SERMON XXV.
Vhat man is he that llveth, and shall not see death? AT first, God gave the judgrnent of death upon man, vhen he should transgress, absolutely, 3Iorte norleris, Thou shalt surely die; the woman in ber dialogue with the Serpent, she mollifies it,/r.forte »orianur, perchance, if we eat, we may die; and then the devil is as peremptory on tho other side, fnoriemini, Do what)-ou will, surely you shall hot die; and now God in this text cornes to his reply, Quis est hono, Shall they hot die. Give me but one instance, but one exception to rule, What tan if he tat li'eth, and hag wt e death? Let « 1 Thé. i. 6. 2K2 no man, no wonmn, no devil otfer a Nefirte, (perchance we die) much le a N«oEuaoE, (Surely we shM1 hot die) except he be proided of an answer to this question, except instance against this general, exceçt he can produce tht man's naine, and history, that hth lived, and sha hot see death. We are all conceied in close prison; in ou mothe ombs, we are cle prisone all when we are born, we are born but to the libey of the houoe; prisoners i, thouh vithin ]arger walls: and then a our lire is but a going out to the place of execution, to death. Now vas there mer any man seen to slcep in the ca, betwecn Newate, and Tyburn between the prison, and the lace of cxution, does any man sleep And we sloep all the ay; from the womb to the gve we are never thoroughly awake; t pass on with such dreams, and imainations these, I y live we, as anoEher, and hy should I die, rathe tan another but awake, and tell me, says this text, homo? Who is that other that thou talke of la ma s e tat lireth, and shall hot see death? In these words, we shall firs for out general humiliation, consider the unanswerableness of this question, There is no man that lires, and shall hot oee death. Secony, we shaH see, hov at mofication of E'e may stand, For moriemur, How there may be a probable answer ruade to this question, that it is like enough, that there are some men that lire, and shall hot see death: and thiroejq we shaH find that truly oken, whieh thë devil spake deceitfully then, we shall find the %quaq«am verified, we shall find a rect, and full aner to this question; ve shall find a man that lives, and shall hot see death, out Lord, and Saviour Christ Jesus, of vhom both St. Aubaine, and St. Hierome, do take this question to be principaHy asked, and this text to be principally intended. Ask me this question then, of aH the sons of men, general]y ilty of orinal s, Quis homo, and I am speess, I can make no answer; ask me th question of those men, which shall be alive upon eaah at the la day, when Christ com to judent, Quis homo, and I can make a probable answer; Forte moriemur, Pemhance they shall die it is a problematical matter, and we say nothing too peremptorily. Ask me this qution without relation to original sin, sE. xxv.] VACnD O ASrR D'. -501 Quia homo, and then I will answer directl.; fully, confldently, E« homo, There was a man that lived, and was hOt subject fo death by the law, neither did he actua]ly die so, but that he fulfilled the test of this verse; own power, he delivered his soul from the hand of the grave. From the first, this lesson rises, general doctrines must be generally delivered, ail men must die; from the sccond, this lesson, collatcral, and unrevealed doctrines must be sober]y delivered, how we shall be changed at the ]ast day, we lnow hot so clearly: from the third, this lesson arises, conditional doctrines must be conditionally delivered, Iï we be dead with him, we shall be raised with him. First then, for the generality, those other degrees of punishment, which God inflicted upon Adam, and Eve, and in them upon us, were as absolutely, and illimitedly pronounced, as this of death, and yet we see, they are many ways extended, or contracted; to man it was said, I the sweat of t]ty brows, thou sltalt eat thy bread, and how many men never sweat, till they sweat with eating. To the woman it was said, Th!! desire shall be to th!! husbatd, and he shall rule orer thee: and how many women bave no desire to their husbands, how many over-rule them Hunger, and thirst, and weariness, and sickiless are denounced upon all, and yct iï you ask me Qtds ho»to? Vhat is that man that hungers and thrsts not, that labours not, that sickens not I can tell you of many, that never felt any of these; but contract the question to that one of death, Qt«is homo? What man is he that shall hOt faste death. and I lmow none. XVhethcr we consider the summer solstice, when the day is sixteen hours, and the night but eight, or the winter solstice, when the night is sixteen hours, and the day but eight, still ail is but twenty-four hours, and still the evening and morning make but a day: the patriarchs in the Old Tcstament had their summer-day, long lires; we are in the winter, short-lived; but Qui, homo? Vhich of' them, or us, corne hOt to our night in death. If we consider violent deaths, casual deaths, it is almost a scornful thing to see, with what wantonness, and sportfulness, death plays with us; we haro seen man cannon-proof in the rime of war, and slain with his own pistol in the rime of' perce: we htve seen, man
