Altho' 'tis appointed unto all Men once to die, Heb. ix. I dare affirm that Death hath no Caufe to triumph, because the chief Advantage is not on that Side. We read in the Book of Esther, that King Abafuerus would not recal the Proclamation that he had fent forth against the Jews, but he gave them full Liberty to take up Arms to defend themfelves, to attack their Enemies, and to make them fuffer all the Mischief they intended against them. I find fomething like unto this Proceeding; for God would not call back the Sentence of Death pronounc'd against Mankind in the Garden of Eden; nevertheless he allows us, nay, he commands his true Ifrael to take up Arms against Death, to conquer and trample it under Feet.

T

In the first Place, Jefus Chrift, our Head, hath encounter'd with Death, and overcome it, he hath purfued it into its Trenches, and baffled it in its own Fortification; Death thought to have devoured him, but it hath been devoured it felf. As the Fishes are taken by the Hook that they think to fwallow; and as the Bees hurt thofe whom they fting, but do greater harm to themselves; for they caufe a prefent Pain in our Body, and a Heat that foon ceafeth; but they prejudice themfelves more; for they break their Stings, and lofe thereby their Lives: Thus Death, by fixing its Sting in the Humanity of Jefus Chrift, hath put him to a great deal of Pain for a Time, but it hath thereby loft all Strength and Vigour for ever.

The Men of Judah, to fatisfy the enrag'd Philiflines, deliver'd into their Hands Sampfon, bound with Ropes. When they faw him, they gave feveral joyful Shouts but the Spirit of God came upon him in fuch a Manner, that he tore in pieces the two Ropes wherewith be was bound, and overcame them by whom he was to be led away Prifoner, and killed a Thousand of them, Thus the miferable Jews, for fear of the Romans, deliver'd unto them our Lord Jefus Chrift, their Brother according to the Flesh, bound like a Malefactor. When Hell faw him nailed to the Cross, and afterwards laid

in a Grave, it did wonderfully rejoyce the Devil, and his Angels began to fing Songs of Triumph. But it was altogether impoffible that the Prince of Life fhould be detain'd in the Prifons of Death. He hath not only broken out of the Grave by his infinite Power, but hath alfo trampled under Feet all his moft furious Enemies, and overcome Millions of infernal Fiends. And to declare how Life and Death were in his Power, he hath baffled Death, when he was, as it were, a Prifoner fhut up in its Dungeon. He hath broke open the Gates of this black Prison, and torn in pieces all its Fetters. For when he was yet in the Grave, he raised to Life many that were dead, who were feen in the holy City; and yet at prefent he holds in his Hand the Keys of Death and of Hell. Therefore, as Children rejoyce at their Father's Victory, and as the Subjects are concern'd at the profperous Proceedings of their King, and as the Members are the better for the Glory and Honour of their Head; thus may we justly glory in the most notable Victories, and famous Triumphs of Jefus Chrift, who is our Father, King, and Head. We may alfo juftly glory that we are Lords of Death, and that we have overcome it in the Perfon of our great God and Saviour; I fay th's after the Apoftle St. Paul, That God hath quicken'd us together, and railed us together, and made us to fit together in beavenly Places with Jefus Christ, Eph. ii.

Moreover, as our Saviour hath once overcome Death by us, he continues to fubdue it in and by us. He suffers us not to encounter with our Enemies alone, nor leaves us in our Agonies; but as in a Day of Battel, a wife and provident General hath an Eye in every Place, and encourages, by his Action and Voice, his Soldiers, whom he perceives at handy-blows with the Enemy; fome he loads with Praifes, others with Promifes; by that means he encourageth fuch as behave themselves bravely; refcues the weak and feeble, and to fuch as are over-born, he furnishes them with fresh Supplies: Thus deals with us our Lord and Saviour D 4

Jefus

Jefus Chrift the great God of Hoffs, who fits above in the Heavens in Triumph, and beholds all our Combats and Encounters. When he perceives us too weak, that we might not be overcome by our dreadful E nemies, he furnishes us with his holy Spirit, and his own Armour, as Jonathan did David, when he de livered to him his Cloak, his Bow, his Belt, and Sword. Befides, this merciful Saviour difarms Death of its most hurtful Weapons, and takes away all its Arrows and Darts.

