be the Law wrought in our members to bring forth fruit unto Death And sin taking occasion by the Commandment wrought in me saith he all manner of concupiscence or all lusting or coveting So that according to that Rule we are all pronounced unrighteous There is none righteous no not one Rom. 3.10 None that doth good no not one ver 12. All gave out of the way all together become unprofitable every mouth stopped and all the world guilty before God vers 13.19 What ever conceits men may have of themselves or one of another yet by the deeds of the Law no flesh living is or shall be justified in the sight of God ver 20. As many as are of the work◠of the Law and claim life and righteousness the promises and blessing to themselves that way are all deceived and are under the Curse the Law saying Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them Gal. 3.18 And there is not a man found living here upon earth that doth so continue in all things to do them Not a just man upon earth that doth good and sinneth not Eccles 7.20 The whole first Adam our natural Root with all of us even all the natural branches naturally springing out of him being all rotten and corrupt crooked and perverse bowed down from God to the creature and from loving one another to love our selves with a perverse love but neither God nor our selves nor one another as we ought and in a way manner and measure conformable to his will And all our blossoms or what proceeds from us goes up as dust all our thoughts words and works corrupt and abominable filthy and stinking Psal 14.1 2 3. Rom. 3.10 11 to 19. Such the unrighteousness and unrightness of mankinde and notwithstanding all the Law can do to rectifie and mend us the Law could not make us just the flesh in us prevailing against it and multiplying sin by occasion of it Rom. 8.3 with 7.8 What then be these righteous or upright ones whose death Balaam would die and whose latter end he would have like his What shall we take them to be Angels No sure They die not those especially that be righteous holy and good and for the damned ones they are far from being righteous or upright No we must finde them in the nature of men and amongst men To which purpose 3. God still being righteous holy and good and his Eternal Word and Almighty Spirit by whom he made and gave being to all things abiding still just and upright and eternally so pittying fallen miserable man being under the Sentence of a most dreadful Death by none to be desired for his unrightness and devising how to deliver him therefrom created a new thing in the earth such as was not found in all his first Creation a new Root of Righteousness and Plant of Renown a Righteous Seed out of the sinning woman by a wonderful and most glorious way even by ordaining and in due time sending forth his own Eternal Word his onely begotten Son made of a woman and so taking the seed of the woman the nature of a man into a perfect entire and personal union with himself did so sanctifie that Branch of mans nature in the conception of it and uniting it with himself that therein and so in him as become man Immanuel God with us there was no stain or pollution of sin He knew no sin 2 Cor. 5.21 nor did he any sin nor was any guile found in his mouth 1 Pet. 2.22 Him he made to be his Lamb for taking away the sin of the world a spotless Lamb and without blemish before him in heart and life doing ever and in all things what pleased his Father to his utmost content and satisfaction Job 8.29 1 Pet. 1.19 Math. 3.17 Isa 42.1 He only of all men or persons partaking of the humane nature was and is the holy and just One Act. 3.14 and 7.52 Jesus Christ the Righteous 1 Job 2.1 and he was just and righteous according to the Law which he was made under and was subject to Gal. 4.4 for our sakes never breaking it or doing any thing short of what was required of man in it So as that God testifies of him once and again that he was well pleased in or with him Math. 17.5 for he delighted to do his will his Law was in his heart his ear he opened and he was not rebellions nor turned back Psal 40.7 8 9. Isa 50.5 6. Heb. 10.7 and indeed in respect of his perfect obedience to God and conformity to his Law he was justified thereby and ought to have lived and to be blessed but yet though he had done so and those things were due to him God his Father willing him to lay down all that life and blessing and take upon himself as our nature and Law so now also our sin and curse and notwithstanding life and blessing was his due to die for us and be made a curse he willingly for our sake did so and so he suffered the just for the unjust and died for the ungodly that he might bring us unto God Rom. 5.6 and 1 Pet. 3.18 it happened to him the righteous One according to the work and desert of us wicked and ungodly ones that it might happen to us ungodly ones according to the work of him the just and righteous One for he that knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in him and he hath redemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us that so the blessing of Abraham for or concerning or unto the Gentiles might be in Jesus Christ that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith that is that he might be made the righteousness of God to us and we might be made righteous by and in him and inherit the life and blessing promised by the law to the righteous and so the righteousness of the law be fulfilled in us walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit given us in and through him Gal. 31 13.14 2 Cor. 5.21 and 1 Cor. 1.30 Rom. 8.4 So that this righteous One having dyed for all and therein given himself a ransome for all from under that sin and sentence of death upon all there is now in and by him wrought for us a compleat righteousness even the righteousness of God through the faith of him he saith not the faith in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but of him the Gospel unto or for all even for all men for the free gift is for or unto all men for the justification of life and upon all that believe Rom. 3.22 and 5.18 So then here we have found a righteous man a perfectly righteous and upright One in whom no crookedness or guile in the least and that not only in himself and for himself but for us too as a root and fountain