0 ")' IREACHED ON E.kSTEE DAY. [SER. V. recovered aîter his drownin, nd lire to hn hilî. u îor tht one kind oF des,h, which is enerl, (thouh nohin e in truth more against nature than disoelution, and corruption, which is death)we are come to call that death, natural death, than which, indeed, noEhing is more unnatural; the generality mak it natural; Mes says, that man's age is seventy, and eighty is labour and pain; and yet himself was more than eighty, and in a go ate, and habitude when he said so. h'o lenh, no strenh enables us to answer this Quis omo? tYat man Take a fiat map, globe i plano, and here is E, and there is Vest, far asunder a two points can be put: but reduce this fiat map to roundness, which is the true form, and then and Vest touch one another, d are all one: so consider man's lire aright, to be a circle, Dust tou art, and to retrn; Naed I ca, and na'ed I mst yo ; in this, the circle, the two points meet, the womb and the grave are but one point, they make but one station, there is but ep from that to this. This brought in that custom amont the Greek emperors, that ever at the day oftheir coronation, they were presented th several sorts of marble, that they might then bpeak their tomb. And this brought in tht custom into the Primitive church, that they called the maaym" days, wherein they suffered, Nitia martyrum, Their birth days; birth, nd death is a one. Their death w birth to em into another lire, into the glory dE G; it ended one cioele, and created another; for immoality, and eternity is circle too; not a circle where tvo points meet, but cimle ruade at once; this lire is a circle, ruade with comp, that pses from point to point circle stamped with print, au endls, and perfect circle, sn as it begins. Of this cioele, the mathetician h our great and goed G; the other circle we make up ourselves; we bring the cradle, and grave together by a course of nature. Every mau does; Mi ykeber, says the original; It is not Ishe, wch is the first naine of man, in the Scriptures, and siifies nothing but sot,d; a voice, a word, a musical air dies, and evaporates; what wonder if man, that is but lshe, asoud, die t It hot Adam, which is anoer name of man, and siifies notng but red xc. 10. * Job i.
ses. xxv.] P¢,CHV O .Srt V.,,Y. 503 eat; let it be earth red with blood, (with tht murder which we hae doue upon ourselves) let if be eah red with blhiug, (se the word is used in the original) with conscience out o iufimity, wht wonder if mzu, tht is but Am, guihy o this self-murder in himself, guilty o this in-bots fmilty in himself, die too It is net Eues, which third nme of nmn, and signifies nothing but wretced and mis«a61¢ ¢reature; what wouder if man, that is but earth, tht is burden te his neighbours, te his fi'ien, te his kin&d, te himoelf, te whom ail other nd te whom myself dires death, what wonder if ho die [ But this question is framed upon noue of these nmes net Ise, net Adam, net Eues; but it is yher, Quis ir; which is the word always signifying man accomplished in all exceencies, man accompaniM with advantages fume, and good opinion justly couceived, koeps him from being Ise, a mere sound, standing only upon popular accl mation; innocency and integrity keeps him frein being Adam, red earth, frein ble«ling, or blushing st anything ho lmth doue; tht holy and religions a of arts, which St. Paul professed, he knew how to want, and kow to aboud, keeps him from being Enoa, miserable or wmtched in any founo; he great man, and a goed man, a happy man, and a holy man, and yet 3li 9heber, Quis homo, This man nmst seo death. And thereforo wo wi carry this question a little highor, from Quis homo, to Q«tk deorum, Which of tho gods haro hot seen death A sk if of those, who are ds by paicipation of God's power, of thoso of whom God says, I hae said, ye are.qo&, and God answors for them, and of them, and to them, You shall die like wn; ask if of thoso gods, who are gods by imputtion whom creaturou bave created, whom men have ruade ds, tho gods of tho heathen, and do wo not know, whero ail theso go died Sometimes divers places dispute, who hath their tombs; but do they hot deny their godhead in confessing their tombs do they hot l answer, That they cannot answer flfis text, 9li gheber, Quis homo, What man, Quis deorum, Vhat d of man's making bath hot seen death As Justin 5Iart asks that question, Why should I pray to Apollo or Escapius for health, Qui aTud Chiroem mediciiam didicert«ut, when I know who
