Arg. 4. The consideration of what we part from, and what we go to, should make the medium, by which we pass from so much evil to so great good, lovely and desirable in our eyes, how unplea- sing or bitter soever it be in itself.
No man desires physic for itself There is no pleasure in bitter pills and loathsome potions, except whiit rises from the end, viz. the disburdening of nature, and recovery of health ; and this gives it a
A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 113
value with the sick and pained. Under a like consideration is death desired by sick and pained souls, who find it better to die once, than groan under burdens continually.
Death certainly is the best physician, next, and under Jesus Christ, that ever was employed about them ; for it cures radically and perfectly, so that the soul never relapses more into any distem- per. Other medicines are but anodynes, or at best they relieve us but in part, and for a time ; but this goes through the work, and perfects the cure at once. Methinks that call of Christ which he gives his spouse in Cant. iv. 8. " (Come with me from Lebanon, " (my spouse) with me from Lebanon : and look from the top of " Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions ** dens, from the mountains of the leopards)"" scarce suits any time so well as the time of death. Then it is that we depart from the lions dens, and the mountains of leopards, places uncomfortable and unsafe. More particularly at death the saints depart.
1. From defiling corruptions
2. From heart-sinking sorrows
3. From entangling temptations
4. From distressing persecutions
5. From pinching wants
6. From distracting fears
7. From deluding shadows
3. Everlasting freedom.
5. Universal supplies.
1. From defiling corruptions into perfect purity. No sin hangs about the separated, though it do about the sanctified soul. They come out of the body suitable to that character aad encomium. Cant. iv. 7. " Thou art all fair, my love, there is no spot in *' thee."" It doth that for the saints, which all their graces and duties, all their mercies and afflictions, could never do. Faith is a great purifier, communion with God a great cleanser, sanctified afflictions a refiner's fire and fuller's soap ; these have all done their parts, and been useful in their places : But none of them, nor all together, perfect this cure till death come, and then the work is done, and the cure perfected.
All weeping, all praying, all believing, all hearing, all sacra- ments, all the means and instruments in the world, cannot do what death will do for thee. One dying hour will do what ten thousand praying hours never did, nor could do. In this hour the design of all those hours is accomplished ; as he that is dead by mortification, is at present freed from sin, in respect of imputation and dominion, Rom. vi. 7. so he that is justified and mortified, when dead naturally, is immediately freed from the very indwelling and existence of sin in him. We read of the wasliing of the robes of the saints, in Rev. vii. 14. The blood of the Lamb cleanscth
114< A TREATISE OF THE SOUL OF MAN.
them from every spot ; but it doth it gradually. The last spot of guilt indeed was fetched out by one act of justification; but the last spot of filth is not fetched out till the time of their dissolution; when they are come out of the agonies of death (which the scripture calls great tribulation) then, and not till then, are they perfectly cleansed. Sin brought in death, and death carries out sin.
Oh ! what a pure, lovely, shining creature, is the separated spirit of a just man? how cL^ar is its judgment, how ordinate its "will, how holv, and altogether heavenly are all its affections now ! and never till now it feels itself perfectly well, and as it would be.
S. From heart sinking soriiows, into fulness of joy. The life we now live is a groaning lif(», 2 Cor. v. 2. where is the Christian, that if his inside could be seen, and his heart laid naked, would not be found wounded from many hands ? from the hand of God, of enemies, of friends, of Satan ; but especially by the hands of its own corruptions ? Christ our head was sfiled a man of sorrows^ from the multitude of his sorrows ; and it is the lot of all his to be in a state of sorrow in the body. " In the world (saith he) you '^ shall have trouble.'" When I consider how oft the candle of sorrow is held to the thread of life, I justly wonder how it is pro- tracted to such a length. What friend, what enjoyment had we ever in this world, from which no sorrow, nay, many sorrows have not sprung up to us ? And if the best comforts bring forth sorrows, what do the worst things we meet with here bring forth ? I suppose there are many thousands of God's people this day in the world, that have as much reason to assume the same new name that Naomi did, and say, Call me Mar ah. Look, as day and night divide all time betmxt them ; so do our comforts and our sorrows, only with this difference, that our nights of sorrow, like winter nights, are long, cold and dark ; and our days of comfort short, and frequently overcast.
But when we put off these bodies, we put off our mourning garments with them, and shall never son-ow any more : Thence- forth God wij>es away all tears from his people's eyes, Rev. xxi. 4. And that is not all,' but they enter into their Master's joy, even fulness of joy, and pleasures for evermore. Groans are turned into triumphs, and sighs and tears into joyful acclamations and songs of praise. Oh that we were once made thoroughly sensible of the advantages that come by this exchange !
3. From entangling temptations into everlasting freedom. It is this body, and the interests and concerns of it, upon which Satan raises most of his batteries against our souls : It is our flesh that causeth our souls to sin; and whilst the soul dwells in the body, it is vA\\\m Satan's reach to tempt, and defile, and trouble it. Oh
A TREAtlSE OF THE SOUL OF MAN. 115
\rhat grievous things do the best souls endure, and suffer on this account !
Temptations are of two sorts ; ordinary and mediate, by Satan's exciting and managing our corruptions, by presenting objects to them ; or extraordinary and immediate, like fiery darts shot im- mediately out of hell into the soul, which puts it all into a flame and combustion : Of the former you read in James i. 14. the latter, Eph. vi. 16. and upon the account of the one and the other, the people of God are weary of their lives. Think what a grief it must be to a soul that loves God, to feel in itself such things as militate against, and wound the name and honour of God, which is, and ought to be dearer to it than its life.