Page images
PDF
EPUB

Altho' 'tis appointed unto all Men once to die, Heb. ix. I dare affirm that Death hath no Cause to triumph, because the chief Advantage is not on that Side. We read in the Book of Esther, that King Ahafuerus would not recal the Proclamation that he had fent forth against the Jews, but he gave them full Liberty to take up Arms to defend themselves, to attack their Enemies, and to make them suffer all the Mischief they intended against them. I find something like unto this Proceeding; for God would not call back the Sentence of Death pronounc'd against Mankind in the Garden of Eden; nevertheless he allows us, nay, he commands his true Ifrael to take up Arms against Death, to conquer and trample it under Feet.

In the first Place, Jesus Chrift, our Head, hath encounter'd with Death, and overcome it, he hath pursued it into its Trenches, and baffled it in its own Fortification; Death thought to have devoured him, but it hath been devoured it self. As the Fishes are taken by the Hook that they think to swallow; and as the Bees hurt those whom they sting, but do greater harm to themselves; for they cause a present Pain in our Body, and a Heat that foon ceaseth; but they prejudice themselves more; for they break their Stings, and lose thereby their Lives: Thus Death, by fixing its Sting in the Humanity of Jesus Christ, hath put him to a great deal of Pain for a Time, but it hath thereby loft all Strength and Vigour for ever.

The Men of Judah, to fatisfy the enrag'd Philistines, deliver'd into their Hands Sampson, bound with Ropes. When they faw him, they gave several joyful Shouts; but the Spirit of God came upon him in such a Manner, that he tore in pieces the two Ropes wherewith he was bound, and overcame them by whom he was to be led away Prifoner, and killed a Thousand of them. Thus the miferable Jews, for fear of the Romans, deliver'd unto them our Lord Jesus Christ, their Brother according to the Flesh, bound like a Malefactor. When Hell faw him nailed to the Cross, and afterwards laid

;

in a Grave, it did wonderfully rejoyce the Devil, and his Angels began to fing Songs of Triumph. But it was altogether impossible that the Prince of Life should be detain'd in the Prisons of Death. He hath not only broken out of the Grave by his infinite Power, but hath also trampled under Feet all his most furious Enemies, and overcome Millions of infernal Fiends. And to declare how Life and Death were in his Power, he hath baffled Death, when he was, as it were, a Prifoner shut up in its Dungeon. He hath broke open the Gates of this black Prison, and torn in pieces all its Fetters. For when he was yet in the Grave, he raised to Life many that were dead, who were seen in the holy City; and yet at present he holds in his Hand the Keys of Death and of Hell. Therefore, as Children rejoyce at their Father's Victory, and as the Subjects are concern'd at the profperous Proceedings of their King, and as the Members are the better for the Glory and Honour of their Head; thus may we justly glory in the most notable Victories, and famous Triumphs of Jesus Christ, who is our Father, King, and Head. We may also justly glory that we are Lords of Death, and that we have overcome it in the Person of our great God and Saviour; I say th's after the Apostle St. Paul, That God hath quicken'd us together, and raised us together, and made us to fit together in heavenly Places with Jesus Christ, Eph. ii.

Moreover, as our Saviour hath once overcome Death by us, he continues to subdue it in and by us. He fuffers us not to encounter with our Enemies alone, nor leaves us in our Agonies; but as ina Day of Battel, a wife and provident General hath an Eye in every Place, and encourages, by his Action and Voice, his Soldiers, whom he perceives at handy-blows with the Enemy; some he loads with Praises, others with Promises; by that means he encourageth such as behave themselves bravely; rescues the weak and feeble, and to such as are over-born, he furnishes them with fresh

Supplies: Thus deals with us our Lord and Saviour Jesus

D4

Jesus Chrift the great God of Hofts, who fits above in the Heavens în Triumph, and beholds all our Combats and Encounters. When he perceives us too weak, that we might not be overcome by our dreadful Enemies, he furnishes us with his holy Spirit, and his own Armour, as Jonathan did David, when he de livered to him his Cloak, his Bow, his Belt, and Sword. Befides, this merciful Saviour difarms Death of its most hurtful Weapons, and takes away all its Arrows and Darts.

