A Funertil Su:morz. 25 ------------~--~-- the Records of the Grave; there lie the rich and poor, ,the noble and ignoble, the Vlife and foolilh, the holy and profane, the rubbi~ o~ a th?pfan~ Generations heaped one upon another; and this truth, that all muft dte, IS wnttcn mdehbly ev.cn m the1r dull:. · · . . ... · . The whole World is but a great Charnel-houfe : Our: very Graves were once living: we dig through our Forefathers, and m~~. 1J!ortly .become Earth our felves, to bury our Pofterity. So thick fown·are the Carcaftes .qf all ~he A&es fince the Creation, as were enough to dung the whole face of th!' Earth ,w1~h their Fle!h, an? pave it with their Bones. Are.not we of the fame Mould .W)th them? . )'lath not God s hand kneaded us out of the fame Clay, and may .not his finger cruffi.ble us into the fameDull:? .Certainly, theCotds ofout Earthly Tabcrnade may be aseaftly unloofed , or cut afunder, as theirs. . .. We read but of two oniy of all Mankind exempted, by a peculiar Grace and Privilege, from this Law of Death, and they were Enoch and ~[;.,. God ftrang~ly ta,ckt their temporal and eternalltfe together, and made 1the11t1me flow mto etern.tty r'L.thout any ftop or interruption; like Rivers that glide along into the Sea. wit& a free and undifturbcd courfe; whilft ours muft firll: fink, and find a p1fiagc under ground. Thirdly, We may certainly know ourfelves mortal, _ by kriowing ou: felv es finful IIIo Creatures. There is a double neceffity of Death upon the account ofStn: J, As a Punilhment; 2. As a Purgation of it. . · ~ · ' : . . It is necelfary as a Puniihn:tent of Sin, tha.~ 1 tha~ primttiv;c; Thrcatnin~ might be fulfilled, Gen. 2 . 17. In the day that thou tttttjl thereofthou.}Jurlt furely dye. Hereby the Ju!lice of God ftands engaged to inflill: Death upon every Tranfgrelfour: And to this it is that the Apofrle afCribes it, Rom. 5· I 2. Ry fin deAth - entred into the world, and dtath paffid upon «11 rlun, btcaufo that all have fumed. · Dfath therefore is not fo much a debt due to Nature, as to the avenging Juftice of God, and ~efals -us rather by his ordination ~nd appointment, thln by any naturalnecelnr,.y. It is appointed unto mm once to dye, Hcb. 9· 27. And this :appears, in that Man was qt fifft created in pure Nature, yc;t in a deathlefs ftate. ''Fis true, tha-t 4Jam, .t"ven before he fell, had in him the Contcmperation of the fame contrary Qualities as now ~e have, and fo, at leall:, had alfo the remote principles of Death :J,Od DiJTolutipn,:l Bu.t pro.;- blbly either thefe were fo harmoniouny mixed, as that there was no ten~~mcy to a Dirfolution; or elfe he was created with fuch a privilege, that by eating of the Trcq. of Life, or by the Command of his o_wn Will, to which 'all his inferiour FacultieS were then perfell:ly fi1bjett, he might [way and over-rule the Jar$ and Difcords ofan elemental Conftitution, and continue himfelf iu Life, as long as he Ihould continue himfc!f in Obedience. . · So then, -it is not primarily Man's Nature, but M~n's . Sin, and thc .Cnrfe of the Law taking· hold upon him, th1t h1th brought in this neceffity of dying. But yei the _luftice of Cod doth not inflia it as a Punifhment uPon all; for Deat~, under the ftria notion of a Pnnifhment, is proper only to wicked Mon and Unbelievers, who arc left to bear the Cnrfe of the Law in their own Perfons, and to fati_sfie offended Jnftice in their own Sufferings. As to Beli~vcrs, Chrift -hath dndertakcn and elucUted for them all that was penal. He hAth born the whole curft of the law, bting made ltCurfe(orus, Gal.3. 13So that now, to thofe who beli_eve it is no more a PuniJhmcnt, but only a Purga# tion . And were it not that God bath thus altered the quality of it, m:aking it the ~rcateft means of Sanctification in theWorld, thereby·turningthatwhich was aCurfe Into a Blefing, it might probably he maintained, tlllt Faith rn the Delth of Chrill: would fuperfcde all neceffity of dying, and make us not only righteOus, but immortal. But God bath other Ends in the inflill:ing of Death, beJ\des the Sa'i:isfull:ion of his ]uftice:. He makes ufe of it for the purging of his People from tlie ,Relicks of thCir CorruptiOn; and 't!slhe onlx Purgatory they mull: evet updergo. .Sin hath taken a ~cafe of. our Souls, and holds them by pu.r1pwn Lives ! It. Will be in lls to thC !aft.Gafp; and as the Heart is the !art that dies,. fo is thatCd,iTUption that lodgeth ID It:. But then dye It muft. God bath fa .graciOufiy ordered It 1 that though Death fa me mto the World by Sin, .yet Sin it felf !half be abolifb'~ oqt ,of it by Death, And as Sea,water lofeth its Brackilhnefs when percolated thrpugh the Eatth, and Pecomes fw.ec~ and .wholfomc; f~ a Chriftian, when he is ftr;.lined through the Grave 1ofeth all h!s Bracki!hnefs, all his Dregs and Scum, .and becomes pute and holy, fi( for the en)Pyment of a pure and holy God. This is his final Vit!ory; this is tlie I decidin(i
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