forsake them not for the Beast Worship but then to hearten unto those sufferings though to death he addes in the Text. Ver. 14. And I heard a voice from heaven saying Blessed are the dead that dye in the Lord c. from the following whereof so immediately upon the former intimation we may note Christs great care of his Church as when he formerly told his Disciples of weeping and mourning he presently tells them too of what might support them and bear up their sorrowful hearts from sinking When he tells them he must leave them he tells them also that he would see them again and not leave them comfortless or as Orphans and that upon his seeing them again their hearts should rejoyce and their joy should no man take from them and that in him they should have peace who had also overcome the world Joh. 14.18 16.20 21 22 23. And when the Lord speaks of the like sad things with these by the Prophet Isaiah That all the beasts would come to devour his watchmen being blind and the shepherds void of understanding so that the righteous perish no man regarding it and merciful men are taken away from the evil Yet then also for encouraging the hearts of his suffering servants he proclaims like things with these here even the sweet and excellent state of those righteous merciful men when so taken away and perished from among men that is when Dead He shall enter into peace they shall lie in their beds each one walking in his uprightness while he threatens judgment to the seed of the sorceress the seed of the adulterer and of the whore Isa 56.9 10. 57.1 2 3. Though our Lord leads his followers inâ—o afflictions because he sees them needful and useful for them yet he would not have them faint under their afflictions to deprive themselves of the good intended by them His Word and Gospel occasion troubles to them from the world while they are thereby drawn out of the world and are led to testifie of him to and against the wickedness of the world but he provides comforts and supports for them by the same word by and for which they suffer that they might be inabled patiently to endure the things which they must suffer Yea and we may further note from this Voice and Proclamation of the blessed state of the dead that die in the Lord following so immediately after that acclamation Here is the patience of the Saints That the consideration of the happy state of the dead in Christ is an excellent motive to a patient continuance in well-doing though suffering for it unto death Rejoycing in hope first we may be patient in tribulation Rom. 12.12 Did we expect still a continuance of evils in Death and that it would make us still unhappy and miserable and that Death is the end and recompence of an holy life from the world it would exceedingly damp and take off the courage of men from exercising patience and continuing to keep the Commandments of God and the faith of Jesus But being rooted and grounded in the Faith and not moved from the hope of the Gospel we may be there through strengthned to all long suffering and patience with joyfulness Col. 1.11.23 The words themselves are a commandment and we have thereabout 1. The person acquainted with it I the holy Apostle or Pen-man of these Visions Surely the Lord God will do nothing but he reveals his secret unto his servants the Prophets Amos 3.7 The secret of the Lord is with those that fear him c. Psal 25.14 2. The way of his perceiving or receiving it and that was by the ear at least the ear of his Spirit I heard God speaks once and twice and man regards it not or perceives it not Job 33.14 But blessed are the ears of his Disciples for they hear c. Matth. 13.16 3. The way of its being conveyed to him and that was by a voice Sound or voice are the proper ways of conveying things to the ear and by the ear to the mind and a voice is but an articulate sound There may be voice where there is no hearing as above is signified in Job 33.14 c. And as is said of the Levites wife when dead Judg. 19.25 and of the Shunammits son 2 King 4.31 But there can be no hearing without some sound or voice 4. We have the place whence it came from heaven Which being the place of Gods most glorious Residence and Manifestation of himself and where our Lord Jesus Christ the holy and just one is on the Throne of Majesty and where only holy Angels and the spirits of just men have place But no evil Angel Satan being cast out thence nor no unclean thing may be admitted to enter We may be sure no voice comes from thence but what is holy and true and such as is worthy to be received with all acceptation being supremely and originally the voice of God and of our Lord Jesus though it might be instrumentally uttered by some holy Angel And so the Command here was a Command of God and Christ 5. We have the person to whom it was directed and that was to the Apostle himself I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me He heard divers voices in and from heaven not directed to him as may be seen Chap. 5.2 9 10 11 12 13. Voices directed to Christ some to God as Chap. 16.5 7. Chap. 19.1.5 6 7. Some to the