Part 82

Having made it appear, in these several sermons, that death is ours, or shall turn to our advantage, not only when it strikes our friends or strangers, but when it seizes our own flesh also: I desire to conclude this subject of discourse with various inferences, of which some may be called doctrinal, and others practical.

The doctrinal inferences are these:

Inference I. How different is the judgment of sense, from the judgment of faith? The eye of sense looks upon death as a sovereign and cruel tyrant, reigning over all nature and nations, and making dreadful havoc among mankind, as it were, after his own will and pleasure; but faith beholds it as a slave subdued to the power of Christ, and constrained to act under his sovereign influence for the good of all his saints. Sense teaches us to look upon ourselves, as the possession and food of death; but faith assures us, that death is our possession, and a part of our treasure. Death is yours, O christians, _for all things are yours_.

When sense has the ascendant over us, we take death to be a dark and dismal hour; but in the speech and spirit of faith, we call it a bright and glorious one. Sense esteems it to be the sorest of all afflictions, but faith numbers it among the sweetest of our blessings, because it delivers us from a thousand sins and sorrows.

It has been reported, that Socrates called “death a birth-day into eternal life.” A most glorious thought, and a very inviting name! But it is strange, that a heathen philosopher should ever hit upon it, it is so much like the dialect of the gospel, and the language of faith. He had learned to talk more nobly than the sensual world, though he was not favoured with the light of the gospel. It is so much the more shameful for christians, to talk and live below the character of this philosopher.

O when shall we get above this life of sense? When shall we rise in our ideas and our judgment of things? When shall we attain to the upper regions of christianity, and breathe in a purer air, and see all things in a brighter and better light? When shall we live the life of faith, and learn its divine language? Death is like a thick dark veil, as it appears to the eye of sense; when shall our faith remove the veil, and see the light, the immortality, the glory that lies beyond it? Death, like the river Jordan, seems to overflow its banks, when we approach it, and divides and affrights us from the heavenly Canaan: When shall we climb to the top of Pisgah, that we may look beyond the swelling waves of this Jordan, and take a fair and inviting prospect of the promised land.

II. How glorious and how dreadful is the difference, between the death of a saint and that of a sinner, a soul that is in Christ, and a soul that has no interest in him! The death of every sinner has all that real evil and terror in it, in which it appears to an eye of sense; but a convinced sinner beholds it yet a thousand times more dreadful. When conscience is awakened upon the borders of the grave, it beholds death in its utmost horror, as the curse of the broken law, as the accomplishment of the threatenings of an angry God. A guilty conscience looks on death with all its formidable attendants round it, and espies an endless train of sorrows coming after it. Such a wretch beholds death riding towards him on a pale horse, and hell following at his heels, without all relief or remedy, without a Saviour, and without hope.

But a true christian, when he reads the name of death among the curses of the law, knows that Christ his Saviour and his Surety, has sustained it in that dreadful sense, and put an end to its power and terror. He reads its name now in the promises of the gospel, and calls it a glorious blessing, a release from sin and sorrow, an entrance into everlasting joy. The saint may lie calm and peaceable in the midst of all the attendants of death; like Daniel in the den of lions, for it cannot hurt or destroy him: But when a sinner is thrown to this devourer, it does as it were break all his bones, it tears both his flesh and his spirit as its proper prey; _Death feeds upon him_, as the scripture expresses it: Ps. xlix. 14. and fills his conscience with immortal anguish. Who can bear the thought of dying in such a state under the dominion of death, without Christ, and without hope.

III. How much does the religion of the New Testament transcend all other religions, both that of the light of nature, and all the former revelations of grace; for it better instructs us how to die. The religion of the ancient patriarchs, the religion of Moses and the Jews, as well as the religion of the philosophers, all come vastly short of christianity, in the important business of dying.

The philosopher, by the labours of his reason, and by a certain hardiness of spirit, persuades himself not to tremble at the thoughts of death; for it may be, there is no hereafter; or if there be, he would fain hope for an happy one: And thus he ventures into death, with some sort of courage and composure of mind, like a bold man, that is taking an immense leap, in the dark, out of one world into another: but he can never know certainly, that there are no terrible things to meet him in that unseen state.

