THE STING OF DEATH AND DEATH VNSTUNG DELIVERED IN TWO SERMONS In which is showed The Misery of the Death of those that die in their Sins, & out of Christ, and the Blessedness of theirs that Dye in the Lord.  
Preached on the occasion of the Death of the truly noble and virtuous The Lady Mildmay.  
By LEONARD HOAR, M. D. Sometime Preacher of God's Word in Waustead.  Psal. 49.14. 
Like sheep they are laid in the grave, death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning, and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling  Eccles. 2.13, 14. 
But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow, because he feareth not before God.  Ver. 14. 
There is a vanity which is done upon the earth, that there be just men unto whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked: again there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous: I said that this also is vanity.  Isa. 3.10, 11 
Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him, for they shall eat the fruit of their do.  Ver. 11. 
Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him; for the reward of his hands shall be given him.  Psal. 18.14. 
For this God is our God for ever and ever, and he will be our guide even unto death.  Rev. 2.10. 
Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.  
Boston, Printed by John Foster. 1680.   

To Mrs. Bridget Usher my ever honoured Aunt.  
MADAM,  
I Know you are no Stranger, in the days of your Pilgrimage, to the late and present rolling posture of the wheels of Providence; you have seen the times tempestuous, and perilous; and God, who is the great Sovereign, hath seen good to bring an instance of the evil of this time, home to your Person and Family.  
It's good for yourself, with all other Relations that yet survive, to look at the supreme Disposer; when the rongs of the wheels are high and dreadful, to eye him him that sits upon the Throne: When Israel was as a woman forsaken, and grieved in spirit, it's he that called her to it, Isa. 54. There is no Staff of indignation in the hand of Providence, but it is grounded in the eternal Decree. And what if God willing that this or that or the other friend, or relation be made as it were a gazing stook to Angels and Men, through afflictions and reproaches? Who shall reply? It's lawful for him to do what he will with his own, Mat. 20.15. Why dost thou strive against him? saith Elibu, Job. 23.13. He giveth no account of his matters. It's the duty of all friends to sanctify God in his sovereign Dispose, and with Aaron to hold their peace; not to repine or murmur at the dispensation of God, to submit to his holy and sovereign will in this matter. The great difficulty, and that which is most studiously to be avoided, is not to be scandalised, nor to have our minds any ways damaged, or discouraged in the course of our obedience, nor alienated from the Church and People, and Servants of God, when such instances occur, that men upright with God, and walk close with him, fall under such great afflictions, not to think strange of the fiery Trial, nor the worse of holy obedience, and the service of God; this I say, is a great and hard Task; and when there are such accidents falling out, friends receiving such deadly wounds in the house of their friends, not to be exasperated, nor violate the Rules of Charity, but to rest in Love towards them, is another hard Task. This is the Task and duty incumbent upon you at this time; and herein I know in some me azure, as things have been circumstanced, what need all that were nearly Related, and dearly Affected to him that is gone, I say, I know what need they have of Caution. It is a notable observation of Mr. Strong, The will of man subordinated to the Will of God, p. 289. There are as great shares of Satan, and as great Judgements of God laid in Scandals, as in any thing in the world besides: And he adds. (It is an Observation much to be considered) That if Satan would instil any evil— pression, into the hearts of men, concerning any Truth of God (I may add a 〈◊〉 as well, against any of the Ways, Churches, Servants and People of God) he doth usually bring it in by some providence of God that they take offence at: As he instanceth in the Gaderens, Mat. 8.31. The Devil desires to exasperate their spirits against Christ, and he will do it by drowning their hogs. I am very sensible, in the Sufferings and Death of your deservedly honoured Companion, and guide of youth, there was that, which except God give yourself, and all other friends, much Wisdom, and Grace to balance their spirits, the Devil may improve it to work a Prejudice of spirit against the Civil Government, Churches, Schools of Learning, against the holy ways, and the Servants and Saints of God. Pardon me Madam, if I stay here, knowing what a Narrow this is, and earnestly request you for the Lords sake, that you labour to guard your spirit and mind against this evil. I know full well with what Magnanimity and undauntedness of spirit, you passed through the gunshot, and the heat of the day; but I beseech you done't now stand at a distance from the Communion of the Churches and People of God, lest Satan get advantage; for we are not ignorant of his Devices.  
The best Remedy against it is, 

1. A sincere, meek and quiet submission to the sovereign & holy Will of God: this will quiet our spirits so that Satan can't disturb them. All the motions of our souls are eccentric & disordered till they come to this Subordination: we are open to the storms, and fiery darts of hell, if not anchored in this Harbour.  
2. An entire and ardent Love to God, his Churches, Servants and People. If Love be interrupted, Satan has great Advantage of us: Qui satis deligunt non cite offenduntur, Salu. Epist. 1. They that love much and enough, will not be soon offended. A brave Christ-like spirit it is to bury and pass by real and supposed injuries; and a great duty and concernment it is to live and die in Charity.    
If I mistake not, it was your design in coming into this Wilderness, that you might lead a quiet and peaceable life, in all godliness and honesty: And although you have met with so great a trial as you have, yet the Interest of God, the Government, the Order of the Churches, the Truths and ways, the Servants and Saints of God, and Communion with and in these, is as sweet and precious as ever.  
I would not be understood by the world, nor be thought by yourself to know of, and be privy to any evil impression upon your spirit, or to have an evil surmise concerning you, that the evil one hath touched you; but only as a faithful friend, 〈◊〉 signify and give you an item of danger, that you and all of us may avoid it.  
And now here by your great and long importunity, I am to present you with 〈◊〉 Notes and Sermons of your dear, and sometime pleasant Companion, which he himself made choice of, to read and meditate on, in the time of his Sickness, in order to his Preparation for Death: which shows the misery of the death of the wicked, & the great change that is made in the death of Believers by Christ Jesus. ●…nd the great concernment incumbent on you, and pressing hard on all of us, and my care for my own soul, and my hearts desire and prayer, especially, for all my dear Relations is, that they and I may die the death of the Righteous, and that 〈◊〉 last end may be like his. I need not tell you we are mortal, daily experience ●…yes it, and the multiplied instances of it, within the line of our Relation, gives full Proof and evidence of it, that we are mortal; and our dearest Relations they are dying and passing away; and I think sometimes, God hath written a Sentence of Death over the whole Family: and were we fit for that great and solemn Change, I could easily seal to Solomon's Testimony, that the day of ones Death is better than the day of ones Birth, Eccles. 7.1.  
Now since it is sure that this is the end of all Living, and that God will bring us to D●ath; it is an unalterable Statute and Decree of Heaven, that we must die; how ought the thoughts of it to quicken us? How ought we to number, and so to number our days, that we may apply our hearts to Wisdom? How should the sense of it mortify our desire to the World, as it did Barzillaes', 2 Sam 19.34 etc. as the Apostle exhorts, 1 Cor. 7.29. how should it quicken us to Repentance, Faith, Holiness and Obedience, to do what we have to do with all our might, Ecc●es. 9.10. and to prepare and wait for our Change, that we may be ready? That's the Erraud of this Sermon.  
I shall therefore apply myself in a few words, to move and direct in this great and weighty work, to move and persuade all with whom I am nearly concerned, to prepare for Death. Consider, 

1. It is a time wherein Death hath received a large and high Commission: Death hath reigned in the Region and Time wherein we live and dwell; it hath put forth its power, and hath received a Charge from God, where and concerning whom is uncertain, and how fan it may respect our Family and Relations, God only knows: but when it is in general a Dying time, and so many of our Relations are in the space of thirteen years gone to their long home, it nearly concerns us that survive, who know that God will b●ing us also unto Death, and the house appointed for all living, to be prepared and stand read●: in such a time the man of God wakens up his spirit to an holy trembling at the power of God's anger, and fervent prayer for instruction in this matter, Psal. 90.11, 12. So I beseech all my dear friends and Relations at once to receive that Counsel of Christ to his Disciples, Luk. 12.40. Be ye therefore ready also.  
2. It is a great and hard matter to be prepared for Death. I may say of the Art of D●ing well, A● long● V●ta brevis, It's a great work, and the time is short. A whole Life is time little enough to go through the work of a due and serious Preparation for Death and Judgement. Job. 14.14. He resolves to wait all the days of his appointed time. A day, week, month or year was not sufficient to compass so great a work in, but it will take up, and he resolvedly devotes, all his days to it. Let no day pass without a Line. Some have been in an instant, and at the last watch wrought up to it, by an extraordinary power of the Spirit and Grace 〈◊〉 Jesus Christ; but in the ordinary course of God's dispensation it takes time: Therefore attend that Pattern of Christ, to work while it is day, Joh. 9.4.  
