What remaineth, then, but that we die by faith, as well as live by faith ; but that we welcome death with confidence, and breathe out our souls in triumph ? Moses, when he took up the serpent in his hand, it was but a rod ; death thus welcomed and entertained by faith will prove at most but a correction, yea, rather a blessing of the covenant, a means of passage into glory.
One thing I had almost forgotten, to press you to thankfulness to Christ. Oh ! bless your Redeemer, that hath delivered you from the fear of death ; admire his love and condescension, that he should come down from heaven and substitute himself in our room and place, and take the horrors of death into his own soul. It is said, Mat. xx, 28, ' The Sou of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.' Christ was a prince by birth, heir of all things, yet he came not in the pomp and equipage of a prince. If he had come in state to visit us, and to deliver comfort to us by word of mouth, it had been much ; but Christ came not in this way, not in the pomp of a prince, but in the form of a servant, to minister to our necessities, and that in the highest way of self-denial ; he gave his life as a ransom for many. Other princes are lavish of their subjects' blood, and care not how many lay down their lives for them : many give their lives as a ransom for the prince, but here it is quite otherwise, this prince layeth down his life to redeem the sub- jects, and he suffered death that it might not be terrible and destruc- tive to us. Oh ! blessed be the Lord Jesus Christ for this love for evermore.
Some may expect that I should speak something concerning the servant of God, our dear brother now departed, but I need not say any
454 THE saint's triumph oveu death. [1 Cor. XV. 57.
more tlian what I have spoken already all aloi)^ the discourse. I have indeed spoken of him, and that in the judgment of your consciences ; the duties which I pressed upon you he performed ; the comforts which I have propounded to you he enjoyed. I shall not make any particular rehearsal of the passages of his exemplary life : I judge it not convenient. Only to you of this place I may take liberty to com- mend his doctrine, and entreat you to be careful of those precious trutlis which he sowed among you while the Lord used him here as a skilful seedsman. God looketh for some increase, and taketh special notice of the time that you have enjoyed his labours : there is an exact account kept in heaven, as in that parable, ' These three years came I seeking fruit,' Luke xiii. 7 ; probably the three years of Christ's min- istry are intended, for then he was entering upon his last half-year. God reckoneth how many years, how many months, your minister hath been with you, and accordingly doth expect fruit. Your pastor, a little before his sufl'ering, professed high and worthy thoughts of you ; let him not be deceived. It will be sad for you in that great day of separation, that when he expecteth to find you among the sheep, and to be his crown and rejoicing, he should see you among the goats. He will know you there ; memory in heaven is not abolished, but perfected. I say he will know you, though without any lessening of his own happiness, or repining at God's righteous judgments.
THE BLESSED ESTATE OF THEM THAT DIE IN THE LORD,
OPENED IN A
SERMON AT THE FUNERAL OF MISTRESS JANE BLACKWELL,
WIFE OF MASTER ELIDAD BLACKWELL, PASTOE OF ANDREWS UNDERSHAFT, LONDON.
THE EPISTLE DEDICATOEY.
To my Eeverend and much-beloved Friend and Brother, Mr Eltdad
Blackwell, Preacher of God's Word at Andrews Undershaft, London.
Sir. — I have at length sent you the copy of the sermon preached at your wife's funeral ; dispose of it as you shall think good, either to your closet or the press. My judgment is for the former, but my affection will not suffer me to oppose, if you resolve upon the latter. If it may be any allay of your sorrow for your great loss, or of any use to the public, I shall not repent of the transcription of it. This, I may say with modesty enough, that the subject is useful and proper to the occasion. At the interment of my godly friend, who bad so long waited on my ministry with savour and profit, what could I insist upon more seasonably, for your comfort and mine own, than the blessedness of those that live and die in the Lord ? Now tbe blessing of the Lord go along with tins discourse, whatever becometh of it, and make up this great breach to you with the more abundance of spiritual refreshings, which is the unfeigned desire of, sir, your true friend and fellow-servant in the Lord's work,
Tho. Manton.
SERMON.
And I heard a voice from heaven saT/ing unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead lohich die in the Lord from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that theij may rest from their labours ; and their tvorks dofolloiv them— 'Ret. XIV. 13.