As the Strength and Power of Sampson lodg'd in the Hair of his Head, which the Philistines cou'd ne'er have imagin'd; fo the Strength and Power of Death confifts in fuch things as the World leaft dreams of. The most dreadful Weapons, with which it terrifics and beats us, are the Thunderbolts and Curfes of the Law, and our Sins are Poison in which it dips its Arrows, or rather our Sins are the fiery Darts with which it wounds and deftroys us. Now Jefus Chrift hath redeem'd us from the Curfe of the Law, when he became a Curfe for us, Gal. iii. He hath carried our Sins in his Body upon the Crofs, 1 Pet. H. And as the He-goat Harazel, hath tranfported them away into an uninhabitable Defart, Lepit. xvi. He hath removed them from the Eyes of our God, as far as the Eaft is from the Weft; he hath caft them to the bottom of the Ocean, and drown'd them in his Blood; fo that we may now fee fulfill'd, what was foretold by the Prophet Jeremiah, the Iniquity of Ifrael fhall be fought for, and there shall be none, and the Sins of Juda, and they shall not be found, Chap. 1.

Therefore, being befriended with the Grace of God, and arm'd with the Virtue of his holy Spirit, let us fhew our Courage, and defie Death; let us look it in the Face without Fear, laugh at all its Threats, and encounter it without Dread, fortis now like an infolent Soldier without Weapons; 'tis like a Bee without its Sting; 'tis like an old Lion that roars, but hath loft all his Claws; 'tis like a Snake that would convey its Poifon, but hath no venomous Teeth left, having

been

been pulled out by him, who hath bruifed the Serpent's Head.

If you confider nothing but Death's Exterior, its Face and fearful Appearance, its frigid Eyes, its meager Body, its iron'd Hands; you cannot perceive any Difference between the Death of God's Children, and that of the moft wicked Varlets. But if you lift up the Mafque, and examine the Death of the one, and of the other more exactly, you will meet with as great Difference as betwixt Heaven and Earth, the Paradife of God and Hell. For as Mofes's brazen Serpent, which he lift up in the Defart, had the Form and Appearance of a burning Serpent, but nothing of the Poison and Fire: Thus the Death of the Faithful appears as the Death of other Men, but hath not the deadly and pernicious Confequences. For 'tis not only a Sign and a Teftimony of God's Grace and Favour, but the beginning of our Deliverance, and the cure of all Difeafes. As Mofes when he had caft Wood into the Waters of Marah, they had the fame Colour, but not the fame Bitterness, and unpleasant Tafte: Thus the Death of God's dearest Children hath the fame Tincture and Appearance as before; but Chrift's Cross hath taken away the Danger, the Trouble, and extracted out of it diftaftful Bitterness, and chang'd it into unfpeakable Sweetness. As Pharoah was drown'd, with all his Army, in the Waters of the Red-fea, but the Children of Ifrael found a fecure and pleafant Paffage into the promifed Land; when they were arrived upon the other Shore of that dreadful Sea, they fung unto God Songs of Triumph and Thanksgiving: Thus Death opens its Jaws to devour the Reprobates. 'Tis an Abyfs where they can find no bottom; but unto the Children of God 'tis a favourable Paffage into an eternal Blifs; as foon as they are gone through, they are arrived at the Place of Affurance, Joy, and Reft, where God furnishes them with Songs of Triumph and Thanksgiving to the Lamb, Rev. i. 15.

Balaam.

Balaam the Prophet was called to curfe the People of God, but he bleffed them, contrary to the vain Expectation of Balak, King of Moab. Thus Death hath been brought into the World by the Devil, to destroy and utterly abolish the holy Seed; but God by his infinite Goodness and Wisdom, hath chang'd it into Salvation and Bleffing. Let us not therefore be any longer puzzled to find out the Meaning of Sampfon's Riddle, Out of the Eater came forth Meat, and out of the Strong came forth Sweetness, Judg. xiv. For the Church of God, unto whom Chrift hath discover'd the most excellent Secrets of his Kingdom, teaches us to feek the fweeteft Comforts out of the Belly of this old Lion.

'Tis not poffible to judge of Mufick by a fingle Note, or of an Oration by a Period, nor of a Comedy by a Scene. So we muft not judge of a Battel by the firft Affault, nor of a Wrestling by the first Embraces and Efforts of the Wreftlers. For fome in the beginning of the Battel turn their Backs, who nevertheless at laft often win the Victory; and fome in Wrestling are foiled at the beginning, who neverthelefs fupplant their Enemy, and caft him upon the Ground. Therefore, that we may better understand the great and notable Advantages that we have over Death, we must examine it all alone until the End of the Encounter; we must take notice of every Affault that we give unto this unreconcilable Enemy.

As foon as the Taper of our Life begins to burn, Satan fends forth his Blafts to extinguish it. Death labours to undermine this poor Dwelling from the first Moment that it was built, befieges it on all Sides, makes its Approaches, in time it faps the Foundation, it batters us with feveral Diseases and unexpected Accidents, every Day it opens a Breach, and pulls out of this Building fome Stones. But if Death labours to demolish on her part, we on ours labour to repair: And as thofe who built the Walls of Jerufalem held with one Hand the Trowel, and with the other a Sword to fight, fo we defend our felves, as well as we are able,

against