Diadem. If you defire another Image of our fpiritual Condition, fanfie to your felves a dead Man caft into a foul Pit or Sink, unto whom Life is reftor'd in a Moment; afterwards by degrees he is wash'd and clean'd of the Filth that cover'd his Body. We were not on→ ly dead of a fpiritual Death, but we were alfo over→ whelm'd in an Abyss of Corruption and Filth. The Son of God hath pull'd us out of this Abyss, and already reftor'd us to Life, but the Dirt and Putrefaction with which we are disfigured, he washes away with the Wa ters of Grace, Zach xiii. For there is a Fountain opened for Sin in the House of David, Ifa. iv. in the which God hath promised to wash away all the Filth of the Daughter of Sion, and all the Blood of Jerufalem. And as it happen'd to the cruel King of Adonibezeck, when the Tribe of Juda took him Prifoner, he lost the Thumbs of his Hands, and the great Toes of his Feet, but he fuffer'd not Death until he came to Jerufalem; thus our great God and Saviour, the Prince of the Tribe of Juda, hath cut off the Strength and Power of the old Man who tyrannized in our Souls, and hath deprived him of his venomous Nails, with which he wounded our Hearts; he hath alfo given him his mórtal Wound, but he fuffers him to enjoy a languishing Life, and will not take away his laft Breath, until we bring him to the Gates of the heavenly Fe rufalem.

But to fpeak more openly, Sin is yet in us, but it reigneth not: For our Lord and Saviour Jefus Christ hath broken its Sceptre, and pulled it from the Throne; and as he hath taken from it all Command in us, he constrains it to leave the Poffeffion of our Souls by degrees. As a ftrong and mighty King, who having won the Battel, purfues and drives the Enemy, until he hath totally expell'd them out of his Kingdom; fo doth our Saviour deal with Sin.

And as it happens with a Woman with Child in her old Age, there is in her Body two contrary Lives, that of the Mother, and that of the Child; the one de

cays

cays and dies infenfibly, the Child's Life grows and encreaseth by Degrees; fo 'tis in the faithful and regenerate Soul; there are two Lives, that of Sin, that the Scripture names the old Man; and that of the new Man, which is created according to God, in Righteoufnefs and true Holiness: The one diminishes and draws to its final End; but the other grows and gathers Strength, until we arrive to the perfect Stature of our Lord Jefus Chrift; the Spirit of God every Day gets Ground of our Corruption and Weakness.

CHAP. V.

Why we are yet fubjected to the corporal or natural Death, and what Advantage we thereby receive in Jefus Chrift.

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HE wife King teacheth us in the Ninth of Ecclefiaftes, That the fame Accident happens to all, to the Righteous and to the Wicked, to the Clean, and to the Polluted, to him that facrificeth, and to him that facrificeth not. These Words are to be understood of the feveral Afflictions unto which we are expos'd during this mortal Life; but we may apply it to the natural Death: For 'tis appointed unto all once to die, and after that the Judgment follows, Heb. ix. By one Man Sin is enter'd into the World, and by Sin Death; and thus Death is come upon all Men, becaufe they have all finned, Rom. v. Therefore when Joshua felt himfelf feeble and decaying, he told the Children of Ifrael, That he was going the way of all Flesh, Jofh. xxiii. And Job complains unto God, I know that thou wilt reduce me to Death, and to the Houfe appointed for all Living, Job xx. 'Twas upon this Subject that the Royal Prophet was exercifing his Meditation when he cried out, Who is he that liveth and fhall not fee Death? Shall be free his Soul from the Power of the Grave? Pfal.

lxxxix. And to fpeak in the Language of Solomon, Or ever the Silver Cord be loofed,or the Golden Bowl broken, or the Pitcher be broken at the Fountain, or the Wheel be broken at the Ciftern: That is to fay, the Back-Bone, where Marrow is as white as Silver, be loofed, when the Skull, which is like a precious Veffel of Gold, be broken; when the Vena Cava receives no more Blood from the Liver,the Fountain of Life; when the Lights which draw in, and push forth the Breath, move no more; or when the Kidneys which extract the Humidity from the Veins, and cause it to drop down into the Bladder, as into a Cistern, begin to fail, then shall the Body return to the Earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return unto God that gave it.

To exprefs to us this inevitable Fate, Mofes reckons up all the ancient Fathers who have liv'd longest in the first World; he mentions fome who lived 700, others 800, others 809 Years, and fome near 1000, Gen. v. But when he had well fpoken of their Deeds, and of the Children which they left behind, he adds, in the Conclufion of all, and then fuch an one died. Thus our Creator executes upon all Men, the Sentence once pronounc'd against Adam, the Father of all Mankind, Duft thou art, and to Duft thou shalt return, Gen. iii.

