Deaths Advantage Opened in a SERMON PREACHED The last Summer at Northampton AT THE FUNERAL OF Peter Whalley Esq Then Mayor of the said Town And now upon the earnest desires of his Friends published by Edward Reynolds D.D. LONDON Printed by Tho Newcomb for George Thomason and are to be sold at his Shop at the Rose and Crown in Pauls Church yard 1657. To the Honorable John Crew Esq SIR HAving been prevailed with by the earnest desires of those who were nearly related unto that worthy Gentleman at whose Funeral this Sermon was preached to let it after it had been it self so long buried something unseasonably revive and go abroad into the world I have taken the boldness to prefix so honorable a name as yours before it upon a double account one relating unto the deceased Gentleman the other unto my self For the former if we may take the character of a wise and worthy man by the affection which he beareth and choyce which he maketh of eminent Examples whose prudence and piety to follâ—w I may truly and therefore without flattery to you or him pronounce this dear Friend now with God a very wise and a very good man having been frequently an ear-witness of the singular Honor he did bear to your person in mentioning of whose zeal and care to promote the glory of God the truth of the Gospel the interest of Religion and good of your Country he did greatly delight to expatiate and whom he did propose to himself as a special pattern for his imitation For mine own part as I have the same reasons which moved him to bear an honorable and high esteem towards your person and the gifts and graces of God bestowed upon you so you have by your abundant favours to me and particularly your earnest and sollicitous endeavors to have preserved my Station in the University when changes in the State caused changes there laid so great a debt upon me as I have no way to discharge but onely by putting you over to the best Pay-master and in my prayers commending you unto him who doth not forget your labour of love To his gracious Protection I commend you and all the branches and interests of your Family and remain Your humble and most obliged Servant ED. REYNOLDS THE Gain of Death PHIL. 1.21 For to me to live is Christ and to dye is Gain THE Apostle having saluted these Philippians and testified his sincere love unto them and hearty prayers for them in the first eleven Verses doth in the next place endeavor to comfort them against any offence or trouble which they might sustain by occasion of his sufferings for the Gospel vers 12 13. assuring them that they tended to the defence thereof many being thereby provoked and by the example of his courage and comfort animated to speak the Word without fear vers 14. And although some indeed had evil and envious intentions to reproach his Apostleship and to add affliction to his bonds yet Christ being preached he did rejoyce notwithstanding his own sufferings as knowing that by the benefit of their prayers and by the supplies of the Spirit of Christ his own salvation and the glory of the Lord should thereby be promoted vers 15-20 And if the Lord may be thus magnifiea and himself saved if his life may tend to the honour of Christ and his death to his own advantage he is most indifferent and contented to yeeld to Gods holy will either way for saith he to me to live is Christ and to die is gain If I live my work my conversation my ministry will be wholly to serve and glorifie him and if I dye my death will not onely be glorious unto him but gainful unto me I shall be ever with the Lord which is best of all The Apostle therefore is at a stand in a strait betwixt two which to chuse On the one side Christ will be magnified in the edification of his Church on the other side he will be magnified by the salvation of his servant the one will be fruitful to the Philippians and the other gainful to himself He is wholly therefore indifferent whether he live or dye because Christ will be both ways an advantage unto him and he shall be both ways serviceable to the glory of Christ We see the coherence connexion and scope of these words Some versions as ours make them two distinct Propositions To me to live is Christ To me to dye is gain Some others make them but one proposition thus In life and in death or whether I live or dye Christ is to me gain In the words there are two parts considerable First The Propositions themselves Secondly The specification of the Subject to whom they belong The Propositions are according to both readings these three First To live is Chrst Secondly To Dye is Gain Thirdly Christ is both in life and in death gain The specification of the Subject of these Propositions to whom they belong To Me a Beleever who am willing and desirous that Christ may be magnified in my body whether it by my life or by my death as being much more tender and