50 PAc» os ArL wY. [sErt. xxv. tauht them ail that they knew . so why should I lk for immoality from such or such a god, whose rave I nd for a witness, that he himself is dead ay, carry this question higher than so, from this Qt«i oo to Q«id omo, Vhat is there in the nature and essence of man, free from death [ The whole man not, for the slution of body and soul is death. The by hot; I shall as soen find an immoral rose, an eternal flower, an immoaal by. And for the immoality of the soul, it is safelier said fo be immortal by preservation, than ioaal naturc; that God keeps it from dying, than, that it cannot die. Ve maify God in an humble and faithful ackuowledgment of the immortalitv of out souls, but if we ask, QuM &omo, What there in the nature of man, that should keep him from death, even in that point, the question is not easily answered. It is every man's case then; every man dies; and though it may perchance be but a mere Hebraism to say, That every man shall »ce deat, perchance it amouuts to no more, but to that phrase, Gustare ortem, To taste deatb, yet thus much may be implied in it too. that as every man must die, so every nan may sec, that he must die as it cannot be avoided, soit may be undetoed. A beast dies, but he docs hot sec death; St. Basil says , He w an ox weep for the death of his yokfellow; but St. Basil niyht mistake the occasion of that ox's tears. lany men die too, and vet do not sec death; the aperohes of death anmze then, and stupify them; they feel uo colluctation with powers, and principalities, Ul)OU their death-bed that is truc; they feel no terrors in their consciences, no apprehensions of judent, upon their death-bed that is truc; and this we call going away like lb. But the Lamb of God had a sorroçul sexe of death; his soul was heavy unto death, and he had an apprehension, that his Father had foaken him; and in text, the Chaldee paraplase exprees it thus, 'debit anyelz«m rtis, He shall sec a messengcr, a forerunner, a power of dea, an executioner of death, he shall oee something with horror, though hOt such shall shake his moral, or his Christian constancy. So that this Vldebut, They sall sec, implies al a ses. xxv.] rEAcnEv ON .ASTE VA'. 505 They bave seen, that is, they bave used to sec death, to observe a death in the decay of themselves, and of every creature, and of the whole world. Ahnost fourteen hundred years ago, St. Cyprian writing against Demetrianus, who imputed all the wars, and deaths, and unseasonablenesses of that rime, to the contcmpt, and irreligion of the Christians, that they were the cause of ail those ills, because they would hOt worsbip their gods, Cyprian imputes ail those distempers to the age of the whole world; Canos idems in Izueris, says he, We see children born 'ayheaded; Caloilli de.ficiunt, attequam crescat, Their hair is changed, before it be grown. IVee a't«ts in senectttte desinit, »ed incipit a senecttte, We do hot die with age, but we are born old. Many of us have seen death in out particular selves in many of those steps, in which the moral nau* expresses it; We bave seen l[ortem iantiw, l«eritian, The death of infancy in youth; and Pt«eritiw, adolescentia», And the death of youth in out midd]e age and at last we shall see lllortem sewctt«tis, mortem il»am, The death of age in death itself. But et after that, a stop farther than that moral man went, 2Iortem mortis in wrte Jes«, We shall sec the death of death itself in the death of Christ. As we could not be clothed at first, in Faradise, till some creatures were dead, (for we were clothcd in beasts" tskins) so wc cannot be clothed in heaven, but in his garmeut who died tbr us. This Uidebunt, this future sight of deafl implies a tdertnt, They bave seen, they bave studied death in every book, in every creature; and it implies a lïdet, Thcy do presently sec death in every object, they sec thc hourglass running to the death of the hour; they see the death of some profane thoughts in themself'es, by the outrance of some religious thought of compunction, and conversion to God; and then thcy sec the death of that religious thought, by an inundation of new profane thoughts, that overflow those. As Christ says, That as often as we eat the Sacramental bread, wo should remember his death, so as often, as we eut ordinary bread, we may remcmber out death; for even hunger and thirst, are diseases; thcy are lIors quatidiana, A daily death , and if they lasted long, would kill us. Seneca. » Bernard, Augustiae.
