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we may fay of the Fire that shall torture the Damned, what the Spouse in the Canticles faith of the divine Love that had enflam'd her Soul, Many Waters cannot quench it, neither can the Flouds drown it, Cant. viii. And S. Paul tells us, That the things that God hath prepared for them that love him, Eye hath not feen, Ear bath not heard, nor did it ever enter into the Heart of Man, 1 Cor. ii. So on the contrary, we may fay, that thofe things that God hath prepar'd for them that hate him, Eye hath not seen, Ear hath not heard, noj did it ever enter into the Heart of Man. From hence fhall proceed their Rage, Madness and Defpair; they fhall cry in Cain's Language, My Punifo ment is greater than I can bear, Gen. iv. When they fhall fee nothing but an extream Mifery, and woful Darkness, they fhall curfe God, the King of all Creatures, Ifa. viii. In their Fury and Rage they will eat their Tongues, and blafpheme the great God of Heaven and Earth. It had been far better for fuch Persons that they had never been born; therefore they fhall feek Death, and fhall not find it, Mat. xxvi. They fhall defire to die, that is, to be reduc'd to nothing, Rev. ix. But this Death fhall fly from them; who of you can dwell in everlasting Burning? Ifa. xxxiii. Who of us can dwell in eternal Flames? Rev. vi. If the Vials and little Gups full of God's Wrath force the Wicked to cry out, how much more fhall the Rivers and the Ocean of God's Vengeance draw from them, O Mountains, fall upon us, O Rocks, cover us, and hide us from the Face of him that fits upon the Throne, and from the Wrath of the Lamb; for the Day of his Anger is come, and who may abide it? Prov. i. But as they have topt their Ears to God's gracious Calls, and hardned their Hearts to his Invitations to Repentance, God fhall alfo ftop his Ear to their Outeries, and his Eyes to their grievous Sufferings; and when they fhall be overcome with Fear and Defpair, God will scorn and mock at their infufferable Mifery.

CHAP.

CHA P. IV.

That Jefus Christ our Lord hath redeem'd us from eternal Death, and by Degrees refcues us from a Spiritual Death.

WE

E read in the fifth Chapter of the Revelations of St. John, that he wept bitterly, because no Being in Heaven and Earth, nor under the Earth, was able to open the Book fealed with feven Seals, that was in God's Right Hand. At that Inftant, one of the twenty four Elders fpake to him, Weep not, behold the Lion of the Tribe of Juda overcome to open the Book, and to loofe the feven Seals. Thus we have until now wept bitterly, because we could find no Body in the Armies of Ifrael, to encounter with that powerful Monster Death. But let us alfo wipe our Tears, and take good Courage, my beloved; for this fame Lion of the Tribe of Juda is appointed to fight with this dreadful Enemy: Our victorious and triumphing David, who hath torn in pieces the infernal Lion, bruifed the ancient Serpent's Head, and fpoiled Princi palities and Powers, triumphing over them in his Crofs, Col. ii. 15. 'Tis he that hath undertaken this glorious Combat; 'twas for that Purpose that he left for a while the Throne of God the Father, and the Company of his holy Angels, 1 Sam. xvii. "Twas for that Intent that he came into the Camp and Confufion of Ifrael. He hath not borrow'd the Weapons and Affiftance of the World, Heb. ii. All that he hath taken from us, is our frail Nature. But he hath armed himself with Righteufnefs, as with a Breaft-plate, and hath put on the Helmet of Salvation. He hath cloathed himself with Vengeance as with a Cloak, he hath alone trodden the Wine-Prefs, and no Body bath affifted him, Ifa. lix. 63. But his Arm hath fav'd him, and his Hand hath upheld him. As David cut off Goliah's Head with his own Sword, Jefus Chrift

hath

hath overcome Death by Death. Like unto the ftrong Sampfon, he hath deftroy'd all the Enemies of his Glory by his Death, 1 Sam. xvii. He hath overcome in dying, him who had the Empire of Death; that is, the Devil, Heb. ii. and hath delivered them, who through Fear of Death, were all their Life-time fubject to Bondage; then was fulfilled this Saying of Hofea, O Death, I will be thy Plague, O Grave, I will be thy Deftruction, Hof. xiii. And that of Ifaiah, he will fwallow up Death in Victory, and the Lord God will wipe away Tears from off all Faces, and the Rebuke of his People fhall be taken away from off all the Earth, Ifa. xxv. 1 Tim. vi. This bleffed Prince, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, who only hath Immortality, and dwelleth in an inacceffible Light, hath deftroy'd Death, and brought to light Life and Immortality by the Gofpel, 1 Tim. i. O Death, where is thy Victory! O Grave, where is thy Sting? The Sting of Death is Sin, and the Strength of Sin is the Law; but bleffed be God who hath given us the Victory by our Lord Jefus Chrift, 1 Cor. xv.

