Now, to the end that you might have right thoughts and appre- hensions of death, which may put you upon serious preparation for it; and that whenever your turn comes to conflict with this king of terrors, under whose hand the Pompeys, Caesars, and Alexanders of the world, who have been the terrors of nations, have bowed down themselves ; I say, that when your turn and time comes, as the I^ord only knows how soon it may be, you may escape the stroke of its dart and sting, and taste no other bitterness in death, than the natu- ral evil of it : To this end I have drawn the following questions and answers, which, if you please, may be called The Seamaii's Catechism. And, oh ! that you might not dare to launch forth into the deeps, until you have seriously interrogated and examined your hearts upon those particulars. Oh ! that you would resolve, before you go forth, to withdraw yourselves a while from all clamours and distractions, and calmly and seriously catechise your ownselves in this manner. Quest. 1. What may the issue of this voyage be.^^ Answ. Death, Prov. xxvii. 1. " Boast not thyself of to-morrow, " for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth."" Jam. iv. 13, 14. " Go to now, ye that say. To-day, or to-morrow, we will go into " such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get " gain : whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow ; for " what is your life ? It is even a vapour that appeareth for a uttle '' time, and then yanisheth away."
^34f THE seaman's catechism.
Quest 9>. What is death ?
Answ. Death is a separation of sOul and body until the resurrec- tion, 2 Cor. V. 1. " We know that if our earthly house of this taber- " nacle be dissolved." Job xiv. 10, 11, 12. Read the words.
Quest. 3. Is death to be despised and slighted if it be so ?
Answ. O no ! it is one of the most weighty and serious things that ever a creature went about : so dreadful doth it appear to some, that the fear of it subjects them to bondage all their lives, Heb. ii. 15. " And to deliver them who, through fear of death, were all their " life-time subject to bondage." And in scripture it is called, The Mng of terrors^ Job xviii. 14. Or the black prince, as some trans- late. Never had any prince such a title before. To some it hath been so terrible, that none might mention its name before them.
Quest. 4. What makes it so terrible and affrighting to men ?
Answ. Several things concur to make it terrible to the most of men ; as^fifst, Its harbingers and antecedents, which are strong pains, conflicts, and agonies. Secondly, Its office and work it comes about, which is to transfer us into the other v/orld. Hence, Rev. vi. 8. it is set forth by a. pale horse: an horse for its use and office to carry you away from hence into the upper, or lower region of eternity ; and a pale horse, for its ghastiiness and terror. Thirdly, But above all, it is terrible in regard of its consequence ; for it is the door of eternity, the parting point betwixt the present world and that to come ; the utmost line and boundary of all temporal things. Hence, Heb. ix. 27. " It is appointed unto men once to die; but " after this the judgment." Rev. vi. 8. " And I looked, and be- ** hold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and ** hell followed him." Ah ! it makes a sudden and strange altera- tion upon men's conditions, to be plucked out of house, and from among friends and honours, and so many delights, and hurried in a moment into the land of darkness, to be clothed with flames, and drink the pure wrath of the Almighty for ever. This is it that makes it terrible.
Quest. 5. If death be so weighty a matter, am I prepared to die ?
Answ. I doubt not ; I am afraid I want many things that are ne- cessary to a due preparation for it.
Quest. 6. What are those things wherein a due preparation for death consisteth ?
Answ. Many things are necessary. First, Special and saving union with Jesus Christ. This is that which disarms it of its sting : " O " death, where is thy sting .? Thanks be to God who hath given [us] *' the victory, through [our] Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. xv. 55, 57. So John xi. 26. " Whosoever [liveth,] and [believeth] in me shall •* never die." Whosoever liveth, i. e. is quickened with a new spiri- tual life and principle, and so puts forth the prmcipal act of that life, viz. faith, he shall never die, i. e. eternally. This hornet, death, shall never leave its sting in his sides. Secondly^ To entertain
THE seamen's catechism. S35
death comfortably, the evidence aiid knowledge of this union is ne- cessary, 2 Cor. V. 1. " For [we know,] that if our earthly house of " this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God," &c. And then he cannot only be content, but groan to be unclothed, ver. S. A mistake in the former will cost me my soul ; and a mistake here will lose me my peace and comfort. Thirdly, In order to this evidence it is necessary that I keep a good conscience in all things both towards God and man, 2 Cor. i. 12. "This is our rejoicing, " even the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly " sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have *' had our conversation in the world." This good conscience res- pects all and every part of our work and duty to be done, and all and every sin to be renounced and denied : so that he that is early united unto Christ by faith, hath the clear evidence of that union; and the evidence fairly gathered from the testimony of a good conscience, witnessing his faithfulness, as to all duties to be done, and sins to be avoided, he is fit to die; death can do him no harm; but, alas ! these things are not to be found in me.
Quest. 7. But what if I die without such a preparation as this is? What will the consequence of that be ?
Ansiff. Very terrible, even the separation of my soul and body from the Lord to all eternity ; John iii. ^6. " He that believeth on " the Son hath everlasting life : and he that believeth not the Son, " shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him." He shall not see life ; there is the privative part of his misery, separation from the blessed God. And the \wrath,'\ mark it, not anger, but wrath, not the wrath of man, but of [God,] at whose rebukes tlie mountains skip like frighted men, and the hills tremble : the wrath of God not only flashes out upon him, as a transient flash of lightning, but [cibideth,'\ dwells, sticks fast ; there is no power in the world can loose the soul from it. [Upon him,'\ not the body only, nor the soul only, but on [Ai?;i,] (i. e.) the whole person, the whole man. Here is the principal positive part of that man's misery.
Quest. 8. Can I bear this misery ?