2. It quickeneth us to love and serve God, who is ' the strength of our lives, and the length of our days,' Deut. xxx. 20. Thy life is wholly in God's hands. Man cannot add a cubic to his stature, nor make one hair white or black at his own pleasure. It is the Lord's providential influence that keepeth thee alive ; in point of gratitude, thou shouldst serve him : ' Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live.' But I may urge also, in jDoint of hope, God's servants can best recommend themselves to his care and keeping by prayer, and expect to walk continually under divine protection. Those that pro- voke God continually, they may be continued by the bounty and in- dulgence of his providence ; but yet they can look for no such thing, and in the issue it proveth to be in wrath, for their sins are more and judgments greater : it is but to ' treasure up wrath to the day of wrath.'
3. If life temporal be the fruit of God's bounty, much more life eternal : Eom. vi. 23, ' The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.' One is wages, the other a gift.
4. It informeth us that we may lawfully pray for life, with sub- mission to the will of God, and that death may not come upon us suddenly, contrary to the ordinary course of nature. I w^as loath to make a distinct doctrine of it, yet I could not decline the giving out of this truth.
How will this stand with our desires of dissolution, and willingness to depart and to be with Christ, which certainly all Christians that believe eternity should cherish in their hearts ?
To this I answer — 1. By concession ; that we are to train up our-
VeR. 17.] SEKMOXS uroN rSALM cxix. 159
selves in an expectation of our dissolution, that we may be willing when the time is come, and God hath no more work for us to do in the world ; we are to awaken our desires after the presence of Christ in heaven, to show ])oth our faith in him and love to him. Since Christ was willing to come down to us, though it were to meet Avith shame and pain, why should we be loath to return to him? Jacob's spirit revived when he saw the waggons which Josei)h sent to carry him. Death is the chariot to carry you to Christ, and there- fore it should not be unwelcome to us.
2. By correction ; though it be lawful and expedient to desire death, }'et we are not anxiously to long after it till the time come ; there may be sin in desiring death, as when we grow weary of life out of desperation, and the tiresomeness of the cross ; and there may be grace in desiring life, that we may keep his word, longer express our gratitude to him here in the world, to mourn for sin, to promote his glory. More fully to make this evident to you, I shall show how we may desire death, how not. To answer in several proposi- tions : —
[1.] There is a great deal of difference between serious desires and passionate expressions. The desires of the children of God are deliberate and resolved, conceived upon good grounds, after much struggling with flesh and blood to bring their hearts to it. Carnal men are loath that God should take them at their word ; as he in the fable that called for death, and when he came, desired him to help him up with his bui'den. Alas ! they do not consider what it is to be in the state of the dead, and to come unprovided and unfurnished into God's presence. We often wish ourselves in our graves ; but if God should take us at our word, we would make many pauses and excep- tions. Men that in their miseries call for death, when sickness cometh will run to the physician, and promise many things if they may be recovered. None more unwilling to die than those that in a passion wish for death,
[2.] We must carefully look to the grounds of these wishes and desires. First, Carnai wishes for death arise either — (1.) Out of violent anger and a pet against providence ; as Jonah iv. 8, ' The sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in him- self to die, and said, It is better for me to die than live.' The children of Israel murmured when they felt the famine of the wilder- ness : Exod. xvi. 3, ' And the children of Israel said unto them. Would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt,' &c. When men are vexed with the worlds they look upon death as a relief, to take vengeance upon God, to deprive him of a servant. (2.) In deep sorrow ; as Job iii. 3 ; Elijah, 1 Kings xix. 4 : ' He requested for himself that he might die ; and he said. It is enough : now, 0 Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers.' (3.) From the peevishness of fond and doting love : 2 Sam. xviii. 33, ' And the king was much moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept : and as he went, thus he said, 0 Absalom, my son, would God I had died for thee ! 0 Absalom, my son, my son ! ' like the wives of the East Indians, that burn themselves to follow their dead .husbands. (4.) From difstrust and despair, when the evil