3. Christ comes suddenly. Few Ages or places in the world, if any, have been so fruitful and abounding with instances of sudden Deaths as this. Some, yea● many, have been summoned before the Tribunal of Christ in an instant: God has indeed granted to all those that have lately died of our Family and Relations, some time, and to the most of them a long warning, and time of Preparation for Death. And it was remarkable in the Author of this Sermon, He long desired that he might, if the Lord saw good, die of a consumptive & linger Distemper; and therefore when he found the grand signs of that Distemper, said, that God had given him his desire. And through infinite grace (which God shall be admired in them for) they were moved and stirred up to a solemn Preparation of themselves, & improving their space given, that they might be prepared for Death: But God only knows (in whose hands our breath, & our times and ways are) what time and warning we shall have: its good therefore to be ready, prepared for the worst: Receive the advice of Christ therefore, Luke 12.35.36. Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the Wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, ye may open to him immediately.  
4. Consider what a dismal thing it is to die unprepared: For Death to come armed by Sin, with the curse and wrath of God. To die in our fins, it is to die miserably, and to come to a miserable end I may truly say of him that so dies, An untimely birth is better than be, as Eccles. 6.3. Yea, as Christ said of him that betrayed him, It had be●n good for that man he had never been born. Hence Solomon tells us, Prov. 24.20. there shall be no reward to the evil man. No Reward? And yet is not Destruction to the wicked, and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? Job. 31 3. Yea upon the wicked He i e. God shall rain Snares, Fire and Brimstone, and an horrible Tempest, Psal. 11.6 Yet the wise man faith, There shall be no Reward or End to the wicked man, i. e. it shall be worse with him then if he had never been born. The Lord help us all to consider it, and mind a timous and serious prevention of this dismal issue.  
5. A preparedness for Death will render us meet for all duties, and for all intermediate Changes. There is much service, and many solemn changes before us: The voice of the Lord cryeth aloud to all men of Wisdom, at this time to walk humbly with their God, to watch and pray. They that are fit to die, they are and will be fit for any service that God calls them to. Paul prepared for Death, and willing to die, is fit to continue and abide with the Churches, and to be eminently useful for their furtherance, and joy of Truth, Phil. 1.25. There are solemn exercising Changes foretold by the fearful signs of this time; if we are prepared for Death, we are armed against the worst, and to endure the greatest affliction that can betid us on this side Death, Acts 21.13. Paul being ready to die, is ready for bonds and imprisonment at Jerusalem. O how comfortable a thing is it to be ready to do and suffer any thing for the Name of Christ? But not to insist longer here. If we would be prepared for Death, 

1. Be and live in the daily and lively exercise of Repentance. It is Sin that makes Death bitter and terrible to the sons of men. Be thorough and serious in Repentance for sin: Let no sin lie unrepented of. This was Paul's practice while he lived, to exercise himself to have a Conscience void of offence, Acts 24.16. Not but that he had to charge himself with, and which Conscience might accuse him of, yea, but he cleared all Reckon between God and himself, by a lively renewed exercise of Repentance. Pass not a day without a serious, and close review of your actions and ways, and without deep search of heart, and repentings for all your errors, and violations of Gods holy Law, and your Rebellion against the Gospel. Give diligence to be found of God in peace, and this will make the time of Death and Judgement, times of refreshing, Act. 3.19. If you can allow, and live in any known sin, if you can digest sin without great bitterness & sorrow, of a surety you are not prepared for this Change.  
2. Believe to the saving of your Souls. Believe on the Name of the Lord Jesus. To die in truth, is to die comfortably; it easeth and looseth the pains of Death. This is the way to die in the Lord, Rev, 14.13. and to sleep in Jesus, 1 Cor. 15.18. i e. in union with God in Christ. They that die in Christ, will die in Peace, and be sound of God in peace: for there is no condemnation to such; Rom. 8.1. And the blood of Christ also cleanseth Believers from all sin: now it is a blessed thing to be free from the guilt of sin, and to have our consciences purified in the blood of Christ; this will prepare us for an happy and comfortable Death. Now it's the Son only that can make us free in this matter, and that must be in a way of union with Christ by Faith. O believe in the Lord Jesus; he oft and constant in the renewed exercise of Faith: as it is said of Abraham, Gen. 15.6. He believed: Though he believed long before that, when he answered the call of God, Heb. 11.8. The Apostle tells us, By Faith Abraham when he was called, obeyed, and yet after this its said He believed, as if he had not believed before.  
3. Be throughly mortified to the world: Get your Affections crucified to the honours, pleasures and profits of this life. Weep as though you wept not, Rejoice as though you rejoiced not, Buy as though you possessed not, Use this world as not abusing it, as the Apostle exhorts, 1 Cor. 7.30, 31. When this or that allurement of the world bids high, and solicits strongly for your affections, then think with old Barzilloi. How long have I to live? O my friends, God forbidden that you should glory, save in the Cross of Christ. If you are Christ's, then crucify the flesh, with its whole Train of carnal and sensual Lusts: these corrupt the judgement, and put a false varnish upon the things of the world. It is a dreadful sign upon any soul to love the world, it undeniably evinceth, that the love of the Father is not in him. 1 Job. 2.15. And he that is destitute of the love of the Father, is not fit to die. He shall never be received into the everlasting Kingdom, that is totally destitute of the Love of God. O then mortify and purge out all inordinate affection to the world, and the things of this life: whatever you do, get your hearts dead to the Sins, Gallantryes and Jollityes of this time.  
4. Live to the Lord; Serve your Generation; this is the way to die unto the Lord and in death to be the Lords. Rom. 14. The comforts of a well completed co●●●● of life, and service to God therein, will give as a serene and quiet frame of sp●●●● in Death. I am ready to be offered up, and the time of my departure is at hand: 〈◊〉 comes he to be thus ready? I have finished my course saith he, 1 Tim. 4.6, 7. 〈◊〉 the labouring Saints and Servants of Christ, Death is but a Dismission to Rest: So it was to David, Acts 13.36. and to Daniel, Dan. 12. ult. Do much for God while you live, Death will be then sweet and comfortable to you. Especially consider, and put forth acts of charity and bounty to Christ's poor ones.  
5. Secure a firm Union with Christ, that you may die in the Lord, and sleep 〈◊〉 Jesus. It hath pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell, Col. 1.18. In hi●● there is a full supply of Grace to enable you, to live and die, to do and suffer●● whatever he calls you to; now if you are Partakers of Christ, & have mystical union with him, then by the almighty power and working of the holy Spirit, you shall have a full supply of all Grace, and ability to increase those Graces in Death which are necessary for your comfort an I security in such an hour.  
6. Number your Days, yea so number your days as Psal. 90.12. General Conclusions concerning Death should be enforced upon our hearts, by particular application. The brevity of Life, the certainty of Death, and the uncertainty of the time of Death, should be thus enforced upon our hearts. I know thou wilt bring me to Death. Job. 30.23. So Eliphaz tells him, he shall come to his Grave, Job 5.26, 27. Hear & know it for thy good.  
Lastly. Pray to God to prepare and fit you for Death, as David, Psal. 39.4. Lord make me to know my end, and the measure of my days. So Moses applies himself to God, Psal. 90.12. in a sense of his own inability to learn.      
Thus in a few words have I desired to discharge something of that great care which bears strongly upon my heart: if God shall help us to fall on, and seriously to practise this great lesson, than our Death will be but a losing from this troublesome Shore; and however various our Course, and the season of our departure hence are, yet our meeting and Mansion with Christ, in his Fathers. House, shall be sure and everlasting; which that it may be, is, and shall be the Prayer of  
Madam, your most obliged Kinsman Josiah Flint. Dorchester, from my Study, 7th. of 5th. 1680.   

DEATH DISARMED, BEING A Funeral Sermon  Upon 1 Cor. 15.55. 
O Death, where is thy Sting? O Grave, where is thy Victory?  