sufferings here working for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4.17 As also because they have all their punishment here none hereafter As the contrary may be some reason of the wickeds more prospering here Luc. 16.26 and so as Austin well observes * Tam patientia Dei ad poenitentia invitat males sicut flagellum Dei od patientiam erudit bones Itemâ— misericordia Dei fovendos amplectitur bones sicut severitas Dei pnniendos corripit malos c. Ang. de ci vit Dei lib. 1. cap. 8. the patience of God invites the wicked to repentance and the Rod of God nurtures the good to patience Sometime again the mercy of God embraces the good that are to be cherished and the severity of God chastens the wicked that are to be punished Again God would have these temporal matters common to both That good men might neither greedily covet what good things they see to be but the portion of the wicked here nor shamefully avoid such troubles as they see for the most part befall the good Here then evident it is is neither the time nor place of the full manifestation of Gods righteous judgment on either And therefore 3. It remains that seeing God hath said he will punish all the workers of iniquity and reward all that are righteous and patiently persevere in well doing that there must be another an aftertime and state in which his word that must not pass or fall to the ground shall be accomplished and his righteousness both to the one and the other and his love to righteousness and hatred of iniquity be fully manifested Rom. 2.5 which must therefore be after Death But then again 4. Seeing in the state of Death and separation of the Body and Soul though indeed there is a different dispose of their Souls as aforesaid and as will after appear and be more cleared yet what is done then to the Soul or Spirit by way of reward or punishment is neither of the whole guilty or praise-worthy subject The Body having sinned also and been active in the wickedness of the wicked and on the other hand hath wrought what is good and suffered injuries and wrongs for Christ and righteousness sake in the righteous and it s but right and reasonable that the whole that shared in the work should share too in the wages though the soul in both being the principal agent and mover of the body it s not unreasonable that both in the one and the other it have the precedency and so have what is allotted in the separated state while the body lies dead and sensless as also seeing what happens to the soul or spirit is not openly evident to the world if evident to those spirits that partake of like state and its meet that Gods righteousness be as openly and evidently seen in the world to men angels as mens works have been as his Law and Doctrine have which they therein kept or broke as also the Promises and Threatnings therein As also many things in the spirits and bodily actings too of men have been here hid as also much of the reason of Gods dealings here and he hath promised open-rewards therefore it follows that it is necessary that there be a resurrection and reviving both of good and bad from the dead and the bringing them to a publike visible open and manifest Judgement so as God and Christ may be openly and manifestly glorified And the good and bad receive open and manifest recompences for their works So as both the good may be openly honoured and rewarded in the veiw of those that have derided and reproach'd them and from and amongst whom they have suffered for and practiced righteousness And the wicked be openly judged amongst and by and punished in the veiw of those over whom they have here gloryed and triumphed and whom they here falsly judged and condemned Such the grounds and reasons for this after-state The Vse consideration of which as thus far carried on by us or rather as so to be carried on by Christ may put us upon a more serious consideration of our Mortallity and Death and seeing that our life here is so momentany and uncertain so as it is compared in the Scriptures to most flitting things as a shadow Job 8 9. and 14.2 a vapour 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the shadow of smoke And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the dream of a shadow in Sâ—pa and Pindar Jam. 4.14 a post swifter than a post Job 9.25 or a Weavers shuttle Job 7.6 and the like as some of the heathen have compared them to a shadow or smoke or a dream or the dream of a shadow and man himself to an image or shadow and so we know not how soon we may be at that after-part therefore to be more serious passing the time of our present so journing in the fear of God 1 Pet. 1.17 Remembring our Creator in the dayes of our youth or choise while yet Life