[3.] Thirdly, Can death, 0 Christian, dissolve that glorious cove- nant that God hatJi taken thee into ? No ; Death can never dissolve
1 Cyprian, de immortalitate.
t52 A BTRING OF PEARLS. [1 PeTBB I. i,
that covenanl : Jer. \x.\ii. 40, 'And I will make an everlasting cove- nant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good ; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depaxi from me.' Though Abraham be dead, yet God i.- Abraham's God still, Mat. xxii 30—32. By covenant, and by virtue of this everlasting covenant, Abraham shall ho raised and glorified. Oh'! then, why shouldst thou be afraid of death ? why shouldst thou ho unwilling to die 1
When David was upon his dying hod, he drew his strongest consola- tion out of this woll of salvation, — the covenant : - Sam. xxiii. 5, 'Al- though my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with mean everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure ; for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.9 Dear ! uarts ! the covenant remains firm and good between you and the Lord. both in life and in death ; and therefore there is no reason why you should be unwilling to die. There are throe things that are impossible for God to do, viz. to die, to lie, or deny himself, or that gracious cove- nant that he hath ma.de with his people ; and therefore death should be more desirable than terrible to gracious souls. But,
[4.] Fourthly, Tell me, 0 Christian, can dealh dissolve that love that ie between the Lord and thy soul ? Ps. cxvi. 15 ; Deut. vii. 7, 8. No, death cannot; for his love is not founded upon any worth or ex- cellency in me, nor upon any work or service done by me, but his love is free ; he loves because he will love. All motives to love are taken out of that bosom that is love and sweetness itself. His love is ever- lasting, it is like himself: Jer. xxxi. 3, 'I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee;' John xiii. 1, ' Whom he loved, he loved to the end ;' Isa. liv. 8-10, 'In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment ; but with ever- lasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Re- deemer. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me : for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth ; so have I sworn that I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed ; but my kind- ness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.' The love of Jesus Christ was to Lazarus when dead (John xi. 11), 'Our friend Lazarus sleepeth/ By all which it is most evident that death cannot dissolve that precious love that is between the Lord and his children. ( )h ! why then are they afraid to die ? Why then do not they long to die, that they may be in the everlasting arms of divine love ? The Love of the Lord is everlasting ; it is a love that never dies, that never decays, nor waxes cold. It is like the stone albestos,1 of which Solinus writes, that being once hot, it can never be cooled again. Death is nothing but a bringing of a loving Christ and loving souls together. Why, then, should not the saints rather desire it, than fear it or be I'ismayed at it ? But,
[5.] Fifthly, Can death, 0 thou believing soul, dissolve those gra- cious grants, or tliose grants of grace thai tin' Lord hath vouchsafed to ' as the grant of reconciliation, the grant of acceptation, the -rant of justification, the grant of adoption, the grant of remission, &c, 2 Cor.
1 Peter I. 4.] a strixg of pearls. 453
iii. 21-23; No ; death cannot dissolve any of these gracious grants . Rom. xi. 29, ' for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance/ Why then, O Christian, art thou unwilling to die ? Indeed, were it in the power of death to make void any of those noble and gracious grants that God hath vouchsafed to thee, thou mightest be afraid and unwilling to die; but that being a work too great, and too hard for death to accomplish, why shoufdst thou not, in a holy triumphing way, say with the apostle, ' O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy vic- tory ? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ,' 1 Cor. xv. 55-57. A Christian, upon the account of what is laid up for him, may and ought divinely to out-brave death, as this precious saint did. A little before she breathed out her last into the bosom of Christ, she called for a candle ; Come, saith she, and see death ; and this she spake smilingly, out-braving death in a holy sense. Being free both from the pains of death, and from the fear of death, she knew him in whom she had believed, 2 Tim. i. 12. She knew right well that death could not dissolve those gracious grants that God had vouchsafed to her ; and therefore when she came to it, she made no more of it to die than we do to dine. But,