THE great Article of the Resurrection of the Dead, is the Subject of the Apostles Discourse in this Chapter; a Doctrine by the Jews denied, by the Gentiles derided, as Acts 17.8. They ●●●ffed at Paul, because he preached Jesus and the Resurrection from the Dead. This as a great Subject and fundamental Article of Religion of which some in the Church of Corinth doubted, or else denied it) the Apostle labours from several Topics to prove, 

1. From the common Testimony or joint Witness of all the Apostles, as having seen, and bearing Testimony unto the Resurrection of Christ, v. 4 etc. to 9  
2. From that Faith whereby these Corinthians did formerly entertain this Doctrine, v. ●1.  
3. From the Perfection of the Gospel, which contains this among others of the fundamental Doctrines to be known and believed, v. 12.  
4. From the Resurrection of Christ, who risen as a public Person, v. 13. etc. He is the first fruits of them that sleep. v. 20. and 23. whence he is called the first born of the Dead, Col. 1.18. Rev 1.5. And the first begotten of the Dead, in respect of order and causality.  
5. From the many absurdityes that would follow if there were no Resurrection, as 

1. Then the Apostles Preaching and Ministry was in vain, v. 14.  
2. Then the Faith of the believing Corinthians was in vain, ibid.  
3. Then the Apostles were false Witnesses of God, ver. Ver. 16.  
4. Then those that believe Justification by the Resurrection of Christ are deceived, v. 16.  
5. Then they that are dead are lost, i.e. damned, totally and finally lost, even those that are dead in Christ, v. 18  
6. Then the hope of Believers is in vain, v. 19    
6. From the Signification of some Christian Rites, v. 29. in which the Apostle alludes to the custom used, Acts 9.37. It was the custom not only of the Jews, and more prudent moralised Nations, but of the Christians also, to wash and anoint the Bodies of the dead; which sprung from a natural instinct, and hope of a future Resurrection, as On● faith on the place.  
7. From the Sufferings of Believers. v. 30. etc.  
Lastly. From the easy solution of all Arguments, Allegations and Objections to the contrary, v. 35. etc.    
Now the Apostle together with this proof, doth also illustrate and amplify the Truth, showing the glorious consequents of the Resurrection, as the resignation of the Mediatory Kingdom to the Father by the Lord Jesus, and the glorious state of Believers after the Resurrection. When the whole Army of Saints shall follow Christ the Captain of their Salvation in their own Order, and the whole Rout of Sinners & ungodly men shall stand bound before him. Christ shall lead forth his own Soldiers victoriously and gloriously, dragging the Herd of his spoiled Enemies opprobriously after him. Dan. 12.2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting contempt. He shall receive his Church into the nearest embraces of Love, he shall rejoice over her with singing, he shall rest in his Love, each believing Soul shall be raised, changed, made immortal and glorious. As the Sun riseth from under clogging Mists, and obscuring Clouds, so shall they be exalted unto heaven, and there shine with an high-noon glory, Dan. 12.3. And they that be wise shall shine as the bright●●● of the Firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the Stars ●●●er and ever, then, v. 54. Death is swallowed up in victory.  
In this Verse, in allusion to the words of the Prophet Hosea, Hos. 13. 〈◊〉 O Death, I will be thy plague; O Grave I will be thy destruction: the Apostle sounds the Triumph, O Death, where is thy Sting? O Grave, ●●eye as thy Victory? Such was the Apostles confidence God-ward, that 〈◊〉 dare what he afore dreaded, and handle the Viper he could not ●uch before.  
To make way for the Doctrine, it is necessary to inquire,  
1. What is meant by Death?  
Answ. By Death we are to understand natural or bodily Death: It is the Resolution of the body into its first principles, by and upon the Separation of the Soul from it, which is the close of this life, and the beginning of another. There is a twofold consideration of Death, as learned Paraeus notes on v 53.  
1. There is a general and mere natural consideration of Death, and so it happens not only to man, but to all Creatures living. 2. A Theological consideration of it, as it is inflicted by the just punishing hand of God, and is a part of the curse, and so it is a miserable privation of Life, and so it is to be considered here, as a judicial penal evil; and so armed with its sting it is the greatest evil in the world.  
2. What are we to understand by the Sting of Death?  
Answ. 1. The groundwork is Metaphorical, the Apostle herein alluding to venomous Creatures, as snakes, serpents and vipers, who are by nature armed with a sting for offence and defence; so Death hath something in it offensive until it be removed. A Sting (at least in common account) is the chief subject of venom, and the instrument whereby venomous creatures pierce others, and convey their poison into them, so as to fill them with pain and anguish.  
2. The Sting of Death is its strength and power to annoy and hurt. The sting of death, in a similitude and resemblance of a serpent, is its offending power: the sting of death is sin, as in v. 56. Sin arms death, and the Law empowers sin, and hence death hath its sting, its power to offend and hurt sinners. Death is the fruit and consequent of sin Rom. 5.12. Sin entered, and Death followed after; hence Death comes as an Evil not only as a natural, but as a penal and judicial evil, as I hinted before. Now sin gives strength and power unto Death, so that he th●●● dies in his sins has a very strong Death; for sin puts forth all its pot●●● and poison to the utmost in the infliction of death upon the sinner 〈◊〉 causeth death to pierce, pain and poison the sinner, it lets out the wrath● which is to come upon the sinner: it opens a door to endless and succorless torments: it makes the parting with life and the comforts of it bitter to the sinner: hence in the death of a sinner all his sins are revived and the curse seizeth on him.  
3. What is meant by the Apostles thus speaking in a Way of triumph●● Glorying?  
Answ. 1. It is a figurative manner of speech, in which Death is spoken to as in the form and guise of a Person, as an Officer coming under Commission.  
2. It imports that his power was lost as to the Apostle, and so all Believers; so the Apostle includes all believers, v. 57 who giveth us the victory. Death's commission and power is taken away: it comes not as a penal and judicial evil to the Saints, not as a part of the curse, but a remain of the cross, an evil of affliction sanctified and eminently conducing to their good: hence the Apostle glories over it, not in a way of proud insulting but in an humble triumph of faith in God through Christ, which plainly argues death, as to him and all believers, was spoiled of its power.  
Hence we may take up these two Doctrines of just and weighty Observation.  
Doct. 1. That there is a sore and grievous Sting in natural Death, or natural Death is armed by Sin with a sore and grievous Sting.  
Doct. 2. That the Sting of Death is certainly and infallibly taken out, so that it cannot really hurt, prejudice or annoy true Believers.  
These two Doctrines do contain the true meaning and intent of the Apostle in these words.  
1. That there is a sore and grievous Sting in natural Death. This lies first in our way. Never shall we see our deliverance fully, till we see our danger, nor be sensible of the excellent remedy, till we have felt the smart of the fore: hence many men out of stupidity, or a wilful slighting or refusing to mind their death, their last end, have made too light a matter of it; but of a truth, when death comes armed by sin, with an high Commission from the Law, it will be found to be piercing, painful and poisonous.  
I shall therefore in the first place endeavour to show more particularly what the Sting of Death is before I come to show how it is taken out. 〈◊〉 ●●ow there are several Stings in Death,  
1. The first sting in death is, that it came into the world through man's own fault, Rom. 5.12. By one man sin entered, and death by sin, and death passed upon all men, etc. It is sin brought in death as a curse and punishment. Death comes from God, not as instituting the course of Nature at first; but as revenging sin. There is a Saying in Ecclsiasticus that God did not make Death: true, it is not a Creature, but the destruction of the Creature. God is not the peccant cause of the falling of this house of clay, but our sin, as Eccles. 10.18. It's plain in the tenor of the first threatening, Gen. 2.17. They are Malefactors that are sentenced, a● judged and condemned to die. Every sinner dies as a Malefactor, as an evil doer suffering for his own sin. And truly it pierceth deep if a man consider, that he fetched the Viper out of the snow and nourished it in his own bosom, which now doth sting and devour him. When a man must say, In me convertite ferrum, mea caedes, mea fraus omnis. When it shall be told him as Jer. 2.19. Thine own wickedness shall correct thee. And as Jer. 4.18. thy way and do have procured these things unto thee: this is thy wickedness. We like the foolish woman, Prov. 14.1. pull down the house over our heads, with our own hands. Before we feel the burden of sin our own will to it, is our warrant for it, and because ourselves have done it, we can easily excuse it: but at last it will sting like an Adder. This will double the burden, this will be enough to silence any sufferer in this last execution of Justice upon him, i.e. in this life. This consideration will devolve all the load upon ourselves. Who shall relieve us? Who shall grieve for us? Whom shall we blame? but even leave our complaint upon ourselves,  
2. Another Sting in Death is, that it comes from the Wrath of God, Psal. 78.50. He made a way to his anger, and spared not their soul from death. God takes away the wicked in his wrath, Psal. 58.9. Death is his destroying Angel that chaseth them out of the world. There are two thing, in a curse or punishment, 

1. Something that is evil, some oppressing evil.  
2. The wrath of God mixed with it.   Now death is a part of the curse, now this is piercing and painful indeed, for a man to be taken away in wrath: Sinners in Zion are afraid, and a fearful thing it is to tall into the hands of the Living God.  
