A discourse concerning the death of the righteous. Occasioned by the deaths of the…

PROP. II. Righteous and good Men are Subject unto Death as well as others.

What man is he that liveth and shall not see Death! Shall he deliver his Soul from the hand of the Grave? All mankind is involved in the guilt of Adams sin, and therefore they must all die. 1 Cor. 15.22. In Adam all die. His sin has killed them all: His eating the forbidden fruit has proved a Mortal poison to all his Children. That sin of his is by a righteous Imputation the sin of every man in the world. Rom. 5.12. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for all have sinned. It is appointed for men once to die, Heb. 9.27. Statutum est: There is a Statute law for it. We may see the Original Statute, Gen. 2.17. In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely dye: and in chap. 3.19. To dust thou shalt return. Faith in Christ will Save from the Second death, but not from the first death, i. e. as to the being of it, tho' from the Curse of it the Believer is Saved, the day of his Death will be better to him than the day of his birth. It is said of the holy Patriarchs, all these dyed in the Faith, Heb. 11.13. Notwithstanding they had Faith, they all dyed. It is said in the Text before ⟨p. 10⟩us, Merciful men are taken away. The Original word is Neesaphim, i. e. they are gathered. The word is a Metaphor taken from Husbandmen who when they see a Storm a coming, they take away their Corn out of the field and gather it into the barn. So does the Lord sometimes take his Wheat out of the World, and gather it into his heavenly barn, to Save it out of a Storm. When their bodies are lodged in the Grave, and their Souls are in Heaven no Storm in the World can hurt them. It is here also said, That the Righteous perish. There is a Perishing of the Soul in respect of Eternal death. So no righteous Person shall ever perish. Whosoever believes on the Son of God shall not perish. Christ has said concerning his Sheep, I give unto them Eternal Life, and they shall never perish. But then there is a Perishing of the Body in respect of a Temporal death. That consumeth in the rotting Grave. The Earth is the common Mother of all men, out of whose Womb they came, and to whose belly they must return, as Job speaks; the dust shall return to the Earth as it was, so does it Perish. They that are