sollicitous of his honour then of mine own particular safety First then To live is Christ or Christ is life unto us It is true many men live who are without Christ in the world an animal or a natural life to themselves to other men to carnal to secular to sinful purposes but being alienated from the life of God we may say of them as the Apostle doth of sensual and delicate Widows that they are dead whilst they live Our true life is founded in thâ— life of Christ Because I live you shall live also Jâ—h 4.19 He that hath the Son hath life he that hath not the Son hath not life 1 Joh 5.12 Now Christ is our life in every way of causality First Vid Fr Gomar To. 1. p. 288. He is thâ— Author and efficient of our life whether we speak of life natural In him was life and the life was the light of men he lighteth every man that cometh into the World Joh. 14.2 By him all things consist Col. 1.17 In him we live and move and have our being Act. 17.28 He formed us in the belly his hands made us and fashioned us round about Job 10.8 Jer. 1.5 Psal 139 15 16. In every work of continued Creation the Son worketh as well as the Father My Father worketh hitherto saith he and I work Ioh. 5.17 Or whether we speak of life spiritual the life of Grace I live saith the Apostle yet not I but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2.20 In him is the primitive seat of life and grace from whom it is diffused upon his body For as the Head and the Members are animated by one soul so Christ his Church by one spirit we being joyned unto the Lord are one Spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 Vid. Aug. de Gen. ad lit l. 4 c. 12. lib. 5 c. 20.
Or lastly whether we speak of Life eternal the life of Glory this our life is hid with Christ in God and when Christ who is our life shall appear we shall also appear with him in glory Col. 3.3 4 Of these two especially the Life of Grace and the Life of Glory Christ is the efficient cause per modum pretii as a Meritorious Procurer of it laying down no less a price then his own life to purchase ours For we are bought with a price 1 Cor 6.20 and by vertue of that price we are quickened together with him Gomar to 3. disp 15 Parker de descens lib. 3. sect 49. Ephes 2.5 2. Per modum Principii by his Holy Spirit fashioning us to his Life and likeness for being a Second Adam he is unto us a quickening Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 and having life in himself doth derive it upon whom he will Joh. 5.21 26. As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me shall live by me Joh. 6.57 Secondly Christ is the matter of our Life As meat is the matter on which life feedeth Aug. Tract 26 in Joan. Euseb cont Marcel cap. 12. and by which it is preserved so Christ is the spiritual Manna the bread which came down from Heaven of which they who eat shall live Joh. 6.51 The Sacrifices after they were offered for expiations were many times eaten for the comfort and reviving of those that offerâ—d them Christ therefore who was our Passover having offered himself as a propitiation to take away our sin by the Sacrifice of himself was thereupon pleased to institute his Last Supper and therein to set forth himself as that spiritual food whereby the life of Grace in his people is nourished and preserved Thirdly Christ is the very form of spiritual life in a Beleever in which respect he is said to live in us and to be formed and fashioned in us as the childe is shaped in the womb of the Mother Gal. 4.19 and this both as forma essentialis the very soul that actuateth a beleever he is a quickening Spirit If Christ be in you the body is dead because of sin but the Spirit is life because of righteousness Rom. 8.10 and as forma exemplaris the Idea model and pattern of our life for he hath given us an example that we should follow his steps 1 Pet. 2.21 Fourthly Qui esse vult sibi non tibi nihil esse incipit inter omnia Bern. in contr Serm. 20. Christ is the end and scope at which our whole life is to aim and to be directed it must be wholly consecrated unto him nothing in all our concernments must be so dear unto us as Christ whether we live we must live to him or whether we dye we must dye to him because for this end he both died and rose again that he might be the Lord both of the dead and of the livings Rom. 14.7 8 9. therefore as by bringing forth much fruit we do glorifie the Father Job 15.8 so also do we thereby honour the Son out of whose fulness we receive grace for grace for he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father Joh. 5.23 This seems here principally intended To me to live is Christ My life time studies imployments are wholly taken up in the things of Christ that he may have honour and service by me Wicked men live to themselves to them to live is lust and vanity they follow their own wils they walk in