3. Another sting in death is, that it is the punishment due to sin. It comes armed therefore with a Commission, to take satisfaction for of sense and wrong done to the infinite God. It is the wages of sin, Rom. 6. ult. We were bound upon peril of our lives, and on pain of death, to keep God's Law, Gen. 2.17. In the day thou catest thereof thou shalt surely die: that being broken death ensues, and seizeth on us as our punishment. So v. 22. of this Chapter. In Adam all aye. Sin and punishment go together. When the body of sin goes before, Punishment as its shadow attends it: When Eve brought forth a son, she was brought a bed of death; according to the Proverb, Ex malo Corvo malum Ouum. The Jews have a Saying. There was never any punishment happened to them, but there was anounce of the golden calf in it. So there is no death. but there are some drachmas of sin in it. The lively Image of Sin is ever to be seen in Death. Would you see the sad influence that moisture hath upon iron? Look upon the rust of it. Would you see the horrid evil of drunkenness? Look upon the effects of it. Prov. 23.29. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? Who hath contention? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? v. 30. They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to sack mixed wine. So here. Who hath shortness of breath, a pale countenance a crazy body, Catarrhs, Epilepsies, Palsyes, & c? They that continue in sin. Why doth the living man complain? Lam. 3.39 A man for the punishment of his sin? This stings pains and pierceth the sinner when death comes.  
4. Another sting in death is, that it separates the soul and body each from other. These ancient friends, whose lives and happiness here (as jacob's was in Benjamins, Gen. 44.30.) lare bound up in one another's welfare. Will ye take Benjamin away? All these things are against me. If mischief befall him, then shall ye bring down my grey hairs with sorrow to the grave. Gen. 42 36, 38. So may the body which is so closely wedded and so dearly affected to the soul say, If ye take away my soul, you take away my life. As it is reported of Madrian the Emperor, when he was dying, he thus trembling at the ghastly countenance of the King of Terrors, bespoke his miserable soul, 
Animula vagula blandula,  
Hospes Comesque corporis,  
Quoe nune abibit in loca  
Pallidula, rigida, nudula;  
Nec ut soles dabis Jocos.   
O thou little pleasant wand'ring soul, the guess and companion of the body, 〈◊〉 what place will it go? etc. So hard did he find it for these two friends to part. If it be so hard for a man to part from a near Relation, from a familiar friend and acquaintance: how did Jonathan and David weep over one another? Ah then, what is it for a man to part from himself, to be rend a sunder one part from another? The hardest knot, and the nearest and dearest Tie that ever was, must then be broken; and the strictest Union must then be disannulled, the soul turned out of its Possession on, the body left as a Vacuum Domicilium until the great Resurrection; this must needs pierce and sting, and fill with anguish in a dying hour.  
5. Another sting in death is, that the body is consigned over to a state of corruption. Dust shall return to the earth as it was, Gen. 3.19. with Eccles 12.7. The body must then be reduced and resolved into its first Principles. When God takes away their breath, than all creatures die, and return to their dust, Psal. 104.29. The earthly house of this Tabernacle must be dissoived, 2 Cor. 5.1. Taken down and in pieces, death feeds on them. Psal. 49.14. Here the body feeds upon death, dead creatures are its food, but now death shall feed upon men: by their death shall worms & such like vermin live. I have said to corruption thou art my Father saith Job. C. 17.14. as concluding that his body must see corruption. Some of God's precious ones, (as Dr Taylor said of himself when condemned to be burned; have deceived many viz. the worms that waited for them. passing through a more speedy corruption of their precious bodies, by the rage of their enemies: but the ordinary way is to rot in the grave. Now this carries a sting with it, to think that worms shall destroy this flesh, Job. 19.26. The bowels and the vital parts shall be the Region of vermin. When Joseph is carried out of Egypt, there is nothing but a Coffia of bones: and when you shall seek a Father or other Relation, or besought for, there shall be nothing but Corruption, an ill savour or a few dry bones.  
6. Another sting in death is, the dolorous accidents, and the heavy attendants that go along with Death: There are many things fall in in a dying hour, there are the pains of death, grievous sickness, faintness, outward parts grow numb, the eyes sink, the lips quiver and tremble, the tongue falters, the breath whezeth and draws hard, the whole face waxeth pale, the heart beats and throbbs. Mark how Solomon in Eccles. 12.2. etc. leads the old man to his grave, The sun, or light ana the moon & stars are darkened, the powers of the mind shallbe broken. Understanding Memory and Imagination darkened & weakened. The Keepers of the house tremble, that is, the arms and hands through the abatement of the radical heat and moisture do tremble. The strong men bow themselves 〈◊〉 i.e. the thighs and knees and feet grow feeble. The Grinders cease that is, the Jaws and the Teeth lose their strength as to chewing the meat And those that look out at the windows are darkened: that is, the eyes grow dim fighted. The doors are shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low: the decoction of food is spoilt, and all the passages of nature are obstructed. He rises up at the voice of the bird: his rest departs from him, he is easily waked out of sleep. All the daughters of music are brought low: both voice and hearing fail, Passions, and Fear especially, is apt to move. His hair becomes hoary. He that was wont to bear burdens, is now a burden to himself appetite fails. Thus Man goes to his long home. And the Spina is loosed, the Pia mater and the Veins are broken, and the circulation of the blood is stopped: these last especially are the constant and immediate Symptoms and sorerunners of death.  
To have friends standing by, some lamenting over us, others amazed, and standing aghast to see rooms made dark. Paul when his heart was sound, tells his friends it was ready to break with the weeping of his friends whom he had told that they should see his face no more. Act. 21 13. So it is here; when death comes, it tells our friends, that they must see our faces no more: This causeth great and grievous sorrowing such as is heart-breaking to those that are dying. And we must then wind up with the sad reckoning of Hezekiah. Isa. 38. 11, 12. I shall behold man no more with the Inhabitants of the world: Mine age is departed, he will cut me off with pining sickness.  
7. It puts an end to, and destroys our purposes as to this lisen. All the vast projects and counsels of stare which Princes and great ones of the earth have upon the wheel. when their breath goeth forth, those porish. Psal. 146.4. The rich man's thoughts of pulling down his barns & building greater, they all perished in that night when God took away his soul, Luke. 12. 18 etc. It's reported of Caelar, that in his Notes after his death were found Projects to unite In●●● to the Roman Empire; to drain the Casoian Sea, etc. But his breath went forth. Death prevented and his thoughts perished. Death admits of no after thoughts but as the tree falls to it lies, Ecclef. 11.3. Whatever designs of love and good will men have as Joseph, the Shepherd and Stone of Israel had towards ●●e Church and People of God in Egypt, they all perish as to them. Whatever designs of evil, men have, as Herod had towards jesus in his infancy they perish. M●●tui non mordent. Whatever hopes men have as to the concerns of this life. as hezekiah had of a Son to succeed him, they are cut off Eccles 9 6. Also their love and their hatred and their envy are now perished. And v. 10 there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave. This is a grievous sting in death, for all a man's hopes, designs, Projects & devices to be brought to an end and to nought in one day, hour or moment.  
8. Another sting in death is, that it strips us of all our present enjoyments, Mors ultima linea rerum. It's the last stroke of things, the utmost boundary beyond which none can pass or possess. Naked shall I return, Job 1. ult. saith Job. We shall carry nothing with us, Eccles. 5.15.16. Man must then leave himself, and no marvel if he leave his worldly goods. He shall lean upon his house, saith Bildad, but it shall not stand, he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure. Some see the funeral of their worldly enjoyments while they are yet alive. Friends, Acquaintance, Riches and wealth leave them while they are yet alive, so it was with Job: but at Death, every one must forsake them and his worldly enjoy ments must be as it were buried with him, Psal. 49.10. The wise man and the fool and brutish person, when he dies leaves his wealth to others; so God says to that fool, Luk. 12.20. This night shall thy soul be taken from thee, and then whose shall all those things be? they shall be another man's. It's certain saith the Apostle, 1 Tim. 6.7. that we carvy nothing out of this world. Where we took up our Lot in this life, there we must leave it. The things of this life are like a boat to waste us over the water, which can do us no further service when we come on shore, as our  that we put on in the morning and put off at night. Now for them that dote upon their worldly enjoyments, and have their portion in this life, what a grief is it, and how doth it sting them to consider that they yet must take an utter leave of all their joys, delights friends and good things at once: as the merchants of Babylon lamented over the costliness of the city, for in one hour it was made desolate: so may the rich Miser in a dying hour. They at Ziglaz wept for the sacking of the place, and the captivity of their sons and daughters till they had no more power to weep, yet they might be recovered, but in Death there is no Return.  
