irOW TO ENCOURAGE THE HEART AGAINST DEATH. 491
startle and shrink back from it ; but when God hath put away thy sins from thee, " as far as the east is from tlie west,'' Psal. ciii. 12. as lono- as there is no other evil left in death for thee to encounter with but bodily pain ; as long as the scriptures represent it to thee under such harmless and easy notions, as the putting off thy clothes, 2 Cor. V. 2. " And lying down to sleep upon thy bed," Isa. Ivii. 2. Why shouldst thou be afraid ? There is as much difference betwixt death to the people of God, and others, as betwixt the unicorn's liorn, when it is upon the head of that fierce beast, and when it is in the apothe- cary's shops, where it is made salubrious and medicinal.
Arg. 2. Thy heart may be kej)t from shrinking back at such a time as this, by consider'mg the necessity of death, in order to the full fruition of God.
Whether thou art willing to die or no, I assure thee there is no other way to obtain the full satisfaction of thy soul, and complete its happiness ; till the hand of death do thee the kind office to draw aside the curtain of the flesh, thy soul cannot see God : This animal life stands betwixt him and thee, 2 Cor. v. G. " Whilst we are at home " in the body, we are absent from the Lord.'' Thy body must be refined and cast into a new mould, else that new wine of heavenly glory would break it. Paul, in his highest rapture, 2 Cor. xii. 4. when he heard things unutterable, was then but as a stander-by, a looker-on, not admitted into the company as one of them ; but as the angels are in our assemblies, so was Paul in that glorious assembly above, and no otherwise ; and yet even for this he must, as it were, be taken oi^t of the body, unclothed for a little time, to have a glimpse of that glory, and then put on his clothes again. O then ! who would not be willing to die for a full sight and enjoyment of God ? Methinks thy soul should look and sigh, like a prisoner, through the grates of this mortality: ''O that I had wings like a dove, then would *' I fly away, and be at rest :" Most men need patience to die, but a saint that understands what death admits him to, should rather need patience to live ; methinks he should often look out, and listen on a death-bed for his Lord's coming ; and when he receives the news of his approaching change, should say, " The voice of my beloved ! be- *' hold, he couieth leaping over the mountains, skipping upon the " hills," Cant. ii. 8.
Arg. 3. Another argument persuading to this "willingness, is the immediate succession of a more excellent and glorious life.
It is but a wink, and you shall see God : Your happiness shall not be deferred till the resurrection ; but as soon as the body is dead, the gracious soul is swallowed up in life, Rom. viii. 10, 11. When once you have loosed from this shore, in a few moments, your souls will be wafted over upon the wings of angels to the other shore oi a glorious eternity. Phil. i. 23. " I desire to be dissolved, and to be with Christ." Did the soul and body die together, as Berilius taught ; or did they
492 MOW TO ENCOURAGE THE HEART AGAINST DEATIT.
sleop till the resurrection, as others have pjroundlessly fancied ; it haci been a madness for Paul to desire a dissohition for the enjoyment of ('hrist : For if this were so, he enjoyed more of Christ whilst liis soul dwelt in its fleshly tabernacle, than he should out of it.
There are but two ways of the souPs livinnn, known in scripture, viz. the life of///////, and the life oi' vision, 1 Cor. v. 5. Those two divideth all time, l)oth })rescnt and future, betwixt them, 1 Cor. xiii. IS. If when faith fails, sight should not immediately succeed, what would become of the unbodied soul ? Hul blessed be God, tliis great heart-estiiblishing truth is evidejitly revealed in scri[jture, Luke xxiii. 4^3. You have ('hrist's promise, John xiv. .'5. " I will come and rc- *' ccive you to myself." Owhat i\ change will a few moments make upon your condition ? IJouse up, dying saint ; when thy soul is come out a little I'nrther ; when it shall s!;uid like Abraham at its tent-door, the angels of God shall soon be with it : the souls of the elect are, as it were, ])ut out to the angels to nurse, and when they die, these angels carry them home again to their Father's house: if an angel were caused to Hy swiftly to bring a saint the answer of his prayer, Dan. ix. 22. liow nuich more will the angels come post from heaven to receive and transfer the praying soul itself.?
Ai*g. 4. Farthei*, It maij muck conduce to thy 7villivgncssto die, to consider, that bydcidh, God o/hntiuies hides hiff people out of the way of all temptations a/nd troubles npoii earth, Kev. xiv. 13. " Write, " from henceforth, lilessed are the dead which die in the Lord."" It is (lOcTs usual way, when some extraordinary calamities are coming upon the world, to set liis people out of harm's M'ay before-hand, Isa. Ivii. 1. "Merciful men are taken away from the evil to come."" So Mic. vii. 2. when such an evil time comes as is there described, " That they all lie in wait for blood, and every man hunts his brother " with a net :"" God, by an act of favour, houses liis people before- hand. Dost thou know what evil may be in the earth, which thou art so loth to leave? 'i'hy God removes thee for thy great advan- tage; thou art disbanded by death, and called ofl' the field; other poor 5.aints must stand to it, and endure a great fight of afflictions.
It is observed that Methuselah died the very year before the flood ; Augustine, a little before the sacking of IIi})po; Parens, just before the taking of Heidelburgh : Luther observes, that all the apostles died before the destruction of Jerusalem: and T>uther himseli'died before the wars broke out in Germany. It may be the Lord sees thy tender heart cannot endure to see the misery, or bear the temp- tations that are coming, and therefore will now gather thee to thy grave in peace; and yet wilt thou cry, O spare me a little longer!
Arg. 5. If yet thy heart hang bach', consider the great advantage you will have by death, above all that ever you enjoyed on earth ; and that, (1.) As to your communion with God : (2.) As to your com- munion with saints.
naW TO ENCOURAGE THE HEART AGAINST DEATH. 49'S
1. For your communion witli God : the time of perfecting that is now come : thy soul shall shortly stand ])efore the face of God, and have the immediate emanations and beamings forth of his glory upon it : here thy soul is remote from God, the beams of his glory strike it but obliquely and feebly, but shortly it will be under the line, and there the sun shall stand still, as it did in Gibeon ; there shall be no cloudings, nor declinings of it. O how should this fill thy soul with desires of being unclothed !