The blessedness of the death of these that die in the Lord and more…The blessednesse of the death of these that die in the Lord and more…

All things are yours, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 3. at the close, whither Paul, or Cephas, life, or death, things present, or things to come, they are all at your service, they are all yours as to the blest use of them; they work together for your good, and prove all contributive and subservient to your bringing to glory.

All things are yours, saith the Apostle, 1 Cor. 3. at the close, whither Paul, or Cephas, life, or death, things present, or things to come, they are all at your service, they are all yours as to the blest use of them; they work togither for your good, and prove all contributive and subservient to your bringing to glory.

The 2d Use on the other hand, is to let all of you see what great prejudice ye suffer, and what disadvantage ye lye under, that live not so as ye may die in Christ; ye have nothing to do with any the least of all these consolations, and therefore in the name of the Lord ye are inhibited and discharged to meddle with them; See that none of you who resolve not to rest on Christ by faith, to live holily, and to show forth his praise, by a shining and exemplary conversation, dare to presume to put forth your hand to touch these consolations; that terrible word in the 7. of Jeremiah, ⟨p. 123⟩calls for your consideration, Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and come and stand before me in this House, and say we are delivered to do all these abominations? Will ye take your own way of profane living, and yet expect any benefit of my Covenant, or any saving fruit of my grace; As God reckoned with profane Israel, so shall he reckon with you, and shall separate you from his people unto a curse, and the anger of God shall smoke against you; not one graceless sinner shall be permitted to join himself with, or to lurk amongst, the great company and congregation of these godly; Angels shall separate you from them, and the sentence of the judge shall separate you from him and them with that doleful, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity; and that sentence will be as terrible to you as the godlies sentence will be comfortable to them, Come ye blessed of my Father &c. Take notice of this all ye that think ye would fain die well, (and no marvel, for so did profane Balaam desire to die the death of the righteous) but have no care to live well; when all tis doctrine is summed up, it will draw your happiness on this very hinge and bring it to this issue, whither ye will indeed in the Lords strength set yourselves to live so as ye may die in Christ, then in this case all these consolations, even all the consolations of the Gospel, shall be yours, but not one of them all is yours otherwayes; To them that die in the Lord and to them only, is happiness promised, but on the contrary to all them that live not to him, and die not in him, God is an enemy in life and in death, his curse follows them here, and cleaves close to them as a girdle doeth to the loins of a man in the grave, so that they shall never be able to shake it off;