506 rR«CH.v Os ESrER Wr. [sR. XXV. In e-ery objcct and subject, we ail haï'e, and do, and shall see death; hOt to out comfort as an end of misery, hot only as such a misery in itself, as the philosopher takes it to e, ll[ors omnlttm misiirum, That death is the death of ll misery, because it destroys and dissolves out being; but as it is 'tipendlum pevvati, The reward of sln; that as Solomon says, Itdi.qnatio reyis ciua mortis, The wrath of the kin.o, is as a messen.yer of death «, so lors mtncius ind@atiogs reyis, We sec in death a testimolty, that our heavenly king is angry; for, but for his indignation aga.inst out tins, we should hot die. And this death, as it is malum, ill, (for if ye weigh if in the philosopher's balance, it is an annihilation of out present being, and if ye weigh it in the Divine balance, it is a seal of God's anger against sin) so this death is general; of this, this question there is no answer, Quis homo, "Vhat man, &c. "Ve pass then from the morte wriemiff, to the forte morlemini, from the generality and the unescapeableness of death, from this question, as it admits no answer, fo the forte moriembti, perchance we shall die; that is, to the question as if may adroit a probable answer. Of which, we said at first, that in such questions, nothing becomes a Çhristian better than sobriety; fo make a truc difference between problematical, and dogmatical points, betwcen upper buildings, and foundations, between collateral doctrines, and doctrines in the right line: for fundamental things,,_'ine lcesitatione eredantur , They must be believed without disputing; there is no more to ho donc for them, but believing; for things that are hot so, we are fo weigh them in two balances, in the balance of analogy, and in the balance of scandal: we must hold them so, as may be analogal, proportionablo, agreeablo to the articles of out faith, and we must hold them so, as our brother be not justly offended, nor scandalized by them; we must weigh them with faith, for our own strength, and we must weigh flem with charity, for others' weakness. Certainly nothing endangers a church more, than to draw indifferent things fo be necessary; I mean of a primary necessity, of a necessity to be belicved de ride, hot a secondary necessity, a necessity to bc performed and practised for obedience: without doubt, the Roman church t Prov. xvi. 14. Augustine.
rcpents now, and sees now that shc should bcttcr bave prcserved herself, if they had hot denied so many paicular things, which were indifferently and problematicMly disputed before o be had neccssarily de,de, in thv Council of Trent. Taking then this text for a problem, a maz lies, andall no »ee deat? Vo answer, if may be that those men, whom Christ shall find upon tho eah alive, at his retn to judge tho world, shall die then, and it may be they shall but ho ehanged, and hot die. That Christ slmll judge quick and deS, is a fundamental thing; wo hear it in St. Peter's sermon, fo Cornelius and his eompany, and wo say it every day in the Creed, I[e »Aallj«dye te 9uick and te dead . But though we do hOt take the qtdck and the dead, as Augustine and Chrysostom do, for tho rihtus whieh lived in faith, and the unrighteous, which vere dead in sin, though we do not take the quick and the dead, as Ruffinus and others do, for the soul and the body, e shalljudge the ul, whieh was always alive, and he shall the body, which was dead for a rime) though wo tako tho words ( becomes us best) literally, yet the letter does not conclude, but that they, whom Christ shall find alive upon earth, shall have a present and sudden dissolution, and a present and sudden re-union of body and soul again. Saint Paul ys, Behold I show you a mgsterg"; therefore it is hot a clear case, and preaently, and peremptorily determined; but what is if lVe hall ot all deep, bot we hall all be chaged. But whether this sleeping bo spoke of death itself, and exclude that, that wo hall hot dio, or whether thi sleep be spoko of a reat in the grave, and oxclude that, wo shaH hot be buried, and remaln in death, that may bo a mystery still. St. Paul say too, The dead in Christ hall rie flmt; ten we u'hich are alive, aad remaD,,hall be caught 7» together u'ith tem i the clouds, to meet te Lord in the air *. But whcther that may hot still ho truc, that St. Augustine says, that thero shall be J[or in raTtu, an instant and sudden disunion, and runion of body and ul, which is death, who can tell So on the other side, when if is said fo him, in whom ail wo were, to Adam, Pulda es, Dust thoa art, and iuto dut thon hak returu , when if la raid, I Adam all die