people of God Chap 18.4 but this was directed to this Saint John himself wherein we have 6. The matter of the Voice the Command it self and therein 1. The Act commanded him and that was to write Saying to me Write And this was an exercise that God employed divers of his holy Servants in but is not universally the work and business of all his Servants or of those that are accepted of him as all are not Apostles nor all Prophets nor all Teachers c. 1 Cor. 12 28 29 30. so neither are or have all his Servants been either Pen-men of Holy Scriptures or of other Divine Matters but as the same Spirit distributes his sundry Gifts variously so hath he given commands to some to speak to others to write the heavenly Truths But neither the one nor the other so generally as the hearing of them this was an honour put upon his Servants according as he pleased for others usefulness Jeremiah was employed to speak and Baruch to write the words from his mouth Jer. 36.17 18 Moses did both write and speak to the people the words of the Law and Commands of God and of the Song he was to put into the peoples mouths Deut. 31.9 19 22 24 30. Yea this Gift of Writing is an excellent Gift of God a way of conveying his Truths and of his great works and doings which he himself hath made use of as he wrote the Ten Commandments with his own hand or finger Exod. 31.18 32.16 34.1 Deut.
they repent of their deeds vers 22. so slow is God to anger and so lothe to exclude men from bliss and happiness and so ready to shew mercy and to forgive and so agreeable are Gods dealings to his Word and Oath wherein he saith and sweares to it that as He lives he hath no pleasure none at all secret or revealed in the Death of the wicked but rather that he turn and live Ezech. 33 11. To him that is joyned to all the living there is hope Eccles 9.4 And Christ Dyed for all that they that live while yet they live should not henceforth live to themselves but to him that Dyed for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5.15 But now when Death seizes on a man and cuts him off then the door is shut upon him and should he now stand without and knock it is too late the answer from within is I know you not Depart from me ye workers of iniquity No opening then nor any admission Luke 13.25 26 27. the Feast sleighted shall not then be tasted of for ever by them Luke 14.24 thence the Gulf is for ever fixed so that there is no coming of any from Heaven to help them nor no going from their state of Misery to a state of Salvation Luke 16.26 in the Grave whither we go there is no work nor device no knowledge or wisdom for the helpfulness of any that have here neglected Gods work and device declared to them and the knowledge and wisdom here offered them Eccles 9.10 Now is the accepted time now is the day of Salvation now is the day for men to hear in and to work the works of God in but if this be sleighted and men harden their hearts now and will not hear Gods voice the night comes and will come upon them wherein no man can work after which there will be no more day except an everlasting Judgment upon them And therefore in the state of Death they that dye in their sins are so far from being happy and blessed that they are far more wretched then then before for though they are not blessed while here because their sins are not blotted out yet there is a possibility they may be so and there is yet such a mercy held forth to them as obtainable by them for if the wicked man will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all Gods statutes and do that which is lawful and right if he will listen to and believe on Christ Jesus and not walk any longer after the Flesh but after the Spirit there shall be no longer any Condemnation to him He stall surely live he shall not dye namely the second Death Rom. 8 1. Ezek. 18.21 all his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned to him c. vers 22. But when dead in his sins then there is no more hope or possibility of being happy He who was miserable before under a possibility of mercy is now endlesly and remedilesly miserable without that possibility Oh! therefore how doth it behove every one now to strive to enter in at the strait gate Luke 13.24 to do what his hands find him to do with all his might for seeking mercy and favour with God seeking the Lord while he may be found and calling upon him while he is nigh at hand Isa 55.6 Eccles 9.10 while it is yet said or called to day not hardning the heart but hearkening to Gods voice Psal 95.7.8 Heb. 3.7 8 15. making haste and not delaying to keep Gods Commandments Psal 119.59 60. hasting to escape as the Angels said to Lot when they brought him and his Family out of Sodom Gen. 19.17 as for our lives or souls not looking back staying or lingring in all the Plain of this World but escape to the mountain of the Lord left we be consumed giving diligence to know win and be found in Christ Jesus and being brought in to him to abide in him and be faithful to him to the Death and then no danger of being miserable for ever For Blessed are they that dye in