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Diadem. If you defire another Image of our spiritual Condition, fanfie to your selves a dead Man cast into a foul Pit or Sink, unto whom Life is restor'd in a Moment; afterwards by degrees he is wash'd and clean'd of the Filth that cover'd his Body. We were not on ly dead of a spiritual Death, but we were also overwhelm'd in an Abyss of Corruption and Filth. The Son of God hath pull'd us out of this Abyss, and already reftor'd us to Life, but the Dirt and Putrefaction with which we are disfigured, he washes away with the Waters of Grace, Zach xiii. For there is a Fountain opened for Sin in the House of David, Ifa. iv. in the which God hath promised to wash away all the Filth of the Daughter of Sion, and all the Blood of Jerufalem. And as it happen'd to the cruel King of Adonibezeck, when the Tribe of Juda took him Prisoner, he lost the Thumbs of his Hands, and the great Toes of his Feet, but he fuffer'd not Death until he came to Jerufalem; thus our great God and Saviour, the Prince of the Tribe of Juda, hath cut off the Strength and Power of the old Man who tyrannized in our Souls, and hath deprived him of his venomous Nails, with which he wounded our Hearts; he hath also given him his mortal Wound, but he suffers him to enjoy a languishing Life, and will not take away his laft Breath, until we bring him to the Gates of the heavenly Je rufalem.

But to speak more openly, Sin is yet in us, but it reigneth not: For our Lord and Saviour Jefus Christ hath broken its Sceptre, and pulled it from the Throne, and as he hath taken from it all Command in us, he constrains it to leave the Poffeffion of our Souls by degrees. As a strong and mighty King, who having won the Battel, pursues and drives the Enemy, until he hath totally expell'd them out of his Kingdom, so doth our Saviour deal with Sin.

And as it happens with a Woman with Child in her old Age, there is in her Body two contrary Lives, that of the Mother, and that of the Child; the one decays

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cays and dies insensibly, the Child's Life grows and encreaseth by Degrees; so 'tis in the faithful and regenerate Soul; there are two Lives, that of Sin, that the Scripture names the old Man; and that of the new Man, which is created according to God, in Righteousness and true Holiness: The one diminishes and draws to its final End; but the other grows and gathers Strength, until we arrive to the perfect Stature of our Lord Jesus Christ; the Spirit of God every Day gets Ground of our Corruption and Weakness.

CHAP. V.

Why we are yet subjected to the corporal or natural Death, and what Advantage we thereby receive in Jesus Christ.

THE wife King teacheth us in the Ninth of Eccle

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fiaftes, That the same Accident happens to all, to the Righteous and to the Wicked, to the Clean, and to the Polluted, to him that facrificeth, and to him that facrificeth not. These Words are to be understood of the several Afflictions unto which we are expos'd during this mortal Life; but we may apply it to the natural Death: For 'tis appointed unto all once to die, and after that the Judgment follows, Heb. ix. By one Man Sin is enter'd into the World, and by Sin Death; and thus Death is come upon all Men, because they have all finned, Rom. v. Therefore when Joshua felt himself feeble and decaying, he told the Children of Ifrael, That he was going the way of all Flesh, Josh. xxiii. And Job complains unto God, I know that thou wilt reduce me to Death, and to the House appointed for all Living, Job xx. 'Twas upon this Subject that the Royal Prophet was exercising his Meditation when he cried out, Who is he that liveth and shall not fee Death? Shall be free bis Soul from the Power of the Grave? Pfal. lxxxix.

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lxxxix. And to speak in the Language of Solomon, Or ever the Silver Cord be loosed, or the Golden Bowl broken, or the Pitcher be broken at the Fountain, or the Wheel be broken at the Cistern: That is to say, the Back-Bone, where Marrow is as white as Silver, be loosed; when the Skull, which is like a precious Vessel of Gold, be broken; when the Vena Cava receives no more Blood from the Liver, the Fountain of Life; when the Lights which draw in, and push forth the Breath, move no more; or when the Kidneys which extract the Humidity from the Veins, and cause it to drop down into the Bladder, as into a Cistern, begin to fail, then shall the Body return to the Earthas it was, and the Spirit Shall return unto God that gave it.

To express to us this inevitable Fate, Mofes reckons up all the ancient Fathers who have liv'd longest in the first World; he mentions some who lived 700, others 800, others 809 Years, and some near 1000, Gen. v. But when he had well spoken of their Deeds, and of the Children which they left behind, he adds, in the Conclufion of all, and then such an one died. Thus our Creator executes upon all Men, the Sentence once pronounc'd against Adam, the Father of all Mankind, Dust thou art, and to Dust thou shalt return, Gen. iii.

