his life secured for long by one foot of retreat. Shall such a man as I am flee? said undaunted Nehemiah, chap. vi. 11. He will courageously venture life and limb rather than by one foot of retreat discredit pro- fession with the reproach of fearfulness. It was a brave, magnanimous speech of Luther, when dangers from opposers did threaten him and his associates, Come, saith he, let us sing the forty-sixth psalm, and then let them do their worst.
When Polycarpus was fourscore and six years old, he suffered martyr- dom courageously, resolutely, and undauntedly.1
When one of the ancient martyrs was very much threatened by his persecutors, he replied, There is nothing of things visible, nothing of things invisible, that I fear. I will stand to my profession of the name of Christ, and ' contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints/ Jude 3, come on it what will.2
Old disciples, old soldiers of Christ, that have the heart and courage of Shammah, one of David's worthies, who stood and defended the field when all the rest fled, 2 Sam. xxiii. 11, 12. The Hebrews call a young man Nagnar, which springs from a root that signifies to shake off, or to be tossed to and fro, to note how fickle and how constant in inconstancy young men are, Mat. xix. 20-22. They usually are persons either of no resolution for good, or of weak resolution ; they are too often won with a nut, and lost with an apple. But now, aged Christians in all earthquakes they stand fast, ' like mount Sion, that cannot be removed/ And by this also you may see what an honour it is to be an old disciple, an old Christian.
Particular 6. An old disciple, an old Christian, is prepared for death ; he hath been long a-dying to sin, to the world, to friends, to self, to re- lations, to all, and no man so prepared to die as he that thus daily dies.s
An old disciple hath lived sincerely to Christ, he hath lived eminently to Christ, he hath lived in all conditions,4 and under all changes, to Christ ; he hath lived exemplarily to Christ, he hath lived long to Christ, and therefore the more prepared to die and be with Christ. An old disciple hath a crown in his eye, a pardon in his bosom, and a Christ in his arms, and therefore may sweetly sing it out with old Simeon, ' Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace,' Luke ii. 29. As Hilary said to his soul, Soul, thou hast served Christ this seventy years, and art thou afraid of death? Go out, soul, go out.5
' Many a day,' said old Cowper, ' have I sought death with tears, not out of impatience, distrust, or perturbation, but because I am weary of sin, and fearful to fall into it.' Nazianzen calls upon the king of terrors, Devour me, devour me. And Austin, when old, could say, Shall I die ever ? yes, or shall I die at all % yes. Why, then, Lord, if ever, why not now ?6 So when Modestus, the emperor's lieutenant, threatened to kill Basil, he answered, If that be all, I fear not ; yea, your master cannot
2 Aristotle, though heathen, could say that in some cases a man had better lose his life than be cowardly. — Arist., Ethic. 3, cap. 1.
3 Rom. vi. 6, Gal. v. 24, vi. 14. 4 Rom. xiv. 7, 8 ; Philip, ii. 21-23.
5 The correspondent of Augustine — G.
6 Zeno, a wise heathen, said, I have no fear but of old age. Cyprian could receive the cruellest sentence of death with a Deo gratias, God, I thank thee.
19G APPLES OF GOLD. [1 KlNGS XIV. 13.
more pleasure mc than in sending me nnto my heavenly Father, to whom I dow live, and to whom I desire to hasten.
I cannot Bay as he, said old Mr Stephen Martial1 a little before bis death. I have not so lived that I should now2 he afraid to die ; but this 1 can say, I have so learned Christ that I am not afraid to die. Old Christians have made no more to die than to dine. It is nothing to die when the Comforter stands by, Isa. lvii. 1, 2. Old disciples know that to die is but to lie down in their beds ; they know that their dying day is hotter than their birthday; and this made Solomon to prefer his coffin before his crown, the day of his dissolution before the day of his coronation, Eccles. vii. 1.
The ancients were wont to call the days of their death Natalia, not dying days, hut birthdays.
The Jews to this day stick not to call their Golgothas Bat/e Gaiim, the houses or places of the living. Old Christians know that death is but an entrance into life ; it is but a passover, a jubilee ; it is but the Lord's gentleman-usher to conduct them to heaven ; and this prepare! them to die, and makes death more desirable than life ; and by this you may see that it is an honour to be an old disciple.
Particular 7. An old disciple, an old Christian, shall lci.ee a great reward in heaven.
Old Christians have done much and suffered much for Christ ; and the more any man doth or suffers for Christ here, the more glory he shall have hereafter.3 It was the saying of an old disciple upon his dying bed, ' He is come, he is come' — meaning the Lord — ' with a great reward for a little work/ Agrippa having suffered imprisonment for wishing Caius emperor, the first thing Caius did when he came to the empire, was to prefer Agrippa to a kingdom ; he gave him also a chain of gold, as heavy as the chain of iron that was upon him in prison. And will not Christ richly reward all his suffering saints ? Surely he will. Christ will at last pay a Christian for every prayer he hath made, for every sermon he hath heard, for every tear he hath shed, for every morsel he hath given, for every burden he hath borne, for every battle he hath fought, for every enemy he hath slain, and for every tempta- tation that he hath overcome.
Cyrus, in a great expedition against his enemies, the better to en- courage his soldiers to fight, in an oration that he made at the head of his army, promised upon the victory, to make every foot-soldier an horseman, and every horseman a commander, and that no officer that did valiantly should be unrewarded ; but what are Cyrus his rewards to the rewards that Christ our general promises to his?4 Rev. iii. 21, 'To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.' As there is no lord to Christ, so there is no rewards to Christ's. His re- wards are the greatest rewards. He gives kingdoms, crowns, thrones ; he gives grace and glory, Ps. xlviii. 11.
1 Misprint undoubtedly for ' Mars] Kill,' not at all uncommon. Marshall was one holiest, as lie was ono of t ho most veneraMo and revered, of the Westminster Assembly "t Divines. His life was published in 1680, 4to.— G. 2 Qu. ' not ' ?— Ki>.
3 1 Cor. xv. 58; 2 Cor. ix. G; Mat. v. 10-12. God will reward liis servants seevndum faborem, according to their labour, though not secundum proventum, according I" the suc- cess of their labour. 4 Mat. xix. 28 ; Luke zzii. 80 ; Mat. v. 12.
1 Kings XIV. 13.] apples of gold. 197