ll, whcn it is said, Death pa»sed npon all mm, for all bave slnned 3, why may hot all those sentcnees of Seripture, whieh imply a neeessity of dying, adroit that restriction, Ni»i diejudicii aturee curum immutet ', We shall ail die, exeept thosc, in whom the eoming of Christ shall change the course of nature. Considcr the Seriptures thon, and we shall be absolutcly eoneluded ncithcr way; eonsidcr authority, and we shail find the fathers for the most part one way, and the sehool for the most part anothcr; take latcr men, and all thosc in the loman ehureh; thon Cajctan thinks, that tllcy shall not die, and Catharin is so pcrcmptory, that they shall, as that he says of the othcr opinion, Faleam esse cooEdenter asserimns, et contra,ç'crlpturas »atis manifestas, et omnino sine ratione; ]tis false, and against Seripturcs, and reason, saith he; take later mon, and all those in thc Reformed ehureh; and Calvin says, Quia aboletur prior natura, censetur species mortis, sed not ni.qrabit anima à corloore; St. Paul ealls it deth, bceausc it is a destruction of tlle former bcing; but it is hot truly dcath, saith Calvin; and Luthcr saith, That St. PauFs purpose in thnt place is only fo show the suddcnncss of Christ's eoming to jude-ment, No aute» i»ficlatur omnes morituros; nam dormire, est sepeliri: but St. Paul doth hot dcny, but that all shall die; for that slecping whieh hc speaks of, is burial; alld all shall die, tllough all shall not bc buried, aith Luthcr. "l'ake then that whieh is certain; it is certain; a judgment thou must pass: if thy close and cautelous proceeding have saved fllee from all informations in the Exchequer, thy clearness of thy title from ail courts at co'nmlon law, thy moderation ïrom the Chan_ ccry, and Star Chambcr, if height of thy place, and authority, have sved thee, even froln the tongues of men, so that ill men daro hOt slander thy actions, nor good men dare hot discover thy actions, no not to thyself, all those judments, and all the judgments of the world, are but interlocutory judnents; there is a final judgment, I judicantes et judicatos, against prisoners and judges too, where all shail be judged again; Datum est omnejudicium, Ail judgment is given to the Son of man , and upon ail the l 1 Cor. xv. 22. s Rom. v. 12. Pet. Iart. John v.
sons of men must his judmnent pass. A judgment is certain, and the uncertainty of this judgment is certain too; perchance God will put off thy judgment; thou shalt hot die yet; but who knows whether God in his mercy, do put off this judgment, till these good motions which his blessed Spirit inspires into thee now, may take foot, and receive growth, and bring ïorth ïruit, or whether he put it oiT, for a hearier judgment, to let thee sec, by thy departing ïrom these good motions, and retttrning to thy former sins, aïter a remorse conceived against those sins, that thou art inexcusable even to thyself, and thy condemnatiou is just, even to thine own conscience. So perchance God will bring this judmnent upon thee now; now thou mayest die; but whether Goal will bring that judgment upon thee now, in mercy, whilst his graces, in his ordinance of preaching, work some tenderness in thee, and gives thee some preparation, some fitness, some courage to say, 1éi Domine Jesu, Corne Lord Jesu, corne quickly, corne now, or whether he will corne now la judnent, because ail this can work no tenderness in thee, who can tell. Thou hearest the word of God preached, as thou hearest an oration, with some gladness in thyself, if thou canst hear him, and never be moved by his oratory; thou thinkest it a deee of wisdom, to be above persuasion; and when thou art told, that he that fears God, fears nothing else, thou thinkest thyself more valiant than so, if thou fear aot God neither; whether or why God defers, or hastens the judgment, we knov not; this is certain, this all St. PauFs places collineate to, this all the fathers, and all the school, all the Cajetans, and all the Catharins, all the Luthers, and all the Calvins agle in, aflMg»ent mtst be, and it must be 1 ict,t octtli, In the teitdlittg of ar eye, and Fur it octe, A thief in the nçoht. Make the question, Quis homo . What man is he that liveth, and shall hot pass this judgment. Or, what man is he that liveth, and knows when this judgment shall be. So it is a nemo sclt, a question without an answer; but ask it, as in the text, Quis homo? Vho liveth, and shall hot die. So it is a problematieal marrer; and in such things as are problematical, if thou love the peace of Sion, be hot too inquisitire to know nor too vehement, when thou thinkest thou dost know it.
