How is it like to be after the few moments which, under the pangs of death, we have to continue in this world ? Is it an annihilation that lies at the door ? Is death the destruction of our whole being, so as that after it we shall be no more ? So some would have the state of things to be. Is it a state of subsistence in a wandering condition, up and down the world, under the influence of other more powerful spirits that rule in the air, visiting tombs and solitary places, and some- times making appearances of themselves by the impressions of those more powerful spirits ; as some imagine from the story concerning Samuel and the witch of Endor, and as it is commonly received in the Papacy, out of a compliance with their ima- gination of purgatory? Or is it a state of universal misery and woe? a state incapable of comfort or joy ? Let them pretend what they please, who can under- stand no comfort or joy in this life but what they receive by their senses; — they can look for nothing else. And whatever be the state of this invisible Avorld, the soul can undertake nothing of its own conduct after its departure from the body. It knows that it must be absolutely at the disposal of another.
Wherefore no man can comfortably venture on and into this condition, but in the exercise of that faith which enables him to resign and give up his departing soul into the hand of God, who alone is able to receive it, and to dispose it into a condition of rest and blessedness. So speaks the apostle, " I am not ashamed ; for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which 1 have committed unto him against that day."
Herein, as in all other graces, is our Lord Jesus Christ our great example. He resigned his departing spirit into the hands of his Father, to be ovnied and pre-
l Dt Owen refers to the Emperor Hadrian, who, among other short poems which have been ascribed to him, is said to have composed, towards his death, the following lines : —
" Animula, vagula, blandula, Hospes comesque corporis, Qua! nunc abil)is in loca? PaUidula, rigida, nudula, Nee, ut soles, dabis joca."
PREFACE TO THE EEADER. 281
served by him, in its state of separation : " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit," Luke xxiii. 46 ; as did the Psahnist, his type, in an ahke condition, Ps. xxxi. 5. But the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ herein, — the object and exercise of it, what he believed and trusted unto in this resignation of his spirit into the hand of God, — is at large expressed in the 16th Psalm. " I have," said he, " set the Lord alvt^ays before me : because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth ; my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell ; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life ; in thy presence is fulness of joy, at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." He left his soul in the hand of God, in full assurance that it should suffer no evil in its state of separation, but should be brought again with his body into a blessed resurrection and eternal glory. So Stephen resigned his soul, departing under violence, into the hands of Christ himself. When he died he said, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."
This is the last victorious act of faith, wherein its conquest over its last enemy death itself doth consist. Herein the soul says in and unto itself, " Thou art now taking leave of time unto eternity ; all things about thee are departing as shades, and \\'ill immediately disajjpear. The things which thou art entering into are yet invisible ; such as ' eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor will they enter into the heart of man fully to conceive.' Now, therefore, with quietness and confidence give up thyself unto the sovereign power, grace, truth, and faithfulness of God, and thou shalt find assured rest and peace."
But Jesus Christ it is who doth immediately receive the souls of them who be- lieve in him. So we see in the instance of Stephen. And what can be a greater encouragement to resign them into his hands, than a daily contemplation of his glory, in his person, his power, his exaltation, his office, and grace ? Who that believes in him, that belongs unto him, can fear to commit his departing spirit unto his love, power, and care ? Even we also shall hereby in our dying moments see by faith heaven opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God ready to re- ceive us. This, added unto the love which all believers have vmto the Lord Jesus, which is inflamed by contemplation of his glory, and their desires to be with him where he is, will strengthen and confirm our minds in the resignation of our departing souls into his hand.
Secondly, It is required in us, unto the same end, that we be ready and willing to part with the flesh, wherewith w-e are clothed, with all things that are useful and desirable thereunto. The alliance, the relation, the friendship, the union that are between the soul and the body, are the greatest, the nearest, the firmest that are or can be among mere created beings. There is nothing like it, — nothing equal unto it. The union of three persons in the one single divine nature, and the union of two natures in one person of Christ, are infinite, ineffable, and exempted from all comparison. But among created beings, the union of these two essential parts of the same nature in one person is most excellent. Nor is anything equal to it, or hke it, found in any other creatures. Those who among them have most of life have either no bodies, as angels; or no souls but what perish with them, as all brute creatures below.