180 The Certainty, and the Blef ednef of Vol. IL There are twoThings to be explained in the Words, before we come to con- fider the Matter of them Firft, What is meant by thofi that fleep in 7efus. Secondly, What by God's bringing them with him. Fill, What is meant by thole that fleep in 7efue. Sleep is a Metaphor tiled for Death, by all Sorts of Writers profane and facred 5 and by theancient Chrifti- ans, thePlace of Burial was called Xoq. e,o,, that is, a Sleeping-place. This Meta- phor is fometimes applied to the Death of the Wicked, but molt frequently ufed of the Deathof the Righteous ; becaufe to them it is truly a Reft. And fo the Prophet, fpeaking of the Death oftheRighteous, calls it, /fa. 57.2. They (hall enter into Peace, they (ball refl in their Beds. And the Death of the Righteous is very fitly call'd e Sleep, both as it is a Reft from Labour and Pain Bled are the Dead which die in the Lord ; for they refi from theirLabour, Rev. 14.t3. And likewife becaufe Sleep is not final, but in or- der to waking again. The Death of the Righteous is not an eternal Sleep of the Body, but that thall be awakened in the Morning of the Refurre&ion. But why is the Death of good Men call'd a Sleeping in Jefus? .a 'Inaw, for jefua fake ; which may feem to have fome particular Relation to thofe who died Mar- tyrs for Chrift; as fome likewife underftand that Text, Rev. r4. 13. Blefed are the Dead which die in the Lord, that is, that fuffer for his Caufe ; for they refl from theirLabours, that is, their Sufferings are then at an End. But we Ihall heft underftand the Meaningof this Phrafe, by comparing it with thofe others which feem to be equivalent to it, as I Cor. t5. i8. They alfo that arefallen afleep in Chrifi v. 23. They that are Chrifi's at his Coming, that is, they that belong to him, that died in.the Faith.ofChrift. So likewife in this, 2Theff.' 4. IO. The Dead inChrifi (hall rife till, that is, the Chriftians that are dead before the Coming of Chrift, Ihall firft a raifed, before thofe that are. alive (hall be changed. Hei'. I r. r3. All theft died in Faith, that is, in firm Belief of God's Promife of a better Life. So that to fleep in Chrifl, to be Chrifi's, to die in Chrifi, to die in the Faith, do all feem to fignify the fame Thing, viz. to die in the State of true Chriftians. For fo we underftand the like Expreffrons of being in Chrifl, Rom. 8. 1. He that is in Chrifi, that is, every fincere Chriftian ; and of abiding in Chrift, John t 5.4. He that abideth in me. So to die in Chrifi, is to die a true Chriftian, in the Faith and Obedience of the Gofpel. And it is obfervable, that in the Phrafe and Stile of the NewTeftament, We are [aid to die all in, and with Chrift; tobe inhim, and to live in him, and to walkin him, by our San&ification and Obedience ; to die with him, by the Mortification of our Lulls ; to rife with hint, by our Renovation to a new Life ; to afcend with him into Heaven, and to have our Life hidwith Chrifi in God, by our heavenly Affe&ions and Hopes; and byDeath, to!Jeep in him. But before I pafs over this Phrafe of fleeping in 7efus, there is one Difficulty more about the Sleep of the Soul, which feems to be countenanced from this Text, Thofi that fleep in Jefus, (hall God bring with him ; as if the Apoftle fpake here of theSouls of good Men which had been afleep, and Chrift fhould bring with him to be united to their Bodies, which fhouldbe raifed ; as likewife from the whole Tenour of the Apoftle's Difcourfe about the Refurre&ion, 1 Cor. 15. where the Apoftle lays nothing of the living of the Soul before the Body be railed ; as if the Soul feparated from the Body were in a State of Infenfibility, till the Refill-- ration. But the true Anfwer to this is, that neither our Saviour in his Difcourfe of the Refurre&ion, nor St. Paul in the 15th Chapter to the Corinthians, nor here in this Text, do keep clofely to the Provingof the Refurre&ion of theBody; but of a blefl'ed Immortality after this Life, againft the Sadduces, who laid, there was no Refurreaion, neither Angel nor Spirit. But fometimes they prove that there is a Life after Death; and fometimes that at the Refurre&ion, theSoul Ihall be joined to a Spiritual and Heavenly Body, and that the whole Man (hall enjoy perfe& Blifs and Happinefs. But
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