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Plant fo far produced and forwarded, that whenever it fhall be removed to a more favourable

Clime, it may Spring up and flourish in immortal Life: and that it will do fo, must be the strongest Motive and Incitement for us thus to labour chearfully in our Lord's Vineyard; to be ftedfaft and unmoveable, always abounding in his Work, forafmuch as we know that our Labour shall not be in vain. Our Title to this Immortality is now fo fure, that we are oft fpoken of as if we were already in poffeffion of it. We are said to have already paffed from Death to Life. We are taught to confider this our temporary Diffolution as no Death, in the original true Sense of the Word; fince we can have no apprehenfion that it will leave us under the Bondage of Corruption, and in the Blackness of Darkness for ever; but are affured, on the contrary, that it leads us to the glorious Liberty of the Children of God, to an Inheritance incorruptible, and that fadeth not away, referved in Heaven for us.

Thus is Mortality fwallowed up of Life; and we henceforth are faid not to dief, but fleep, as Chrift pronounces of those two whom he raifeds, and as

• See Benfon on 1 Jo. 3. 14.

d Jo. 5.21. 17o. 3. 14.

e Quando homo peccator incipit credere in Filium Dei vera et viva Fide et illius Principii vitæ particeps evadit, per quod æternum illud exitium fuperaturus eft, tum fimul dicitur fuperaffe Mortem temporalem, quæ folummodo confiderabatur ut æternæ Mortis miniftra. Ac proin credens non dicitur mori etiam quoad Corpus, quia nexus qui inter hanc et æternam mortem erat, fublatus eft. Vitringa, Ob. ferv. Sacr. L.2. C. 7. p. 351.

f Fo.6.50, 51.-11.26.

Mat.9.24. Mar.5.39. L.8.52. 76. 11.11.
× 3

the

the intermediate State of every Christian is described by his Apoftlesh: Nay, in his proof of the general Refurrection, he declares of all the Faithful, that they ever live to God, as being still in Covenant with him, from whom Death itself cannot feparate them *; nor is the Interval between that and the Resurrection of any more account with God, than it is of real Import to themselves, as we have seen.

Thus though in the fight of the Unwife we feem to die, yet is our Hope full of Immortality, and our Departure and Difmiffion from this mortal State becomes our Entrance and Admiffion into it. Well therefore may we now fay with the Pfalmift', Return unto thy Reft, O my Soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. I will lay me down in peace, and fleep, 'till I awake in the Morning, of the Refurrection. We may with the good Apostle chearfully commit our Souls into the hand of our faithful Creator; who, we are perfuaded, is able to keep that which is committed unto him against that Day. What a mild and unterrifying thing must Death be in fuch a View as this? 'Tis nothing, we fee, in the Scripture-account; nor are we ever bid to fear or prepare for it, (as is obferved by a pious Writer ";) but to look and watch for", and haften unto that coming of the Day of the Lord, which it directly introduces, and which is therefore faid to be at hand, to draw nigh, and prefent our Judge even at the

m

h 1 Cor. 15. 18, 20. 1 Theff.4. 13, 14.-5. 10. v. fupra,
i Luk,20.38.
k Rom. 8. 38, 39. 1 Pf. 116.7.

m Mr. Taylor on Rom. p-355

n

Matt. 24.42, &c. 25.13. Mark 13. 33, &c.
2 Pet. 3.12.
P Rom. 13.12. Phil.4.5. 1Pet.4.7.

Door.

Door. There is nothing in the former that can be terrible, to fuch as have learned to conceive it right, and are ready to abide its Confequences. The Pains that may attend it are uncertain, oft far from being equal to those we undergo on other Occafions; never to be compared with what muft be endured after it, if we have not already taken out its Sting by mortifying and fubduing that which first occafioned it, and which ftill arms it with its greatest and most deadly Terrors. If we have but taken care to be of the number of thofe, to whom these great and precious Promifes belong; if we have an Intereft in, an eager Expectation of them, we shall be so far from dreading and declining, that we cannot avoid often dwelling on, and ever delighting in the Profpect of that, which infallibly conveys us to the Substance and Completion of them. 'Till we have done this, indeed we are, and ought to be, in a State of Bondage to this King of Terrors. Nor can we ever fo far get the better of them, as to behold our Change in an agreeable Light, or bear the Reflection on it with any tolerable Quiet and Composure of Mind: it will yet fill our Cup with Bitterness, make our whole Life melancholy, and its End Confufion and Dismay.

a fam. 5.7,8,9. The hour is coming, and now is; Fo. 5.25. Though fome of these, and the like Paffages, may more inmediately relate to Chrift's firft coming to Judgment at the deftruction of Jerufalem, as fome learned Men fuppofe; [see Mr.Jortin's Remarks on Eccl. Hift. V. 1. p. 49, 50.] yet are they no less applicable to his fecond Coming in the fenfe abovementioned, whereof the former has been generally confidered as a Type, and both are ufually defcribed in the same terms. Matt. 24. 29, &c.

Y 4

Seeing

Seeing then that the all-wife Creator of the World has for fo many good Ends been pleased to put it under the Dominion of Death, and the allmerciful Redeemer hath fo fully done his part to qualify this feemingly moft dreadful Difpenfation, and convert it into the greatest real Bleffing, by making it a proper Paffage to, and Preparation for an infinitely nobler and more perfect State; Let us be perfuaded to do our Parts likewise, that thefe gracious Ends may be obtained in us; and by confequence, that this neceffary means to them may be ever reflected on with Joy, and not with Grief: Nay, that the Thought of this may serve, as it is intended, to the Mitigation of all other Griefs, and to the Improvement and the Confummation of our Joys; whilft we are ever looking for, and longing after that blessed Hope, and the glorious Appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jefus Chrift.

Now unto the fame God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, who according to his abundant Mercy bath begotten us again unto a lively Hope by the Refurrection of Jefus Chrift from the Dead, to him be all Might, Majefty and Dominion, both now and for evermore,

AP

APPENDIX:

Concerning the Ufe of the Words

SOUL or SPIRIT

IN

HOLY SCRIPTURE,

AND THE

State of Death there described.

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