and Death are before us and either of them may be chosen by us Not to live like because as to our Bodies we are mortal and must die as the Beasts or like the Epicures that say Let us eat and drink for to morrow we die as if there was nothing for us after death either to enjoy or suffer and as if the old Verse of the Epicures were true viz. Ede bibas ludas post mortem nulia voluptas Let us eat drink and play for in the Grave Or after Death no pleasure men shall have So making the consideration of our Death an argument to provoke us to mind and follow after the fading pleasures and enjoyments only of this fading life banishing the remembrances of God out of our hearts as those wicked ones in Job 21.13 14. and 22.16 17. that say to God Depart from us we desire not not the knowledge of thy wayes What can the Almighty do for us But seeing there is something after Death good or bad to be reaped by us according to our lives here it should stir us up to live as men endued with principles of understanding and reason and so capable of knowing and improving those truths concerning us minding and thinking on him who in creating and making us and all other creatures preferred us before and above them and prepared another and a further life for us beyond what he gave or gives them that in calling to mind what he hath done for and to us both in the first Adam and in our own persons as in and from him in making us men indued with his image and likeness and capable of higher happiness than the Beasts of the earth over which he also gave us dominion and also and especially in the second Adam our Lord Jesus in whom he hath ransomed us from the Death we fell into in the first Adam and bought us into his own merciful and righteous Lordship and dispose and given us eternal life a
of them and of all life and blessing for all other men for his name is called The Lord our Righteousnesse Jer. 23.6 1 Cor. 1.30 But no man I think would wish to die such a death as he dyed so as to be a curse in dying no it cannot be understood of him as to that clause the word Righteous or Vpright being of the plural number also and including more though as to the latter end or reward rendred in the singular number like his it may be meant of him as to the infinite portion of life and happiness he hath received in the nature of man for us upon the account of his Death and sufferings or it may signifie like the latter end or after-part of him that is Israel or any one of them righteous or right ones whom we must find also plurally That we may make our Doctrine come up to the language of the Text and so find that there are other persons diverse or many persons righteous and so there are but all in him the righteous and just One the righteousness of God for us and root of righteousness to us And so we find that by the obedience of one many shall be made righteous Rom. 5.19 And I say unto you Many righteous men and Prophets have desired to see the things ye see c. Math. 13.17 To shew how this comes about and wherein they are righteous observe 4. That God having provided such a righteousness as his Son and that in his Son for us even for the justification and salvation of us sinful men in general now it is his will that we close with come to and believe in the name of this his Son the righteous One seeking in him and in the faith of him as evidenced and made known to us remission of all our sins justification and acceptation of our persons the holy Spirit of God and his heavenly gifts and blessings wisedome righteousness holiness redemption and in a word all things pertaining to life and goddness To which purpose he declares and proclaimes him to men in the Gospel teaches the knowledge of him and therein draws to him so as every one that hears and learns of him the Father comes to him and believes in him 1. Joh. 3.23 Joh. 6.29 This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent And this is his commandement that ye believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another Therefore also he calls Behold my servant whom I uphold mine Elect in whom my soul delighteth I have put my holy Spirit upon him and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles Isa 42.1 And this is my well-beloved Son hear ye him Math. 3.17 and 17.5 And Christ also calls us to himself Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest and if any man thirst let him come unto me and drink He that believeth on me as the Scriptures have said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living waters Math. 11.28 Joh. 7.37 38. and many the like In which he inclusively promises the gift of righteousness that he will make such righteous with God there being no rest or satisfaction to any without that Now then all they that by the gracious call of God and Christ are overcome or prevailed with to come to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Our Saviore being righteousness it self is pertook of by the righteous Oâ—ig in Câ—ls lib. 6 look to and believe in him upon the account of what he hath done and suffered for them in himself and of the fulness of that provision made ready in him and his readiness and faithfulness as he hath also promised to communicate it to them and in a word through the grace discovered in the call to them to them Christ is made righteousness and they are justified and acquitted of their sins in him and accepted as righteous persons and Christ also is faithfull to wash sanctifie and frame them to his minde leading