The religion of the Jews and patriarchs, which God himself revealed to men, enabled many of them to resign their lives with patience and hope, and to walk through the valley of death without much dismay, when the appointed hour was come. A few of them I confess, have been elevated by a noble faith above the level of that dispensation: Yet some of them seem to make bitter mourning, because of the shadows of darkness that covered the grave, and all the regions beyond it. _They were all their life-time subject to bondage through the fear of death_; Heb. ii. 14.

It is our Jesus alone, who has _brought life and immortality into so glorious a light by the gospel_; 2 Tim. i. 10. He dwelt long in heaven before he came into our world, and again he went as a fore-runner into those unseen worlds, and came back again and taught his disciples, what heaven is: And thus we learn to overcome death with all its terrors, by the richer prospect, which he has given us, of the heavenly country that lies beyond the grave: He has taught his followers to rejoice in dying, and to possess the pleasures that are to be derived from death, as it is an entrance into the regions of light and joy. Blessed be God! that we were born in the days of the Messiah, since Christ returned from the dead, and that we were not sent either to the schools of the philosophers, or even to Moses, to teach us how to die.

IV. Learn from these discourses, what a sweet and delightful glory belongs to the covenant of grace, that turns a curse into a blessing. When the broken law, or covenant of works attempts to curse thee with death, O believer, (as Balaam did Israel) _the Lord thy God turns the curse into a blessing to thee by this new covenant, because the Lord thy God loveth thee_; Deut. xxiii. 5. So afflictions are turned into mercies by the virtue of this covenant, they mortify our sins, they wean us from the world, they bring our hearts near to God, they make us partakers of his holiness. So death, which is the greatest affliction to nature, and has such a formidable aspect to a sensual man, is made subservient to the eternal welfare of a christian. It is this sweet covenant that has wrought the change; Christ has conquered it, and the believer enjoys the triumph.

Does the eye of nature behold death as a serpent? Our Lord Jesus has broken its teeth, and taken away its sting; for by his sacrifice he has abolished sin, which is the sting of death. Does nature look upon death as a lion? Our Redeemer has slain it, and the covenant of grace has furnished the carcase of it with honey, and stored it with delicious food for the entertainment of a christian; thus, _Out of the eater cometh forth meat, and out of the strong cometh forth sweetness_; Judges xiv. 14. The riddle of Samson, when applied in this manner, carries a diviner beauty in it, and more exquisite delight. And as that Jewish champion feasted his father and his mother, with delicacies taken out of the lion he had slain, so does our Lord feast his brethren and his friends, with sacred pleasures derived from death, our vanquished enemy.

O how unspeakable is the privilege of those that belong to Christ! If you are his, then death is yours: Christ is the only begotten Son, and he inherits all things; not only as a son but as the first overcomer: _Ye all are sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus_; Gal. iii. 26. _Ye shall also be overcomers, and shall inherit all things_; Rev. xxi. 7. _Whether life or death, things present or things to come, all are yours, for ye are Christ’s._ I proceed to the practical uses.

I. If death in every sense, may be turned to the advantage of the saints, as I have proved in the former discourse, let us see then, that, in all its appearances, we gain some advantage by it. Let us not act like fools, who have a prize put into their hands, and know not how so use it.

If our fellow-creatures die and go down to the dust, and the nations of mankind perish from the earth, let us learn thereby the frailty of our natures; let us learn so to _number our days as to apply our hearts to wisdom_; Ps. xc. 12. and be awakened to an active and immediate preparation for the day of our own death. If we see impenitent sinners dying under the anguish of a guilty conscience, let us gain a sensible lesson of the dreadful evil of sin; let it raise such a religious fear of the wrath of God, and such a sacred gratitude for our deliverance, from the torments of hell, as may quicken every grace into its warmest exercise, and its brightest evidence. If death seize upon our Lord Christ himself, his dying groans lay a foundation for our immortal hopes: Let us meditate on the thousand blessings we receive from his cross and his tomb. Do the saints around us lie down and die? We should learn to follow them boldly into the dark valley, and to fall asleep in the dust with the same chearful hopes of the joyful rising-day. Does death come near us into our own family, and tear our dear relatives from our arms? Even this may be turned to our advantage too; it should render the world and the pleasures of it more insipid and worthless; it should loosen our heart-strings from the fond embraces of the creature; for it calls our eyes and our souls heavenward and home-ward, and that with a loud and sensible voice, if nature and grace are awake to hear it.