By this means God declares his Juftice and Truth, and accomplish'd what was fignify'd by the ancient Types, Levit. xiv. For according to the Laws which God gave to Ifraelby Mofes, the House that was infected with Leprofie, was to be demolish'd and caft into a noifome Place. There is a more urgent Caufe for a Man's Body to be destroy'd, and laid in the Sepulchre, because he was created to be the Palace of the living God, the Dwelling of his Glory; but Sin, a kind of infectious Leprofie, hath infinuated it felf, and disfigur'd it, hath enter'd the Skin, corrupted the Blood, diforder'd the Spirits, crept into the Joints and Marrow, and hath spread its Venom in fuch a Manner, that there is none of our Members but is an Inftrument of Iniquity and Unrighteousness, Rom. vi.

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For the fame Reason, we cannot fufficiently admire the Difference which God hath put between the Veffels that were clean, and fuch as were unclean. For he commanded that the Earthen Veffels infected, fhould be broken in Pieces, Lev. xi. but that fuch as were of a more valuable Subftance, fhould be only wash'd with Water, and purify'd with Fire, Numb. xi. The Commands and Laws of the great God are excellent Commentaries upon his Actions. Our Soul is like a Golden Veffel; because it is a fpiritual and heavenly Subftance; therefore God doth not altogether destroy it, altho' it be infected with Sin, but causeth it to be wafh'd and cleanfed at the Fountain of his infinite Mercy. He purifies it with the Blood of his Son, and caufes it to pass thro' the Fire of his holy Spirit. But for this miferable Body, an Earthly Veffel and Tabernacle, he breaks it to pieces, and reduces it to Duft and Ashes. 'Tis my Judgment, that Death is an excellent Means to demonftrate the infinite Power of our great God and Saviour: For the greater the Dif eafe is, the more admirable is the Cure. Without doubt the Finger of God, and his infinite Power, is far more vifible in raifing one Man from the dead, than preferving many Thousands alive.

As God is wont to lighten our Darkness, fo he makes ufe of Death to caufe his infinite Wisdom to fhine and appear in all his Creatures. Sin hath brought forth Death, and Death on the contrary, as a most fortunate Parricide, kills and deftroys its Parent Sin: For 'tis Death that totally roots out of our Souls all corrupt Affections.

Moreover, God, who is the fame Yesterday, to Day and for ever, Heb. xiii. will have all his Children pals thro' the fame Path, to take Poffeffion of his eternal Inheritance, and enter by the fame Gate into his Royal Palace. All the faithful of the old Teftament. are gone already this Way, through many Tribulations, Acts xxiv. They are arrived to the Kingdom of God, and through Death they are come to the Abode of

Life and Immortality. The holy Scriptures that are irfpir'd of God, tell us, That the Reubenites, and half the Tribe of Manaffes, Numb. xxxii. Job. i. left their Dwel lings which they had beyond Jordan, to go over and fight in the Army of Ifrael, and did not offer to return until God had given Reft to their Brethren, and put them into a peaceable Poffeffion of their Inheritances. If I If I may make fome stop at such an excellent Allegory, I may fay, that these Paffages reprefent to us a lively Figure of the Faithful who die before the End of the World: For they leave their Bodies, the Abode and Dwellings of their Souls, and pass through Death, as thro' another Jordan, into the celeftial Canaan, to encounter with God by their Prayers, in the Society of the First-born, whofe Names are registred in Heaven, and they will not return again to their Bodies, until the Number of the Saints be compleat, until the Building of the Church be finifh'd, and until our great Joshua hath introduc'd us into his eternal Reft, and put us in Poffeffion of the incorruptible Inheritances referved for us in Heaven. Then we fhall not need to fight, but to enjoy peaceably the Fruits of our Victories, and to reft for ever from our Labours. We fhall have no Cause to offer to God Prayers and Supplications; but our Bufinefs fhall be to fing unto him Praises and eternal Thanksgivings.

The moft confiderable Reafon, in my Judgment, of this our Destiny, is, That God hath predeftinated us to be conformable to the Image of his Son, that he might be the First-born among many Brethren; he will have us be baptiz'd with his Baptifm, and drink in his Cup, and enter into Bliss by the fame Gate, thro' which he hath already pass'd. Thro' Shame and Difgrace he is arriv'd to Glory; and thro' Death he is enter'd into Life. He hath drunk of the bitter Waters, before he tafted of the River of celeftial Joys; and he is gone down into the Grave, before he would mount up to the Right Hand of God.