them from all their Idols former evils and abominations unto God in himself to behold his glory and glorious grace love him depend on him yeild up to him to worship serve and obey him and to love one another and to seek the good of all to their capacities and so to write his law in them these I say as looked upon in Christ in whom and for whose sake they are accepted even in his spotless and perfect righteousness are righteous in the sight of God and doers of righteousness in as much as they are led by and follow the Spirit of God who makes it his business to glorifie Christ to them and lead them into him and after him and so to confirm them in him and conform them to him In a word they are righteous that are in Christ Jesus and walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 that are the Israel of God the Circumcision cut off from all hope and confidence in themselves their fleshly birth breeding wisdom righteousness or conceits of holiness as seeing an emptiness and insufficiency in them all and as seeing an excellency in the knowledge of Christ and of the grace of God in and through him and so they come off from all carnal Mosaical or much more devised worships and much more as to seeking life or putting righteousness life or holiness in them to worship God in the Spirit rejoyce in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh in which their being made in Christ and brought to have their dependance upon and rejoycing in him they are of the seed of Abraham and heires according to promise such as Isaac was and not as Ishmael who was born after the flesh as those be that trust they are Christs because of their fleshly birth or indeavours or priviledges that from such things conjecture and hope they are of those that Christ dyed for and are the children of God And yet as Isaac also had two sons Jacob and Esau the one a simple-hearted man the other a cunning hunter that sold his birthright for a mess of pottage so of those that come to God by Jesus Christ and rejoyce in his goodness and graciousness to sinners there are some that abuse this grace and turn it into wantonness saying Let us do evil that good may come thereof sin that grace may abound or because we are not under law but under grace and so in some eager pursuit of some worldly lust honour riches or fleshly lust after wine women c. sell their birthright in the Gospel These as Esau are rejected too as well as those that are of works like Ishmael and are not righteous though they may be sons of the Church and in a sort of God as to repute But those that being brought into Christ baptised into his name and made the Sons of God by faith in him do also mind the grace of God and so effectually receive
it as to be made simple and upright hearted unto him thereby obeying their Father and Mother God and his Grace or the Jerusalem above the Mother of us all Gal. 4.26 and so walk after the teachings of his grace which is the same with walking after the Spirit it being the holy Spirit that breaths therein and teaches us that denying all ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godlily in this present world not with the Edomites embracing this present world but with Jacob looking after the blessing the inheritance promised in Christ Jesus and so the blessed hope even the appearance of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us c. Tit. 2.11 12 13 14. 〈◊〉 these are Israelites indeed the upright and the blessed Seed being righteous as by all hereabout said may be seen in a double respect 1. In regard of Christ as their righteousness put on by them and made of God righteousness to them In what respect the godly are said to be righteous Gal. 3.26 27. 2 Cor. 1.30 accepted in him the beloved Eph. 1.6 and abiding in him are presented without rebuke and blame as in him in the sight of God Col. 1.21 22 23. 2. In regard of their being in a measure by and through Christ conformed to him and made righteous in their way and demeanour doing those things that are right and good in the sight of God and our Saviour the imperfections and defects wherein are taken away and covered in and by him believed on and that that is of his Spirit and spiritual operation in them made acceptable through him 1 Job 2.29 and 3.21 22. 1 Pet. 2.5 And in this latter consideration they are right or upright as the word in the Text signifies in and through Christ 1. In that they disclaim and renounce themselves and all things of themselves their own works worthiness and righteousness and only believe in close with and have their life and rejoycing in Christ Jesus living not by or upon their own works but by faith even by the Faith or Doctrine of the Son of God believed and minded and the grace therein testified in that he loved them and gave himself for them Gal. 2.20 which who so slight and are lifted up above as thinking it too simple and mean a ground for their hope their hearts are not upright in him Heb. 2.4 they that are seeking something else besides and above the vision of him that shall come and will come and will not tarry that is of Christ Jesus and the grace in him their Souls are not upright in Christ For the upright love him Cant. 1.4 and so content themselves there and keep them only and singly for all things to him as believing that in him they are compleat and have all things freely given them in and with him both pertaining to life and godliness and so wisdom righteousness holiness and redemption as was said before yea eternal life yea the promises both of this life and of that to come so as that in the knowledge believing and understanding of him and the grace in him they shall have all things administred to them Col. 2.9 10. 