Death is a great commander, a great tyrant ; and hath gates to sit in, as judges and magistrates used to 'sit in the gates.'* There are things implied in this phrase.
1. First, 'They draw near to the gates of death;' that is, they were * near to death ;' as he that draws near the gates of a city is near the city, because the gates enter into the city.
2. Secondly, Gates are applied to death for authority. They were almost in death's jurisdiction. Death is a great tyrant. He rules over all the men in the world, over kings and potentates, and over mean men ; and the greatest men fear death most. He is ' the king of fears,' as Job calls him. Job xviii. 14 ; ay, and the fear of kings. Yet death that is thus feared in this life by wicked men, at the day of judgment, of all things in the world they shall desire death most ; according to that in the Apoca- lypse, ' they shall desire death, and it shall not come to them,' Rev. ix. 6. They shall subsist to eternal misery. That that men are most afraid of in this life, that they shall wish most to come to them in the world to come — Oh that I might die ! what a pitiful state are wicked men in ! — Therefore it is called the ' gate of death.' It rules and overrules all mankind. Therefore it is said ' to reign,' Rom. v. 21. Death and sin came in to- gether. Sin was the gate that let in death, and ever since death reigned, and will, till Christ perfectly triumph over it, who is the King of that
* Cf. Gen. xix. 1 ; 2 Sam, iii. 27 ; Job xxxi. 21 ; Ps. Ixix. 12.— G.
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lord and commander, and hath 'the key of hell and death,' Rev. i. 18. To wicked men, I say, he is a tyrant, and hath a gate ; and when they go through the * gate of death,' they go to a worse, to a lower place, to hell. It is the trap-door to hell.
3. Thirdly, By the 'gate of death' is meant not only the authority, but the x>ou-er of death ; as in the gospel, 'the gates of hell shall not prevail against it,' Mat. xvi. 18 : that is, the power and strength of hell. So here it implies the strength of death, which is very great, for it subdues all. It is the executioner of God's justice.
Use. If death hath such a jurisdiction, and power, and strength, let us 'ibour to disarm it beforehand. It is in our power to make death stingless, and toothless, and harmless ; nay, we may make it advantageous, for the ' gate of death' may become the gate" of happiness. Let us labour to have our part and portion in Christ, who hath the ' key of hell and death,' who hath overcome and conquered this tyrant : ' 0 death, where is thy sting ? 0 grave, where is thy victory ? ' ' Thanks be unto God, who hath given us victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord,' 1 Cor. xv. 55, 57, that now we need not fear death ; that though death have a gate, yet it is a gate to let us into heaven, as it is a door to let the wicked into hell. So much for that.
In the next place, we come to their carriage in their extremity.
' They cried to God in their trouble.'
This is the carriage of man in extreme ills, if he have any fear of God in him, to pray ; and then prayers are cries. They are darted out of the heart, as it were, to heaven. It is said, ' Christ made strong cries,' Heb. V. 7. In extremity, prayers are * cries.' Hence I observe briefly these things.
Doct. That God suffers men to fall into extreme ills, even to the gates of death; that there is hut a step heticeen them and death.
Why?
Pwason 1. To irean them jjerfecthj fwn the u-orld. To make them more thankful when they recover ; for what is the reason that men are so slight in thanksgiving ? Usually the reason is, they did not conceive that they were in such extreme danger as they were.
2. Likewise he suffers men to fall into extreme sickness that he matj have all the glory, for it was his doing. There was no second cause to help here, for their soul ' abhorred all manner of meat, and they were even at the gates of death.' Now, when all second causes fail, then God is exalted. Therefore he suffers men to fall into extremity. The greater the malady, the more is the glory of the physician.
The second thing is this, as God brings his children into extremity, so
God's children in extremity they cry to him.
Extremity of afflictions doth force prayers : * In their affliction they will seek me early.' When all second causes fail, then we go to God. Nature therefore is against atheism. As one observes, that naturally men run to God in extremity (c) — ' Lord, succour me' — so, especially in the church, in extremity, God's people cry to God ; and as afflictions, so particularly^ this of sickness of body drives men to God. God should not hear of us many times, unless he should come near us by afllictions, and deep afflictions. ' Out of the deep have I cried,' Ps. cxxx. 1. God brings us to the deep, and then we cry. Our nature is so naught,* that God should not hear of * That is, ' naughty' = wicked. — G.