Corne then to ask tl,is question, hot problematioEy, ( it is coutracted to them that sall lire in the la dys) nor rily of man, as he is subject to oriin sin) but at large, so, the question may include Christ himoelf, and then to that o»w Wat man is e? We answer direetly, here is the man that shaH hOt sec death; and of him prineipally, and literaHy, St. Augustine (as we raid before) mkes this question' to be fi'amed; Ut quas, dictum, non ut despere,, saith he, This que tion is moved, to more thee to seek out, and to bave thy to that mau which is the Lord of Lift, not to make thee des, air, that there is o such man, in whose se, and in whom, for ail there is redemption from death: for, says he, this question h an exception to that which w said belote the text; whieh IVerore a«t tou de all n in «aih? Consider it better, mys the Holy Ghost, here, and it w not prove ; man is hOt me in vain at first, though he do die now; for, erditio tua te, This death proceeds from man himseF; and Quar doem« Israd? lVy ill ye die, 0 ouse OE Israd? God ruade not death, neither bath he pleasure in the destruction of the living; the wise man says it ', and the truc God swears it, s I lire saitl the LoM, I on hot t deatl OE a sinner. God did no trente man in vain then, though he e; nog in vain, for since he will needs e, God receives glory even by his death, in execmion of his justice; hot in vain neither, eauso hough be dead, God hath provided him Redeemer from death, in his mercy; man is hot created in vain n aH; nor nil men, o near vanity as to die; for here is one man, God and Man Chris Jesus, which liveth, and shall hot see death. And confonnable to Austine's p», speaks St. Hierome toe, 'cio d homo mrne ad, sed nozi Deum sub ento rnis latentem I know there is no man but shl die; but I know where thero is a G clothed in man's flesh, d that person cannog die. But did hot Christ die then Shall we join any of heretics, wch brought Christ upon the stage to play n pa, nnd y he was bore, or lived, or died, in hanste, in appearanee only, and repreoentation; G forbid; a men wer« erted in vain indeed, if wo d nog u regeneration in hi rue death.
SEHo XXVo] PEACHED ON EASTEH DA¥o 511 Where is the contract between him, and his Father, that yati, ail thls Christ ought fo suaer, and so enter into flory: ]s that contract void, and of none effect. Iust he hot die . Where is the ratification of that contract in all the prophe¢s . Where is Esay' Vere languore8 nostros tulit , S'urdg he bath borne out sorrow; and, he ruade his grave with the wicked in his death? Is the ratification of the prophets cancelled. Shall he hot, mt he hot die. Vhere is the consummation, and the testification of ail this. Vhere is the Gospe], Cwsummatum est. And ke bowed hk head, and gave.up the.qhost? Is that fabulous . Did he hOt die. How stands the validity of that eontraet, Christ must die; the dignity of those propheeies, Christ will die; the truth of the Gospel, Christ did die, with this answer fo this question, Here is a man that liveth and shall hot sec death. Very well; for though Christ Jesus did truly die, so as was eontracted, so as was prophesied, so as was related, yet ho did hot die so, as was intended in this question, so as other natural men do die. For first, Christ died beeause he would die; other men admitted fo the dignity of martyrdom, are willing to die; but they die by the torments of the exeeutioners, they eannot bid their souls go out, and say, now I will die. And this was Christ's case: it was not only, I hty clown mg lire for my shee_p , but he says also, Ao man ca take away mg soul; and, I have goower fo lay it dou'a; and de facto, he did lay it down, he did die, before the torment. could bave extorted his soul from him; many crucifled men lived many days upon the cross; the thieves were alive, long after Christ was dead; and therefore Pilate wondered, that he was already dead. His soul did hot leave his body by force, but beeause he would , and when he would, and how he would; thus far then first, this is an answer to this question, Quis homo Christ did hot die naturally, nor violently, as ail others do, but only voluntarily. Again, the penalty of death appertaining only to them, who were derived from Adam by camal, and sinful generation, Christ Jesus being eonceived miraculously of a virgin, by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, was hot subject fo the law of death; and therefore in his person, it is a truc answer fo thi r Ieaiah ti. 4, 9. ze John x. 16. ia ]lar. xv. 44. Augustine.