1 Tim. 4.8 2 Pet. 1.3 4. Rom. 8.32 and so they abide in him in the belief of his grace and obedience to his Counsels and Instructions looking to and depending upon him and God in and through him for all things And herein 2. They deny all ungodliness all evil unbeseeming and hard thoughts of God Atheism Idolatry or Idolatrous conceptions directing them to seek for life righteousness safety and satisfaction in something out of him or of some other power than of God in him as judging some insufficiency or want of graciousness in him with all prophane neglects of him his way worship and service so as that though evil thoughts temptations and motions may be suggested to them by Satan or spring up in them through their corruption as if there were no God or as if he loved them not or cared not for them because he afflicts and tryes them Or as if he minded not mens wayes or walkings because he prospers the wicked and afflicts the righteous or as if his testimonies were not true or it were in vain to worship and call upon him c. yet through the grace of God and his testimony the faith of Jesus kept to they reject these and deny them and do not yield up themselves to them to be carried away by them Psal 73.1 2 3.13 14 15 16. 3. Knowing him to be Lord and to have the dispose of all things in heaven and earth and that the promises of this life that is and of that to come are in him all Yea and Amen affirmed and confirmed for and with those that cleave to him and that he is wise in heart and holy in way loving faithful and merciful to all as is evident to them in what they believe he hath already ready done in his Death and Sufferings for all especially to them that wait upon him being the Saviour of all men and especially of them that believe they in the light direction and strength of this grace do also deny worldly lusts lusts of covetousness after more and greater honours preferments riches pleasures and delights to the flesh or whatever else the world hath in it and proposes to us to allure and draw us from him Knowing also and believing that in fearing God and cleaving to Christ in the conduct of his Word and Spirit they shall want nothing that is good for them Psal 23. and 34.9 10. and 84.11 Mat. 6.33 but shall have all their needs supplyed and a better portion here though in less having his love and favour with it than those that have far more without them Psal 37.16 Prov. 15.16 and 16.8 So that though discontentedness with their lot and portion here sometimes arises in them and lustings and covetings after more assail them yet they war against them and in minding and taking heed to the vision or testimony of Christ deny them Psal 73.22 23 24. 4. And knowing and beleiving that all their approach to and acceptance with God is only in and upon the account of Christ Jesus and that they in themselves are every where imperfect yea of themselves as of themselves to have no sufficiency to any good thing nor any thing truly good pleasing and acceptable to God dwelling in them they are sober in the thoughts of themselves not thinking of themselves above what is meet as if for their own betterness or goodness they were more favoured of God or were able of themselves as of themselves to do or perform any thing pleasing to God or profitable to themselves or others or able to find out the things of God and Christ otherwise and further than by his holy Spirit in his testimony he gives them understanding and discerning of them or were worthy to have them revealed to
even by such as are not the Children and lovers of the truth Let us veiw them briefly and in order Point 1. Death is common to the righteous and the wicked and both of them have their latter end There be two branches of this proposition Death common to good and bad and both branches are implyed fairly Balaam being an unrighteous man a Diviner and Enchanter sees and acknowledges he must dye and have a latter end or an after part else no ground for his wishing so to die as or that his latter end might be like that of the righteous and it is clearly implyed and taken for granted by him that the righteous hath his death and his latter end or after part Both have them therefore though it is implyed that they are not the same to both nor indeed the one like to the other for if they were there was no ground for wishing or desiring a likeness of them This is common to both they shall dye and they shall come to an end or after part that 's the substance of the first point or proposition the inequality and unlikeness between them belongs to the second Consider we first the former in both Branches and so first That they must both dye Death is common to all men Bran. 1. Good and bad must dye yea it is the way of all flesh and the Grave the house appointed for all living Josh 23.14 Job 30.25 The way of all the earth we see saith the Psalmist wise men dye likewise the fool and the brutish man perish Psal 49.10 Abraham is dead and the Prophets are dead and so be the Apostles and all generally that have been before us and now are not except Enoch and Elias one of which was translated and the other taken alive into heaven but all else generally have dyed and all that come after us shall dye in like manner except those believers that shall survive to the coming of the Lord Jesus