[3.] It is a comfort against death itself. There is a glorious state provided for believers. It is the end and privilege of faith to be tran- slated out of the animal and corruptible life into that which is heavenly and immortal. Death to the godly is but a sleep, and the grave but a chamber of rest. Indeed the grave to wicked men is a prison, where their bodies are kept, that they may not infect and corrupt the church ; but to the godly their life is not extinguished, but hidden. Col. iii. 3 ; and when Christ, who is their life, appears, then the veil is taken oflp, and they shall appear with him in glory. Death to them is a transla- tion ; life is not taken away, but changed — changed from a miserable and corruptible life to that which is blessed and eternal. It is true, death takes away the life of the body, which consists in the union of the body and the soul, and this it doth but for a while ; but it doth not take away the life of the soul, for that is immortal : it feedeth on your dust, but the soul is in paradise — in Abraham's bosom, and it hath nothing to do with the spiritual life ; still it is united to Christ. Look,
48 SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XL [SeR. XXI.
as when Jesus Christ died (and Christ and a believer run parallel), the peisonal union did not cease ; so when we die, the union with Christ doth not cease ; we die as creatures, as members of the first Adam, but we are sure to live as members of Christ ; Jesus Christ is our head in the grave. The death of the wicked is an execution ; it is indeed an act of vengeance. God orders death to be a trap-door to let them into hell ; but death to a godly man is an act of your Redeemer to translate you, and bestow upon you the happiness of eternal glory.
SERMON XXII.
By faith Enoch luas translated that he should not see death ; and loas not found, because God had translated him : for before his transla- tion he had this testimony, that he pleased God. — Heb. xi. 5.
The second general point is the necessity of the holy life.
Doct. 2. Those that would live with God hereafter must learn to please God ere they depart hence.
In the prsuance of this point I shall examine — ■
1. What it is to please God.
2. The necessity of pleasing God ere we depart hence. Where (1.) The necessity of the thing itself ; and there I shall show what respect and ordination the holy life hath to eternal glory. (2.) The necessity of the time, or the necessity of pleasing God, ere we flit out of the pre- sent life.
First, What it is to please God — ' He had this testimony, that he pleased God.' It is a phrase by which the apostle interprets that place in Genesis, chap. v. 24, ' And Enoch walked with God.' In the Sep- tuagint it is ivrjpea-Trjae rco 6/e&>, Enoch ' well pleased God; ' so that to please God is to walk with God. The only difference between them is that the one relates to God, the other to ourselves. Pleasing of God implies his gracious acceptation, and walking with God implies our duty. Elsewhere the phrases of pleasing God and walking with God are joined in scripture ; as Col. i. 10, ' That you may walk worthy of the Lord unto all well-pleasing,' Walking notes the fixing and the holding of a settled course in our lives, that our intention and main scope nuistbeto please God ; so 1 Thes. iv. 1, ' We beseech you,' saitli the apostle, ' as ye have received of us how you ought to walk, and to please God, so you would abound more and more.' Walking notes the course of life, and pleasing on our part notes the aim of the believer ; all his care is to approve himself to God. On our part, it notes our endeavours ; on God's part, the success of our endeavours, his gracious acceptation. By this collation of places, we find that pleasing of God is all one with walking with God ; but because I intend to handle the phrase in the full latitude of it, I must make it yet more comprehensive ; for by the context you will find that it not only implies ' walking with God,' but, which is another distinct phrase of scripture, ' coming to God,'
VeR. 5.] SERMONS UPON HEBREWS XI. 49
as you may see, ver. 6, for after he had said, ' Enoch had this testimony tliat he pleased God/ he adds, ' For he that cometh to God,' &c., as if pleasing God and coming to God were all one. So that the whole duty of man in the present life is comprised in this phrase of ' pleasing God • ' and it is explained by these two parts — by ' coming to God ; ' and when we are come, ' to walk with God.' I shall inquire —
1. What it is to ' come to God ? '