If death and the grave be ours, and we make no use of this privilege, we are like misers, who have treasure in their possessions but never employ it to any valuable purpose. Has Christ our Lord taken death among his captives, and made it his own property? Let us look upon ourselves as humble sharers in the victory; he has appointed it to serve the interest of all his followers: He has put it into the inventory of our treasures. Let us improve it then to these divine purposes, let us seize and enjoy the spoils _which Christ, the Captain of our salvation_, has taken from the hands of the prince of darkness.

II. Is death become your possession, O believers, through the grace of the covenant: Fear it not then, but ever look upon it with an eye of faith as a conquered adversary: Behold it, as reduced to your service; wait for it, with holy courage and pleasure; it is a messenger of mercy to your souls from Christ, who hath vanquished it in the open field of battle, and reduced it to his subjection. When you labour and groan under sins and temptations, under pains and sorrows, remember Christ has appointed death to be his officer for your relief. It is like the porter that opens the door of his repository, the grave, where your bodies shall take a sweet slumber till the resurrection-day; and it is appointed also to open the gates of heaven for your spirits and to let them into a world of unknown felicity.

Death has so many things belonging to it, which are afflictive to nature, and formidable to the eye of sense, that we have need of all manner of assistance to raise our souls above the fear of it. The very thought of dying makes many a christian shudder, and sweat, and tremble, and awakens all the springs of human infirmity: O may the grace of faith gain a more glorious ascendancy in our souls! We should often meditate on such doctrines as these, which place that dreadful thing death in the most easy and pleasing light; we should behold it as changed from a curse into a blessing, and numbered among our treasures. Christians should accustom themselves to look at it through the glass of the gospel, which casts fair colours upon what is in itself so dark and formidable. It is the gospel in that glass which discovers to us the flowery blessings that grow in that gloomy valley, and gives a fair and delightful prospect of those hills of paradise and pleasure that lie beyond the grave. Why should we let this blessed gospel lie neglected, and live still in bondage to the fear of dying?

The Recollection.—“Come now, and let us learn by this discourse, to shame ourselves of these weaknesses, these unreasonable fears. Let us talk to our own souls in the language of faith. Why, O my soul, art thou afraid to let this body die? Hast thou not endured labours and trials enough, and art thou unwilling to come to the end of them? Hast thou not yet been tempted enough? Hast thou not been foiled too often, and too often thrown down in the conflict? Think of thy many wounds of conscience, the bruises of thy spirit, the defilement of thy garments, and the loss of thy purity and thy peace. Canst thou bear, that all these should be repeated again and again? Art thou unwilling this war should have an end? Art thou afraid of victory and triumph? What dost thou labour and fight for? Dost thou not run to obtain the prize? Dost thou not wrestle and fight to gain the crown? And hast thou not courage enough to go across the dark valley, to take possession of this crown and this prize?

“Think, O my spirit, think of thy painful ignorance whilst thou dwellest in this region of shadows: Is not knowledge thy natural and delicious food? Hast thou not lived long enough in darkness, and been involved too long in mistakes and errors? And art thou willing to dwell in a land of darkness still, a land of dreams and disguises, where truth is hardly found? Art thou afraid of the borders of that world, where light and knowledge grow, and where truth, and realities appear all unveiled and without disguise? Where thou shalt be cheated no more with the sound of words, but shalt see all things just as they are, in a clear light, without error, and without confusion? O happy period of thy mistakes and wanderings, of all thy learned mazes in quest of truth! And art thou still afraid to come near it?

“Has it not been the matter of thy sacred mourning, that thy God is so much concealed from thee, that greatest and best of beings? That the Son of God, _the brightness of the Father’s glory_; Heb. i. 3. is so much a stranger, and thy Saviour is so little known? That thy faith has been labouring and wearied in many enquiries about the glories of his person as God-man, about the wonders of his united natures, and the mysteries of his gospel, about the power of his death, the virtue of his righteousness, and the sovereignty of his grace? And art thou afraid of the sunshine, and that perfect day that shall scatter all these clouds of doubt and mistake, and let thee see thy Saviour and thy God face to face, as they are seen by angels? O that surprizing hour, of unknown delight, that shall place thee, O my soul, in the midst of the world of spirits, surrounded with the light of heaven, and in the open presence of God, even thy God! When thou shalt gain swift and transporting acquaintance with the Almighty Being that made thee, and the Son of God, who dwelt once in mortal flesh, and died to save thee! When the divine irradiations of the Eternal Spirit shall unfold those mysteries to thy view, which had so much darkness about them in these lower regions! What an illustrious scene of light and joy shall arise all around thee as thou enterest into that unknown state! What strange new ideas of things, what new worlds of knowledge shall throng in upon thee, and thy enlarged understanding shall receive them all with infinite satisfaction, and with ever-growing pleasure! Art thou not already on the wing, my soul, at such a divine prospect as this? O stupid creatures that we are! we seek after the light of truth here below, and crowd about a glimmering spark of knowledge, we wrangle all around it with endless contention, and yet when death would open the gate of glory, and admit us into regions of light, we start back, and retire, contented to abide among twilight and shadows.

