A Dijcourfe of Man's Mortality. can he fee in Death that is not very delirable ro him ? The Body refis r;om its labours and the Soul enjoys its reward in Heaven. If you are hereby taken away f;om converfingwich Men, yet the Soul is elevated to an acquaintance with .Angels, chat is ftill alive in irs own Nature; the Soul lives for ever, being placed above the common Arrefis of Death. . We fin~ to this purpofe after that God had tryed the pattence of Job by the Jofs ofall his fubftance, and afterwards of all his Children alfo, he reftoresto him doublewhateverhehadrakenfrom him; fo we read in the Hc:>ly Scory,rheLordJob42.u~ gave unto Job nvice tu much tu he had before. Now whereas at firfi Job had three thoufand Camels God refiores to him fix thoufand; whereas before he had feven thoufand Sheep, God reftores to him fourteen thoufand; and fo of all the reft double-the number of what he loft: But when God comes to recompence to him the lofs of his Children, which doubtlefs were of far greater value than all the reft • wherea~ he had feven Sons and three Daughters, God reftores to him the fam~ number again, not double in thefe as he did in all the reft: ~nd where.- fore did God double his Camels, his Sheep, and his Oxen, and not his Childreh? Why, the Rut{on was, becaufe his Children were not fo dead as were his Camels, and the reft of his brute Creatures, theirSoulsremain'd Immortal and Entire ftill after Death : So that God in giving Job feven Sons and three Daughters did double them nothwithftanding, though he gave himno more than he had at firft. So here though we Die, yet Death doth us no injury '; our better part furvives; and if we are Believers, it furvives in fuch unconceivable Joy, as that all the pleafures of the World are but Mifery and Wretchednefs compared to them. Secondly, The 'vhole Ufe of a Chrijlian is fottnded upon a Hope that cannot be ac.- AChrij/i. complifhed but bJ dJing. And if fo, that Man's Miftake rnuft needs be inexcu- ..,,., Htpe fable, who abhorrs that which alone can bring him to the poffeffion of his cannot b! Hopes and Defires. Chriftians, what ls it that you hope for? Is it not to arrive ::t::rf· at Glory, with an innumer,ableHoft of Angels, and the Spirit1 of juff Men made per-d,i,go '1 feB? To fee God, and to rejoice in him at a nearerhandrhan you now do here below? To be for ever bleffed in the clofe Embraces of the fovereign Good? And what other way is there of obtaining this, bur only by dJing? Dearhis now made to us an In-let to Glory, the very Gate to Heaven. It is therefore -un... reafonable to fear that which is the only way to obtain that we hope for. Thirdly, Thii Death, though fo much dreaded, is no flther than a quiet Sleep. So Dtath if t£ the Scripture often reprefents it to us under the Notion of Sleep. Them tbat fl~ep quiet flup. in Jefus fiJaU God bring with him. Sleep is the natural refernblance of Death. Sleep and Death are very near a-kin: When we areafieep,we fee nor, we hear ·not, all our Senfesare lock'd up from the enjoyment of any worldly Delights. we take no comfort in our Friends, in our Riches, or Eftates; all thefe are can: cell'd out ofour Minds: And what more doth Death do than cancel thefe things out of Men's Memories? And yet the weary Labourer lays himfelf down with contentmem,to take his Sleep until the Morning; and why may not we alfo lay down our felves with the fame peace and contentment in our Graves-, to rake our Reft and Sleep until the Morning of the Refurrection? Indeed the Sleep of Death is different from natural Sleep, fince that deprives us of natural Light; but this Sleep of Death brings us to the vifion of true inacceffible Light. What then is therein Dwh, that we lhould ftand in dread of it? Why lhould that be feared by thofe for whom thefting of it is already taken out? Such may fafely take this Serpent into their bofoms; for though it hifs at them, yet it cannot wound or hurt them. nay, inftead of wounding them, it is.reconcile"d to them, and beco~e.one of thei~ parry. The Apojfle therefore reckomng up the Inventory ofa Chn!han, reckons thisamongth~m; ~bether Life_or Death, a_ll is yours: And in another place h~tells 1 Cor. 3 .; us, That to h1m to ltve "'m Clmft, and to J1e wtM Gam. And well may a Chrtfiian ~a. account Death among his Gains ; for it is the Hand of Death that draws the Phil.r.u Cunain, and lets him in to fee God face to face in Heaven, that Palace of inefti... mable P!eafure and Delight, where the ftrongeft Beams of Glory !hall beat fully upon our Faccs,and where we fhall be made ftrong enough to bear them. Ne1... ther cloth Dwh bring any detriment to our Bodies, fince they !hall be new moolde.d at the Refurretlion; when this Mort at fhall put on Immortality, anti this Corrup- 1 Cor. 11 •. t1ble put ()tz Incorruption; when thefe dull Lumps Jhall become impallible as the SJ• AngelS, fubtle as a Ray of Dght, bright as the Sun, nimble as Lightni•t· Who is Dddd there
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=