ObjeF1. Anfwer. Rom. S. S. Matt. es. Vfe r, Make ac- count of it foi out Caves The PretifeofMourning, o, But fecond!\, we anfwer. They had that that was inftead ofDeath to them, force change, though they did not die after the manner ofother men. So at the endof the world, it is Paid, that thole that aredive (hallbecaught upand changed, in the twinkling ofan eye ? there (hall be a fudden, and almof undifcernable, unperreiueablechange , which (hall be to them inftead ofdeath. But it will beobje&ed further. There is a promife made in,yob. it. That store ¿bat believe (hallnever die. Tothis I anfwer with that commondiftin&ion;There is a twofold death, Which the Scripture calleth, the ftrff and thefecond death : Thefirit death is the deathof the body, that arifeth from the dif- junftion, and feparation of the body from the foule ; And there is afecond death , that arifeth from the dif- juuftion, and fepa- ration of the foule from God. The &rfb death, is no death properly , the fecond death is that which is truly death: and fo they (hall not die. A manmayhave a body feparated from therole, and yet not his foul feparatedfrom God,nor him- felf from Chrift. who (ball feparate to from the love ofGod in Chris neither lifenor death, nor principalities nor powers, &c. Death you fee (hall not be able to feparate us fromGod : it cannotfeparate the foule : Nay , it cloth not feparate the body from Chrift; the body remaineth a member ofChrift, as well while it is (till in the grave, as before : God is not the Godof the dead, but ofthe living, faith Chrift, Mat. 22. And-therefore heproveth, that even Abrahamwas not dead -in that fenfe, that they then took it, but he remaineth yet alive, in as muchas God was hisGod. Abraham (whole Abraham) was Godsby vernie ofCovenant, fo are all his pofterity, the children ofAbrahamby faith, in a fpiritual fenfe they remain with Chrift , and they are united to him , asmembers to thehead, even when their bodies are in the grave. So that ( I fay) theydie not in that fenfe, fo as tohave their foul feparated from God ; thoughtheydie in the firft fenfe , that is, to havetheir bodies feparated from the foule. But our Saviour in that place of John fpeaks ofthefcond ; ofthat death, which is aneverlafting feparationofthe foul fromGod. Aswefay ofwicked men, that while they are alive,theyare dead; fo the Apoftle fpeaks of the widdowthat livedinpleafures, while the lived the wa! dead ? and the ChurchofSardis, hada name to live, but the was dead. This is true death indeed, when that the foul ofman is feparated, anddif-joyned fromGod, and from Chrift : Andit is the Rate of every manby nature, ofevery man under fin, thoughthey walk up anddown, and dothe aftions of the living, yet they aré but dead men. And as truly, as they are faid to be dead while they live, fo truly it may be faid ofthe children of God, that while they are dead, they live : as it faid ofAbraham, fo itmay be faid ofall Gods fervants, they die not properly , but remain ftill in union with God, and with Chrift: with God through Chrift, they are Chrifts, and therefore Gods in him, and therefore theydie not,. Lookwhat the foule is to the body, that is God to the foul: the foul is the life of the body, and God is the life ofthe foul; they areRill livingmen, thathave God ; the foul is alive, even when the body liethdown in the grave. This (hall ferve for the o- pening of that, they are not dead, but alive : they do die in the firft fenfe, and in the common acceptation, in refpeet of the feparationofthe body from the foul; but they doe not die inthe fecond fenfe, in refpe&of the feparation ofthe foul fromGod ; they doe not die eternally, they doe not die properly. Now briefly to make forne ufe of this, and to haften to thatI molt intend to Rand upon. Is it fo then, that Death is the end ofall men. Let usmakeaccountof it for our felves. This feemeth but a plain point , and fo indeed it is : but I know there is nothing more ufeful, and I know there isnothing leffe regarded, and lelfe confide- .redofferioufly then this, that we mull die. Itis true, we all acknowledge it in the general, and every man, the very worn, the moll ignorant, and moll prophane in the world will yeeld to thisin the general, that all "men muff die, and let a man come and tell them, that theythemfelvesmuft die, they will grant it too, but this is that that undoesus all, we reft in generals, and donot fertoufly infift upon a fe- rious applicationof it, to a mans own particular cafe, and bring it home to a mans (elf:
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