1 Cor. VII.30.] a funeral sermon. 437
Use 2. We have reason also to be comforted.
First, For the glory that cometh to God by her sweet departure. Those that have envied her life, may wish for her death, even such solace as she felt in the most bitter agonies : Nmii. xxiii. 10, ' Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my latter end be like his.' It is a great comfort that wicked men have not wherewithal to blast religion, when they see how tlie love of God can compose our spirits in the greatest extremities that befall us either in life or death.
Secondhj, That she hath left us for glory. It was indeed through^ many throes, and pains, and sorrows ; but death played the midwife, to help her into glory. It is the apostle's exhortation to the Thes- salonians, first epistle, chap. iv. ver. 13, that they should not sorrow, even as others which have no hope concerning them which are asleep in Jesus ; but admonish them to comfort one another with these words, that at Christ's coming, they which survive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air ; and so shall we be ever with the Lord. ' Wherefore, comfort one another with these words.'
THE
SAINT'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH;
A SERMON PREACHED AT THE FUNERAL OF MR CHRISTOPHER LOVE,
In Lawrence Church, August 25, 1651.
EDITORIAL NOTE.
The history of this sermon is given in the " Life of Manton," (vol. i., p. xii.) It was published in 1658 as an appendix to a volume of sermons by Love.
THE SAINT'S TRIUMPH OVER DEATH.
But tJianlts he to God, ivJio giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ— 1 Cok. XV. 57.
These words are a part of Paul's Ittlvlklov, or triuinphant song. In the song there are two parts, and this is the last.
1. A confident challenge.
2. A solemn thanksgiving.
The one is directed to the enemies, the other to the Giver of victory.
1. A confident challenge, in which he outbraveth death and all the powers of the grave : ' 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy victory?' The words allude to Hosea xiii. 14, wherein Christ is brought in speaking, ' I will ransom them from the power of death, and redeem them from the grave : 0 death, I will be thy plagues ; 0 grave, I will be thy destruction.' There is Christ's engagement and undertaking for a full conquest of death ; Christ threateneth death, and the apostle insulteth over it. The form of the words is altered, because the enemy was now fallen, and Paul proclaimeth the victory. Hitherto death and the grave had insulted over the misery and frailty of mankind ; all tlie tombs and charnels of the world were but so many monuments of death's conquests. Golgotha, the place of skulls, seemed to be designed on purpose to upbraid and discourage our Kedeemer ; so many skulls and rotten relics of human frailty as there were in that place, so many trophies and monuments of triumph did death produce before the eyes of Christ ; as if it were said to him. Canst thou, darest thou, grapple and enter into the lists with such an enemy ? But our Lord was not discouraged : when he ascended upon the cross, he did as it were answer these bravings of death thus : ' 0 death, I will be thy plagues ; 0 grave, I will be thy destruction ; ' and because he was as good as his word, and every way performed his engagement, the apostle, as one of Christ's followers, cometh and insulteth over this proud ad- versary that was now fallen, ' 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy victory ?'
This challenge is illustrated by a po'olepsis, or an anticipation of an objection. Some might ask, What is this sting of death ? what is this power of the grave ? The apostle answereth, ' The sting of death is sin, the strength of sin is the law.' Death cometh to have this power by sin, and sin to have this power by the law.
442 THE saint's triumph over death. [1 Cor. XV. 57.
The stinrj of death, Kevrpov, the prick. It implictli both tlie stroke of death and the anguish of it, as in the sting of a serpent, there is tlie deadly toncli and the pain and torment of the wound ; and so it notetli the power of death over us — the prick or weapon l)y whicli it strike tli is sin : Eoni. v. 12, ' By one man sin entered into the workl, and death by sin ' — and the terrors and horrors of it, which also do arise from sin. Now, by horrors, I mean not only the natural aversion, retirement, or flight of the spirits, but the bondage, torment, and despair that is upon the conscience. As death is a penal evil, inflicted by the justice of God, guilt maketh death terrible, so that a sinner is ' all his lifetime subject to bondage,' Heb. ii. 14, 15, and kept under an awe of judgment to come. It is not always felt, but soon awakened, especially in sickness and approaches of death. When we feel the cold hands of it ready to pluck out our hearts, conscience is whipped with a scourge of six strings — fear, horror, distrust, grief, rage, and shame.