i~ D-eath hopeful. ) the {hip was broke in pieces, but the' paffengers got all fafe to land. \Vhen the dying faint 's fpeech is laid, his eyes fet, and his lafi. breath drawn; the f{)ul gets fafe a– v .. :ay into the heavenly para-dife, leaving the body to return to its 'earth, but in the joyful hope of a re-union at its y;lorious refurreet:ion. How can death hurt the godly . ? ;t is a foiled enemy : if.it cafr ~hem down, it is only that they may Fife up mo~e glorious. Our Saviour JejuJ Chrifl hath abo/ijhed DEATH, 2 Tim. i. 10. The foul and lite ef it is gone : it is but a walking fhade that may fright ; but cannot hurt fa·ints ;· it is only. tbe jhadow of :death to them; it is not-the thing itfelf: their dying is but as dy– ing, or fomewhat like dying. The Apofile tells us, lt is Chrifl th:'-t died, Rom. -viii 34: Stephen, the firfr Chrifti– t-tn martyr, though fioned to death; yei but fell ajleep, · • Acts vi,i. 6o. Certainly'the nature of death is .quite chang– . ed with refpeCt: to the fai.Pts. It is not 'to them, what it ~ · was to Jetus Chrift their head: It is not th_e invenomed ruinating thing, wrapt up in the fmCt:-ion of the firft · co– venant, Gen. ii. 19. in the day thou eatejl thereofthoufoalt . fure/y di~. Jt comes. to the· godly \Vithoutdts fting: tkey , may meet it with that faluration. 0 de-ath ru.'here ·h thy '. fling? Is. this Mara? Is this bitter death ! It rwent out full into the world, when the firft Adam opened the,door tD it;. but the fecond Adam, hath brought it again emp· ' ty 'to his own. people. I feel a fiing may the dying faint · fay; yet it is but a bee•fting, fringing only through the. fk:in : but, 0 death where is ·thy !ling, thine old fi:ing; . the ferpent's fiing, that ft~ngs to the heart and foul? The· · fiin~ of ·death is}in; but that is taken away. If death ar•– rell: the faint;; .iind.carry him before the judg17, to anfwer for the debt he .contraCt:ed, the debt will be found paid by. the ·glorious Cautioner ; and he has the difcharge to , ibow. T-he thorn of guilt is pulled ·out of the man's con- · fcience; and his name is blotted out of the black roH, and . written among the living inJer.ufalem. .It istrue,it is a great journey to go thro' the valley ofthe·fbadow.ofdeath: but . the faines burden is;tal.en, away from o'ff;his back,, his i• niquity is pardoned, he may walk at eafe; no lion jha/1 h6- · th~re , ,mr·any raf!£nouJ heafi.; the redeemed ·may walk at . leiiur.e.there.,JreeJrom..all apJlrehenfions of danger. . " · Lajj!J..h ·, '
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