First, It unclothes us of these rags, these sick, weak, and untoward bodies of ours, that occasion so much disquiet to our souls ; these mud walls. It takes 4own the tabernacle, it puts off our old rags, and puts ou a new robe of immortality, and garments of glory. It ends all that is ill. All is determined in death. It is the last evil. It puts an end to all our labours, to all our troubles, and sorrows. Then the cursed labour of all our sins (that are the cause of sorrow) shall have an end. ' Blessed are they that die in the Lord, they rest from their labours,' Rev. xiv. 13. There is no rest till we be dead. Death is the accomplishment of our mortification.
And there is an end of the labour and toil in our callings, and the miseries and afflictions that accompany them. It frees us from all labours whatso- ever. For death is a sleep, and all labours end in sleep. And as after sleep the spirits are refreshed ; so after death we are more refreshed than we can conceive now. Death is ours because it is our resting-place. After our bodies are weary and worn out in toiling, then comes death, and then we rest in our graves.
It fi'ees us from wicked men, and sets us clear out of Satan's reach. This world is the kingdom of Satan, but when we are gone hence, he hath nothing to do with us. Sin brought in death, and now death puts an end to sin ; we shall be no more annoyed with Satan or his temptations, which is a great privilege.
And then death is a passage to another world. It is the gate of glory and everlasting happiness. It is the beginning of all that is good, that is everlastingly and eternally good. Our death is our birthday. Indeed, death is the death of itself; death is the death of death (/). For when we die, we begin to live, and we never live indeed till we die. For what is this life ? Alas ! it is a dying. Every day we live, a part of our life is taken away. We die every day, 1 Cor. xv. 81. The more we have hved, the less of our life we have to live.
The hfe in heaven begins at death. Death is the birthday of that life of immortality, and that is the life which can only truly be called hfe. When Christ came by dying to purchase hfe, it was not this sorry hfe on earth, but the life in the world to come, that life of immortal glory ; and death's day is the birthday of this life. And for our bodies, they are but refined by death, and fitted, as vessels cast into the fire, to be moulded, to be most glorious vessels after.
Death is ours every way. It is our greatest friend under the mask of an enemy. So that, whatsoever Satan may suggest to the contrary, death is ours ; our friend that was our enemy ; a good thing that was an ill. Our fancy in a temptation may make us apprehend those things that are useful and good to be terrible and ill, and those things that are truly dan- gerous to us as if they were the only good. Satan abuseth our imagina- tion, by amplifying the good of evil, and the evil of good. But, indeed, death, and all that makes way unto it, sickness, and misery, they are ours; they do us good, they fit us for heaven. Sickness, it fits us for death ; it unlooseth the soul from the body. As for the profits, and pleasures, and honours of the world, what do they ? They nail us faster to the world,
12 A christian's portion ; or,
and do us hurt. Therefore, death is ours. It is a good messenger ; it brings good tidings when it comes. Hereupon it is that the wise man saith, ' The day of death is better than the day of birth,' Eccles. vii. 1. When we are born, wc come into misery ; when we die, we go out of misery to happiness. It is better to go out of misery than to come into it. If the day of death be better than the day of birth to a Christian, certainly then death is theirs. It makes a short end of all that is miserable, and it is a teniiinus from whence all good begins. There is nothing in the world that doth us so much good as death. It ends all that is ill both of body and soul, and it begins that happiness that never shall have an end. Therefore, ' blessed are they that die in the Lord, saith the Spirit,' Rev. xiv. 13, ' A voice from heaven ' saith so, and therefore, ' Write,' saith he. It may be written if the Spirit saith it : it is testimony and argument enough. ' Blessed are those that die in the Lord : they rest from their labours ; and their reward follows them.' For they rest from all that is evil, and from that only. All that is good, ' their works follow them.' So that if all evil cease, and all good follows, I hope death may well be said to be ours, and for our good.