SoLov. A qncon of tliis land said, slie pre- ferred licr coffin before her cradle.
Quest. L IVhat benefits do believers receive at death ?
Ana. 1, They have pjeat immunities. — 2. Tln'ir bodies are united to Christ in the jn-ave till the resurrection. — 3. They pass imme- diately into a state of pi or y.
I. The saints at death have g^reat immu- nities and freedoms. An apprentice when out of his time is made free : when the saints are out of their time of living, then thoy are made free, — not luade free till death. 1. At death they are freed from a body of sin. There are in the best reliquicB peccati, — some remainders and relics of corruption, Rom. vii. 21.. " O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death !" Bv the body of death is meant the cmigerief^, — the mass and lump of sin. It may well be called a body for its weightiness, and a body of death for its noisomeness. (1.) It wriglis us down ; sin hinders us from doing good. A Christian is like a bird that would be fixing up, but hath a string tied to its legs to hinder it ; so he would be flying up to heaven with the wings of desire, but sin hinders him, Rom. vii. 15 , " For what I would, that I do not." A Christian is like a ship that is under sail, and at anchor ; grace would sail forward, but sin is the an- chor that holds it back. (2.) Sin is more active in its s])here than grace. How stir- ring was lust in David, when his grace lay dormant! (3.) Sin sometimes gets the niiis- tery and leads a saint captive, Rom. vii. 19., " The evil that I would not, that I do." Paul was like a man carried down the stream, and could not bear up against it. How oft is a child of God overpowered with pride and passion ! Therefore Paul calls pin, a law in his members, Rom. vii. 24-. ; it binds as a law ; it hath a kind of juris- diction over the soul as Caesar had over the senate. (4.) Sin defiles the soul, — it is like a stain to beauty, — it turns the soul's azure brightness into sable. (.5.) Sin debilitates us, — it disarms us of our strength, 2 Sam. iii. 39., " I am this day weak, though a- nointed king:" so, though a saint be crown- ed with grace, yet he is weak, though a- noiiitcd a spiritual king. (().) Sin is ever restless. Gal. v. 17., " The flesh lusts against |
the Spirit." It is an inmate that is always rpiarrelling ; like Marcellus, that Roman captain, of whom Hannibal said, whether he <li(l beat or was beaten, he would never be quiet. (7.) Sin adheres to us, we can- not get rid of it ; it may be compared to a wild fig-tree growing on a wall, though the roots are pulled up, yet there are some fi- bres, some strings of it in the joints of the stone-work, which cannot be gotten out. (8.) Sin mingles with our duties and graces ; we cannot write a copy of holiness without blotting. This makes a child of God weary of his life, and makes him water his couch with his tears, to think sin so strong a party, and he should often offend that God whom he loves ; this made Paul cry out Miser ego homo ! ' O wretched man that I am !' Hence Paul did not cry out of his aflliction. of his prison-chain, but of the body of ^in. Now a believer at death shall be freed from sin ; he is not taken away in, but from his sins; he shall never have a vain, proud thought more; he shall never grieve the Spirit of God any more ; sin brought death into the world, and death sliall carry sin out of the world. The Persians had a cer- tain day in the year in which they killed all serpents and venomous creatures : such a day will the day of death be to a believer, it will destroy all his sins, which, like so many serj)ents have stung him. Death smites a believer as the angel did Peter, he made his ch.ains fall off, so death makes all the chains of sin fall off, Acts xii. 7. Be- lievers at death are made perfect in holiness, Heb. xii. 23., " The spirits of just men made perfect." At death the souls of believers recover their virgin purity. O what a bles- sed privilege is this, to be sine macida et ruga^ — without spot or wrinkle, Eph. v. 27., — to be purer than the sunbeams, — to be as free from sin as the angels ! This makes a believer so desirous to have his pass to bo gone ; he would fain live in that pure air where no black vapours of sin arise.
2. At death the saints shall be freed from all the troubles and incumbrances to which this life is subject. " Sin is the seed sown, and trouble is the harvest reaped " EvRip. Life and trouble are marrii'd together; there is more in life to wean us than to tem|)t us. Parents divide a portion of sorrow to their
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A BELIEVER'S PRIVILEGE AT DEATH.