ceive, coming to him at death, firmly depending upon his faithful- ness that hatli promised, saying, as David, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. Though Lord, there be many defects in me, " yet thou hast made " a covenant with me, well ordered in all things, and sure ; and this " is all my salvation, and all my hope."" Lord, I am resolved to send out my soul in an act of faith : I will venture it upon the credit of thy promise. How can God refuse such a- soul ? How can he put it off, when it so puts itself upon him ?
Sixthly, But this is not all ; the gracious soul sustains many in- timate and dear relations to that God into whose hands it commends itself at death. It is his spouse, and the consideration of such a day of espousals, may well encourage it to cast itself into the bosom of Christ, its head and husband : it is a member of his body, flesh and bones, Eph. v. 30. It is his child, and he its everlasting Fa- ther, Isa. ix. 6. It is his friend. " Henceforth (saith Christ,) I " call you not servants, but friends,,, John xv. 15. What confi- dence may these, and all other the dear relations Christ owns to the renewed soul, beget, in such an hour as this is ! What husband can throw off the dear wife of his bosom ; who in distresses casts herself into his arms ! What father can shut the door upon a dear child that comes to him for refuge, saying, Father, into thy hands
Seventhly, and lastly, The unchangeableness of God's love to his people, gives confidence they shall in no wise be cast out. They know Christ was the same to them at last as he was at first : the same in the pangs of death, as he was in the comforts of life : having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end, John xiii. 1. He doth not love as the world loves, only in pros- perity ; but they are as dear to him when their beauty and strength are gone, as when they were in the greatest flourishing. If we live, we live to the Lord ; and if we die, we die to the Lord ; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's, Rom. xiv. 8. Take in all these things, and weigh them both apart, and toge- ther, and see whether they amount not to a full evidence of the truth of this point, that dying believers are both warranted . and encouraged to commend their souls into the hands of God ; whe- ther they have not every one of them cause to say as the apostle did,
2 Tim. i. 12. " I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded " that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him " against that day." The improvements of all this you have in the following practical deductions.
Deduction I. Are dying believers only warranted and encouraged thus to commend their souls into the hands of God? What a sad strait then must all dying unbelievers be in about their souls? Such souls will fall into the hands of God, but that is their misery, not their privi-
SE11M. XXXVT. THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE. 451
lege : they are not put by faith into the hands of mercy, but fall by sin into the hands of justice : not God, but the devil is their father, John viii. 4. Whither should the child go but to its own father ? They have not one of those forementioned encouragements to cast themselves into the hands of God, except the naked relation they have to God as their Creator, and that is as good as none, without the new creation. If they have nothing but this to plead for their salvation, the devil hath as much to plead as they. It is the new creature that brings the first creation into repute again with God.
O dismal ! O deplorable case ! A poor soul is turning out of house and home, and knows not where to go ; it departs, and im- mediately falls into the hands of justice. The devil stands by, waiting for such a soul (as a dog for a crust) whom God will throw to him. Little ! ah little, do the friends of such a one think, whilst they are honouring his dust by a splendid and honourable funeral, what a case that poor soul is in that lately dwelt there ; and what fearful straits and extremities it is now exposed to ! He may cry, indeed, Lord ! Lord ! open to me, as in Mat. vii. 22. But to how little purpose are these vain cries ! Will God hear him when he cries? Job xxvii. 9. It is a lamentable case !
Deduction 2. Will God graciously accept, and faithfully keep what the saints commit to him at death ? How careful tlien should they be to keep what God commits to them, to be kept for him while they live ? You have a great trust to commit to God when you die, and God hath a great trust to commit to you whilst you live : you ex- pect that he should faithfully keep what then you shall commit to his keeping, and he expects you should faithfully keep what he now commits to your keeping. O keep what God commits to you, as you expect he should keep your souls when you commit them unto him. If you keep his truths, he will keep your souls. " Be- u cause thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep " thee, Sec." Rev. iii. 10. Be faithful to your God, and you shall find him faithful to you. None can pluck you out of his hand; see that nothing wrest his truths out of your hands. " If we deny him, he also will deny us," 2 Tim. ii. 12. Take heed lest those estates you have gotten as a blessing, attending the gospel, prove a temptation to you to betray the gospel. * Religion " (saith * one) brings forth riches, but the daughter devours the " mother." How can you expect acceptance with God, who have betrayed his truth, and dealt perfidiously with him.
Deduction 3. If believers may safely commit their souls into the hands of God, how confidently may they commit all lesser interests and lower concernments into the same hand? Shall we trust him
* Religio piperit divitias, sedJUia devoravit matron.
452 THE FOUNTAIN OF LIFE, SERM. XXXVI,
with our souls, and not with our lives, liberties or comforts. Can we commit the treasure to him and not a trifle ? Whatever you enjoy in this world, is but a trifle to your souls. Sure, if you can trust him for eternal life for your souls, you may much more trust him for the daily bread for your bodies. I know it is objected, that God hath made over temporal things to his people upon con- ditional promises, and an absolute faith can never be grounded upon conditional promises.