This great God and Saviour has perfectly redeem'd us from eternal Death, as he himself teaches us in the Gospel of St. John. He that heareth my Word, and believeth on him that fent me, bath everlasting Life, and fball not come into Condemnation, but is passed from Death unto Life, Chap. v. 24. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven, if any Man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever, Chap. vi. 51. v. 40. Your Fathers did eat Manna in the Wilderness, and are dead, that is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven, that a Man may eat thereof and not die, Chap. viii. Verily, verily, I fay unto̟ you, if any Man keep my Word,he shall never taste of Death. Lam the Refurrection and the Life, he that lives and believeth in me fhall never die, and he that believeth in me, although he were dead, yet fhall be live, Chap. xi. The Wages of Sin is Death, but the Gift of God is eternal Life through our Lord Jefus Chrift. Bleffed and Holy is he that hath part in the firft Refurrection, Rev. xx. The fecond Death fhall never have any Power upon

him. In a Word, the Gates of Hell, that is to fay, Death, cannot prejudice them who are fettled upon Jefus Chrift, the Rock of Eternity. This merciful Saviour hath alfo deliver'd us from the Spiritual Death, Eph. ii. For we being dead in our Trefpaffes and Sins, he hath quickned us, and raifed us up together unto newness of Life, Coloff. ii. He hath carried our Sins in his Body upon the Cross, that he dying unto Sin, we might live unto Righteousness. We are buried with him in his Death by Baptifm, that as Jefus Christ is raised from the Dead by the Glory of God the Father, we also would walk in newness of Life, 1 Pet. ii. Awake thou that fleepeft, and rife from the Dead, and Jefus Chrift fhall enlighten thee, Rom. vi. For by his Death he hath not only reconcil'd us to God the Father, Eph. v. Colo. xi. but he hath also procur'd to us the Holy Spirit that creates in us a new Heart, and imprints the Image of his Holiness, Ezek, xxxvi. 2 Ćor.v. He makes us become new Creatures, and regenerates us by the uncorruptible Seed, 1 Pet. i. This is that which the Scripture names the firft Refurrection, St. Peter was ravish'd in Admiration at this great and wonderful Benefit, and therefore he acknowledg'd it. Bleffed be the God and Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, which, according to his abundant Mercy, bath begotten us again unto a lively Hope, by the Refurrection of Jefus Chrift from the Dead, 1 Pet. i. God difcover'd to the Prophet Ezekiel a Field cover'd with dry Bones, and commanded him to prophefie upon thefe Bones, Ezek. xxxvii. At the prophet's Command, they began to draw near to one another, then the Nerves be gan to appear, the Flesh to grow, and to be cover'd with Skin, but there was no Life until God commanded the Prophet to prophefie again, Thus faith the Lord, Spirit, come from the four Winds, blow upon thefe dead Bodies, and let them rife from the dead. Then the Spirit entred into them, they began to revive, and they stood upon their Legs. This is the lively and true Image of the firft Refurrection. For the Spirit of God that blows whither

Rev. XX.

it lifteth, regenerates us by degrees, John lii. and the new Man is created in our Hearts by little and little, as the Child grows in its Mother's Womb.

When Joshua brought the Children of Ifrael into the Land of Promife, he destroyed not all the Canadnites, Fofb. xxiii. there remain'd fome who became Scourges in their Sides, and Thorns in their Eyes. Thus our true and fpiritual Joshua, who had led us into the Kingdom of his Grace, hath not altogether destroy'd all our evil Affections; fome yet remain that are like Prickles in our Sides, and like Swords that pierce thro' our Souls. They yet render our Life bitter and unplea fant, therefore we often defire Death to come and put a Period to this Conflict. Sin was in Poffeffion of us as a ftrong Man arm'd in an House; but Jefus Christ is enter'd into our Souls, and become Mafter; he hath therefore bound and chain'd Sin, and hath nail'd it to his Crofs. But this furious Beaft, tho' it hath receiv'd a mortal Wound, and is ready to give up the laft Gafp, it ftruggles and foams withinus. Our bleffed Saviour hath extinguish'd with the red Stream of his Blood, the infernal Flames of our curfed Affections; but yet there remains in the Afhes fome Sparkles of this develish Fire, that yet caufe in us feverish Fits. Only this merciful Redeemer, of his infinite Goodness hath loofed us from the Devil's Chains; but that we might have Cause to be humble, to defire the Encrease of Grace, and long for the Arrival of his Glory, he leaves about us fome of the troublefome Fetters: By his holy Spirit he files them off by degrees; but one Day he will take them away from us.

At the Voice of this Prince of Life, that reaches to the very bottom of our Hearts, we are rifen from the Sepulchre of our Vices with our Grave Cloaths about us, as Lazarus when he came out of his Tomb. We are like the ancient Slaves who werefet at Liberty; we bear upon our Foreheads the vifible Marks of our ancient Bondage; but one Day our Lord Jefus Chrift fhall cover thefe Marks of Infamy and Difgrace with an heavenly

Diadem.