As the Strength and Power of Sampson lodg'd in the Hair of his Head, which the Philistines cou'd ne'er have imagin'd; so the Strength and Power of Death confifts in such things as the World leaft dreams of. The most dreadful Weapons, with which it terrifics and beats us, are the Thunderbolts and Curses of the Law, and our Sins are Poison in which it dips its Arrows, or rather our Sins are the fiery Darts with which it wounds and destroys us. Now Jesus Chrift hath redeem'd us from the Curse of the Law, when he became a Curse for us, Gal. iii. He hath carried our Sins in his Body upon the Cross, 1 Pet. ii. And as the He-goat Harazel, hath transported them away into an uninhabitable Defart, Lepit. xvi. He hath removed them from the Eyes of our God, as far as the Eaft is from the West; he hath caft them to the bottom of the Ocean, and drown'd them in his Blood; so that we may now fee fulfill'd, what was foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah, the Iniquity of Ifrael shall be fought for, and there shall be none, and the Sins of Juda, and they shall not be found, Chap. 1.

Therefore, being befriended with the Grace of God, and arm'd with the Virtue of his holy Spirit, let us thew our Courage, and defe Death; let us look it in the Face without Fear, laugh at all its Threats, and encounter it without Dread, for 'tis now like an infolent Soldier without Weapons; 'tis like a Bee without its Sting; 'tis like an old Lion that roars, but hath lost all his Claws; 'tis like a Snake that would convey its Poifon, but hath no venomous Teeth left, having been pulled out by him, who hath bruised the Serpent's Head.

If you confider nothing but Death's Exterior, its Face and fearful Appearance, its frigid Eyes, its meager Body, its iron'd Hands; you cannot perceive any Difference between the Death of God's Children, and that of the most wicked Varlets. But if you lift up the Masque, and examine the Death of the one, and of the other more exactly, you will meet with as great Difference as betwixt Heaven and Earth, the Paradise of God and Hell. For as Mofes's brazen Serpent, which he lift up in the Desart, had the Form and Appearance of a burning Serpent, but nothing of the Poison and Fire: Thus the Death of the Faithful appears as the Death of other Men, but hath not the deadly and pernicious Confequences. For 'tis not only a Sign and a Testimony of God's Grace and Favour, but the beginning of our Deliverance, and the cure of all Diseases. As Mofes when he had cast Wood into the Waters of Marah, they had the fame Colour, but not the fame Bitterness, and unpleasant Taste: Thus the Death of God's dearest Children hath the same Tincture and Appearance as before; but Christ's Cross hath taken away the Danger, the Trouble, and extracted out of it distastful Bitterness, and chang'd it into unspeakable Sweetness. As Pharoah was drown'd, with all his Army, in the Waters of the Red-fea, but the Children of Ifrael found a fecure and pleasant Passage into the promised Land; when they were arrived upon the other Shore of that dreadful Sea, they fung unto God Songs of Triumph and Thanksgiving: Thus Death opens its Jaws to devour the Reprobates. 'Tis an Abyss where they can find no bottom; but unto the Children of God 'tis a favourable Passage into an eternal Bliss; as foon as they are gone through, they are arrived at the Place of Afsurance, Joy, and Reft, where God furnishes them with Songs of Triumph and Thanksgiving to the Lamb, Rev. i. 15.

Balaam

Balaam the Prophet was called to curse the People of God, but he blessed them, contrary to the vain Expectation of Balak, King of Moab. Thus Death hath been brought into the World by the Devil, to destroy and utterly abolish the holy Seed; but God by his infinite Goodness and Wisdom, hath chang'd it into Salvation and Bleffing. Let us not therefore be any longer puzzled to find out the Meaning of Sampson's Riddle, Out of the Eater came forth Meat, and out of the Strong came forth Sweetness, Judg. xiv. For the Church of God, unto whom Christ hath discover'd the most excellent Secrets of his Kingdom, teaches us to seek the fweetest Comforts out of the Belly of this old Lion.

'Tis not poffible to judge of Musick by a single Note, or of an Oration by a Period, nor of a Comedy by a Scene. So we must not judge of a Battel by the first Affault, nor of a Wrestling by the first Embraces and Efforts of the Wrestlers. For fome in the beginning of the Battel turn their Backs, who nevertheless at last often win the Victory; and some in Wrestling are foiled at the beginning, who nevertheless supplant their Enemy, and cast him upon the Ground. Therefore, that we may better understand the great and notable Advantages that we have over Death, we must examine it all alone until the End of the Encounter; we must take notice of every Affault that we give unto this unreconcilable Enemy.

As foon as the Taper of our Life begins to burn, Satan sends forth his Blasts to extinguish it. Death labours to undermine this poor Dwelling from the first Moment that it was built, besieges it on all Sides, makes its Approaches, in time it saps the Foundation, it batters us with several Diseases and unexpected Accidents, every Day it opens a Breach, and pulls out of this Building some Stones. But if Death labours to demolish on her part, we on ours labour to repair : And as those who built the Walls of Jerusalem held with one Hand the Trowel, and with the other a Sword to fight; fo we defend our selves, as well as we are able, againft

« PreviousContinue »