the imagination of their own hearts they rule themselves by no counsel but their own carnal and corrupt wisdom as it is said of Jeroboham that he set up a worship which he had devised of his own heart 1 Reg. 12.33 and the the people professed to Jeremy that they would do whatsoever should go forth out of their own mouth Jer. 44.17 They direct all they do to themselves looking after onely their own gain ease pleasure credit advantage fasting eating drinking to themselves and assembling themselves for corn and wine Zach. 7.6 Hos 7.14 They withdraw themselves from that subjection and subordination wherein God hath placed them and do in effect say as Pharaoh Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice Ex. 5.2 Now â—is is a very strange folly because our salvation and the glory of Christ are twisted together as the coherence of the 19. and 20. verses of this Chapter doth demonstrate When we neglect his glory we forfeit our own salvation and when we seek our own salvation he esteemeth himself glorified thereby As when a great stone doth fall from an Arch the little ones that were bound and knit in by it do fall for company so when men do neglect the great end of living to the honor of Christ they do greatly endanger all their own subordinate ends thereby What is it then for Christ to be our life or for a man truly to say To me to live is Christ It is First In our hearts to acknowledge him for our Lord unto whom we owe our time and strength our fear and honour Isa 8.11 Mal. 1.6 Secondly in our lives to do every service with good will and in singleness of heart as unto him Eph. 6.5 6 7. to do it by a warrant from his word I will hear what God the Lord will say Ps 85.8 Proving what is the good and perfect and acceptable will of God Rom. 12.2 and what it is which Christ would have us to do Act. 9.6 To set him always before us and to do every thing as in his presence and with a desire to approve our hearts in well doing unto him Ps 16.8 for as he behaved himself towards his Father doing always those things that pleased him Joh. 8.25 6.38 so are we to behave our selves towards him who as he hath made us the Sons of his Father by Adoption Joh. 20.17 so is he himself our Father by Regeneration and calleth us in one respect his Brethren and in another his Children Heb. 2.11 12 13. To do every thing unto his glory as vessels fitted for our Masters use and prepared unto every good work 2 Tim. 2.21 To value our life not cheifly for it self but for the service which therein we are to do unto our Lord I count not my life saith the Apostle dear unto my self so that I may finish my course with joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus Act. 20.24 And herein likewise we imitate his example who in conformity to the command of his Father did himself lay down his own life for his sheep and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross a servile an ignominious Vid. Lips de Cruce cap. 12. Casaub in Baron exercit 16 c. 77. a cursed death Joh. 10.11 15 18. Phil. 2.8 This it is for a man to say To me to live is Christ my thoughts studies aims purposes imployments do all fix and terminate upon
all this Gain is from Death at a distance while we are out of its possession Is there any Gain from such an enemy while we are under his power Yes even here there may be gain was not the fire an enemy to the three Children were not the Lions enemies to Daniel yet they were rebuked When a mans ways please the Lord he maketh his enemies at peace with him Prov. 16.7 Laban pursued Jacob in great anger Esau meets him as we may suppose with hostile purposes but the Lord by his powerful providence over-ruled their hearts that they could not hurt him Saul Davids Father-in-law persecutes him and Achish the King of Gath from whence Goliah came whom David had not long before slain and who could not but for that reason be hated at that place gives him entertainment God can make Moab a covert for his out-casts as he was unto the Father and Mother of David Isa 16.4 1 Sam. 22.3 4. Though Death be an enemy the Lord can weaken it disarm it pull out the sting of it and make us at peace with it But you will say All this is rather harm suspended then gain obtained Is there any more proper and gennine gain to be found in an Enemy such an Enemy having us under his power and possession surely yes We finde the Egyptians bitter Enemies to Israel furnishing them with Jewels of silver Jewels of gold and Raiments Exod. 3.21 22. Was not the Whale that swallowed Jonah an enemy a very type of our enemy here as our Saviour tells us Matth. 