the Lord from henceforth And so we come to the Substance of the Words and their plain and full import viz. That Note 3. All they that Dye in the Lord are Blessed from henceforth where we shall enquire and shew 1. Who is meant here by the Lord. 2. What it is to Dye in the Lord or who they are that may be said so to dye 3. Wherein they are blessed or what and whence that blessedness is that is asserted of them 4. What is the meaning of that additional word henceforth and what it may import 1. By the Lord here is without all doubt meant Jesus Christ for He is Lord of All Acts 10.36 for though there are that are called Lords many yet to us saith the Apostle there is but one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him 1 Cor. 8.6 and we find like phrases as this expresly mention him as He in whom the believers on him dye thus in 1 Cor. 15.18 they are fallen asleep in Christ. And in 1 Thes 4.14.16 Them that sleep is Jesus will God bring with him and the Dead in Christ shall rise first He then is here meant by the Lord yet not so as to exclude but include the Father and Holy Spirit who are in and upon him and He may well be stiled the Lord For 1. As God the Word with God in the beginning who was God so all things were made by him and He was and is by that right and stile as one with the Father who made all things by him and with the holy Spirit by whom or which he gave them their Formes Virtues and Beings the Lord of All Joh. 1.1 2. Col. 1.16 17. Heb. 1.2 3. 2. As man also taken into unity of person with the eternal word he must needs be and so was and is Lord the Manhood by that assumption into that personal union being advanced into interest in and communion with him in that his Dignity and Authority And so the Angel that came to declare to the Shepherds his Nativity called him while he lay in the Manger Christ the Lord Luke 2.10.11 so the Evangelists speak of him too in his state of Ministery and service very often as the Lord appointed seventy Luke 10.1 the Apostles said unto the Lord Lord incrase our Faith Luke 17.5 and himself bid the man out of whom he cast a Legion of Devils Go and shew how great things the Lord hath done for thee Mark 5.19 yea and even in his dead state as to his Body the Angels sent to declare his Resurrection call him Lord as to his Body laid in the Sepulchre saying Come see the place where the Lord lay Matth. 28.6 But especially 3. As Mediatour and Immanuel in his exalted and glorified state he is made of God the Father and so declared to be Lord and Christ as the fruit and reward of his
the Saviour from sin both as to the imputation and as to the pollution of it And where sin is taken away or removed evil of Wrath and Punishment hath no place While sin was imputed to and laid upon Christ he was also obnoxious to the curse and wrath that was the Wages of it And while God imputes sin and it is not washed off a man punishment and evil of wrath may befal him but as in him there is forgiveness of and cleansing from sin so in him is deliverance from wrath too either as to misery inflicted on the Creature or as to the hiding of Gods face or withdrawing his favour from it being justified from his Blood how much more saved from wrath both Positive and Privative Positive of evil and Privative of good Rom. 5.9 and then as there is none hath power over him in the least so in him there is that infinite wisdome and power by which he is All sufficient to save us from them and order their enmities as he sees good so as he can suffer them to act forth their malice and yet secure those against whom it 's acted so as it shall have no evil influence upon them yea all enemies spiritual and corporal are at his beck and will to do to or with them as he pleases and he can let out or restrain their wrath inflict punishments by them or save from or deliver out of the troubles they occasion as he pleases Psal 76.10 2. In him also is all fulness of good wherewith he may do us good and content and satisfie us for all the fulness of the God-head dwells bodily in him and in him we are compleat Col. 2.9 10. It hath pleased all fulness to or it hath pleased the Father that all Fulness should dwell in him Col 1.19 the Father is in him with all the fulness of his love and favour He is enough to satisfie the Soul for ever and produce any good to it that he pleases In him is the fulness of the holy Spirit and of all his glorious Power Wisdom Love Sweetness and Comfort and with all its most enabling and enriching vertues so as he can baptise with it us and whom he pleaseth Isa 42.1 Mat. 3.11 Joh. 1.33 and 7.37 38 39. His are all Riches and precious treasures all things in Heaven and Earth are his Riches and Honour are with him yea durable Riches and Righteousness his Fruit is better then gold yea then fine gold and his revenue better then choice silver Prov. 8.18 19. Length of days are in his right hand even Immortality and Eternal Life and in his left hand Riches and Honour His ways are ways of pleasantness and all his paths are peace He is a tree of life to them that lay hold on him and