9 Another sting in Death is, that Satan is very busy to hold the souls of men in a desperate security, or plunging them into the depth of 〈◊〉 spair, which is the very image of Hell: hence Asaph in Psal. 73. sp●●●● of some in his observation, that had no bands in Death; and Bildad ●en● of others that are haled to the King of Terrors. O the R●●●●● and restless tosting of some poor wretches when they 〈◊〉 to 〈◊〉, that 〈◊〉 out as if their breath were already made up of Fire and Brimstone, as Francis Spira and Hadrian the Emperor: And oh the sottish stupidity and senslesness of others, who mind nothing at all neither past nor present but their bodily pains, when their souls are sinking into hell. How few are there that commit their souls to God, and wisely and patiently dispose themselves for their latter end? There is a woe pronounced upon the inhabitants of the earth, for the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time, R●v. 12.12. So it may be said of every inhabitant of this earth when he comes to die, the weight of sin, the unsupportableness of God's anger, the terrors of hell, the nearness of the danger, the difficulty of salvation will all appear nakedly to the naked soul. When God makes darkness and it is night, than the beasts of the forest creep forth: every frog will be croaking towards the evening, every puddle will send up a stinking vapour in a foggy night; all the several shadows of things will unite, every thing will concur to make up and complete the misery of the poor sinner, but the Rulers of the darkness of this world and powers of darkness set in to do the last and worst in this life.  
10. Another sting in death is, in the manner of its coming.  
1. It comes inevitably, none can withstand or evade it, the wise, the rich, the strong, the beautiful, the virtuous, the young and the grey-headed etc. fall and perish by it. It's as a River that carries all before it, a Sith that cuts all clean before it, and levels all before it, Job 3.14 15, 18, 19 It turns Kings and Counsellors, Princes into the grave: it breaks prisons: small and great are seized by it: It is appointed for all once to die, saith the Apostle, Heb. 9, 27. Like sheep they are laid in the Grave, and Death feeds on them, Psal. 49.14. This carries a sting with it, ●o lie open to the power of an enemy inevitably.  
2. It comes suddenly without delay, this night, saith God, thy soul ●●all be taken from thee, Luk 20. Man knoweth not his time, Eccl. 9.12.  
3. It comes irrecoverably, Job. 14.12. Man lieth down and riseth not 〈◊〉 the heavens be no more: and v. 14. shall he live again? the interroga●●●● implies a strong and vehement negation. Job. 7.9, 10. as the cloud ●●●onsumed and vanisheth away, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more, he shall return no more to his house, nor shall his place know him any more.  
4. Another sting in Death is that it puts us into a state unknown, of which we have no experience: it's called a Land of darkness, as ●●●●ss itself, and of the shadow of death, and without any order, and where the light is as darkness, Job. 10.22. Men are afraid to go in the dark: the traveller is afraid to pass when the evening is come, and where a man knows nothing he suspects the worst. Mat. 17.6. The Disciples were sore afraid at the voice from the excellent glory.  
Lastly. Unto ungodly men, it is a certain inlet and entrance into eternal Death. It's a dark passage into the bottomless pit: they are led through the prison of the grave to the place of execution. Death temporal ushers in death eternal: the death of the body makes way for the death of the soul, they die now and they die ever, Rev. 21.8. We read of A second Death, after which there is none to come. This is the sting of all its stings, a state in which a man cannot be worse, and yet shall never be better, when death and hell shall be joined in one for ever.  
USE I. Hence learn why men dread and are so afraid of Death, yea there are many causes why a natural man should fear Death, because of the sting that is in it. Ah, should I tell you nothing and you should mind no other but your souls separation from your body, can you part with it without a sigh or a serious thought? or of your body's corruption, though it might be wrapped in lead, and entombed in marble, yet in a few days it shall be an abhorring and loathing to all living, it shall be a prey to vipers and creeping worms of the earth: your carcases and your remembrance shall alike rot and perish together. Should I tell you of your sicknesses and death-pangs that shall oppress you, and your helpless friends standing by, should I show you your coffin, your Grave or Tomb, your Hearse cloth and your Bier; should I tell you of the breaking of your purposes, and your intents frustrated, and this coming inevitably, suddenly and unalterably, methinks these things should present Death as terrible? Ah but I tell you, it is the wrath of God, the scalding drops of it, and the fruit of your sin, the beginning of your everlasting destruction: It's no other liberty but what the Felon hath when he is taken out of prison and brought forth to execution: it's your extreme agony, and the time of Satan's rage, and the prevailing of the powers of darkness, the black guard of Hell surrounding of you the rending of you in pieces. I acknowledge its an error in the saints 〈◊〉 people of God to be so much affrighted at death, and to go so mournfully out of this world: surely they have not learned to look off this world, and to look up to that which is to come; yet I am sure it i●… greater error, and a damning error in the wicked and ungodly wh●… they are not afraid of Death at all, when they look upon Death as a common and usual event and have slight thoughts of it, all their complaints are out of sympathy with their friends, or from their bodily pains or their distracted thoughts about worldly matters, but never consider what a weighty thing it is to die well, or what a dreadful thing it is to miscarry in their latter end And O the wretched stupidity of some that can be then most secure, and are even like the beasts which perish, Psal. 49.12. O then blame not any that have woeful apprehesions of death, and beware of indulging yourselves in a stupid secure frame; for as Solomon saith in another case, Prov. 23.32. It will sting like an Adder and by't like a Serpent.  
II. Hence learn why the wicked and those that are out of Christ have such dreadful deaths, they are under the sense and apprehension of the sting of death. Death hath a piercing painful and poisonous sting, and it hath power over them, and doth (as armed with the curse of the Law) improve its power to fill them with pain, sorrow and anguish. They may be secure and stupid, and their consciences may be seared, but those that are not given up to a reprobate sense, and so are past feeling, they cannot but be full of bitterness and anguish under the unloosed pangs of Death.  
But so much for this Doctrine, I proceed to the second  
II. Doct. The sting of Death is certainly and infallibly taken out, so that it cannot really hurt, prejudice or annoy any true Believer. They may truly and groundedly say as he, 1 Sam. 15.32. Surely the bitterness of Death is past: it may pierce and pain them, but it cannot poison them; it may bruise their heel, but cannot break their head. What is become 〈◊〉 all that are fallen asleep in Christ, are they destroyed? Nay, they 〈◊〉 made: Are they undone? Nay, they are perfected: Is their state ●●●tered? Nay, it is bettered and completed: Are they conquered? Nay, they are crowned: Are they perished? No, they are highly pri●●●●dged: Are they in bondage? Nay, they are set at liberty: Are 〈◊〉 killed? Nay, they are revived: Are they swallowed up? Nay, Deach their last and greatest enemy is swallowed up into a complete victory.  
But I shall endeavour in the opening of this Doctrine to show you how ●he sting of death is taken out.  
1. That Sting is taken away that consists in its coming through man's own default. But you will say, is not death even in the godly a fruit of sin? I answer, it cannot be denied, but that to the godly it is the consequent of sin, but it is not in a strict sense the Punishment of their sin, for there is no condemnation to them that are ●r Christ. Rom 8.1. but it is rather a sanctified affliction to them, and the Saints privilege: They made themselves sinful and God made them mortal, that so they might not be always miserable. Though it came in by sin, as R●m. 5.12. yet as things are now stated in Christ, Death to the Saints is the only choice Remedy against sin, and the way of their return and entrance into a state of Perfection. Thus of the flesh, of the Viper is made a choice Antidote against his own poison, Christ having overcome death for us, Heb. 2.14. Temporal and bodily death is one of the streams of the bitter waters that flow from our provocation against God, but since the wood of the Cross is cast into it, it is become to every godly man delightsome and savoury, and without any distastfulness in it. It came with the curse of the thorns, but since Christ wore his crown of thorns, we may suffer and die without fear. So long as the curse of the Law hath power, sin will be strong, so long as sin is strong, death will be terrible, and bitter, but Jesus Christ hath satisfied the Law, vanquished death, and taken out its sting even in Golgotha, the place of sculls, where were so many Trophies of Death's victory, in its own territories, there he overcame it, so that now a Believer may say, I broke the Law, but in Christ I satisfied it, and may glory saying, In the Lord have I Righteousness and Strength.  
