cliildrcn, and yet leave enough for them- selves, Job V. 7., " Man is born to trouble," - — he is heir to it, — it is his birtliright, — you may as well separate weight from lead as trouble from the life of man, Q_nid est diu vivere, nisi diu torqueri ? Aug. King Hen- ry's emblem, a crown hung in a bush of thorns ; there is a far greater proportion of bitterness than pleasure in this life, Prov. vii. 17., " I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon." For one sweet ingredient thei'e were two bitter ; for the cinnamon, there were myrrh and aloes. A man's grace will not exempt him from troubles. Gen. xlvii. 9., " Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been." Tiiough he was a godly patriarch, — though he had met with God, Gen. xxxii. 30., — he named " the name of the place Peniel, for I have seen God face to face," — yet he had his troubles ; " Few and evil," &c. There are many things to imbittcr life and cause trouble, and death frees us from all. — 1. Care. The mind is full of perplexed thoughts, how to bring about such a design, — how to pre- vent such an evil : the Greek word for care, comes from a primitive in the Greek, that signifies ' to cut tlic heart in pieces.' Care doth discruciate the mind, waste the spi- rits ; no such bitter bread as the bread of carefulness, Ezek. xii. 19. Care is a spiri- tual canker which eats out the comfort of life : death is the cure of care. — 2. Fear. Fear is the ague of the soul which sets it a shaking; 1 John iv. 18,, " There is torment in fear." Fear is like Prometheus's vul- ture, it giuiws upon the heart. There is a mistrustful fear, — a fear of want ; and a distracting fear, — a fear of danger ; and a discouraging fear, — a fear God doth not love us. These fears leave sad impressions upon the mind ; now at death a believer is freed from these torturing fears ; he now knows he is passed from death to life ; he is as far from fear, as the damned are from hope; the grave buries a Christian's fear. — 3. Labour, Eccl, i. 8., " All things are full of labour." Some labour in the mine; o- thcrs among the Muses ; God hath made a law, " In the sweat of thy face thou shalt cat bread," but death gives a believer a quie- tus est; it takes him off from his day-labour, Rev. xiv. 13., '• Blessed are the dead that
die in Lord, they rest from their labours.' What needs working when they have their reward? VVliat needs fighting, when the crown is set on their head ? They rest from their labours. — 4. Suffering : believers are as a lily among thorns ; as the dove among the birds of prey. The wicked have an an- tipathy against the righteous, and secret ha- tred will break forth into open violence, Gal. iv. 29., " He that was born after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the Spirit." The dragon is described with seven heads and ten horns. Rev. xii. 3. He plot- teth with the one, and pusheth with the other. But at death the godly shall be freed from the molestations of the wicked ; they shall never be pestered with these vermin more. Job iii. 17., " There (viz. in the grave) the wicked cease from troubling." Death doth to a believer, as Joseph of Arimathea did to Christ, it takes him down from the cross, and gives liim a writ of ease ; the ea- gle that flies high, cannot be stung with the serpent ; death gives the soul the wings of the eagle, that it flies above all these venom- ous serpents here below. — 5. Temptation. Though Satan be a conquered enemy, yet he is a restless enemy, 1 Pet. v. 8. He walketh about; the devil is always going his diocese, he hath his snares and his darts ; one he tempts with riches, another with beauty. It is no small trouble to be conti- nually followed with temptations ; it is as bad as for a virgin to have her chastity daily assaulted ; but death will free a child of God from temptation, he shall never be vexed more with the old serpent. After death hath shot its darts at us, the de^-il shall have done shooting his ; though grace puts a believer out of the devil's possession, only death frees him from the devil's temp- tation.— 6. Sorrow. A cloud of sorrow ga- thers in the heart, and drops into tears, Ps. xxxi. 10., " My life is sj)ent with grief, and my years with sighing." It was a curse, Gen. iii. 16., " In sorrow thou shalt bring forth." Many things occasion sorrow ; sickness, law-suits, treachery of friends, disappointment of hopes, loss of estate, Ruth i. 20., " Call me not Naomi, call me Mara:" " I went out full, and the L(nd hath brought me home agjun emj)ty." Sorrow is the evil s])irit thai haunts us ; the world
A BELIEVER'S PIUVILEGE AT DEATH.
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