happy therefore is every one that retains him Prov. 3.15 16 17 18. Happy indeed For 2. Whosoever comes into him is and abides in him is interested in all that is his and that is in him and comes to the participation of the benefit thereof they that are made in him through the grace of God to them he is made of God Wisdom Righteousness Holiness and Redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 They have him to be theirs 1 Joh. 5.12 yea and in him they have the Father also being and continuing in the Son they are in the Father also 1 Joh. 2 24. In God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ 1 Thes 1.1 2 Thes 1.1 and as they are both in Father and Son so they have both 2 Joh. 9. And how can they that have such a portion and Inheritance but be happy 1. Privatively Happy so as to be exempted from all that is evil from sin the Root of all evil so it is not imputed to to them In him all that believe are justified from all things which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Acts 13.9 in him we have redemption through his Blood the forgiveness of sins Eph. 1.7 Col. 1.14 so as to be sanctified cleansed from sin so as it shall not have dominion over those that believe in and so are and abide in him Rom 6.14 He that abideth in him sinneth not 1 Joh. 3.6 and then there is no Condemnation to them that are in him that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 And so there is no evil in their Portion there shall no evil happen to the just as they are that are in and abide in Christ Prov. 12.21 All things work together for good to them Rom. 8.28 and so there is no Death to them nothing of misery or separation from God which is the death of the Soul nothing of destruction they shall not perish Joh. 3.16 True it is that they may have and actually have Enemies against them within and without but Christ is to them a place of sure Defence against them and preserves their Souls Their place of defence is on high a place of the munition of rocks Isa 33.16 and they dwell safely so as they may be also quiet from the fear of evil Prov. 1.33 being and dwelling in him who is the most High and in his secret place they dwell under the shadow and Protection of the Almighty saying of him Who is the Lord He is my rock and my fortress my God in whom I will trust surely He will deliver them from the snare of the Fowler and from the truly noisome Pestilence He will cover them with his feathers and under his wings shall they trust his truth shall be their shield and buckler so as they shall not be afraid of the terrour by night nor of the arrow that flyeth by day Yea dwelling in the Lord as in their refuge and having him the most High for their habitation there shall no evil befal them nor any Plague come nigh their dwelling Psal 91.1 2 3 4 5 9 10. 2. Positively happy in the enjoyment of and interest at least in all that 's good for as the Lord is a strong house or house of defence to them that are in him Psal 31.2 and 71.3 so he is also to them a house of feasting or sacrifices Prov. 9.1 2 3. and they that trust in him and under the shadow of his wings shall abundantly be satisfied with the fatness of his house and he will make them drink of the rivers of his pleasures Psal 36.7 8 9. He is to them a fountain of life and living waters both quickning purifying and satisfing them He is to them a sun and shield and will give them grace and glory and no good thing will he withhold from them that are upright with him Psal 84.11 in him they have and from him derive that heavenly wisdom that brings with it to them Riches and Honour and Life in him they have and from him receive that holy Spirit whose fruit is Love Joy Peace and in a word all Goodness Righteousness and Truth Gal. 5.22 Joh 7.38 39. and 4.14 Ephs 5 8.
Heaven and that are in Earth Col. 1.20 so will he reconcile all things to us and make them ours and for us destroying that in all things and all those things and persons that are inflexibly against us Thence the Apostle saith We know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them that are his called according to purpose Rom. 8.28 and all things are yours for your use service or benefit whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or World or Life or Death or things present or things to come all are yours and you are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3.21 22 23. Death is in the Believers Inventory as a parcel of his Goods as one of his Servants or Friends yea and all things too that shall follow after it For all the ways or paths of the Lord are mercy and truth to them that keep his testimonies and his Covenants Psal 25.10 There shall no evil happen to the just Prov. 12.21 He that keepeth the Commandments shall feel no evil thing Eccles 8.5 O infinitely precious Jewel and Pearl of great price the Bread which came down from heaven which whoso eats of shall live for ever Joh. 6.50 51. But yet the being of this Refuge doth not of it self simply secure us against the hurts of Death they that neglect it shall perish without escape however good