2. The sting of Death is taken out in that it is not now a part or fruit of the revenging wrath of God, but of his fatherly love; and therefore he doth not so much thrust them out of this world when they die, as take them to himself: as it is said concerning him, Ger. 5.24. God took him. And so Christ tells his Disciples Joh. 14.3. I w●ll come again and receive you to myself. They are gathered to their Fathers. Th●● that dye in the Lord do not fall, but yield themselves into the hand● 〈◊〉 God, Acts 7.59. Stephen resigns up his spirit into the hands of Chr●●● The wicked are gathered like Tares, and like chaff to be burned, but the Saints like a shock of ripe corn in its season, like the prece●●●●ain into the Garner to be preserved. Hence as a man would ●●lly ●ay si●● best Movables when a place is to be destroyed so 〈◊〉 God ●o be 〈◊〉 way his Saints before he bring destroying Calamities upon a Nation, 57 1. The righteous perisheth and no man layeth it to heart, and the merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. Old Mothuselah goes in the year before the Flood came. Hezekiah and Josiah are removed by death, that so they might not see the evil coming upon Judah. Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the Death of his Saints, Psal. 116.15. It's no messenger of Satan, nor an instrument of wrath, but the messenger of Christ to translate them into the Kingdom of heaven: whilst others fall into God's angry revenging hand, the Saints die in the Lord, and rest in the embraces of his Love. It is said of Moses, Deut. 34.5. He died at the mouth of Jehovah, with a Kiss of his mouth as the Rabbis gloss it, as it were sweetly respiring his breath back again into the hand whence he received it. So that death to the Saints is not from Justice, but choicest mercy and love. It is one of those things given us by God in Christ, 1 Cor. 3.22. Death is yours.  
3. Death's Sting is taken away in that though it separate Body and Soul, yet neither the one nor the other are separated from Christ: their Communion with one another indeed is broken, but their Union with Christ is no ways impaired or disannulled: They die in the Lord, Rev. 14.13. and sleep in Jesus, 1 Cor. 15.18. we die unto the Lord, whether we live or die we are the Lords, Rom. 14.8. Our friends indeed are not with us, but they are with Christ which is far better, Phil. 1. They are taken hence, but God takes them to himself. Body and soul are taken asunder as the pieces of a Watch out of order, not to be lost, but to be set together again that they may go better. God is a careful and faithful keeper of those precious Relics, and will bring them together, the word of his Truth is for it, Ezek. 37.12. O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves. What then though they part asunder, since neither of them part nor are disunited from ●he Lord Jesus. O happy parting to leave this Cell, this crazy earthly ●●bernacle, for a glorious Mansion, and to embrace a dear Saviour: It's but like going to bed at night, the body rests and the soul keeps in action: while the night time of the grave lasts in this world, the bodies of the Saints sleep in Jesus, but their souls are in bliss. The Souls of just men may bespeak their bodies, as the Lord Jesus did his Disciples, Joh. 14.3. It is exp●diens, ●●r you that I go away, and if I go away, I will we again and receive you to myself. The Body like Onesinus is an unprofitable servant for the present, Phil. v. 11. therefore departs for a while, that it may be received for ever.  
4. The Sting of Death is taken out, in that though the body rot and consume and becomes loathsome, yet it is but dissolved, it is not destroyed. As Christ told Martha. Thy Brother shall rise again, Joh. 11.23. so the body shall rise again: hence the Apostle, though he grants that the body doth die, yet it is no otherwise then as a fruitful seed dyeth that it may spring up again v. 36.37. of this Chapter. Job 19.25.26, 27. For I know, saith Job, that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth, and though after my skin worms ' destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold and not another, though my reins be consumed within me. God doth not intent to lose what he leaves behind in this world; no, but as he brought Israel out of Egypt, so will he ransom us from the power of the Grave, and redeem us from Death, Hos. 13 14. he will not leave an hair, nor a broken bone, nor a dust behind. All that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, Joh. 5.28, 29. Christ shown a Type of it at his own Resurrection Mat. 27.52. etc. And the Graves were opened, and many bodies of Saints which slept arose: which shall be fully accomplished in all the Saints in the general Resurrection. The Grave shall then be found to be a chamber of Repose, and a bed of Rest; Christ having made it so to the Saints. And as for the soul of a child of God it shall not see corruption. It's not so much as dissolved, but released and set at liberty. Sin here makes its motion towards heaven, and its progress in grace flow. The body is a weight pressing down, but when Death shall rid us of this, the souls motion and pass into heaven shall be quick and speedy, like the Thief on the cross, no sooner crucified and dead, but glorified. This day, saith Christ, thou shalt be with me in Paradise. Let who will dream of the souls sleep, they are asleep that think so saith Calvin. No, assoon as the vail of the body is removed, we with open face behold the Glory of the Lord. The spirit shall return to God that gave it.  
5. The Sting of death is taken away in that all the dolorous accidents 〈◊〉 attendants of death are by Christ qualified & sanctified. What are pains & agonves of Body, but the putting down of this earthly Tabernacle i● order to the raising of a spiritual and everlasting Building, the breaking off of our chains & fetters in our being released hence. While the bodies of the Saints are filled with pains, their souls are filled with the comforts of God. Our friends lament, but Angels rejoice: though we must now part from them, yet there is God's Host, the Life guard of heaven ready to accompany us thither. Suppose a Saint going to his grave, and the mourners by trains going in the streets; could the departed utter a word would it not be that of Christ to the daughters of Jerusalem, Luk. 23.28 Weep not for me but weep for yourselves and for your Children.  
6. The Sting of Death is taken out in that though the purposes of a godly man in death are destroyed, yet his main purpose, and his chief design stands and abides: his main purp ose and design was to glorify God, and save himself, his own soul; Now he that hath walked with God, that hath traced the ways of holiness, that hath studied the mysteries of the Gospel, that hath laboured and not fainted, and that is found so doing, that hath committed his soul into the hands of God, and is able to stand at the appearing of Christ, he doth not miss of nor lose his purpose, I have fought the good fight, I have finished my course saith Paul, did henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. 2 Tim 4 7, 8.  
What though men gather no more of the wealth of this world? Heaven is inheritance enough. What though they gain no more repute here? Their Record is on high. What if they attain not the end of their labours? Yet their reward is with the Lord. What though their worldly affairs be discomposed, if their eternal concerns be fixed? What if their days be cut off, since their work is done? It would not avail a man any thing to win the world and lose his soul, its profit enough if a man save his soul though he lose the world. It was a sad thing for the Mariners to cast over their goods, Acts 27.18. but when Paul told them that no life should be lost v. 22. they are comforted: So here, though we leave our stuff and lose our worldly labours, yet our lives 〈◊〉 safe, the main Chance is secured.  