512 PREACHEn ON EASTR nAY. [SR. XXV. pUiS OmO? Here is" a man, that shall hot sec death, that is, he need not sec death, he bath hot incurred God's displeasure, he is hot involved in a general rebellion, and therefore is not involved in the general mortality, hOt included in the general penalty. He needed hot bave died by the rigour of any law, al] we must; he could hot die by the malice, or force of any executioner, ail ve must; at least by 'ature's.eneral executioners, age, and sickness; and then, when out of his ovn pleasure, and to advance out salvation, he would die, yet he died so, as that though there were a disunion of body and soul, (which is truly death) yet there remained a nobler, and faster union, than that of body anti soul, the h)Tostatical union of the Godhead, hot only to his soul, but to his body too; so that even in his death, both parts were still, hot only inhabited by, but united to the (odhead itself; and in respect of that inseparable union, we may answer to this question, Q«is omo? Here is a man that shall hot sec death, that is, he shall sec no separation of that, which is incomparably, and incomprehensibly, a etter sonl than his soul, the Godhead shall hot be separated from his body. But, that which is indeed the most direct, and literal answer, to this question, is, that whereas the death in this text, is intended of sueh a death, as hath dominion over us, and from which we have no power to raise ourIves, we may truly, and fully answer to his Quis ]omo Here is a man, that shall never sec death so, but that he shall even in the jaws, and teeth of death, and in the bowels and womb of the grave, and in the sink, and fumace of hell itself, retain an Ahnighty power, and an effectual purpose, to deliver his soul from death, by a glorious, a victorious, and a triumphant resurrection: so it is truc, Christ Jesus died, else none of us could lire; but yet he died not so, as is intended in this question; not by the necessity of any law, hot by the violence of an), executioner, not by the separation of his best soul, (if we may so call it) the Godhead, nor by such a separation of his natural, and human soul, as that he would hot, or cou]d not. or did hOt resume it again. If then this question had been asked of angels at first, Quis agêlus? What angel is that, that stands, and shal] hOt fall. Though as many of those angels, as were disposed to that answer,
Erimus similes altlssimo, 'We will be like God, and stand of ourselves, without any dependence upon him, did fid], yet otherwise they might have ansvered the question fairly, all we may stand if we will; if this question had been asked of Adam in Paradise, Quis omo? though when he hearkened to her, who had hearkened to that voice, Eritls sicut dii, You shall be as.qoJ«, he fell too, yet otherwise, he might bave answered the question fidrly so, I may live, and hot die, if I vill; so, if this question be asked of us now, as the question implies the general penalty, as it considers us only as the sons of Adm, we bave no other answer, but that by Adam sin entered upon all, and death by sin upon all; as it implies the state of them only, whom Christ at his second coming slmll find upon earth, we ha-e no other ansver but a modest o liquet, we are net sure, whether we shall die then, or no; we are only sure, it shall be se, as most conduces te out good, and God's glory; but as the question implies us te be members of out head, Christ Jesus, as it was a truc answer in him, it is truc iu every one of us, adopted in him, here is a man that liveth, and shall net sec death. Death and li.fe are i the power of the to.que , says Solomon, iu another seuse; and in this sense too, if my tongue, suggested by my heart, and by my heart rooted in faith, ean say, non moriar, no moriar; if I ean say, (and my conscience de net tell me, that I belle mine own state) if I ean sa.)', That the hlood of my Saviour runs in my veins, that the breath of his Spirit quiekens ail my purposes, that all my deaths hve their resurreetion, ail my sins their remorses, all my rebellions their reeoneiliations, I will hearken no more after this question, as it is intended de morte »aturali, of a natural death, I know I must die that death, what care I. Ner de morte spirltuali, the death of sin, I know I de, and shall die se; why despair I . But I will find out another death, mortem raptus , a death of rapture, and of eestaey, that death whieh St. Paul died more than once , the death whieh St. Gregory speaks ot', Divina cotemTlatio quoddam sepulchrum anlmw, The contemplation of God, and heaven, is a kind of burial, and sepulehre, and test of the seul; and in this death of rapture, and ecstacy, in this death of the eoutemplation of mv 0 Prov. xviii. 