safe and sure a Defence it is and affords Heb. 2.3 Death will do them this hurt as we have forenoted that it will shut them out from all ways and passages to the after-life it will cut off all further opportunities of seeking for safety in or injoying safety by or from this refuge This Antidote will not preserve from fears or harms of Death unless both taken and kept within our hearts This Elixir will not turn all to gold or good unless injoyed by us or duly applyed This Sun will not shine on us to expel our darkness and refresh and chear us unless we be and walk in the light and virtue of it nor this Shield defend and secure us against Deaths harmful darts no nor from what is indeed the Dreadful thing the second Death unless it be about us and we as it were within its compass no nor will any thing or person else do it besides him For God the Father is in him and not to be approched to or his favour injoyed but in and by him Joh. 14.6 7. Nor is the Spirit but upon him or any other ways to be injoyed then by turning at his Reproofs to believe in and obey him Prov. 1.23 Joh. 14.15 16 17. Acts 5.32 neither is there Salvation in any other Name beside his that was Crucified for us and Dyed for our sins and Rose again for our justification under heaven whereby we may be saved Acts 4.11.12 The Law and its deeds cannot justifie and save us for by it is the knowledge not the forgiveness of sins Rom. 3.20 Riches profit not in the day of wrath it is onely righteousness delivers from death Prov. 11.4 nor will our works or righteousness that are not of the Faith of him profit us Isa 57.12 Philip. 3.8 9. for they that are of the works of the Law are also under the curse Gal. 3.10 11 12. and works of our own devising are of no worth with God Matth. 15 9.10 Nay Paul or Apollos or Cephas cannot save us because not Crucified for us nor have they that Name into which we may be Baptized for the Remission of our sins and receipt of the Holy Ghost to renew and regenerate us and so by consequence not any other man 1 Cor. 1.12 13. the wise Virgins Oyl will not relieve the foolish Virgins that have none of their own Matth. 25.8 9. The just shall live by his not another mans faith Hab. 2.4 and therefore there is as we have also shewed before an absolure necessity of our being in Christ that we may have this blessedness by him in and after Death Unless we be in Christ Jesus He is not made to us of God as to our enjoyment thereof wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption 1 Cor. 1.30 The Ark saved none from perishing by the Flood but those that were in it nor will Christ save from the second Death or give blessing in this to any out of him He that hath not the Son hath not Life though that Life be given us in him that it might in receiving him be received with him 1 Joh 5.11 12. The Feast though prepared and invited to satisfied not its refusers but they were excluded and cut off from all they had beside for refusing it Luke 14.24 Matth. 22.4 7. yea and being come into he must be abide in too so as to Death and in Death else we yet perish He that draws back Gods Soul will have no pleasure in him Heb. 10.38 A Castle though never so strong will not secure from the potent and vigilant enemy him that either comes not into it or after he hath been in it upon any terms forsakes it And this is useful further 6. To invite and provoke us all with all earnestness and diligence to betake our selves to Christ this refuge and being in him to abide in him to live and dye in him and by no means neglect or forsake him Enter into this rock and hide our selves in the dust of the earth even in the dust of his Death for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty Isa 2.10 Psal 22.14 Death will come upon us sooner or later that cannot be avoided nothing more certain yea it may come suddenly upon the youngest and strongest of us for nothing more uncertain then the time of its coming for surely every man in his best state is altogether vanity Psal 39.5 and though of it self it will not hurt us nor shall we perish in it but be raised up again from thence Yet our retaining our sins and refusing or neglecting to be washed and renewed and so to be partakers of Gods Salvation that will expose us to and pull upon as a second Death yea and this Death will put an end to all possibility of escaping that and be an entrance into that dreadful Prison in which the Debter and Malefactor will be kept safe till the great Assises and then the Execution of the Eternal Judgment will succeed Now is the accepted time now the time of escape and this the way to escape to be found in Christ O then how doth it behove and concern every man to look about him and give diligence with the Apostle to win Christ and be found in him not having our own righteousness but that which is by the Faith of him Object But may some say Can we make our selves in Christ can we enter into him as we will can any come to Christ except the Father that sent him draw him Is it not of God that any man is in Christ Jesus and not of himself why then do you call