Two Treatises on Death and Judgment, Treatise · Section 3 – Section 4
SECT. III.
Uſe 1.
I Now come to ſhew you the Uſefulneſs of this Doctrine, the for further Information of our underſtandings, the well ordering of our hearts, and the reforming of our lives. And firſt, you may hence be eaſily reſolved; Whether Death be truly penal to the godly? which ſome have been pleaſed to make a Controverſie of late: though I am paſt doubt, but the hearts of thoſe men do apprehend it as a puniſhment, whoſe tongues and pens do plead for the contrary. Duſt thou art, and to duſt ſhalt thou return, was part of the ſentence paſt on Adam and all his poſterity; which then proved it a puniſhment, and it was not remitted to Adam, that at the ſame time had the promiſe of a Redeemer, nor is it remitted to any of us all. Were it not for ſin, God would not inflict it; who hath ſworn that he takes no pleaſure in the death of ſinners; And that he afflicts not willingly, nor grieves the ſons of men. But my text it ſelf decides the controverſie: Sin and puniſhment are the evils that Chriſt removeth: And if death were no puniſhment (as it is no ſin,) how could it be an Enemy, and the laſt enemy to be deſtroyed by the Redeemer? When we feel the Enmity before deſcribed againſt our ſouls, and alſo know its Enmity to our bodies, we cannot think that God would do all this, were it not for ſin: eſpecially when we read that death paſſeth upon all, for that all have ſinned, Rom. 5. 11, 12. and that death is the wages of ſin, Rom. 6. 23. Though Chriſt do us good by it, that proveth it not to be no puniſhment: For caſtigatory puniſhments are purpoſely to do good to the chaſtiſed. Indeed we may ſay, O Death, Where is thy ſting? becauſe that the mortal evil to the Soul is taken out; and becauſe we foreſee the Reſurrection by faith, when we ſhall have the victory by Chriſt. But thence to conclude that Death hath no ſting now to a believer, is not only beſides, but againſt the text; which telling us that the ſting of death is ſin, and that the ſtrength of ſin is the Law, doth inform us, that Death could not kill us, and be Death to us, if ſin gave it not a ſting to do it with: as ſin could not oblige us to this puniſhment, if the threatning of the Law were not its ſtrength. But Chriſt hath begun the Conqueſt and will finiſh it.
SECT. IV.
Uſe 2.
FROM all this Enmity in Death, we may ſee what it is that ſin hath done: and conſequently how vile and odious it is, and how we ſhould eſteem and uſe it. Sin hath not only forfeited our Happineſs, but laid thoſe impediments in the way of our recovery, which will find us work, and cauſe our danger and ſorrow while we live. And Death is not the leaſt of theſe impediments. O fooliſh man, that ſtill will love ſuch a mortal Enemy▪ If another would rob them but of a groat, or defame them, or deprive them of any accommodation, how eaſily can they hate them, and how hardly are they reconciled to them? But ſin depriveth them of their lives, and ſeparates the ſoul and body aſunder, and forfeiteth their everlaſting happineſs, and ſets death betwixt them and the Glory that is purchaſed by Chriſt, and yet they love it, and will not leave it. Though God have made them, and do ſuſtain them, and provide for them, and all their hope and help is in him, they are not ſo eaſily drawn to love him: And yet they can love the ſin that would undo them. Though Chriſt would deliver them, and bring them to everlaſting bleſſedneſs, and hath aſſumed fleſh, and laid down his life, to teſtifie his Love to them, yet are they not eaſily brought to love him; but the ſin that made them enemies to God, and hath brought them ſo near to everlaſting miſery, this they can love, that deſerves no love. A Miniſter or other friend that would draw them from their ſin to God, and help to ſave them, they quarrel againſt, as if he were their enemy: but their fooliſh companions, that can laugh and jeſt with them at the door of Hell, and clap them on the back, and drive away the care of their ſalvation and harden them againſt the fear of God, theſe are the only acceptable men to them. O Chriſtians leave this folly to the world, and do you judge of ſin by its ſad effects. You feel (if you have any feeling in you) in ſome meaſure, what it hath done againſt your Souls! The weakneſs of your faith and love; the diſtance of your hearts from God; your doubts and troubles tell you that it is not your friend; You muſt ſhortly know what it will do to your bodies. As it keeps them in pain, and wearineſs, and weakneſs, ſo it will ere long deliver them up to the jaws of death, which will ſpare them no more then the beaſts that periſh. Had it not been for ſin, we ſhould have had no cauſe to fear a diſſolution; nor have we had any uſe for a coffin or a winding-ſheet, nor been beholden to a grave, to hide our carkaſſes from the ſight and ſmell of the living. But as Henoch and Elias were tranſlated when they had walked with God, even ſo ſhould we: as thoſe ſhall that are alive and remain at the coming of Chriſt, ſhall be caught up together in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and ſo ſhall they ever be with the Lord, 1 Theſ. 4. 17.
Uſe ſin therefore as it will uſe you. Spare it not, for it will not ſpare you. It is your murderer, and the murderer of the world: Uſe it therefore as a Murderer ſhould be uſed. Kill it before it kills you; and then, though it kill your bodies, it ſhall not be able to kill your ſouls; and though it bring you to the grave, as it did your Head, it ſhall not be able to keep you there. If the thoughts of death, and the grave, and rottenneſs be not pleaſant to you, let not the thoughts of ſin be pleaſant. Hearken to every temptation to ſin, as you would hearken to a temptation to ſelf-murder: And as you would do if the Devil brought you a knife, and tempted you to cut your throat with it; ſo do when he offereth you the bait of ſin. You love not Death: Love not the cauſe of Death. Be aſhamed to ſtand weeping over a buried friend, and never to weep over a ſinning or ungodly friend, nor once to give them a compaſſionate earneſt exhortation, to ſave their Souls. Is it nothing to be dead in ſins and treſpaſſes? Epheſ. 2. 1, 5. Col. 2. 13. Yea, it is a worſe Death than this, that is the wages of ſin, and the fruit which it brings forth, Rom. 6. 21, 23. and 7. 5. Surely, God would never thus uſe mens bodies, and forſake them ſoul and body for ever, if ſin were not a moſt odious thing. What a poyſon is this that kills ſo many millions, and damneth ſo many millions, and cannot be cured but by the blood of Chriſt! that killed our Phyſician that never taſted it, becauſe he came ſo near to us! O unbelieving ſtupid ſouls, that ſmart and ſin, and groan and ſin, and weep and lament our bodily ſufferings, and yet ſin ſtill! that fear a grave, and fear not ſin! that have heard, and ſeen, and felt ſo much of the ſad effects, and yet ſin ſtill! Pſal. 78. 32. Alas that murderers ſhould be ſo common, and that we ſhould be no wiſer, when we have paid ſo dear a price for wiſdom!