in his Father's glory, and with him ten thousands of faints, and all his holy angels, when the heavens fhall melt at his prefence, and a fhower of fire fhall burn up the earth, and all fhall tremble, and be fhaken terribly, that foul fhall be happy who has made his wounds their Zoar, and who have, in time of grace and falvation, fled to his fide for refuge. That harbour is fafer and better than the city into which Lot turned; more fecure than the fanctuary in the temple; and that cave more nigh to every affrighted foul, who would fain flee from wrath to come; and more real, commodious, and fuitable, than that wherein Lot hid with his daughters, or that wherein Elias was preferved, when the ftrong wind paffed by before the Lord, and rent the mountains, and broke in pieces the rocks, and which was followed by an earthquake and fire: for when once a poor finner is become a refugee here, and is got to his crucified Saviour, and by faith has laid hold on his grace, and entered into his embraces, perfecution, fickneffes, troubles, loffes, famine, the fword, and death with all his terrors, and fatan with all his rage, may pafs by and threaten, but"No harm fhall happen unto his, nor any evil come near his dwelling." Should such an one be called fuddenly at midnight to meet the bridegroom, he is ready, like a virgin, with his lamp burning; and fhould he fee all in flames about him, and find men's hearts failing, he could fing with a holy triumph," The Lord, the eternal God, is my refuge, my fortrefs, my tower, my fafeguard, my ftronghold, the Lord is my hiding-place, and my.fanctuary for ever!"

Thus fhall the man be blessed who takes the Lord's warning, and escapes to Jefus. Thus may you and I be bleffed; and as long as we live may

we live in this fafety; and when we die, may we depart in peace, and stand in the judgment boldly, and be indeed like doves who are fled to the clefts of the rock, and are faved.

Grant this, O most dear Saviour, to all here, for thy tender mercy's fake. Amen.

DISCOURSE XXXI.

DELIVERANCE FROM DEATH.

JOHN viii. 51.

Verily, verily, I fay unto you, If a man keep my fayings, he fhall never fee death.

THESE words of our Saviour, like many other of his fayings, are too lightly paffed over, and not regarded, as being difficult to be understood, and appearing a fort of parable, although nothing concerns us more, or is more certain and true.

Whoever reads the holy fcriptures must needs ' obferve that many fuch places as this are found therein; and no doubt many, like the Jews, are offended with them, and ferious people, who dare not reject any part of the oracles of God, and yet fee daily the juft and unjust fall alike a prey to the grave, muft wondering think, "How can this be?"

I will therefore in this difcourfe, treat of this matter freely, and fhew what properly death is; what it is to keep his fayings; and confirm this bleffed doctrine out of the fcriptures, "that whofoever keeps his word fhall not taste of death;" or, as once he faid to Mary and Martha, the fifters of Lazarus, at another time, they fhall never die."

It is very certain that, in this place, by death is not meant the departure of the foul out of the

body,

body, nor is it the language of the Holy Gholt, either in the Old or New-Teftament, to call our leaving this world, death; but, on the contrary, it is generally faid of fuch as die in faith among the patriarchs and prophets, "fuch an one was gathered to his people," or, "flept with his fathers;" or, "gave up the ghoft:" So Daniel faith, "they that fleep in the duft:" and very feldom it is faid they died, unless spoken of unbelievers, or fuch as were not people of God; and herein the nice distinction of the Shepherd and Bishop of our fouls is to be observed in the New-Teftament, for speaking of the decease of Lazarus, to his difciples, he faith, "Our friend Lazarus fleepeth ;" and only on account of the weaknefs of his followers, who did not understand him, he faid, "He is dead." After the fame manner he said in the house of the ruler, when the mourners were lamenting over a departed child, "Give place, fhe is not dead, but fleepeth." Matt. ix. 24. Thus the Lord would have us look upon the natural change which good and bad experience. The apoftles followed our Saviour in this way of fpeaking, and fo wrote of Stephen," That he fell asleep. And St. Paul calls fuch as were departed in Chrift, perfons "who fleep in Jefus," Theff. iv. 14. But what properly then is death? When God had bleffed Adam and Eve in paradife, he forewarned them not to eat of one tree, faying, "In the day that thou eatest thereof, thou fhalt furely die ;" and this undoubtedly came to pafs, according to the word of the Lord; for though Adam lived fome hundred years after he had eaten the forbidden fruit, yet that fame day, in which he finned, the life which God breathed into his heart, when he became a living foul, departed from him, and he became dead to God while he lived. Thus death entered

the world temporal and fpiritual; and in this fenfe it is faid, "In Adam all died," i. e. all were robbed of divine life, and loft that which is the image of God, and which is only recovered by faith in Chrift, who came to be a quickening fpirit, and to give life to the world.

I know that fome think the death threatened to Adam, was only temporal, and that his fin only rendered him fubject to die, or made him mortal; and that because a thousand years are, with the Lord, as one day; fo it might, in a certain fenfe be faid, he died that day he finned, because he died before he had seen a thousand years; but this fenfe is far too fhallow, and ferves only to please such as would not willingly allow of all becoming finners, and dying fpiritually in Adam; which is a doctrine moft furely true, and according to the fcriptures. I cannot look upon temporal death as a curfe, or that we fuffer any thing through God's ordering the cherubim to guard the tree of life, that Adam might not eat of it, and live for ever; but I think it was the tender mercy of our Saviour, who after fin had entered, and death and hell followed, defigned we fhould not live for ever in that fallen ftate, but let our poor bodies return again to duft, from whence they were formed, and reft there till he fhould create all things new, in which day they might rife again in likeness of his glorious body. And thus, if a man by mifchance, had let fome goodly grain, fuch as wheat or barley, fall into fome nafty ditch, or dirty place, fo that it was no longer fit for ufe; his best way would be to fow it, and he would nevertheless lofe nothing by it, but get a good harveft out of it. Even fo the good Hufbandman does with our mortal and vile bodies: He fows us in likeness of his death, that we may be raised in likeness of his refurrection.

And,