21. 2 Col', 12. Acts 9. VOL, 1. L
5| PREACnED ON EASTER DAY. [tEn. XXV. interest in rny Saviouri I slaall find myself, and ail my sins interred, and entombed in his wotmds, and like a ]ily in Paradise, out of red earth, I shall sec my soul rise out of his blade, in a cndour, and in an innocence, contracted tlaeri, acceptahle in the siht of lais Father. Thouh I have been dead, in the delight of sin, so that that of St. Paul, That a widow that liveh in pleasure, is dead thile he lireth *s, be truc of my soul, that so, viduatur, 9ratiâ mortuâ, when Christ is dead, hot for the soul, but in the soul, that the soul hatla no sense of Clarist, elduatur aMma, the soul is a widow, and no dowager, shc bath lost her husband, and bath nothing ti'om hin; yea though 1 hare ruade a corenant with death, and kave been at an agr«e»wnt with hell *, and in a vain confidence bave said to mysêff, tient when tke orerflowin.q scour.qe skall pass tkrou.qh, it shall hot corne to me, yet God shall annul tlaat covenant, he sha]l bring that seourge, that is, some medicinal correction upon me, and so give me a participation of ail the stripes of Son; lin shall glve me a sweat, that is, sonm lmrrol', and religious fear, and so give me a participation of lais agony; he shall give me a diet, perchance want, and penury, and so participation of lais thsting; and if he draw blood, if he kill me, ail this shall be but mors raTtus, a death of rapture tovards him, into a heavenly, and assured eontemplation, tha I bave a part in all his passion, yea such an entire intcrest in his whole passion, as thougla ail that lin did, or suflred, had been doue, and suflèred for my soul alone; Quasi moriens, et ecce vico : Some slaow of deatla I shall bave, for I shall sin; and some slmw of death again, for I shall bave a dissolntio of this tabernacle; ned ecce «ivo, still the Lord of life will kecp me alive, and that vitll an ecce, behold, I lire; tlmt is, he will dec]are, and manifest my blessed state to me; I shall not sit in the shadow of death; no nor I shall hot sit in darkness; lais gracious purpose slmll evermore be upon me, and I shall ever discern that graciius purpose of his; I shall hot die, nor I shall hot doubt that I slmll; if I be dead within doors, (if I bave sinned in my heart) why, suscit«it in domo, Christ gave a resurrection to the ruler's daughter within doors, in the bouse ; a 1 Tire. v. 6. lsaiah xxvlii. 15. 2 Cor. ri. 9. ]Iatt. Lx. 23 if I ho dead in the gate, (if I have sinned in ¢he gates of my soul) in mine eyes, or ears, or hands, in actual sins, why, ssciravit in porta, Christ gave a resurrection to Oie young man at the gte of:Naim . If I be deud in the grave (in customary, and habitual sins) why suscitait in seïoulclro, Christ gave a resurrection to Lazarus in the grave too% If God give me mortem raFttts, a death of rapture, of ecstacy, of fervent contemplation of Christ Jesus, a transfusion, a transplantation, a transmigration, a transmutation into him, (for good digestion brigs always assimilation, certainly, if I cone to a true meditation upon Christ, I corne to a conformity vith Christ) this is principally that Pr«tiosa wrs sanctorum, _Preciots in tle siyt of tlte Zord, is tl deat] of Iris saints °, by whieh they are dead and buried, and risen agam in Christ Jesus: precious is that death, b t' which ve apply that precious blood to ourselves, and grow "strong enough by it, to meet David's question, Quis ]wmo. What man. with Christ's answer, Eyo omo, I ara the man, in whom whosoever abideth, shall not see death.