7. The Sting of Death is taken away, in that the Saints are dead ●●nd mortified to the world, they glory in nothing more than in the cross 〈◊〉 Christ, be which they are crucified unto the world, and the world un●●●● them, 〈…〉 11. Hence they enjoy this world as though they enjoyed it not, 〈…〉 Hence while they live in the world, and upon the necessary come 〈…〉 they live above it. Hence it's no hard matter for them to die and 〈◊〉 out of the world: The world will have no great miss of 〈◊〉, and I shall 〈◊〉 no great miss of it. Things dead have no ceiling or sense of any parting from each other. Wicked men think the Saints not worthy to live in the world, Acts 22.22. and God thinks the world not worthy of them, Heb. 11.38. nor do they esteem the world worthy to be desired, the time passed of their lives in this world sufficeth them, & they are weary of it. He is no Christian whose whole treasure is laid up in present enjoyments. The Saints are of another spirit, and live much upon hope, Rom. 8.23, 24, 25. We ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the Adoption, and it follows, We are saved by hope, now hope that is seen is not hope, but if we hope then do we with patience wait for it. So 2 Cor. 5.2. etc. In this we groan earnestly, Their going out of this world is not their loss but their gain for to me to live is Christ and to die is gain, Phillip 1.21. 'tis not their ruin but their redemption, not their being unclothed or stripped naked but their being clothed upon: not their going into obscurity and darkness, but their glorious manifestation of being the sons of God and heirs of glory, 1 Tim 6.6. Godliness in the winding up of things is great gain. The going out of this life is like the ending of a fight, 2 Tim. 4 6, 7, 8. It is not a flying of the field as those that are vanquished, but the saints go out Conquerors, yea more than conquerors. I have fought a good fight, the time is now come that they may fairly leave off, it is the finishing of their course, and the winning of their crown: having kept the faith while they lived, they are kept from fear in the hour of death. P●i●. 1.23. Having a desire to departed; Love and longing to be with Christ made the world tedious to Paul, that which all men naturally love, and Death desirable which men naturally dread and abhor. Assoon as good old Simeon had Christ in his arms, Now let rest thou thy servant departed. Luk. 2.29. When John Baptist saw Christ, he resigns up all to him, Let all men follow him, Let me decrease so Christ increase, my joy is fulfilled in him, Joh. 3.29, 30. So Paul, when once he thought what it was to be with Christ, to go to God, and to be with the Lord for ever, he 〈◊〉 nothing that he wanted, but this was the sum of his desire, to be dissolved, and no joy now to him, but to enjoy Christ: no glory, but to 〈◊〉 where he is to behold his glory. The love of this world ceaseth w●●● we taste of the next: No matter then if the Manna of this world cea●●, when we are got to Canaan. Elias can easily part with his Mantle, 〈◊〉 keep on his journey. So a saint dying can easily part with all his present enjoyments in the hope of what is to come, for how easily 〈◊〉 part with that which I know and firmly believe I shall never need. That City which hath no need of the Sun Rev. 21.23. I am sure need, not any thing under the moon: and if a dying Saint may leave the temple of God here l●a● sure he may leave the word. A Child of God being thus mort sied to the world, one sting of death is taken away.  
8. The sting of death is taken away in that it brings the Saints to higher and better things: as you would take straws and pebbles out of a child, hand, and give him necessary bread; or remove poison, and things hurt full from a sick man, and give him cordials and restoratives, so doth the blessed God deal with his Children: He takes away this world from them, or rather them from it, and gives them another and a better: He takes away occasions of sin and trouble, and gives us salvation and rest: He takes away the cross and gives us a crown: He takes away temporal enjoyments and gives us eternal: He takes away Earth and gives us heaven. And are we any loser's by this! Do we well to be angry? Is there grief and sear? No sure, but rather if we are in Paul's state to reckon as he did, To live is Christ and to die is gain. No better way for a true Christian to better his state and advantage himself, then to departed hence, lay down his life. No man saith Christ, that hath left house or parents, brethren, or wise and children for the Kingdom of God's sake, but shall receive manifold here, and in the life to come that which cannot be unfolded, Luk. 18.29, 30. The Prophet resolves that he will rejoice in God, though the Fig tree doth not blossom etc. Hab. 3.17 13 Now if the gleaming of God's gracious presence be so solacing when all lower causes of joy fail whhat will the bright shinings of Gods glorious presence be? Let Ziba take all said Mephibosheth, since my Lord the King is come again in peace, 2 Sam. 1930. So much more may the ●●●nts of God say, Let the world take all since my Lord is safe upon his throne, and I am now going where I may behold his glory. Death is as the Chariot that is sent from Jesus to carry his true Israel's to Canaan, and therefore their Spirits may now revive and say as holy Jacob. Gen. ●5. 28. It is enough, Jesus that was dead is alive, and lives for evermore and I will go and see him. The good, the grace, the glory of all heaven shall now be theirs.  
Now then may the Saints say, I leave a Cottage to take possession of ●●●●cely Palace: I leave my friends here, and am going to the Father, the holy Spirit, to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testrmeut, and to the Angels in light, and to the Church of the first born: I leave present enjoyments, and go to take up an eternal inheritance. Let the loss here be as much as can be supposed, the gain is as much, yea more than can be expressed. Ah who would now regard his stuff when he sees the Wagons, and the Convoy of Angels, the provision for the way, and the end of his race, and that Jesus is there in honour and power, who would not resolve to go and see him?  
9 The sting of Death is taken away, in that it's given in that hour to the Saints with Faith and patience to endure temptations, to resist & stand in the midst of danger. A dying hour is an hour of temptation, yea of multiplied violent temptations. Christ found it to be the hour & power of darkness, Psal. 22.12, 13, 16. Now the Prince of the world comes, Joh. 14 30. Now when his time is short, our bodies weak, and souls perplexed, many, even all circumstances and accidents occasions of sorrow, is a special season for the Tempter to tempt to security, infidelity, carnal confidence, to impatience, and if possible to despair, and casting away of our hope. Now when Satan resists, God doth assist, if Satan desire to winnow, Christ will be sure to pray that our Faith fail not. If there be Chariots and Horsemen against Elisha, there is a mountain full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha 2 King. 6.15, 17. If God let Satan out, it's but a little way; if he tempt, its never more than the Saints are able to bear: Hence you may observe as the temptations of dying Christians are stronger, so the breathe of their souls, the sense of God's love, the relish of spiritual things, the ready and apt application of Scripture are more vivid and copious with them then, than in all their lives before: even as the Spirit of God and of glory hath been wont to rest upon the Martyrs when they were called to great and eminent Susserings; so here, there are those supplies of the Spirit, and 〈◊〉 grace to help in this time of need that takes away the sting. God suffe●● Satan sometimes to draw out his strength like God & Magog to the batter and stands himself as it were aloof for a while that he may give him th●● more sudden and fatal overthrow: I may therefore conclude this par●● lar with the words of Christ Luk. 12.32. Fear not little Flock: and of the Apostles. 1 Job. 4.4. Greater is he that is in you then he that is in the wor●● 10. Death's sting is taken away in that how unavoidable soever it is, or 〈◊〉 den & unalterable, yet its welcome to the Believer, he is reconciled 〈◊〉.  
1. Though it come inevitably, yet its welcome; he doth not 〈◊〉 desire to avoid it as to meet with it: 'tis the fruit of the promise, the end of his desire, the answer of his Prayers, and an ease to all his sufferings, They rest from their labours, Rev. 14.13. If in this life only we have hope saith the Apostle, v. 19 He doth not therefore desire to avoid death Mors si non bona est finis tamen●●lla malorum saith Cato. Hence Job hate; his life, and would not live always, Job. 7.16. The Saints are even glad when they can find the grave, they don't die as those that must die, but as those that upon deliberation and choice desire to die, Luk. 2.29. Now lettest thou thy servant departed in peace. Hence Paul is so far from flying from it, that he pursues it. Act 22.13 As it is said of Cato,  Quasi morion di●eccasionem se nactum esse ganderet. 
2. Enough it come suddenly its welcome, for it is not sudden to them that wait for it all their lives, Job. 14 14. All the days of my appointed time will I wait till my change comes. They may die sooner than they thought for but not sooner than they would, they may die too soon for others but not for themselves, their own comfort and profit. Yea even the child in Christ dyeth an hundred years old, Isa. 65.20. When I hear Job. cry as Job. 14. 13. O that thou wouldst hid me in the grave: and and see the good old Patriarch break off from blessing and saying. as Gen. 49 18. I have waited for thy salvation O Lord. Those that have the first fruits groaning, as Rom 8.23. bearing a part with the whole creation, and with the Bride, Rev. 22.20 I rather think they die too leisurely, and slower than they would. Do not tell me of a sudden death where there hath been a settled course in a godly life. Nemo parùm diu ●ixit qui virtutis perfectae profecto functus est munere. He comes in like a shock of corn in its season, Job. 5.26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in full 〈◊〉 like as a sh●ck of corn cometh in in his season: now the season is never 〈◊〉 with being too sudden. It was sudden we say of this and the other death, but he was throughly ripe first and where there was suffici●ney of life, there cannot be suddenness of Death. God knows when 〈◊〉 cut his harvest, when to call in his labourers. Yea but he lived but a 〈◊〉 ●ort time, therefore his death was sudden. Not so for some live more 〈◊〉 one year than others do in many: and for the true Christian, he is always ready, Act. 21.13. I am ready to die.  