“But, O my soul, if truth and knowledge are not sufficient, to allure thee, has holiness no constraining power? Hast thou not sinned enough and broken the laws of God often enough already? Hast thou not brought guilt enough, and grief enough, upon thyself, that thou art afraid of a state of perfect holiness? What is it that has given thee such inward pain as the perpetual workings of thy native iniquity? What is it that has made thee cry out, _O wretched creature that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?_ Rom. vii. 24. From the temptations and sins which are mingled with flesh and blood! And art thou afraid to have thy groans ended, thy complaints removed, and thy deliverance appear? Art thou unwilling to accept of the release? Dost thou shrink back from the sight of the deliverer? Hast not thy faith often seen the spirits of the just made perfect standing before the throne, rejoicing before God, worshipping in the complete beauty of holiness? And has not thy faith awakened thy desires and thy sacred wishes? O that I were in the midst of them! Why then art thou so unwilling to leave this body of sin and darkness, and to go out of this troublesome and impure prison into that glorious world, that blessed assembly, and to worship amongst them without imperfection, and without weariness? Consider, O my soul, are thy complaints of indwelling corruption sincere? Are thy groans for deliverance honest and hearty? Why then art thou afraid to let this tabernacle be dissolved, and to gain a blessed release from these inbred and restless enemies? Has not the lustre of perfect holiness attraction and force enough in it, to awaken thy longings, and stretch thy wings for a flight to heaven?

“Remember also whilst thou art here, and art often sinning, many of the threatenings of God in his word stand bent against thee, his arrows sometimes stick in thy flesh, and pierce thy very soul. I confess these are not the sword of his vindictive justice, thy afflictions are but the corrections of his rod: But is it not better to dwell in that world where thou shalt feel no such correcting strokes, and deserve chastisement no more, where the Lord thy God shall lay aside every frown, and remove his anger for ever?

“Thy best life now is to live upon the promises; but does not all the excellency of a promise consist in the hope of performance? And is not the performance then so much better than the promise itself? Is not possession better than hope? Is not an assured and an unchangeable possession better than this state of doubts and fears? Is it not much more agreeable to _dwell in the house of God for ever_; Ps. xxiii. 6. than only to make a visit to it now and then? Is it not infinitely better to be fixed in a state of perfect felicity, without the least fear or apprehension of losing it? To be as a _pillar in the temple of God, thy God, and to go no more out_; Rev. iii. 13.

“Think again, Hast thou not sustained sufficient pains and sorrows both of flesh and mind in this lower world? Death shall put an end to them all; and art thou unwilling to have a full release from sorrow and pain? Has this flesh of thine been complained of so often as thy clog and thy painful prison, and art thou more afraid to have thy fetters knocked off? Has not thy body given thee smart and anguish enough? And has it not tempted thee enough away from thy God, and thy truest happiness? Has thy sinful sickly flesh been so charming a companion that thou art not yet willing to part with it? Dost thou not desire to have all thy diseases healed at once? Wouldst thou not be glad to have all thy torments of body and mind for ever eased, and all the uneasinesses of flesh and spirit removed for ever?

“It is true, the mere desire of ease should not be the chief reason why thou shouldest desire death, nor shouldest thou seek it with an impatient spirit: It is thy duty to bear sufferings and sorrows with holy patience, as a good soldier of Christ, it is thy duty to abide in thy post during his pleasure, to fill up the hours with service, and to sustain the fatigues and burdens of the mortal state to the glory of God thy Saviour: But he does not require that thou shouldest fall in love with a state of guilt and pain, a state that has so much sin and temptation, so much burden and fatigue in it; he gives thee leave to groan after the hour of release and deliverance. _In this tabernacle we groan earnestly, being burdened_; 2 Cor. v. 2.