who shall not dye as others so as to sleep or rest in death as the Apostle witnesses saying Behold I shew you a mysterie we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last Trump for the Trump shall sound and the Dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed so also 1 Thess 4.16 17. though in the change shall be something exceeding suddainly answering to Death and Resurrection in a moment but for all others they do and must look to dye that is to have their breath and spirit taken from them their Souls and Bodies separated each from other and that necessarily as in 1 Sam. 14.14 Reasons why Dâ—â—th iâ— commoâ— Reâ— we must needs all dye and we are as water spilt upon the ground that cannot be gathered up again neither doth God respect any persons c. For righteous and wicked be both men partakers of the same humane nature one as other and this Death we now speak of the bodily Death which the proposition is intended of is that that pertains to men as they are partakers of the nature of man and that neither the righteous put off by being righteous though they partake also of the Divine nature 2 Pet. 2.4 Nor the wicked by his being wicked though he therein become also of the wicked one 1 Joh. 3.12 Righteousness and wickedness make a difference of the state of men toward God and of the frame of heart and the way of conversation and life but makes not an alteration of the common nature or humanity so as to cause it to cease in either party It is appointed to men once to dye Heb. 9.27 to men namely in the capacity and consideration of men not to the righteous only nor to the wicked only as such but to men and that also because Reas 2 Both righteous and wicked sinned against God in the first man for by one man sin entred into the world and Death by sin and so death passed over all men because all sinned Rom. 5.12 and that was the Original cause of Death the wages oâ— sin is death Rom. 6.23 now not only they that â—â—w are wicked and ungodly sinned in Adam but all men eveâ—â—ich also as are now made and become righteous in and by Jesus Christ for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God Heb. 2. â—â— Rom. 3.23 where all is expressed none is excluded from it The Prophet putting in himself with all his Brethren saith We all like sheep have gone astray we have turned every man to his own way Isa 53.6 And the Apostle If we say we have not sinned we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us 1 Joh. 1.10 And because of this sin Reas 3 Both those that are righteous and those that are wicked were condemned to dye the judgment that passed upon Adam in the day he sinned passed upon him not only as a single particular person but also as the root of all Mankind and their inclusive Father in whose loyns seminally all were and so when it was said to him Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return death in and by vertue of that Sentence was denounced and passed upon all men Gen. 2.17 with 3.18 Rom. 5.12 16. only by special favour and prerogative through Christ God exempted one or two as instances of immortallity and of such a change as in which he will exempt those that are alive at Christs appearing in the faith of him as we said before This is included in what the Apostle speaks of when he saith The judgment was of one offence to condemnation and through the offence of one judgment came upon all to condemnation Rom. 5.16.18 in which it was appointed of God to men once to dye whereupon Reas 4 Man all men generally is become flesh Flesh and blood infirm weak like other earthly creatures even like the bruit beasts that perish as is said Psal 49.12 Man in honour abideth not he is like the Beasts that perish in respect of the frailty and diseasedness of his body and outward man and lyableness to be penetrated pierced wounded killed dye of hunger thirst cold or the like whence that of Solomon Eccles 3.18.19.20 I said in my heart concerning the state of the sons of men that God might manifest them or that they might clear God and see that they themselves are beasts For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts even one thing befalleth them As the one dieth so dieth the other yea they have all one breath their breath in all of them is in their nostrils now so that a man hath no preheminence that is in respect of the temper of his body and its mortality and lyableness to death above a beast for all is vanity Both man and beast of a vanishing momentany continuance in this life all go unto one place all are of the dust and all turn to dust again For all flesh is
grass as well that of men as that of beasts or birds or fishes and all the goodliness of man is as the flower of the field The grass withereth the flower fadeth because the Spirit of the Lord bleweth upon it that is his anger whence the Sentence of Death proceeded surely the people is grass Isa 40.6 7. Now then in as much as the righteous as men are flesh as well as the wicked they are also both subject and lyable to death True it is that Christ hath died for all Reason 5 and given himself a ransom for all to ransom and redeem all from under that sentence of death and condemnation deserved by us and due to us but that was not to this end that the bodily death should not come upon us or any of us but to redeem us from under the state of obligation upon the account of that our sin and fall to eternal death or a perishing from Gods presence and also from being left under the power and tyranny of Satan and