The righteous mans death lamented. A sermon preached at St. Austins, London, Aug.23. 1662…

I shall begin with the first, That the righteous perish as well as the unrighteous.

How is it that the righteous perish? not in their soul, they cannot perish so; nay, the truth is, they cannot perish properly in their bodies; for the bodies of the Saints never totally and finally perish; for the very dust of the Saints in the grave, is precious in God's sight, and they are asleep in Jesus, and by the power of Jesus Christ they shall be raised again glorious bodies: Nothing perisheth of a righteous man by death totally, and finally, but sin; and therefore the meaning of the word is, as Musculus and Justin Martyr observe, perit, perisheth; that is, not according to the truth of the thing, but according to the opinion of the world; and the proper language of this expression ⟨p. 4⟩is this, The righteous perish, that is, the righteous must dye, and go down to the house of rottenness, as well as others, and that upon a four-fold account,

First, Because the righteous are included within the Statute of death as well as the unrighteous; statutum est: Heb. 9.27. It is appointed for all men once to dye; the righteous as well as the unrighteous: Indeed it is true, Jesus Christ hath taken away the hurt of death; but not death it self; Jesus Christ hath disarmed death, made death like the Viper that fastened upon Paul's hand, but did not hurt him; he hath made it like the brazen Serpent that hath no sting, but a healing power in it: Christ hath sanctified death, conquered and sweetened death; at present we are all under the Statute of death, but at last this Enemy shall be destroyed, 2 Cor. 15, latter end.

First, Because the righteous are included within the Statute of death as well as the unrighteous; statutum est: