Inquiry for a Suitable Return for Continued Life In and After Time of Plague, Part 7
DIRECTION VII.
Since you live, after this Plague, be dead to ſin, and be buried with Chriſt.HAth God ſpared you in time of Peſtilence, then now be dead to ſin, kill your ſin, and ſolemnize the funeral of your luſts; becauſe you live after ſuch a judgment, ſuch a mercy doth oblige to the death and burial of ſin. You are not buried with others in their graves, but you ſhould be buried with Chriſt, Rom. 6.4. Therefore we are buried with him by Baptiſm into death, that like as Chriſt was raiſed from the dead by the glory of the Father, even ſo we alſo ſhould walk in newneſs of life. Ver. 6. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of ſin might be deſtroyed, that henceforth we ſhould not ſerve ſin. In which Scripture are ſet down theſe things. viz▪
1. The parts of Sanctification,
Mortification,
Vivification.
2. The cauſe of our Sanctification, viz. communion with Chriſt in his Death, Burial, and Reſurrection.
3. The Teſtimony and Pledge of it, our Baptiſm.
4. The growth and progreſs of Mortification; we ſhould aime at the total deſtruction of the body of ſin, by the Crucifying, Deſtroying, and Burial of ſin.
You have ſeen the death of thouſands, and you have ſeen the Burial of thouſands, to all theſe add one more Funeral, and that is the Funeral of your ſins. Do you out-live this Judgment, and ſhall your ſins do ſo too? God forbid. This would be to live altogether unanſwerably to ſo great a mercy. You live, but your ſins ſhould be dead in you, and you unto your ſins, Rom. 6.11. Likewiſe reckon ye alſo your ſelves to be dead indeed unto ſin: but alive unto God through Jeſus Chriſt our Lord. Though you live, yet muſt you be buried.
Now Believers are buried in three reſpects:Believers are buried in 3. reſpects.
1. In reſpect of their good names, as they are reproached by the wicked; The throats of the wicked are the Sepulchres, or burial places of the good names of Gods people; this is part of a Believers ſufferings.
2. In reſpect of Self-denial. Believers muſt be no more taken with the things of this World (ſo far as to draw them from God) than a perſon dead and buried and lying in his grave.
3. In reſpect of the Mortification of ſin, and theſe two laſt are our duty; and of this laſt I would ſpeak a little, following the Metaphor, in which there is ſome difference, and ſome agreement in the burial of our ſin, and in common burial.
2 Differences between the burial of our friends and our ſins.The difference in theſe Reſpects.
Firſt, We bury our friends weeping for their death, deſirous of their life, wiſhing, o… that this my Friend had not died; oh that I could have kept him in life: But we muſt bury our ſin rejoycing, as thoſe that are glad of its death; Not weeping becauſe ſin is dead, but that it once did live.
Secondly, We bury our Friends with hopes that they ſhall riſe again, and live again: But we muſt bury our ſins with hopes they ſhall never live more; never return to them more.
The reſemblance holds in theſe particulars:
1. 5 Reſemblances.The Burial of ſin ſuppoſeth the death of ſin; Never any man yet buried his ſins alive: For while ſin doth live, it is in the heart as in a Throne, and not as in a Grave.
2. The Burial of ſin ſuppoſeth the ceaſing of the love of ſin, that we ſee not that beauty and comlineſs in ſin, as we did when it was alive. A man that loves his Relation, while he lived, put him in his boſome, yet will not do ſo when he is dead; a man while he loves his ſin, will never bury it.
3. The Burial of ſin includeth the removal of it out of our ſight, and as much as may be out of our thoughts. We love not to look upon dead friends, nor many times to think or talk of them, who while they lived were pleaſing objects to our eyes, and the delightful matter of our diſcourſe. While Sarah lived ſhe was beautiful in Abrahams eyes, but when dead, he deſired to have her removed out of his ſight, Gen. 23.4. I am a ſtranger and a ſojourner with you, give me poſſeſſion of a burying place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my ſight. The preſence of ſin is a trouble to you when it is dead, and you would have it out of your ſight; and this removal of ſin, when dead and buried hath theſe three properties.
Firſt, It is a total removal, the whole body of ſin, and all the members of it are buried; Death might ariſe from the diſeaſe of ſome particular part, but burial covers all. He that makes a ſhew of the burial of ſin, and yet keeps any in his heart as his love and delight, hath indeed buried no ſin: For who doth ſo bury his friend as to keep any of his members in his houſe?
Secondly, It is a voluntary removal; when one is dead, we make it matter of our choice to have him buried: Yea, we look upon it as a ſore evil and great annoyance to have burial denied to our dead friends: So it is your choice to bury your ſins, and the thoughts of not having them buried is a great trouble to you.
Thirdly, It is a perpetual removal; we bury our friends ſo, that we would not have them taken up again and brought into our houſe: So you bury ſin, never to have it brought back to live again in your heart. One that hath buried his ſin doth earneſtly deſire it might be removed out of the ſight of God, by free pardon; out of the ſight of his own eyes, by the evidence of the pardon; and out of the ſight of others, by leading a contrary Converſation.
4. The Burial of ſin includes the rotting of the old man in its grave, the mouldring of it, and the daily waſting of it, as dead Corps buried in the earth do conſume and waſt daily. Though a body buried doth not preſently totally conſume: Many years after the burial, if the grave be opened, you may find the bones and the skull; the reliques of ſin in the heart of a Child of God, are but as the bones and the skull, but the body of ſin is deſtroyed.
5. The Burial of ſin includes, the loſs of the power and authority that ſin had in the heart while it was alive. Though a man were never ſo potent while he lived, yet when he is dead and buried, he hath no more power nor juriſdiction. Though thy ſin did ſit as a Lord, and rule in thy ſoul while it lived, yet being dead and buried, its dominion ceaſeth.
Now if you are buried with Chriſt, theſe things will be a comfort to you, viz,
1. Thoſe that are buried with Chriſt are moſt comely in the ſight of God;Comfort to thoſe that are buried with Chriſt. A man that is naturally dead and buried, is not ſo with us, but he that is ſpiritually dead to ſin, is beautiful in the eyes of God.
2. Thoſe that are buried with Chriſt have converſe and Communion with God; thoſe that are naturally dead have no more converſe with us, but a man hath no Communion with God, till he is buried with Chriſt.
3. Thoſe that are buried with Chriſt are paſt the hurt of death; As thoſe that are naturally dead have paſt through all that death can do unto them; if you are buried with Chriſt, though you muſt come under the ſtroke of death, yet the ſting of death is taken out.
4. Thoſe that are buried with Chriſt ſhall be raiſed at the laſt day, and ſhall for ever live with God and Chriſt, and with holy Angels and Saints in the Kingdom of God, Rom. 6.8: Now if we be dead with Chriſt, we believe that we ſhall alſo live with him. Thus if you would live in ſome meaſure anſwerably to Gods mercy in preſerving of you from death and the grave, that you are not buried yet with others, you muſt die to ſin, and be buried with Chriſt.