perhaps children roaring wife wringing of her hands relations weeping bitterly Oh but what are these lamentations compared with those despairing agonies and sorrows that he himself is full of in outer darkness Even impious Balaam was so apprehensive of the different end of the holy and unholy that his wish was Let me dy the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his Numb 23. 10. 4. Does death come to a Believer without a sting Then departed Saints should not be mourned for without hope Ambrose says Non ammitti sed praemitti videntur They are not lost but are sent before to those mansions whither we must quickly follow if we patiently continue in well-doing Vse 2. Of Consolation to Believers they must dye indeed but they shall not feel the sting of death The Lyon in the fable was not feared when his Teeth and Claws were gone Death should not make us dismayed when its sting is taken out I shall propound these four grounds of comfort in death unto Believers 1. At death sin is quite mortified The Law in the members is no longer in force that which the Apostle calls the body of sin and death then dyes and shall never have a resurrection Filia devorabit Matrem Death the daughter will devour Sin the mother Saints then shall no longer cry out O wretched who shall deliver us Rom. 7. 4. Deliverance will be fully come They shall no longer complain of evil present when they would do good their ignorance their unbelief their estrangement from God and unsuitableness to him will all then be removed Nazianzen speaks Orat. 32. excellently to our present purpose A Saint therefore is made to dye that sin might not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an immortal evil 2. At Death Believers take wings and fly out of a troublesome World the World shall no more ensuare them cross them persecute them Oh hapyy exchange to leave Meshech and the Tents of Kedar and to go and dwell in the heavenly Jerusalem here they dwell among the sons of Belial they see and hear that which vexes their righteous souls from day to day and in the very best they know they see something that is offensive But they will go to other kind of company after death Surely the spirits of just men made perfect and an innumerable company of Angels will be far sweeter society than any in this world All tears will be wiped away from Non homo 〈◊〉 miseria hominis Christiani moritur their eyes and every thing gone that may occasion sadness 3. At Death Believers are set out of Satans reach He got into the first Paradise and tempted Adam who before was innocent and prevailed by his temptation but into Heaven he shall not enter Concerning the Dragon and his Angels 't is said their place is not found any more in Heaven Rev. 12. 8. He can shoot his darts any-where here in this World even in the Sanctuary even at the Lords table he will be pestering the Saints with his injections and solicitations but Heaven is too sacred a place for that wicked one to have admission 'T is as impossible for the Devil to reach any with his darts that are in glory as it is for us with an arrow to hit the Sun in the firmament 4. At Death Believers receive a Crown of Life Rev. 3. 10 Be thou faithful unto death and I will give thee a crown of Life They shall see God face to face and that sight will transform them into his likeness they shall live with God for ever and that life must needs be holy that life must needs be joyful Psal 16. ult In thy presence is fulness of joy at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore Cyprian that Ser. 4. De mortalit p. 2â—â— he might make death comfortable sayes Ad immortalitatem morte transgredimur by death we pass to immortality nec potest vita aeterna succedere nisi hinc contigerit exire Neither can we till out of this life enter upon that life that is eternal then he goes on Who would not haste unto that which is so much better of the two Vse 3. Of Exhortation in two Words 1. Let it be your great care that the sting of death may be taken out Sin will not always be made light of perhaps when death is really within view Conscience that was stupid before may be horribly affrighted when the strength fails and Physicians are discouraged by fatal Symptoms when t is whispered in the Room there 's no hope of recovery when Friends stand by and weep because they look upon you as good as gone Oh then though never so sensless and seared before fear may come upon you as desolation and destruction as a whirl-wind distress and anguish may take hold of you Prov. 1. 27. Or suppose you die hardned immediately after death the sting of it will be felt and the unexpected smart and torment will be the more tormenting Oh how did the rich Glutton yell and roar when he felt himself tormented in the flames that before had lived in ease and pleasure It concerns you therefore highly to have Death unstung and that it may be unstung follow these Directions 1. Let your hearts be pricked for sin at present Act. 2. 37. Be afflicted and mourn and weep because you have sinned against God against your own Souls Smite upon your thighs and say What have I done blame your ignorance and madness in offending Psal 73. 21 22. Thus my heart was grieved I was pricked in my reins so foolish was I and ignorant I was as a beast before thee Thus to be troubled is the way to peace 2. Believe that help indeed lies in the Lord Jesus and