his absolute dispose of us and doing his will with us upon the account aforesaid that we might be under the hand power and dispose of a man even of the Lord Jesus Christ who died rose and revived that he might be Lord Ruler and Disposer of both quick and dead and that we might being under him be in a possibility and capacity of salvation and so in coming to him at his Heavenly Call and yielding up our selves to him to hope in his grace and to obey and follow him we might receive forgiveness of our sins and be justified and acquitted of all things from which we could not be acquitted by the Law of Moses and consequently no other way and so that we might by him be brought back again to God and be made partakers of eternal life And that he having power as Lord and Judge over all men even over those also that obey not his Calls or believe not in him might raise and judge them according to his good pleasure Of which further by and by Now these being the ends of Christs dying for men his death is no hinderance to dying men For God pronounced the sentence of Death upon men after the interposure of the Mediator as appears Gen. 3.15.18 He first provided and promised that the Seed of the Woman should bruise the head of the Serpent and then afterward notwithstanding that sentenced both the man and the woman and in them all of us to die and return to dust out of which we were taken Now that sentence that was pronounced after the promise of Christs coming and dying for us is not letted and prevented by his dying onely as the promise of Christ to die laid a foundation of our hoping in him to have this Death abolished so as that we might not be hurt of it or kept out from obtaining and receiving the blessing of God by it so accordingly his actual dying was the bringing forth that foundation and ground of hope in him into act that we might die in hope also of that better life that he hath promised us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Reason 6 Nor doth the justifying the Believer through the faith of Christ or the giving him divine life in his Spirit making him alive to God hinder the bodily death as experience shews The body is still dead or under Death because of sin though the Spirit be life for righteousness sake Rom. 8.10 The justification received in believing on Christ being but as to his state toward God to the freeing him from his wrath and from lyableness to the eternal Death in the second Judgement that shall be in the end of the world the wrath to come and to the admitting him into fellowship with him and with the Saints and Holy Ones in his Spirit and inward man as to his being accepted and accounted as righteous with God in Christ and an Heir of the Promises of God here and hereafter but it exempts not from the bearing the sentence of the bodily Death through which he also must pass as well as Christ Reasons of Gods ordering Death to the Righteous that he may enter into glory with and through him Yea there be divers reasons why God orders that his people shall lye under the Sentence of Death though righteous and pass in their due times through it As to say 1. To shew that he is the Lord and disposes of his creature as he pleases And seeing he hath in his great and infinite wisdom and by his righteous will pleased so to order it that both the righteous and sinners shall submit to that Sentence we being the clay and he as the Potter over us it s meet that we be all silent before him and subject to him practising obedience even in so suffering 2. That we might have the thought and remembrance of it as a spur to stir us up and provoke us to many excellent and profitable duties and exercises As for instance 1. To seek him more earnestly and apply our hearts to wisdom in the knowledge of him in Christ Jesus seeing our times for that are not always Whence that Prayer Psalm 90.11 Teach us so to number our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom 2. To quicken us to serve him in our generations in doing good knowing that our time is but short to be plying our business for glorifying him here and laying up for our selves a good foundation against the time to come That we might do what our hand findes to do with all diligence because in the Grave whither we go there is no work no praising God c. Eccles 9.10 Psalm 115.17 3. To make us alwayes more watchful and fearful to offend God seeing our time is limited here and is in his hand and if we take liberty to wander from him we may in the mean while be taked hence and so it may go ill with us To this purpose are those sayings of our Savior Watch for you know not what hour your Lord comes Math. 24.42 44. Luke 21.34.36 4. To exercise Faith in the truth power and faithfulness of God in Christ for the bringing us to glory notwithstanding Death and Grave John 11.25 26 40. 2 Cor. 4.13 14 15 16. 1 Thes 4.14 15. 1 Cor. 15.2 3 4 12.58 5. To comfort us and perswade us to patience under our sufferings here and make us the willinger to chuse to under go them rather than to sin agaiast him and turn from him Seeing Death will come and put an end to them and give us as it were a discharge from them all we may the better hold out to the end because it will not be long to it this life being but a vapor that appears a little while and then vanishes Jam. 4 13 14. The Apostlâ—s thus comforted themselves in their sufferings partly in the consideration of the momentaniness of them they being but the sufferings of this present time which Death will finish