12.39 40. Yet by it was Jonah carried safe to land he regained life by that which devoured him he had been drowned in the Sea if the fish had not found out the Shore for him Were not the waters of the Red Sea and of Jordan enemies to those that should go into the midst of them yet through these did Israel gain liberty out of bondage victory over Pharoah and his host and possession of Canaan their promised Rest. Take it in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Here men are absent from the Lord 2 Cor. 5.6 as Jonah is said to have fled from his presence cast out into a Sea of cares troubles fears and sorrows Death as the Whale devours us and lands us at a better shore leads us from the thraldom of Satan from the temptation and sufferings and fiery Serpents which we meet with in the wilderness of this world and brings us into our Heavenly Rest So then even under the notion of an enemy here is gain from death As a Lamprey is esteemed delicate meat when the sting of the back is taken out as the waters of Marah were made sweet by the tree which was cast into it so death being by the cross of Christ purged of its venome and bitterness is become useful and gainful unto us Secondly Let us view Death on the better side for it is as a plaited picture on the one side it looks like a grim and angry enemy as destructive to nature on the other side it hath a more calm and friendly aspect as reconciled unto us by Christ It is as a Servant sent from a Father to call his Son home as a Nurse which taketh the Childe in her arms to carry it to the Mother it is a depositary entrusted with the custody of the body and shal give an exact accompt thereof unto Christ He by his holy body hath sanctified the grave made it a bed to sleep in We find Angels at either end of Christs grave Joh. 20.12 They keep the Saints not onely in their ways but in their graves The Jaylor who before did beat Paul and scourge him and thrust him into the inner prison being converted treated him after another manner washed his stripes brought him into his house and set meat before him Act 16.33 34. Such a change there is in death before the spirit of bondage represented it with a chain and scourge it kept the soul down under the fear and dread of it But now unto a beleever by Christ it is so far altered that it is become part of his dowry and portion numbred up by the Apostle amongst those good things which with Christ are graciously bestowed upon us 1 Cor. 3.22 We will consider the Gain we have by this Friend first privatively then positively Privately It freeth us from all other evil and toilsom labours which we were by the curse pronounced against Adam subject unto It is a kinde of Canaan a Rest a Sabbath unto beleevers write saith the Lord from heaven to his Apostle Blessed are they that dye in the Lord for they rest from their labors Rev. 14.13 they enter into peace they rest in their beds Isa 57.2 1. They rest from the toilsom captivity and tyranny of sin a burden under which they complain as too heavy for them to bear There is no rest in my bones because of my sins mine iniquities are grown over mine head as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me Psal 38.3.4 6 7 8. the Apostle calleth it a weight and an encompassing sin 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vid. Petâ—i Fabri Agonistic l. 2. c. 3. Methedius apud Epiphan haeres 64. a fat and heavy body wholly indisposeth for an Athletick imployment This body of lust being destroyed they are made perfect Heb 12.23 As Ivy which hath gotten its roots into â—ll the joynts of a wall can never he quâ—â—e killed till the wall it self be demolished so sin and corruption being deeply seated in the whole nature of man is never quite slain and subdued till the whole frame be taken down and dissolved 2. Greg. Tholos Syntagma juris l. 31. cap. 20. Bestias Asiaticae pressurae Tertul. de resurrect carnis cap. 48. They rest from the buffets and temptations of Satan it was a sore conflict for the Apostle to fight with Beasts at Ephesus whether they were truly or Metaphorically such beastly men 1 Cor. 15.32 but this combate was nothing to the messenger of Satan to the roarings of that Lion how rampant and outragious he will be against the servants of God when the Lord is pleased to leng then his chain and to give him liberty what dismal fears what hellish impressions what fiery darts what black and horrid suggestions he will amaze the souls of poor sinners withal the examples and experiences of many of Gods afflicted people can abundantly testifie insomuch that their soul chuseth strangling as Job speaks Job 7.15 Now being by death translated into Abrahams bosom they are far removed out of Satans reach he was thrown down from heaven and can never shoot up any darts or come near any of Gods servants there to affright or annoy them 3. They rest from the cares sorrows snares toils temptations of the world the examples of sinners do not endanger them the sight of their filthy conversation doth no longer afflict them the fear of their cruelties and persecutions doth no more trouble them