3. Though it be unalterable, yet it is welcome: its certain the hours yesterday will never return again, and he that is once gone off the stage 〈◊〉 ●turn no more. There is no shooting of the Gulf of Eternity: Lazarus cannot come as a Messenger to Dives his brethren: He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more: But as there is no alteration so the Saints desire no alteration, it's the best flower in their crown that their state of happiness is everlasting. 1 Thess. 4.17. So shall we ever he with the Lord. Do you think to scare the Saints with this? you cannot tell them more joyful Tidings than that their joys shall be for ever. The Rivers of pleasures at Gods right hand flow always. The tree of life never fades: The robes of glory never sully, nor admit of spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, they do not wax old. Serving God instantly day and night will not weary: nor will the light of heaven grow dim like a candle, nor go down as the sun; the Lord shall be our light and our God our glory, Isa. 60 19 Set a man in such a condition as it cant be better with him, and tell him it shall never alter nor be worse with him, it will not much grieve him. So it is with the Saints in light; the change is unalterable, you shall die no more, nor be sick nor sorrow nor doubt any more, nor sin no more, nor want any more: as Moses said to the Israclites, so may it be said to the Saints. The Egyptians whom you have seen to day, you shall see them no more for ever, as Exed. 14.18. Well may Believers breathe our their souls in triumph and say, O Death where is thy sting? Let that be our station where there is no alteration, let the better part be ours which shall never be taken away: For simple is the best of titles, and that only is heaven: in all other things we are but Tenants for life, and hat at the will of our great Lord.  
11. The sting of Death is taken out, in that the Saints know whither and into what estate they enter after Death. The wicked walk in darkness and know not whither they go, as he said, Anxius vixi, dulius morior, heu quo vado. They leap as it were from an high hill into a dark and deep pit, not knowing where they shall light: But the Saints know in whom they have believed, how far, and for what; and are begotten again to a lively hope of the inheritance of glory; they have their eyes upon it all their lives, & have a certain assurance of it, and have the clearest apprehensions of it at Death, Job. 14 4. Wither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 2 Cor 5.1. We know we have a Building of God 〈◊〉 house not made with hands eternal. That which the Saints are ignorant of is the transcendent excellency of the glory they are going to, 1 Cor. 2.9. Eye hath not seen: But we know when he shall uppear we shall be like him, 1 〈◊〉 3.2. Our friends to us are as water spilt upon the ground, but with 〈◊〉 they are as water in the Sea, safe and united in its enclosure with the rest of the element: so the Saints are gone to their place after death, a place of rest, and known to be so: it's a known and knowing state which they enter into: it's known, for their is a clear description of it in the holy Scriptures, a Map as it were of the heavenly Canaan. It's a knowing state, for than we shall know as we are known.  
12. Death's sting is taken away, in that it's made a passage into heaven. The Saints they pass from death to life, when the wicked pass from death to death, from the first to the second death. Hence they may be terrified at it, and shrink; but a Child of God when he considers its errand, that it comes to carry him hence to his Father's house, he can entertain it with comfort. Death to the Saints is the middle point between two lives, it is an harbinger and forerunner of their being received up. the righteous being taken up thus they enter into peace, Isa. 57.2 they never reach the end of their race till now they have shot this gulf; and now immediately they arrive at it. No sooner are the Saints undressed here, but they are clothed upon in heaven. No sooner do they leave this lise, but they enter upon a better. Lazarus died and was carried into Abraham's bosom, Luk. 16.22. The thief goes from the cross with Christ to Paradise. Luke. 23.43. This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise. Death is not an abiding, but a transient state, like a dark entry into a lightsome room. Death doth assault but not conquer them: it shall not have dominion over them as it hath over the damned in hell: No, death and hell as to them shall be cast into the lake of fire: its dominion is taken away here, yet its life is prolonged for a season and time; as it's said of them Beasts, Dan. 7.12. So death is prolonged here in this world after its dominion is broke, whilst it is of use to the Saints, and may serve the interest of mercy: but ●●n this is once over, it shall be swallowed up. So that is a suitable E●●aph which the holy Ghost has composed to be writ upon the Tombs ●●●e Saints lie, BLESSED ARE THE DEAD WHICH U●E IN THE LORD. Rev. 14.13. Thus you see how the sting taken out by Christ, and how he doth disarm Death.  
USE 1. Of Instruction, 1. Hence see why the Saints deliberately 〈◊〉, and yet desire to die, the reason is because its sting is gone, 〈◊〉 therefore is no way hurtful or terrible to the Saints, they can o●●●munion with death and not be harmed by it. A child may play with an Adder when it has lost its sting. There is no sin, nor curse, nor sorrow nor pain that can hurt a child of God, O no it's all removed in the blood of Christ; were it not so, they could not desire and long for it as they do. Paul presseth forward, and reacheth forth to those things which are before, and his mark is the Resurrection. Phil. 3.13.14. Now in the mention of the Resurrection he necessarily includes Death, yea a necessity of dying: surely this argues death hath no sting to the Saints; it ceaseth to be so great an enemy to them as it is to the Herd of ungodly men.  
2. Hence learn the great difference that there is between the Death of the righteous and the wicked. They seem as to what is visible to be equal and alike in death: they all go to their long home, and to the house appointed for all the living. Yea, but mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is prace, Psal. 37.37. even a wicked Bal●●m when his eyes were open could say, (seeing the great difference between the godly and the wicked.) O that I might die the Death of the Righteous, and let my last end be like his. Numb. 23.10.  
3. Hence learn wherein the Saints are more than conquerors. They are tryumphers over their spiritual enemies, as the Apostle saith in another case, God made them to triumph in Christ, so he, and the rest of believers, Rom. 8. are more than Conquerors i.e. Tryumphers. Christ hath overcome for them and by his Spirit enables them to overcome, & to triumph in himself.  
4. And lastly. Learn unto whom the praise of all the case and comfort which the Saints have in their death doth belong, viz. to Jesus. It is he makes them to differ: Death would be as powerful, as piercing, as painful to them as it is to others but that Christ hath plucked out the sting of it as to them. What Hallelujahs of praise are due to him that hath redeemed us to God by his bood, Rev. 5.9 How thankful how dutiful should all the Saints be to the blessed Lord Jesus, as v. 57, 58. Thanks be to God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus, and I follows, Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of th● Lord.  
II. Let all hence be exhorted, all and every one to labour to get this stin removed. Make it your work while you live do not leave and neglect it till you be alarmed by Death, and it comes in view, when flesh 〈◊〉 heart fails, and Paysitians grow doubtful or despair of your escaping Conscience is startled, when distress and anguish take hold on you. Do not defer it I say till then, but make it your business while you live.  
1. Labour to last the bitterness of sin so as to be duly affected with it, and to be off; icted and mourn for it. It's sin makes death bitter and painful, but now let sin be therefore throughly sorrowed for and repent of, that you may not die in your sins, & then death will not nor cannot sting you. O you poor mortal sinful men that must shortly die, Labour to repent and turn yourselves: Let your hearts be grieved, and your reins be pricked for your sins, Repent that your sins may be forgiven before you come to die, get the strength, sovereignty and dominion of sin taken down, this is the way to peace in a dying hour. woe to you saith Christ, that laugh now, Luk. 6.  
2. Live by Faith depending on and cleaving to the Lord Jesus as your Redeemer and Deliverer. There is none that can save and deliver us but He, Act. 4.12. When you have done all you can, 'tis he alone that can save you and deliver you from the sting of death; live so by Faith that you may die in Faith, as they, Heb. 11. that will take away the sting of Death, the shield of Faith quenches the fiery darts of the Devil, Eph 6.16. the way to lose the pains of Death is to set, and cleave close to Christ, and to depend upon him.  
3. Live well: Walk with God, live holily, righteously and godly in this present world; serve your Generation as David; get your work done: it is a dreadful stinging thing for a man to have his work to do when his day is done, and death is come. No, Work while it is day, work out your Salvation with fear and trembling: be steadfast and , always abounding in the work of the Lord, so it shall be a blessed thing to you to Die in the Lord, and rest from your labours.  
How much of this was exemplified in the life, and expressed in the Death of this honourable and virtuous Lady, who is now gone hence to be with the Lord for ever, who was chief in my thoughts in the choice of this Text. What ardour of desire? What Faith? What Hope? What Confidence? What gleaming of joy? What Patience and willingness to departed is now issued in her, is known to some, and somewhat to myself, I shall not therefore insist.  
But since it was not my lot to attend her in her more solemn obsequies, I thus come to lay down these little branches of Bays and Cypress on her Tomb. And as it was her earnest desire that whenever this her great change should come, her own Family might reap the saving benefit of it; so it is my hearts desire and Prayer that this Coogregation may have some saving benefit by, and a sanctified use of her death, that the remembrance of her pious Life may teach us how to live so, that when our lise is spun out, we may die in peace, and receive a Crown of Life.  
FINIS.