By this means God declares his Justice and Truth, and accomplish'd what was signify'd by the ancient Types, Levit. xiv. For according to the Laws which God gave to Ifraelby Mofes, the House that was infected with Leprofie, was to be demolish'd and cast into a noisome Place. There is a more urgent Cause for a Man's Body to be destroy'd, and laid in the Sepulchre, because he was created to be the Palace of the living God, the Dwelling of his Glory; but Sin, a kind of infectious Leprofie, hath infinuated it self, and disfigur'd it, hath enter'd the Skin, corrupted the Blood, disorder'd the Spirits, crept into the Joints and Marrow, and hath spread its Venom in such a Manner, that there is none of our Members but is an Instrument of Iniquity and Unrighteousness, Rom. vi.

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For the fame Reason, we cannot sufficiently admire the Difference which God hath put between the Vessels that were clean, and such as were unclean. For he commanded that the Earthen Vessels infected, should be broken in Pieces, Lev. xi. but that such as were of a more valuable Substance, should be only wash'd with Water, and purify'd with Fire, Numb. xi. The Commands and Laws of the great God are excellent Commentaries upon his Actions. Our Soul is like a Golden Veffel; because it is a spiritual and heavenly Substance; therefore God doth not altogether destroy it, altho' it be infected with Sin; but causeth it to be wafh'd and cleansed at the Fountain of his infinite Mercy. He purifies it with the Blood of his Son, and causes it to pass thro' the Fire of his holy Spirit. But for this miferable Body, an Earthly Vessel and Tabernacle, he breaks it to pieces, and reduces it to Duft and Ashes. 'Tis my Judgment, that Death is an excellent Means to demonstrate the infinite Power of our great God and Saviour: For the greater the Difease is, the more admirable is the Cure. Without doubt the Finger of God, and his infinite Power, is far more visible in raising one Man from the dead, than preserving many Thousands alive.

As God is wont to lighten our Darkness, so he makes use of Death to cause his infinite Wisdom to shine and appear in all his Creatures. Sin hath brought forth Death, and Death on the contrary, as a most fortunate Parricide, kills and destroys its Parent Sin: For 'tis Death that totally roots out of our Souls all corrupt Affections.

Moreover, God, who is the fame Yesterday, to Day and for ever, Heb. xiii. will have all his Children pass thro' the fame Path, to take Poffeffion of his eternal Inheritance, and enter by the same Gate into his Royal Palace. All the faithful of the old Testament are gone already this Way, through many Tribulations, Acts xxiv. They are arrived to the Kingdom of God, and through Death they are come to the Abode of Life and Immortality. The holy Scriptures that are inspir'd of God, tellus, That the Reubenites, and half the Tribe of Manaffes, Numb. xxxii. Josh. i. left their Dwellings which they had beyond Jordan, to go over and fight in the Army of Ifrael, and did not offer to return until God had given Rest to their Brethren, and put them into a peaceable Poffeffion of their Inheritances. If I may make some stop at such an excellent Allegory, I may say, that these Passages represent to us a lively Figure of the Faithful who die before the End of the World: For they leave their Bodies, the Abode and Dwellings of their Souls, and pass through Death, as thro'another Jordan, into the celestial Canaan, to encounter with God by their Prayers, in the Society of the First-born, whose Names are registred in Heaven, and they will not return again to their Bodies, until the Number of the Saints be compleat, until the Building of the Church be finish'd, and until our great Joshua hath introduc'd us into his eternal Reft, and put us in Possession of the incorruptible Inheritances referved for us in Heaven. Then we shall not need to fight, but to enjoy peaceably the Fruits of our Victories, and to reft for ever from our Labours. We shall have no Cause to offer to God Prayers and Supplications; but our Business shall be to sing unto him Praises and eternal Thanksgivings.

The most confiderable Reason, in my Judgment, of this our Deftiny, is, That God hath predeftinated us to be conformable to the Image of his Son, that he might be the First-born among many Brethren; he will have us be baptiz'd with his Baptifm, and drink in his Cup, and enter into Bliss by the fame Gate, thro' which he hath already pass'd. Thro' Shame and Disgrace he is arriv'd to Glory; and thro' Death he is enter'd into Life. He hath drunk of the bitter Waters, before he tafted of the River of celestial Joys; and he is gone down into the Grave, before he would mount up to the Right Hand of God.

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